WHEN in need of comfort, many turn to certain books of the Bible, notably to the Psalms, to Isaiah, and particularly to the New Testament; but perhaps they may not realize how wonderfully comforting is the book of Job. There is comfort in the very fact that the supposititious cause of Job's sufferings was nothing but Satan, a purely imaginary personality, and that his faith in God was being tested in the face of seeming physical suffering and material loss. Job was an upright man, and he was prosperous. Most of us can be good in prosperity; but it is in the time of trouble that we find out where we stand.
When Job was suddenly faced by loss on all sides, pain and misery of various kinds, his three friends condemned him and would not believe that he was not suffering from the effects of secret sins. He himself could not understand his sufferings, and began to think God unjust in so chastising him, until, having exhausted all his arguments and his search for the origin of evil, he sank into a state of silent misery and endurance.
Meanwhile, Elihu had been watching the proceedings. He was younger than Job's other friends, but he had the fresh spontaneity which students often feel upon their entrance into the knowledge of Christian Science, a condition of thought in which the whole world seems to glow with the wonder and beauty of the allness of God. Elihu did not search for a cause of the trouble, his chief reproach being that Job "justified himself rather than God." He apologized for his youth, but realized that God would help Job through the truth he uttered, for he knew that "the inspiration of the Almighty giveth . . . understanding."
