“What difference does it make, I say;
for the Divine annihilates the good and the bad.
When God suddenly whips off his belt
the good children’s despair is mocked.
The whole country’s given over to the wicked
and covered are the faces of its judges.
Who does this if not the Divine” (Job 9.22-24)?
The late George Carlin had a bit in his routine where he talked about people whose response to tragedy was that “it was God’s will.” From fires to floods to the tragic death of children, all of it was God’s will. Carlin’s response was, well, then, let’s go get this guy God who’s responsible for all of this.
Because, as Job says above, who else could be behind such things?
Not I, or you, or anyone else for that matter. Even the rich and powerful can’t turn the wind, churn up hurricanes or even control the clouds. Those things remain beyond our human abilities and control. It’s why contracts come with the admission of force majeure: some things can only be an act of the Divine.
Consider what Job’s saying: that it doesn’t matter; because, tragedy befalls good and bad alike. It’s not just that justice is blind, it’s whole face has been covered—eyes sightless, ears deaf, and mouth muffled. God’s like a teacher who’s going to punish the whole class and make a mockery of the kids who were sitting quietly at their desks and doing their work.
Don’t you get it, Job says, this is how the world works, and it may well have been designed this way. Because if God is God then the only explanation is that this is all Their doing. This whole dang shootin’ match is all by design.
Which begs the question, what if Job’s right?
As much as I believe the poet of Genesis whose refrain, again and again, that all the Holy One created was good, I can’t deny I’ve had the same question as Job. Is the world broken or is it operating as designed? More so, are we creatures whose better nature can be coaxed and loved into the light, or were we made this selfish, callous, and uncaring? And, if so, whose fault is that but God’s?
Wouldn’t this make the Holy One into a monster? Certainly only a dark and twisted being could make such a world. Only a fearsome deity would call the capricious suffering of tyrants and children good. Perhaps we should get this God guy as Carlin said.
And this is where I’m supposed to pull a rabbit out of the hat and show you that Job is wrong, that the world is not like that at all. But you can read and listen to the news as well as I: fires burn, wars rage, and the face of justice appears thickly veiled. I can’t explain it any more than Job. I can only turn toward the One who all his pleas have been addressed. The One who gets the fame and the blame for what happens in this world. The same that lived and bled and died in this world
And ask is that who I think They are.
Jesus, my friend, I know you or, at least, think I do. And I don’t really understand how who you are and how the world is fit together. But I’m choosing to trust you are the One I’ve come to know, and that all the sadness I see troubles you as much as it does me.