Things Beyond Our Understanding

We continue our trip through the Bible with today’s reading from Job, a difficult text recounting God’s appearance to Job to respond to Job’s doubts. Preaching today is Rev. Dr. Soren Hessler, who recounts the story of Job, a righteous man who loses everything, and whose friends insist he must not be all that righteous if he has ended up in this position. The friends represent the wisdom tradition insisting that righteousness brings the good life, but in Job’s situation and from his perspective the question becomes why do bad things happen to good people? Today’s reading is God’s response to Job, essentially saying, through challenging questions, that God is God and Job is Job. But often, when one has questions or suffers, being in the presence of God’s creation can put things in perspective – God is present in our times of suffering and loss, and, although that doesn’t clear up the problem, it does offer a setting of comfort and perspective. Even if we don’t find the answer to our difficulties, we can experience God’s presence with us.