Good morning. Keep the people who have suffered from the devastation of the hurricane in your prayers.
Sometimes the scripture readings leave me at a loss for a response. Today we see more of the incredible courage of Job. I’m not sure that the expression “the patience of Job” is really an appropriate one. Job was courageous, and the expression of his courage is marked by the fear and awe that he has for God. I’m not at all sure that he was patient, but he viewed the living reality of his God with genuine bravery. He never ceased to accept the lordship and dominion of God, but he wanted to understand more clearly what was happening to him, and he wasn’t afraid to ask.
There are a great many mysteries surrounding the story of Job, and we don’t really like to explore them. Is God just or merely a jester for whom humanity is a passing amusement? Will God actually devastate the life of a righteous person for no apparent reason? Those kinds of questions are precisely what has led some religions to focus on appeasing God and searching for signs of their success in the misfortunes of other people.
Job is a very complicated story. There are two or three lessons that I think we can take from Job. First, the God who created this universe has a power (for lack of a better word) that exceeds our human comprehension. Second, that power needs to be respected by us, even to the point of awe and apprehension (okay, fear!). Third, catastrophe can befall the righteous as well as the wicked. Depending on your view of the level of God’s intervention in human and natural affairs, that may mean that God either does or does not cause human and other natural disasters. I don’t believe that everything bad that befalls humanity is the result of a judgment made by God. Like the book of Job, it’s just not that simple.
On my bookshelf I may have more commentaries on Job than on any other book of the Bible. I don’t have any answers, however, as to just how Job applies to humanity. I do know that as Job wished for an intermediary to plead his case before the Lord, we have such an intermediary. Jesus lived and died and conquered death so that we might be able to return to God’s presence with an appropriate sense of gratitude and awe. He has pleaded our case with God and God has given us over to the mercy and grace of Jesus.
It is arrogance of the highest order to believe that we need to know everything that there is to know about God and God’s motives and actions. Through the gift of Jesus we have been called back into God’s presence so that with humility and gratitude we may give glory and praise to the God who created us. Perhaps the lesson from Job is the continual need for humility and gratitude on our part as we return to the house of the Most High.
I don’t have any certain answers about the story of Job. Why God even pays any attention to us, as Job frequently wonders, is an eternal mystery. But I do know that my Redeemer lives and calls me to an active life of proclaiming His grace to the glory of God.
Prayer: Lord Christ, thank You for being my merciful Lord, my Redeemer, my Counselor who has pleaded my case before God. Lead me away from concerns about me to the path of proclamation of You and the gift that You have brought to us. Make us strong that we might always be ready to tell Your story to the world. Amen.
Today’s readings are Job 12:1, 14:1-22l; Acts 12:18-25; John 8:47-59; Psalm 38 &
Psalm 119:25-48.
Blessings.
Pastor Jim
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