- 10 Dec, 2025 *
Why was I born? Further, am I happy about having been born?
At this point in the story of Job seven days have passed in silence, and Calvin writes that Job “has lost the full perfection that he had before”. Why has Job lost his way? Calvin says that “man is compared to a shadow, not simply because our lives are fragile and passing, but because we are not steadfast, we are not dependable, we change our affection, we live by fits and starts”. From here Calvin asks us to “look at how it is permissible for men to grow weary of their lives.” This is very interesting, especially for this middle aged reader. Job’s words and actions speak to how, through time passing, even he is worn down. So this eventually leads to the questions I started with, which are also Job’s qu…
- 10 Dec, 2025 *
Why was I born? Further, am I happy about having been born?
At this point in the story of Job seven days have passed in silence, and Calvin writes that Job “has lost the full perfection that he had before”. Why has Job lost his way? Calvin says that “man is compared to a shadow, not simply because our lives are fragile and passing, but because we are not steadfast, we are not dependable, we change our affection, we live by fits and starts”. From here Calvin asks us to “look at how it is permissible for men to grow weary of their lives.” This is very interesting, especially for this middle aged reader. Job’s words and actions speak to how, through time passing, even he is worn down. So this eventually leads to the questions I started with, which are also Job’s questions. Why was I born and am I happy about that? Calvin answers those two questions in reverse order.
I should be happy about that! I was created in the very image of God. There is “nobility and worth” in this alone. Moreover, as long as we are alive we have evidence that God is our Father and that he loves us. But, powerfully, Calvin also writes that “God wants to give us practice in hoping for the heavenly life”. That being said “as long as we are here, we are in the abyss of miseries”, and this due to sin. Calvin’s answer to the question of man’s purpose? It’s always to bring glory to God. I am excited and interested to think on the practical applications of all this and also to see how Job progresses.
From a more literary perspective it is interesting to note that Job’s spoken “birth-curse” involves a re-doing of God’s creation (I think of Genesis 1) so as to remove Job and all reference to Job. A couple of things, Christopher Ash points out (from another author I recall) that Job doesn’t suffer because he sinned, rather he sinned because he suffered. Second, it is interesting to me that, although Job is questioning God’s activities and longing for them to have been performed differently, I.e. without him ever having been involved, he doesn’t full out curse God. It reads, to me, more like he is simply questioning. This strikes me as why the Book of Job is very much a “wisdom” book. It makes us ask lots of deep questions.
Quotes:
“All our feelings are evil.”
“Men can never relax and take it easy without offending God.” And “…as soon as men would like to relax and take it easy or to be sorrowful, they always overdo it.”
“…when men are severely oppressed by afflictions they lose control of themselves…”
“When it is a matter of honoring God…men speak of him so skimpingly…but when it is a matter of blaspheming God, they are then at their most elegant…”