Bad Things, Faithful People

I finished my re-reading of the Old Testament book of Job, something I've been doing for several weeks, this morning. This, from the last chapter of the book, always strikes me:

After the Lord had spoken these words to Job, the Lord said to Eliphaz the Temanite: “My wrath is kindled against you and against your two friends; for you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has. ⁸Now therefore take seven bulls and seven rams, and go to my servant Job, and offer up for yourselves a burnt offering; and my servant Job shall pray for you, for I will accept his prayer not to deal with you according to your folly; for you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has done.” ⁹So Eliphaz the Temanite and Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite went and did what the Lord had told them; and the Lord accepted Job’s prayer.(Job 42:7-9)

A little background: Job was a deeply faithful man who sought to live according to God's will. God allowed Satan to wreak havoc in Job's life. Job lost all his property and source of income. All of his children died in a tragic moment. His body became covered with painful sores. Even Job's wife appeared to turn against Job.

Then, some of Job's friends came along and for seven days did a fine thing: They let Job vent, listening to his complaints, even complaints against God, without saying a word.

Then, they made a big mistake: They defended God, as though the God of the universe needs the "protection" or "defense" of human beings.

If that weren't stupid enough, these friends' idea of defending God involved belittling the faith of Job, chastising him for being angry with God*, and insisting that Job must have done something wrong in order to have had so much tragedy befall him.

In the verses quoted above, God insists that Job, even when he was angry with God, was in the right and his seemingly pious friends were in the wrong.

People who are quick to claim that the grief-stricken, the disease-plagued, or the poor are being judged by God or that they lack faith, don't have a leg to stand on Biblically. We live in an imperfect world; bad things happen even to the most faithful people.

*A fine tradition for which is exemplified in the Old Testament book of Psalms, by the way. People of faith sometimes do get angry with God. As I often tell the grieving who experience anger toward God, "This is a sign of your faith. After all, you don't get angry with somebody you don't believe is there."