"Who is the
Almighty, that we should serve him? What would we gain by praying to him?"
One might call this chapter of Job "When Good Things Happen to Bad
People." All the men visiting Job seem intent on proving to him that there is no
justice in life. They tell him that the evil are always punished, but Job says this is no
comfort because experience suggests that the evil are often so successful that they
arrogantly wonder why they need God. Job says that the evil are often not punished
immediately. In fact, it often seems that they totally escape responsibility. Witnessing
this, a good man who has suffered misfortune can take no comfort that there is retribution
for living badly.
In our culture, which equates the accumulation of money and power with
success and happiness, justice and goodness oftentimes seems as non-existent as it did to
Job. The unethical, self-centered, and materialistic have all the "stuff," and
have become heroes to many. They arrogantly believe that everything they have is deserved
because they "played the game" right. Anyone with less stuff is a victim of his
own ineptitude and deserves to fail. None of this twisted thinking should affect our faith
unless we are lured into adopting these values. When we doubt the worth of living
righteously, in spite of suffering or rewards, we become embittered by what seems to be
the lack of justice in life. It is at this point that the evil in the world wins.
