Job grows harder and harder to read. To see a person in anguish and pain, such as Job, is the hard part. Watching another human being squirm . Questions abound like, “Is it fair?”
Job naturally believes not. His friends argue. It must be that Job has some grievous hidden sin that God is judging.
My heart turns to people I know… a mom my age suffering from cancer; a college friend widowed with 2 young kids before he was 30; the moms and dads I know who buried children. I drift to people I do not know caught in natural disasters (
I have so many questions and Job’s story is bringing them to the surface.
A violent shift happens in my thoughts. In an instant I shift from the above to realizing that I am more like Job’s friends than I care to admit. Instead of trying to do what I can do to alleviate the pain of someone in need, I jaw about it and/or ponder questions bigger than I can handle. Now I wonder, “Are these merely activities that keep me from empathizing with those in pain, that keep me from ‘entering’ their pain, so as to bring a measure of help and healing?”
Ouch! It could be… and that stings. What would Jesus have me do???
I suspect it would be to enter the pain to bring healing, hope, help, companionship, something good and God-honoring… that’s what I think Jesus would have me do and I am so far short of that.
O Jesus, Father, Spirit, turn me from a bystander into a player, one who enters the fray of life ready to do what I can do in Your Name. To bring a cup of water to the thirsty, your grace and love to the least of these who are brothers of Yours… Amen.
PS, I am prompted to write that questions are not bad. What is not good, however, is when I (we) use questions to keep us from actions that honor and serve the Lord. In these cases they cease to be questions and become excuses. Think about it!
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