This is a statue in Treptower Park in Berlin.  It is a wonderful illustration of the great fable The Wolf and The Crane.  I have included it below.  I have been reflecting on the story of Job, the why questions and the risks entailed in both life and faith,  and this fable came to mind.  While it does not offer all the answers, it does offer a way of approaching the questions. 

THE WOLF AND THE CRANE  (Aesop’s Fables)

A wolf swallowed a bone which got stuck in his throat. The pain was excruciating, so the wolf started looking for someone who could be induced to remove the accursed thing in exchange for a reward. The wolf asked each of the animals if they would help him and finally the crane was convinced by the wolf’s solemn promises. Trusting her long beak to the wolf’s gaping maw, the crane carried out the dangerous cure. Yet when the crane demanded the promised reward, the wolf simply said, ‘You ungrateful creature! You extracted your head unharmed from my mouth and still you ask for a reward?’ 

Life is about risk with no guarantee of reward, trust without certainty and sometimes simply being thankful for having escaped alive.