Job: Was it sin and punishment, or not?  Part 7 of 9

 

Now why do I like this story.

 

For one thing it shows that the problems we endure in life are not always our fault.  They are not always a result of sin.  It may be because of something we do not or can not understand.

 

My mother’s friend had cancer, and she had some well meaning Christians come to her house and tell her it was because of sin.  If only she repented then she wouldn’t have cancer.

 

Sound familiar?  It sounds like Job’s friends doesn’t it.

 

But it is not because of sin, that we are brought trials.  Sometimes ya it is.  For example if somebody was extorting money from their employer and suddenly it was found out that that person had stolen over $1,000,000 from his/her employer, then the resulting problems would be because of sin.

 

But…

 

If a person has cancer, finds themselves in a depression, loses a loved one, loses a job, gets in an accident, or any number of the ‘bad’ things that can happen in life, happens to them, it does not mean it is sin.  It could be.  But it might just be for some other reason that we don’t know about.  It might even be because that person is faithful to God, like Job was.

 

I don’t know why bad things happen, but I do know that it’s not always because of sin.

 

I also know that God is not happy with those who are quick to lay blame, as he wasn’t happy with Job’s friends.