If I am wicked, woe to me!
But if I am righteous, I dare not lift up my head.
I am full of shame, and conscious of my misery.
And should my head be high, You would hunt me like a lion;
And You would show Your power against me again.
You renew Your witnesses against me
And increase Your anger toward me;
Hardship after hardship is with me. (vv. 15-17)

When God created Adam and Eve, they were slaves to God. God did not tell them or make them understand His plan and purpose of all creation. They were to obey God but rebelled against Him.

But like Adam they have violated the covenant; There they have dealt treacherously with Me. (Hosea 6:7)

It was not God’s intention that He would keep them as slaves forever. Through Jesus Christ, the remnants of Adam’s descendants are made the children of God. The (invisible) church is the purpose of all creation.

For though your people, Israel, may be like the sand of the sea, Only a remnant within them will return; A destruction is determined, overflowing with righteousness. (Isaiah 10:22)

The church goes through much suffering just as Christ did. At the appointed time, the end will come. And we, the children of God, will live a new life in a new world.

The beginning of the suffering was from Adam’s sin. And since then, the whole human race has been confined under sin. Jesus Christ came to take away our sins.

But the Scripture has confined everyone under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. (Galatians 3:22)

But your wrongdoings have caused a separation between you and your God, And your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not hear. (Isaiah 59:2)

The next day he saw Jesus coming to him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! (John 1:29)

However, this is only a superficial reason why Jesus Christ came. The main purpose of Christ’s coming was to change our hearts. This is the promise of the New Covenant. We are born again as the children of God.

“Behold, days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant which I made with their fathers on the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them,” declares the Lord. “For this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” declares the Lord: “I will put My law within them and write it on their heart; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. They will not teach again, each one his neighbor and each one his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them,” declares the Lord, “for I will forgive their wrongdoing, and their sin I will no longer remember.” (Jeremiah 31:31-34)

Adam and Eve did not understand God, and their lack of knowledge was the beginning of the rebellion. One understands God only when he/she has the Spirit of God. The Son came to make us know God, and we are one with God through the Holy Spirit. Without understanding this, Christianity is dead. Theologians and ministers focus on the law and the punishment.

Everyone sins and none escapes from God’s judgement. We are sinners and will remain guilty. Whatever we do right won’t be good enough. Even though we try hard to keep God’s commands, disasters still come. What is the point of keeping God’s commands? This is Job’s argument.

Is God guilty if He brings disasters to the innocent? Without suffering we do not know God. If this is how God strengthens His children and makes Himself known to us, suffering is good even though we dread it.

We no longer serve God as our Master. We are no longer slaves. We serve God as our Father. There is no more guilt or fear but love.

There is no fear in love, but perfect love drives out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love. We love, because He first loved us. (1 John 4:18-19)