A dear friend of mine recently introduced me to her daily dose of devotional inspiration from a minister named Rick Warren. Pastor Warren’s message today described how to turn setbacks into comebacks. And while we all experience setbacks, such as the loss of progress, a failed plan or reversal of good fortune, Pastor Warren gave hope that we can all turn these events into comebacks, rather than wallow in misery, unable to put these events behind us.

He began by identifying the suffering described in the book of Job and specifically he described the degree of suffering that Job sustained, yet never wavered in his faith and confidence that Yahweh would eventually put an end to his suffering, even if that meant the ending would result in his death. The entire time, he accepted responsibility for all of the perils that were wrought upon him and never once cast blame elsewhere or cursed Yahweh.

Setting the scene: Job was the richest man in the world. He had abundance of cattle, sheep, property, wealth and his reputation was known worldwide as a huge success. If he were to lose everything he’d worked for all of his life, it would break the average person, or at the minimum, cause him to curse his heavenly father for bringing all these evils upon him; things he did not deserve. Pastor Warren drew parallels with modern man and how much suffering there is in the world, saying that while suffering is definitely an awful struggle, can you just imagine being Job and going what he went through?

Job’s suffering came in the form of losing all of his family members to death by violent attacks from outsiders, leaving only one person to escape and relay this awful news to Job. This did not deter Job from his devotion to Yahweh. Later, all of his sheep were consumed by fire, yet Job remained steadfast, believing that each loss was a result of his own personal failings and he continued to praise Yahweh and accepted personal responsibility for falling short, in ways he wrestled to understand. He remained undeterred even after he developed a terrible, painful disease which tormented him day and night, both externally and internally.

As Pastor Warren continued his devotional, he emphasized that because Job endured all these hardships–putting it mildly–and remaining confident that Yahweh would provide him with the answers, whether in this life or the next. Job not only survived, after his suffering finally ended, his former affluence and abundance was returned to him in greater numbers than before! This was evidence of how important faith is while we each go through our personal trials. Job himself described his ordeal here:

Job 30:26–“When I looked for good, then evil came unto me: and when I waited for light, there came darkness. ²⁷ My bowels boiled, and rested not: the days of affliction prevented me.”

I became curious about the description of evil coming upon Job but no explanation about its origin. Pastor Warren concluded that we all are capable of coming back from setbacks because none of us has ever suffered like Job, and throughout the remainder of his devotional, he offered a step-by-step plan to turn these setbacks into comebacks, which I found valuable.

When the message ended, I wondered why he didn’t include the reason why Job was forced to suffer the way he did. In fact, that explanation is presented at the beginning of the book of Job, in chapter one. In it, Satan challenged Yahweh by saying that Job is only a faithful servant because he is so prosperous and blessed with so much property and material possessions. He said that if he tormented Job, eventually he’d break and curse Yahweh for all of these evils to occur to him. Yahweh’s response?

Job 1:12–“And Yahweh said unto Satan, Behold, all that he hath is in thy power; only upon himself put not forth thine hand. So Satan went forth from the presence of Yahweh.”

All of the curses that came upon Job did not merely “happen” to him. Yes, Satan caused it to happen but it was Yahweh who permitted Satan to do it. It is not a stretch to say that Yahweh was responsible for all of Job’s loss of family members, loss of property and loss of wealth. Satan was simply the instrument through which Yahweh worked. Had not Yahweh granted Satan permission to bring all this harm upon Job, Satan’s hand would have been restrained and nothing in Job’s life would have perished as a result.

To most people, this seems incomprehensible because they’ve been taught for all their lives that Yahweh is incapable of doing anything evil. “He can only do good!” they shout. And in this case, they’d be wrong. The Bible itself tells us that evil is not just something that happens. It is an actual creation of Yahweh himself. Don’t believe it?

Isa. 45:7–“I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I Yahweh do all these things.”

And while this may frighten people, imagining that the concept of EVIL is an actual creation from our father in heaven, there is actually a wonderful silver lining to this fact. Remember, Yahweh knows us, loves us and is fully aware of the degree of each person’s inner strength. My dad used to tell me that our heavenly father would never give anyone a trial that was too big for them to handle. Weak people experience insignificant trials. Strong people experience the greatest hardships. Armed with this knowledge, whenever I would face adversity…something that none of my other friends seemed to be going through…it steeled my resolve to overcome that obstacle and a inner confidence, knowing that Yahweh has challenged me because he understands what I’m capable of better than I do myself.

This brings us back to the story of Job. The man had to have an inner strength unlike anyone who’s ever lived, before or since. Yahweh only permitted Satan to try and break him as validation of what a righteous man and devout believer Job actually was. He already knew, in advance, that he would bless Job beyond measure when his suffering ended.

Thus, whenever any of us experience setbacks in our lives, rest assured that Yahweh has your back and already knows what awaits on the other side. That promise applies equally to the millions of people who suffer in silence who don’t know Yahweh or have rejected him from their lives. And with a growing population of people who subscribe to zero faiths, we’re seeing an exponential increase in the physical evidence of misery and suffering in this country–something that used to be the sad identity of impoverished 3rd world countries, but it’s become extremely common here. The good news is, salvation awaits and will be here soon, ending the human suffering that is getting worse by the day.

But it really stinks, having to suffer first.