to be complete? Listen and believe, The righteous perish, a truth no man lays to his heart. Why then should the blameless, claiming to be sinless, but having sins more than the righteous, not also suffer as much?
Joseph: Do we remain so stained by Adam's sin that no degree of righteousness can ever prevent our suffering? We know we are all programmed to die, but must we also suffer?
Bystander: All of you, fearing to suffer ills and endure torments, cannot be righteous, never remembering you must suffer for the sake of eternal blessings, remembering human fears are sinful, fears created by refusing nourishment in faith, little trusting lives should be an absolute hymn of praise, symphonies orchestrating perfect, irrepressible, triumphant belief.
Job: My deeds are recorded for all to see, testifying to my works, uplifting the misery of others, for how else could I be blameless, certifying my righteousness, asking how an unrighteous person could have been blessed with so much wealth and a happy successful family as mine?
Eli: If your declarations contain a shred of truth, none of your misfortunes would have befallen you. You can never develop truth dredging from the bottomless pit of facts, knowing more are generated with each bite you seize and when reason fails you find something to blame, easing your dread, but menacing you with visions of failure, questioning your blamelessness, claimed to be a Word of your Creator, but never heard by prophets seeing Him face-to-face, erroneously believing in anyone being blameless, trusting faultlessness can be an inherent human possibility. Name one, even His angels, who are not fallen, such being the curse of His beings, asking if you are one never condemned for your actions.
Job: My actions are not unlike others of the world's upright. Could my blamelessness have been for nothing, rewarding me with the fate of evil doers? Where can I find answers? Who can I call on?
Eli: Calling on God each day, hear Him speak, beginning with His visions brought in dreams, continuing with opening your eyes to witness His messages written in nature, speaking eloquently for all to hear, begging you to listen, convincing wise ones to examine all His words with care, relinquishing the foolish to perish, suffering His wrath, the simple to magnify their calamities, greater than the sufferings fated for all humankind.
Job: How can I call on God, more than my needs have called me to do?
Eli: Seek God, loving Him, praising Him for the great things He has done, thanking Him for providing all your needs, for judgment in sustaining all people's essentials, for exercising justice while recognizing injustice. Did you call on Him for these actions or were your intercessions to name and claim more than your share, to enlarge your territory, realizing to seek more must always be at the expense of others. Prosperity has never shamed you, humbling you to share your blessings with others, concealing thoughts which are not of God.
Job: All I had was blessed by God, rewarding me as one of His, seeing I obeyed His creation's commission, satisfying His decree to be fruitful and multiply, exercising dominion over all He entrusts to me.
Eli: Do you lament now, being dead to the happiness found in this world, having lost your blessings with no reason given, thinking they honored you because you were always seeking the Lord, committing all to His cause, doing great things, unsearchable and marvelous without number, forever thwarting craftiness of the wise, bringing to end their wily schemes? Do you know the basis for your blessings, why you were so chosen? Did others deem you unworthy, ranking you low in pride, despising you for loving God, set on high by Him, chosen to receive His rewards, as He prepared you to establish His way and implement all His truths? Did your choices prepare you for a seat beside him, reserved next to the son of man? Did you flee prosperity, endure torments, and accept crosses prepared for ones despised by evil? Have you been a stranger to grief, never needing to partake in the joy of consolation?
Job: You dedicate your words to my defeat. Have you nothing to comfort me?
Eli: God patiently endures, revealing your transgressions in His time, exposing them for their sinful nature, reproving ones content in serving happiness, unfit for promising joy, ones selected for chastening by the Almighty, embracing wounds He may never hasten to heal, judging to never redeem you from suffering's visitation, never hiding you from the scourge of His Word, fearlessly exterminating you when it is due. Look within yourself for God's kingdom, perhaps searching in vain, seeking the Holy Spirit's indwelling, sprouting from seeds of God's image, sown to protect against evil temptations, striving to unjustly persecute the tenuously righteous, working to destroy your fortress guarding peace, the peace He leaves with us, the peace only He can give us.
Job: No one has forewarned me, giving me a portent my blamelessness is lacking, my uprightness is insufficient, telling me my ways are unreasonable, never conforming to ways being better than others can boast, and now you admonish my efforts to have lived the best I am able.
Bystander: God forewarning all, giving them His entire message, including every word, thinking they would listen and turn from their evil ways, proclaimed He will change His mind, pouring out disaster on sinners, never listening to His servants, prophets sent forth again and again, bearing warnings, heard but unheeded, as they listened to false prophets telling them they are upright and blameless, reciting words they pay to hear, noting their good works, giving tokens to the needy while amassing wealth, boasting about their sons celebrating abundance from raping the earth. Did treacherous ones perpetuate lies, proclaiming blamelessness can equate with righteousness, the fabrication God hears, reportedly from someone watching your activities, defying God's established omnipotent powers of knowing all of what you are? Messenger servants of God are sent with His contingency plans--do this or else--never for uncovering secrets hidden from Him, acknowledging nothing is unknown for Him. Did Job collaborate with some carefully chosen biographer to pen his woes, proclaiming an unsubstantiated righteousness, never smiling on him from heaven, castigating God for being someone like him, but remaining silent in face of his defiance.
Eli: Job, you have thrived, seeing all your desires fulfilled, blessing you as few can boast, but now your enough lacks fruition, driving you to lament life's ending as you reach the age of suffering determined for all humans, rueing forewarnings you denied heeding.
Bystander: Did Job ignore God's prophets, carrying threats, warning unrighteous ones, listening only to himself, never demanding any messenger's destruction, a usual fate for seers bearing God's unwelcome words, warning people, foretelling destinies--a Day of the Lord--for smug, satisfied, unrelenting humans? Scribes merely changed which prophet Job should believe, trusting one who testifies he is blameless and upright, satisfying the need for nothing more, and they equipped a messenger to follow Job, arming him with powers from God, authorizations He would have never allowed, changing them as written, endowing them to carry an evil nature, thereby dishonestly transfiguring Job, destroying his faultless resemblance, demeaning him, once heroic at the expense of all others, followed by summoning his friends, sending them to feign his rescue, appearing on the scene, ineptly ordained to console him, unsuspecting of their immanent failure, waiting to be condemned for their futility. Never wanting to face life, as often wished by all of humankind, Job lamented ever being born, committing him to sacrifice all God had blessed him with, ignoring destiny's prophetic fating, all God's creations being here only on consignment, waiting to be taken away. Allow true prophets to live, prolonging innocent lives, preserving eternal words, and continue blessing us with God's grace. No one, speaking to us in the name of the Lord, the Almighty One whose nature never changes, deserves death, but you, having heard God's messages, cannot ignore Him forever, knowing they will escape from hiding, even in death from an unmarked grave, unearthed to declare His intents.
Job: God, His mercy never interceding for me, condemning me as unworthy, attributing my misfortune to impiety, believing I deserve no better, conditions me to trust I have been a sinner so His grace can close its doors, setting this calamity before me, seeking some
vengeance, recognizing none of my worthy deeds, after all I have done to distribute wisdom to ones in need. Eli, are any of your admonitions words from God, attributing His decisions as judgments to condemn my deeds? Tell Him His want terminates my blamelessness with merciless violence, ending my ways no other would choose, for how else could arrows of the Almighty be in me, dribbling out poison on my soul, nurturing my life in unspeakable ways?
Eli: Your myself's reason magnifies your virtue exceedingly, enhancing it to be undeserving, thinking your blameless worthiness transcends you to righteousness. What does your reason desire now?
Job: Hear my request, grant my desire, asking God to please crush me, loosing His hand to cut me off, consoling me to spare no more pain, beseeching Him to suffer me no longer, forgiving my limitations although He may never acknowledge my righteousness, leading me never more into temptation, never thinking I should blame Him, never cursing Him for creating me to suffer through His ingenious trials, testing me in every