Job - Suffering of the righteous (2)

In view of Job’s intense suffering, his wife would have gone through a deep emotional test. She who had witnessed Job’s integrity, blamelessness before God and would have definitely been shocked by his suffering. She must have been awe struck with what was happening around her. She wouldn’t have found the answer for the lost of their children, all their earthly possession, and now Job’s health. At this state of confusion, she reprimanded her husband saying, “Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die."

Yes indeed….she did not sound Christian. She sounded like an ungrateful person who has forgotten all the goodness of God. She did not think or ponder but abruptly accused God for abandoning Job and thus tells him to curse God and die. Well, these are the common criticism that Job’s wife receive from us. We all tend to be the judge to condemn her of her abrupt statement.

Let us be reminded that we are nothing better than Job’s wife is. She was clueless of what was happening to her. She would have felt ‘divinely’ rejected and there isn’t any more meaning for living. In times of intense suffering, we too struggle like Mrs. Job. Though we may not abruptly make a public statement “to curse God and die”, but in our own response, we would have done the same mistake.

It’s always easy to praise God from our comfort zone, in best of health and wealth. But what happens when we lose all that we have…..especially our health. What would be our response to God? In recent days, there have been many people falling sick in my church. One elderly woman’s leg was amputated due to high diabetes. Another man has been diagnosed to have both his renal failed and loosing his eyesight due to high diabetes as well. The most tragic of this series of suffering is a 13 years old girl who is suspected to have colon cancer. As their Pastor, how am I to console and advise them. When I fit myself into their shoes, it is too hard to explain and response to suffering. The young girl’s father cries without understanding what is happening. I just do not know how to console him. How can we expect people who are suffering to happily accept their suffering as God’s will? It is indeed hard. Suffering and death has always remained a mystery.

In understanding this reality in life, we should not be quick to judge those who make abrupt statements against God in their intense suffering . We should pray that God in His mercy will save this people from their suffering and if even if He doesn’t, He will give them the sufficient grace to endure hardship and remain faithful to Him.

It is my honest prayer that those who suffer will not lose their faith in Jesus though they are not healed from their ailment. “God…..help us to comprehend your ways even at the most difficult times in life. Help us Lord to remain in our integrity even at the point of suffering and death. To you be the Glory. Amen.

Job - Suffering of the righteous (1)

Job is a great man who ever lived in the Patriarchal Period. Though the book of Job is placed somewhere in the middle of the Old Testament, for the matter of fact, Job possibly lived during the times of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph. The name Job derives from a Hebrew word “Iyyob Shemo” which literally mean, “where is the divine father”. When we take a close look at the Old Testament, we can see that it attributes certain synonyms to the great leaders and heroes of the Old Testament. However, it is interesting to note that Job has been attributed the most synonyms comparing to any other great heroes of the OT. He is attributed with 6 synonyms (blameless, upright, one who feared God, one who shunned evil, greatest in the East and none like him on earth – Job 1: 1, 3, 8). Apart from that, we can also see Job as a “perfectly” blessed man. In verse 2 of chapter 1, we see that Job had 7 sons and 3 daughters. In the Hebrew tradition, the number 3, 7, and 10 marks the number of perfection. Thus, we can interpret that the number of children that Job had, marks the perfection of blessing that he possessed. In knowing so much of this man, he would have lived a perfect life, pleasing in the sight of God and man.

However, though being a great man who pleases the Lord, Job was not free from suffering. Have we ever thought why did Job suffer? Was it his sin? Or his unfaithfulness? Or was it because of others? This are the common factors that most of the time contributes to human suffering on this earth. Nevertheless, Job’s suffering was unlike others. The cause of Job’s suffering was God himself. However, this fact may sound contradicting with the understanding of temptation and suffering in the theology of the New Testament. Whatever it is, the fact remains that God was the one who initiated the challenge with Satan to test Job. The rest of the story is history and we know how Job remained in his integrity and did not sin against God. We also know the latter blessing that Job inherited from God.

The question here is not why Job should suffer for his innocence, but instead how did Job responded to his suffering. I think that is the main message of the Book. It is easy for us as readers to appreciate Job for his integrity and preach on his suffering. However, it would have not been easy for Job to comprehend his suffering. The intense suffering that Job went through (lost of all his possession including his children that marks the perfect blessing that he had), totally lost his health. The boils that came upon Job are attributed to the covenantal curse that would come upon those who disobey the laws of the Lord (Deuteronomy 28: 15, 35). Job would have probably felt like being under God’s curse for some unknown reason. He may also have thought that there isn’t any form of remedy from this curse. Job did not have the knowledge of the ‘divine chess game’ between God and Satan as we do today, as readers of the narrative. In spite of all the uncertainty and a feeling of being forsaken, Job remained in his integrity not to charge God responsible for his suffering. Job is a living testimony for us to imitate in times of suffering. The true faith of a believers is seen by his/her response to hardship and suffering and not when he/she in their comfort zone.

We will see further reflection in the coming entry.

Get up! Stand up!

I welcome the suggestion by the Deputy Home Affairs Minister Datuk Tan Chai Ho who said that the Government might deploy Territorial Army personnel in the streets to help police fight crime, after taking into account public requests and the manpower shortage faced by the police (in Star, 4th August) . It is a great effort of the department to curb the constant rise in crime rate in the nation. Indeed the crime rate in Malaysia is rather at a "shameful" rate. I'm proud to say that I am a Malaysian. However, when I ponder about the constant rise in crime rates, my pride is often being overshadowed by the "disgrace". We have received independence for the last 49 years. But there isn't real independence for people to walk freely on the street without being "snatched" by some irresponsible and inconsiderate citizens. The security level on the streets is very low that the snatch thieves take opportunity of their victims. Thus, the suggestion given by Deputy Minister is well appreciated. However, more than just deploying security personnel, every individual in this nation must start fighting against crime. There are 2 ways to that. Firstly, don’t get involve or even contribute to any criminal acts. Secondly, be on high alert to lend a hand to help when we encounter snatch thieves and criminals. Many Malaysians are courteous but there are also many who do not want to get hurt by doing good. I think it is high time for all of us to stand up and fight against crime in this nation. Unless we do it today, this nation will not be a safe place for our children to live in the mere future. Come on Malaysians, get up from sleep. Let us experience the true meaning of independence and fight against crime in this nation. Let us liberate our citizens and expatriates who lives in fear of crimes in this nation. Only when we stand together and support the government in fighting crimes, we can make Malaysia a better place to live.