Monday 12 November 2007

Background

The central 'plot' of the story of Job is the apparentlyundeserved, and extreme, suffering of a man who stubbornlyproclaims his innocence in the face of those who, in line with the'wisdom' of the time, insist that he must have done something wrongto deserve suffering. The righteous innocent will be blessed andprosper, only the unrighteous wicked suffer.

This is nonsense, of course, but some people still seem to believeit today. So, at one level, the story of Job is a necessarychallenge to such 'wisdom'.

But there's more to it than that. The opening and closing chaptersset this story within the wider framework of a 'cosmic bet' -Satan, one of the 'heavenly' 'sons of God' (and there's a trickyone!) bets God that Job, a righteous, prosperous happy man, willeventually crack and curse God if enough bad stuff happens to him.God accepts the bet, and allows Satan to do whatever he wants tohim, short of killing him. Again, tricky stuff!

Those who look tothe story of Job to find comfort in theiraffliction will, perhaps, not find the answers they are looking for- any more than Job does when he finally argues with God (and whocan blame him?). The only answer God gives is that he alone is God,and Job has no right to question him. There is no final answer hereto the question "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"

So this is not an easy read for Christians, any more than it wasfor those who first read this story. And we need to bear this inmind when we look at our key verse for this week, which comes notfrom the New Testament (or from Handel's Messiah) butfrom this difficult book.

It is the cry of a faithful man who dares to believe, despite allthe evidence to the contrary, that God will, one day, revealhimself to him and declare him to be truly innocent as one of God'speople.

The words translated 'my Redeemer' are misleading - the passage isnot a prediction of the risen Christ (nor of resurrection ingeneral) - and are better translated as 'my vindicator', or 'onewho declares me innocent'. And that, perhaps, is the heart of truefaith - the conviction that there is a God who cares about theplight of human beings, despite so much evidence to thecontrary.

To Ponder

Some Christians certainly believe that Godrewards faith with blessing. Is 'real life' like that?

If faith is not rewarded, what is the point ofbelieving in God?

What do the words "I know that my Redeemer lives"mean to you?