Job: man of....

Lately I’ve been reading Philip Yancy's The Bible Jesus Read and though I'm not far into it, I have already been impressed by some of the things he has said.

His first chapter talks about the Old Testament in general and in essence why it's there and it has some interesting things to say about the character of god as portrayed in the OT. The second chapter is somewhat of a personal commentary to the book of Job. Now I have to say that prior to reading this book I had not read all of Job and it wasn’t high on my "Books-of-the-Bible-that-I-really-badly-want-to-read" list. As I started to read this chapter though, I thought to myself, "Self, you don’t actually know what goes on in Job besides the main gist of the story so you better read it!" So I am and if it weren't for what I'm learning in this book, it would be a hard read. This book however has taught me some things that will help m to understand Job much better.

I was one of those people who always thought and I guess have always been taught that Job is about suffering with a side serving of "oh and Job was faithful." After all, it does contain a lot of suffering, and Job does say some pretty out there things about and toward (mostly toward) God. but what I’ve recently come to realise is that the focus of the book of Job is directed towards Job's faith not his suffering. Can Job Still trust a God who seems to go completely against his Character? Though everything suggests that god has left Job, does he still believe that God is close?

Yancy’s book outlines for us that God is NOT who is testing Job; in fact it's Satan testing Job's loyalty to God. Satan believes that Job only loves god, because god has blessed him so richly. he thinks that there is no true loyalty, only loyalty that is maintained with blessings poured upon blessings. {One thing I have only noticed now is that God actually recommends Job to Satan for the tests and trials.} All through Job's discourses, he upholds not only his innocence but also the character of God. For all job knew God was punishing him unjustly but that went against all that job knew about God and who he was (and is)
I was surprised at two things in the book of job, one being job's candour with god, and the other, which was pointed out by Yancy, is the Style in which the book was written. Job reads like a Shakespearean tragedy or a mystery in which the plot of the story is laid out in the first few moments and the rest of the play is spent unraveling it. Think for a moment about this; in the first 2 chapters the whole story is played out; the introduction of job, the "deal" between God and Satan, and the blows to job. chapters 3- 37 are the unraveling of the story, the detective searching out the clues so to speak, where job and his "FRIENDS" argue back and forth over who is right(eous) and chapters 38-41 are God's speech in response. Reading job with this in mind, made the book much easier to read.
"It helps to think of Job as a mystery play, a "whodunit" detective story. We in the audience have showed up early for a press conference [at] which the director explains his work. We learn who did what in the play, and we understand that the personal drama on earth has its origin in a cosmic drama in heaven."
The Bible Jesus Read--Yancy


The other thing that surprised me about Job is how frank Job was with God. he even insinuates that god turns a blind eye on evil and his back to the Righteous, but then in the same breath, he says that the wicked have no foothold in the world. [Don’t you agree that at times it is easy to think that the wicked get rewarded and the Christians get a tough break? it's good to know that God is interested in us not what we own. I want to be as honest with God as job is].

So what have I learned from Job?
1. That Job is not a book to quote from to people who feel down to lift their spirits but I’d recommend it to that same person to show them that they can be honest with god about how they're feeling.
2. That the majesty and power of God go far beyond any Human's wildest imagination. We can never know everything that God knows.
3. That sometimes I am a better friend when I am silent than when I speak.
4. That GOD is GOD and will always be GOD. He was he is and will always be.
"There's a Rock that doesn't move, it hasn't moved it will never move, even though the waves come crashing down"
Delirious?

God's Character never changes. I don’t have to be concerned if he will be different tomorrow than he was today. God is GOD

5. THAT JOB WAS MORE A MAN OF FAITH AND SUBSTANCE, THAN MERELY A MAN OF SUFFERING.


Read Job. You'll learn so much about God, and Job, and yourself, don't think it's outdated, you'll be surprised how little things have changed in the world (and out of it).

Have fun.

Stunners