Job 7 - The Park Forum

Links for today’s readings:

Jan 7 Read: Job 7 Listen: (2:23) Read: John 7 Listen: (5:53)

Scripture Focus: Job 7:13-16

13 When I think my bed will comfort me
and my couch will ease my complaint,
14 even then you frighten me with dreams
and terrify me with visions,
15 so that I prefer strangling and death,
rather than this body of mine.
16 I despise my life; I would not live forever.
Let me alone; my days have no meaning.

Reflection: When Life Feels Meaningless

By Erin Newton

It’s 8am; my alarm goes off with the alert: “Good brain meds.” When my doctor prescribed medication for my worsening anxiety, I was a little disappointed. Four decades had I coped and managed and now—I couldn’t even function.

Job and I are good friends. A miserable soul he is, and I like that. He’s a man of suffering and familiar with pain (Isa 53.3), but unlike our Lord, he does open his mouth. He complains.

The story of Job opens with a heavenly scene where we, the readers, get an inside view of what lies behind Job’s suffering. But Job is on the receiving end of pain and misery. He is in deep grief over the loss of his children. He is in deep financial ruin. He’s now covered in sores. And his wife and friends aren’t the best comforters.

Job’s words feel personal. We are familiar with the exhaustion at the end of the day, looking at going to sleep as our only comfort. We then toss and turn in our beds, sometimes (in my case it was daily) tormented by nightmares. We despise the chronic pain in our body or the instability of our minds. Leave me alone, we beg.

The beauty of the book of Job is the rawness of emotions. Finally! Someone gets it! We commiserate with Job and his pain. We have been there too. Maybe we are there now.

“I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full” (John 10.10). “Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy” (John 16.22).

Life and joy are promises. They are given by God even if our minds cannot grasp it. It’s not really our duty to feel the joy he’s giving us all the time. We can try and we can pray for it. But the life and joy he promises are more deeply rooted than our own feelings.

As this new year begins, I encourage you to seek help if Job’s words sound like your own. I have. I have found help from friends and family, spiritual guides, pastors, biblical and regular counseling. I have a psychiatrist and doctor at my side now too.

We are so thankful that you are here today. Stay. May the joy that cannot be taken away be tangible even today.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Request for Presence

Gladden the soul of your servant, for to you, O Lord, I lift up my soul. — Psalm 86.4

– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Autumn and Wintertime by Phyllis Tickle.

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Scripture Focus: 1 Kings 7.25-26
25 The Sea stood on twelve bulls, three facing north, three facing west, three facing south and three facing east. The Sea rested on top of them, and their hindquarters were toward the center. 26 It was a handbreadth in thickness, and its rim was like the rim of a cup, like a lily blossom. It held two thousand baths.

Job 7.12
12 Am I the sea, or the monster of the deep,
that you put me under guard?

Matthew 8.27
27 The men were amazed and asked, “What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the waves obey him!”

Reflection: Beside Still Waters
By Erin Newton

I’m quite terrified of the ocean. Maybe I watch too many documentaries or movies about the dangers of the open waters. Too many threats lurk beneath—rip currents, undertows, great white sharks, killer whales, and dare I say, Leviathan.

The sea plays a role in many stories of the Bible, usually as a formidable foe that threatens God’s people: the Red Sea, the raging sea that sends Jonah overboard, and stormy seas threatening the disciples on more than one occasion.

Solomon’s Temple contained features that reflected nature, perhaps the Garden of Eden where God walked among his creation unrestrained. Among the temple furnishings stood a large bronze basin. The enormous size of the bowl was a feat for the Israelite metallurgist. It stood in a fixed location in the Temple—a heavy bronze basin filled with water used for purification and cleansing—and it was called the “Sea.”

The name of the basin is a figurative term for such a large bowl of water, but it strikes at the fearsome image they knew all too well. This Sea, however, is contained, bound, motionless. There are no thrashing waves.

The water served to cleanse the priests (Lev. 8.6) or wash the organs of sacrificed animals (Lev. 8.21). The Sea was no longer a threat, but placed under the watchful eye of God with a renewed purpose. The basin was crowned with gourds and nestled upon the backs of bulls, symbols of life that flow from the cleansing waters.

In the depths of Job’s grief, he calls out to God, asking if he was also constrained like the sea. He recognized the usual threat of the waters but knew that God spoke to the sea and said, “This far you may come and no farther” (Job 38.11).

When a furious storm rolls upon the lake with waves sweeping over the boat, the sea surrenders to the voice of Jesus. Even the winds and the waves obey him.

So why, again, is the Sea in the Temple? Apart from its practical purpose of serving the priests, I think the Sea sits still within the Temple as a reminder—God has this whole world in his hands.

As you enter his presence through prayer, worship, meditation, or reading, look to your left and behold the still waters. The image heralds the supremacy of our God.

Holy, holy, holy is the God of all creation!

Divine Hours Prayer: The Greeting
In you, O Lord, have I taken refuge; let me never be put to shame; deliver me in your righteousness. — Psalm 31.1

– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Summertime by Phyllis Tickle.

Today’s Readings
1 Kings 7 (Listen 7:47 )
Psalms 25 (Listen 2:18 )

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Counting Waves

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