As we conclude this series on discovering God in life’s landscapes, I want to reflect on the enigmatic story of Job from the Old Testament. This narrative, often considered the oldest in Scripture, likely unfolded during the time of the Patriarchs, could be called the Song of Job with the initial chapters acting as a prologue, presenting a context that Job himself would not have known.
As readers, we are given a snapshot of the cosmic conflict, a proxy war, between God and Satan that touches the life of a worshipper of YHWH. The prologue to Job’s story provides only sketchy information about the man called Job. We are not told how he became a believer in YHWH, but we are told that his faith in God was known to God and Satan, becoming a case study in the authenticity of YHWH worshippers. Satan claimed that people worship God only for his benefits; take away God’s blessings, and they will reject him like all other unbelievers.
If the book’s central teaching were about this cosmic battle, we would expect the end to return to the initial discussion, in which God now declares victory, claiming Job is the real deal and his worship authentic. God wins, Satan loses—the end. But it does not. Satan had one plan, but God had another. Job was not just the victim of a proxy battle between God and Satan. God takes Satan’s attack on Job and turns it into a blessing. Job’s sacred song is an early example of the promise in Romans 8:28-29: “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.”
The book also illustrates that all suffering is not the consequence of sin or divine punishment. It raises timeless issues related to life on the resurrection side of the cross, such as suffering, justice, empathy, evil, God’s goodness, and sovereignty.
However, there is one theme that turns Job’s story into a sacred song. It is succinctly expressed in a closing verse in the last chapter. It is Job’s summary statement after his requested and long-awaited audience with God. Job’s “ah ha” moment was not regarding his pressing question of justice; it was about discovery itself.
I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees You (Job 42:5).
There are several questions we could ask considering Job’s conclusion.
- What did he see?
- How did he see it?
- Why did he see it?
- What is the difference between hearing and seeing?
- What was the difference in Job’s faith in chapters 1-2 and 42?
Job’s journey is not just about suffering and faith but about a deepening relationship with God through discovery. He identifies a transition from a distant understanding of God to a personal, intimate knowledge. At the onset of his trials, he boldly declares to his wife, who has already abandoned her faith, that “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I shall return there. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away. Blessed be the name of the LORD” (Job 1:21).
We could wonder if that was a popular mantra among YHWY worshippers in Job’s community. Maybe it was like the Apostle’s Creed recited in worship services today, a truth that is heard by “the hearing of the ear” but not yet seen with the eye. Job had heard about God and was a paradigm of a YHWH worshipper; otherwise, he would not have come to the attention of Satan. But likely, his knowing God was secondhand. He could say, “God is _____,” but he had yet to say, “God is my ______.”
God used the stormy landscape of suffering to change doctrine into experience. Job testifies that in the beginning, he had faith in the head, but now it was faith in the heart. Job’s song was not about the deliverance from suffering but the discovery of God in suffering. What Job sees with the eyes of his heart is the real YHWH.
Job claims that in the landscape of suffering, he gains a glimpse of the glory of God. Upon “seeing” YHWH, his response is like Isaiah’s. “I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of His robe filling the temple. …. Then I said, “Woe to me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips, And I live among a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of armies” (Isaiah 6:1-5). I think Job’s sacred song would include the words, “You are sovereign without explanation, good without benefits.”
Job’s sacred song teaches us that God wants to be discovered intimately, not as we would at times like him to be, but as he is. Job wanted a God he could rationalize, explain, and debate with. He wanted a God like, well, like himself. Job’s song claims that we are created in God’s image, not God in ours, that there is a sovereign God of the cosmos, and it is not Job (or us).
I sense in Job’s encounter with God, a sigh of relief. He could now stop trying to manage the universe and let God do it. He did not have to explain to his friends why God does what God does. His simple faith answer to the question of “Why do good people suffer?” is, “I don’t really know.” But Job did know by firsthand experience, with the eye of his heart, that there is a God who was both transcendent and immanent, beyond explanation but not beyond knowing.
Job’s sacred song has been sung down through the millenniums of history as a witness and catalyst to the discovery of the glory of God. I think Job would say to us, “Listen to my song and then compose your own. Let your song echo down through the pages of your history to those in your relational network.”
God wants us to discover his glory, and he needs and uses a variety of landscapes to do it. As we look with the eye of faith, we can say with Job, “I have heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you.”
For Reflection
- How would you describe what Job saw (Job 42:5)?
- Describe a time in your life when you felt like Job.