Job - Part 3 - Devotional

June 21, 2020

Devotional

“Job - Part 3” -

          Job 14: 7-15, 19: 23-27

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Monday: “Hope” - Job 14: 7-9

Job describes the experience of hoping in the face of situations that would not merit hope at all in today’s scripture passage. Remember that Job is a devout believer in God. But the Devil gets into a discussion with God about why Job is faithful to God in the first place and the Devil poses an interesting question - maybe Job only follows God because God has blessed him. So God said that the Devil could test Job to prove that it isn’t just because of the blessings that Job and God are close. God said that anything could be done to Job short of killing him, and one by one, Job finds the things dear to him in this world being stripped away - his sons, his lively hood, his health, his friendships, until we arrive about at this point in the story where it is literally just Job and God, and Job is wondering when God is going to show up in that mighty way.

Job is going through the most horrific experience of his life, but he is confident that God is going to show up, even in the midst of the storm. But I think we miss the point sometimes friends, just like Job missed the point in a way. When we expect God to show up, when we hope that God will show up, we miss the fact that God has been with us all along.

  What does hope look like in your life?

Prayer: God, we thank you for a life of faith that allows us hope. May hope help us combat a sense of despair and may it open our eyes in wonder to the fact you have always been present with us, even in our pain. Amen. 

Tuesday: “Remember Me” - Job 14: 10-14

Job is standing before God and is crying out for God to remember him. But this cry in and of itself is an act of trust. Job trusts that God will remember him, because he ultimately knows that he cannot go anywhere apart from God. 

This reminds me so much of the thief on the cross who tells Jesus to remember him. We all want to be remembered. And we can boldly make this request before God because we know that we are known and loved. 

When I was in seminary, one of the calls to worship we used asked God to re-member us. To re-form us. To bring us together as the body. As the community of faith. I think this is present in Job’s request as well, as he believes in hope that a tree will again sprout from the stump of his life. 

Even in the depths of Job’s despair, Job asking to be remembered and re-membered is a bold act of faith. 

What does the word “remember” mean to you? When is a time in your life that you have been remembered. 

Prayer: Lord, you are the God of renewal. You are the God of recreation. You are the God of life. So we bring to you the broken and shattered pieces of our life and ask that you re-make us. That you, in your grace, reform us in a way that will bring honor and glory to your kingdom, as we are your living testimonies that you send out into the world. Amen. 

Wednesday: “Call” - Job 14: 15

  One of the question I have had posed to me as a pastor, and I would guess that just about every pastor gets asked from time to time in a variety of different ways is, why doesn’t God speak like He did in the Bible anymore? We live in a society that is craving for God to speak in some thunder and lightening ways - but guess what folks that wasn’t the whole story. God didn’t always speak in the same way in scripture. We are told that he spoke in dramatic ways to some people like Abraham, but then other times God was present not in the thunder, lightening, fire and theatrics, but in the still small voice, like the prophet Elijah. And we believe as Christians that God was present in Jesus Christ, who was fully divine and fully human. and he spoke in an audible voice, but it didn’t make it any easier for people to listen to him, in fact, he hung on a cross for what he had to say. 

  Other times God moved through people’s intuition or though the voices of other people. One of my favorite books in the Bible is Esther, which ironically does not even motion the name of God even once. But Esther was key in helping to save the Jewish people from complete destruction because she listened to the voice of her cousin, Morachi, and used her God-given intuition to serve God. 

  Other times God speaks to us through the word of God, the scriptures. I am from the Untied Methodist Tradition which celebrates Aldersgate Day once a year - marking the time that John Wesley found his heart strangely warmed by Martin Luther’s words about Paul’s epistle to the Romans. It may not have been an audible voice, but it changed his life. 

  Its like we want to be hit with a 2 by 4 with God’s will for us and that isn’t the only way that God speaks or acts. A lot of time we are taking baby steps with God, listening for God’s word for us as we inch along. And Job is showing that he is willing to listen and respond, whenever God speaks and however, God would like to speak.

How can you create a spirit of anticipation that God will speak that allows you to be open?

Prayer: God, we confess that sometimes we are not very good at listening because we only want to hear in certain ways. Open our spirits up to however you want to speak, Precious Lord. Speak, for your servants are truly listening. Amen. 

Thursday: “Redeemer” -Job 19: 23-25

  God does not cause tragedies in our life to happen or the pain we suffer. But God can redeem all of our suffering. God can buy back our lives. God can make us new. God can take the messy, horrible moments in our lives and turn them into something beautiful. But we have to choose to let this happen. 

If we continue to retreat into the darkness in an attempt to hid from the pain, we won’t find healing. Healing doesn’t come from the darkness, but only from the light. A few years ago William P. Young released a book entitled The Shack, which is a story all about human suffering during tragedies, and how God often gets blamed for tragedies instead of clung to for healing and wholeness and comfort. In the story, God speaks to the main character Mack, whose daughter was kidnapped, raped, and ultimately killed, about suffering. He says, “Mack, just because I work incredible good out of unspeakable tragedies does not mean I orchestrate the tragedies. Don’t ever assume that my using something means that I caused it or need it to accomplish my purpose. That will only lead to false notions about me. Grace doesn’t depend of suffering to exist, but where you find suffering you will find grace in many colors and facets.”

We are all going to have moments of grief in our lives. Moments when we don’t know how we are even going to get through the day because of the overwhelming sadness. I have a friend who told me once about these “Garden moments” as he calls them, in our lives. Those time that we are standing up at the sky yelling “Where are you God?” or crying “Why?” But what we don’t realize is that God is right there in the Garden with us, and our inability to perceive that is what makes everything so much more difficult. And we have a choice, to stay in the Garden, know that as we cry out to God that he will work everything out for our ultimate good because God loves us so much, or we can walk away from God because we assume that God is to blame. We forget who God is. And we forget that in the story of our Savior who redeems us, after the garden and the cross came the resurrection.

  What does redemption look like in your life?

Prayer: Lord, we want to claim today that you are our redeemer. Whatever we may be facing in life, we ask that you bring something beautiful out of it. Even if we cannot see it now, may we live in trust in you of what is to come forth. Amen. 

Friday: “Behold” - Job 19: 26-27

  God is redeeming us, just perhaps not the way we think. As difficult as it is, take joy in that! When refiners work with Gold and Silver, they hold a piece of the precious metals over the fire and let it heat up in the middle of the fire, where the flames are the hottest. Only then can all of the impurities be burned away. And the smith has to sit in front of the fire during the entire process. And the most beautiful part of the process, is the end when the smith knows that the metal is fully refined when he can see his image in it. What if suffering gives us moments to be in deep communion with God in the silence and heartache? What if pain gives us the experience to share with other people about the love of God? What if it gives us the opportunity to be refined so others can see the image and behold of God in us?

What hope can we find in the story of Job?

Prayer: Lord, we want to see you. We want to behold your glory. We want to see your Kingdom here and now, dear Lord. Use even our moments of grief to draw us closer to you, we pray.