Radical Honesty

It’s easy to sit back and admire the faithfulness of Job. It’s harder to sit with the book and grapple with what actually happens in it. We may be inclined to look for ways to make the story seem more palatable—to make God come off a little better—whether by justifying divine acts in the opening scenes or by trying to wrest a happy ending out of the book. But it’s worth resisting that temptation. The profound power of the book of Job comes precisely from the most disturbing aspects of its opening, along with its choice not to resolve the story neatly at the end.