Some of the Old Testament prophets illustrated God’s message to His people through drama. In one instance, God commanded one of his prophets to marry a prostitute, a woman who in the normal course of her trade would be unfaithful to her husband, in order to demonstrate Israel’s unfaithfulness to her loving husband and God, Yahweh.

As I began reading the book of Job today, I imagined a dramatic re-presentation of Job’s story to address the question of suffering in our day. The language, customs, dress and other accoutrements could be modernized and perhaps the leading character could be a woman or even a teenager or a child since suffering is experienced by young and old alike. I imagine a woman experiencing a post-partum or mid-life depression, a teenager considering suicide because of some loss or a child in the hospital with leukemia.

It would be a challenge to write a script that succinctly but sufficiently portrays the character’s perseverance in spite of her own impatience and utter frustration, the friends’ logical arguments and patented but ultimately unsatisfying answers, the spouse’s (or closest confidant’s) fatalism, the Accuser’s scheming, and finally God’s conclusion of the matter. Modern people suffer too, and their friends and family make the same mistakes that Job’s did. We need to hear once again how God concludes the matter and learn to live by faith in the tension of of his answer.