The Good and the Bad

If, like me, you are a fan of Spaghetti Westerns you are wondering, where is the Ugly? I'm waiting to hear Eli Wallach's gravelly voice saying, "Hey! Blondie!"  But this week we just looked at the good and the bad, through Job's eyes.  How do we name the countless blessings in our lives and reconcile that joy with devastating loss?  Why do bad things happen to good people (and good things happen to bad people)?

In the scripture Job 1:1, 2:1-10 we learn that Job is a person of perfect integrity and faith.  But, that integrity and faith did not protect him from suffering.  It would seem that Job understood that based on his reply to his wife, saying, "Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?"  Now, he said that while sitting in the ashes and scraping sores with a shard of pottery.  Really?!  Job knew that his integrity and faith offered no shield from bad things.

And here is the big BUT.  But, he didn't necessarily accept that.  The rest of the book is Job questioning, railing, demanding, that God explain it to him. It seems to me that more than Job's patience and endurance, I envy his confidence that arguing with God is OK.  Considering his circumstances I have to wonder if maybe Job thought it couldn't possible get worse.  The glass-half-empty believer in me says be careful.  It can always get worse.

Of course, the glass-half-full side of this is that even if there is trouble, there is always blessing.  Being in relationship with God is not about what we get out of it, it is about loving God for who God is.  Even if we are angry and argue with God, God will still be there.  Even if we are grateful for our blessings, there will still be loss.  Even though we are human, we can enter into an authentic, give-and-take relationship with the divine.  Even if...