There’s nothing more inevitable in life than suffering, and the book of Job faces this issue in a way no other part of the Bible does, and maybe no other work of world literature does. Over these several weeks we’ve seen Job confused and angry, crying out to God in prayer, arguing with his friends. Two things keep coming up through all that. Job says, “I don’t want to suffer without explanation, and I don’t want to suffer without vindication.”

Those are the two things he demands, and at the end of the book God gives Job exactly what he is looking for, though not in the way he expects.