Suffering, Job and loneliness

Over the last few days, I have read two books about suffering. One is the biblical book of Job. Sure. The classic. But I only read it because I'm currently reading the Bible chronologically - in the order in which the events actually take place. And Job lived surprisingly early. Shortly after Noah. Before David. The other kings. The exile. The question of „Who is to blame when it hurts?“ has obviously preoccupied people from the very beginning.

The second book was „I see your tracks in the sand“.  The moving story of a mother who learns on the 2nd birthday of her cheerful little daughter Thais (pronounced Tha-is) that she is terminally ill and does not have long to live. In a moving video in English Or Video in German she and her husband also talk about their experiences.

What moved me about both books and stories was the cry for connection. Job complains for pages and pages that the comfort of his friends does not reach his heart. He longs for compassion, support - if necessary also support against God, who treats him like this - empathy, comfort and instead is presented with the usual clichés and standard answers. And he cries out for a connection to God: „If only God would talk to me, if only I had someone to mediate between me and God and create a connection.“

Anne, the mother of little Thais, had a similar experience. One of her worst moments was when her second daughter was diagnosed with the same hereditary disease - and her husband showed no emotion. His motionlessness and (apparent) lack of emotion triggered her fear of losing her connection to him.... and that was worse for her than anything else. In the video, they both impressively describe how they learnt to empathise with the other - and with his very own way of dealing with the situation.

And they also experienced God's closeness. Anne says that after the diagnosis, she only heard three warm, comforting, wise words inside her.... the words „...if you only knew...“ They always gave her the idea that God was looking lovingly at her and had prepared good things for her.

Both stories move me. Experiments with small children have shown that it is traumatic for babies when a connection is broken. It triggers panic, fright and helplessness. It's not the suffering that's the really bad thing - it's the loss of connection to God, to people...

Conversely, this also means that if I strengthen the connection, all suffering becomes more bearable.