The Wisdom of Job<\/strong> Theology does not by itself provide wisdom in crisis. All theology must become a living spirituality to really change us or the world. It\u2019s disappointing that we Christians have emphasized theology, catechism, and religious education much more than prayer and practice. The biblical book of Job is probably one of the greatest books on prayer that has ever been written. It breaks our stereotypes of what it means to communicate with God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If we view Job\u2019s story as a journey into an ever-deepening encounter with God, we keep the question of suffering from becoming an abstract debate observed at a distance. It is a text that only fully makes sense to those who\u2019ve felt suffering, been up against the wall, at a place where, frankly, God doesn\u2019t make sense anymore and we no longer believe \u201cGod has a plan.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Job loses his livelihood, his savings, his family, and his health. His practical, religious friends appear as self-appointed messengers, to speak what they are sure is God\u2019s answer to Job\u2019s suffering. They offer the glib, pious platitudes of stereotypical clergy. What they do is try to take away the mystery, but they cannot solve the problem. God says you cannot solve the problem of suffering, you can only live the mystery. The only response to God\u2019s faithfulness is to be faithful ourselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Most of the things Job says to God in his pain are not what Christians have been trained to say to God. The pretty words are mostly gone; there\u2019s no \u201cswirly talk,\u201d as writer-pastor Molly Baskette calls it [1], that Christians so love to put in their prayers. Instead, Job dares to confront God, the very thing many of us were trained never to do. In fact, we called it blasphemy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n During Job\u2019s crisis, he yells at God, accuses God of all kinds of things, speaks sarcastically, and almost makes fun of God. \u201cIf this is a game you\u2019re playing, then you\u2019re not much of a God! I don\u2019t need you and I don\u2019t want you!\u201d It\u2019s this kind of prayer that creates saints. Yet we can\u2019t pray with that authority unless we know something experientially about God. We can\u2019t pray that way unless we are assured at a deep level of the profound connection between ourselves and God. It takes one who has ventured into that arena where we say angels fear to tread.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ultimately Job\u2019s story reveals that God cannot really be known through theology and law. God can only be related<\/em> to and known in relationship, just like the Trinity itself. Or, as the mystics assert, we know God by loving God, trusting God, and placing our hope in God. We cannot really \u201cthink\u201d God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Job\u2019s religious friends and advisers have correct theory but no experience; thoughts about God, but no love of God. They believe in their theology; Job believes\u00a0in the God of<\/em>\u00a0their theology. It is a big difference. The first is information; the second is wisdom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tuesday, \u202fJuly 7, 2020<\/p>\n\n\n\nREAD MORE HERE<\/a><\/h4>\n\n\n\n