How is God Related to Sufferings in Psalms and Job? Essay

The book of Psalms and the Book of Job are both parts of the bible that share stories of sufferings, faith and worships. The book of Job was written more than 2,500 years ago which relates the story of Job. Job was a good man and dearly loved by God but in the end must suffer to test the strength of his faith. Since Job believes he is not forsaken by God he trusts everything in the hands of God. One day God thought of testing Job’s faith if it is enough to carry him through the trials he would bestow on him. He asks Job what he knows about Him being his God. Job did not fully satisfy God with his answers although God knows what is inside his heart. But God wants to know the extent of Job’s faith to Him and thought of a plan to test Job’s faith. One day great numbers of insects attack Job’s crops and ate almost every plant he has. Rain did not come and he could not till his land. Then he starts to wonder why despite his closeness with God things like these could happen. He tried to talk to God but God does not answer. Falling to starvation he became terribly sick and begged for God’s help but God is nowhere to be found. When he felt that everything is hopeless and was about to die, he called again to God and ask why he was being forsaken and abandoned. He looked into the heaven and said despite he was forgotten by God, his faith still remained in him. Suddenly God touched him and he quickly regained his strength. God told him that he let these things happen to make Job realized that it is only through suffering and trials that a man will prove his faith in him. That he has not really abandoned him but was with him during the time he was suffering. God has to do things to Job to test the strength of his faith. Job did not leave his faith and so he reaped the love of God even more. That is why God is related to the suffering in this book as a way to test Job’s faith and remained to it even during the time of great suffering. This gives us the lesson that regardless of the suffering we have God will come to our aid as long as we keep our faith to him (Society, 2008). If the Book of Job tells the story of the suffering and strength of faith in God, the book of Psalms were collections of songs of prayers and praise. This book was written by the Hebrews who believe in the might and love of God. A Psalm is a poem that is accompanied by musical instruments and so they are actually poems that have been made into songs. David was mainly the composer of the songs on Psalms which he sang with his harp. There are different kinds of Psalms and all were originally written in Hebrew. Hebrew alphabet is composed of 22 letters and an alphabetical Psalm starts its first verse with the first letter of the alphabet, the second verse begins with the second letter and so on. These Psalms were the hallelujah, thanksgiving, praise, historical, penitential, imprecatory and messianic psalms. Among these Psalms that are related to repentance are the penitentiary psalms which confess the sins of man, the Imprecatory Psalms which tells us how God is angered by sinners and how he will judge them and the messianic psalms advises us about the coming of the Messiah (Books, 2008). Theologians provide explanation on the Book of Psalms that is now within the New Testament. According to them we as people may also experience suffering the same as Jesus Christ had suffered in the cross. But our suffering should not be believed as punishment for the sins we made but to strengthen us and ready us for a more harmonious destination. In Psalm 3, David has suffered the consequences of his sin with his adulterous relationship with Bensheba. He relate this suffering into a poem and then it became one of the collections of songs. In Psalm 119:68, 75 indicate that suffering befalls to us to see the goodness, righteousness and the strength of our faith with our God. Many songs within the Book of Psalms indicated the suffering of man we face as Christians. In Psalm 22, there are also Psalms that questions God and why do we need to suffer. And so God is related to suffering in the Book of Psalms to tell us through the songs that we should not sin and be righteous so that we will be blessed (Futato,1999) . References Society, A. B. (2008). Why Does God Allow Suffering? Journal. Retrieved from http://www. bibles. com/absport/news/item. php? id=102 Books, O. T. (2008). Chapter 7: Job and Psalms. Journal. Retrieved from http://www. middletownbiblechurch. org/oldtesta/oldtes7. htm Futato, M. D. (1999). Suffering As The Path To Glory. Journal. Retrieved from http://www. pressiechurch. org/Theol_2/suffering_as_the_path_to_glory. htm