Job

Suffering in the Perspective of the Book of Job

The Ultimate Triumph of Good

The book of Job opens with a of the character of the protagonist of the book . He was described as a man who is blameless and upright ' He was a person whose righteousness results from his fear of God . He had a large household and very wealthy (according to the living standards of his time . His holy reverence of God could be sin in the fact that he would always go regularly and perform sacrifices for his children

to rule out any possibility of them after committing secret sins in the course of their feastings , they might have probably neglected the seriousness of those acts (i .e . thoughts , words , or deeds , and thus , their transgressions remain in the sight of God . Job was very careful in these matters before God to the point of becoming meticulous . He would always see to it that he and his family have no outstanding offenses against God (Job 1 :1-5 . In the narrative , God Himself affirms the blamelessness of Job (Job 1 :8 . It is at this point where all the problems and questions revolve . Why do innocent people suffer ? Why does God permit evil ' If God is on the side of good , and He rewards the good , then why did He allow evil to happen to Job and his family ' Well , these are just some of the myriad of questions being asked - for some , to do away with any accountability with regards to their immoral behavior , whereas for others , to make sense of the fact that in this life good and evil co-exist . For sure , evil exists . This is seen in the actual fact that in this world suffering is prevalent and present in many forms like war , famine , heinous crimes , perversions injustices , and in almost anything unimaginable evil . The book of Job is a source of comfort and encouragement to people who are hopeful in the face of life 's not so promising state of affairs - where the good in many ways seems to be not always prospering . It is an insightful book that reveals the ultimate (what will turn out to be of things in the end . Although unpleasant things happen in this life , they are - whether people like it or not - providence that will eventually lead to the triumph of good . The ultimate truth is : God , His people , and the good will after all , succeed (Escalona , 2008

The Presence of Sufferings

Although the book of Job runs with the theme of suffering , there are other pertinent motifs which are touched along the way . For example , all throughout , especially in the first and the last five chapters , the sovereignty of God was more prominent . Contrary to the speculations of Job 's three friends - that God was punishing Job - in all actuality , God was the one who allowed those evil things to happen to Job . Every calamity that befell Job 's family till at the last when...