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There are times in every human life when we suddenly find ourselves thrust up against pain and difficulty. This is often the point when people begin to consider some of the major questions of life. One such occasion is when there's a death in the family. People react in different ways. Some are so hurt and devastated, especially if it's a sudden or premature death, that they instantly lose any belief in God. It's as though God has either inflicted this terrible suffering on them or has not prevented it. Either way, they lose faith in a God of love and find all religion a sham. Others react quite differently. For them, it's as though the terrible suffering flings them back onto God because they have nowhere else to turn and no remaining resources of their own. There is only God. For them, the experience of bereavement brings them closer to God and they find in God a source of strength and comfort.

The problem of suffering has been present for human beings as long as the human race has drawn breath. Primitive societies solved the problem by blaming suffering on the capricious whims of the gods. The ancient Israelites, believing and trusting in a God of love, had more difficulty. So they came up with the ingenious solution of blaming suffering on the failure of human beings to respond to God and to follow God's ways. This idea was that sin resulted in suffering - punishment by God - and that right living (righteousness) resulted in health, wealth and happiness. But this wasn't a totally satisfactory solution, for it was obvious that some good people suffered while some villains enjoyed health, wealth and happiness.

The book of Job was a novel written in narrative poetry form to challenge traditional solutions to the problem of suffering and wrestle with the question how it is possible for good human beings to suffer when they are supposedly protected by a God of love.

Today's reading sets the scene with an imaginary court in heaven. God is on the throne, and the 'heavenly beings' come to present themselves before God. We aren't told why the angels present themselves before God. Perhaps it's to pick up the week's work schedule, or perhaps it's to report back on their angelic activities. Whatever the reason, Satan is among them. This is perhaps not surprising since based on Isaiah 14:12-15, the mythology of the early Christian fathers believed Satan to be Lucifer, the bringer of light, a fallen angel who had tried to usurp God's position. In fact, these verses in Isaiah probably referred to the King of Babylon. Thus it was the early Church fathers who made the association between Lucifer and Satan.

God asks Satan where he has been and Satan replies that he has been walking up and down on earth, with the implication that he has been causing havoc on earth. In effect, it's a challenge to God that Satan can win all human hearts. God responds mildly by citing Job. God says, "Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man who fears God and turns away from evil. He still persists in his integrity, although you incited me against him, to destroy him for no reason."

"Of course he persists in his integrity," replies Satan, "because he's healthy and wealthy and happy. Take all that away from him and he'll soon turn against you. It's cupboard love. If the cupboard was empty, Job would deny you, just like all human beings."

So to prove the point once and for all, God gives Satan permission to do anything he wants to Job, except to take his life. Job is to be subjected to horrendous suffering to see whether or not he will turn against God.

This is an interesting concept in a number of ways. It shows God's remarkable faith in frail human beings. God was prepared to risk all through Job. We're not told what the outcome would be if Satan won the bet, but the inference is that Satan would then rule the universe instead of God. But God is prepared to take on Satan and to take that enormous risk, relying solely on Job to keep the faith whatever happens to him. It sounds very risky.

But there's also something of an implication that suffering is not from God at all. The implication here is that suffering isn't God's punishment but is the plaything of Satan. Satan causes suffering because Satan likes to see people suffer.

If Satan is the personification of evil, then we're back to the premiss that evil causes suffering and that without evil in the world there would be no suffering. But for our modern scientific age this fails to explain earthquakes and volcanoes and tsunamis, even though they have become known as 'natural evil'. Evil is a pejorative term so it's difficult to see how something natural can also be evil. 'Natural evil' sounds suspiciously like an oxymoron.

Satan does his worst with Job, inflicting on Job some terrible skin disease which results in constant, unbearable itching. Job used a broken shard of pottery to scratch at his sores and sits among the ashes. Why did Job sit among the ashes? Presumably this was symbolic of his life, which was in ashes around him. But perhaps it also holds a potential symbolism, that people rise from the ashes and that Job will eventually overcome his sorry state.

Job's wife is impatient with him. She is unable to see past his suffering and she's anxious for it to end. She says, "Do you still persist in your integrity? Curse God, and die." She can't bear Job's suffering any longer. She's in favour of euthanasia. She wants the suffering over and done with.

But despite all his agony, Job rebukes her. He says, "You speak as any foolish woman would speak. Shall we receive the good at the hand of God, and not receive the bad?" And we're told that in all this Job did not sin with his lips.

The first test is passed. Job refuses to curse God but clings to his belief that God is good.
We too will be tempted in our lives just as Job was tempted. We too will suffer, because all human beings suffer. Other people may beg us to end it all, either for ourselves or for them. Euthanasia or assisted suicide is one way to deal with life's sufferings, but is it the best way or the only way? What will our response be?