Job 42

Then Job answered the Lord: “I know that you can do all things and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.
‘Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?’ Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me that I did not know. ‘Hear, and I will speak; I will question you, and you declare to me.’ I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you; therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes.”

Job was a strong man when Job acknowledged that he was a humble creature.

I find the story of Job to be rather strange. He is an upright person who (as tale is told, by no fault of his own and by no malice by God) is afflicted by all types of calamities. His friends want him to curse God, but he is too proud of his adherence to his own faith to do that. He suffers, with a boiling contempt for his Creator. Then it happens, as Job starts pointing a finger at God. But life is too complicated for blame to fall on any one entity.

As Job questions God, and then God answers Job in return, the balance of the relationship between creature and Creator is restored. Job humbly submits to his own finite understanding of the mystery of life.

Prayer

God, I don’t know why I find blessings or bad events in life. I don’t know who to thank or blame. Let me live today though, with a sense of belonging here, and an appreciation of the still wonderful world where I dwell. Amen.