The life of St Job denounces my faith (or what I call this word). It is like a mirror I look at & see how much my real image differs from the one I actually see there. When we look at the mirror & see our reflection, and we face the reality – we are dissatisfied with what we see there…there are options for us: either avoid looking there, better – hide this mirror somewhere we can hardly find it & thus avoid any unpleasant emotions in connection with reality; and the second one – try to improve the image. The first one is simpler, and does not require any effort from us. The second one is much more problematic…not maybe because it’s too difficult (at times it is not really so), but it requires effort, and time, and permanency. Not imaginary, but real. It requires our participation in reality, which we create ourselves, and nobody can do it for us. Moreover -it’s probable that we will need to oppose others, somebody will not welcome this improvement, may be opposed to it. This is also reality. And it’s a part of the price we should pay in this secular world to inherit salvation. I like the proverb: “To choose means to lose”. When we choose a life in Christ, we should be aware of losses in this life. Much in it, including some people, will drop off…But we’ll acquire much more, even in our temporary life, even if in the beginning it does not seem so obvious.

Debora writes:
“I prefer to judge others and to even judge myself and my own life, to accepting the fact that I have no basis for judging anything and that I cannot control what happens, but only how I will respond to what happens.”

It’s all about me – I try to find out the reason, how often we ask ourselves or others this question: “Why?”. Asking it, we either do not admit that we receive according to our deeds & our life, or we admit but, taking all happening as a just measure from God, we fall into despaire. If we don’t find any reason, we struggle for finding it, convincing ourselves that there HAS to be a reason…Thus we try to forsee God’s judgment, and, yes, judge ourselves. But we actually should remember is – if we believe in God, we believe HIM. and our main action is not looking for explanations & seeking evidence (we are not forensic detectives, well, most of us:-) – “…departing from evil”.

Thank you very much for these many interesting and helpful observations and points on the book of Job.

I love the book of Job. In it we are allowed to see a little behind-the-scenes glimpse of how things operate: nothing either bad or good occurs without the Lord’s consent. Job recognizes this as he tells his wife that he must accept both the good and the bad that come from the hand of the Lord. While God does not directly bring about Job’s terrible troubles, He does allow the Enemy to do so.

But Job does not understand why God has allowed these things to happen. He knows they are not a punishment for his unrighteousness and he wishes to ask God, “Why?” In the end, he learns through his honest confrontation with the Lord, that we cannot with our finite minds grasp the mystery of what God is doing in our lives, why He allows the things He does.

Job’s friends on the other hand cannot accept this mystery. To accept that something this terrible could come upon a righteous man for no discernable reason is to accept that they cannot predict or control what will happen in their own lives. There HAS to be reason they can comprehend or else they will have to live moment by moment in the mystery and suspense of God’s sovereign will, with no guarantees that the same thing that happened to Job won’t happen to them. That is a terrifying thought. I prefer to judge others and to even judge myself and my own life, to accepting the fact that I have no basis for judging anything and that I cannot control what happens, but only how I will respond to what happens. I cannot peer into the mystery of what God is doing in my own life, much less in the lives of others. I can only trust–and “know that my Redeemer liveth and He wilt raise up from the dust on the last day my decayed skin, and I in my flesh shalt see God. I shalt see Him myself with mine own eyes, and not through the eyes of some other. In expectation of this, my heart doth jump within my bosom!” (Job 19: 25-27).