I know that you can do all things; no purpose of yours can be thwarted. -Job 42:2, NIV 2010
Not necessarily life works in that order; it doesn’t need to. Not necessarily does everyone have to be subject to that order, no one needs to. Tell that to Job: the Bible’s leading man on suffering. He never expected so many calamities to catch up on him! What a poor, righteous man!
His friends didn’t help him, his wife didn’t help him, and he even thought God wasn’t helping him. (Job even cursed the day he was born- a stone’s throw away to blaspheme Him.) It looked like Satan was creaming Job –actually, God gave him permission to do so. Even with all those calamities, he lobbied for his righteousness amidst the nay-sayings of his friends.
One striking thing: Job never questioned God; he just wanted to hear His voice and answer. (God don’t do why’s, huh?) When God displayed Himself in glory, however, He responded to Job with questions. Isn’t HE the One that created the leviathan? Isn’t HE the One that transformed creation? Isn’t HE the One that sent Him the trial He sent to Job? It wasn’t because of “mighty pleasure”…
It was because of Love.
It takes fire to purify gold. So does it takes someone willing to be purified. For God is Love, and Love always has a purpose in our lives.