Faith in the Dark

Just the Job

FAITH IN THE DARK
By George M. Philip
Rutherford House. 143 pages
ISBN 0 946068 84 4

Many of us will know something of the book of Job, his sufferings and his comforters.

We may also be familiar with the book's wonderful poetry. Yet for all our acquaintance with these things, how much do we really understand the purpose and teaching of the book?

George Philip's Faith in the Dark will go some way to address this need. He has a firm grasp of the themes and purpose of the book, which he applies with a pastor's heart and a keen insight into human nature. What is more, he has a deep awareness of the immensity and incomprehensibility of our God and hence there can be no glib answers or quick-fix theology to the question of suffering. He is no Elihu! Further-more, we are directed frequently and helpfully to the Man crucified.

The book is divided up into 'bite-size' chunks for daily reading. This makes the publication user-friendly, although there is a danger that one can lose sight of the flow and argument of this beautifully structured book. To dip into the stream to collect pearls is good, as long as one doesn't lose sight of the path of the stream.

If I have one query, it is that the scale of Job's wretched condition is not fully explored. Job lived at the beginning of revelation and while God does deal with him as the loving covenant-keeping God, Job doesn't know this. God certainly does work all things together for good for Job, but at times it seems to Job that God is out to destroy him (Job 16). We must beware reading our noonday New Testament assurance back into Job's struggle. A greater emphasis on this would serve to highlight the reality of Job's faith and our privilege of living in the age of the new covenant. However hard it gets, things can never look as bleak as they did for Job, for we know that the God of Job is the God of Calvary.

Gerrard Hemmings, Amyand Park, Twickenham

© Evangelicals Now - February 2002
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