Suffering

Job answered the LORD and said: I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be hindered. I have dealt with great things that I do not understand; things too wonderful for me, which I cannot know. I had heard of you by word of mouth, but now my eye has seen you. Therefore I disown what I have said, and repent in dust and ashes. 

Thus the LORD blessed the latter days of Job more than his earlier ones. For he had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, a thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand she-asses. And he had seven sons and three daughters, of whom he called the first Jemimah, the second Keziah, and the third Kerenhappuch. In all the land no other women were as beautiful as the daughters of Job; and their father gave them an inheritance along with their brothers. After this, Job lived a hundred and forty years; and he saw his children, his grandchildren, and even his great-grandchildren. Then Job died, old and full of years. (Job 42:1-3, 5-6, 12-17)

Job answered the LORD and said: I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be hindered.  It’s hard for us to answer like Job because if God can do all things, then why do we suffer? Can we disown what we have said in anger and sorrow, and then repent in dust and ashes? Hardly.

Now I sound like Job.  Why the immense suffering all throughout the world?  Why the devastation and terrible suffering caused by hurricane Helene?  Much of our suffering is caused by our collective stupidity and neglect.  Much is caused by human-induced damage to our environment and the consequences of hateful behavior especially wars.

Job lived 140 years.  If I was to live that long I’d reach 2089.  Now that’s scary!  One can only imagine the fate of our God-given planet by then.  Much of our coastal cities will be under water if some predictions prove true.  Now that will be suffering in the extreme!

Deacon David Pierce