9.1.10

on the privilege of suffering...

Even though I love writing, there are those who say what I want to say so much better than I could...

"In abandoning now even his need for an 'explanation,' Job truly believes, more than ever before, in an utterly disinterested way--for nothing. Francis Anderson offers this summary:

It is one of the many excellences of the book that Job is brought to
contentment without ever knowing all the facts of his case. In view of the
way in which Satan brought up the matter, something had to be done to rescue Job
from his slander. And the test would only work if Job did not know what it
was for. God thrusts Job into an experience of dereliction to make it possible
for Job to enter into a life of naked faith, to learn to love God for Himself
alone. God does not seem to give the privilege to many people, for they pay a
terrible price of sufffering for their discoveries. But part of the
discovery is to see the suffering itself as one of God's most precious
gifts. To withhold the full story from Job, even after the test is over,
keeps him walking by faith, not by sight. He does not say in the end, "Now I see
it all." He never sees it all. He sees God (Job 42:5). Perhaps
it is better if God never tells any of us the whole of our life-story."

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