God's Wisdom for Navigating Life

by Timothy Keller

  Does suffering ever make you doubt God’s goodness? List the reasons.

  Prayer: Lord, I have been tempted both to think of you as cruel and to think of life as out of control. Neither idea comforts; rather, they torment. You are loving and you are in control. Only those complementary truths will get me through! Help me believe and grasp them. Amen.

  March 14

  “Does Job fear God for nothing?” Satan replied. “Have you not put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has? You have blessed the work of his hands, so that his flocks and herds are spread throughout the land. But now stretch out your hand and strike everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face.” The LORD said to Satan, “Very well, then, everything he has is in your power, but on the man himself do not lay a finger.” Then Satan went out from the presence of the LORD. (Job 1:9–12)

  HIDDENNESS: PART 2. God allows Satan only enough room to accomplish the very opposite of what he wanted to accomplish. He gets only enough rope to hang himself. Satan resents Job and wants him discredited and exposed as a fraud. As a result of his assaults, today Job is one of the most famous figures in history. Millions of people have read about his life and been helped by his example.

  God hates evil and permits into Job’s life only the evil that will completely defeat Satan’s intention. Yet at the end Job is never told the plan. He never learns why he suffered. The lesson: God hates evil and suffering and has a plan that will defeat it, but we can hardly see any of the plan. It is hidden too deeply for us to see much of it at all. The people around Jesus’ cross also shook their heads and said, “I don’t see how God could bring anything good out of this.”

  If you knew that your suffering was glorifying God before the angels, demons, and powers and principalities of the world, would that change your attitude toward it? How?

  Prayer: Lord, my human pride makes be feel that if I with my reason can’t perceive any good reason for this suffering, then there can’t be any. Give me the humility that will bring me the peace that comes from trusting you. Amen.

  March 15

  “Does Job fear God for nothing?” Satan replied. “Have you not put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has? You have blessed the work of his hands, so that his flocks and herds are spread throughout the land. But now stretch out your hand and strike everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face.” The LORD said to Satan, “Very well, then, everything he has is in your power, but on the man himself do not lay a finger.” Then Satan went out from the presence of the LORD. (Job 1:9–12)

  HIDDENNESS: PART 3. The story of Job conveys the highly nuanced way that godly wisdom should approach suffering. It does not give the pat answers, which are moralism and cynicism. The moralist says to the sufferer, “Somehow there is unconfessed sin in your life. You need to repent and get right with God. If you live right, your life will go right.” The cynic says, “Life is unsatisfying. Then you die. If there is a God, he’s out to lunch. You don’t owe him anything.”

  Both of these answers are foolishly simpleminded. The moralist says that the purpose of suffering is simple—it’s there to bring you back to God. Sometimes that may be, but not always. (March 16.) The cynic also says the purpose of suffering is simple—there isn’t any! Godly wisdom understands that God has purposes but they are deeply hidden. This keeps us from either the smugness of the moralist or the hardness of the cynic—and from the despair that both such approaches can bring to the sufferer.

  Have you reached the point in your life where suffering no longer calls God’s character into question? Do you trust him, even in your pain and discouragement?

  Prayer: Lord, I confess that when I was younger I was much more of a moralist and as I’ve gotten older I’m too prone to cynicism. And I see so many of my friends moving in the same direction. Save me from that trajectory! Amen.

  March 16

  “Consider now: Who, being innocent, has ever perished? Where were the upright ever destroyed? As I have observed, those who plow evil and those who sow trouble reap it.” (Job 4:7–8)

  MORALISM. Job loses virtually everything. His “friend” Eliphaz tells him that good people are blessed and wicked people cursed. So it must be Job’s fault that he is suffering. His speech sounds remarkably like Proverbs, for it is true that there is a moral order that tends to reward good and punish evil. Yet Eliphaz is a moralist who thinks nothing we get is a gift, that everything is earned. He sees the world almost as a machine that you can control with your moral behavior. With that view, every time trouble arrives, it will not just grieve you but destroy you because you will feel it is all your fault.

  Instead, we need to know three things. First, that everyone deserves condemnation (Romans 3:10–12,20,23) and so we all live only by the grace of God. Second, that when we suffer it may indeed be in part to correct us or wake us up, but not necessarily. All we know is God has hidden but good purposes. Third, we need to realize that goodness will be rewarded and evil punished, but not fully until “the day when God judges people’s secrets through Jesus Christ” (Romans 2:16).

  Can you trust God without seeing his purposes?

  Prayer: Lord, if my perspective and sense of proportion were right, I would realize that everything I experience that is better than hell is a gift of mercy from you. That truth shocks—then deeply comforts. Heal my perspective with your Spirit. Amen.

  March 17

  Yet man is born to trouble as surely as sparks fly upward. (Job 5:7)

  NO SURPRISE. Sparks fly upward from a fire naturally, so human suffering is inevitable. God told us so in Genesis 3:17–19, so we should not be shocked at suffering. Modern Western people are more traumatized by it than others. We have too much faith in our technology and our democratic institutions, and we are conditioned by our secular, materialistic culture to seek most of our happiness in fragile things like good looks, wealth, and pleasure.

  It is wise, however, to be ready for suffering. Often most of the painful emotions people experience during adversity are actually the shock and surprise that they are suffering at all. Even many Christians believe that God won’t let really bad things happen to them. But Jesus himself disproves that. If God allowed a perfect man to suffer terribly for a greater, wonderful good, why should we think that might not happen to us? “Dear friends, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal . . . as though something strange were happening to you” (1 Peter 4:12).

  How can you have fellowship with Jesus in your suffering?

  Prayer: Lord, as I read about your life in the gospels, I see you experiencing pain and rejection on every page. Yet somehow I assume that I deserve a better life than you! My heart’s foolishness is so deep when it comes to suffering. Make me ready for it. Amen.

  March 18

  “If only you would hide me in the grave and conceal me till your anger has passed! If only you would set me a time and then remember me! If someone dies, will they live again? All the days of my hard service I will wait for my renewal to come. You will call and I will answer you; you will long for the creature your hands have made.” (Job 14:13–15)

  TRUST. Contrary to what anyone knew up to that time, Job hopes for resurrection. “If someone dies, will they live again?” He asks that after God puts him in the grave, he remember him and grant him renewal. Why would Job have such hope? The answer is “You will long for the creature your hands have made.” The word “long” means yearning in love. Job is saying, “I know you love me, and I believe your love is so intense you won’t let me stay dead. That’s my hope.”

  Now, if Job knew enough about God’s love to trust him in suffering, how much more should we? We have proof that Jesus would not let even death and hell stand between us and him, even if it meant he had to enter into infinite suffering for us. And of course we have the explicit promise of the resurrection. We know he longs for us in love, and he is omnipotent. We can trust him.

 
; Do you trust Jesus, that he will either save you from your suffering in this world or save you on the other side of the grave, by resurrection?

  Prayer: Lord, when I hear in your Word that you long for me in love, it makes me long for you. You longed for me so much that you were willing to go into the depths and die for me, that I might live. That makes me able to endure what I must for you without complaint. Amen.

  March 19

  Where then does wisdom come from? Where does understanding dwell? It is hidden from the eyes of every living thing, concealed even from the birds in the sky. Destruction and Death say, “Only a rumor of it has reached our ears.” God understands the way to it and he alone knows where it dwells, for he views the ends of the earth and sees everything under the heavens. . . . And he said to the human race, “The fear of the LORD—that is wisdom, and to shun evil is understanding.” (Job 28:20–24,28)

  REFUSE TRITE ANSWERS. Full wisdom—the ability to truly understand why things happen and what they mean—is unavailable. It is hidden. Only God sees all. It is the height of wisdom to see that you can’t attain supreme wisdom. Moralists are sure that good people don’t suffer, but when they find that they do, the disillusionment is deep. Cynics fortify themselves against suffering by laughing that there is no order or purpose to things.

  But it is as foolish to think that there is no order or purpose to things as it is to think you can discern it if you try. The wise approach is not simplistic. “True wisdom . . . refuses all trite answers which suggest either that we know it all or that we can know nothing.”74 Even though supreme wisdom is not available, practical wisdom is, through the fear of the Lord. This gives you basic answers about questions of meaning, broad moral principles for guidance, and most of all the presence of God that you will need to get through life.

  If you have the loving gaze of Jesus’ face, what other circumstances do you think you need in order to be content? List them. Now repent for resting in them too much.

  Prayer: Lord, when I visit with a person who is bereaved or suffering, I am tempted to speak in spiritual platitudes. Shut me up, and teach me how to comfort the way Jesus comforts me—not with answers for every question but just with his presence. Amen.

  March 20

  “People cry out under a load of oppression; they plead for relief from the arm of the powerful. But no one says, ‘Where is God my Maker, who gives songs in the night, who teaches us more than he teaches the beasts of the earth and makes us wiser than the birds in the sky?’” (Job 35:9–11)

  SONGS IN THE NIGHT. A young man named Elihu gets up and chastises both Job and his friends. Elihu says through suffering God can make us “wiser than the birds in the sky.” It breaks our overconfidence. It shows us we have always been helpless and dependent on God—we just hadn’t seen it till now. It brings out the worst in us and can show us personal flaws to which we had been blind. It makes us more tenderhearted and understanding toward others. And it can teach you to love God for himself alone, not just for the things he gives you.

  Suffering can do all this—or leave you bitter and broken. What makes the difference? It is “songs in the night” to “God our Maker.” In the dark times, keep singing to God. Sing praise of God himself, of the good things you do have, such as salvation, that cannot be taken from you. Sing and God will be with you “your troubles to bless, and sanctify to you your deepest distress.”75

  Consider the good things that you have and that have happened to you. Why has God given those things to you? Praise him for his love toward you.

  Prayer: Father, in difficult times I will praise you for your past goodness to me, for your presence with me, and for the tremendous future things you have promised me. As I sing, “let the things of the world grow strangely dim, in the light of your glory and grace.”76 Amen.

  March 21

  But he knows the way that I take; when he has tested me, I will come forth as gold. (Job 23:10)

  GOLD. Job has had times of great darkness, in which his speech is little more than crying in pain. These spiritual valleys are inevitable for people of even the strongest faith. We must also remember that even when Job is saying things he will repent for later, he is still praying. Yes, he is complaining and crying—but to God. So never let your suffering stop you from praying and worshipping.

  Why? Because in his best moments, as in Job 23:10, Job comes to see that his suffering was not a punishment but a purification, and that if he holds on to God he’ll become pure gold. Job is saying, “God knows what he is doing; I don’t. But if I simply hold on to him, I will be refined into something great, like gold going through fire.” Job earlier had seen the suffering as pointless. Now he realizes it may be the way to become what he’s always wanted, before God, to be. “Job is saying that he is precious to God. Only valued metal is put through the fire.”77

  Is your view of God big enough to allow him to purify you as part of his love for you?

  Prayer: Lord, even when I don’t know what to say to you, I need to tell you that. In dark times, prevent me from withdrawing and just talking and thinking to myself. I pray for prayer. Give me a desire to pray and then show me your face. Amen.

  March 22

  My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you. Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes. (Job 42:5–6)

  SATAN DEFEATED. Finally God appears and speaks. He simply declares that he has created and knows all things—and no one else does. Job expects an explanation, his friends expect a condemnation, but God gives neither. The moralists are thus refuted but so, of course, are the cynics who say God is detached. The very fact that God doesn’t denounce Job proves that the suffering wasn’t a punishment. And for God even to appear and Job not be struck dead is also proof that his faith has put him in a right relationship with God.

  Job repents, but not for his sins, which were never the issue. Rather, he abandons his self-justification project, retracting his demand for an explanation. If God had given it, Job might have been tempted to obey God for the sake of all the endless fame he would be getting. Instead, Job says, “I’ll serve you just because you are you.” Job loves God for himself alone. And Satan is defeated.

  When you encounter the living God of the Bible through his Word and his Spirit, every excuse, demand, and complaint dies in your heart. He is God. He loves you. If your view of God is too small, pray for him to enlarge it.

  Prayer: Father, what I most need are not reasons and explanations but a clear sight of you—you as you are in all your holiness, majesty, and glory. Enlighten the eyes of my heart so I can see your glory by faith. And that will be enough. Amen.

  March 23

  “Who, being innocent, has ever perished? Where were the upright ever destroyed?” (Job 4:7) But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed. . . . Though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth. (Isaiah 53:5,9)

  THE ULTIMATE JOB. Like Job, we too get no full explanation for our suffering. Yet we know what Job did not—that God joined us here in our darkness, and that, though truly, perfectly innocent, he perished. Jesus also experienced the absence of God, the betrayal of friends, physical agony, and nakedness. In Gethsemane, Jesus saw that if he obeyed God fully, he’d be absolutely abandoned and destroyed in hell. No one else has ever faced such a situation. Jesus truly “served God for nothing.”

  The evil that assaulted Jesus, in the end, defeated itself. The death of Jesus for our sins means that someday God can judge and destroy all evil and suffering from the world without destroying us. “This is the final answer to Job and all the Jobs of humanity.”78 When you suffer you can know you are walking the same path Jesus walked—so you are not alone—and that path is only taking you to him.

  Are you withholding your full trust in God until you get an explanation for some bad thing that happened to you? In light
of Jesus’ undeserved suffering for you, are you willing to let go of that demand and commit your way to him?

  Prayer: Lord, just as Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were not alone in their furnace but you walked there with them (Daniel 3:25), now let me know your presence in my times of refining fire. Amen.

  KNOWING THE HEART

  Understanding the Heart

  March 24

  Do not set foot on the path of the wicked or walk in the way of evildoers. Avoid it, do not travel on it; turn from it and go on your way. For they cannot rest until they do evil; they are robbed of sleep till they make someone stumble. (4:14–16)

  ACTIONS SHAPE THE HEART. Walking on a path always takes you somewhere. Life is likened to a path because every action takes you somewhere. That is, the act changes you, making it easier for you to do it again. Eventually it becomes so natural to be cruel and selfish that you cannot rest unless you are doing it. “Sow a thought, reap an action; sow an action, reap a habit; sow a habit, reap a character; sow a character, reap a destiny.”79

  Modern people think feelings determine what we do and that it is hypocritical to act loving if they don’t feel loving. Proverbs, however, tells us that our actions shape our feelings. So if you don’t feel love for someone, don’t let that stop you. Do the actions of love, and often the feelings follow. When Jesus tells us to love our opponents (Matthew 5:43–48), he does not mean to work up warm feelings. He is telling us to seek our opponents’ good, even at a sacrifice. So start doing the actions of love—take that path—and you will see your heart changing.