Recently I have been reading the book of Job (though not as frequently as I would like). I have read this book a few times before. I like it but I'm not sure why. Parts I understand. Other parts completely lose me. The beginning of the book is an interesting narrative between God and Satan. Satan has been roaming the earth and he comes to see God. They kind of have a contest and use Job as the guinea pig. God points out Job saying that "there is no one like him on earth; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil." First of all, can you even imagine being singled out by God as the gold standard of what He is looking for in a servant???? I mean, this is God we are talking about. I'm happy if my mom says something nice about me. This is God, creator of everything and He points out Job. Amazing. Anyway, Satan thinks that Job is so great because God has blessed with lots of money and property. He probably has a place in the Keys. A ski cabin in Vail perhaps. He is blessed. So God allows Satan to take away everything and I mean EVERYTHING (read Job 1:13-18 - it's the worst day ever) except his health. And how does Job respond:
"Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I will depart. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised."
What? There is a whole string of things I would say (and sadly some I have said) to God if this happened to me. Heck, if ONE of those things happened to me, I would have flown off the handle. But Job knows his place and has an outlook on his life that few others do. I guess that's why God points him out in the first place.
So Satan comes back and says, "Well, I couldn't hurt him physically so that' s why he had that great line about being naked or whatever. Let me hurt him and he will turn." God agrees but says that Satan can't kill Job. So Job gets hit with this nasty skin disease that involves boils and scraping them with broken pieces of pottery. Sounds like a party to me!
The crazy thing about this book is that it isn't a cutesy story in a fairy tale. This is in the Bible. The best selling book of all time by far. The book that is "God-breathed". The Word of God.
A few things jumped out at me about these first few verses. First of all, who recorded this interaction between God and Satan? Who found out about it? I did a little research. One commentary I have says that Job is most likely the author of Job (makes sense). Another says he is definitely NOT the author. Another commentary online says that there were TWO authors - one who wrote the narratives at the beginning and end of the book and another who wrote the poetic middle - sort of the Lennon and McCartney of Job. So the answer is......who knows? My guess is that there was not a reporter in heaven recording the events of God and Satan and then emailing them to her editor to record in the Bible.
Another thing that jumped out at me deals with the interaction between God and Satan. God ALLOWS Satan to do certain things to Job but gives him parameters. It's almost as if Satan has to ask for permission to do things. This is an interesting concept. We wonder why things happen in the world - September 11th, the genocide in Africa, the whole priest molestation atrocity (or should I say atrocities). Is God not in control? If He is, why does He let this stuff happen? The age old question of "why do bad things happen to good people?"
I have a few thoughts on this but I am going to open it up. Believe me, this was not where I thought I was going when I started this post. However, now I would like to have those of you who read this blog (and if you want to pass it on, feel free), throw in your two cents.
The way I have read it, Job has three main parts. I alluded to them earlier. The narrative at the beginning, the poetic interaction in the middle between Job and his friends and the narrative at the end. Because I don't have eight hours to type and you don't have 8 hours to read what I type, I will break my posts up and cover each section individually. I basically covered Job 1 and Job 2 up to verse 8.
I would love to hear from you about this. This post is sort of change of pace from my usual ramblings but I thought I would hit something a little bit deeper and get you (and me) to think a little.
Thanks for reading and I hope to hear your thoughts.
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2 comments:
You should chat with Tracy on this one. He just finished a class that dealt with the topic of suffering. (And ironically, was in the middle of reading a book called "Why does it have to hurt" on the night he hurt his back at church.) :)
Anyway, I thought it was about time to comment...since no one else seems to want to touch this topic at Christmas time. :) "Why do bad things happen to good people."...(doesn't mom have a book titled that?)...not that I have a lot of wisdom or experience in real suffering, I know that God often allows people to experience pain and hurt in order to teach them. it sucks at the time and you want to just "curse God and die" but it all goes back to the overquoted truth that God is in control, He knows what He's doing, and there's got to be SOME reason for it. It might be a "christianese" answer but it's truth. It would be wonderful if God let us go through life without suffering but then it wouldn't be life...it would be Heaven. And then when we get to Heaven, how much would we appreciate it?? Probably not much.
Like i said, not a lot of experience or wisdom talking here...just random thoughts. But I thought you could use a comment.
thanks for your sharing your thoughts ryry...you're good people! :)
You beat me to it, Jen. I've been meaning to comment on this one for some time, but hectic holiday craziness...well, we all can use that as an excuse for nearly everything for the next few weeks..
Anyway...the book of Job has been a revelation to me at several critical points in my life--and I even had a counselor once tell me to read the Psalms instead of Job, it was making me too cynical. :) In fact, Job's life & story is an excellent reality check for what in the world God is doing in the world. The best answer it offers is...we cannot figure God out & really shouldn't try. Understanding God & His ways is most often a waste of time & energy--He's God, we're not & that's it. It sounds cold, but we (Americans? Spoiled upper middle class Christians?) seem to think we can handle life's circumstances better if we "know" what God's up to, as if He should have at least consulted us first.
God has graciously revealed Himself in His Word and in His Son, which gives us much more insight into His ways than poor Job had. And yet we still question "Why this & why not that?" and nearly all of this questioning relates to our own uncomfortable, even tragic, life circumstances. I submit that our "whys" are not questions for information or understanding, but cries of real pain and disappointment.
Let me be a mom for a minute...(and believe me, you WILL understand God better when you are a parent, that metaphor is no accident). Imagine a little boy, happily immersed in playing Atari games, or with Legos, or Fisher Price farm set. Suddenly Mom comes swooping in out of nowhere (or so it seems) to spoil the fun, and insists he stop playing & worse, CLEAN UP! Pure torture for a little guy, and naturally triggering tears & anguished cries of "Why?" "I don't want to!" "Don't you love me?" or even "I hate you!" Certainly from his perspective, it's a terrible situation and he is NOT happy. He has no frame of reference about the importance of nap times or Grandma coming over or (a tough one) the fact that the world doesn't revolve around his having fun, maybe he (or Mom) has to go to the dentist or something equally nasty. :) Yet, these are all events for his benefit.
Point being, Mom could try to explain this to him (and probably should try to offer an age-appropriate answer), but it's unlikely he'll say, "Oh well, then, that explains it. I'll clean up & be ready to go in a jiffy!" More likely, any explanation would be met with more (& louder) "whys" or wheedling reasons why it's better for him to keep playing. Which is why the "Because I'm the Mom/Dad" answer is so popular and you will use it effectively yourself, trust me. Notice any parallels?
One sidebar--that "why do bad things happen to good people?" bit. Definitions are important here.
First, often what's "bad" turns out to be good (see Genesis 50:20 & Romans 8:28). Second, "good" people? Jesus says none is good except God in heaven. (think what a crummy life Jesus had here on earth & He WAS God!) The problem is the premise--that if we're "good"-don't kill, don't steal, don't cheat, go to church every Sunday, be nice to the crummy neighbor/co-worker--then God owes us a nice, easy, fun life. And boy, do we get ticked off when He doesn't keep His end of the bargain. Agh--it's heresy!
This is not to say that some things that happen to us on this earth are not absolutely, truly horrible. We are not just a bunch of whiners (usually), we really DO suffer. But we need to get to the point where we realize this life is NOT about our comfort or pleasure, it's about being used by God to accomplish His purposes in the world, even if it hurts us personally sometimes. It's about relinquishing our "right" to know & understand, and trusting, often without an obvious reason (which is true faith) that God is good, His ways are ultimately good and right & for our benefit. He is under no obligation to explain Himself and we wouldn't get it if He did.
I just realized that your post was only related to Chapters 1-2, so I've overstepped the areas you were focusing on, but it's hard to segment a topic like this one. As you can tell, I've gleaned a lot of hardearned truth from this book and there's lots more yet to be uncovered, I know. I'll look forward to your observations & impressions in future posts.
P.S. I say nice things about you all the time--you are a treasure to us, Ry.
Love you lots, Mom
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