CQOD: 09/20/06 -- Bullock: the mystery in suffering

Christian Quotation of the Day

September 20, 2006

Feast of John Coleridge Patteson, First Bishop of Melanesia, & his Companions, Martyrs, 1871

Meditation:
    Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind and said: "Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge? Dress for action like a man; I will question you, and you make it known to me. Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding. Who determined its measurements--surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it? On what were its bases sunk, or who laid its cornerstone, when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy?"
    -- Job 38:1-7 (ESV)

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Quotation:
    Suffering is sometimes a mystery. We must affirm both the mystery and God. The paradox remained, but now, at least, Job knew that it belonged there—that it is built into the moral and physical orders, and into the very nature of God as He has permitted us humans to perceive Him. In a world where the universal principle is cause/effect, the book of Job reminds us that the principle is a reflection of the mysterious, self-revealing God. It is subsumed under Him, however, and He cannot be subsumed under it. The God-speeches remind us that a Person, not a principle, is Lord.
    ... C. H. Bullock (b.1939), Introduction to the Old Testament Poetic Books [1982]

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Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You made all there is. Grant that I shall be content with Your creation.

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