Job and human suffering

Job 9 : 1 - 16

His wisdom is profound, his power is vast
I was with a friend today and we spoke about how it is that God is often silent in the face of human suffering. Why does God, who, we believe, loves us better than anyone else on this earth, play hide and seek when we cry out to him in moments of anguish and suffering? As parents, we feel for our children's pain and if any of them were suffering, even if we could not take away the pain ourselves, we would surely be there to reassure our children by being with them. But many who suffer and cry out to God don't seem to be given an answer. In fact, that was Job's painful experience, for most of the biblical book. He cried out for answers, he pleaded for understanding, he defended his case before the Divine Judge, he argued with his friends about his innocence.......it was a long and tortuous struggle with God, in the company of unhelpful friends.

Throughout his struggle, Job had moments of graced insight about the power and wisdom of God - the profoundness and vastness that he could not fathom. He "passes me, I cannot see him, when he goes by I cannot perceive him". Can Job's graced insights speak to us to as we grapple for understanding? The analogy between our parental love for our children and God's love for us may not work because one party in the latter (i.e. God) is from a different realm altogether. It is not wrong or irreverent to wonder and ask, in ignorance and in anguish. But as we know the answer is not forthcoming.

Would there come a time in our struggle of faith when we can honestly say, like Job, "How then can I dispute with him?" with true humility. I believe that my friend finds it difficult when Christians offer such answers without having gone through the struggle - it becomes mere quoting of Scripture, without experiencing the depth of its meaning. But I know that it is possible for someone who wrestles with God over inexplicable suffering to reach a point when Job's statement becomes real, when one sees (graced) glimpses of the fact that God is God........not in grovelling fear, but with humbled, human faith. No rational answers. Just the darkness of faith in a hidden God.