This was sermons Number one for me! Most of this is how I said it, but a also spoke off script a lot. I hope this means something to you too...
Job 23:1-9, 16-17: It’s not fair!
TEXT:
Job Replies: My Complaint Is Bitter
23Then Job answered:
2‘Today also my complaint is bitter;*
his* hand is heavy despite my groaning.
3O that I knew where I might find him,
that I might come even to his dwelling!
4I would lay my case before him,
and fill my mouth with arguments.
5I would learn what he would answer me,
and understand what he would say to me.
6Would he contend with me in the greatness of his power?
No; but he would give heed to me.
7There an upright person could reason with him,
and I should be acquitted for ever by my judge.
8‘If I go forward, he is not there;
or backward, I cannot perceive him;
9on the left he hides, and I cannot behold him;
I turn* to the right, but I cannot see him.
16God has made my heart faint;
the Almighty* has terrified me;
17If only I could vanish in darkness,
and thick darkness would cover my face!
Prayer for centering
Please join me in a moment of reflection on this text.
When I was in grade school and into high school, my life goal was to be a writer. I wanted to be the next great novelist. One evening as I rode in the family car with my father on our way to my weekly oboe lesson, we passed a bar. I stared out the window, not thinking about anything in particular. Outside the bar, two women stood talking. One was visibly distressed and as we passed, the other woman moved over and embraced her, holding on tight, seeking to comfort her friend. At this point my father turned to me and said, “As a writer, this is a scene you should remember.”
At the time, I thought little of it. It was just two women outside a bar. I puzzled more over why my father thought it was important, than I did over the pain this woman must have been dealing with. I gave up the oboe, I changed my career plans, but that scene has stuck with me. Because someone I loved pointed out the fragility of human life that I was missing outside the car door.
Maybe you’ve been there, as the person who is needing the shoulder to cry on, or maybe the shoulder being cried on, or maybe you have been the person passing by. In some way, we’ve all been there. The phrase when life hands you lemons, … doesn’t always fit. No matter how hard I try sometimes, the pain that life has handed me if not something I understand.
Job’s story is a story like this, one of pain and a need to be understood. He has been dealt the lemons of life, and can’t see a way to make lemonade.
But who is this troubled man? His story begins as one who had it all, the family, the home, the fields and livestock, the ancient dream. And Job loved God, he was grateful for his blessings and knew the glory of God. Satan persuades God to test him, saying that the only reason for Job’s devotion is that he has been blessed. So Job loses it all, yet still holds to his love of God. Through his struggles, Job cries out to have his story heard, as in the section we heard today. When his friends do come to his side, Job is seeking that shoulder to cry on, that friend that would be with you and listen to you cry, holding you while you dealt with your pain.
But Job’s friends, are not ready to be listening ears, or shoulders to cry on. They have their own theories about why this was happened, and all of them place the blame on Job, his issues, his fault, his action must have created his suffering. The section we heard today, comes directly after one of these friends, has tried to pin the fault of the situation on Job. But instead of speaking to that friends accusation, Job speaks of his frustration with God and with the evils of the world. Job’s story can be seen as the story of all of us in the world. There are times when suffering happens regardless of how you try to live a good life. Death, random acts of violence, storms, natural disasters, These things happen and we have no control over when and to what degree we are affected.
The Message In a different version of the story, from The Message by Eugene Peterson, Job says "I'm not letting up—I'm standing my ground. My complaint is legitimate. God has no right to treat me like this— it isn't fair!”
It’s not fair. The complaint of countless children over the years. I know I’ve said it, and I know working in child care that I’ve heard it more times than I can count.
As an adult, I also know that feeling… I know those situations when I know that life isn’t dishing thinks out equally…. When I am receiving more than my share of pain…. Times when I am the woman needing the shoulder to cry on… where I feel picked on and all I can cry is ITS NOT FAIR! This is Job’s complaint. He knows the God of Love, not of vindication, and he wants to be heard. He didn’t do anything wrong, nad and he wants that to be supported. He wants to plead his case to the person who is causing this pain. God’s hand is heavy, despite my groaning he says. His groaning seems to be falling on deaf ears.
This is a place none of us want to be in. Certainly Job does not want to feel far from God, but even in his frustration, Job continues his belief in God. For me, this is a hard concept sometimes. I don’t want to see God as insensitive. I can’t see God making me suffer. But there are times when I can’t feel the loving presence in my life. I can think of the times when fear overwhelms my desire to help someone. I can think of times when my focus was so small and limited that I am not able to see far enough to feel the love around me.
This summer my grandfather died. We knew it was his time to go. He was a fighter. He fought to survive after the triple bypass in the 90s. He fought his long term battle against diabetes which eventually took his leg. He fought against the stroke near the end that changed his demeanor. He fought. So when he died, I was ready to say let him rest after the battles he had been waging. So I didn’t grieve at the memorial when the rest of my family was overcome. But during the opening chapel of the school year up at PSR, I was overcome by emotion as people chatted good naturedly, excited about the new term, and the return from far flung places. In this moment, my grief poured out. I stood there and cried, refusing to look at the people around me, not wanting to see them care about me. I made a choice to keep my focus so small that the God of Love that was with me went unseen. But I have no doubt that God was there, in the pain and in the silence. Someone was listening. And around me, God spoke throughmy community as they stirred to support me in my pain. It was my turn to be the one needing the shoulder to cry on.
Job had God While I had a whole community around me to support me, Job had his belief in God and the power of prayers of intercession. Job could have used a community, or even just a friend who relaly wanted to listen. And I believe God wanted Job to have that friend as well. Even though his community turned their backs, Job’s story has a happy ending. God acts as the friend who listened all along, and at the end of the book, God finally shows up. Bringing Job the love he wanted and we find out, that even though it seemed like God wasn’t listening, God was and heard all of Job’s distress and restores him. Job uses his faith to persevere through the pain. We too need to hold onto something to help us keep level. Friends, family, faith, are all ways that we seek to make meaning from suffering.
In our moments of pain, we can learn much from Job. He is eternally ready to persevere, and yet has eternal faith as well. In times when God seems so far from us, Job reminds us that God is still listening. We have only to remember that God can be with us and as close as the person on our left or right who is ready to catch our tears and share our burdens. When it seems like God’s hand is heavy, we need to learn to share that heavy burden with others. When we have welcomed others into our suffering, we have welcomed God into that mix.
Sharon Creech is one of my favorite authors. In her children’s novel Walk Two Moons she tells a story of a girl who, like Job and like all of us, is suffering. IN her pain, she prays. But Creech writes, God seems too far away, so she prays to trees. Every tree outside the window is a prayer. Every shoulder cried on is a prayer unto God, and every time we gather together and name the suffering in our world, we pray, and God listens. God will always listen. But we must be the ones responding.
Job’s Play list: This is the music that spoke me as I worked on this sermon. Some are sad, some are songs of hope. Look them up, they are great!
Church by Big Boi
Nobody’s Hero by Rush
Where did you go by Layman’s Daughter
What Hurts the Most by Rascal Flats
Kid Fears by the Indigo Girls
Wavin’ Flag by K’naan
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