The Book of Job

Of all the stories in the Bible, the tale of Job’s suffering is the most mysterious and inspiring for me. It is a glimpse into the values and norms of a period of a time long past; for, when calamity hit him, not only did Job sit out by the garbage dump and sought answers from God, but Job’s friends sat with him seven days and seven nights before they said anything… anything at all! This is remarkable of itself to me as I find it hard to sit with a hospitalized friend for more than a few minutes… I get uncomfortable... drop off some flowers… say a few words of encouragement… perhaps a prayer… and split.

I can get lost in the text but my reasons for bringing up the Book of Job was because there is more inspiration in that book… more wisdom… more complexities than any other text in the Bible. It competes with the best of the world’s literature. But my point in this context is that Job’s friends, often reviled, gave Job their best in terms of time and effort. The final result was that Job had to take God’s counsel and wisdom out of the whirlwind on his own. To take the time to sit with the suffering of others (no matter how uncomfortable) before I blather… to take the time to sit with my own conflicts… to just sit before I think I have all the answers, is a powerful lesson to take from this book: to listen and be willing to wait… to hear from the Spirit of Compassion when all human counsel fails.

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