RBWords

     Every newscast or newspaper seems to bring news of a catastrophe somewhere on our planet.  The cell phone enables devastation to be shared around the world with the click of a button and we see the shocked and weary faces of those who have lost everything.  Of little use to the victims are theories of global warming or the ambitions of various groups militarily trying to gain power.  There is only bleak loss and disorientation.  The Book of Job gives us an introduction to this experience and remains one of the greatest reflections on the mystery of evil ever written.  Our first scripture for the next few days will come from this book.  I urge everyone to read the book in its entirety.

     Everything begins, strangely enough, with a wager between God and Satan!  God boasts of Job's integrity.  Satan bets he can get Job to curse God.  God is confident enough in Job's integrity to let Satan try.  It is a tawdry beginning, but at least suffering is labeled for what it is - an evil thing even when it seems impersonal, like the weather.  In Job's case it is a mixture of weather and human action that destroys every blessing in his life.  He will be further stricken with an ulcerative illness when his material goods and personal relationships are gone.  Satan's efforts are relentless.  Job's initial reply, before the illness but not changed by it later, seems stoic and accepting, but it is a challenge to us all.  Birth and death, the beginning and the end of us all, are simply stated.  

     What can anyone say in the face of such suffering?  Job has much to say, as do his friends who become part of his suffering.  Over the next few days, we will hear them.  AMEN