This is a brief reflection on the Job reading from Sunday the 3rd of October 2021, Job 1:1, 2:1-10. The story of Job gets 4 weeks of our time over October, it’s a great story.
Have you caught yourself wondering why things keep happening to you? Why you have cancer, why you’re going through a bad break up, why you’ve lost your job, why you find yourself homeless, why you’re sick, why you’re in hospital after a heart attack…
It’s not your fault.
Perhaps you’ve been tempted to make up stories to make yourself feel better, perhaps you, or your grandparents did something bad, sinned, and now you’re going through this.
It’s not your fault.
Perhaps you’ve caught yourself thinking that God’s testing you, that it’s all a part of your faith being tested. God’s closing a door and opening another, there’s always a reason for people’s suffering…
It’s not your fault.
Perhaps you’ve sat with someone who’s life is hard, who’s going through cancer, or an illness, or grieving the loss of someone they loved and you desperately want there to be a reason for their suffering. You might even think about telling them that there’s always a reason for their suffering, perhaps because their suffering makes you a little uncomfortable and saying those words might make you feel a little better…
It’s not your fault.
It’s not their fault either.
Perhaps you’d like to come up with a story of a giant cosmic battle between good and bad, and that your suffering, their suffering, the world’s suffering is all a part of this battle…
It’s not your fault.
The story of Job is a story that’s written with that simple message. It’s not your fault, it’s not their fault, not everything has a reason, not everything has a purpose.
Not everything happens for a reason.
It also is a story where the main character, now suffering gets to confront and challenge God. I wonder if you’ve ever felt like you’d like to confront God about something you, or another is experienced, but felt that it was wrong to argue with God, to pick a fight. The Hebrew Scriptures are full of stories of people arguing with God, in fact there’s an entire genre of Psalm called Lament, prayers of naming one’s anguish, pain, grief before God. One could say that arguing with God is biblical, it also shows us that God is big enough to take our suffering seriously and to hear our complaint.
The story of Job is an amazing one, I love it.
Job tells of a cosmic argument that brings torment, suffering and death… and I wonder if it’s because sometimes it’s easier to believe that suffering is because God’s made a bet with someone rather than believe the truth.
It’s
Not
Your
Fault.
And God is with you and is able to shoulder your anguish, your pain, your anger, your grief.
And anyone who tells you otherwise is lying.
It’s not your fault.
Say it again.
It’s not your fault.
And again.
It’s not your fault.
Amen.
Shalom
Darren Wright