Troubles are not Always the Consequences of Sins

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Job 4:7-9 “Consider now: Who, being innocent, has ever perished? Where were the upright ever destroyed? As I have observed, those who plough evil and those who sow trouble reap it. At the breath of God they are destroyed; at the blast of his anger they perish.”

Here, one of Job’s friends, Eliphaz, is telling Job that his suffering is caused by his sins. He is telling Job that he is reaping what he sow and that no innocent person has ever perished. But is this true? Are our troubles only caused by sins? Did Eliphaz ever heard about Abel? Did Abel deserve or cause his own death when slain by Cain?

Eliphaz’s conclusion is one that many hold in all ages – If something goes wrong with a person then that person must have caused it. In Hinduism and Buddhism and other related beliefs, they call it Karma. In Christianity, this is called “reaping what you have sown. Now it is true that you do reap what you sow, but it is not the case of Job! Job’s friends couldn’t get past this. They will probe and probe trying to get Job to ‘confess’ to some hidden sins that he is holding onto because they just cannot see any other reason for his suffering. Some churches hold a similar theology. Except if they can’t find something hidden by the actual person then they say it may have been something from past generations! Argh… That is about as helpful as Job’s friends were!