Act III -Wisdom Literature, Scene 4
Script by Bob Allen
For four voices
Scene 4
1 2 4 3
VOICE TWO: I cried unto God with my voice, even
unto God with my voice.
VOICE ONE: In the day of my trouble I sought
the Lord: my sore ran in the night, and ceased not: my soul refused to be
comforted.
VOICE FOUR: But as for me, my feet were almost
gone; my steps had well nigh slipped.
VOICE THREE: Verily I have cleansed my heart in vain,
and washed my hands in innocency. For
all the day long have I been plagued, and chastened every morning.
VOICE TWO: Why do the righteous suffer?
VOICE ONE: Job was a man of integrity, all
that a human could be with respect to holiness, by God’s own testimony.
VOICE TWO: He suffered, even though he had done
nothing to bring about his suffering.
VOICE ONE: But this wasn’t a contest between
Job and God, this was a contest between God and Satan, to test the character of
Job. God trusted Job to retain his
integrity in the face of suffering.
VOICE THREE: Take his possessions and he’ll curse
God.
VOICE FOUR: The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh
away, blessed be the name of the Lord.
VOICE THREE: Take away his health and he’ll curse
God.
VOICE FOUR: Shall we receive good at the hand of
God, and shall we not receive evil?
VOICE TWO: There are some things God allows to
happen even to those who are righteous, things for which we have no immediate
explanation, but through it all we must trust God to bring His ultimate good.
VOICE ONE: That was the greatest mistake made
by Job’s friends—they looked for an immediate explanation. In spite of their many words, their greatest
comfort for Job came during the first seven days and seven nights when they
shared his grief without saying a word.
It was when they opened their mouths that they became miserable
comforters.
VOICE TWO: Eliphaz!
VOICE THREE: Sin remains the cause of all
suffering. Despise not thou the
chastening of the Almighty. Somewhere,
sometime, Job must have sinned.
VOICE TWO: Bildad!
VOICE FOUR: God will not cast away a perfect man,
neither will He help the evil doers. So
Job must be a hypocrite. All those years
of outward uprightness simply hid an evil heart.
VOICE TWO: Zophar!
VOICE ONE: We have always thought well of you,
Job. But your suffering shows that you
were a liar. The eyes of the wicked
shall fail, and they shall not escape.
God should actually be punishing you double. Your suffering is even less than your sin
deserves.
VOICE TWO: Job!
VOICE THREE: No doubt but ye are the people, and
wisdom shall die with you. Have pity
upon me, for the hand of God has touched me, but not for my sin. I know that my Redeemer liveth and even
though worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh will I see God.
VOICE TWO: God never told Job why he was
suffering. Instead, he treated Job to a
visual demonstration of the transcendent majesty of His omnipotent power. In rapid succession He described for Job the
wonders of the natural world which were beyond Job’s understanding, yet firmly
under the control of the administrative sovereignty of God.
VOICE ONE: Where were you when I laid the
foundations of the earth upon nothing?
VOICE THREE: Do you command the morning, or control
the gates of death?
VOICE FOUR: Is it your hand that guides Orion
through the night sky?
VOICE ONE: The colorful wings of the peacock,
did you make those?
VOICE THREE: The eagle?
VOICE FOUR: Behemoth?
VOICE ONE: Leviathan?
VOICE TWO: God never told Job why he was
suffering. But when Job saw God, instead
of just hearing about Him, he fell on his face and repented in dust and
ashes. And the Lord turned the captivity
of Job, when he prayed for his friends, and the Lord gave Job twice as much as
he had before.
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