After much thought, Solomon decided to visit his friend Job.  If anyone could rejuvenate hope in the Creator, it would be him. Solomon pondered how this good man could endure such terrible suffering and still emerge with a heart for God.

Feeling hopeful, Solomon set off for Uz.

Arriving at Job’s home, Solomon appreciated the warm welcome and comforting surroundings.  Job’s eyes twinkled contentment.  Could this be the same man?” Solomon found it hard to believe that not long ago, Job was covered in terrible sores and stricken in grief after losing all ten children.  But now, he simply beams peace?  He wanted the tranquility Job was effortlessly releasing into the air like cascading bubbles. Sipping hot tea by a colorful fireside, the two old men began to converse about God.

Solomon: “God is here listening – you know this right?

Job: Isn’t He always?  So tell me, why come all this way? Your eyes speak deep thoughts.”

Solomon: “Yes, I am troubled by two points separating our view of God.  They rob me of serenity and I cannot rest until we settle them.  Let me begin with my first point.  Recall that  “I, the Wisdom Teacher, when king over Israel in Jerusalem, applied my mind to seek and to search out by wisdom all that is done under heaven; I concluded that it is an unhappy business that God has given to human beings to be busy with.  Though you suffered beyond compare by God’s allowance, you still hold hope in His plan for humanity. I don’t understand how you do.”

Job:  “Indeed I did suffer. The arrows of the Almighty came within me. Even so, I put all my hope in Him and still do.”

Solomon:  “And as you suffered I heard you call God till the sun rose and set. I could not bear watching your life’s bliss become pain without mercy.  I am sorry to say that my heart no longer holds that kind of hope after all I have lived and seen in this world.  There are too few who wholly seek God.

I consider all that my hands have done and the toil I have suffered doing it.  I have come to believe that all is vanity and chasing after wind. There is nothing to be gained under the sun for any of us.  Yet, a horrific assault fell upon you like a plague, and yet you still carry hope in Him!  Why not give in to fate as I have? “All is vanity!”

Job: “I too pursued happiness and tasted the sweetness of its fruit.  Sorrow did come upon me for reasons still unknown. Even so, I continue to seek only God’s love.”

Solomon:  “And in exchange for your love He permits unjust suffering to swallow you!”

Job:  “This is where our thinking differs.  How can we deem a man to be just in the eyes of God?” You want happiness without the uncertainty that comes with an “unknowing” relationship with Him. The pursuit of God must consume you, as it did me.  We cannot understand His ways.  Behold when God acts, what man will say to Him what do thou do God or why do You do it?”

Solomon:  “Is not following His commandments enough?  We have all heard to keep them. That is the whole duty of everyone. This I did, but why does it not satisfy?”

Job: “You speak truth in keeping His laws, but abiding by them alone does not bring the fullness of God’s love.  Speaking plainly, you search for happiness as the world does – for its own sake. My bliss comes in knowing that I have placed God above all things. I was angered believing that He multiplied my wounds without just cause.  I pleaded my innocence over and over not knowing the fallacy of my presumptions.”

Solomon:  “You did no wrong and still you sought Him despite the injustice against you?”

Job:  “Yes I cried out to God in sorrow believing our friendship was lost.  Then I came to understand that I was acting as if I could hold God accountable by standards I perceive as just! I assure you when He answered my cry, my eyes were opened.  We cannot put God inside the tiny box of our human mind. Now I know that God redeems every ounce of suffering beyond our human understanding.  God comes to us in our weakest moments, lifting us so that we can yet again, find the legs to walk.”

Solomon.  “You speak wisdom friend.  Now, bring understanding to my second point.  That is, there are righteous people who are treated according to the conduct of the wicked, and there are wicked people who are treated according to the conduct of the righteous.  I don’t understand how this can be. I have seen so many good people suffer without cause.  Terrible things done unto them through the cruelty of others.  Why have hope knowing that they go unpunished?”

Job:  “Above all I know that I was wrong to seek God pleading my own measures of justice.  He is sovereign over all creation, including the wicked.  Those bringing forth hatred and pain on the innocent are like dead trees standing empty of fruit and life.

God is in control and all things come together for the good of those who love Him.  I forgot this truth, weakened by my own valley of despair.”

Solomon:  “I see now that it is by my own lacking to pursue God in all His Mystery.   I must seek Him every day – as you have.  I have been bound by my own mind and measures of righteousness. You transform my thoughts to again know that by grace, I can place all trust in Him.

Job: “And what else do you take away?”

Solomon:  “That humanity’s relationship with God never stands still.  I must pursue to walk with Him all my life, always searching for His hidden ways.  God is Mystery.  And secondly, as He is eternal, so must be the flame of our hope in Him.  God is not bound by what I see as just or unjust; or by the timing I set to reveal His plan for the world.  Nothing is futile as long as hope in God lives!  I am bound by Him alone.”

Job:  “Peace be with You.”

Solomon:  “And with you.  Now let us answer the growling in our belly for something to eat.”

Job:  “Yes – let us dine, praising the greatness of our God!”