THE SCHOOLMASTER

 

Day 6 of Creation by Nathan Greene

“We will acknowledge someday, before God and all his children, that life on this earth, that which we longed for as premortal spirits desiring mortality, was the perfect school for our development. Though the curriculum was exacting, the tests were more than adequately supervised by the schoolmaster. Though the homework was extensive, again our teacher was our constant support.” (Jerry A. Wilson, The Great Plan of Happiness – Insights From the Lectures on Faith, p 75)

Looking back on Job’s life and considering the perfection of his character, it is obvious that the test of his life had to equal the stature of the man otherwise it would not have qualified as a test. I don’t know how long Job’s test of faith lasted. The Bible does not tell us the exact length though most biblical scholars and estimates suggest it lasted anywhere from several months to under a year, composed of these timeline clues:

-          Initial Losses: Job’s sudden loss of children and livestock happened rapidly, unfolding over a single catastrophic day (Job 1:13-19)

-          The Silent Mourning: Job’s three friends sat with him in silence for seven days and seven nights after seeing his physical affliction (Job 2:13)

-          Months of Suffering: Job laments in Job 7:3 that he has been allotted ‘months of futility’ and wearisome nights, suggesting his physical misery lasted a prolonged period.

-          The Discourses: Time passed during the lengthy back-and-forth dialogue between Job and his friends, followed by Elihu’s speeches and God speaking from the whirlwind (Job 38-41).

I have looked back to the greatest test of my faith and have been amazed to discover how perfectly fitted it was to me even though I would never want to repeat anything like that. This test of faith challenged my best attribute and my very essence of being and who I am. I have only just now discovered how intricate the schoolmaster has been with me. The attribute that was tested also happens to be my biggest strength that has kept me active in the Church and ensured my obedience to the Gospel.

The test that I passed lasted much longer than Job’s. It lasted for 11 years and in fact added another 30 years of ensued issues and fears that needed to be resolved. This has been my extensive homework that has made my life difficult but has in the process developed the strength of character I will carry with me into eternity.

The teacher has indeed been my constant support and has because of my endurance granted me the wish of my heart….to keep me in His sight.

 

I failed to understand

Why such deep trials in my life,

I expected much better in my arrogant pride.

How merciful You were Father

To help me see the purpose of the tide;

That through my bruised and aching heart

You kept me by Your loving side.

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

THE MIGHTY JOB 3

 

Do You Trust Me by Yongsung Kim

I have written nine blogs about Job over the years but this year as I re-visited his story, I felt that I had missed the crux of his experience. It pierced my heart because it related to me in a personal way.

To recap, Job went from fabulous wealth, exquisite righteousness and being a pinnacle of society to living in rags on the outskirts of the city, in constant pain but remaining devoted to God.

Refusing to curse God and die, Job lost the support of his wife and through the merciless scorn of Job’s self-proclaimed integrity, his friends offered no support. Through it all, Job stood firm defending God. The more they opposed his strength, the more Job praised God insisting ‘with Him is wisdom and strength’ (Job 12:10-24). And in his sorrow, he exclaimed: “My friends scorn me: but mine eye poureth out tears unto God” (Job 16:20).

It’s the tears that get me because in the midst of his repeated pleading to God, the heavens remained silent:

“…..as we know, silence had become part of the test. But what a problem this posed for Job. Deep, depressing darkness cowed him by its awful blackness and terrified him by its pervasiveness. Listen to his anguished plea with the Lord for soul-relief, relief that included an answer to his persistent but continually unanswered question: Why? Why? Why? Wherefore hidest thou thy face, and holdest me for thine enemy? (Job 13:20-24)…..He hath fenced up my way that I cannot pass, and he hath set darkness in my paths (19:6-8) (Keith H. Meservy, Job, Yet Will I Trust In Him, pp 139-53)

Job’s greatest pain was not losing his children, his health or his wealth but the betrayal he felt as God turned away from his suffering.

In Lecture 3 of Lectures on Faith, Joseph Smith said that there are three things necessary 'in order that any rational or intelligent being may exercise faith in God unto life and salvation': 1. The idea that God actually exists; 2.  A correct idea of his character, perfections and attributes; 3.  An actual knowledge that the course of life he is pursuing is according to His will.

The Book of Job proves this teaching to be true. To exercise true faith and endure in faithfulness one must be convinced that God exists, have knowledge of His character to foster hope for deliverance and salvation and be assured that his life is acceptable to Him. All three necessary attributes listed above are reflected in Job's life.

When he proclaimed "I know that my Redeemer liveth" (19:25), he was basically bearing testimony of His existence. When he said, "Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him" (13:15) is a clear indication that he knew of God’s merciful nature, His power and His strength (26:6-14).  Job also knew that the life he was living was according to God's will and this he proved by recounting his good deeds ((29:12-17) and by asserting his righteousness (27:2-6).

What hurt Job the most was God’s silence. He had lived a perfect life, he believed in God, he knew him and yet God was silent. He was a good person and he had done all.  How many times do we come across scriptures that say God is merciful, and He will answer our every prayer and yet at the most crucial time of our lives, we feel abandoned by Him and experience the silence?

How abandoned and rejected Job must have felt. The disdain of his friends was bad enough as was the lack of support from his wife but to be shunned by God was the end of the line. He had nowhere else to go for relief and understanding.  The only place he could go from there was to wish for death (Job 3:3; 10:1). Job was not just alone, he was utterly alone. Many of us understand this place. Yet still in the midst of his longing for the end, Job remained steadfast and in the end he heard the voice of Jehovah ‘out of the whirlwind’ which revived his soul and confirmed the greatness of God who watched over him still (see Job 38).

I remember my tears to God some years ago about facing my trials alone when He answered me: “was it you or I who suffered at Calvary?” I understood back then the lonely road He had travelled in mortality all the way to the cross, abandoned by His friends who ran from Him and betrayed Him and His countrymen who rejected Him. And then the Father’s withdrawal and silence. How utterly, utterly alone the Saviour must have felt in His most crucial moment at Calvary. Those who would be Christ’s have to know ‘the fellowship of His sufferings’ (see Philippians 3:8-10).

What Job did not foresee in the midst of his suffering was that his life would take a turn for the better, and he would be recompensed for not turning his back on one greater than him. His trust in God’s mercy  did come as 'the Lord blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning' (Job 42:12). Job lived another 140 years in prosperity and wellness after the trial of his faith. Would he have ever imagined in the mire of his pain such a glorious ending to his life if he had cursed God and died???

ODE TO JOB

You sank so deep

Into the mire of your pain;

Nobody followed you

Nobody sang praises to your name.

 

You longed for the comfort

That nobody could give

But He who gave you life

In whom you believed still.

 

He stood and He waited until

In your hour of agony

You gloried in His name

And became my beacon of hope

that I can do the same.

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

ODE TO JOB

 

You sank so deep

Into the mire o f your pain;

Nobody followed you

Nobody sang praises to your name.

 

In your hour of agony

You gloried in His name

You became my beacon of hope

that I can do the same.

 

Your blessings multiplied

As the stars of heaven do

Each night I see them,

I am reminded of you.

 

-      CATHRYNE ALLEN

(Art by AI)

THE MIGHTY JOB 1

 

Imagine God called you ‘perfect and upright’. What kind of a life would you have led to earn such accolades?  This is what the Lord called Job and what he did to deserve it (Job 1:1):

-          As supreme magistrate he ‘chose out people’s way’, adjusted their differences, and ‘sat chief’, presiding in all their civil assemblies.

-          As captain general he dwelt ‘as a king in the midst of his troops’, preserving order and discipline, and seeing that his fellow soldiers were provided with requisites for their warfare, and the necessaries of life.

-          As a man he did not think himself superior to the meanest offices in domestic life, to relieve or support his fellow creatures, he went about ‘comforting the mourners’ visiting the sick and afflicted and ministering to their wants and seeing that the ‘wounded’ were properly attended.

-          Old Testament Student Manual Book 2, p 30

In a more detailed scriptural account, this was the life of Job:

He was upright (1:1)

He feared God (1:1)

He avoided evil (1:1)

He instructed many (4:3)

He strengthened weak hands (4:3)

He supported those who were falling (4:4)

He strengthened the feeble knees (4:4)

He walked in the Lord's ways (23:10)

He did not turn away from the commandments (23:11)

He loved the Lord's words more than food (23:12)

He delivered the poor (29:12)

He cared for the orphans (29:12)

He helped those whom no one else would help (29:12)

He gave the widow cause to sing with joy (29:13)

He was eyes to the blind (29:15)

He was feet to the lame (29:15)

He was father to the poor (29:16)

He searched for people in need of his assistance (29:16)

He never found joy in the suffering of his enemies (31:29)

He never wished evil on his enemies (31:30)

He opened his home to strangers (31:32)

He did not try to hide his sins (31:33)

He would not follow a multitude to do evil (31:34)

He refused to be silent because of the disapproval of others (31:34)

So Job was righteous, did good continually, was incredibly respected in the community and he was fabulously wealthy. You could say, his life was perfect. Hence the whole argument that Satan presented. When the Lord held Job up as an example of perfection, Satan challenged with something to this effect: "Of course he is good when you are blessing him left, right and center. It's easy to be good when you have a perfect life, but take all that away and see how much he is going to love you and believe in you."

So Job went from the pinnacle of society to living in rags on the outskirts of the city, in constant pain, not understanding what has happened to him. Basically he went from the picture of perfection to this:

 

"From the symptoms, some have said that it appears that he had elephantiasis. Sore boils, one of the symptoms of this disease, had attacked Job's body, forming large pustules which itched so greatly that a piece of pottery was used to scrape them. Job's face was so disfigured that his friends could not recognise him. Worms or maggots were bred in the sores (7:5). His breath became so foul and his body emitted such an odor, that even his friends abhorred him (19:17ff), and he sought refuge outside the city on the refuse heap where outcasts and lepers lived.

 

“Pain was his constant companion (30:17,30) as were also terrifying nightmares (7:14). Whereas, formerly old, young, princes and nobles alike honored Job, he now felt abused by those whom society itself rejects; who live on the outskirts of town, among the bushes, along the ditchbanks or in caves" (Keith H. Meservy, "Job: 'Yet Will I Trust In Him'", Sixth Annual Sidney B. Sperry Symposium, BYU, January 1978)

 

The lessons we can learn from this man’s experience are extensive. Over the years I have written 9 blogs about his life. This year I am looking at him from the vantage of wisdom that often comes with experience and age…..not that I am anywhere near the calibre of Job but now I understand something about suffering....

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: Job - Archimedes by Italian Baroque Artist Luca Giordano)

LIFE

 

“’Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect’ (Matt 5:48). Now, that is an attainable goal. We will not be exalted, we shall not reach our destination, unless we are perfect, and now is the best time in the world to start toward that perfection. I have little patience with people who say, ‘Oh, nobody is perfect’, the implication being: ‘so why try? Of course no one is wholly perfect, but we find some who are a long way up the ladder.”

-          President Spencer W. Kimball, “Teachings of Spencer W. Kimball” p 165

I have been very introspective on this the last leg of my earthly journey. I think illness has a great way of forcing us to confront our mortality. Recognizing that life is a sum of one’s choices, I have been re-hashing my life to discover if there is something I should have done better: did I follow all the teachings of the Gospel as I should, did I rely on God enough to follow my life’s plan, did I allow my fears to control me, did  my decisions make my life better or worse, did I suffer more than I should have, did I try hard enough to be Christ-like?

So much of what comes upon us is self-inflicted. Even Job admitted that what he feared had come upon him (Job 3:25).  I discovered a person can easily run the risk of spending their entire old age beating themselves up over the past. Seeing clearly you are not perfect can be a terrible blow to the ego….

I have looked back on the lessons I have learnt during my life and have reasoned they are wasted if they are not acted upon but some things cannot be re-visited. Somehow I think nothing gained here was ever meant to be wasted. There is another life to be lived….a better life….the real life….the never ending life…..because the spirit of man lives on and ‘becoming’ is a process.

One day we will see the beauty in all our earthly experiences and all our learning as we kneel before the King of Kings and acknowledge His priceless part in our eternal journey. One day I know, when I am sanctified, He will consecrate ‘the sum of me’.

The lessons of my life flowed like a river

Winding through days, months and years;

I rescued a few but missed so many

From the currents as I saw them passing;

They drowned in a daze of my ignorance,

Unwanted and ignored but yet abiding.

I fish them now from the pool of my memory

And give them life everlasting.

- CATHRYNE ALLEN

(Art: Jesus Prince of Peace by Danny Hahlbohm)

COMPASSION

 

Whenever I come across someone who seeks to show compassion by benign band-aids we use in the Church, I immediately recognise that this person has not suffered yet.

The familiar band-aids are: 1. We voted for this in our pre-earth life and; 2. We are here to learn and to grow. As if these two magical sentences can make everything better. I find it offensive when someone tells me this which to my mind suggests that they consider me less spiritually astute than I am.

Some of us experience sorrow which can be a passing phase and its impact can lessen to the point where equilibrium can eventually be regained.

Suffering on the other hand can last a much longer time and can leave life- long scars. You see so much of it in the world through abuse, sickness and oppression. The effects of these are so deeply rooted that only those who have suffered the same can understand.

Suffering at its most acute can be through bad mental or physical health. It reminds me of Job. After God took away from him all that he had to prove that he would stay faithful to Him, Satan was quick to point out to God that a man can lose everything and survive if he can keep his life, but afflict him personally through his body and he will curse God to His face (Job 2:4,5).

And so Job was afflicted physically beyond his wildest imagination and he wished he had never been born (Job 3:3). That’s suffering….when you are in so much pain that you struggle with a will to keep living. The reconciliation between his faith in God and his reality took Job to hell and back. That’s suffering. Along the path of such reconciliation one can encounter soul wrenching guilt, anger, bitterness and self-doubt. That’s suffering.

I do not believe we came here to ‘learn and to grow’. My personal belief is that we came here with more knowledge than we can ever acquire in this life. We were schooled and tutored extensively in all matters before we came here (D&C 138:56). The experiences we suffer here just awaken our eternal wisdom we brought with us. Hence our identity as ‘intelligences’ (Abraham 3:22). This is my theory and understanding.

According to my knowledge, there is nowhere in the scriptures that it tells us we came here to learn and to grow. The phrase almost suggests that we have been sent here to kindergarten, which I believe we graduated form long ago. Maybe to add upon the great knowledge we already possess…What the scriptures do tell us is that we came here to be tried and tested (Abraham 3:25). It is the passing of the test that progresses us to salvation.

The way we can show another compassion is by validating the hell they are passing through. Acknowledge that life is hard and what they are feeling is normal. The worst thing we can do is recount our blessings and our recognition of the positive because this only induces guilt in the other person. We don’t know what it is like to live in their skin but there is one who does:

“….and he will take upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities.”  (Alma 7:12)

That is something to celebrate this Christmas.

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: Gentle Healer by Greg Olsen)

THE PATH OF OPPOSITION

 

“The ultimate purpose of the Atonement [of Jesus Christ] is to ensure our happiness and joy. But the Lord achieves that purpose in our lives through the interaction of conflicting forces that, at first, seem determined to rob us of the joy we seek. Paradoxically, our purest joy emerges from the natural tension between those opposing forces.”  (Elder Bruce C. Hafen, “The Broken Heart” p 63)

We often think that opposition in this life which befalls us is arbitrary because we are living in a world of opposites but I had an insight the other day into the process of opposition and its role in our lives. I realised that all the opposition I have been through that marred my happiness is everything that I was intolerant of before it showed up in my life.

This opposition came in the form of trials which I now understand had no aim to destroy my happiness and make me miserable but to test my resolve to adhere to the truth in the midst of my emotional distress. That was its primary purpose. I could see when I understood this that all the opposition we are confronted with in our lives is not random and is tailored to us personally. It has to be opposite to our personal values, ideals and plans for it to be a test.

I know for a fact that my reality does in no way resemble that idealistic view I once had of myself and my life. In fact, my life ended up being the very opposite of what I had once imagined. I know there are people in the world who have the life they have always wanted so I presume they are tested differently but I know we are all on testing ground in some way. And sometimes the ease of life can be a testing ground too. It makes some of us forget God.

Consider Job and his experience with opposition:

Job was “a perfect and an upright man, one that feared God and eschewed evil” (Job 2:3). His love for God was beyond fault. Job’s service to his fellowman was incredibly impressive (Job 4:3; 4:4; 29:12;13; 29:1516); 31:32). In short, Job was righteous, did good continually, was incredibly respected in the community and he was fabulously wealthy. You could say, his life was perfect. Then came the opposition to that picture perfect life.

 

Job went from the pinnacle of society to living in rags on the outskirts of the city, in constant pain, not understanding what has happened to him. He went from a picture of perfection to being disfigured with boils, and worms and maggots were bred in his sores (7:5). He ended up living outside the city on the refuse heap where outcasts and lepers lived. (7:14). Whereas, everyone in his community honoured him before, he suddenly became an outcast.  

 

He who had loved God beyond reproach felt that God had forsaken him ((19:6,7-13); His friends scorned him (Job 16:20), he became estranged from his wife who told him to curse God and die (Job 2:9; 19:17); he lost his friends and  respect of his servants (19:14-16); young children despised him and mocked him (19:18); and everyone he loved turned against him (19:19). In other words, all that was good in his life turned opposite.

 

This is my theory. The greater you are, the greater the tests of opposition. The test has to equal the stature of the man or it is not a test. If your life is particularly difficult and it is not in consequence of your own making through sin, be comforted, you are among the greats!

- CATHRYNE ALLEN

(Art: Path to Light by Ivan Guaderrama)

EQUALLY NEEDY

I read recently Elder Holland’s glowing tribute to his wife Patricia. He basically described a perfect woman who always had the scriptures in her hands. I walked away feeling less than good about myself wondering how anyone can be so perfect.

Do you know people who seem to have easy, wonderful lives and who seldom get touched by any trial? I do. I don’t know why some people get away with simple, seemingly perfect lives and others don’t. I would imagine a lot of factors play a part. All I know according to personal revelation is that my life was planned for me and I am trusting that. I certainly don’t begrudge anyone an easy life, in fact I am glad someone has that.  

One thing I do know. No matter how perfect you are in this life, you still need the sanctifying blood of the Atonement. Abraham, Job and Noah were the most perfect according to the scriptures but they still needed saving simply because our mortality is a fallen state. There is no other way to be redeemed and be reconciled with the Father and be brought back into His presence but through the grace of Jesus Christ.  

Noah was a ‘just man and perfect in his generations’ (Genesis 6:9). Abraham was ‘the father of the faithful’ (D&C 138:41), one of the ‘great ones’ who was in Christ’s bosom long before this earth began (Abraham 3:23), a man whom the Saviour called ‘my friend’ (James 2:23; Isaiah 41:8) and Job, what hasn’t been said about Job?  A man who ‘was perfect and upright and one that feared God, and eschewed evil’…… and yet his life turned into a ruin (Job 1:1).

Another thing I know. We do not walk in other people’s shoes. We only know what is available to the eye. We are each a walking sum of our choices, our desires, our achievements, our abilities, our responsibilities, our challenges and our opportunities. We are all different people with the same destiny. We are God’s children destined for eternal glory.

When I joined the Church I did not desire to be perfect. Instead my desire was to be a strong person. I wanted to be valiant to the end. I wanted to be like Job. This is someone I admired the most. A man who endured against all odds and still sang praises to God. He was the perfect example that the trial equals the stature of the man. The trial of faith has to have the power to destroy that faith.

Another thing I saw in Job – his humanity. His soul became weary of living and he wished to die (Job 3:3; 10:1). I have been there…more than once. Now I am learning about endurance I am often reminded of my hero Job who was rescued by the greatest hero of all who suffered it all……

You sank so deep

Into the mire of your pain;

Nobody followed you

Nobody sang praises to your name.

 

In your hour of agony

You gloried in His name

You became my beacon of hope

that I can do the same.

 

He stood as sentinel

to your yielding heart

Knowing your trust

would stand the test of time.

 

He crushed the enemy

of your soul in the final hour,

His glory, His might,

His unfathomable power.

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Artist Unknown)

MIGHTY JOB

 

“It Is not the function of religion to answer all questions about God’s moral government of the universe, but to give courage (through faith) to go on in the face of questions a man never finds the answers to in his present status.

“Therefore, take heed of yourselves, and as a wise world thinker once said, “If the time comes when you feel you can no longer hold to your faith, then hold to it anyway. You cannot go into tomorrow’s uncertainty and dangers without faith.”  (Elder Harold B. Lee, Church News, as quoted by Keith H. Meservy, “Job: Yet Will I Trust In Him”, pp 139-53)

After 50 years in the Church, I am still striving to fully understand about suffering. I have had my fair share of it and understand different aspect of it but not in its entirety. I wish there was a different medium through which we can earn eternal life and I wish that the Saviour didn’t have to suffer so.

Every time I re-visit the account of mighty Job, I come to understand a little more of this principle but the lessons from this man’s life are endless. The whole premise of Job’s experience is that God does not spare righteous people from suffering in this life.

It was believed anciently that suffering only comes upon the wicked and that it is God given as punishment. When Jesus healed a man blind from birth, His disciples asked Him: “Master, who did sin, this man or his parents that he was born blind?”  Jesus answered that neither sinned and that the purpose of the man’s blindness was for the ‘works of God to be manifest in him’ (John 9:2,3). So with all of us, there is obviously a purpose for whatever we are afflicted with that is not of our doing.

I rather think that Job had to learn this lesson. His friends accused him of being sinful in some way to have ended up in such extreme suffering. Job defended his integrity (Job 27:6), knowing full well he did not sin but he must have wondered why he, a man who God called ‘perfect’ (Job 1:8) was not spared.

Job’s service to his fellowman was extensive: he strengthened weak hands (4:3); supported those who were falling (4:4); strengthened the feeble knees (4:4); delivered the poor (29:12); cared for the orphans (29:12); helped those whom no one else would help (29:12; gave the widow cause to sing with joy (29:13); was eyes to the blind (29:15); was feet to the lame (29:15); was father to the poor (29:16); searched for people in need of his assistance (29:16); opened his home to strangers (31:32).

 In his extreme suffering Job wished he was never born and disclosed a fear: “For the thing which I greatly feared is come upon me, and that which I was afraid of is come unto me” (Job 3:25). Perhaps seeing so much suffering in others, made him fear sin and think that his righteousness would spare him. This made him question if he did really commit some sin so he begged the Lord to reveal it to him so he could repent (Job 13:23).

While Job did not understand why God permitted his affliction, he would not judge the Lord nor lose his faith in Him and could therefore say “let come on me what will” (Job 13:13). Had he distrusted, he would have questioned God’s integrity in whom he believed impeccably. (See the Old Testament Student Manual, Job: “Hast Thou Considered My Servant Job”)

There is one other man who might have wondered why he wasn’t spared….Joseph, the beloved Prophet of the Restoration… and we all know about his suffering…..

Your watchful eye was over all my trials

So carefully crafted

With love and tender care,

The crucible almost too hard to bear;

Yet did I worship Thee

Praising Thy name forever.

 

You stood as sentinel to my yielding heart

Knowing my trust would stand the test of time;

You crushed the enemy of my soul in the final hour,

Your glory, Your might, Your unfathomable power.

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: Oh God, Where Art Thou? by Paul Marli)

EXEMPLARY JOB

 

I revisited the story of Job today for personal reasons I will not go into here. I have written about Job extensively in the past but I have never written about him from this vantage point.

At the onset of his trial of faith, Job received a taste of Satan’s objective through his wife who told him: “Curse God and die” (Job 2:9).

This was the worst affront to Job, “a perfect and an upright man, one that feared God and eschewed evil” (Job 2:3). His love for God was beyond fault. How could he possibly curse Him and sin with his lips? (v 10). It was unthinkable for him. As things grew worse from there, that temptation was never yielded to even though Job came to the point of wishing that he would die (Job 7:15,16). In fact, he started wishing he was never born (Job 10:18,19) but still he would not curse God.

Then something interesting happened. Through the merciless taunting of his friends who offered no support, Job stood firm defending God. The more they opposed his strength, the more Job praised God insisting ‘with him is wisdom and strength’ over and over (Job 12:10-24). And in his sorrow, he exclaimed: “My friends scorn me: but mine eye poureth out tears unto God” (Job 16:20). And then the strength of his testimony: “I know that my redeemer liveth!” (Job 19:25).

To fully appreciate Job’s faithfulness and tenacity we should reflect on his life as it was and how acutely intolerable it became.

Job was righteous, did good continually, was incredibly respected in the community and he was fabulously wealthy. You could say, his life was perfect. Job went from the pinnacle of society to living in rags on the outskirts of the city, in constant pain, not understanding what has happened to him. 

Basically, he went from the picture of perfection to being disfigured with boils and worms and maggots were bred in his sores (7:5). He ended up living outside the city on the refuse heap where outcasts and lepers lived. Pain was his constant companion (30:17,30) as were also terrifying nightmares (7:14). Whereas, everyone in his community honoured him before, he suddenly became an outcast.  

 

Job, however, did not foresee in the midst of his suffering that his life would take a turn for the better. This turn did come as 'the Lord blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning' (Job 42:12). Job lived another 140 years in prosperity and wellness after the trial of his faith. Would he have had such a glorious ending to his life if he had cursed God and died???

When Joseph Smith sat in Liberty jail and cried out in anguish: "Oh God, where art Thou?”, the Lord responded with: "My son peace be to thy soul; thine adversity and thine afflictions shall be but a small moment; and then if thou endure it well, God shall exalt thee on high.....Thou art not yet as Job” (D&C 121:1,7-10)

In the words of Neal A. Maxwell, endurance is “passing beyond breaking points without breaking”.

ODE TO JOB:

You sank so deep

Into the mire of your pain;

Nobody followed you,

Nobody sang praises to your name.

 

In your hour of agony

You gloried in His name,

You became my beacon

Of hope that I can do the same.

 

Your blessings multiplied

As the stars of heaven do

Each night I see them,

I am reminded of you.

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: Lord, I Believe by Liz Lemon Swindle)

 

THE BITTER CUP

 

“The scriptures tell us that Christ was ‘sore amazed’ at how exquisite the pain whilst in the Garden of Gethsemane (Mark 14:32-34). When we come to the moments in our lives when we ourselves are ‘sore amazed’, we are lifted to higher ground, the ground the Saviour stood on. It is in these moments in life that we connect to the reality of His suffering. Once we have made that connection, we become empowered to endure sorrow and pain and triumph over every foe of this earthly life, even as He did. The Saviour then becomes real and the Atonement becomes active in our lives.”

The above quote is something I wrote years ago when understanding of suffering came upon me. It is always a sobering moment when an idealist meets a challenge to their ideals though. I am that idealist. I believe in the ideal but living without it in this life has been a struggle for me. I am still trying to grasp the meaning of suffering on an emotional level. Understanding something intellectually and understanding it emotionally can be worlds apart. Understanding emotionally involves experience and experience sometimes means pain.

Consider Job. The most endearing thing about him was not his persistent endurance, as admirable as that was, but that his suffering caused him to be ‘weary of life’ and wish he had never been born (Job 3:3; 10:1). What an exquisite blend of excellence and humanity. Maybe Job teaches us that there is as much honour in pressing forward despite our lack of desire to do so as there is in cheerfully bearing our misfortunes without any complaint. I applaud those who can do the latter for in my opinion they are not many. Most of us don’t find joy in suffering. The honour is in not giving up rather than believing that we should be strong enough to never complain and thereby beating ourselves up from ensuing guilt that comes from such an expectation. I have known such guilt, I am an idealist.

The Saviour has had the hardest life of any of us. Even He asked for ‘the cup’ to be removed from Him (Mark 14:36) but His integrity did not fail Him and He drank the bitter dregs and thereby paved the way for us to do the same (John 18:11; 3 Nephi 11:11; D&C 19:18). Job endured and was rewarded with double of what he previously had (Job 42:10). The Saviour endured and He became the God of Heaven and inherited all that the Father has. May we be valiant in doing the same and follow the path to glory that awaits us.

Teach me dear God to look upward

And hope for the glories

That will one day be mine.

Help me to rise on wings of faith;

Lift me above valleys,

Mountains and seas

That I might forsake this world of suffering

And fly with haste to Thee.

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: Come and See by Tyler Anderson)

ODE TO JOB

 

I have just one thing to say about Job......the trials have to equal the stature of the man:

He strengthened weak hands (Job 4:3)

He supported those who were falling (Job 4:4)

He strengthened the feeble knees (Job 4:4)

He delivered the poor (Job 29:12)

He cared for the orphans (Job 29:12)

He helped those whom no one else would help (Job 29:12)

He gave the widow cause to sing with joy (Job 29:13)

He was eyes to the blind (Job 29:15)

He was feet to the lame (Job 29:15)

He was father to the poor (Job 29:16)

He searched for people in need of his assistance (Job 29:16)

He never found joy in the suffering of his enemies (Job 31:29)

He never wished evil on his enemies (Job 31:30)

He opened his home to strangers (Job 31:32)

If your trials are more than you feel you can bear, the test of faith is equal to the glorious person you are, and like Job, your deliverance will come.....

ODE TO JOB:

Your watchful eye was over all my trials

So carefully crafted

With love and tender care,

The crucible almost too hard to bear;

Yet did I worship Thee

Praising Thy name forever.

You stood as sentinel to my yielding heart

Knowing my trust would stand the test of time;

You crushed the enemy of my soul in the final hour,

Your glory, Your might, Your unfathomable power.

• CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Artist unknown)