To begin with, I don’t claim to be a Bible scholar. So….I’m on thin ice here. Take this for what it’s worth.
My daily reading this week includes Job. I have often thought that this book is the “wordiest” book in the Bible. The writer uses an enormous amount of florid language and repetition. So much so that my eyes tend to glaze over and I miss the key points. Moreover, the writer never seems to get around to answering my central question………Why so much suffering?
So…….the object today is to cook Job down to the essentials.
The book of Job……..abridged:
God – Job is blameless and upright.
Satan – Only because you have blessed him.
God – OK……then test him.
and Satan did.
Job’s wife – curse God and die.
Elephaz – God is good, you aren’t, do better and he’ll fix it.
Bildad – you are a worm, if you are good, God will fix it.
Zophar – you are a sinful fool.
Elihu – you are a wicked, rebellious fool.
God – your friends are the fools.
Job – my “friends” are no help.
Job – This is so unfair. God doesn’t seem to be paying attention. I know I will someday see God…….though right now I can’t find him.
God – you don’t have a clue as to what I’m up to. How can you know justice?
Job – Only God has wisdom…. the closest I can get is to fear God and shun evil.
Job – I’m sorry Lord……. you are sovereign.
And then God fixed everything.
And he never did say why.
The End
So…..the moral of the book of Job is this:
A sovereign God doesn’t owe us an explanation. We can’t expect to understand what he is doing.
And most important of all…….. we don’t get to pass judgment on what God does or doesn’t do.
WE DONT GET TO PASS JUDGEMENT ON GOD.
Our God is in heaven;
he does whatever pleases him.
David, NIV
All the peoples of the earth
are regarded as nothing.
He does as he pleases
with the powers of heaven
and the peoples of the earth.
No one can hold back his hand
or say to him: “What have you done?”
Nebuchadnezzar, after his period of insanity, NIV
But who are you, a human being, to talk back to God? “Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it, ‘Why did you make me like this?’” Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for special purposes and some for common use?
Paul, NIV