Throughout my life I have always disliked the Book of Job. I know and have always been aware of what it was really about - the depth of the meaning behind the book. I'm not a total imbecile - I just always had a hard time with parts of it.
Particularly the part where in Chapter 1 verses 6 - 12 it discusses how Satan goes to God and they basically sit down and discuss Job and his life and almost seem to have a bet going with each other about whether or not Satan would be able to make Job turn from God - indeed even curse the name of God.
This was always a big hang up for me. I mean - I used to think about it in terms of ... 'Wow, are we all just pawns in some game?'
So, it became a book in the Bible that I just kind of avoided for years.
Today as I was working on the lesson for tomorrow nights class and next weeks class (yes, sometimes I work on one even when the other isn't quite finished yet...)anyway, last week we discussed prayer, this week we are discussing The Mass, and next week we are discussing Images of God.
One thing kind of ties into another and I was reading something written by Tom Rutkowski (one of his editorials) titled THANKING GOD IN ALL THINGS...and I was reading an article by a priest that discusses how our ideas of who God is change as we mature etc...anyway, suddenly it was like I was kicked in the butt and my resistance to the Book of Job was totally gone. It hit me that it really doesn't matter how or why a situation happens - suffering is suffering - but staying faithful is what matters. Not the hows and the whys of the suffering but the how we stay faithful in times of suffering and adversary...
Okay you may be thinking, as my husband who isn't terribly religious told me, that I'm a flippin idiot for having had this hang up for so long. Yet I did...
I guess today I had a spiritual kick in the butt - or enlightenment to say it nicer.
I suppose it was good timing considering the topic I will be teaching next week.
Safe riding everyone - the Indian Summer is almost finished - or so it seems - today was rainy and cold. Hopefully we will have some more nice weekends.
A blog about my exploits on my bike, my adventures with my camera, my life of rock and roll concerts, my 4 kids, and just about any other topic I think worth talking about.
4 comments:
Dropped by to say hello so I won't be forgotten. You shy away from cute little rodents. (prev. Post). Fraidy cat.
Never forgotten - I drop by your page and read often. Yes, I'm a fraidy cat - the rodents freak me out!
You might be interested in this online commentary "Putting God on Trial: The Biblical Book of Job" (http://www.bookofjob.org) as supplementary or background material for your upcoming study of the Book of Job. It is not a sin to question God, to demand answers from God. There is a time and a place for such things. It is written by a Canadian criminal defense lawyer, now a Crown prosecutor, and it explores the legal and moral dynamics of the Book of Job with particular emphasis on the distinction between causal responsibility and moral blameworthiness embedded in Job’s Oath of Innocence. It is highly praised by Job scholars (Clines, Janzen, Habel) and the Review of Biblical Literature, all of whose reviews are on the website. The author is an evangelical Christian, denominationally Anglican. He is also the Canadian Director for the Mortimer J. Adler Centre for the Study of the Great Ideas, a Chicago-based think tank.
To the Anonymous person that dropped the comment:
Thank you for the information. I appreciate it.
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