The ancient poem of the Hebrew Scriptures that we call Job is a fount of eloquent wisdom on experiencing devastating suffering. Chapters one and two give the context, provide the background story, create the initial tension in the story. Chapter three is Job's first major utterance following the days of mourning. Chapter four is the initial response by one of Job's friends.
And this will be the pattern in this book - Job makes a speech, one of his friends rebukes him. Job maintains his innocence and protests mightily against God for allowing this suffering. Job's friends maintain that Job is not innocent and that God is just for punishing him.
Job whispers:
Why does God bother giving light to the miserable,
why bother keeping bitter people alive,
Those who want in the worst way to die, can can't,
who can't imagine anything better than death,
Who count the day of their death and burial
the happiest day of their life?
What's the point of life when it doesn't make sense,
when God blocks all the roads to meaning?
And friend Eliphaz responds:
Think! Has a truly innocent person ever ended up on the scrap heap?
Do genuinely upright people ever lose out in the end?
It's my observation that those who plow evil
and sow trouble reap evil and trouble.
One breath from God and they fall apart,
one blast of his anger and there's nothing left of them.
Can you identify with Job's despair? Do you agree with Eliphaz's point of veiw?
Maybe you need to read Job to help put into words what you have been feeling in your heart.
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