The Inner Gift Received from Life's Misfortunes

The Book of Job is one of the most celebrated pieces of  Biblical literature, not only because it explores some of the most profound questions humans ask about their lives, but also because it is extremely well written.  Job is known for his faithfulness to God despite his many afflictions.  At the beginning, Job is a wealthy man with a large family.  Satan challenges God to allow him to take away Job's blessings as a test of his faith. Soon Job is a banded, covered with boils, his wealth gone and his family dead. Three friends arrive to comfort him; he disputes with them, denying he has done anything to deserve this misery.  Job gets angry, but in the end ultimately realizes the power and glory of God, and his faith carries him through. The theme of the story addresses the question of ‘why bad things happen to good people’.  When it comes to suffering, it is a definite question indeed.  Why is there pain in the world? Why do tragedies happen? Why do "innocent" people suffer? Why are there war, racism, social injustice, and suffering?

The focus of my Job paper is in connection with the book of “Why Bad Things Happen to Good People” by Harold S. Kushner.  The Book of Job can affect many readers who may have had similar instances of loss, suffering and despair in their life. This story tells the reader that we need to accept the fact that we can never fully comprehend Gods working in our lives and in the world.  Faith was beautifully expressed in the story.  In reading the book we can learn Gods power and wisdom in the world.  If we asked the Lord for an answer to a question of ‘why me’, he may not respond to us in the way we would like, instead will show us in another way, shape or form. 

If these misfortunes happened to me, would I complain like Job?  Yes, as a matter of fact I can totally understand the undesirable feeling he experienced.   Like Job and many others may have experienced a tragedy in their lives some minor and some more severe in nature in their lives.  My family has been in that situation.   Some people may lash out angry at God, lose their faith or act out in reckless behavior.  Before I go into detail about my own experience, first I would like to give an example of what I think the author of Job was trying to tell the audience. 

One day a wonderful mother and father lost their only daughter to a robbery turned murder.  After the parents went through the typical grieving stage of loss, they wanted to make something positive out of this negative situation.  So the parents decided to visit the man who murdered their daughter in jail.  Not to lash out in anger, but simply to ask why he did what he did.  In response, the man claimed to have had an awful childhood, poor education and was destitute.  He also claimed he was illiterate.  The parents then asked him that if he had a better start in life would he be violent.  His reply was that he did not know.  Then they thanked him for the meeting and accepted his apology (which was probably very hard).  So from that day forward these wonderful people set off to help illiterate folks that were either staying in a half way house, jail or homeless shelter to educate them and be a positive mentor.  They did get a confirmation of their success, when a letter came from a person whom had been educated and avowed his success.  Stating how he had gone to college, and is currently working, married and leading a good life.   The man thanked them for their guidance and support.  If it were not for their good deed he stated that he would likely have gone to jail or committed murder. 

It is impossible for us to fully understand the ways of God who put our faith to such strenuous tests.  Yet the story of Job reminds us that God can take evil deeds done by others and weaving them into His plan for our Good.  These people put their faith in God and trusted him, which made their faith stronger and more powerful.  “Innocent people do suffer misfortunes in this life.  Things happen to them far worse than they deserve….but when it happens, it does not represent God punishing them for something they did wrong. The misfortunes do not come from God at all.”

My experience being Job started about twenty years ago.  I lost my sister instantly to a car accident; in my eyes she was perfect.  She was my best friend.   Shortly after my sister died, my brother was diagnosed with depression.  Therapy and medication apparently was not sufficient for my brother so in turn ended his life three years ago.  Then in 2010 my family experienced more tragedy this time, Then several years later my mother got an aggressive form of Breast Cancer which resulted in surgery, chemo-therapy and radiation in which you could say her faith and good attitude has kept her going for 12 years up until April of 2010, her battle ended - I was fortunate enough to spend her last weeks with her lovingly taking care of her tenderly as she did for me when i was a baby with love and kindness, i bid her good bye by holding her hand and saying 'I love you Mom, until we meet again'.  In addition that same year, my aunt suddenly of a heart ailment and my beloved cousin who was so full of life lost her battle to lung cancer.  Needless to say 2010 was very hard on me because of these losses.  Meanwhile, my dad has suffered a few major heart attacks since then and is in the late stages of congestive heart failure.   Again, we are left with the feeling of despair once again.  I am now left with no siblings, aunt, cousin and mother ~ the positivity out of it: lots of good memories we had spent together laughing and enjoying our good times together. 

Currently I am a mother of three young children who all have experienced some form of misfortune also.  My oldest son has a hearing loss requiring hearing aides along with other neurological issues, I have a daughter who has a minor hearing loss not require hearing aides but has language/speech processing issues, and my youngest son has hearing loss requiring hearing aids.  These are all ongoing issues in my life which require frequent trips to Children’s Hospital, special schooling for my boys, IEP (individual education plan) meetings and therapies. 

I sort of went through a typical bereavement period but life often confronts us with tragic situations that make us wonder ‘why me God?’  The suffering from these tragedies has made me more apt to show compassion for others because of my experience of feeling the fires of pain.  I believe when we experience this painful tragedy, another door opens to be more thankful for a healthy life and to realize life is so short and to live it as if it were your last day.

The inner gift I received from these misfortunes was the power of faith, hope and love.  In the story of Job his gift from God was shown in a materialistic way, but if someone really understood the hidden meaning behind the ending of the story this would be it.  I feel for people (especially close friends and family) who experience loss, my heart is full of sorrow but at the same time ‘love’. I look at life in a different angle now, and want to do good deeds; the other day I was at the library and a woman in a wheel chair had trouble using the vending machine because of her disability she asked for help and of course I did without question,  an elderly man in line at the bank had trouble filling out his deposit slip so without hesitation I helped him write out the form and during the holiday season I show the kids how to help the homeless by donating hats, gloves and scarves at Father Bills Place.  This has made me a stronger person for sure.    In his book Harold said “The moral of the story is: when hard times before you, don’t be tempted to give up your faith in God.  He has his reasons for what he is doing, and if you hold on to your faith long enough, he will compensate you for your suffering”.