he wrote, “Men seek an explanation of suffering in cause and effect. They look backwards for a connection between prior sin and present suffering. The Bible looks forward in hope and seeks explanations not so much in origins as in goals. [Scripture teaches us that] the purpose of suffering is seen, not in its cause, but in its result.”8 The opening verse of chapter 1 gives us a clue as to the chief principle to be learned from a careful consideration of the book of Job. It is found in the words the