Readings for today: Job 10-13
Ever felt hopeless in your life? Ever get to a place where no matter what you did, things turned out worse? Ever find yourself in a position where the walls were closing in and you had no escape? No safety net? No one to catch you when you fall? This is what Job felt like in the face of all he suffered. Hopelessness is a terrible thing. The loss of hope is one of the worst things that can happen to a human being. If we don’t have hope, we lose any motivation to keep on living. We lose any desire to keep on striving. The results are often tragic. Either we give up or we find a way to end it all or we shuffle through the rest of life like a zombie with no sense of purpose or direction.
I think of the many people I have counseled over the years who found themselves on the verge of hopelessness. Some of them were fighting terrible, wasting diseases like ALS or Alzheimer’s and they wondered what value their life could possibly hold as their physical bodies failed. Some were fighting terrible addictions and they wondered how life could be worth living under such oppressive, compulsive, and seemingly irresistible self-destructive desires. Some were fighting mental health conditions like schizophrenia or anorexia or clinical depression and they wondered what the point of life might be when so much of what they experienced was darkness. Still others suffered from deep emotional and relational pain. Still others had seen everything they had built come crashing down around them. There is so much pain and heartbreak in our world that leads to hopelessness and despair and we wonder where God is in the midst of it all.
Listen to how Job describes his own feelings of hopelessness, “If I’m truly guilty, I’m doomed. But if I’m innocent, it’s no better - I’m still doomed. My belly is full of bitterness. I’m up to my ears in a swamp of affliction. I try to make the best of it, try to brave it out, but you’re too much for me, relentless like a lion on the prowl.” (Job 10:15-16) There is nothing worse than feeling like life has no point. Nothing worse than feeling like no matter what we do, we are all still doomed to suffer. Nothing worse than thinking it doesn’t matter if one is good or evil because we all end up in the same place. This is where Job finds himself in our reading today and yet he refuses to give up hope. He stubbornly clings to faith. He continues to cry out to God. Demanding an audience. Demanding an answer. Somewhere deep down, he knows what he’s experiencing is not right so he throws himself on God’s mercy. “Yes, I’ve seen all this with my own eyes, heard and understood it with my own very ears. Everything you know, I know, so I’m not taking a backseat to any of you. I’m taking my case straight to God Almighty; I’ve had it with you - I’m going directly to God.” (Job 13:1-4)
Some believe the Book of Job is about the loss of faith. Some believe it is about deconstructing faith. I beg to differ. Job is a book that plumbs the depth of faith. It presents faith in it’s most real, most raw form. It shows us what faith looks like under immense pressure. It shows us how faith endures under the most difficult of circumstances. Job is a faithful man precisely because he continues to cry out to God. He refuses to let go. He is like Jacob wrestling with God down by the river. He is broken. He is beaten. He is wounded terribly, perhaps even mortally, and still he will not let go until God answers him. His friends all want him to compromise. His counselors all want him to exchange his deep and profound faith for superficial, theologically correct answers. His own wife wants him to renounce his faith, curse God, and die. But Job perseveres. He endures. He only tightens his grip on his faith. He refuses to give into hopelessness. Refuses to let despair have the final word.
What about you? Where do you find yourself today? Where are you struggling with hopelessness? Where are you struggling with despair? Maybe you’re like some of the people I mentioned above, battling chronic illness, addiction, or mental health issues. Maybe you’ve had a relationship go south or an estrangement with someone you love. Maybe your job or career has stalled or even failed and all your dreams for the future have gone up in smoke. Follow Job’s example. Cry out to God. Hold nothing back. Bring it all to Him. It’s only when we have nothing left that we discover faith in God is more than enough.
Readings for tomorrow: Job 14-17