The Old Testament gives clues into the kind of history God is writing. Exodus identifies by name the two Hebrew midwives who helped save Moses'life, but it does not bother to record the name of the Pharaoh rulng Egypt. First Kings grants a total of eight verses to King Omri, even though secular historians regard him as one of Israel's most powerful kings. In his own history, God does not seem impressed by size or power or wealth. Fiath is what he wants, and the heroes who emerge are heros of faith, not strength or wealth. pg 32
At root, Job faced a crisis of faith, not of suffering. ...At such times we focus too easily on circumstances - illness, our looks, poverty, bad luck as the enemy. We pray for God to change those circumstances.....When tragedy strikes, we too will be trapped in a limited point of view. Like Job, we will be tempted to blame God and see him as the enemy.... I hesitate to write this because it is a hard truth, one I do not want to acknowledge: Job convinces me that God cares more about our faith than our pleasure.....In a message to Ezekiel God includes Job in a list of three giants of righteousness. The other two mentioned, Noah and Daniel, learned faith in the midst of a massive flood and a den of lions. pg 63/64
God did not condemn Job's doubt and despair, only his ignorance. pg 70
Bear it up; keep smiling; suffering makes you strong, say some spirtual advisors - but not the psalmists. They do not rationalize anger away or give abstract advice about pain; rather, they express emotions vividly and loudly, directing their feelings primarily at God. pg 122
Many psalms convey this spirit of "Lord, I believe, help my unbelief," a way of talking oneself into faith when emotions are wavering....For the Hebrew poets, God represented a reality more solid than their own whipsaw emotions or the checkered history of their people. They wrestled with God over every facet of their lives, and in the end it was the very act of wrestling that proved their faith. pg 123
The only wisdom we can hope to acquire is the wisdom of humility. Humility is endless. T.S. Eliot pg 154
Ecclesiastes insists that the stones we trip over are good things in themselves: "He has made everything beautiful in its time." Yet by assuming a burden we were not mean to carry, we turn nudity into pornography, wine into alcoholism, food into gluttony, and human diversity into racism and prejudice. Despair descends as we abuse God's good gifts; they seem no longer gifts, and no longer good. pg 159
Unless we acknowledge our limits and subject ourselves to God's rule, unless we trust the Giver of all good gifts, we will end up in a state of despair. Ecclesiastes calls us to accept our status as creatures under the dominion of the Creator, something few of us do without a struggle. pg 160
Why read the prophets? There is one compelling reason: to get to know God. The prophets are the Bible's most forceful revelation of God's personality. pg 180