Lessons from Job

The life of Job is one that many people have connected with and found solace from through the centuries. It is an odd book to me, in that it most scholars agree that it predates God's covenant with his people and deals with great challenges of life and faith without really resolving much of the tension that comes from the question of suffering and evil and the presence of God. Perhaps the wise folks that kept it as part of the canon made the best choice to let it speak for itself. I told our college leadership this week that the struggle for most people is we want nice, tidy resolutions to matters of life, faith, and the problem of evil. The Book of Job doesn't really give that to us...rather it gives us the knowledge that God is present even when we feel like he isn't. Is it possible that Job's statement in chapter one is the ultimate answer to suffering, pain, and the problem of evil. If my theology didn't allow for a high view of God's sovereignty there would be many times I would despair and feel all hope is lost...yet hope is the one thing central to the message of the Christian faith, without it when we find ourselves like Job our response is more likely to be that of his wife and friends. He said, “I came naked from my mother’s womb, and I will be naked when I leave. The LORD gave me what I had, and the LORD has taken it away. Praise the name of the LORD!” In all of this, Job did not sin by blaming God. (Job 1:21, 22 NLT)