Radically Happy

…God glorying in behemoth… Job can’t even judge a beast, how dare he judge God? … ‘judge’ includes action as well as reason… more like Judge Dredd than anything else in modern literature… God, grant me the serenity of behemoth…

the Lord answering Job… a command for Job to answer Him… shamed by God’s wisdom and compassion.. viewed himself as righteous in human terms.. a shadow of God’s… power, how and why it is used…

God’s questions as an assertion …as if He were the family doctor — or even a grandparent… that same care over unsupervised animals..Yes, God is humbling Job, but He’s doing it by pointing out how His love and compassion — and knowledge and power — transcend anything Job can imagine……

repeat yesterday… integrating Reason, Emotion, and Intention … more about heart than mind… “God is God, and I am not.” …one whole, integrated God.. polytheism a splintered psyche… indescribably gentle, yet hard as stone…nothing compared to God’s care

…the Lord does respond… indignation… answer me… almost comical… God’s doing the interrogating… dramatic effect… testing Job’s understanding… I created wisdom — and you didn’t… takes it to a whole new level… Teach me humility…

Elihu accepts Job’s premise but denies his conclusion… stunning… we have hope… turn to God to uncover sin …accept suffering as just and forsake evil… comes down to pride… Suddenly, it makes sense… He wants to teach us, to free and ultimately prosper us…

Job’s supposed claim that righteousness [is] of no profit… an important point: virtue is good for you… God is pleased by our righteousness, and grieved by our folly… why He is putting you through the wringer… the whole point is to challenge existing mental models…talking without understanding…how confused I am…

…trying to build consensus… starts ripping into Job… judging God is another matter… Is God wicked? …just, sovereign, impartial, knows what’s going on… given all this, how can you complain? … something He wants to get rid of, though you can’t see…

…the junior Elihu… burning anger… try the patience of Job… justify his own soul rather than God… active listening… hearing what Job says… God exceeds mortals… backs up with fascinating assertions…a redemptive rather than condemning view… mere rhetorical flourish?

…how can man hope to be justified? …I am still punished though not wicked… money, sex & power; attitudes and behaviors; commission as well as omission…God has set him an impossible riddle, written in fire on his very bones, inscribed in pain on his flesh.

…imply that Job believed goodness could impress God… perhaps Eliphaz’s most insightful complaint… desire to see God… does not consider God “sympathetic” …Does God punish the wicked, or doesn’t he? …a sort of koan… Job can’t meet God face-to-face… Teach me humility… give me courage

…asserts that Job has an unhealthy view of God… yes, he does believe that the wicked prosper… he doesn’t subscribe to this philosophy… Job the empiricist takes on his traditionalist foes …You guys are willfully ignoring the evidence, which demonstrates your ulterior motives…

…Behold, I cry out of wrong, but I am not heard …Oh that my words were now written! …For I know my redeemer liveth, and he shall stand at the latter upon the earth… mind-blowing… for all his hangups, there is something awe-inspiring about Job… That’s a hard tension to…

Eliphaz sees Job as promoting impiety… why bother being good? …why should we believe one man?… Job appears to have been borne out: his story still has the power to stun… Grant me the honesty to face the ugly facts of life, but also the hope and strength to turn…

would make a great rap opera, the characters are continually talking smack… Job needs to repent, then God will heal him… Job seeks to prove his ways, rather than repent… the sheer agony… like a young child cowering in fear… not so much from his troubles as from himself

…”If God is just, then trouble must be our own fault”… but how should man be just with God?… God really does seem a hard master …Save me from the folly of despair, and from dark-colored glasses that reveal only your justice and not your love.

His friends say, “Ask God for mercy,” Job says, “Why bother?”… Job feels that to be destroyed would be a comfort… something going on here that is more than just whininess… Underlying his despair is a steadfast loyalty to God… he will not curse God, though he curses himself. Why?