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Rhonda is an avid reader. She was so engrossed in reading the book of Job. When she finished she chuckled as is her way, “I’m Job,” she laughed.
“Oh dear!” I felt truly touched by her analogy. “Why do you say that?”
I asked .
“Well!” She was obviously trying to make a point. “I’m wondering something?”
“Yes?” I knew her question would be a good one.
“Job went through so much suffering how was he able to remain sane?”
My heart was heavy with the thought going to her crippled little body.
She was able to turn pages of a book, but with difficulty. One hand was
quite helpless and the other worked only with great effort on her part. How well she had carried the weight of her affliction and with a cheerful spirit as well, I thought.
“Rhonda, that is a very good question. I have a commentary and I’ll do some reading on that.” I told her because truly I did not know the answer.
The commentary opened with the statement, “Job is one of the books of the Bible that is held in highest esteem and is one of the least understood. What value does it have in this twentieth century?” The question is asked.
To make a long story short Job was truly loved by God because his faith was never lost. He chastised the so-called friends with his knowledge and science and asked them “Where were you when God hung the circle of the earth on nothing?”
This commentary pointed out that through Columbus’s study of Job and with his gained knowledge that the earth was round he sailed on knowing he wouldn’t “fall” off the edge of the earthwhich was then thought to be flat.
“Job,” I explained to Rhonda, “was in awe of the beauty of his Creator’s works and pointed this out to those so-called friends who came to visit him.
He was foul smelling, covered with maggots and his wife scoffed at him saying, “Are you yet holding to your integrity? Curse God and die!” She tells him.
Job rebukes her and “does not sin with his lips.”
For the first time the term has-Satan is in the Hebrew text here in Job and identifies Satan as the one to bring suffering and sorrow upon mankind, not God.
Because of Job’s faith, understanding and wisdom he was able to patiently wait on his God. For his being able to endure even though all his material goods were lost they were returned to him and although he lost his first family a second family was given to him. He was restored to his original place and never once gave up in trusting in God. Patience and endurance were his tools along with a deep respect for the Creator’s creation around him.
So it is in our time, with our arts, science, knowledge, belief and trust in a higher power we can learn to patiently wait on God’s will even up to our own death. In this way we
maintain our sanity in a time when the world seems to be losing their’s.
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