The book of Job has always been my favorite book of the Bible but has become even more so since we moved to Ethiopia. When “good” people,

Boy sleeping on street
when “godly people” suffer or go through seasons, years of heartache and hurt we often ask inwardly or outwardly “If God is good, then WHY is this happening?” I often ask “Is God really just? Is He really in control?”
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia is consumed with poverty, despair, filth, disease, widows, orphans, unemployment, and hunger. As we walk the streets or work alongside the staff at the drop-in center, we find plenty of reasons to question God’s goodness. We encounter numerous situations which cause us to respond like Job’s wife and his friends.
Job lost everything that made his life good, every good gift from God and it seemed every sign of God’s favor. It appears to be the same way for many of the people of Ethiopia. If God loves them then why are there so many people living with and dying from HIV/AIDS, why does the majority of the population make less than 1 US

Underground Living
dollar a day, why are widows, orphans and street children exploited on a daily basis?
This is why I love Job. Job experienced so much suffering and pain. He lost his whole family, all of his wealth vanished, he was diseased, his friends rejected him, and he was tempted to curse God by his own wife. He asked the same questions that I face weekly, daily, and sometimes hourly BUT he went to God for answers. He cried out for explanations from the only person truly capable of answering.
From Job, I learn that God treasures my righteousness above anything else. I obviously don’t have all the answers or solutions to my suffering or the suffering of thousands in Ethiopia BUT I have an intimate relationship with the Father of creation. I have an all access pass to His Word and His 24-hour chat line.
I am learning through Job’s account to love God more than all his “good” gifts and to trust the WISE goodness of God even though so many of His ways are past my comprehension or level of understanding.
The lyrics of Chris Tomlin’s song God of This City has become an anthem for me while serving in Ethiopia. I don’t know all that God has planned but I believe that His Kingdom is coming and it will be unlike anything we have ever seen or imagined! All the suffering of this world will be defeated and God and His Word will reign victorious.
You’re the God of this City
You’re the King of these people
You’re the Lord of this nationThe future of Ethiopia
You are
You’re the Light in this darkness
You’re the Hope to the hopeless
You’re the Peace to the restless
You are
There is no one like our God
There is no one like our God
For greater things have yet to come
And greater things are still to be done in this City
Greater things have yet to come
And greater things are still to be done in this City
We believe! We believe!
WE BELIEVE IN YOU GOD!
Then Job replied to the LORD: “I know that you can do all things; no plan of yours can be thwarted. You asked, ‘Who is this that darkens my counsel without knowledge? ‘ Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know.”
JOB 42:1-3
karyn















