[ME & THE BOOK OF JOB | Jonathan Strum ]
Me & The Book of Job
The Book of Job addresses the frequently contemplated question, Why do the innocent suffer? Anyone who has been laid off at work, injured in a car crash, or diagnosed with a malignant tumor, asks themselves this question. Since World War II, Jews have asked the same question as they have attempted to understand the senseless slaughter of six million innocent victims of the Holocaust.
Misfortune seems to become less painful if we can find or impose a meaning. Otherwise, we are left with the realization that we live in a world filled with unfair consequences, any or all of which can randomly affect us. And that can be a frightening realization.
The story of Job is the story of a good and pious man who suffers a series of personal tragedies that reach epic
proportion. In the midst of living a life in which he has worked hard, taken no shortcuts, and found great success, Job loses his herds of livestock, suffers painful boils which cover his body, sees each of his 10 children die, and loses his entire personal fortune.
There was a time, not very long ago, when I knew
exactly how Job must have felt
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Job first questions how and why God would allow these terrible events to befall him. Job's confusion eventually turns to anger and frustration, and he is anything but patient when he finally calls out God, demanding to know why He would allow such tragic misfortune to be visited upon an innocent man.
There was a time, not very long ago, when I knew exactly how Job must have felt. In 1997, my wife, Jeanne, was diagnosed with secondary progressive multiple sclerosis (MS). Multiple sclerosis is a tricky, unpredictable disease, and Jeanne was dealt a particularly devastating set of symptoms that attacked her central nervous system with unusual aggressiveness. Within just 4 years, Jeanne went from riding her bike
By Jonathan Strum
Founder & Publisher