My wife bought me this book for my birthday during my first year in China (2003), and it has been picked up more than once. The Misery of Job and the Mercy of God does not rank as one of my favorite Piper books, but both the writing and photography are beautiful. The Misery of Job and the Mercy of God is an interpretive poem which Piper reads on an accompanying CD. Job is my favorite Old Testament book, and an example of wisdom literature. Here we have a man who has his riches destroyed, his family taken, and his own body afflicted yet Job ended up at the feet of the Almighty, in humility, worship, and praise. We all face suffering at some point in our lives, but what makes calamity endurable is that His sovereign goodness and bounty of love sustains us. Job is a primary example of steadfast, persevering faith in the face of extreme suffering.