Job, Suffering, and God's purposes

God submits his policies to the test, and Job's suffering begins. At this point, Job offers a policy criticism of his own; blessing the righteous may be ethically counterproductive, but allowing them to suffer is theologically counterintuitive. Nonetheless, if Job succeeds in forcing God to account for himself and explain his actions in terms of cause, the adversary will win the case; in doing so, God would be forced to admit that the world fundamentally operates in terms of the retribution principle and that deviations from its tenets are bad policy or poor execution on the part of God. God never gives such an account in the book of Job; if we wish to represent God properly, we should not rush to give account on his behalf, either. God’s wisdom, not God’s justice, forms the basis of God’s activity in the world. Faith trusts that God is wise and that therefore his purposes are good, even if they don’t seem that way to any system we can understand. God does not need to be defended; he wants to be trusted.— The Lost World of the Israelite Conquest, 35

<idle musing>
You need to underline, frame, highlight, whatever it takes to keep this in mind: "God does not need to be defended; he wants to be trusted."

Seems people are always rushing to defend God. He's perfectly capable of taking care of himself! After all, he's been doing it since before the creation of the world!

Now, if you believe that God is good and loving, that comes more naturally. But, if your god is vengeful and angry, I urge you to read the Gospels, or Hosea (especially). That God isn't vengeful; he loves us and is wooing us to himself to heal us and set us free.
</idle musing>