Why do people suffer? What is God’s role in suffering? How can we help those who suffer? The fact of suffering in the world challenges us with its questions. The book of Job is all about human suffering. We meet a man who is afflicted physically and emotionally. We encounter friends who do their best, but make things worse. We are brought face-to-face with intellectual puzzles. Above all this, and because of it, we find Job struggling with his faith in God.
David Atkinson offers a compelling exploration of Job’s story. He shows the power of the book of Job to reach into our human situation and to engage with our human needs. It offers, he believes, the strong comfort which comes from knowing that someone else has been there before. The message of Job is both a comfort to us in our own suffering, and it serves as a model for our ministry of counseling to others in pain.
