Job is the Shakespeare of the scriptures and if for no other
reason needs to be read for the creative way the anonymous author addresses the
age old question of why bad things happen to good people. Of course the answer
is we don’t know or in Job’s words, “I've spoken of things I did not understand…”
(Job 42:3) But in chapter 19 Job is still complaining and maintaining he is
innocent (which ironically he is) and trying to figure out why God has taken everything
from him so that even little children despise him. (19:18) But just when you
think he’s finally going to listen to his wife’s advice (just curse God and die
– 2:9) Job returns to the hope that even if everyone else has abandoned him God
has not. Job is not so much a lesson about patience – unless patience allows
for loud lamenting and bitter complaint – as it is about remaining in relationship
with God even when everything indicates God no longer cares about you. It’s either faith or stubbornness but then maybe in Job's case they’re the same thing.
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