The Suffering of Job Question: Why did God make Job suffer so much? Was he not a good man? Was God testing him? Answer: Very Rev. Ihor Kutash kutash@unicorne.org Everyone suffers - including the all-perfect Son of God incarnate, Jesus! It is in contemplating His suffering that we find the meaning of suffering in general: it is to bring us up, rather than take us down. To put it another way: a piece of marble that a master craftsman is chipping at with his tools might, if it had a voice, cry out: "Stop! What are you doing? This h-u-r-t-s!" But in the end it becomes a marvelous sculpture that lasts for ages. So it was with Job. So with us. Recall that Job says at the end: "I had heard of You, but now my eyes have seen You" (Job 42:5). In other words he had come to a deeper, fuller experience of God. [That led also to a fuller experience of himself - and it was most humbling]. God knows everything about us - and loves us immensely, completely, recklessly (we might call that kind of love reckless if it was not the omnipotent God Who so loves us). All that He permits to come our way is for our ultimate healing, awakening, restoration, unfolding. It works best if we strive to be in communion with Him. This communion is available to us continuously through prayer and meditation, and particularly in the Holy Mystery of the Eucharist (also called Communion) which is offered us through His "Ecclesia" (the community He gathers, the Church). [ Home ] [ Articles ] [ Prayer ] [ Saints ] [ Theophilus ] [ Q & A ] [About Us] [
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