On The Stage Of Life, The Learning Process Is About Letting Go Of One Identity After Another

In the first two chapters,  Tao Of Rich the attack is launched in two waves; the second wave robs Job of his good health. Yet these two waves only deal with superficial comforts, and it takes a third wave, which is the remainder of the book, to erode away pride in the soul. Job’s friends echo theological truths which no doubt have helped establish comfortable barriers to matters of the spirit. Job knows, however, that at some fundamental level, his experiences do not comport with such comfortable theology. His friends recognize that he is challenging even their own spiritual comfort, and so grow increasingly hostile even though they have come to offer consolation. They waited out seven days of miserable silence with him, helping to nurse his wounds and graciously following his lead, by which they show themselves to be the truest of friends. But the unease that comes from dealing with God honestly is severe enough to test even these bonds.

Many Bible readers take in this book by paying a lot of attention to the first two chapters, seeing that a righteous man is made to suffer, and then fast-forward through all the theological tennis match of chapters 3 to 38, and finally settle in for the big denouement of Job’s restoration after God’s impressive interrogation. It is as if the middle chapters are of little value, an idea perhaps stemming from the recognition that at least one side of the argument (either Job or his friends) must be wrong. This was my attitude when I first read it in detail, but now I believe that “wrong” arguments are included in holy, revealed scripture for a reason. I believe that the middle chapters are of the highest value, because they present to us in detail a process that God uses to denude Job’s blameless soul.

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