I am a friend of Job. I love the book about him because, from beginning to end, it deals with life in terms we live with all the time–reality. For example, here are examples from yesterday’s major news stories.
Yesterday (May 9, 2013), the daily news outlets focused on three events. First, the attack on the American Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, the result of the previous day’s testimony by three career officers before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. The second major event concerned the freeing of three women and a child from a decade-long enslavement by one man in Cleveland, Ohio. The third was the guilty verdict convicting a woman in the 2008 murder of Travis Alexander, her boyfriend.
While we are fascinated by observing others in distress at the safe distance of watching TV in our homes, those who are victims of violence know how serving our country, being a member of the Alexander family, or simply walking on a sidewalk can become an inescapable nightmare.
The Book of Job understands those realities of life. In two cases in Chapter 1, Job experiences the destruction of his businesses and murder of his employees. In spite of his righteous behavior, Job undergoes traumatic losses. That shows me that, when disaster strikes, God understands. He knows how, on occasion, life can bring us the severest of reversals. When I’m a victim of tragedy beyond my control, I’m Job’s friend.
Have you experienced a recent tragedy? Aren’t you also a Friend of Job?
