To me, the book of Job makes a clear distinction between pain and suffering.
Pain is inevitable - you lose your job, your health, your love, someone dies, etc.. Of course you will feel negative emotions! Of course you will feel unhappy and pained!
Suffering happens when you resist what has happened. You think, "this is unfair!" or "this can't be happening to me!" Basically, suffering is the proverbial salt being rubbed on the wound. Suffering is purely optional and unnecessary. It's a layer YOU put on top of the original pain.
When Job accepted the situation (by accepting God's will), he stopped suffering.
For me, this book is NOT about patience. It's about acceptance and surrender.
That is the basic message of the story: sh*t happens. What goes up goes down. But inevitably, it goes back up again. Life is just like that. Once you accept that, then you can prepare for the inevitable upswing. If you fight the fact that you have sh*t on you, then you just prolong the downswing.
Some people find a lot of solace in God. And they accept life's lot in the name of God's will.
I am not religious at all, but I deeply commend anyone who accepts and surrenders to life's ups and downs. If God helps you do that, then thumbs up to God!
In Jan. 2007, my fiancé committed suicide. Within 10 days of his suicide, I lost my job, career, home, money, everything, etc.. I wasn't invited to the funeral. I never had a chance to say good-bye. All my dreams were destroyed overnight.
For me, I found acceptance and surrender through therapy, alternative healing, books, seminars, etc..
It took about a year for me to accept and surrender. And guess what? Once the suffering was gone, I realized that the pain was also gone. Pain, it seems, doesn't last a long time at all.
Job is restored to his former happiness when he stops accusing God, and just surrenders to life. When he surrendered, his suffering disappeared. Once he stopped suffering, the space his suffering took up became "free." And so, he was able to fill it up with renewed happiness.
If he didn't give up the suffering, there would have been no space for a new life.
So, again, in closing:
I don't think the story of Job is about patience in suffering. It's about acceptance of pain, so you DON'T suffer anymore.  |