#11 Job Concluded

Posting will not be possible for the next three days as I’ll be away at camp for the weekend. So, here are my final thoughts on Job.

God has been patiently waiting off stage while the smartest men of the age put their minds to work on solving the great mystery of human suffering. He has let them have their say and now He moves in and addresses them.

He addresses them, but interestingly, He doesn’t address the problem of suffering. He doesn’t explain why this has happened to Job. He doesn’t tell the characters in this drama the back story of His wager with Satan. Instead, He declares His glory and defends His position as the loving, wise and all powerful Creator. In the end, Job is put to silence. He does not fill his mouth with arguments as he said he would, but puts his hands over his mouth and confesses that he has already said too much.

The friends of Job are told that they have said that about God which is not true and Job is obliged to offer prayers on their behalf. In the end. The problem of pain and suffering boils down to this. We either trust God or we don’t. In the midst of our deepest pain and unanswered grief we will either believe that God is both wise and good or we will not. This is the test of faith. It is the test that Jesus has shown us how to pass. May we follow in His footsteps through the garden of Gethsemane all the way to Calvary and in the end commit ourselves into the Father’s loving and capable hands.