Narrative Lectionary Key Verse for Today
“‘If I speak, my pain is not assuaged,
and if I forbear, how much of it leaves me?
Surely now God has worn me out;
he has made desolate all my company.”
NL Daily Devotion for Tuesday, June 23, 2020
by Daniel D. Maurer, Clergy Stuff
Photo credit: Leonaert Bramer - The Trials of Job (Source)
Job doesn’t hold back with how low things have gotten for him. One of the beautiful aspects of the Hebrew Scriptures is how down to earth, up front, honest, and real to life the stories are. This passage is no different; Job gives testimony to his pain. His telling is a metaphor and hyperbole—we don’t believe that Job’s guts were actually split open—but he tells it as he sees it: “[God] slashes open my kidneys, and shows no mercy; [God] pours out my gall on the ground.” (v. 13b)
Such honesty is refreshing. It’s easy to speak to God in our best, Sunday-morning language. Privately, perhaps, we are more open to communicate our real feelings. The words of Job should give us permission to yell at God to say how truly awful we feel.
Still, Job looks to God as his witness. He knows that his hope ultimately rests with the Infinite One.
Recently, I have been transcribing the account of a Syrian man who had to flee his country for my fourth published book. His story is nothing short of heart wrenching. It certainly puts the petty worries I sometimes have, such as whether I should pay a worker to stain my backyard fence or if I should do it myself, into perspective.
I think Job’s honesty is a word of grace for us today. Maybe it’s permission to swear or cry in disgust. God can handle God’s self with our temper tantrums, both the petty and even the righteous ones.
Maybe a little letting loose with God as our witness would do us good.
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