Today's Meditation - Monday, August 31, 2020

 Today's Meditation

Read Job 12:1-25

Then Job answered: ²“No doubt you are the people, and wisdom will die with you. ³But I have understanding as well as you; I am not inferior to you. Who does not know such things as these? ⁴I am a laughingstock to my friends; I, who called upon God and he answered me, a just and blameless man, I am a laughingstock. ⁵Those at ease have contempt for misfortune, but it is ready for those whose feet are unstable.

⁶The tents of robbers are at peace, and those who provoke God are secure, who bring their god in their hands. ⁷“But ask the animals, and they will teach you; the birds of the air, and they will tell you; ⁸ask the plants of the earth, and they will teach you; and the fish of the sea will declare to you. ⁹Who among all these does not know that the hand of the Lord has done this? ¹⁰In his hand is the life of every living thing and the breath of every human being. ¹¹Does not the ear test words as the palate tastes food?

¹²Is wisdom with the aged, and understanding in length of days? ¹³“With God are wisdom and strength; he has counsel and understanding. ¹⁴If he tears down, no one can rebuild; if he shuts someone in, no one can open up. ¹⁵If he withholds the waters, they dry up; if he sends them out, they overwhelm the land. ¹⁶With him are strength and wisdom; the deceived and the deceiver are his. ¹⁷He leads counselors away stripped, and makes fools of judges. ¹⁸He looses the sash of kings, and binds a waistcloth on their loins. ¹⁹He leads priests away stripped, and overthrows the mighty. ²⁰He deprives of speech those who are trusted, and takes away the discernment of the elders. ²¹He pours contempt on princes, and looses the belt of the strong. ²²He uncovers the deeps out of darkness, and brings deep darkness to light. ²³He makes nations great, then destroys them; he enlarges nations, then leads them away. ²⁴He strips understanding from the leaders of the earth, and makes them wander in a pathless waste. ²⁵They grope in the dark without light; he makes them stagger like a drunkard.

    Job believes that he has become a laughing stock to his friends, mostly because they just don't get his steadfast belief and loyalty to God.  Although calamity has come, Job remains faithful.  Although he is heartsick and in extreme depression, he maintains his understanding of God.  None of his friends can persuade him otherwise, even if he might be angry with God, even if he questions why.

    Job uses the animal kingdom to shed light on his own justification for faith.  If the animals of the earth were to be questioned about their own comings and goings, about their multiplication or their demise, and if they could speak, even they would proclaim God as Ruler of All.  Somewhere behind all of the happenings upon the earth, is the Hand of God.  Job knew that even the breath we breathe was a gift from God.

    Despite his questions about his own suffering, Job affirms that God’s power is visible in nature, human society, religious matters, and national and international affairs.  Job knew all this, but it didn’t help.   He was still angry, depressed, full of mourning and distress. He didn’t want to argue with his friends anymore about this, he wanted to take his case directly to God.

    I think that is the biggest "take away" from Job.  It's okay to doubt, it's okay to be angry, it's okay to question and seek answers.  That doesn't mean that you've given up on faith, on belief, on God.  It simply means that our currently reality makes no sense in perspective of what we expected.  It just means that we are in the middle of a transformation, realizing and coming to a broader, deeper, faith.  If you are in the middle of a faith-crisis, don't give up, don't stop asking questions, don't retreat and simply give in to the temptation that since God does not answer, there is no God.  You are at that "make it" or "break it" moment, keep seeking....for it is in the questioning and searching that we find.

Great Is Thy Faithfulness