If you look at that one narrow story, and ignore the thousands of pages of context, you might misconstrue that story in the narrow, uninformed, and scripturally immature way that you have. However, you completely ignore how the evil that was visited upon Job made its way into this world. God did not do that. Man did.
But militant atheists do that all the time. They pick little pieces of the Bible out of a huge context and try to make that seem to be the message of Christianity, just so they can mock it. As I said, that is despicable.
I am convinced that militant atheists actually believe in God. They just oppose Him and think that denying Him somehow diminishes Him. It doesn't. He permits you to deny His existence, no matter how good or how bad things go in your life. And, if you deny His existence, for you, He will not exist. It is absolutely your choice.
Pharaoh hardened his heart time and again. Finally, God hardened Pharaoh's heart. Each time Pharaoh hardened his heart, he could have repented and accepted God's will. Once God gave into Pharaoh, he hardened Pharaoh's heart, once and for all ensuring that for all of Pharaoh's existence, God would not exist. What a pity.
Pharaoh knew God was real. He denied His existence because God being real would mean that Pharaoh could not be supreme, not because he did not accept the reality of God. He most assuredly did. Pharaoh was probably history's first notable militant atheist. What a pity.
Job, no matter how badly things went in his life would not abandon God. He questioned God. He lamented his misfortunes. But he remained faithful to God throughout. What joy he ultimately experienced. I'd rather be Job than Pharaoh.
Wendy just shared this quote from one of her favorite movies with me as I read to her this post: "God's promise is not that nothing bad will ever happen to us. It is that He will be there for us when it does." That sentence sums up the story of Job quite nicely. As a matter of fact, it comes from a movie in which a man suffers Jobish calamity after Jobish calamity and is explaining why his faith remained strong--and even got stronger--throughout.
If one does not know the peace that can bring in times of horrible turmoil, I am sorry for that down to my bones. But only that one can make the choice to find that eternal peace that passes all understanding.
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