Confession: Job doesn’t seem very patient to me.

The first time I read the book for myself, as a teenager, I was highly disillusioned. I grew up learning that Job was this incredibly patient man through all the horrible things that happened to him, and it turns out he spends the whole book complaining. It’s like everyone politely ignores everything Job says except one sentence: “Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?” (Job 2:10).

I’m not exactly blaming Job. I’d have complained a lot in his place, too. But he’s not what I expected. And since the first two definitions of “patient” in my Webster’s Dictionary are, “1 enduring pain, trouble, etc. without complaining; 2 calmly tolerating delay, confusion, etc.,” I think my confusion was justified.

Job is never described as patient in the book of Job. The description comes from James 5:11:

Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and full of tender mercy.

This is the King James Version, which is likely why this description stuck. However, it’s not the only way the word has been translated.

I checked the 63 English translations on biblegateway.com, and this is how translations of the word numbered:
Endurance/endured – 21
Patience/patient/patiently – 20
Perseverance – 9
Patient endurance/enduring patience – 5
Steadfastness – 4
Other – 4

While I’m not trying to claim the translation “patient” is inaccurate (I’m no Greek scholar), I think the way we use the word in general conversation today is not quite the right picture of Job.

There’s a third definition in my Webster’s Dictionary that paints a better picture: “diligent; persevering.” It’s not that Job never complained. He wanted to die; he wished he had never been born; he protested over and over that he’d done nothing wrong and this was not fair. But he did determinedly cling to his faith in God and God’s ultimate goodness throughout all his questions and uncertainties and complaints.

The book of Job certainly addresses suffering, but not in the way we’re used to. Most books about suffering (at least in my experience) are written in retrospect. The author recounts how they have struggled and how they have learned and grown from the experience. This is valid and valuable; we are instructed to appreciate the growth and fruit suffering brings into our lives (James 1:2-4, 1 Peter 1:3-9). But sometimes, when you’re reading such things while in the midst of suffering, it can be discouraging.

Yay, you’ve learned, you’re more mature now, that’s great for you. But I’m still stuck in the middle of all this hurt. I’m a wreck. I can’t connect to your hopeful stories. I’m not seeing much new maturity in myself. This is no help.

One exception I have read is C.S. Lewis’ A Grief Observed. It was written when he was in the throes of losing his wife to cancer. It’s not some thoughtful reflection on those times. It’s full of thoughts and feelings untempered by the growth and maturity that came later. It contains statements about God that I know Lewis, during other seasons of his life, did not actually believe. It’s uncomfortable to read.

The book of Job is like that. It lets us see Job’s hurt and doubt as he experiences them, not in retrospect. That’s uncomfortable. And while God eventually steps in to remind Job, “Your power is less than nothing compared to mine. It’s time you reorient your perspective,” he lets Job do an awful lot of ranting first.

When we reduce Job’s story to one about a man who was Super-Duper-Never-Complaining-Patient when life was horrible, we do it a disservice. It’s so much more powerful than that. It’s an example of a persevering patience. At the end, it’s a jolting reorientation of perspective. And maybe part of the reason God put the uncomfortable middle section in the Bible is to remind us that those stuck-in-the-middle-of-hurt times are valid, too. God sees them. God listens. He does not immediately insist that you snap out of it into the maturity you’re supposed to be gaining. He can handle it.

He is patient.

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