This is very difficult reading for me. It troubles me that there seems to be a connection made between Job's uprightness and the material blessings he enjoys.
I don't like the picture of the heavenly court painted here. When angels present themselves before God the only angel named is Satan.
God asks Satan a question similar to the question God once asked of Adam (Compare Genesis 3:9 and Job 1:7). God queried Adam after Adam had disobeyed. Does God's question to Satan imply disobedience on Satan's part?
It is unsettling to me that Satan seems able to cajole God into ruining Job--and for no reason (Job 2:3). What is the point of Job's testing? Why the suffering?
As I write this, my youngest sister, Jill, lives under hospice care. Jill shares a wonderful testimony. Like Job, she praises God as she suffers. I praise God that she is able to praise God. But I detest the pain that wracks her body. Lord, have mercy!
For now the most encouraging part of the reading is the arrival of Job's friends (Job 2:11-13). In sympathy with his suffering they sit with him in silence for seven days and seven nights. They minister to his pain by way of their compassionate presence.
I get it. There is a lot to be said for just being there for one another and not saying anything, especially in times of deep, unnerving trouble.
Maybe I don't need to write anything about this disturbing, bewildering passage of scripture. Perhaps I just need to sit with it in silence for a week or so.
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