Impatience of Job?

It's amusing to ponder some of our popular colloquialisms. Like 'the patience of Job,' for instance. It's a phrase heard in secular society as well as in church circles. The basis of the saying is the story from the Bible about a righteous man who lost everything. But we don't ever describe someone as having the 'righteousness of Job,' though that surely is part of the biblical testimony about this ancient figure. We don't speak of the 'temerity of Job,' though this man from the Old Testament seemed somewhat impudent, shaking his fist at heaven and demanding explanations from the Almighty. No one talks about the 'depression of Job,' despite the evidence in the Bible that Job became quite justifiably depressed. But when a person is enduring a great hardship in life, we do sometimes describe him or her as exhibiting the 'patience of Job.' The only evidence of Job's patience in his plight was that he obdurately refused to give up his faith in God, even in moments of greatest despair, and even when he doubted that God even cared. Still, instead of patience, I see an understandable impatience in this biblical hero.

People who glibly use the phrase, 'the patience of Job,' need perhaps to take another look at this Old Testament character. For he was often accusatory of God, complaining bitterly of the injustice he felt he was suffering, and railing angrily at his counselors who sought, in the midst of their own confusion, to help him understand. Yet one couldn't blame Job for being irate under his circumstances. He who had once enjoyed all the blessings of life suddenly found himself bereft of them all -- material wealth, family, and even his own health. Someone has observed that Job got a view of life from just below the bottom rung. So over the centuries Job has come to symbolize the human condition in its most extreme destitution. And many people relate to what Job went through. The realization dawns that what happened to him happens to many of us, an inch at a time.

What is our reaction, as disciples of Jesus, when life is really hard? Does our faith make a difference in heartache, economic stress, family discord, bereavement? For many of us, it's the difference Christ makes under those kinds of circumstances that gives us the real substance of our Christian witness to others.