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People often think that Job was specifically targeted for his suffering because he was righteous. However, if you really look at it, we see disasters in our reality today—such as wars, large-scale natural disasters, major traffic accidents, pandemics, mass shootings, random violent ㄷcrimes, plane crashes, and building collapses—that anyone can experience, regardless of their character or faith.

This implies that even in Job's time, he was not the only one suffering; there were plenty of others in that era who faced similar fates. Furthermore, within the Christian worldview, Satan is a being who causes trouble for anyone, regardless of whether they are righteous or not.

The conclusion is that the concept that "living a good life makes you immune to suffering" or "living a bad life inevitably leads to more suffering" is not necessarily accurate. The opposite is also true. In reality, there are many good people who suffer, and many bad people who thrive.

The message of the Book of Job is not that your hardships are necessarily the result of your own karma (or sins), but rather that, like Habakkuk, you should trust and rely on the Almighty regardless of your circumstances.

Let’s say you own a car. You follow every traffic law to the letter, drive incredibly safely, change the oil right on time—basically, you drive perfectly.

But does that mean your car will be 100% trouble-free? Absolutely not. No matter how perfectly you control your driving, you can't stop breakdowns caused by road conditions, terrible weather, environmental variables, or other reckless drivers. If you own a car, it’s just something you have to deal with.

But what if, when the car breaks down, the driver starts blaming themselves, or the passengers start pointing fingers at each other, overanalyzing everything to dig up the exact cause? That’s completely pointless and, honestly, a bit arrogant. An average driver isn't an expert, so there's no way they can know all those technical details.

Then what’s the smartest thing to do? Instead of a bunch of people who know nothing wasting time messing around with the car, you just call the manufacturer's service center and leave it to the experts. That’s all there is to it.

Now, let’s apply this analogy to faith.

Just because someone has strong faith and lives a righteous life, does that mean they can avoid life's ups and downs or hardships? Everyone would agree that’s ridiculous. It's common sense that life itself is a series of hardships, and nobody is immune to Satan's temptations and attacks.

But what do humans—who are nothing more than non-experts—gain by trying to analyze every single cause and playing the blame game? It’s just pretending to know everything when we actually know nothing.

In moments like that, instead of wasting energy and arrogantly pretending to know it all, we should simply trust the Almighty and leave it in His hands.

This is the exact core message that the Book of Job is trying to tell us.

We often ask this question in our walk of faith:

"Why did a man as righteous and faithful as Job have to suffer such terrible affliction?"

Turning this question upon ourselves makes it even more desperate:

"I pray so much before God, tithe faithfully, serve diligently, and strive to live rightly without harming others—so why do such misfortune and suffering come into my life?"

Without realizing it, we live with a formula fixed in our minds: 'If my faith is good, suffering will pass me by.' But is that truly the case? Today, we want to face the real countenance of suffering as spoken of in the Bible, and share together what the true hope is that we must hold onto within it.

There is a misconception that many people have. They think of suffering either as 'a punishment for something I did wrong' or as 'a breach that opened up because of a lack of faith.' However, the truth told by the Bible and history is different. Suffering is not an exceptional event that bypassed everyone except a specific figure like Job; rather, it is the 'default setting' of life that all creation living on this earth cannot help but experience.

Look around us for a moment. Every day on the news, countless people lose their parents, siblings, and children overnight due to sudden traffic accidents, gun violence, random crimes, major natural disasters, and man-made calamities.

Did they suffer such misfortunes because they were particularly more sinful? No.

There is an even more heartbreaking reality. What about the lives of missionaries who abandon everything to spend their entire lives preaching the gospel in barren, remote regions? It is not uncommon for them to lose their children to endemic diseases in the mission field, lose their spouses to crime, or even become sacrifices of martyrdom themselves.

"Because my faith is good, because I am blessed, big and small sufferings will pass me by."

My friends, this is not faith; it is merely another form of human arrogance. The world we set our feet upon is a finite world broken by sin, and suffering is a natural providence that all creation living a finite life within it must endure.

Once we realize this fact, it is laid bare just how futile the claims of the 'prosperity theology' and 'mysticism' that sicken churches worldwide today truly are.

"If you believe in Jesus well, your business will hit the jackpot."

"If you give plenty of offerings and serve a lot, you won't get sick and everything will work out smoothly."

This is not the gospel of the Bible, but a fake gospel that has clothed shamanism in Christian garb. If their claims were correct, did the forefathers of faith and martyrs who died miserably amidst suffering all receive punishment because they lacked faith? Absolutely not. We must remember that God sternly rebuked the arguments of Job's friends, who tried to interpret suffering through the logic of cause and effect (karma).

If so, how should we live in this finite world full of suffering? We can find the right answer from the prophet Habakkuk.

Habakkuk lived in an era when lawlessness and injustice were rampant, justice had fallen to the ground, and everything was heading toward the worst possible scenario due to the threats of surrounding superpowers. In his anguish, he cried out to God: "O God, why do You just watch this wicked reality and suffering?"

Habakkuk, who fiercely debated and questioned God, ultimately reached a startling conclusion that transcended human thought. It is the confession from Habakkuk chapter 3 that we know so well.

"Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will take joy in the God of my salvation." (Habakkuk 3:17-18)

From a realistic standpoint, Habakkuk did not enjoy wealth, nor did he see the 'world where justice is realized' that he so desperately desired before dying a lonely death. Yet, his confession was not one of despair, but of absolute trust in God. It is a declaration that even if the circumstances before his eyes are completely shaken, God alone, who is my Savior, is enough.

As the end of this world draws near, the world will inevitably grow wickeder, and desperate situations threatening our lives will increase. As the Word in 2 Timothy chapter 3 states, in the last days, times of difficulty (perilous times) will come. Therefore, we must cast away the foolishness of placing our hope in this world. Eating well, living well, and avoiding suffering in this land must not become the purpose of our faith.

Like Habakkuk, and like countless pioneers of faith before us, we must set our hope on the eternal Kingdom of God that is to come. The suffering of this earth is finite, but the glory of the Kingdom of God to be given to us is eternal.

I sincerely hope that all of us will refrain from swinging between joy and sorrow over the harsh environment before our eyes today, believe in the faithful promise of God who has promised us a new heaven and a new earth, and silently walk the path of hope

"And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith." (1 John 5:4)