Don’t tell me what to say or think!

And so we move on to Job’s next reply. He appears to be getting more and more short-tempered, more and more desperate.

Job: Well, of course, you think you’re the only ones with anything important to say. You think you’ve got it all sorted. But I’ve got a mind too, you know. A good mind at that. I’m not inferior to any of you, remember that. I feel like everyone is laughing at me. Even though I’m calling on God and doing the right thing before Him.

You know what? None of you are ever going to understand until you go through something like this for yourselves. Until you’ve walked a mile in my shoes. Just look at creation though. The birds and animals and fish and the earth itself – they could teach you a lot about suffering. All Creation knows where it has come from and what gives it breath. All wisdom and power, strength and insight  belong to God – although age brings some wisdom to man too, but that isn’t a patch on God’s wisdom – and whatever God chooses to do cannot be undone. He can strip away power and success from any individual – wisdom too. He can make nations great and let them fall apart. Everything has its season.

I’m not stupid. I know all this. I’ve seen it all happen. I just need to speak to God and tell Him how I really feel. I need to be allowed to do that. And you tell me that’s not allowed! You’re no use at all to me. I just wish you’d all shut up! That would be the wisest thing to do, believe me! Don’t try to put words in God’s mouth. That is never going to end well. Just listen to me for a moment. Let me speak. I’ll take full responsibility for everything I say. Whatever happens to me, I have to speak out. I’ll take whatever comes. God knows I’m doing this with a clear conscience.

God, all I’m asking are these two simple things. Just stop this suffering somehow. Stop scaring me. Show me why you’re allowing this. Show me what I’ve done wrong. If you love me, why are you letting me suffer like this? Or have I done something to make you stop loving me? Our lives as humans are short and full of trouble – what was the point of creating us at all? You decide how long each person will live – can’t you let them just get on with them and live out those days without trouble and pain?

At least there’s hope for a tree. What about us? A tree is cut down and yet can live again. It can sprout new shoots. Water can bring new life. But when we die, that’s it, isn’t it? No new life. Just gone from this earth forever. No one can die and come back to life, can they?

I’m ready for that, God. I’m ready to die. Call me to you. I trust that everything will be OK then. It’s this suffering that is gradually eroding all my hope. Until all I can care about it making it stop. I can’t think about anything else. Nothing else matters. Just make it stop.

Wow. Poor Job. We’ll leave it there today. I wonder if as you read that, you remember ever feeling like that. Maybe you feel like that right now. Maybe there have been times where you have said some of those words, thought some of those things. Can you identify at all with how Job is feeling?

Or maybe you’ve had a friend or relative who has suffered for so long and in so much pain that they have felt like Job. How have you managed to comfort them? What words have you found to say?

How about reflecting on what you would say to Job before we hear his friend’s response tomorrow?