“THAT’S NOT FAIR! I didn’t do anything wrong!” I suspect that most of us have uttered that phrase to a parent, a teacher, or some other authority figure at some point in our lives. Undeserved suffering has affected all of us, and can really challenge our faith. The entire story of Job is based on the suffering of a righteous man. For most of my life I have really disliked studying Job because I like things to be fair, and Job’s suffering certainly doesn’t seem to be deserved or fair. If we dig a little deeper into the book of Job though, we see a beautiful example of integrity and faith in Job’s response to his suffering. Yes, he does get frustrated and angry… who wouldn’t in his situation? However, even in the midst of his worst suffering, Job never rejected or cursed God as Satan predicted that he would in Job 2:5. Job did accuse God of being against him (Job 6:5, 10:2-3), and he begged God to leave him alone (Job 7:16-19). However, Job never questioned God’s authority, omnipotence, or sovereignty.

            Job offers an astoundingly insightful commentary on God’s omnipotence in Job 26:14. He describes the evidence of God’s sovereignty and power in vv. 7-13. God “hangs the earth on nothing” (v. 7), sets a boundary between light and darkness (v. 10), and has the power to still the sea (v. 12). Then, in v. 14, Job states that these illustrations of God’s cosmic power are “but the outer fringe of his works [emphasis added],” a “whisper” compared to the “thunder” of his full authority and strength (NIV).

            The fringe of a garment represents the outer edge, the merest hint of the rest of the garment. The Old Testament provides examples of how humanity only had access to the outer edge of the full glory of God. The high priest had to create a cloud of smoky incense to shield himself from the full expression of God’s glory when he entered the Holy of Holies on the Day of Atonement, otherwise he would die (Lev 16:12-13). When Moses begged to see God, he had to hide in a rocky crevice and only look at God’s back because he could not survive seeing the full glory of the face of God (Ex 33:18-23).

            Job’s comments about the “outer fringe of his works” in Job 26:14 suggest that he recognizes the limits of the human capacity to understand the magnificence of the Almighty. Fortunately, God’s power is not limited by our understanding. We may only see the “fringe” of His works, and sometimes that may be because the fringe gives us what we need, or perhaps the fringe gives us all we can handle.  But remember, the fringe is only the outer edge. The full expression of God’s power and glory is beyond what we can understand on this side of heaven. With the exception of Job’s promise to be quiet in Job 40:3-5, the entirety of chapters 38-41 consists of God explaining just how limited man’s wisdom and knowledge really are when compared to the greatness of God’s own wisdom, knowledge, and justice.

            In addition to his limited understanding of God’s wisdom, Job’s understanding of his own suffering was incomplete as well. Job recognized that he was suffering greatly, and he knew that he was righteous (Job’s righteousness was confirmed by God in Job 2:3). Therefore, Job knew that his “friends” were misguided when they wrongly asserted that his suffering was due to his unrepented sin. However, there is no way that Job could have known that his example of righteous suffering was an early “whisper” pointing to the “thunder” of the righteous suffering of Christ on the cross. Furthermore, how could Job have guessed that after his friends berated him for supposedly being unrepentant and arrogant, he would eventually save those same misguided friends by interceding for them with God (Job 42:7-9)? Once again, this was an early reflection of Christ’s intercession for us. Job only saw the fringes, but God used these fringes to foreshadow the power of the coming Messiah.

            In light of the Old Testament examples of man’s inability to stand in the presence of God’s full glory, it is profoundly overwhelming to consider the degree to which Jesus humbled Himself when He came to earth as a man and interacted face-to-face with humanity. Philippians 2:7 tells us that Jesus “emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.” Yet in His humanity, Jesus did not lose His “God-ness.” He was fully God AND fully man. During the time that He walked among humanity here on earth, He revealed glimpses of His power in the signs and miracles that He performed. Perhaps one might even say that these signs were another example of mankind seeing the fringe of God’s glory and power. 

            Luke 8:43-48 is a beautiful example of humanity’s access to the fringe of God’s omnipotence. In this passage, a woman who had been ill for years literally reached out and “touched the fringe of his garment” (Luke 8:44, ESV). Not only was she immediately healed, but Jesus was aware that power had physically gone out from him, merely from the faithful action of a suffering woman touching the very fringe of His robe. Luke didn’t give us a lot of information about this woman, but he did make it clear that she recognized the authority and power of the Messiah, and her humble faith in Jesus was all she needed. She recognized Christ’s power, and He recognized her faith.

            We don’t know exactly how long Job suffered, but we do know that God confirmed his righteousness and restored everything that Job had lost (Job 42:7-17). We know that the woman who touched the fringe of Jesus’s robe suffered for twelve years before her health was restored (Luke 8:43). Job and the woman both recognized that while they may only have access to the fringe of God’s omnipotence and glory, there is power in that fringe! Friends, sometimes we are suffering and we don’t understand why. Or maybe we don’t understand why our difficulties are lasting for such a long time. When that happens, we need to hold tightly to Jesus. Sometimes we may feel so worn out that we can barely manage to grasp the fringe of His robe. Well, grab that fringe and hang on! God didn’t let go of Job. He didn’t let go of the woman in Luke 8. He’s not going to let go of you and me.