Monday 27 September 2010

Background

This is the beginning of one of the strangest books of theBible. God seems to be tempted into a deal with Satan in front of acrowd of heavenly beings. Satan suggests that God's servant Jobonly follows God because of all the good things God gives him.Would Job still follow God if all these things were taken away? Godgrants Satan permission to find out and very quickly Job loses hisoxen, donkeys, sheep, camels, the servants looking after them, andfinally all his sons and daughters.

How does Job respond to these calamities? He accepts them and doesnot blame God - no doubt to Satan's disappointment.

But how are we to approach the story of Job? It has often been seenas a way of thinking about the questions: 'Why do bad things happento good people?' or 'Why God allow bad things to happen?' ManyChristians would not read it literally as a reliable history ofdealings between heavenly beings (how would we know?), but as a wayof thinking about faith in God, especially in hard times.

Truths can be communicated through stories that aren't history. Thefairytale Cinderella, for example, teaches that to be poor andhumble, like Cinderella, is better than to be rich and haughty,like the ugly sisters. Just because the story didn't happen doesn'tmean this message is false. The Bible isn't just a collection offairy stories, but it may at times use similar ways ofcommunicating its message. The earliest Christian interpreters ofthe Bible thought many of its stories were symbolic of spiritualtruths in this way and should not be understood literally. This hasbeen the position of many Christians ever since.

The beginning of this story makes us wonder what Satan will donext, how Job will respond, and what God will make of it all. Tofind out, we will have to follow the story through the readings forthe week.

To Ponder

How do you approach the Bible? Do you read it allliterally, including odd stories like this one, or does it dependon the part you are reading?

Have you ever been challenged, like Job, by badthings that have happened to you? How did you respond?

Have you ever wondered about how God could beresponsible for a world in which many suffer? What conclusions haveyou come to?