“Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart” (Job 1:21a).
The Book of Job is likely the oldest manuscript included in the Old Testament. It is written like a story: “There was a man…” It almost ends like a fairy tale: “And they lived happily ever after…” (See Job 42:12). The book raises many questions for readers – even thousands of years later; but, as a professor at university always said, “Use the text as it is.” In other words: “There was a man…”
We do have a problem though: in Hebrew, this is largely written as poetry. We know that one does not read a poem as one reads a newspaper article. What makes it even more difficult is that we do not understand the Hebrew poem, and thus the translation reads more like a newspaper article to us. And what is the headline of the newspaper article? “Disaster strikes well-known man.” Or: “Rich man loses everything!”
Yet, the more you read, the more you begin to identify with the character. It could just as well have been your story! And that is exactly what the Book of Job does: it is your story! It is the human story. It is the story of a person who suffers. But, where a wrongdoer deserves their suffering, here the suffering is of someone who “lived blamelessly.” He was “a man of integrity.” “He loved God, and he hated evil” (according to Job 1:1).
The question this book confronts us with is precisely this: how is it possible that God can allow a child of God, a good person, to experience so much suffering? And it teaches us then: Suffering is as much a part of being human as prosperity is. SUFFERING IS THEREFORE JOY’S TWIN. But – as the well-known author, Philip Yancey, writes – “When suffering happens, it forces us to confront life in a different way than we normally do.”
PRAYER: How do You want to shape me anew in times of suffering, Lord?
MUSIC:
We watch the music video of VOCES8’s performance of composer Purcell’s song “Hear My Prayer, O Lord.”