Texts:
24 ‘Surely one does not turn against the needy,
when in disaster they cry for help. 25 Did I not weep for those whose day was hard?
Was not my soul grieved for the poor? 26 But when I looked for good, evil came;
and when I waited for light, darkness came. 27 My inward parts are in turmoil, and are never still;
days of affliction come to meet me. 28 I go about in sunless gloom;
I stand up in the assembly and cry for help. 29 I am a brother of jackals,
and a companion of ostriches. 30 My skin turns black and falls from me,
and my bones burn with heat.
Psalm 6
Job 30:16-31
John 4:46-54
Job's gut-wrenching words are haunting:
16 ‘And now my soul is poured out within me;
days of affliction have taken hold of me. 17 The night racks my bones,
and the pain that gnaws me takes no rest. 18 With violence he seizes my garment;
he grasps me by the collar of my tunic. 19 He has cast me into the mire,
and I have become like dust and ashes. 20 I cry to you and you do not answer me;
I stand, and you merely look at me. 21 You have turned cruel to me;
with the might of your hand you persecute me. 22 You lift me up on the wind, you make me ride on it,
and you toss me about in the roar of the storm. 23 I know that you will bring me to death,
and to the house appointed for all living.
days of affliction have taken hold of me. 17 The night racks my bones,
and the pain that gnaws me takes no rest. 18 With violence he seizes my garment;
he grasps me by the collar of my tunic. 19 He has cast me into the mire,
and I have become like dust and ashes. 20 I cry to you and you do not answer me;
I stand, and you merely look at me. 21 You have turned cruel to me;
with the might of your hand you persecute me. 22 You lift me up on the wind, you make me ride on it,
and you toss me about in the roar of the storm. 23 I know that you will bring me to death,
and to the house appointed for all living.
24 ‘Surely one does not turn against the needy,
when in disaster they cry for help. 25 Did I not weep for those whose day was hard?
Was not my soul grieved for the poor? 26 But when I looked for good, evil came;
and when I waited for light, darkness came. 27 My inward parts are in turmoil, and are never still;
days of affliction come to meet me. 28 I go about in sunless gloom;
I stand up in the assembly and cry for help. 29 I am a brother of jackals,
and a companion of ostriches. 30 My skin turns black and falls from me,
and my bones burn with heat.
I'm not sure I have the story straight, but I believe there is lore that St. Teresa of Avila, once caught in a thunderstorm and her carriage rendered immobile, shook her fists toward the sky and said, "If this is how you treat your friends, Lord, no wonder you have so few!" Our souls rattle their cages along with Job and St. Teresa. People of faith are not strangers to the dark night of the soul. I wonder how many of us, upon reading Job's words, could think of a time in our lives in which we felt we were being wasted away, with one tragedy following on the heels of another, when we thought we could take no more.
Our friends try to help us, wanting so badly to lessen the pain, but their words sound like an accusation rather than comfort. We tell ourselves we have no right to complain, but our souls continue rattling their cages, demanding an audience. In all of our screaming and yelling, God draws near.
God comes to Job in the whilrwind in chapter 38, and a debate ensues, with Job taking on his Maker. Even after Elihu exhorts Job, telling him that God has no need to make a case for Godself, God presents a case to Job: "Where were you, Job, when the darkness gave way to light?" Of all the power and majesty God points toward, God also points toward knowing darkness, the recesses of the sea, the places where nobody sees. I love God's response to Job in 40:1 (which is way out of the text for today, but it's hard to get a sense of the narrative without skimming the areas around the text): "Shall a faultfinder contend with the Almighty? Anyone who argues with God must respond." God invites Job to respond, invites Job into debate, and invites Job to voice his challenge.
And, turning everything on its head, God rebukes Job's friends: "You have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant of Job has..." What?!? After Job's lament and debate with God, it seems God accepted Job's challenge. It was through the wrestling [with God] that Job came to understand that God is always in the middle, always in the midst of God's creation. God does not strike Job down for having complained, nor does God refuse Job a hearing. So often, during times of trouble, we presume God is not listening. With our ears plugged for fear we will not like the answer, we demand a response. God's response, to Job and to us, is relationship. I'm not sure I would say it makes me more comfortable with Job's struggle or God's seeming ambivalence (surely God seems ambivalent as we struggle), but I cling to the hope that, even in our struggles, even when we cannot see, feel, or hear God, God is not ambivalent toward God's creatures or God's creation. Our Creator, it seems, will not turn away from the creation.
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