Today I get to lecture, make that lead a discussion, about Job. I know it will be a discussion, because all my students have lots of questions about suffering. Some have suffered severely in lots of different ways. They want answers. So did Job. So do I.Job never really got any answers. His friends gave him all kinds of explanations and advice, and Job rejected it. Job was right about that. God said so. Job finally gets to talk to God, because God shows up one day after Job has asked and asked for an explanation as to why he has had to suffer so.
Instead of giving him answers, God starts firing questions at Job. Questions that Job cannot answer. Questions that were way beyond Job's knowledge and understanding. I think God is essentially saying, "You couldn't understand it all, even if I told you, so you are just going to have to trust me." Job does.
A couple of summers ago I was reading some of Henri Nouwen's writings. He said something that really helped me. I think it was the way he said it that helped me the most. He basically said that faith is the ability to live with unanswered questions and still trust God. I'm learning over and over that that is real faith. Faith that stands in the midst of darkness and confusion.
Recent weeks have been really hard for a lot of people, including me. We had a few suicides in the area and then one of our friends from New Zealand called to say that her son had committed suicide also. This was going on while I was working on a memorial service for a man who died two days short of his 50th birthday. On top of all that there were other struggles, mine and others, that were weighing very heavy on me.
During that time a blog that I read had a post that was so timely that I felt like God was sending me personal encouragement. The blog was entitled Theodicy and No Country for Old Men. It was a wonderful reflection on the movie as a way to try come to grips with suffering that makes no sense. I've seen the movie, and now I want to watch it again.
The bottom line is that true faith can only exist in a world doesn't always make sense. I believe that's what Job discovered, and that's what I am discovering over and over again. Faith that is not tested is no faith at all.
1 comment:
Here is an analogy I like to use on myself.. and only myself.. because it could make a normal person mad.. ha ha..
But if you think about it God told us to expect trouble in this world. correct?
Well if I told you that i'll sell you a car, but the car needed 1 qt of oil every morning. you'd buy it and keep 1 qt of oil for every morning. correct.
well then if we've been told that this world will give us trouble, then why not wake up every morning and expect it?? Because the days you have trouble, your expecting it. and on the days you don't have trouble.. your that much farther ahead!...
Makes sense to me.. of course that's the lighter side of looking at things.. and hurt still hurts no matter what you wake up expecting..
God is Good Baby!!!
jon goller
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