When All Hell Breaks Loose: You May Be Doing Something Right — Surprising Insights from the Life of Job by Steven J. Lawson (1993)

For family devotions this year, we’re tackling the New Testament chronologically, one chapter at a time. To balance that, I’m also working through the Old Testament on my own.

I love how a chronological read of the OT takes me almost immediately to the fascinating book of Job. I’ve read the book many times, and even today, I remain somewhat miffed about his friends’ advice—when is it godly and when is it flawed?

This devotional study of Job offered occasional insights to that end, though—as it’s likely a series of published sermons—it’s more about applying lessons from Job’s experiences to the reader’s own life than it is an in-depth study of the many nuances of his “friendly” conversations.

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Brief Summary of When All Hell Breaks Loose

Steven J. Lawson takes readers chapter by chapter through the drama of God’s servant, Job, who in the earliest chapters is supernaturally attacked by Satan in what appears to be some cosmic game but is really God’s unique revelation of Himself. Job is never afforded the look behind the curtain that his readers get, so he’s never quite sure why he has to suffer so much loss and pain. Throughout the book, his friends come to “console” him, but three of them really only trash him, accusing him of living a secret life of sin and not justifiably reaping his just desserts.

Job defends himself, though he still clearly doubts the love of God—and often simply wishes he’d never been born! Only Elihu speaks reasonably, before Job gets an audience with God Himself.

Elihu brings to Job a totally different perspective on his sufferings. Job’s friends told him that he is suffering because he had committed some grievous in his life. But Elihu says, “Oh no, it’s not because you have sinned. It’s in order to keep you from sinning further and to draw you closer to your God and to teach you how God is sovereignly in control over the affairs of your life, and to show you how God does  reward the righteous. (220)

Lawson walks through this book in 13 chapters, each an apparent sermon fit with illustrations, alliterations, and applications. This is not so much a book for scholars as it is for the “average” Christian. In fact, I love that my copy carries a blurb from former Pirates pitcher, Dave Dravecky (a childhood hero of mine!) who writes:

How I wish this book had been available to me before I encountered my own trials over these past four years.

As he works through the text, Lawson asked the age-old questions: “Why do the righteous suffer? Why do bad things happen to good people?”

Is God loving, but inept or powerless – unable to overturn some hidden ironclad hand of fate and prevent our tragedies? Conversely, is God all powerful, but hard hearted and uncaring toward the polite of his beloved children? … Either way, the choices don’t look good. Not for God, not for us. Either God is loving but impotent or powerful but indifferent. Or is He both – impotent and indifferent? (13)

Is God Preparing Me for Some Personal Tragedy?

It’s these very questions quoted above that got me thinking as I read this book that perhaps God is preparing me for something big. After all, I’ve been reading The Problem of Pain by C.S. Lewis with my daughter lately, in which the author states the same dilemma (from a human standpoint): either God is all-powerful or He’s all good—He simply can’t be both at once! I also recently finished What Makes You Not a Buddhist (2007), which tackles similar discussions of suffering, though obviously from a Buddhist perspective.

If God is having me read Lewis and Lawson in order to stock up on godly advice before some terrible event, I guess I’m succeeding. But of course, I don’t like to think that way!

In all honesty, the more troubling question that arose from my reading arises from the book’s subtitle: You May Be Doing Something Right. Could it be that my current lack of suffering suggests I’m no threat to the Devil? That he’s happy for me to keep my sheep and goats and servants and kids, because these things help me stay distracted and useless?

I don’t have to tell you—those are disturbing lines of thinking! It’s far better not to dwell on “I wonders” and “what ifs,” of course. I think that’s partly what Paul is driving at in the end of 2Corinthians 1, concluding: “For all the promises of God are ‘Yes’ in Christ.”

Depression and Despair

In working through Job’s very difficult story, Lawson necessarily touches on issues of depression and despair. But as a pastor, he’s also prepared to counsel. I’ll summarize here his main counsel from Chapter 4 “I Just Want to Lie Down and Die” (66-69).

Despair is very real. I’ve been there and so have you. How can we overcome deep discouragement? Let me give you some steps.

• First, realize that even the strongest believer can become discouraged.…
• Second, we can suffer deeply on many levels at one time [physically, intellectually, emotionally, spiritually] …
• Third, discouragement can cause us to lose perspective.…
• Fourth, don’t keep your deep pain to yourself.…
• Fifth, remember that God always has a purpose behind suffering.…
• Sixth, when discouraged, take proper steps to avoid depression…

For this last one, he recommends his readers do the following:

• Memorize and meditate on scripture.
• Listen to Christian music.
• Stay plugged into Christian Fellowship.
• Find someone else to encourage.
• Have a prayer partner.
• Remember that God is sovereign.
• Maintain physical exercise.

God’s Wisdom Is Like a Tapestry

Because the book of Job opens and closes with God speaking, much of the deeper theology is limited to the early and later chapters. I absolutely loved Lawson’s illustration of God’s tapestry, a masterpiece of life He’s designed without our even knowing it. (14-15)

When Job finally hears from God in the final chapters of the book, the message is loud and clear. God has allowed Satan to buffet him both “to reveal himself to Job, and in the process, to put Job in his proper place.”

Through this interrogation, God has taught Job that He alone created everything – the heavens and the Earth, and all that is in them – and He alone controls all that He created. He alone has the right to do with his own as He pleases. He is under no obligation to explain his actions to his creation. He alone is sovereign and unaccountable to anyone.… That’s the lesson revealed by God to Job. In the absence of knowing why, Job needs only to know God. Only in seeing and knowing God will Job find the relief for which he is searching. (240)

It’s a powerful lesson that we all need to hear. Even if the sweater is ugly from our point of view, we must know that our Creator God holds the needle, and the work of art He’s sovereignly crafting is not quite finished yet.

Conclusion

Although this book seems a bit dated and—filled as it is with cliches and sermon illustrations—would be very difficult to translate, I think it was a great book for me to work through at this point in my ministry. I don’t know what troubles await me, but God does. Things could get ugly, but the tapestry He’s weaving isn’t finished yet.

Like Job, I can ask God “Why!?” but also like Job, I need to remain focused on Him. Thankfully, Job didn’t heed his wife’s advice to “curse God and die,” but instead persisted through pain and patience, and as a result, we’ve got his story still to study and emulate thousands of years later.

I love Job almost as much as I love John the Baptist—and this book was a decent read. The main thing I disagreed with, though, was Lawson’s supposition that Leviathan and Behemoth were a hippo and a crocodile! (237-239) No way! Dinosaurs and dragons were real.

That’s not a hill I’ll die on, mind you, but come on. They were real. I’d bet my ugly sweaters on it.

©2026 E.T.

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