Reading the Bible’s book of Job recently, a friend and I grew weary of its detailed account of Job’s troubles. Eager to experience more of the inspired Word of the Bible, my friend said, “Let’s move on to Psalms.” I could relate. But Job had just poured out his grief, and I heard myself say, “Well, let’s not leave him there.”

We thumbed forward to the end of the story, where Job, as we understood it, has finally accepted that God has always been present and that the ills that had engulfed him were not sent by God, and thus were not his heritage or future. Job declares to the Lord, “I know that thou canst do every thing, and that no thought can be withholden from thee. . . . I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee” (Job 42:2, 5). He then prays for his friends. Not only does God restore to him his former prosperity and more, but Job gains the endless blessing of knowing that he is loved and preserved by God and is never outside of God’s care.

That was something I needed to embrace in relation to my father. I had just reached the thirty-year mark since his passing. His rather sudden departure had left such a deep void that the grief had remained in my heart these many years. Even though I had prayed to feel assured of his eternal well-being and was convinced that he was fine and continuing on, the circumstances weighed on me with sadness and some guilt. I longed to be free of all that. I longed to love him without the picture of what had transpired that had etched itself into my memory.