A God-ward Orientation: Insights for Spiritual Formation from the Book of Job

Whether the prolonged strain of pain forges or frays divine-human relationship depends on one’s disposition towards and response to the God responsible for it. This paper explores these issues via the book of Job’s perspective on living as a God-fearer in the context of suffering, which is instructive for what kind of disposition fosters (and is fostered by) spiritual formation. I argue that this biblical book seeks to cultivate in its reader the God-ward orientation that its eponymous suffering protagonist possesses. After establishing from the Prologue that Job’s exceptional case is applicable to other God-fearers, I show how the structure and rhetoric of chapters 3–37 cultivate longing for God’s voice. Eventually God commends Job’s persistence in pursuing encounter with him (42:7–8). Concluding reflection considers the salience of God-ward orientation for spiritual formation while awaiting the Lord’s coming (cf. Jas 5:11).