Tuesday, February 23, 2010

The practicality of the book of Job

Ray Ortlund has a great post that reminds me not to fall into the temptation of firstly reading Job as a philosophical treatise on suffering but rather as a reminder of how to personally suffer well. Namely, trust in the Lord, not in explanations of His ways.

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"...I don’t think the book of Job is about suffering as a theoretical problem — why do the righteous suffer? I think it’s about suffering as a practical problem — when (not if) the righteous suffer, what does God expect of them? And what he expects is trust. When the righteous cannot connect the realities of their experience with the truths of God, then God is calling them to trust him that there is more to it than they can see. As with Job, there is a battle being fought in the heavenlies.

Trust in God, not explanations from God, is the pathway through suffering."

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read the whole thing here.