I’ll never forget it. As we interviewed to join a church after moving to a new state, one of the elders asked me, “What is your favorite book of the Bible?” I immediately responded, “Job.” He was shocked! Job’s words of lament became mine through years of undiagnosed and progressively disabling systemic illness, misdiagnosis, unhelpful treatment attempts, constant emergencies, and desperate need for God’s sustaining grace as I tried to care for our daughters (through their years from newborn to 8) while my dear husband was at work.
Spiritual warfare in tribulation and suffering
Job’s spiritual warfare against the enemy’s lies felt familiar. In what seemed like a progressively hopeless journey of tribulation and suffering, finally yearning for death more than life as Job did, I desperately needed to understand what is true about God and myself as His child, a believer in Christ.
“Why am I even alive?” (Job 3:11-12, 20, 23, 26; 9:29; 10:18 ESV).
“My face is red with weeping, and on my eyelids is deep darkness, although…my prayer is pure” (Job 16:16 ESV).
Just as with Job, the Lord never answered me with details of “why,” but He answered with Biblical truth about Himself (Job 38-42). He replied with comfort and compassion, borne from gospel-centered realities of what it means to belong to Him, as one unified with Christ. He responded by reminding me of Scriptures in lonely and pain-filled hospital beds, filling my heart with Scriptural songs. Repeatedly, He brought a rested peace in His sovereign and loving care, regardless of outcomes.
Hope through the gospel of Jesus Christ in spiritual warfare
The Lord gave me hope in my suffering through the gospel of Jesus Christ. Like Job in his wrestling and worsening hopelessness, our God helped me battle for hope by interrupting my suffering with outbursts of truth and praise, all by His Spirit’s work. My pain-full questions and laments came first, and the book of Job offered the Lord’s answers to me…and to all of us who suffer in our earthly lives. Christ pointed me to Himself in the same way as when Job wrestled with the accusations of his “friends.”
But he is unchangeable, and who can turn him back? What he desires, that he does. For he will complete what he appoints for me, and many such things are in his mind (Job 23:13-14 ESV).
If God is for us, who can be against us? Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us (Rom. 8:31, 33-34 ESV).
And after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold and not another. My heart faints within me! (Job 19:25-27 ESV)
Because He lives, I can face tomorrow!
Singing the gospel into future tribulation and suffering
In the providential timing and compassionate care of God, I wrote most of Singing the Gospel to Job before a new chapter in my own life’s sonata. As the first draft finished, my physical suffering began escalating again, a reprise or recapitulation of what happened in the 90s. As family, friends, church members, and followers of Singing Christ’s Hope all know, our Lord once again brought another lifesaving brain surgery into my life, this time after only two 1/2 years. The book was His gift of sustaining grace to battle the lies once again and endure the intense tribulation and suffering of that time, in ways even surpassing my personal illness.
Singing the gospel into our future causes us to look at our Savior, who took all our punishment and shame and is now alive and seated on the throne (Hebrews 12:1-2). We remember that Jesus Christ…
has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers having been subjected to him (1 Pet. 3:22 ESV)!
Our Father of glory…
raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places (Eph. 1:20 ESV)…
We’re suffering, but…
He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins (Col. 1:13-14 ESV)!
We could endure more tribulation and suffering, but…
[our] citizenship is in heaven, and from it [we] await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform [our] lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself (Phil. 3:20-21 ESV)!
Why are we still here….yet also suffering?
My life’s sonata continues to hold a song of praise interruptions, in sung prayers to our heavenly Father, into my suffering. Although the surgery is a temporary treatment, there is no cure for my condition. I’ve had to wrestle with “why are we still here?” when it seems the world is dealing with worsening evil.
Why am I not home with Him, at rest?
I’m suffering, and it hurts, but…
He is unchangeable…he will complete what he appoints for me, and many such things are in his mind (Job 23:13-14 ESV).
Perhaps some of His Word’s many revealed purposes for us on earth will encourage you too, in whatever you are walking through:
Your eyes saw my unformed substance;
in your book were written, every one of them,
the days that were formed for me,
when as yet there was none of them (Ps. 139:16 ESV).
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them (Eph. 2:10 ESV).
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind (Mt. 22:36 ESV). You shall love your neighbor as yourself (Mt. 22:39 ESV).
Take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability. But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen” (2 Pet. 3:17-18 ESV)!
Material adapted from Singing the Gospel to Job: Finding Hope in Suffering, Lauri A. Hogle, © 2022
Singing Christ’s hope as spiritual warfare in tribulation and suffering
I’ve made a playlist for the days when my ongoing suffering feels Job-like and I need a reminder of our hope in Christ. Let’s sing the gospel to Job, to our hurting hearts, to our loving Lord, and to others who need to know His love. It’s spiritual warfare…but we know…our Redeemer lives! And, because He lives, we can both face tomorrow’s tribulation and any suffering to come. To Him be all the glory as He helps us endure tribulation and suffering with His hope! If this would encourage you, sign up here, and it will come to your email from this musician sister in Christ.
To read more of Lauri’s writing, you can use her devotional Bible study lament prayer journals: Praying God’s Promises Into Suffering, or Near to God: A Devotional Bible Study of God’s Character as We Suffer, or Singing the Gospel to Job: Finding Hope in Suffering. In the Valleys of God’s Love is written for children aged 3-8, a perfect read for grandparents, parents, and children to share together, preparing them for suffering to come.
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