Lectionary Scriptures and Comments

Archive for February 15, 2012

Not Crying With Job 021512

The Knesset Menorah, Jerusalem (detail - Job)

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Not Crying With Job 021512

Job is living in misery while seeking God. I know that misery, as do us all. It is severe and comes perhaps from seeking God and not finding God or his will in the time we have allotted for such things. The pain can be severe. Unfortunately, one of the ways to get over it is to not think about God, about the issues of the heart and soul and try to go through life in a godless and dark mental and spiritual state.

This numbing seems to overtake many, and all I can say is to try to prevent others from abandoning their search for God. But the state of Job?

One could easily say that our suffering is not as great as Jobs, but I think it is. I have a theory, although it may be a silly theory, that each of us is due the same amount of suffering on earth in our lives, and in some way, we all suffer like Job. Go and find a rich person and ask them if their life was free of suffering. I’ve never found such a person, who actually able to go through life free of intense suffering, like Job, and many very rich people are actually empty, do not and cannot trust or love or relax a second, lest their wealth escape them.

Still, few of us suffer like Job, or ask to suffer like Job. We may prefer to not cry like Job, or see our loved ones seek God in this way. But don’t give up, if pain and suffering come to you, but like Job, continue our search for God.

Pray for peace

(brother) Bill

Peace Mennonite Church keeps a prayer list for those in need. If you need prayer, or want to e-mail our pastor, e-mail billd @ peacemennonitechurch.net (Take out the extra spaces to use this e-mail—the spaces confuse spam generators).

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Psalm 102:12-28

Job 6:1-13

Mark 3:7-12

 

Psalm 102:12-28

12But you, O Lord, are enthroned forever; your name endures to all generations.

13You will rise up and have compassion on Zion, for it is time to favor it; the appointed time has come.

14For your servants hold its stones dear, and have pity on its dust.

15The nations will fear the name of the Lord, and all the kings of the earth your glory.

16For the Lord will build up Zion; he will appear in his glory.

17He will regard the prayer of the destitute, and will not despise their prayer.

18Let this be recorded for a generation to come, so that a people yet unborn may praise the Lord:

19that he looked down from his holy height, from heaven the Lord looked at the earth,

20to hear the groans of the prisoners, to set free those who were doomed to die;

21so that the name of the Lord may be declared in Zion, and his praise in Jerusalem,

22when peoples gather together, and kingdoms, to worship the Lord.

23He has broken my strength in midcourse; he has shortened my days.

24“O my God,” I say, “do not take me away at the mid-point of my life, you whose years endure throughout all generations.”

25Long ago you laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands.

26They will perish, but you endure; they will all wear out like a garment. You change them like clothing, and they pass away;

27but you are the same, and your years have no end.

28The children of your servants shall live secure; their offspring shall be established in your presence.

Job 6:1-13

6Then Job answered: 2“O that my vexation were weighed, and all my calamity laid in the balances! 3For then it would be heavier than the sand of the sea; therefore my words have been rash. 4For the arrows of the Almighty are in me; my spirit drinks their poison; the terrors of God are arrayed against me. 5Does the wild ass bray over its grass, or the ox low over its fodder? 6Can that which is tasteless be eaten without salt, or is there any flavor in the juice of mallows? 7My appetite refuses to touch them; they are like food that is loathsome to me.

8“O that I might have my request, and that God would grant my desire; 9that it would please God to crush me, that he would let loose his hand and cut me off! 10This would be my consolation; I would even exult in unrelenting pain; for I have not denied the words of the Holy One. 11What is my strength, that I should wait? And what is my end, that I should be patient? 12Is my strength the strength of stones, or is my flesh bronze? 13In truth I have no help in me, and any resource is driven from me.

Mark 3:7-12

7Jesus departed with his disciples to the sea, and a great multitude from Galilee followed him; 8hearing all that he was doing, they came to him in great numbers from Judea, Jerusalem, Idumea, beyond the Jordan, and the region around Tyre and Sidon. 9He told his disciples to have a boat ready for him because of the crowd, so that they would not crush him; 10for he had cured many, so that all who had diseases pressed upon him to touch him. 11Whenever the unclean spirits saw him, they fell down before him and shouted, “You are the Son of God!” 12But he sternly ordered them not to make him known.

The New Revised Standard Version, copyright 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

 

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