Job

The story of Job is well known. It’s a story that has a lot of talk and not a lot of action; the talking takes up most of the 42 chapters. The thing that makes Job tricky is that despite all the talk, the puzzle is never completely solved: Why would God allow so much evil to come to so good a man? You might want to refer to the Bible Dictionary, which has an article about Job beginning on p. 713.

I like Job’s attitude in Job 12:2–3, which reads, “No doubt but ye are the people, and wisdom shall die with you. But I have understanding as well as you; I am not inferior to you: yea, who knoweth not such things as these?” This is the same attitude that is fundamental to the LDS Church: reliance on personal testimony despite whatever else might be going on around us.

In the final analysis, you have to make your decisions about life and religion based on what you believe to be true within the core of your being. There is something politically incorrect about the refusal to defer to the authority of other people, but it is also a refreshingly straightforward attitude. After all, who else but yourself will be held accountable for your own choices? Of course, there is always the problem that you might be wrong. (Never been wrong? Wish I could say the same.) Therefore, I think it is also essential that you have to think in terms of good and evil as well. Are your actions and beliefs helping people or harming people? Job clearly considers himself to be a good man… and God clearly agrees with him, at the end of the book. Most of us don’t get that kind of character reference in this life. But I don’t think anyone is going to go too far wrong as long as they pay attention to being kind as much as they pay attention to being strong-willed. A strong will is not good for much unless it is applied to treating others well and making the world a better place.

Job 12:6–10 reads, “The tabernacles of robbers prosper, and they that provoke God are secure; into whose hand God bringeth abundantly. But ask now the beasts, and they shall teach thee; and the fowls of the air, and they shall tell thee: Or speak to the earth, and it shall teach thee: and the fishes of the sea shall declare unto thee. Who knoweth not in all these that the hand of the Lord hath wrought this? In whose hand is the soul of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind.” I like this because it is so personal. It is overwhelming to me to consider how many people there are on our small planet, and how many more people have already lived or have yet to be born. But there is nothing more intimate than a God who makes a gift of every breath you take through the entire length of your life.

Job 12:12–14 reads, “With the ancient is wisdom, and in length of days understanding. With him is wisdom and strength, he hath counsel and understanding. Behold, he breaketh down, and it cannot be built again: he shutteth up a man, and there can be no opening.” I find this passage a little confusing because of the use of the pronouns. Perhaps it could be read as follows: “With the ancient [the wise] is wisdom, and in length of days understanding. With him [God] is wisdom and strength, he hath counsel and understanding….”

The thing that is interesting to me about this chapter is that Job starts by asserting that wicked people prosper; in other words, he asserts that we live in an unjust world. (Any arguments on that one?) He then spends the rest of the chapter talking about the fact that the wicked will eventually get what they deserve. This is tricky territory. After all, anyone who is here on the earth kept a first estate in order to get here, and anyone who is here on earth is also a son or daughter of our Heavenly Father. So do we want them punished, as essentially worthless people? Or do we want to acknowledge that they can be better than they are right now, and help them to repent and turn away from their wickedness?

These are good questions, but I think they miss the point. I don’t think what Job is saying in chapter 12 is about punishment as much as it is about not allowing wicked people to have full sway without any intervention. There is a difference. If someone is committing a murder, and someone else stops that murder from occurring, who would argue that the murderer’s rights have been violated? Mosiah 4:14 reads, “And ye will not suffer your children that they go hungry, or naked; neither will ye suffer that they transgress the laws of God, and fight and quarrel one with another, and serve the devil, who is the master of sin….” When God stops his children from inflicting harm on each other, it’s the same general idea as any earthly parents who stop their children from fighting.

I really like the doctrine about missionary work being done in the spirit prison because basically what that says to me is that God may have prevented evil people from inflicting harm on others by placing them in the spirit prison, but also that those same people still have value and still have the opportunity to repent.

The verse that jumps out at me in Job 13 is Job 13:15, which reads, “Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him….” This is absolutely breathtaking, and it is at the core of Job’s character. Suppose for a moment that you lost everything you have, including your health. Would you still trust in the goodness of God?

Job 19 is really beautiful, although it is also incredibly sad. Job is arguing his own case, and he argues eloquently. What stands out the most to me is Job 19:25–27. You’ve heard these verses, I’m sure: “For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God: Whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another; though my reins be consumed within me.”

I looked up “reins” in the dictionary (Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary), where it says: 1 a: kidneys b: the region of the kidneys: loins 2: the seat of the feelings or passions.”

Job 27 deals with the same subjects we’ve already discussed. In verse 5, Job says, “…till I die I will not remove mine integrity from me.” In verses 8 and 9, he says, “For what is the hope of the hypocrite, though he hath gained, when God taketh away his soul? Will God hear his cry when trouble cometh upon him?” And he enlarges at length about what happens to that evil man for the rest of the chapter.

Job 42 is the end of the story. In verse 12 it says, “So the Lord blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning….” I have always had a little bit of a hard time with this; if you lost your children, would it really make you feel that you had been sufficiently recompensed by having more children? I would like to hope that children are not just replaceable parts whose specific characteristics don’t matter much. Of course, you could certainly argue that in the next life he would have his family fully restored to him, and perhaps that is the only real argument to make.

The story of Job does not fully answer the question that it poses, but I think we get a few answers when we consider the story of the Garden of Eden and combine it with what we know about the Council in Heaven. I think we should never forget that in the Garden of Eden, God forbade Adam and Eve from eating the fruit, because they would die if they did. I don’t believe that God takes any joy at all in our pain and suffering. We live in a world that is unjust and unkind, but we chose to come here because we thought it was worth it, in terms of personal growth and experience, to come. This world is not something that has been inflicted on us. It is something we decided on our own to experience. I think we can make the suffering and the hardship less for everyone by how we live our lives. If we live the gospel, it protects us from the consequences that come from not living the gospel. If bad things happen (and bad things will happen, because that’s the nature of where we live), we can strengthen and comfort each other.

The real question is, when we see pain and suffering, what are we going to do about it? Is it only our own pain and suffering that matter? Or do we reach out to others when they need our help?

Sunday School Notebook -August 2006 - Susan Morgan