No one said a word to him, because they saw how great his suffering was. (Job 2:12)Why do bad things happen to good people? That's the basic question in Job. Theodicy is a defense of God's justice in spite of the onslaught of overwhelming evil. This question has plagued mankind since... well, since the time of Job.
Retribution theology can be summed up in the phrase: What goes around comes around. We read this thinking in the book of Deuteronomy: Love the Lord your God . . . then you will live and increase... But if your heart turns away . . . you will certainly be destroyed. (Deuteronomy 30:16-18) We get the same kind of thinking in the book of Proverbs: Whoever listens to me will live in safety and be at ease, without fear of harm. (Proverbs 1:32)
When Job lost everything he had, he must have thought: Wait! This isn't supposed to happen to me - I read Proverbs. My life comes with the extended warranty!
But we all know bad things do happen to good people, don't we?
That's why, even though Job can at times get tedious, there's something about these writings that keep bringing us back, as if we can identify with Job, unlike some of those Bible characters who are a little too good to be true.
So you had a bad day...
In reading ahead it is a reminder of all those things we learn about not judging others and not trying to tell them we know exactly how they feel. What's more we can't even really know the circumstances that they may find themselves in.
ReplyDeletewe all have made choices that we wished we hadn't, but for others to assume that everything we suffer through is the direct result of our own choices negates everyone elses' free choice and the fallout that can occur when a choiice is made. However here we have a testing and a positive choice by Job. Choices, choices, choices