January 17 – Reading 17

January 17 – Reading 17

by Chris Rainey | January 17

“LIFE CHANGES IN THE INSTANT”
(Job 1:1 – 3:26)

In all this, Job did not sin or charge God with wrong. – Job 2:22

On a rainy September day many years ago, I went to the Ridgewood, New Jersey library during lunch to work on an introduction to the Book of Job for a curriculum assignment. I made some progress and returned to work, only to find my coworkers frantically looking for me. My mother had been critically injured while getting out of a car to go to work. She was being airlifted to a hospital in St. Louis, 80 miles away, where she would succumb four days later to the severe head injury she had received from the fall. In just a few minutes, I had gone from reading and writing about Job to living Job’s story.

“Life changes fast. Life changes in the instant. You sit down to dinner and life as you know it ends.” – Joan Didion, The Year of Magical Thinking

All of us, at some point, will likely experience receiving news like Job did—an accident, a diagnosis, a loss, or even a random choice with tragic consequences. None of us are exempt from these kinds of events. Despite not knowing the backstory of how he had been attacked by Satan under God’s providential guidance, Job passed the test. He did not curse God as Satan predicted, although in his anguish he cursed the day of his birth (Job 3:1).

The Book of Job wrestles with the question of theodicy: why do the righteous suffer? The reader of the Book of Job sees the heavenly backstory behind the suffering. Job does not get to see this reality. Yet, Job somehow manages to hold on to his faith despite his friends’ accusations and his own frustrations and anger. Tragedy did not destroy Job, and it doesn’t have to destroy us.

Tragedies are complicated. The grief is uneven, and friends often don’t know what to say (even though they might offer plenty of advice). We can feel small under the cosmic conflict between God and Satan. Our world is fallen and doesn’t always work quite right. We might wish for a while that we had never been born. But in the end, our faith can rise from the ashes, and we can experience God’s blessing again, even though for a time it sure doesn’t seem like it.

Let’s Pray…

Father, I recognize that in this life there will be good times and bad times. I pray that my faith would remain constant, no matter what I may endure, or what those around me may think or say. May my faith be resilient like Job’s rather than reliant upon good circumstances.