Category: Job

Let Us Kneel

Come, let us bow down in worship,
let us kneel before the LORD our Maker;
for he is our God
and we are the people of his pasture,
the flock under his care.
(Psalm 95:6-7 NIV)

 

Every time I try to read through Job’s story I get distracted about the time his first friend starts talking. I get lost in the explanations. So, I skim the next 30 or so chapters until I get to the part where Elihu speaks up. He’s a young man who had kept silent while Job and his three friends debated the philosophical and moral dilemma of being. Elihu is angry because each of the other speakers have misrepresented the situation.

 
Job listens. God listens. Elihu rages a storm of words, and when he is finished, God speaks.

 
It says that God  speaks out of the storm. I wonder if while Elihu rants that thunder rumbles in the distance coming closer as he articulates his point. Or did the narrator just mean Elihu’s words were like a storm? Either way it makes for great drama. I like to think it continues to storm while God speaks to Job, lightening with torrential rain.

God asks the questioner questions. Point after point, rhetorically pummeling Job, who has been accusing and calling God to account. God, his Maker, recounts the intricacies of his creative process. I wonder whether Job was standing while Elihu made his speech. Did he fall on his knees when God spoke?

 

We do know that when God finishes speaking, Job really has nothing more to say. He puts his hand over his mouth. And after a few moments, he admits that he really didn’t know what he was talking about after all.

 
I imagine Job replying with tears streaming down his face, bowing his head in wonder:

“I know that you can do anything, and no one can stop you. You ask, ‘Who is this that questions my wisdom with such ignorance?’ It is I. And I was talking about things I did not understand, things far too wonderful for me.

“You said, ‘Listen and I will speak! I have some questions for you, and you must answer them.’

 “I had heard about you before, but now I have seen you with my own eyes. I take back everything I said, and I sit in dust and ashes to show my repentance.” (Job 42:2-6 NLT)

 
Job no longer sits in dust mourning, now he sits comforted. Godly sorrow leads to repentance ushering in a salvation drenched joy. Relief. Release. No regrets. Ah, a happy ending.
 
 

 
Posted on by kelrohlf 0

The Land of Uz

 
“Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they shall see God.”
 (Matthew 5:8 ESV)
 
 

When I read the opening words of Job’s story, I hear a faint echo of “Once Upon a Time . . .”

“There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job, and that man was blameless and upright one who feared God and turned away from evil.” (Job 1:1 ESV)

The narrative continues with exposition, revealing the details of Job’s family, possessions, stature in the community and daily routines, including his religious practices.

And then the scene shifts with cinematic flair, we are ushered into a heavenly scene. The curtain is pulled back and the audience is given information that informs the reader, but as far as we know is withheld from the characters in the unfolding drama. It’s as if the author (ultimately God) knew that the impending misery would be too hard for the reader to bear. We needed a glimpse backstage to see how this tragedy unfolds under the sovereign care of the Creator.

That scene fades. In the next scene, we observe Job going about his usual business. Then wave after wave of tragic news arrives through servant messengers. Job tears his robes, shaves his head and he worships. He mourns, yet he does not sin.

Satan, the behind the scenes agent of misery and death, approaches Job’s Creator again. Satan’s intent is to see Job curse God. God says, my Job, he’s up to the test. Send the physical pain, but spare his life.
 
Satan takes his cue and gladly strikes Job with “loathsome sores from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head.” (Job 2:7 ESV) Job sits down in his misery and starts scraping at the sores with a piece of broken pottery. His wife comes to console him, “Curse God and die.” Job answers with integrity, “Foolish woman! Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?” (Job 2:9-10 ESV) Again Job maintains his cool. He does not sin with his words.

Three friends from surrounding villages hear of Job’s calamity, and come to comfort him. They sit in silence with him for seven days and seven nights. Job laments. He curses the day of his birth: “Behold, let that night be barren; let no joyful cry enter it.” (Job 3:7 ESV).
 
What a contrast to the birth we recall in Bethlehem, but that’s for later. Joy will come in the morning, even as a child is born unto us in Bethlehem.
 
Although the word, joy, is recorded in the book of Job several times in the NIV, most of the time Job mentions it sarcastically or his friends misapply the concept. It’s not until Job meets his Maker, that a deeper joy, marked by humility and wonder enters the scene.

(Come back tomorrow, and we’ll see how the story ends. Will they live happily ever after? How will joy be restored?)
Posted on by kelrohlf 0

Silence: Absence of Mention

When Job’s three friends, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite, heard about all the troubles that had come upon him, they set out from their homes and met together by agreement to go and sympathize with him and comfort him. When they saw him from a distance, they could hardly recognize him; they began to weep aloud, and they tore their robes and sprinkled dust on their heads. Then they sat on the ground with him for seven days and seven nights. No one said a word to him, because they saw how great his suffering was.  Job 2:11-13 NIV
 


Silence. No words. No explanations. No answers. Just troubles multiplied upon troubles. Nothing to be said. Nothing to be heard. For seven days and seven nights. For four hundred years. For nine months. Joy comes in the mourning.

Sometimes the journey takes a twist. Irony enters the story. The liturgy of this week invites us to rejoice. To rejoice with Elizabeth and Zechariah who went from barrenness to fruitfulness. To remember Mary’s Magnificat. To hear the angels bring glad tidings of great joy.

Really? Now? Rejoice?

I need definition and meaning. The dictionary offers delight as a meaning for joy. It falls hollow. Further down under antonyms, rejoice juxtaposes with lament.

Lament feels better. Feels like the right word. First, Jeremiah comes to mind as the great lamenter. He expressed his grief through prophetic and poetic language. And then I think of Job, whose name is one letter short of joy. And whose life joys were destroyed by death.

Yet, joy surfaces in the language of lament. Strange.

As we journey closer to Bethlehem, I plan to take a side trip to the land of Uz, to better understand how joy can even be mentioned in the midst of devastation. Dare you join me?

Posted on by kelrohlf 1