Job: Tragic and Meaningless Aren't Synonyms
Daily Scripture
Job 42:1-6
1 Job answered the LORD:
2 I know you can do anything;
no plan of yours can be opposed successfully.
3 You said, “Who is this darkening counsel without knowledge?”
I have indeed spoken about things I didn’t understand,
wonders beyond my comprehension.
4 You said, “Listen and I will speak;
I will question you and you will inform me.”
5 My ears had heard about you,
but now my eyes have seen you.
6 Therefore, I relent and find comfort
on dust and ashes.
Daily Reflection & Prayer
Rabbi Michael Zedek, author of Taking Miracles Seriously, preached at Resurrection on September 7. In this week’s GPS, we read and reflect on six Scriptural passages that Rabbi Zedek spoke to specifically in his excellent book.
As Rabbi Zedek wrote, “The Book of Job is a strong candidate for the most important, difficult, and misunderstood volume in the Bible.” * Hasty readers may think the first two chapters fully explain suffering. But the Hebrew poet(s) saved the key truth for the book’s end. Just before today’s reading, “In one of the most extraordinary images in any literature, Job encounters a presence, a voice speaking out of a tempest or whirlwind.” ** Today’s text is Job’s response to that speaking presence.
- The poetic encounter with the divine presence in Job 38-41 completely transformed the lead character’s outlook in this ancient story. “Job has moved from simply hearing about God to seeing God (hoped for in Job 19:26-27) and the nature of God’s creation (and his place within it; 42:3-5).” *** When have you met someone you’d only heard about and learned much more about them? How can you remain open to the importance of knowing (not just knowing about) God?
- Rabbi Zedek wrote, “At the end of the poetry, Job’s situation remains unchanged. He is still an everyman, positioned on a pile of ash; however, he holds to the conviction that meaning abides…. While we cannot explain in tidy formulas why the righteous may suffer, let alone why others who are wicked prosper, that does not mean emptiness lies at the heart of existence…. Job learns that tragic and meaningless are not synonyms.” **** How can God’s presence sustain meaning in life’s hardest times?
Prayer
Lord God, you know we suffer. In Jesus, you experienced our suffering. When I am hurting, remind me that tragic does not mean meaningless, and walk through the suffering with me. Amen.
GPS Insights
Leah Swank-Miller
Leah Swank-Miller, who serves as Pastor of Care and Director of Student Ministries at Resurrection Overland Park, wrote today's Insights. A Kansas native, she has been a professional actress for nearly two decades, and she loves to see the vastness of God’s creation through theatre and the arts. Leah graduated with an M. Div. from Saint Paul School of Theology. Leah, Brian, and their two children love to play tennis, golf, soccer, and board games.
I’ve often asked God why children are gunned down in schools and churches, or politicians murdered in their homes or places of work? Why must tragedy come knocking on every doorstep in one way or another? What I know is suffering is not prejudiced, picky, or choosy. It does not care who you are, what your background is, or where you come from. Suffering comes for all of us, and all of humanity feels it. We cannot escape it.
Rabbi Zedek was one of my favorite professors in seminary at Saint Paul School of Theology. His stories are captivating and humorous, and his deep Hebrew wisdom is profound. I remember him explaining to us wide-eyed seminarians once how Job was one of his favorite narratives because of the hope found. We laughed; he didn’t. He was serious, and I soon realized why. If there is hope for Job to see, hear, and know (not just know of) the Lord God in and through the suffering, then surely there is hope for me too.
I find myself wrestling often with the reality of suffering. It’s not just an abstract theological concept—it’s a lived experience that touches every life and every ministry. In the classroom, we can trace doctrines like theodicy, grace, and free will. But in the hospital room, at the graveside, or in the quiet tears of a friend, those ideas become painfully real.
What I am learning is that suffering is not a puzzle to be solved but a mystery to be entered. Scripture does not offer easy answers—Job certainly didn’t receive them—but it does testify to a God who enters into our suffering with us. The cross is not a symbol of escape from pain but of God’s solidarity with humanity in the very depths of it.
In the Methodist tradition, we trust in prevenient grace—that God’s love is already at work, even when we cannot see it. That means suffering, while tragic, is never meaningless. It can refine compassion, deepen our relationship with God, and awaken us to the sacredness of life. Still, we lament. We name the pain honestly, because faith is not denial but trust that God’s presence holds us even and especially when answers do not.
Suffering, then, is not the end of the story. Resurrection reminds us that new life is possible—that love has the final word. And as I journey through ministry, I am reminded that the call is not to explain suffering away, but to sit with others in it, pointing toward the quiet hope that even in the darkest nights, God is near. I pray you feel the nearness of God in this very moment.
© 2025 Resurrection: A United Methodist Church. All Rights Reserved.
Scripture quotations are taken from The Common English Bible ©2011. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
References
* Zedek, Michael, Taking Miracles Seriously: A Journey to Everyday Spirituality (p. 74). Sutherland House Books. Kindle Edition.
** Ibid., p. 76.
*** Terence E. Fretheim, study note on Job 42:1-6 in The CEB Study Bible. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2013, p. 835 OT.
**** Zedek, ibid., p. 76.
