The question presented in Job is this: Suppose we lose everything. Why does this happen?
Early in the book, a short bit of text is dedicated to the conversation in the heavenly court, where God chats with “Satan,” or “The Adversary.” And while we are given a glimpse into the personification of this Adversary, perhaps the point is this: nothing happens that God does not allow.
In that regard, the writer is not telling us the inner workings of the heavenly court. The writer is simply locking in a presupposition of God’s authority, and prevents anyone from saying “perhaps God did not know,” or “perhaps God is weak against adversity.”
Simply stated, adversity (as personified by Satan) exists. We know this, and we must accept that God knows this. That’s our daily lived experience. But adversity isn’t greater than God. It can’t thwart God or run God out of the court of heaven.
But what if adversity is big? What if it’s monstrous? How big can it get?
So the author presents a story of a man who literally loses everything but his life. This is the greatest adversity imaginable, but we’ve already been told that adversity doesn’t surprise or knock God back. It exists within the framework of God’s authority. How can it not?
The next section of the book is a theological discussion about why. The friends represent different arguments about the causes of adversity, with the most repeated answer centering around a theme of “it’s our own fault.” It must be some hidden sin that Job has committed.
In the end, the writer (via Job, who is innocent) presents an argument that says “perhaps God should not have allowed this.” And it’s at this time that God finally responds, and He says this: “No. You do not, and simply cannot, understand why things happen.”
Then God rebukes Job’s friends. Or rather, God rebukes those arguments, because it was already established from the start that this calamity was not due to anything Job did.
The writer brings us to this conclusion: Terrible things happen. Sometimes, very terrible things happen. And sometimes, it isn’t your fault.
The tension is to continue to hold that God is just, and God is good, and God is sovereign.
And that God will make all things new one day.