The Ministry of Presence: Pastoral Care Lessons from the Book of Job

People who are suffering often turn to their pastors, hoping to understand their experiences and seeking help with the feeling that God has abandoned them. Sometimes their faith is firm, but their souls are in pain—sometimes they're teetering on the edge of losing faith altogether. We've all heard stories about tone-deaf pastors who haven't listened, who have offered pat answers, or who have been dismissive. Those aren't exactly effective pastoral care strategies.

Would you turn to the Book of Job in caring for a suffering member of your congregation? For a book that is always billed as "about the problem of suffering," perhaps it feels like the wrong tool. Instead of exploring Job in search of a theodicy, I want to turn to it to explore presence in God's reply to Job. If God's reply is not so much a philosophical discourse (and it doesn't sound like one) as an offering of his presence, that should inform our pastoral response to suffering. Can we draw practical lessons from this change in perspective? I think so, and I'll offer seven ideas about how the church can respond.

Why the Book of Job Feels Like the Wrong Tool for Pastoral Care

I haven't heard many sermons on Job (those I have heard have been... mixed). It's a book-long stumbling block for believers, non-believers, and pastors who have to preach on it.

We all know the story: the dramatic setup with Satan coming before God, Job's undeserved suffering, Job's very unsatisfactory interactions with his wife and friends, God's dramatic arrival and speech, and then the epilogue.

A few years ago, Stu related a story on this blog about a conversation with another pastor about Job. This friend said, "You know, the end of Job isn't very satisfying for us. God says essentially, 'I am God; you aren't.'"

A lot of readers come away with this feeling. I have had more than one conversations with non-Christian philosophers who found the exchange at the end of Job profoundly disturbing and repellent. To them, God just looks like an abusive might-makes-right bully. I think that a careless preacher could do serious damage to a shaky believer's faith with a hasty interpretation of this passage.

Stu's friend then (in my view) hits the nail on the head:

What Job got was God's presence. And that was enough. He didn't need anything else.

This point is profoundly important for pastors and the Church. I want to build on Stu's friend's insight, pointing in a very practical direction for pastors. (If you find this post interesting, you may find my lectionary guide on Mark 4:35-41 and Job 38 interesting (TPW subscription content). It goes deeper into the themes of creation, chaos, and suffering in these passages than I do here.) I will be drawing on insights from Eleanor Stump's excellent book Wandering in Darkness.

Job's Real Problem: A Relational Crisis, Not a Philosophical Puzzle

Job went through the wringer. But his concern is not really theoretical. A lot of people have come to Job looking for a theodicy. But while Job wants God to answer him—the author of Job is not a philosopher or theologian—and he is not trying to solve the philosophical problem of suffering for us.

Instead, Job is a man who believes in God, loves God, and has had his heart broken. Job's beef with God is profoundly personal and relational. If you read through Job's speeches throughout the book, you'll see that, amid all of his self-justification against the attacks of his friends, he frequently uses language of presence and absence. He wants to know where to find God. He wants to come to God's seat. He wants an answer. He wants God to pay attention to him (See ch. 23). He reflects on the time when God was his friend and was with him—implying that God has abandoned him in spite of their relationship (See ch. 29).

Job perseveres in spite of it all. But how many lose their faith in the face of suffering? The feeling of abandonment in the face of suffering is one of the most powerful "darts" the enemy has to throw at us. In the loneliness of our pain, we assume (or hope) that if God loved us, he would keep us from experiencing suffering.

And while there is a theological corrective needed to counter the assumption that only good things will happen to those who are good and who God loves, it is a dangerous mistake to think that the problem is simply intellectual. The profound abandonment that a believer may feel in the throes of trauma and suffering could be so great that they conclude that the God they love must not be there at all.

And what about those who do persevere, like Job? Whose faith survives the blast of suffering, but still experiences God as having abandoned them or betrayed them? They, like Job may say:

I cry out to you, God, but you do not answer;
I stand up, but you merely look at me. (30:20, ESV)

That our loving God could simply look on as we cry out in pain is a bitter pill to swallow. The feeling that our beloved could look on and let us suffer can itself a source of profound suffering.

God's Response: Presence, Not Explanation

In Job, God knows how to make an entrance. He speaks "out of the whirlwind," saying to Job, "Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?" (38:2, NRSV)

God gives Job, feeling estranged and abandoned, his own presence. Admittedly, the divine presence is A LOT. But this is what Job needs. God re-establishes the I-thou intimacy. It's terrifying, to be sure, but if we listen to God's words, there is comfort in them.

A lot of people hear God as just saying, "I'm very big and very smart. You're very little and not nearly so smart. Don't question me." No wonder some people find this crushing or disturbing.

Some of this is the clear anger in God's words. However, deep love is consistent with anger (ask any married person). Some of this is the sarcasm (which echoes Job's sarcasm from earlier sections).

But if we look closer, God is doing something else [1]. God is telling the story of creation and his maintenance of the world. There is a lot of power. (This is God after all. And just try creating and maintaining a world without divine power.) But there is deep joy and love throughout God's speech: "the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy" (38:7). As God surveys his creation and care, he demonstrates parental care for all its parts. Even the wild animals with no practical use to humans are taken care of by God (lions, ravens, goats, deer, donkeys, etc.). (Side note: Job 38-39 provide an amazing foundation for a theology of creation care.)

The world God created is full of joy, life, beauty, and power. Above all and through all is a love and wisdom which encompasses all. Job is hardly mentioned in this vast picture. But if God cares for the needs of the lions and ravens—how much more Job? (Recall Jesus's words about the sparrows in Mt 10:29-31 and, further, Mt 6:25-34.)

Job has not seen the whole picture and admits his ignorance. But what he has not seen is that divine system of care and love, underwritten by his power. And he has this because God made himself personally present to repair what had been broken for Job.

Nor let us forget how much further God goes in the bigger picture of salvation history: he has made himself present in the incarnation and suffered as one of us.

Seven Practical Ways to Offer God's Presence to Suffering Church Members

How do we approach the person who is suffering, whose faith is teetering or who believes but struggles with feeling abandoned or unloved by God?

We can't summon a theophany so that God can be personally present to them. It doesn't work that way. Should we just preach a really good sermon on Job 38-41? No. (I mean, do preach a good sermon on Job—it's well worth doing—but don't preach at the suffering person.) That supposes that the chief problem is intellectual, not emotional/relational.

What should you do?

Ask this: what tools have you been given to help a person who needs God's presence?

The Church is Christ's body. When someone needs the personal presence of God, they need the Church to be there. What does this look like?

There are so many ways in which it could work.

Pastoral Care Ministries

Who has gifts of emotional/relational healing? Maybe it's you. Maybe it's not. Who, individually, can sit with the sufferer and be there for them? Not to preach at them. To listen. To care. To buy them lunch or coffee. To pray. Your role may only be to keep such ministries running and to set a tone of mutual care in your leadership.

Care for physical needs.

Can your church directly alleviate suffering by caring for the hurting individual? Bringing food, helping with rent, finding shelter, even connecting them with social services can be the presence of God to that person. Again, your role may just be to help lead your church to developing these ministries and highlighting their importance.

Discipleship and Prayer.

Not everyone, especially new Christians, really knows how to pray. A person who needs God's presence probably needs help talking to God. They may find presence and peace by approaching God directly in prayer. Who is there who can lead them? Beyond that, does the person know that the church cares about their spiritual welfare beyond whatever traumas or tragedies they've experienced? Is there anyone in your congregation who can call them into "normal" Christian life (not denying their suffering, but caring for the whole person)?

Worship that Reflects Real Experience

Think about how you worship. Do the prayers and songs on Sunday morning reflect the real experience of your congregation? Not everyone is doing well. Not everyone is finding it easy to trust the God they love. While there is nothing wrong with "aspirational" worship—when we sing that we are happy to be in God's presence because we want that to be so and because we want to encourage that attitude, if there is never an acknowledgement that our relationship with God can be strained without being a second-class Christian—people are alienated who most need help. Look to the Psalms. The psalmists do not lie about where they are with God. But they also move from alienation to trust. It's a powerful and honest model to look to for inspiration.

Creating Spaces for Honesty

I've been in quite a few churches. In most of them, it doesn't feel super-safe to admit that you feel abandoned by God or that you're currently furious with him. Finding people places for honesty is important. Someone who just comes to the main service and isn't connected to smaller, trust-fostering small groups isn't likely to find a place where they can be honest in this way.

Preach Jesus Christ Crucified

Jesus is our suffering God-man. He knows our pain. He is present in our worship and in our gathering together. How does the Jesus who bore our sins appear in your preaching and teaching? Does your preaching connect to those who are suffering?

Pastoral Counseling

I put this last on purpose. A pastor does have a place in communicating divine presence. They "stand in" for God at times. A pastor being present to someone can communicate the care of the church for that person. But the pastor is not God, nor is the pastor the church (I know you all know this too well!). I want the emphasis here to be on the body of Christ.

A Critical Note on Church-Inflicted Trauma

A different and careful approach must be taken with those whose suffering is or was caused by the church. How do we bring the needed personal and relational presence to those who have reasons to mistrust the body of Christ? How do you provide presence when your presence is what causes pain or which they fear?

I would recommend seeking professional/expert advice from those who understand how to help those who have suffered trauma and abuse in the church.

Theodicy Still Matters

In the midst of a deep relational/personal crisis, God made himself present to Job with a message of his great joy in and care for all of creation. I don't want to give the impression that the intellectual/philosophical problem of evil and suffering are not important—far from it. There are Christian philosophers who struggle with the intellectual side of this issue throughout their entire careers—and maybe we should talk about the pastoral use of their work at some point in the future. But much of the time the problem is not intellectual (or not purely intellectual)—and this requires a very different approach. The model of Job suggests that personal presence is important to this, though there are surely other aspects worth exploring. What I also hope you take away from this way of thinking about suffering is that it is not up to you to solve. It is not in your power to solve. The church must be the church to the sufferer. For the most part, what needs to be maintained is a healthy church with ministries that allow and encourage the members of the body to do their work and exercise their gifts.

Don't forget, if you'd like to go deeper in the text of Job, I have a lectionary guide on this site which ties together Job 38 and Mark 4:35-41. It is subscriber content, but consider TPW's 14-day Free Trial and discover what the site has to offer.

[1] As noted above, I am following an interpretation of the story of Job offered by Eleonore Stump in Wandering in Darkness (OUP, 2010). I highly recommend this book, which is an intellectual, but approachable, exploration of the problem of suffering.

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