The story of Job is one of my favorite passages of Scripture. Most people of faith are familiar with the earthly drama and the eternal struggle behind the scenes that played out thousands of years ago. Job, a righteous and God-fearing man of great wealth with a large family, became the target of Satan, who bragged that Job would curse God if He allowed Satan to wreck Job’s life.
Despite losing his earthly possessions, his 10 children, and his personal health, Job never turned his back on God. Job never renounced his faith in God. He doubted. He mourned. He demanded answers. But he never cursed God as Satan faultily predicted.
God restored Job’s health. God restored Job’s wealth. God provided Job with more children. God did not hold Job’s doubts or questions against him. The one thing God never gave Job was an explanation. In fact, when God finally answered Job, He takes him on a rhetorical tour of the universe. God’s “answer” to Job goes on for several chapters, but He essentially responded with a question of His own: “Who are you to question Me?”
Those of us who have read the account of Job’s life have taken comfort and renewed strength from it. Job’s perseverance has inspired countless followers of God to do the same when facing all types of suffering and trials.
Jack Phillips faced trials of his own—the legal kind. Jack is the owner and operator of Masterpiece Cakeshop in Lakewood, Colorado. This soft-spoken, humble man serves everyone who comes into his shop and treats his customers with dignity and respect. Though he serves all customers, he will not create all messages. This principled stand to remain true to his faith in all aspects of his life kept him in and out of court for more than a decade, with some of the troubles coming even after winning at the U.S. Supreme Court. Colorado officials and activists persecuted Jack relentlessly, but he never backed down. He never gave up. The adversity brought losses to his business and took an incalculable toll on his family.
Half a world away in Somalia, a young girl named Ayaan Hirsi Ali was born into a war-torn country. She endured the horrific practice of genital mutilation at the age of five in keeping with her grandmother’s strict Islamic beliefs. Eventually, Ayaan would escape to Europe, renounce the faith she was born into, and become one of the most acclaimed atheist intellectuals in the world.
For over a decade, Ayaan Hirsi Ali was a leading voice in the atheist movement. She spent her time with fellow atheists Christopher Hitchens and Richard Dawkins, and she subscribed to the theory that people who practiced any sort of religion were simply afraid to face the unknown. From about 2011 to 2022, Ayaan went through a period of depression. She said these struggles were very unexpected.
“I became unhappy, discontented, at a time when I’m getting married, I’m financially comfortable, I have children, I’m married to the man I love,” Ayaan said. “I was leading the sort of life you would think is what we all want … but why was I so unhappy? Why was I so depressed?
“… I didn’t turn to God because I had turned my back on God,” Ayaan said. “I turned to science. I went to psychologists, and therapists, and psychiatrists.”
Meanwhile, Ayaan heard a story that caused her to question whether atheism was as rational and tolerant as she thought.
“I was on the East Coast somewhere, and this whole story broke about some guy who didn’t want to [create] a cake and some people who were going to make him [create] a cake,” Ayaan said.
“And they were going to take him to court, and they were going to humiliate him. And to me, it was illiberal, it was intolerant, it was the very opposite of reason. It was so grotesque, I couldn’t understand it. And that was, I think for me, the first time … the seeds of doubt were sown in my mind on why atheism is absolutely wrong.”
As she has since come to know, that man was Jack, the Christian cake artist whom Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys defended in court for years. Ayaan, once among the most prominent atheists in the world, is now a Christian. Her first seeds of doubt about atheism were sown by hearing the story of a man she hadn’t met until recently.
Amid the firestorm of controversy and media scrutiny, Jack certainly had to wonder “Why?” At the height of career success but the depths of depression, Ayaan wondered “Why?” When Job lost everything, his lament and demand for an audience with God boiled down to one word: “Why?”
Perhaps the omniscient and omnipotent God allowed the trials of Job because He knew how Job’s persistent faith would be retold over and over again, becoming a balm for the wounded hearts and spirits of generations upon generations of His people—people like Jack. Perhaps God in His infinite wisdom and providential will strengthened and encouraged Jack to cling tightly to his faith because He knew, years later, it would bring doubt about atheism to Ayaan and lead her to a faith of her own. Perhaps all who face trouble, strife, hatred, and persecution should take heart that our faithful suffering may influence those around us, whether they are in the pew next to us on Sunday morning or half a world away.
Separated by years, miles, cultures, and creeds, what do Job, Jack, and Ayaan have in common? God. A God whose ways are not our ways and whose thoughts are not our thoughts—a God who can use the worst of circumstances to bring about the best for those who love Him and are called according to His will.
