"What?" I heard Shane say in disbelief.
I opened the bed room door expecting to find him watching a movie or reading a novel about vampires. Instead I saw him looking up from the Bible.
"Have you ever heard of this Job guy?" Shane asked
I smiled, "Yes. Haven't you?"
"No, but, this is terrible!" he responded.
I knew enough to know that Job's story was one about suffering. "Why don't you read something more uplifting?" I suggested. "Like the Christmas story!"
Shane then began to read from the book of Job aloud, too involved in the story to hear my suggestion. I tried again, "Let's read something else!"
But, he kept on reading, hushing me with his hands.
Shane became frustrated at points in the story. "How could God allow this?" he would ask rhetorically, before returning to his reading.
I have asked that question many times. I am sure you have, too. How could God allow suffering and pain?
Often those painful feelings are magnified during this season. We want it to be about joy and happiness, but we find we must re-grieve past losses before we can settle in the spirit of the Christmas. As if reliving the pain again, we come face to face with those things that have hurt us most. Miscarriages, infertility, death of a family member, addiction, failures, mental illness, loss and so on. There it is, harder now for us to suppress the hurt, even amidst the caroling and well wishes.
It's no wonder Scrooge said, "Bah hum bug!"
On the phone with a friend yesterday, I said, "I wish I could take it away. I wish I could say something that would make it better." Even when Shane began reading Job I asked him to switch stories. I was wrong. Denying someone their grief is also denying them their joy in the end. You must go through one before you feel the blessing of the other. Trying to skip the step is like taking this book out of the bible. We wouldn't be complete.
Amidst the grief of Job's story, it is truly an inspiring book. My favorite part we read last night was when Job's friends visited him. They sat with him wordless for seven days. Then his close friend spoke in Job 5:8-11:
"My advice to you is this:
Go to God and present your case to him.
For he does great works too marvelous
to understand. He performs
miracles without number.
He gives rain for the earth.
He sends water for the fields.
He gives prosperity to the poor
and humble, and he takes sufferers to safety."
Job's friend helped Job remained focused on the fact that God ultimately means for good, even in the state of grief.
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