Today's Meditation
Read Job 3:1-26
After this Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth. 2Job said: 3“Let the day perish in which I was born, and the night that said, ‘A man-child is conceived.’ 4Let that day be darkness! May God above not seek it, or light shine on it. 5Let gloom and deep darkness claim it. Let clouds settle upon it; let the blackness of the day terrify it. 6That night—let thick darkness seize it! let it not rejoice among the days of the year; let it not come into the number of the months. 7Yes, let that night be barren; let no joyful cry be heard in it. 8Let those curse it who curse the Sea, those who are skilled to rouse up Leviathan. 9Let the stars of its dawn be dark; let it hope for light, but have none; may it not see the eyelids of the morning— 10because it did not shut the doors of my mother’s womb, and hide trouble from my eyes.
11“Why did I not die at birth, come forth from the womb and expire? 12Why were there knees to receive me, or breasts for me to suck? 13Now I would be lying down and quiet; I would be asleep; then I would be at rest 14with kings and counselors of the earth who rebuild ruins for themselves, 15or with princes who have gold, who fill their houses with silver. 16Or why was I not buried like a stillborn child, like an infant that never sees the light? 17There the wicked cease from troubling, and there the weary are at rest. 18There the prisoners are at ease together; they do not hear the voice of the taskmaster. 19The small and the great are there, and the slaves are free from their masters.
20“Why is light given to one in misery, and life to the bitter in soul, 21who long for death, but it does not come, and dig for it more than for hidden treasures; 22who rejoice exceedingly, and are glad when they find the grave? 23Why is light given to one who cannot see the way, whom God has fenced in? 24For my sighing comes like my bread, and my groanings are poured out like water. 25Truly the thing that I fear comes upon me, and what I dread befalls me. 26I am not at ease, nor am I quiet; I have no rest; but trouble comes.”
I wonder how many angst filled teenagers (and some of us adults, as well) have thought, "I wish I'd never been born!" Kind of like Job here in this part of his story. Job has mourned, cried with his friends, sat among the ashes of his destruction - all in silence. But now he breaks his silence and in distress rues the very day of his birth, curses it, wants to be among the dead, and in fact wishes that he'd never been born.
There are times in our lives when sorrow and grief overwhelm us. Job understands this all too well. "For my sighing comes like my bread, and my groanings are poured out like water. Truly the thing that I fear comes upon me, and what I dread befalls me." Job's sighing, his distress, comes daily, there is no relief from it. And his groanings are not sporadic, they pour out.
What I have discovered after the initial impact of grief comes a need to talk, to vent, to let out all that has been bottled up. And Job comes to that point..."I am not at ease, nor am I quiet..." Sitting with his friends, the men who know him well, he feels comfortable to lay out his soul, his tormented spirit and share his deepest thoughts, concerns, and troubles.
If you are ever with a friend in distress, do not feel the need to talk, do not fill the air with noise from your own lips. There is a process that the soul takes, there is an inner struggle, a fight for understanding. Your need to fill up uncomfortable silence cuts off that process and delays it. Be present with them. Allow the Spirit to work. Allow the pain to come. Just be present. Wrap comforting arms around them, but allow that internal necessary work to be done. There's a moment that clicks and you'll know when they start to want, in fact, need to talk about it. To shout, to say things that have been long held back. They may even say hurtful things. Let the words come, they are helping to reformulate the reality of life. Grief work is hard work, but much of it is done in the bowels of the soul and continues for quite some time. Be present and be patient.
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