“One day when the angels came to report to God,
Satan also showed up. God singled out Satan:"
God: “What are you up to?”
Satan: “Oh, going here and there, checking things out.”
God: “Have you noticed my friend Job? There’s no one
quite like him, is there--honest and true to his word, totally
devoted to God and hating evil? He still has a firm grip
on his integrity! You tried to trick me into destroying him,
but it didn’t work.”
Satan: “A human would do anything to save his life.
But what do you think would happen if you reached
down and took away his health? He’d curse you to
your face, that’s what.”
God: “All right, go ahead--you can do whatever you like with
him. But mind you don’t kill him.” (The Messenger, Job 2:1-6)
Hum. God singles Satan out, and then asks Satan if he had checked
out his friend, Job. “No one like him, Satan, he is the best.”
As I read this, a monologue is taking place:
“Really God, I want to stay in the background, match the wallpaper,
keep my head down. Pay no attention to me. I want to live a normal
life. No hassles. Would you like to get to know a friend of mine?”
A couple had a severely handicapped baby join their other two
small children. Physically, emotionally, financially, it all added up
to long term suffering. The young dad said, “I knew that life would
not always be easy, but I never imagined it could be this hard!”
The book of Job hits all the raw places in us, but it is also a place
of hope as we wrestle with the difficult things in life and
'the unfairness" of it all. The hardest thing for me is when I "fill in
all of the squares" and then God does not seem to notice. Life
certainly, sometimes, does not make sense!
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