Job and his friends
Job and his friends hold a special place in my heart. Something about their tedious pontification and God’s eventual response brings me a degree of comfort that few other biblical portraits offer. First of all, it’s just so awkward. Who can’t relate? There they are – trying to figure out why, trying to assign blame… Who is wiser? Who needs to be humbler? Who can speak with authority? No one, says God. Stop! Knowing the way it ends makes my toes curl as I read through all their conversations. I feel embarassed for them. I know that they are me.
Second of all, there’s the happy ever after ending. This sometimes makes me mad. How in the world can God just “make up for it” like that? And, if he can, why in the world won’t he do that for me? Where’s my blessing? And there I go again, sounding like an idiot.
At the end of the day, I admit this: I come down on the wrong side of the whole biblical anecdote. I don’t get Job, who do I really relate to? His friends. Job says “though He slay me, still I will praise Him.” I say things like: What the hell is God thinking? And, even better, more recent, and humbling to see in print: “I just think God is wrong!” Yes, I did say that.
I can’t pretend that I’ve fully repented of that attitude. But I want to! I want to praise God, to tell Him I love him and how wonderful He is, in the middle of my tragedies and pain. This is the kind of trust that saves me. The few times that I have done this, I feel a peace that – as they say – passes understanding.
Where’s my blessing? He’s it.
Faith and Sight 