October 28th 2012 - JOB 42:1-6, 10-17 NRSV

October 28^th 2012 - JOB 42:1-6, 10-17 NRSV

¹Then Job answered the LORD: 

²"I know that you can do all things,

and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted. 

³'Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?'

Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand,

things too wonderful for me, which I did not know. 

⁴'Hear, and I will speak; I will question you, and you declare to me.' 

⁵I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you; ⁶therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes."

¹⁰And the LORD restored the fortunes of Job

when he had prayed for his friends;

and the LORD gave Job twice as much as he had before. 

¹¹Then there came to him all his brothers and sisters

and all who had known him before,

and they ate bread with him in his house;

they showed him sympathy and comforted him

for all the evil that the LORD had brought upon him;

and each of them gave him a piece of money and a gold ring. ¹

²The LORD blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning;

and he had fourteen thousand sheep,

six thousand camels,

 a thousand yoke of oxen,

and a thousand donkeys. 

¹³He also had seven sons and three daughters. 

¹⁴He named the first Jemimah, the second Keziah, and the third Keren-happuch. 

¹⁵In all the land there were no women so beautiful as Job's daughters;

and their father gave them an inheritance along with their brothers.

¹⁶After this Job lived one hundred and forty years,

and saw his children,

and his children's children, four generations. 

¹⁷And Job died, old and full of days.

***

It has been a long journey through Job. First God seemed to be playing chess with the devil and Job was the pawn, no more blameless or righteous than a wooden rook. At first Job bit his tongue and would not swear against the Lord even after his family had died, his wealth was gone, and his health decaying. Job rightly refused to believe that his suffering was in response to his sins. After a time Job finally questioned God. Job asked why he suffered, where God was, and questioned God’s power and goodness. None of his questions were answered, but God answered Job’s suffering. God pointed out to Job all the things, which Job could not do. Job could not order the sea, or the seasons, nor did he create the heavens and the earth. Job’s understanding, while valid, was not the complete picture. God gave Job a glimpse of that bigger picture. The story says that God also blessed Job again with family, and wealth. Wealth so large it seems a fairy tale.

This ending of Job seems like the line, “and they lived happily ever after.” But I think that one of the most important parts of the story lies hidden in this happy ending. It is the part where we see how Job responds to the suffering he went though and the good gifts of God. The story tells us,

“¹³Job also had seven sons and three daughters. ¹⁴He named the first daughter Jemimah, the second Keziah, and the third Keren-happuch…. and their father gave them an inheritance along with their brothers”

Job knew what it is like to have everything taken away. I imagine he could relate to the women of his time, who could own no property, who were property themselves. In the story, Job’s daughters get listed after the sheep, camel, oxen and the donkeys. Their life, without God intervening, was unjust because of the society they lived in. In the beginning of Job, Job’s sons would invite Job’s daughters over for dinner. It reads as if the daughters could not do the same in return. I wonder if Job could relate to this powerlessness. I wonder if after having everything taken away Job understood and wanted to give. I wonder if Job wanted to right the wrongs. If Job wanted to seek justice. I think through his pain he caught a glimpse of the world of the devil, a world of suffering and injustice, and he wanted to rectify his part. I think God shows us things in our suffering that allow us to see God’s world more clearly.

I wonder too, if in response to seeing God’s gifts, Job wanted to praise God. I wonder, if in response to God’s gifts not only of wealth and family, but gifts of an existence beyond Job’s control, of a creation indescribable, Job wanted to praise God.  I think sometimes when we are at our lowest, the smallest gifts of wonder hit us in a way we otherwise miss. This morning I looked out at the maple tree behind the manse. Its bark was black with rain, and the dark branches were like the borders of stained glass against yellow gossamer leaves.  I was thankful and took a picture. I had looked at that dark bark every time it rained, but it took a hard day to make me appreciate it enough to take a picture. To praise God, by taking a moment to say thank you in art.

Job says, “Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know. ⁵I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you."

I think sometimes it takes a tough moment to see God. It is not as if God is more or less present, but perhaps we are less present in the good times. Perhaps Job, with all his wealth, at the story’s beginning was not really noticing all God was doing. God was ordering the seasons, and God was seeking justice. God was looking at Job’s wealth and Job’s slaves, and daughters and when the devil was at work in Job’s suffering, God was working to give Job new eyes. Eyes for God. Eyes for God’s purpose in the world. Eyes to be God’s servant, to praise God, and seek God’s justice for God’s people.

Fairy tale or parable, fact or fiction, I see tangible reality in Job’s response. Throughout this story I think we learn more about Job, and more about humanity, and more about humanity trying understand God, than we do about God. This is story us, to try to understand our existence. I think we are to learn from Job in this story. To learn from his way of being. From a man who will praise God in the midst of suffering, to a man who will question God about suffering, to a man who sees the wonder of God’s created world and finds healing, to a man who seeks to respond to God’s gifts with justice and kindness. Its about us, its about you, and its about me. It’s about our stories, and our faith, and our God.