The Lodestar

Since patriarch Job is noted for his perseverance in suffering, James asks followers of Christ to take him as an example of steadfastness (James 5:11). Though the Book of Job illustrates, using the perennial question of innocent suffering, that God’s wisdom is far above the total sum of human wisdom, it also has deep insights into the question of suffering.

The book of Job teaches how to face suffering when it lashes at our life as waves of the sea on the shore, one after another, licking away the land each time. Job, a wealthy sheikh living in ancient Arabia, lost all his wealth in one single day (Job 1:1—32). Just before Job could recover from the shock of his oxen, donkeys, and servants being stolen by the Sabaeans, came the news of his sheep lost in a thunderstorm, then it was the loss of camels, and so on, all in one day, within twenty-four hours.

To top it all comes the news of the death of all his children, seven sons and three daughters, as the house where they were partying collapsed on them. Job’s life was crushed under the disasters heaped upon him, leaving him as a childless beggar. Tragically, his condition worsened, and he became a loathed sick person, as the later chapters reveal.

Still, Job did not forsake the Lord whom he trusted. He had a radical perspective on his life's purpose, wealth, and the children the Lord had given him. He understood that life begins empty and ends empty. At the first cry, the baby is naked physically, and we become naked again as we empty our hands as the breath leaves our nostrils. All we have on this journey is given by the Lord, who has the right to take it from us.

The writer concludes this account of the first part of Job’s suffering, stating, “In all this Job did not sin or charge God with wrong” (Job 1:22). His perspective on life’s suffering was acceptable in God’s sight.

Losses are part of life; rocks, powerful winds, whirlpools, and darkness may make our journey difficult. Navigating through these is easy if we consider that nothing belongs to us, but all we have is “given,” and the giver has the right to “take.” Job’s story ends by saying that the Lord restored everything in double, completing a cycle: given-taken-given (Job 42:10—17). Nothing is given permanently or taken away forever, but we are called to live in the space between these two, holding on to ardent faith in the giver.

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