Job and Mary

   Job:        Stones wear smooth, and soil erodes as you relentlessly grind down our hope

Mary:     I’m bursting with God-news;  I’m dancing the song of my Savior God.

Job:         Why don’t you just bury me alive  get me out of the way until your anger cools?

Mary:      His mercy flows in wave after wave on those who are in awe before him.








(All quotes from The Message)


I find this fascinating juxtaposition between Job and Mary in my Bible reading this morning.  Job is so seemingly pessimistic and Mary so optimistic.  Can they really be talking about the same God?


Of course they can. The two situations are radically different; Mary has just been informed that she will bear the Messiah; Job has lost everything he has, including all of his children.  Circumstances have a lot to do with our interaction with God.  Who wouldn't be questioning God if they were in Job's position?  Who wouldn't be praising God if they were in Mary's?

Some observations:

1. God's ways are mysterious.  Job was not being punished by God because of his bad behavior and Mary wasn't being rewarded by God because she was the only woman in history good enough to bear the Messiah.  Who can explain this?

2. It is okay to question God; it is okay to struggle.  Job is filled with questions until the very end of the book when God still doesn't answer Job's questions about pain and suffering.  God simply gives Job a glimpse of who he is.  Or, as Job put it: 

“You told me, ‘Listen, and let me do the talking. Let me ask the questions. You give the answers.’ I admit I once lived by rumors of you; now I have it all firsthand—from my own eyes and ears! I’m sorry—forgive me. I’ll never do that again, I promise! I’ll never again live on crusts of hearsay, crumbs of rumor.”” (Job 42:4–6, The Message)

Notice that Job is not punished for all of his questions; indeed, at the end of the book he is given double everything that he had before (see observation 1).

3. God is God in good times and in suffering.  Job and Mary were addressing the same God.  He was no different in Job's suffering than he was in Mary's blessing.  The same God who gave Mary blessing allowed pain and anguish in Job's life.  

All of this reminds me of Lucy's conversation with Mr. Tumnus in The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe.  Lucy referring to Aslan (allegory of God):  "He's not a tame lion."  Mr. Tumnus:  "No, he's not a tame lion, but he is good."

Oh that we would soak in that truth.  God is not a tame lion, but he is good.