A man in court filed a restraining order against God. He claimed God had been “particularly unkind” to him and had exhibited a “seriously negative attitude.” The presiding judge dismissed the suit, saying the man needed help not from the court but from other sources. A true story: humorous, but also sad—the man needed mental help.

But are we so different? Don’t we sometimes want to say, “Stop, God, please, I’ve had enough!” Job did. The book of Job is very much a story of God on trial. After enduring unspeakable personal tragedies, Job says, “I want to argue my case with God himself” (Job 13:3, nlt). Job speaks of “taking God to court” (9:3 nlt), and he and his friends debate God’s purposes. Job even puts forth a restraining order: “Withdraw your hand far from me and stop frightening me” (13:21). Job’s prosecution argument wasn’t his own innocence but God’s unreasonable harshness: “Does it please you to oppress me?” (10:3).

Sometimes we feel God is unfair. In truth, the story of Job is complex, not providing easy answers. God restores Job’s physical fortunes in the end, but that isn’t always His plan for us. Perhaps we find something of a verdict in Job’s final admission: “I was talking about things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know” (42:3). The point is, God has reasons we know nothing of, and there is wonderful hope in that.