I had a problem with the book of Job. I couldn’t shake one question off my mind as I read. I held tight to the beautiful pictures of Job’s faith and trust throughout the book, yet God’s final speech left me a little confused. Where was the comforter? Where was the compassion of the gentle and lowly Christ who wept at his friend’s tomb? I agreed that God was worthy of all power and glory, and Job needed to be humbled, but still I yearned for a glimpse of the compassionate God I knew. Was he still there? 

Maybe you’ve found yourself wondering the same. Is the mighty God of Job who seems to play with the fate of one man’s life the same one who says he will hold his people like little lambs (Isa. 40:11)? Is he the same one who longed to gather his people like a hen gathers her chicks (Matt. 23:37)? The Scriptures tell us God doesn’t change, so why do we feel the disconnect (James 1:17)? Instead of stuffing our question to the side, we would do well to pursue it. Like Job, we should keep puzzling. For when we take a deeper look into the narrative of this ancient patriarch, we’ll discover the same gentle God and be greatly comforted in the process.

The God of the Covenant

There’s no doubt God’s speech to Job comes with severity. In a series of questions God challenges Job in his place before the Almighty. Yet in the first words that prepare the audience for God’s entrance sits a beacon of God’s comfort that envelops the entire book. The text reads, “Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind and said” (Job 38:1, emphasis added). We read right past this phrase and miss the proclamation it makes. Instead of using Eloah or Elohim (the more typical Hebrew words for God) which have been used for most of the dialogue thus far, the writer of Job makes a stark switch and announces that it is Yahweh who answers Job out of the whirlwind. This title is the particular name for the God of Israel—the Lord of the covenant We see this name throughout the Scriptures, but notably it is the name God told Moses in response to his question of who was sending him to the Israelites (Ex. 3:14). Instead of the generalized name of God, it speaks with specificity of the God of the Bible who not only makes all things, but comes into a relationship with them, and even rescues them. It denotes a bond of faithfulness and steadfast love. 

This same term shows up in the introduction of the narrative as Satan and God dialogue (1:6-12). In these bookended uses of Yahweh, we see that the entire story of Job is enveloped by the steadfast love of God. Far from the critique of secular scholars, God doesn’t torture his servant out of rivalry. Instead he acted from the start to finish as Yahweh—the covenant keeping God. It’s this promise that keeps the Lord returning to his people throughout the entire biblical narrative, as he seeks after them and speaks tenderly to them in their rebellion and comforts all her waste places (Isa. 51:3; Hos. 2:14). 

This small sentence affirms that God is truly all that Job trusted he would be. Throughout the back-and-forth with his friends, Job continually drew upon a deep connection with the Almighty. God wasn’t only a far-off deity to Job but the one who fashioned and made him. He was the Creator who knit Job together and granted him life and steadfast love (Job 10:8-11). While others have deserted him, Job proclaims his redeemer lives, and it’s only God who could step in to plead his case and save him (19:25). Job continues to hold onto the hope that God’s promise of resurrection is sure, declaring he will one day see God in his flesh (Job 19:26). 

These proclamations of Job are proven true by the Lord’s declaration of who he is. God is Yahweh—the personal and faithful Lord. Throughout every piece of his suffering, Job was held by the Lord of the Covenant. What a comfort for those of us listening who wonder, like Job, what God is doing in our suffering. We won’t always know why grief comes to us, but we can know that we are held by the Lord of the Covenant for every second of it. And when we are held by Yahweh, neither “height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord (Rom. 8:39).

My Servant, Job

Not only does God’s title reveal his comfort, but so does the title he bestows on Job—“my servant.” After Job confesses his pride, God turns his attention to his very unhelpful friends. “My anger burns against you and against your two friends, for you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has” (42:7). In the next verse, God uses the phrase “my servant” three more times to speak of Job. This rebuke not only brings justice to Job’s tormenting friends, but it bestows an honor God has continually given Job. In the beginning of the narrative God told Satan to consider his servant Job and we find that “the epilogue echoes the prologue” proving that “Job never lost this position as the LORD’s servant in his eyes” (O. Palmer Robertson, The Christ of Wisdom, 186).

We could choose to cynically interpret the idea of a servant but we’d be missing the honor of the title. Imagine it—God has explained in detail the way he laid the foundations of the earth, cleft a channel for the torrents of rain, satisfies the appetites of the lions, and brings the proud down low. Now Job is esteemed with the position of this mighty God’s servant. The honor of being God’s servant is scattered throughout the Scriptures. Moses was named a servant of the Lord, who even mediated, much like Job, between God and those who had done foolishly (Heb. 3:5). Christ himself is referred to as “my servant” who would be pierced for our transgressions (Isa. 52:13). This moniker isn’t to be taken lightly. Job has done rightly—not his friends—and with this specific call, the Lord singles out Job, reminding him of his delight and pleasure. 

What a comfort to our own hearts in the midst of our sorrows. In his gentleness God reminds us that when we pray through pain or walk in suffering, we can still act as the Almighty’s servant, doing his good work. For as O. Palmer Robertson wrote, “Even the smallest of human events moves the world toward its cosmic conclusion” (The Christ of Wisdom, 194). This was true for Job, and it’s true for us, as well. The words “Well done good and faithful servant” can apply to every moment of our day, even those days where we grieve and suffer. 

The Arms of God

At the end of Job, we see one final comfort from the Lord. Right after the Lord restored his fortunes, Job’s brothers and sisters arrived, and “showed him sympathy and comforted him for all the evil that the Lord had brought upon him” (Job 42:11). Here we see the arms of God wrapping around Job through his image bearers. Job was alone and rejected, but at the end of the narrative we find him comforted and held by his siblings. We can’t help but see that this is yet another gift of the Lord, for we know that nothing happens apart from his will (Job 42:2). On this side of heaven, we don’t get to feel the touch of Christ himself, but instead we feel it within the arms of the people he gives us. They catch our tears on their cheeks. They squeeze our chests as they heave with pain. And each one can remind us of Yahweh, the Lord of the Covenant, who cares and loves his servants. 

It’s clear that the God of Job is the same Lord of steadfast love we see throughout the whole of Scriptures. He gathered Job in his arms, just as he will gather each of us, in whatever season of suffering we walk through.