Faith Like Job Part 3

Faith Like Job Part 3

God answers Job "out of the whirlwind" with a challenge: "Gird up your loins like a man, I will question you, and you shall declare to me." (Job 38:3) God asks Job to explain how the foundation of the earth was laid and its measurements determined, who separated it from the seas, and how life began. "Have you commanded the morning since your days began," God thunders, "and caused the dark to know its place?" (Job 38:4-12)

God taunts Job with his obvious impotence: "is the wild ox willing to serve you?" Is it "by your wisdom that the hawk soars" and "the eagle mounts up and makes his nest on high?" (Job 39:9, 26) God is even sarcastic at times, for in asking Job to describe the source of light and darkness God comments: "You know, for you were born then, and the number of your days is great!" And in asking Job to explain the creation of the earth God remarks, "Surely you know!" (Job 38:21)

Finally, God says to Job: "Shall a faultfinder contend with the Almighty? He who argues with God, let him answer it." (Job 40:2) Job's answer is to admit that he has no answer to the questions put to him. He says he will not question God any further, but will remain silent.

God responds to Job with a further challenge to his power, as a mortal man in a creation not of his own making, and then concludes with the question: "Will you condemn me that you may be justified?" (Job 40:8) With this, Job relents of his rebellion, despises himself, and does penance before God. Then God judges the three friends of Job, saying that they have "not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has." (Job 42:7) However, after Job appeals for his friends, God relents of their punishment and also restores to Job all that he has lost.

Job's challenge to God to explain his suffering raises the ancient human question, which few of us are willing to voice as our own. Why has God made life as it is? Suffering is clearly a large part of life. The tale of the garden seems to explain suffering as the result of human choices that are contrary to the will of God. This makes perfect sense in the abstract, but in everyday life it is less satisfactory.