Field Devotional
When God Doesn't Answer "Why"
Job never got an explanation. He got something better — God Himself. Reflections from the final Bible study of a deployment, and what it means to trust when the answers never come.
Deployment Reflections | Chaplain James Drake
This week we gathered for our final Bible study of deployment.
Rather than teaching it myself, I asked one of our soldiers to lead. It was fitting. One mission was ending, and another was beginning. Discipleship is not simply receiving truth, it is learning to pass it on (2 Timothy 2:2).
As we prepared to leave one battlefield and return home to another, we opened the book of Job.
Not because anyone wanted a lesson on ancient poetry.
Because every one of us will eventually ask the same question Job asked.
Why?
For soldiers, the battle may become the difficult transition home. For others, it may be the loss of a loved one, a frightening diagnosis, financial hardship, a broken marriage, loneliness, disappointment, or dreams that never came to pass.
The setting changes.
The question remains.
Job’s Question Is Our Question
Job was described as “blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil” (Job 1:1). Yet within a matter of days, he lost his wealth, his children, and his health.
His friends thought they had God figured out.
“If you’re suffering,” they insisted, “you must have done something wrong.”
Job knew that wasn’t true.
So he wrestled honestly with God.
He lamented.
He questioned.
He grieved.
He longed for answers.
Perhaps you’ve been there.
God Doesn’t Give Job an Explanation
One of the most surprising moments in Scripture is God’s response.
When God finally speaks, He never tells Job about the conversation in heaven. He never explains Satan’s role. He never reveals all the reasons behind Job’s suffering.
Instead, God reveals Himself (Job 38-41).
Tim Keller summarized it well.
“God doesn’t give Job reasons. He gives Job revelation.”
Rather than answering every “why,” God reminds Job who He is.
The One who laid the foundations of the earth (Job 38:4).
The One who governs creation.
The One whose wisdom is infinitely greater than ours.
Job discovers that while he may never understand everything God is doing, he can trust the God who does.
The Cross Changes How We See Suffering
The greatest answer to suffering is not found in Job.
It is found at the cross.
Jesus Christ, the only truly righteous Man, willingly entered into our suffering (Philippians 2:5-8).
He experienced betrayal.
He experienced injustice.
He experienced rejection.
He experienced physical agony.
He experienced grief.
He experienced death.
This means that when we suffer, we do not cry out to a distant God who cannot relate.
We come to a Savior who understands our pain from personal experience.
Hebrews reminds us that, “We do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin” (Hebrews 4:15).
Jesus not only walks with us through suffering, He knows what suffering feels like.
God is never the author of evil (James 1:13), yet throughout Scripture we see Him accomplishing His good purposes even through the sinful actions of people. The cross is the greatest example. Humanity committed history’s greatest evil by crucifying the Son of God, yet God used that very act to accomplish our salvation (Acts 2:23, Genesis 50:20).
If God can bring redemption from Calvary, He can also redeem the darkest chapters of our lives (Romans 8:28).
That does not mean every tragedy suddenly makes sense.
It means none of it is beyond His ability to use for His glory and our good.
Returning Home
As our deployment comes to a close, I have been praying less about whether these soldiers will avoid hardship and more about how they will respond when hardship inevitably comes.
The honeymoon of coming home eventually gives way to ordinary life.
Relationships require work.
Expectations collide.
Disappointments come.
Faith is tested.
The real battle often begins after the deployment ends.
My prayer is that these men remember what Job teaches us. We do not need every answer before we can trust God.
We need to keep our eyes on Him.
Just as Peter could walk on the water only while looking to Christ (Matthew 14:28-31), we also endure life’s storms by fixing our gaze on the One who never changes (Hebrews 12:2).
One Final Encouragement
At the conclusion of our study, I presented each soldier with a challenge coin.
Inscribed on it are the words,
“Make No Peace With Evil.”
Those words are not merely about combat.
They are about the daily battle of faith.
Don’t surrender to bitterness.
Don’t surrender to despair.
Don’t surrender to cynicism.
Don’t surrender to unbelief.
Fight the good fight of faith (1 Timothy 6:12).
Keep trusting when you cannot see.
Keep worshiping when you do not understand.
Because our confidence has never rested in easy circumstances.
It rests in a faithful Savior.
The God who met Job in the whirlwind still meets His people today.
And while He may not answer every question we ask, He always gives us something better.
His presence.
His promises.
And in Jesus Christ, a Savior who truly understands our suffering.
Frequently asked questions
Why doesn't God explain the reason for our suffering?
How does the cross change the way Christians understand suffering?
If God is good, how can He use evil for good purposes?
Pastoral writing from the team at Christchurch Miami — a faith family on mission in Kendall, Miami.
