An honest reading of the Bible reveals a God who does not shy away from awkward questions. In fact, he almost seems to welcome them.
The ruined lives of Job and Naomi pose disturbing questions about God without censorship—a surprising indication that the disconcerting questions journalists are asking about God are not off-limits for us either.
An honest reading also reveals a God who doesn't explain himself. He didn't tell Job about his earlier conversation with Satan (Job 1:6-12) and he didn't give Naomi three good reasons why her world fell apart (Ruth 1:1-5). Both sufferers went to their graves with their whys unanswered and the ache of their losses still intact. But somehow, because they met God in their pain, both also gained a deeper kind of trust in him that weathers adversity and refuses to let go of God.
Their stories coax us to get down to the business of wrestling with God instead of chasing rainbows and to employ the same kind of brutal honesty that they did, if we dare.
The Gospel of Ruth: Loving God enough to break the rules By Caroline Custis James
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