The Old Testament book of Job is littered
with things said against God by Job himself. He wrangles with the Presence of
the Lord as the Divine One has seemingly interceded, deplorably, in his own
life. God may not have willed the present challenges, but it seems God has
certainly allowed them.
So what is the purpose of Job blaming God?
Just what could be the reason behind it, for
there has to be a reason?
Let’s take a brief aside...
The further we journey with God the more we are able to
understand that the things of God are a mystery; so faith in God is just that –
trust, despite there being every
reason not to trust. (Faith by its nature is trust – a stumbling block for so
many.) Trusting in the perfect faithfulness of God wins us over to favour
eventually. Indeed, favour is only reconciled through faith
to trust.
Can we blame God and trust him at the same
time? If we have been dealt a severe blow, and if we are being real about how
we really feel, we will not be happy, unless we are made happy by
a hope for a better outcome in the future: to recover, for instance.
Perhaps we journey to a better understanding
of God through our blame; being able to pray to God words of derision instead
of simply turning away. It takes a brave person to challenge God and not reject
him; a person who has the faith to hold open the possibility that there is a
reason, a purpose, for their suffering. God should not disparage those who seek
an answer.
What is possibly the purpose of
suffering?
Of many potential purposes for the struggles
we endure, for the losses we suffer, for the grief we must bear, is the purpose
of learning
for life.
Perhaps we can see it took something of this
to open our eyes: the eyes of our hearts. Not that we were heartless
beforehand. But we certainly have an acuity for the issues of suffering in our
world when we have been woken out of our spiritual slumber. Suddenly we have
learnt warmth, genuineness and empathy.
We may blame God, feeling slightly
uncomfortable by the prospect if we are honest, but we can also see that God
doesn’t condemn us for it. God didn’t condemn Job and God won’t condemn us.
***
The right response in suffering is to look
heavenward, frequently, and search God and seek him to reveal his purposes: “What is this for, God? Why have you done this, or
allowed this?” Then we may find the
answer comes – “I have nothing against
you, my child. I wish only the best for you. Will you believe for the best out
of this? Will you trust me? I seek to bless you.” The rest is a mystery.
© 2013 S. J. Wickham.
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