The Book of Job: Practical Theodicy

July 19, 2026

Pastor Nate Roschen

This week we move from one difficult book to another. In Ecclesiastes we dealt with a number of issues that are universal to the human experience: The inability of worldly pleasures to satisfy us, and the tension that exists in a world where the wicked seem to fare just as well as those who strive to do good. We saw a man who acquired things, great wealth, family, possessions and positions. We saw him flounder, finding everything, ultimately, to be meaningless, a chasing after the wind. He deemed only one thing to be worthwhile, obedience to God. Now, we turn to Job. A man who had everything – and lost it. It’s here that we find a deep-rooted and practical theodicy – a theology of suffering. When bad things happen to us – we ask the same question that Job and all of his friends were asking: Why? We ask this question, not into the void – but to God. Join us as we explore Ecclesiastes’ opposite. -Pastor Nate Roschen