So the minister decides to tackle the biblical story of Job and he does a fantastic job. He tells how satan came and buffeted the faithful man of God from all sides. Satan kills his children, destroys his crops and livestock (money in those days), plagues him with boils, makes his wife leave him and just leaves him a miserable mess. Yet despite all of this this great man of God stands firm in his faith toward God. For his perseverance and loyalty, God rewards him by doubling up on his blessings. God is great! God is sooooooo good! God is so faithful! Praise de lawd and thank you Jesus!

The message is comforting because perhaps, there are people listening to the message who are currently experiencing troubles, grief, loss and who, like Job, want the same happy ending, but it does not come to pass. The loved one dies, the spouse never comes back, the money is never replenished, the bank still takes the house despite all the personal prayers, the support prayers and frantic display of faith and denials. The only thing they hear is, “God knows best,” “It was God’s will,” “God has something better for you,”etc.

The mind is numb in the depths of the grief and shock and then one day, like a needle being abruptly yanked off a vinyl record you notice something. Job was used and abused just to prove a bet. You take a closer look at the story and realize God initiated the whole thing by directing satan’s attention to Job with a line of bragging. Satan seizes the opportunity (ulterior motive in mind) to point out that Job is only faithful because of the things he has (riches, prosperity across the board and health) and that if God removed them all, Job would curse him (God) to his face. Apparently not wanting to be shown up and falling into satan’s taunts (like a kid daring another kid and falling for the dare), God give’s satan the okay to torment Job, but he was not to kill him (thought that was God’s jurisdiction?).

The rest of the story is where most people pick it up and where the ministers begin to preach from, completely disregarding the disturbing genesis of the story or seeing it for what it is. Like walking by a dark alley and seeing a politician making a deal with a known gunman/drug dealer/murderer, this is what parts of Job chapter 1 and 2 presents, but who cares, right? God having conversation with his alleged enemy and giving his alleged enemy authority to beat up on his so-called “favorite son.”

The story is quite disturbing for quite a few reasons that are contrary to what many Christians believe and teach, however, who needs to get all Columbo about the details leading up to the crime when you can focus on the happy ending and the personal application one can take away from this so-called wonderful story of faith and faithfulness. Personally, I prefer Snow White. At least no so-called “good person” was responsible for sending that wicked witch.

The biggest joke is, God knew who Job was (if we assume he is all knowing) and supposedly knew his heart yet he obliges his alleged enemy to prove what he (God) was supposed to already know (allegedly) about Job.

Didn’t God know Job would remain faithful? Why drag him through the mess to find this out? Did satan need to recognize this? Was there a lesson Job had to learn at the expense of total humiliation first?

Like I said, disturbing story, but it goes to show how blind faith can be. How many Christians even turn on their brain to even begin to see the dark side of this story?

While there is no doubt the story may have been a literary vehicle to comfort the suffering, when looked at more closely, it actually creates more questions than answers.