New Items Posted: Baptism, Job, 2 Timothy

February 19, 2009

Continuing my quest to post previously published or presented materials, I have uploaded some new items–well, some old items (1990s) that are now newly offered on this website.  :-)

Baptism and Alexander Campbell. The 1990 book Baptism and the Remission of Sins (College Press), edited by David Fletcher, contained three articles I authored. They are posted on my Academic page.

Introduction (co-authored with David Fletcher) which situates the baptismal theology of Churches of Christ on the historic landscape of Christian theology and summarizes the chapters in the book.

Alexander Campbell on Christians Among the Sects. This article discusses the  rebaptism controversy, the Lunenberg letter, and Campbell’s attitude toward Christians among the “sects” (e.g., Baptists, Presbyterians, etc.).

The Recovery of the Ancient Gospel: Alexander Campbell and the Design of Baptism.  This article tracks the development of Campbell’s baptismal theology.  I suggest he went through several stages: (1) Presbyterian until 1812 (advocate of infant baptism), (2) Baptist in 1812-1823 (baptism has no relationship to salvation other than a sign), (3) Modified Baptist from1823-1827 (baptism is no longer a duty but is directly related to assurance and a formal reception of the remission of sins), and (4) mature understanding from 1827 forward (articulated in his “Ancient Gospel” series).

On my General page, I have posted two previously published articles.

Job.   “Job’s ‘Sanctuary Experirence ‘and Mine” is an article that appeared in Leaven (2000). It suggests that the movement from “hearing” about God to “seeing” God in Job 42 is a “sanctuary experience” that comforts believers in their tragedies, and comforted me in my own tragic circumstances. Job’s experience was not sui generis; it is the comfort in which God invites all believers and comes to them through faith.

2 Timothy.  “A Personal Word to Timothy (2 Timothy 4:9-22)” appeared in the 1986 East Tennessee School of Preaching and Missions lectureship book.  Paul’s last words to Timothy use the language of Psalm 22 which is a mixture of abandonment and hope.

Book Reviews.

The Disputations of Baden, 1526 and Bern, 1528: Neutralizing the Early Church by Irena Backus.  These “debates” between Zwinglian and Catholic representatives were critical in the resultant division of Switzerland into five Catholic cantons and five Reformed cantons (which is still true today).  Theologically, the focus of the discussion was the principle of sola scriptura.

Prophecy and Reason: The Dutch Collegiants in the Early Enlightenment by Andrew C. Fix.  Dutch Collegiants (small groups gathered for study and discussion) were the center of enlightenment thought in seventeenth century Holland.  John Locke, during his exile from England, participated as well as leading Remonstrant theologians such as Philip van Limborch.

Exile and Kingdom: History and Apocalypse in the Puritan Migration to America by Avihu Zakai. Puritans, though exiled from Europe, sought to establish the kingdom of God in America. Apocalyptic postmillennialism dominanted their self-understanding.

4 Comments | Biblical Texts, Church History, Stone-Campbell, Theology | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by John Mark Hicks

Assembly, Presence and Comfort for the Grieving (Theological Hermeneutics Applied)

June 17, 2008

When I think of the dramatic story of Scripture in terms of divine presence (as I did in my previous post on theological hermeneutics), my mind always turns toward the absence of those whom I have loved and lost. This may seem a strange twist, but it is a natural flow for me because divine presence is God’s response to our experience of loss.

In Christ, grievers may experience this divine presence in several ways.

We experience the special providence of God who cares for us even in our darkness, even in our lament. We are encouraged to live one day at a time because not only is the trouble of that day sufficient but also because God cares for us just as he cares for the lillies of the field and the birds of the air (Matthew 6).

We experience the hope of the eschatological presence of God. This is an anchor for the soul as we trust in God’s ultimate victory. Death will not win; the graves will open. God will renew his cosmos, including our bodies and provide a place where we may see God’s face and dwell with the Triune God forever (Revelation 21-22).

We experience the comforting pneumatological presence of God. The indwelling Spirit groans with us in our laments, intercedes for us in our hurts, and gives peace to our hearts in the midst of our pains. This is no mere external word of promise but the internal work of God who fills us with “joy and peace” through faith by the “power of the Holy Spirit” (Romans 15:13). It is the daily presence of God in our lives to walk with us, at times carry us and at all times actively transforming us into the image of Christ.

We experience the presence of God in the heavenly sanctuary when we assemble with other disciples of Jesus to pray and praise God. This presence is, most significantly for those who grieve, a presence with not only God but with all those gathered around the throne of God.  We who are the earthly sanctuary of God by the indwelling Spirit join the all the saints in the heavenly sanctuary when we gather as a community. The earthly community is united with the heavenly community. This foretaste of the eschatological community–this foretaste of eschatological presence–is a communion with all the saints, including not only those from whom we are separated by geography here upon the earth but those from whom we are separated by death (Hebrews 12:22-24).

I find comfort in each of mode of divine presence, sometimes more one than another, and sometimes my lament forgets all of them and the fog only permits me to sense–and then protest–God’s absence.  But ultimately God is never absent; he is always present. And his presence is no mere passivity–it is an active, loving, communing, engaging, transforming presence.  God is no spectator; he is a participant. He loves me and is at work for me, in me and through me. This is what I trust and remembering these modes of presence helps me interpret the meaning and significance of my life. It provides a means by which I can understand my own participaton in the story of God.

At times the most important of these to me is the last one–the presence of God in the heavenly sanctuary when heaven and earth are joined in assembly. To experience assembly as the presence of God is one of the most comforting of all experiences for me.

Bobby, Johnny and I dedicated our book, A Gathered People, in this way:  “To those whom we love but cannot see except as we meet them around God’s throne every Lord’s Day.”

That is comforting to me.  This past Lord’s Day, as I worshipped with my community at Woodmont Hills with my wife and daughter, I again enjoyed with smiles and tears the presence of Sheila, Joshua, Barry, and Dad along with many others who crossed my mind. It was a deeply moving emotional experience as well as Spiritually (note the capital S!) therapeutic.

“Holy, Holy, Holy” (the sanctus) is sung not only by the saints upon the earth, but the angelic hosts and departed saints around the throne. In assembly, we become one voice–angelic, human and all creation–of praise to the one who created us and has loved us beyond our imagination.

 

7 Comments | Hermeneutics, Pastoral Care, Spirituality, Theology | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by John Mark Hicks

Job’s “Miserable Comforters” III (Job 11-14)

June 11, 2008

My previous posts in this series have examined the mistakes of Eliphaz and Bildad in their first responses to Job’s laments. Now I turn my attention to Zophar (Job 11) and Job’s reaction to his “comfort” (Job 12-14).

Zophar’s Counsel

Zophar is seething. He can’t stand it.  Who does Job think he is that he can dispute with God? Zophar’s zeal for the righteousness of God demands that he “rebuke” this mocker.  “Will no one rebuke you,” Zophar retorts, “when you mock?” (11:3b).

He hears Job’s lament as the assertion of Job’s own sinlessness. He puts words in Job’s mouth–words Job never spoke.  Job never claimed his “beliefs” were “flawless” or that he was “pure” in God’s sight (8:4).  But Zophar cannot hear Job’s dispute with God as anything other than unfaithfulness and anticipates that God will voice his displeasure if he ever does speak to Job.

It seems that “righteous” people tend to hear laments exactly as Zophar hears them.  In fact, many read Job’s words exactly as Zophar read them.  I think it is a dangerous thing to side with the friends against Job given God’s own response to the friends in chapter 42. Yet, we are so schooled to believe that honest, heart-felt, angry laments to God are so sinful that we can’t even hear Job’s righteous venting without condemning him in sympathy with Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar. 

Unfortunately, Job’s condemnation is not sui generis.  Many laments are condemned for their harshness and “irreverence.” The spirit of Zophar yet lives in the hearts of the “righteous.”

This rejection of lament is rooted in a misapplication of divine transcendence. Zophar rightly asks, “Can you fathom the mysteries of God?” (11:7). Of course not! Job confesses divine mystery and transcendence–he already has done so in the dialogues and will in his response to Zophar. But for Zophar this means that the divine court will imprison Job rather than release him because this is what God does with “deceitful men” (11:10-12). It does not, seemingly, occur to Zophar that Job is honest and that his cry to the transcendent one is the call of a wounded victim. It is almost as if Zophar’s understanding of transcendence renders God unapproachable and many lamenters have been rebuked on that basis.

Yet, Zophar hopes for Job’s repentance. “[I]f you devote your heart to him,” he pleads, “you will surely forget your trouble” (11:13a, 16a). Hope and security will return; darkness will become light; danger will turn into safety. And Job, Zophar promises, will no longer be afraid; his fear will dissipate.  God will no longer terrify him (Job 11:13-19).  Repent, and everything will be just fine…the same promise that Eliphaz and Bildad offered.

Job’s hope, then, is to renounce his own integrity and repent. If Job were to do so, this would give the accuser (“Satan” in chapte 1) the victory.  For, then, the accusation would certainly be correct–human beings only serve God for profit, for the “stuff.”  If Job is willing to deny his own integrity in order to get his “stuff” back, then he would serve God out of a profit motive rather than out of love. Unwittingly, Zophar asks Job to deny his faithful witness rather than uphold it.

Job’s Reaction

Perhaps a good word to describe Job’s reaction is….incredulous. Did Zophar just say what he did? “Did I hear him right?” Job might have thought.

Job cannot convince his own friends that the tables have been turned on him. While once he “called upon God and he answered” and “though righteous and blameless [integrity],” now he is a “laughingstock” to his “friends” (12:4). At the same time “the tents of marauders are undisturbed,” like those who stole his property and killed his servants (12:6). And it is God who has done this! Who “does no know that the hand of the Lord (Yahweh!) has done this?” (12:9).

This is why Job must “dispute” with God. Though he knows “wisdom and power” belong to God, though he knows “counsel and understanding are his” (12:13), though he knows God builds up and tears down whatever he pleases him–and the series of divine actions in 12:14-25 are a testimony to God’s “wisdom and power,” Job cannot but dispute with the Almighty. He “desire[s] to speak to the Almighty and to argue [his] case with God” (13:3).

Instead of supporting him, the friends “smear [him] with lies” (13:4a). He would rather they just be silent–that would be true wisdom (13:5)! But they persist to defend God rather than empathize with their friend. They choose the seeming meaninglessness of God’s work over sitting with Job in his pain. They would rather lie and defend God than share Job’s suffering (13:6-12). Sound familiar to anyone? It does to me–it even reflects what goes on inside my own head at times.

So, why must Job speak? Why does he endanger himself with his honesty in addressing God? “Why do I put myself in jeopardy,” he asks, “and take my life in my hands?” (13:14).

This is the beauty of Job’s lament. On the one hand, he laments because he trusts God. On the other hand, he laments because he experiences life as so totally unfair. This, I think, is the circumstance all faithful lament. It is honest about the seeming injustice of life’s tragic course, but it nevertheless trusts in the “wisdom and power” of God over that life.

Job speaks–he disputes, laments, complains–because “though he slay me, yet will I hope in him” (13:15). And he speaks–he disputes, laments, complains–because “man is born of woman is of few days and full of trouble” (14:1). With the former, Job knows he will be vindicated (13:18b), but with the latter he recognizes that the grave and suffering are the human condition (14:5, 10). This is the origin of lament–trust and trouble. Lament is a faithful response to God; it is not the cry of the arrogant, but it is faith mourning.

Job feels this same tension regarding sin. He does not claim perfection. He remembers the “sins of his youth” (13:26). He knows his “offenses” (14:16-17). But he does not understand why God prosecutes his own servant to this degree. Though he sins, he nevertheless trusts God and follows his steps. “Why,” then, “do you hide your face,” Job asks God, “and consider me your enemy?” (13:24). It seems that God has used every excuse–including his sin, even the sins of his youth–to imprison him and shackle his feet (13:27).

But this does not fit Job’s understanding of God; it does not fit what he would expect from his Creator.  This is not the God to whom Job prays. Therefore, he will await the day of “renewal” when God “will call and I will answer,” when God “will long for the creature [his] hands have made” (14:15). In that moment, God will “count [Job's] steps but” will “not keep track of [his] sin” (14:16). God will, Job believes, seal up his offenses “in a bag” and “cover over [his] sin.”

Ultimately, Job hopes in his God; he trusts in God’s grace and healing. But in the midst of his lament it is difficult for him to see through the fog. On the trash heap, “he feels [only] the pain of his own body and mourns only for himself” because God has “overpower[ed] him” and “change[d] his countenance” (14:20,22).

This is lament. Trouble plus trust given voice. Sometimes the trouble overshadows the trust and sometimes the trust shines through the trouble.

Friends who would comfort need to understand this. Let us listen to the voice without critique, judgment or condemnation. Listen with mercy, compassion and sympathy, even empathy where possible.

3 Comments | Biblical Texts, Pastoral Care | Tagged: , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by John Mark Hicks

Job’s “Miserable Comforters” II (Job 8-10)

June 10, 2008

In my first post, I enumerated Eliphaz’s pastoral mistakes (Job 4-5) and Job’s response to his “friend.” In this post Bildad responds to Job’s rejection of Eliphaz’s counsel (Job 8 ) and Job reacts to Bildad (Job 9-10).

Bildad’s “Counsel”

Whatever God does is just. God destroyed your life. Therefore, you deserved it.

With shocking pastoral insensitivity Bildad uses Job’s children as a case in point (8:4).

When your children sinned against him, he gave them over to the penalty of their sin.

As readers we know that the sins of the children had nothing–in terms of the prologue’s narrative–to do with their deaths. Yet, Bildad clearly sees the “justice” of God. It has to make sense to him; there must be a rational explanation for the death of children. That round peg has to fit into the square hole we have been given.

Yet, Bildad, like Eliphaz before him, holds out some hope for Job. 

If….if….if…you will do better, Job; if you will become more righteous; if you will repent; “if you will look to God and plead with the Almighty,” “if you are pure and upright,” then God, “even now,” will “restore you to your rightful place.” “Your beginnings,” Bildad promises, “will seem humble, so prosperous will your future be” (Job 8:5-7). Since God does not “reject a blameless man or strengthen the hands of evildoers” (an interesting statement in light of the narrator’s words that God put Job into the accuser’s hands in 1:12; 2:6; he strengthed the hands that attacked Job!), Job could possibly expect–if he repents–”laughter” and “joy” once again while the “tents of the wicked” disappear (Job 8:20-22).

Between the two exhortations to repent (8:5-7 and 8:20-22), our friendly theologian–based on the wisdom of the ages–points to the fragility of those who “forget God” (8:13). They are fragile because they trust in what is fragile. They whither and die like rootless plants.

So, there are two choices; there are only two scenarios. Bildad confirms God’s quid pro quo arrangement with humanity and encourages Job to embrace the profit of righteous living. Life is about equity and fairness–God will treat us just as we deserve. If we sin, he will condemn us. If we are pure, he will bless us. It is simple, right?

Job does not think so.

Job’s Reaction

His response to Bildad is not direct. As I read him, he basically replies to Bildad’s first question.  It is enough to set Job on fire–”How long will you say such things? Your words are a blustering wind” (8:2).  Job’s response is….”I know, I know, how can I dispute with God? But I will dispute anyway; my soul must speak!”

Some don’t like to listen to such speech.  They think it is demeaning to God, undermines faith, or is an expression of arrogance. Does questioning God–asking him “why” or complaining about how he has decided to conduct the world–mean we no longer believe in God’s transcendence, power or sovereignty? It doesn’t for Job. He begins his response to Bildad with an extended rehearsal of divine sovereignty over creation (9:4-13). He confeses God’s wisdom and power (9:4). His language sounds very similar to what Yahweh himself will say to Job in chapters 38-41.

On the one hand, Job knows it is futile to argue with God (9:3, 14-15). On the other hand, he must speak and declare his feelings (10:1). This is the tension of a lamenter. We know God is great but we still feel what we feel. To stuff our feelings will damage the soul, to numb our feelings denies what is real, and to escape our feelings is an illusion. We must speak!

We recognize that even if we were “blameless” (in the sense of integrity–as God declared Job to be in 1:1 and 2:3), we still do not have a case before God (9:19-20).  His power and justice overwhelm us and we know we cannot stand in his presence on our own two feet. But attempting to justify God–from the perspective of lament–is futile since he “destroys the blameless and the wicked,” and “if it is not he, then who is it?” (9:22, 24). Surely God will always be right! Who can dispute that? God is in control and responsible for his world!  To deny that is to remove God from his sovereign perch as Creator.  God is the one with whom we must dispute. And we know we can’t win.

Nevertheless, we speak. I could “forget my complaint” and “change my expression and smile,” but this would not change my feelings. “I still dread,” Job says, “all my sufferings” (9:27-28).  No!  Job will speak to God; he will not forget his complaint. He will question him….about why he “smile[s] on the schemes of the wicked”….why he “search[es] out my faults and probe[s] after my sin”…why he “oppress[es] me” (Job 10:3-6).

The lamenter will do both–recognize God’s power but complain about his use of it or neglect of it.

It doesn’t make any sense! Did not God create me?  Job asks. Did not God’s own “hands”–the hands that gave the accuser the power to destroy him in chapters 1-2–create Job (10:8)? Did not God tenderly knit Job together in the womb, give him life, show him kindness and watch over him in his providence (10:10-12)?

The God who cared for Job is the God who unleashed trying, if not hostile, powers against him. “Why then did you bring me out of the womb?” Job asks (10:18). Let me die, he pleads; let the misery end.

And the misery is compounded by God’s own plan. Is this “what you concealed in your heart,” O God? “I know,” Job says, that this was in your mind” all along (10:15). You set me up! You showered me with blessings and then you took them away. What kind of trickery is this? It feels like God has betrayed us. We got sucker punched.

You are powerful, God. You created me. You loved me. But I am suffering. This doesn’t make any sense.

Job does have a glimmer of hope, however.  Perhaps it is better to say it is a yearning, even a request, or a wish.  Maybe that is all it is.  He speaks (9:33-35):

If only there were someone to arbitrate between us, to lay his hand upon us both, someone to remove God’s rod from me, so that his terror would frighten me no more. Then I would speak up without fear of him, but as it now stands with me, I cannot.

Job needs someone who will give him the boldness to stand in God’s presence and speak his heart. He needs someone who will mediate, who will place a hand on both himself and God. What Job does not realize is that God is that person. God will come to Job in compasionate care and Job will no longer need to speak. Indeed, he will find comfort (42:6).

Historically, Christians have seen Christological meaning in Job’s wish. Perhaps. Surely Job did not know and he probably does not intend some kind of reconciling mediator.  Rather, he wants someone to mediate the conversation; someone to guarentee fairness in the court of justice, someone to embolden him.

But as I meditate on this yearning, it is a wish, a hope, experienced in Jesus. It is not that Jesus removed the terrors of the Father, but that the Father and Son compassionately came near to us. The Father who loved us sent his Son, and this is how we know love. This is how we know the Father is for us because he gave his Son for our sakes. And thus we boldly go to the throne of grace rather than to the bar of justice.

In the light of Jesus, fairness is not our ultimate concern (it wasn’t for Jesus!) though the questions raise their ugly heads from time to time (even for Jesus!). In the light of Jesus, we know the Father’s love, the grace of his Messiah and the fellowship of the Spirit. This comforts us–not the answers to the questions, but the presence of loving communion, the experience of love itself….with God, with others…and, yes, even learning to love ourselves as God loves himself.

4 Comments | Biblical Texts, Pastoral Care | Tagged: , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by John Mark Hicks

Job’s “Miserable Comforters” I (Job 4-7)

June 9, 2008

Actually, I’m more interested in Job’s journey of faith than I am his “miserable comforters” (Job 16:2), but for the present I want to take a closer look at these “comforters.”  I have decided to do this as an exercise for my own spirituality over the next few weeks because sometimes, in the midst of my grief, I actually tell myself some of the things that friends told Job.  In other words, I end up beating myself up rather than lamenting and seeking God’s mercy.

I’m not quite sure how this will proceed. I’m doing this “on the fly” and I’ll see where it goes; where the Spirit might lead as I meditate on the Job’s dialogue with his friends. Depending on my own meditations, I will move back and forth between posts on hermeneutics and posts on Job’s dialogue with his friends

There are three cycles of dialogue. The first one is found in Job 4-14. [We could begin the cycle with Job 3 but I don't think Job intended any "response" from his friends. Rather, it is a "why" lament with God in the third person rather than as a direct address to God.] It is the longest cycle. Eliphaz speaks (4-5) then Job responds (6-7), then Bildad (8), then Job again (9-10), then Zophar (11) followed by Job’s final response (12-14). Job says more as the dialogue proceeds and the friends say less! [On the whole structure of the book see my notes on Job.]

I think the basic theme of this cycle is “Job, repent and God will return it all to you!”  Good advice to a sufferer, huh? Or, another way of putting it is, “get your life together and God will bless you again.” Or, “God does this on a quid pro quo basis–you do your part and God will reward you!” Here is a quick snapshot:

Eliphaz (4-5): Offers hope in discipline (5:17-27).
Job (6-7): Friends are dry streams (6:15-21).
Bildad (8): God will yet deliver you if you repent (8:6-20).
Job (9-10): Who am I, even if I am blameless (9:20).
Zophar (11): Job is self-righteous (11:4-5), so repent (11:13).
Job (12-14): You are telling me nothing new; just listen (13:1-2, 13).

For this post, I will concentrate on Eliphaz and Job’s response (Job 4-7).

 Eliphaz’s Mistakes

Eliphaz, to his credit, does attempt to be conciliatory, gentle and hopeful.  Apparently, however, Job did not think he tried very hard.  :-)   Despite the best of intentions and with even a small amount of insightful theology (e.g., 5:8-17), we can do more harm than good.

Mistake One.  The friends thought they had to speak. They could not bear to hear Job’s heart-rending lament in chapter 3 and stay silent. Eliphaz cautions Job about impatience, insinuates that perhaps he should just listen “but who can keep from speaking,” he says (4:2).

Lesson:  Be present and be silent; when in any doubt, choose silence. Don’t speak because the silence is uncomfortable.

Mistake Two.  The friends cautioned Job about his words. “Call if you will,” Eliphaz taunts Job, “but who will answer you?” (5:1) Job’s words are dangerous, edgy, and cross the line with God. Eliphaz thinks Job is insolent and impatient.

Lesson: Listen to their lament. Don’t judge it and don’t critique it. Let it flow and let it go. Listen, listen and then listen some more.

Mistake Three.  The friends reminded Job how God takes care of the righteous. “Consider now,” Eliphaz says, “who, being innocent, has ever perished? Where were the upright every destroyed?” (4:7). What is Job supposed to think about that? If Eliphaz is right, Job can’t be upright or innocent (but the reader knows that the Lord himself declared him such in Job 1-2).

Lesson: “Cheer up, my brother; live in the sunshine!”  “God will take care of you; trust him!” Such platitudes are meaningless when you’ve been crushed. They have an opposite effect than what is intended. Such words may turn the sufferer away from trust because now it appears that God has not considered them worthy of his protection.

Mistake Four.  The friends plead with Job to accept the Lord’s discipline for his sins. God will rescue him from his calamities and secure him against future ones (5:18-26) if only he will “not despise the discipline of the Almighty” (5:17). There may be a place for this if sins are the cause of the circumstances–which sufferers often need to recognize for themselves.  But in Job’s circumstances–tragic events unrelated to his actions, tragedies beyond his control–the advice rings hollow.

Lesson: “God is teaching you something; listen to him, repent and get your life straight.” Never, ever attribute the suffering to some defect in the sufferer. Sufferers may do that for themselves, but it is not the place of the comforter to connect the dots for them if there are any dots to connect.

Mistake Five.  The friends interpreted Job’s suffering and alluded to elements of his pain. Eliphaz does this twice in two sections in Job 5.  From one angle he describes the fool whose house was “suddenly…cursed” and whose children “are far from safety” (5:3-4) but from another angle describes how the Lord will protect the property and children of those who penitently accept his discipline. “You will know your tent is secure; you will take stock of your property and find nothing missing. You will know that your children are many, and your descendants like the grass of the earth” (5:24-25). Unmitigated gall!

Lesson: While the sufferer may talk about the tragedy and give any details that they may like–and we should listen to whatever they want to say about it, comforters never ever (1) interpret the meaning of the suffering, (2) compare past and present, or (3) use language that opens up the wounds (“children”).

Mistake Six.  Eliphaz projects a future for Job that is “rosy” and filled with blessing, healing and restoration. The condition of this future is Job’s repentance, but if he will repent, then God will give it all back tohim (5:18-26).  Eliphaz talks about the future with such certainty. I suspect he intends to build hope within Job.

Lesson: Don’t promise more than you know. “It will be okay; it will be for the best; everything will turn out alright”–and the almost infinite variations of those “nice” platitudes. We don’t know the future; we don’t know if it is for the best; we don’t know what good, if any, will arise out of the circumstances.

Mistake Seven.  The friends are so confident, so arrogant, so sure of their advice. “We have examined this,” Eliphaz says, “and it is true. So hear it and apply it to yourself” (5:27). Sufferers hate such egotistical, self-centered and self-promoting jibberish.

Lesson: Comforters need a strong sense of inadequacy, humility and powerlessness. Comforters cannot fix it.  They can only sit in it with the sufferer. They have no magic words, interpretations or explanations.

Job’s Despair

Is this how you react, Job asks, to a “despairing man”? (Job 6:14).

His Speech. How can I remain silent?  Of course my words are “impetuous”–”my anguish…my misery” weighs more than the “sands of the seas” (Job 6:2-3).  Why should I have patience–from whence does the hope arise that “that I should be patient” (Job 6:8).  His patience is finished; he has none. “Therefore, I will not keep silent” (Job 7:11).

His Powerlessness.  He must speak because words are all that are left him. He is neither made of “stone” or “bronze” that he would have “power” to help himself (6:12-13).

His Isolation.  “A despairing man,” Job announces, “should have the devotion of his friends, even though he forsakes the fear of the Almighty” (6:14).  Where’s their loyalty? Where is the compassion, the sympathy, the consolation? These friends are fair weather friends; they are like streams fed by “melting snow” in the Spring but are dry  beds “in the heat” of summer (6:16-17). Like an oasis that has dried up, Job’s friends are of “no help” (6:21). They treat Job like those who “cast lots for the fatherless;” they “barter” away his friendship (6:27). They make their deal with God to keep their own blessings and treat Job’s words like “wind” (6:28). 

His Lament. After responding to the friends, he addresses God beginning in 7:7.  He is hopeless; he has no future. His “days have no meaning” (7:16). His lament is filled with frustration–why is God so intent on picking on him, testing him. “Why have you,” O God, “made me your target?” (7:20).  How can human beings be so significant to God that he would busy himself with meddling in their lives? Why does not God just forgive and be done with the lot?

His Comfort.  Job has not denied the words of the Almighty. He speaks out of anguish but his “joy in unrelenting pain” (Job 6:10; see previous post) is his refusal to curse God and his commitment to trust the One who seems, at the moment, so much like an enemy.

***********

Sit with Job, my friends. Listen to him; listen with your heart as well as your mind. Meditate on them. Feel your way through them. If you are a sufferer and you empathize, make them your words. Hear in his words the pain of millions of others. His words are their words; his words are often my words. His words are my daily meditations and prayers for the next few weeks.

 

11 Comments | Biblical Texts, Pastoral Care | Tagged: , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by John Mark Hicks

« Previous Entries
Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 966 other followers

%d bloggers like this: