You know, the book of Job

was not as I remembered it. I remembered Job as being slightly audacious in questioning God, and God being rather outraged in response. This time around, I didn't read it that way at all. Sure, Job goes on and on (and on), conversing with his friends, defending himself against their accusations. But when God does respond, while His response is powerful, it does not seem angry to me. And it's also far more brief than I thought. God doesn't carry on for chapters at a time. He gives his retort, makes sure Job knows who He is and who Job himself is not, and then - after some prayer and sacrifice from Job - sets about restoring Job's life to better than it was before Satan took so much from him.

Perhaps reading it in a slightly new way made the book of Job feel different. I read it more quickly than I normally do, since I was reading more than one chapter at a time, and I also had a break in the middle of it, as I did no reading while we were in England (shocking, I know).

So as I return to Genesis today, probably just in time for God to give Abram a new name, I wanted to pause and reflect on Job, a book whose purpose I think I'd previously misunderstood, and whose God I believe I now see more clearly. (Does that make anybody else think of Day by Day?)