Reading Job in 2020

Job is hands down one of my favorite books in the Bible. I know, I know, all the books are equally inspired, but let’s be real—we all have favorites.

But why Job? Job is a weird book to be a favorite. It’s full of complaining and sadness, and a large bulk of it is suspect because his friends get so much unfiltered air time.

I just finished reading through it today for the first time in recent memory, and I’m still chewing on it in reflection. It turns out, even with its quirks, we can learn a lot from the Book of Job—about life, wisdom, justice, humanity, and God Himself.

Just in case it’s been awhile, here’s a quick rundown of the book.

Job

Job is a good man. He has wealth and a good family, everything the ancient world associated with divine blessing. He even offers sacrifices on behalf of his children just in case they’ve sinned since he’d last seen them.

God brags about Job’s faithfulness, and Satan claims that Job is only faithful because of how God’s blessed and protected him. God disagrees. He allows Satan to attack Job, and soon the man is desolate—his children dead, his finances broken and unstable, and his health failing fast.

Three friends come to visit and comfort him, and they sit in silence for an entire week. Then, when the talking begins, we experience an eloquent, impassioned dialogue-turned-argument, as the three friends blame Job for his misfortune. 

Job maintains his innocence, but also crosses a line in demanding to hear from God and accusing God of treating him unjustly. 

Though Job never curses God as Satan hoped he would, Job does maintain offense and indignation towards God and his friends.

Unbeknownst to the reader, a fifth human character has been in the scene. Elihu, a seemingly random young man waits until all the arguments of the elders are exhausted, and then speaks at length condemning Job’s friends while also challenging Job for his treatment of God, which sets the stage for the best part.

God speaks from a whirlwind. 

God challenges Job, and in the end, Job is restored to wealth, his friends are condemned, and Job gets ten more kids.

Of course, that abbreviated version doesn’t do the story justice. Indeed, the storytelling of Job’s journey has always kept me interested. You should just read it for yourself.

But I still feel like I know how a lot of you will respond. Some people don’t like the book. After all, his friends claim to be wise, and ultimately their dialogue of wisdom becomes a dizzying and often repetitive exercise of men fancily talking in circles.

You may be tempted to read chapters 1-2 and then skip to 38 when God starts talking, but I think doing so misses out on an important dynamic of the story: The journey.

Job suffers and processes a lot of emotions, and if you’re there with him through the entire journey, God’s entrance into the conversation hits differently. 

So yeah, read it yourself. 

But even if you don’t, I did still want to share with you some of the things that stood out to me in this latest reading, because I feel like I’m understanding depths of Job’s story I never have before.

When I first heard of Job’s story when I was a kid, I was more focussed on God’s wager with Satan. 

I mostly thought, “If God did that to me, would I stay faithful?”

Though such thought experiments can be helpful, my new reflections on Job’s story are even more poignant. As I share them with you, I hope it encourages you wherever you’re at in your dynamic walk with God.

Lesson 1: We are Job.

I am Job! 

No, this isn’t an “I am Groot” moment, nor is this a Rey Skywalker reference (though I may need to tackle the Star Wars Sequel Trilogy in a future post…which will be fun as I seem to be one of only a few people on the internet to publicly like those movies, but I digress).

What I am saying is this: I forgot how relatable Job is. Yes, he lived thousands of years ago in a completely different culture with different customs and different economic practices. And no, I haven’t lost everything in a test of God within the cosmic battle of good and evil.

But I can still relate, because Job is intensely human.

He’s relatable the way King Solomon is relatable in Ecclesiastes, Proverbs, and Song of Songs. He’s relatable like how David and the other psalmists are relatable in the Book of Psalms. After reading through all the Old Testament Wisdom literature this year, I’m struck with how God’s word has given expression for the full range of human emotion.

I may not have experienced the same things Job experienced, but the way he questions reminds me of me. 

After all, Job is stubborn. He questions, he argues, he struggles, but he also never wavers in his convictions. 

Those convictions were both good and bad, but God let him have his process in spite of himself. Leading to the next point…

Lesson 2: God is Not Scared of Your Emotions or Your Process.

To a lot of Christians, “deconstruction” is a dirty word. When a Christian says they’re going through a period of deconstruction, that’s scary. When you deconstruct too far, you may be left with no foundation. Many a Christian going through deconstruction has left the faith entirely.

But for many others, deconstruction leads to a strengthening of faith. Deconstruction can dig down to a faulty, weak, or incomplete foundation, and the end result is a person more unwavering than ever before.

But because we’ve seen high-profile celebrity Christians walk away from faith due to their own struggles, a lot of Christians shirk back at the word “deconstruction,” which leads others who going through such a season to feel as though they can’t be fully honest with themselves or their Christian community about what they’re going through.

This is a grave error.

We should be encouraged to challenge our assumptions. Iron sharpens iron. Suffering brings perseverance. Life isn’t supposed to be easy, and sometimes that includes our own journey with God.

But I have good news: God made you, and He isn’t scared of your questions. 

He let Job ask all the questions he needed to ask. God let Job question His very character.

Let God into your deconstruction. Let God into your questioning. Ask all the questions!

Just know the answer won’t always be what we expect…

Lesson 3: The Answer to Every Question is the Presence of God.

For chapters, Job goes on and on about how he wants to question God face to face. He wants to literally take God to court because he’s so sure God’s mistreated him in some way. He talks the biggest game, until the whirlwind blew through.

Once God enters, Job has nothing to say. All his eloquence is gone. All of his important questions of about life, justice, and virtue all the sudden don’t matter in the wind of His palpable presence.

The hard truth everyone must learn in life: God doesn’t owe you any answers.

You are free to question, but the real test is this—are you able to trust Him in spite of your questions? Can you commune with Him in His presence and follow Him and honor Him and love Him in the middle of the confusion?

That’s the kind of strength Job should inspire in us. 

The wisdom Job learns is the Fear of the Lord. But the Fear of the Lord isn’t a scary fear that leads us away from His presence. The wise fear draws us in closer and deeper to His heart and presence. 

This fear reminds us how big God is, how wonderfully limitless and matchless He is.

It’s one thing to say that God’s omniscient. It’s another thing to experience his raw omniscience in the middle of a whirlwind—the booming voice of which speaks of the beginning of the creation. 

It is both humbling and empowering to commune with the God of the universe. 

Yes, He is a friend. He is also the eternal King of all kings, planets, and galaxies. 

The narrative of scripture is a story of the redemption of mankind, where through the blood of Jesus, through grace by faith, we can be reconciled to God in right relationship with Him, in spite of our mortal limitations. 

In the Old Testament, before Jesus establishes the New Covenant, we see this incredible gospel-truth: God’s ways are higher than our ways, God is always good, God’s glory outshines everything, and God’s glory shines even brighter through our faithfulness. 

God is not intimidated by your questions, but He doesn’t have to answer them. 

And His presence is the only answer our biggest questions need.

2020 has been a confusing year for a lot of us. A year of loss and disease. It’s okay if you’re questioning. But please, my friend, please be listening for His response. 

The answer may be fearful, but let the fear draw you in.

He will teach you wisdom, and He will teach you holiness, justice, faith, hope, and love.

The greatest of these is Love, because His love will restore everything lost, mend anything broken.

The Book of Job reminds me that God, like life, can be confusing. The point isn’t confusion, it’s transcendence! He’s only confusing to us because He’s infinite and we are finite. 

But unlike life, God is always good, and He is everything I need.

As much as I’m tempted to question Him, to dictate what I think I need from Him as if I’m in charge, in the end, all I need is the whirlwind.

And when His wind blows, the results are always unexpected, always humbling, and always above or beyond what was ever expected or needed.

So, I rest in the questions and listen for the wind.