Job.  For those who are even remotely familiar with the Hebrew Scriptures, otherwise known as the Old Testament, the book of Job has a special place in their imagination.  Job revisits the perennial question:  if there is a God, and if this God is omnipotent and good, then why do people suffer?  How can a good and all-powerful God justify a world of pain?

    Particularly when this pain, as it is presented in Job, afflicts a person who seemingly does not deserve it.  Why does God allow Satan to visit a series of unmitigated disasters on him, his health, his wealth, and his family?  Nothing about this makes any sense.

    Therein is the puzzle of the book.  Why should we believe in God when his actions do not make sense?  Although many will respond that, well, we finite humans cannot understand the thoughts and actions of an infinite God, that is, such knowledge is not ours to know, this is little comfort when we are wallowing in emotional grief or physical pain.  Or to respond that, no matter what, God is with us, well, that's great but our grief and pain remain.

    That's why faith is so difficult.  Believing in the impossible in the face of the possible is exceedingly challenging.  Or, some might add, delusional.

    Maybe so.  Yet just as we conclude that we can live without God, we will soon realize that we cannot live without him.  Do we really want a totally hopeless universe?