There is an age old story about a beauty and a beast that has been told and retold through the ages. Disney popularized it in a movie a few years ago which is the version that most of our children know. In the original story, Belle is the youngest daughter of a merchant who hopes that one of his ships will return with riches to replace all that he has lost due to hard times. He departs for the coast to greet his ship. But there is only enough cargo to pay some of his creditors so he is left without anything. As he returns home, he is caught in a storm and seeks shelter in a nearby castle. His is well cared for in terms of food and provisions but then proceeds to take a rose from the garden for Belle as he sets out. The beast, to whom the castle and hospitality belongs, is furious and gruffly questions the man about his taking of the rose, which was not offered, after he had been so well cared for through the night. The father’s life seems forfeit unless one of his daughters returns later and, willingly, chooses to take his place.

This Belle does. She is terribly frightened at first around the beast but over time grows fond of him. After some time at the castle she longs to see her family again and is allowed to return home for a time. But after being persuaded by her family to stay a day past her promised return date, she has a vision of the dying beast, and quickly (and magically) returns. As she hovers over him lamenting his dire condition, she realizes she loves him and consents to marry him. Her love and commitment ends up breaking the spell and the handsome prince is set free from his curse as the beast and the two live happily ever after.

The story has been widely embrace over the centuries and is told in a variety of forms across all kinds of cultures. The beast has taken shape as a dog, bear, pig, snake, monkey, etc. But in every case the beast is a beast because of a curse, and the only way to break the curse is by being genuinely loved. C. S. Lewis explained that this element of classic stories was instrumental in his own conversion. In a conversation he had once with his good friend, JRR Tolkien, he commented that he was perplexed by how powerful fairytales and myths could be, given that they weren’t true. Tolkien countered Lewis by claiming that they moved him because they were true. These classic fairytales point us to the one Story that is True – the story of the gospel. They tell us of one that lives under a curse that can only be broken by love. These stories and others like them move us because they hit on two things that resonate deep within us. We resonate with this notion that we live under a curse. We don’t use that word of course, but nonetheless we wrestles with this sense that not everything is as it should be. We also resonate with this longing to be rescued from this curse – renewed by true love.

The Bible tells a story as it portrays God’s love for a people living under a curse. God’s love takes center stage as he continues to provide for his people and rescue them from their suffering. Job teaches us about suffering, and as we embark with Job into his own depth of woe, we find the light of the gospel shining through, revealing things about its power that we could otherwise not understand. In the midst of Job’s suffering, at it’s very bleakest, we find rays of hope that provide enough light to give Job hope to endure another day. What Job grasps, if just for a moment, is a hope to endure produced by a glimpse of God’s love. Love is powerful, as we can understand from the fairytales. But what if the power of love came from the one who holds all power. What would the power of love that came from God be like? That’s what Job begins to ponder and so we will too. Because God’s love is so great, we must hope in renewal. But as we ponder Job’s account, we must take note of the limits that suffering reveals, the nature of the liberation from those limits, and finally the love that liberates.