Archive for the ‘Suffering’ Category

Day 222: Job 38:1-40:2 — “Prepare Yourself To Answer God’s Questions!”

Tuesday, August 10th, 2010

It seems that all of us go through some trying times and it is easy to make whiny little questions about what God is doing. Yet, it is a whole different thing to prepare oneself to come face to face with God and allow Him to question us. Too many people go through life complaining, questioning, arguing, and never stopping to listen to God or answering His questions.

I have always loved this section of Job. It made a big impact on me when I was younger. In one of my times of suffering, I was reading the Bible to find comfort. I was always told growing up that God would comfort me when and if I read His Word. I was reading Job and I expected that after all that Job went through (I was really thinking about me) that God would appear and console me…I mean Job. Instead of the comfort I wanted or expected I came…I mean Job came in contact with God in His Glory, Majesty, and Holiness. Go ahead read Job 38:2-3.

I know in my wallowing in self-pity and sorrowfulness, these words made me sit up. It may be time for us to answer a few questions. As you listen to the Almighty God ask a few simple questions throughout chapters 38-40, you might begin to squirm like I did. Then it should hit you (see Job 40:2).

WHO IN THE WORLD DO WE THINK WE ARE TO ARGUE WITH GOD? “SHALL A FAULTFINDER ARGUE WITH THE ALMIGHTY?”

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Day 210: Job Chapter 7 — “God why are you after me?”

Thursday, July 29th, 2010

My mom had schizophrenia and our family struggles were great and compounding our struggles came the day when it seemed as if God was piling on greater suffering upon suffering. As a young teen, I was informed that my seven year old brother was run over by a truck and would not live. I understand Job’s bitterness. I have expressed some of the same words Job penned. Job and I and maybe you too have succumbed to the unchallenged worldly assumption that extraordinary suffering is to always be understood as the action of God, specifically a response to sin (Job 7:20-21). For a woman at our church reminded my mother and I that our sins caused the death of my brother. We are often left to conclude God is after us and it is unfathomable.

Job models for me a deeper theological reflection that begins by reminding us of the realities of life. Job models a realistic but incorrect view of God who provides inexpressible suffering. These issues have always left me wondering why God would ever inspire a book to be written that would in so many ways possibly make Him look bad. Yet, I have come to the conclusion that God is helping us process the pain of suffering and He acknowledges our pain and bitterness. How does someone who is angry and feels alienated speak about God or to God? If you have experienced excruciating pain, you too know the difficulty in talking calmly to God, praying, singing cheerful songs, or dealing with a friend who has no idea what you’re going through, while commanding you to repent of your sins. God is not so shallow and He provides us with Job chapter 7. It is honest, realistic, and provides me with catharsis. It does not satisfy all the questions but nothing ever really does. Sometimes venting helps.

So Job is suffering and he expresses himself. Yet, in this uncomfortable speech we overlook an important verse. Job acknowledges that God will search for him (Job 7:21). Job makes a dig at God that he may not be there when God finds him but he knows God will seek him out. Job may not be using what we may call Christian language and it may even be seen as blasphemy. Yet, his words show that his conversation with God is far from over. Isn’t this the beginning of restoring a relationship? We all know God will come after us. We know God is not finished with us yet.

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Day 208: Job 1:1-3:26 — There is more here than the “patience of Job!”

Tuesday, July 27th, 2010

In our reading today, there was once a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job. We are beginning a journey in Job that will travel past the iconic cliché of a sufferer who endures without complaint. Yet, focusing on just the “patience of Job” may limit our understanding and thwart our reflection of a more complex figure. The book begins with just such a portrayal of Job as the pious, who patiently endures calamity. Remembering the type of wisdom literature provided us by God may help us recognize that Job provides us with contrasting characteristics when he rebels, confronts the piety of his friends, and boldly accuses God of injustice. Traditional interpreters have often been embarrassed by Job’s unrestrained blasphemies. In modern interpretations, our culture focuses on the dreadfulness of the suffering and adds fodder to a mindset that wants to blame God for allowing these atrocities — which is often just a projection of blame because of our own struggle with suffering. Yet an attempt to proclaim Job as the patron saint of religious rebellion creates further humiliation when God questions Job at the end of the book and Job recants his blame against God.

Job is a complex book and does not provide simplistic answers. Our job (no pun intended) is to explore the issues of the motivation for piety, the meaning of suffering, the nature of God, the place of justice in the world, and the relationship of order and chaos in God’s design of creation. Are you up for the challenge? As we begin, please read with reflection, take your time, spend a lot of time in prayer, and remember God is not giving us some easy explanation of suffering but something really to think about.

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