The Biblical book of Job shows that life circumstances demand a complex and growing faith.

     Some books of the Bible are historical, others poetic.  But then, others make us scratch our heads and say, "Huh?"  Job is one of those books not for the shallow of faith and faint of heart.  
      In my quiet time this week, I'm tackling those chapters in which Job's friends show up to set him straight.  In all fairness, I think they intend to be helpful, but their view of God is simplistic.  When you're good, God blesses you.  Therefore, if life sours, you must have done a bad thing. 

    One of Job's friends actually says in 8:4 that Job's children must have sinned, so God gave them over to their rebellion.  This flies in the face of Job's daily efforts to sacrifice for his kids (early chapters) to atone for their sins.  The scripture implies that the grown "children" participated in this atonement process.  Their sins should have been covered. 

    How painful it is to have those who should be our friends rejoice at our calamity! 

     Job's confused but honest response is that no one can be just before God.  He says that he harbors no known sin, but even so, how can he appear pure before a holy God?  Job has this right.  In chapters 9 and 10, he says that he longs for someone to interceed between him and God.  Without realizing it, Job is crying out for our great Intercessor, Jesus Christ, who is assuredly on the scene. 

     The underlying current in Job is that we can't really know the scene in heaven from this side of earth.  Job didn't realize that Satan was asking to sift him.  Job's error was in attributing all the events in his crumbling universe to the capricious whims of God.  God is neither malevolent nor capricious, however, and had every intention of restoring all Job's health and material possessions and even number of children once he had come through the trial. 
 
      I have heard people say, "Why is God doing this to me?"  The answers are seldom easy.  That's not usually even the right question.  And whether we are Job or the friends who come to "comfort,"we would do well to deepen our theology before the tents fall, the theives strike, or we're covered with boils to discover who God is and how He works.  Let's give Him some credit.  He is good.  He loves us.  The plans that He has for us would boggle the imagination if we knew them fully.  As Paul said in Romans, "the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared to the glory that shall be in us."