Today at church the first reading comes from the Book of Job (38:1-5). This is one of the few Biblical books which actually tackle the issue of God and Evil as a problem. The modern term, theodicy (which comes from the Greek words for God and Righteous; see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodicy ) describes the philosophical/theological arguments made to explain how the following can be true. An all good and all powerful God made the world and the world is not perfect, rather it is full of pain and suffering.
There are two approaches to the problem. The first is the theoretical. It has to do with a person, or a group of people, sitting and analyzing the questions. Does the Holocaust mean there is no God? Is God good but not strong and powerful (see Rabbi Kushne'rs "When Bad Things Happen to Good People")? Is God powerful but not good (in our moral sense)? Are there two gods (one good, one bad, duking it out for control)? Is there no god at all, just a bunch of amazing accidents which coincidently led to a multitude of planets, an abundance of life and, even, etch-a-sketches?
As a young man I was sorely disappointed in Job. It starts out with a paradoxical little story about heaven with one terribly troubling element. Job is one rich guy (this man was the greatest of all the people of the east) and very pious. He is described this way "blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil." And did I mention he was really, really rich with lots of kids (7 boys, 3 girls; another measure of great wealth in ancient culture). And Job always sanctified his kids in case they were not donig right on the holy days.
Well, up in heaven all the "heavenly beings" (literally sons of God) gathered together. One of them is named satan (literally, The Accuser). [screeching tires....what????? what is Satan doing in heaven chatting with God????] Well, before we move on let us take a short break for the history of Satan. In the OT there is not a highly developed notion of demons and devils until late in Israel's history. It seems to be tied to the period of time in Persia and may well be a development with some of the ideas encountered there during the Exile period and after. It seems that at this juncture in Israel's history, Satan was the term applied to the Prosecuting Attorney in Heaven. He is the Accuser. By the time of Jesus, hundreds of years later, the conceptualization of Satan (coupled with a more highly worked out understanding of the demonic) was more along the lines which we commonly understand today. So in this much older story, Satan is not what we think of, i.e., a Fallen Angel. Rather he works for God. [The history of words and ideas is always like this...]
God asks Satan what he thinks of Job and Satan says, Job is good and loves God because it pays (he is rich) and God says "ok, you do your worst and we will see how he acts." (This is called a time of trial or testing). Satan kills all his family and wipes out his wealth. (Note, the extreme nature of the curse leads one to think this is a folk tale and not history) When word reaches Job he responds, "naked I came forth from the womb and naked I return. The Lord gives, the Lord takes away, blessed be the Lord." We are told, Job did not sin. Now, Job's response comes from a pure heart. We tend to feel entitled to everything we have (and often what we do not have). An honest insight into the gift of life is present in Job. In ancient Christian spiritually this was expressed beautifully in the concept of monasticism and desert monks. A spirit of holy detachment from all things coupled with an attachment to God alone.
Satan returns and God complains that Job is still faithful (and you made me do all those bad things to him). Satan replies, "well you haven't hurt him." So Job is covered with sores. Even worse, his wife turns on him and says "will you claim you have integrity? Curse God and die!" But he doesn't. Job does not sin.
What follows for chapter after chapter is endless explanations of the why of Job's situation and advice on what he should do. I remember many times the advice made sense to me, I would underline different things. Much to my horror it turned out what made sense to me was wrong! (and this has happened many times). Chapter 38 begins the final answer. God comes onto the scene. And He is looking like GOD!
First of all, He appears in a whirlwind. That is impressive (not like the soft gentle breeze of Elijah). His first words sort of tip His hand, He is not hear in Dr. Phil mode, full of sweet words. "Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?" (in Peterson's The Message, a more contemporary kind of translation it reads: "Why do you confuse the issue? Why do you talke without knowing what you are talking about?") And God, rather than answering questions, begins a litany of His own. Were you there when I started the whole thing? Can you cause weather with a word? Do you take care of animal needs? and it goes on, and on, and on...
As I said, the young version of me was very dissatisfied with the ending. By golly, I was reading the Bible to get anwers and this book seemed to offer none. Best I could figure, God was telling Job (and me&you) "Shut Up!" Well, that was half a lifetime ago. Today I love the answer, or the non-answer explanation. It rings true. The reason God does not explain is twofold. First off, He is God, we aren't. We have to get that straight in our heads. We assume too much when we question Him. We start in the wrong place when we arrogantly treat God as our equal (or less). Humans pride is at the root of every ill and our ridiculous sense of self importance is folly in the extreme. God's answer humbles us. Some of the the young me had yet to endure; and the new me continues to experience...
Secondly, and this is vital, we cannot be told the whys and wherefores of the issue of evil because it is beyond our grasp. It is like teaching algebra to a three year old. No matter how good a teacher you have, some things are just not in the cards. Unfortunately, because of our arrogance, many of us (like me) still harbor the belief that we could "get it" if God would just tell us. And that is simply an error. The reason for suffering and death and struggle is because that is how the world operates. And the question why would God make a world like this if He is good and powerful is the affirmation that He is good and powerful and the world He made is the best possible world.
In the end, we do best, like Job to worship God and be obedient. Thankful for blessings and indifferent to curses. We need to remember that love is the answer and some questions are best left unarticulated. {in most cases any question which begins with the word 'why') And while the NT has no book like Job, it does lay out a direction for the answer. In Hebrews 5 (which we also read today) we hear "Son though He was, Jesus learned obedience through what He suffered; and having been made perfect He became the source of eternal salvation for all. There you have it. Suffering is part of the process of learning obedience and being perfected. Can't explain why. Just know 'that' and with that in mind, we do well to not muddy the waters with our speculation on God, goodness and evil. Rather let us worship and obey!
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