A God-ward Perspective

Excerpted with permission from the The Melody of Grace Bible Study by Whitney Capps. Copyright 2026, Lifeway Press.

Throughout my journey of cancer, people have said to me, “Can you imagine how people go through this without faith in God?” I understand what they mean. But can I be honest? I’ve prayed almost daily that God would rid my body of cancer. Five years and three recurrences later, God’s answer to my plea for healing has been “no.” I’ve never doubted that He was able to physically heal me. He is all-sufficient, all-powerful, and only good. But up to now, He’s chosen not to do so.

So, here’s the painful truth of my story and maybe yours. There’s a certain kind of grief that comes from having a faith that knows God could spare you the suffering you’re enduring, and yet He chooses not to.

How do we live in His sustaining grace while shouldering that kind of pain and disappointment? Do we withdraw? Pout? Rant and rail? Praise? Lean into the pain? All of the above? That’s a tension Job knew well. Let’s learn from our suffering friend.

In Job 1:6-11, God allowed Satan to take from Job whatever Satan wanted except for Job’s life. And Satan did. Tragedy struck and Job lost livestock, servants, even his own children.

Job’s suffering was not over. After another confrontation with God, Satan was allowed to afflict physical harm on Job, covering his body with boils (Job 2:1-8).

Job remained a man of integrity despite the suffering he endured. He did not sin or blame God, instead Job testified to the character of God.

Too often, the focus of our testimonies is on us—what we faced, what we experienced, what we learned. However, Job testified not about his experience or his faithfulness but rather the actions, purpose, and character of God. This means our testimonies can begin at the outset of our suffering. We don’t have to wait on the outcome or resolution to proclaim God’s goodness. We don’t have to fully understand God’s purpose to testify that He has one. Turning our hearts toward the character and faithfulness of God transforms our suffering from being only about us to being more about God and His glory.

The responsibility and choice to fight for a God-ward perspective in the midst of suffering takes grace. Grace to see God’s goodness and feel His presence even and especially as we suffer. Grace to proclaim true things about His character. This is not easy to do. Often, we lose our grip on grace. The noise of suffering can drown out all we know to be true. One help for us in times like this is for friends to remind us of truth. Job had friends, but they didn’t help turn his heart toward grace. Their voices were out of tune with the character and consistency of God.

Let’s take Job’s friend, Eliphaz for example. His first speech in response to Job’s suffering appears in Job 4:1-9.

In verse 6, Eliphaz said Job should find confidence in his own piety and integrity. But friend, we know our hope is always external to us. It is in Christ and His work on our behalf.

Then in verses 7-8, Eliphaz counseled from his own experience and proclaimed that the reason Job was suffering had to be because Job had sinned. After all, the innocent and upright are never punished (which as we learn in Job’s story is not true). Let us always look to God’s Word as the filter for experiences. Let us be cautious before we listen to a friend like Eliphaz or are friends like Eliphaz. Grace won’t be found in our holiness or built on our experiences.
Sadly, Eliphaz wasn’t done. In 5:17, he stated:

While it’s true that God does correct and discipline His children, Eliphaz wrongly implied that God had afflicted Job as discipline for disobedience.

At any time, but especially when we are suffering, half-truths wholly hurt. God may choose to discipline His children, but Scripture attests that though Satan had God’s permission, it was not God’s hand that struck Job. And Job’s suffering was not a result of his sin. Much of the conflict and frustration in the book of Job stems from his friends’ faulty theology. His friends gave us a glimpse of what grace isn’t. They treated grace as a thing that is contractual, obligatory, and able to be manipulated. They saw it as a fail-safe against suffering.

Over and over, for thirty plus chapters, Job’s friends and even Job himself speculated, indicted, and pretended to know what God was doing and why. Despite all their philosophizing, they had not arrived at the truth. However, in chapter 38, truth began to speak.

When God spoke in Job 38, He didn’t explain Himself. He revealed Himself. God’s reply to Job encourages me to implement the following in my own life: In seasons of suffering, rather than obsessing over what God is doing and why, I want to seek out who God is. For even if I get the why, I may struggle to find peace and grace in that purpose. However, I can always find love, peace, and grace in the character of God.

The sustaining grace we receive in suffering isn’t necessarily found in knowing what God is doing, knowing how things will all work out, or even in the strength to persevere. Those can be glimpses of grace, but the real sustaining grace is God Himself. We get more of Him.