Job And The Question Of SufferingVoorbeeld
Why am I alive?
What would you do if your whole life was destroyed, right before your eyes? If you lost everything and everyone that you love? If you lost your dignity, your possessions, and your health?
Meanwhile, you are still looking at a grand theater that almost takes your breath away. Have you ever let your tears run, by seeing so much misery that can happen to a person? It's allowed. Job's friends didn’t know what to say about it. And despite everything, Job did not sin. He did not curse God and, in spite of everything, he accepts the evil that falls on him. But apparently, God is not there for him to fix the grief and misery. Job accepts his fate.
That is not to say that the faithful and righteous Job simply takes everything as it is. As soon as he starts speaking, he curses the day of his own birth. He cannot stop the thought that it would have been better if he had never lived in the first place. Job spits out his bitterness with artful words.
Let the day perish on which I was born,
and the night that said,
‘A man is conceived.’
Let that day be darkness!
May God above not seek it,
nor light shine upon it.
(Job 3: 3-4)
This is also the righteous Job. He curses the day he was born. He would have preferred to be stillborn. Death is suddenly a comforting thought. Bitter are his words.
I am not at ease, nor am I quiet;
I have no rest, but trouble comes.
(Job 3:26)
Does misery happen to you? Give the raw emotions all the space to speak out! And do you have a neighbor to which all this happens? Create a space for them to throw everything out. It is not a sin.
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Over dit leesplan
The book of Job is perhaps the oldest book in the Bible and is part of the wisdom books. Whether it is historically true, that is not the most important question. The story of the wealthy Job who gets all conceivable misery invites you to think about suffering and how you deal with it. In the following ten days, you will walk through the main headlines of this fascinating book.
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