Christ's Suffering, Death and Resurrection in Our Lives and the Time of Job's Troubles by Pastor Walter Snyder Q: How does belief in the suffering, death and resurrection directly affect the way Christians live? A: Believing in Christ's suffering, death, and resurrection means believing in Jesus Christ Himself. Thus, the short answer is that the impact of these event's on the Christian life is the impact of faith in the Lord. Specifically relating to each of these, we could spend page after page without exhausting our subject matter. While a number of passages connect Jesus' passion with the suffering of His saints, Romans 5:1-5 is one of the clearest expositions of how God uses this suffering for our good. Paul notes, "We rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. (vv. 3-5)" When we believe that Christ suffered innocently on our behalf, the Spirit uses this faith to teach us acceptance of our own suffering. In our struggles, God "proves" in action what He also tells us in His Word: Our hope of eternal life and heavenly bliss is absolutely guaranteed. Likewise we know that Christ's death paid the price for our sins. In everyday life, Christians not only ~know~ and ~believe~ in His death and its benefits, through Baptism we are ~active participants~ in it (see Romans 6:1-6). Our own sins and evil desires were washed back to the cross in baptism and our daily contrition (sorrow over sin) and repentance (turning away from sin and toward good) happen as we "return to the font" in confession. Even something so simple as praying, "Forgive us our trespasses" in the Our Father is integrally connected to Christ's death on the cross and our deaths in Baptism. Practically speaking, knowing that we have already died should give us courage to truly live as Christ's people. Neither suffering nor death would be of full benefit, however, without the Christ's resurrection. Merely knowing that Christ rising from the dead means that we, too, will live eternally should inspire us to live on this earth as we hope to in eternity. Yet because of Baptism, we have an even more intimate connection, "For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. (Rom 6:5)" This already plays out in our earthly lives, because "just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. (6:4)" In Baptism, we are already God's new creation, empowered and emboldened to begin "living forever" in this life. Q: Where in the Bible can I find how long Job was tested? I have read all of Job and still can't find it. Please reply if you can help. Thank you for your time. You can't find it because it's not there. The Lord doesn't allow the duration of the testing period to be recorded, probably for several reasons based on humanity's sinfulness. The possibilities include the chance that subsequent generations would either demand an end no later than during Job's trials or that they would compare durations and take sinful pride if theirs lasted longer. Another probable reason is that the Lord wants us to focus on the nature of the affliction, Job's reaction, and God's response rather than counting the time. The time span emphasized in Job is the number of years he lived following the end of his testing and the completion of his restoration. It compares to itemized lists of Job's possessions in chapters one and forty-two. While the same number of children (seven sons and three daughters) are born to him afterwards as he had before, God expanded his material wealth: "The Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before. (42:10)" Prior to Satan's assault, "He possessed 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 yoke of oxen, and 500 female donkeys, and very many servants, so that this man was the greatest of all the people of the east. (1:3)" Afterwards,"The Lord blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning. And he had 14,000 sheep, 6,000 camels, 1,000 yoke of oxen, and 1,000 female donkeys. (42:12)." The book closes, "After this Job lived 140 years, and ... died, an old man, and full of days. (42:16-17)" This is "twice as much" as the Lord normally gives, and richer than we usually experience: "The years of our life are seventy, or even by reason of strength eighty; yet their span is but toil and trouble; they are soon gone, and we fly away. (Ps 90:10)" Scripture quotations, unless otherwise noted, are from ~The Holy Bible, English Standard Version~, © 2001 by Crossway Bibles. Ask the Pastor, © 2004 by Walter P. Snyder. It may be reproduced in totality, including this disclaimer, by anyone, provided that no profit is generated by said republication and redistribution. Translations into other languages should similarly note the United States and any appropriate international copyrights, as well as God's Scriptural injunctions concerning the property of others. Walter Snyder is the pastor of Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Emma, Missouri and coauthor of the book "What Do Lutherans Believe."