Pastor Hana’s Weekly Reflection

Faith isn’t always tidy.

Have you ever opened up about something painful you were going through and you got advice that completely missed the mark? The kind that sounds right, but feels wrong? That’s the tension Job is living in.

As Job’s suffering continues, the gap between his lived experience and his friends’ theology grows wider. His friends are convinced that suffering always has a clear cause – that if Job is hurting, he must have done something wrong. Their theology is neat, logical, and confident. But Job’s reality doesn’t fit their explanations.

This is where the tension lies. Job knows his pain is real, and he knows he hasn’t earned it. The more his friends speak, the more isolated he feels. Their words try to defend God, but instead they dismiss Job’s suffering. And Job pushes back – not because he has stopped believing, but because his experience with God feels confusing and unresolved.

Job’s honesty reminds us that faith isn’t always tidy. Sometimes our beliefs and our experiences don’t line up the way we expect them to. And in those moments, the temptation is either to silence our questions or to force answers that don’t fit. Job refuses both. He names the tension. He holds onto his integrity. And he keeps bringing his pain before God, even when God feels silent.

Where do you feel tension between what you believe about God and what you are experiencing right now? How might God be inviting you to sit with that tension rather than rush past it?