So, the other night I was feeling pretty bad about things. Not just bad. I mean, B-A-D. Baby’s been sick, I’ve been sick, heart break, family stuff, job hunting, writing misery, missing my Gal… and it’s all keeping me from what I really need: sleep.
So I decide to use my perfect cure for insomnia.
Read the Bible.
The Old Testament.
But not only do I need to fall asleep, I also need some soul-soothing. So reading the Bible is an attempt to kill two birds with one, uh… book. I use that highly unscientific, but strange how it works often enough to make you wonder method of letting the Bible fall open.
On this night it falls open to (drum roll): Job.
Job?
Seriously?
No Psalms? Or how about that lovey one in Corinthians? The one everyone uses in their wedding.
I arched an eyebrow at Job because I’m thinkin’ Job is not the book for me when I’m feeling…Well, I’m pretty much feeling LIKE Job. And I’m thinking reading Job could put me over the edge.
But I decide to go ahead with it and read about how Job was covered in his sores and found a broken piece of pottery to scrape his skin. Ewww, not feeling like Job.
I keep reading. And yes, I did skip some because his friends just go on and on and on. But it struck me in places how Job is suffering and they blame him or blame others. The man’s children have been killed and one of his friends says Job must have done something to cause it and his other friends says the kids must have.
This HAS to be where the phrase, “with friends like these, who needs enemies” got started.
I also think how it human it must be for us to all want to find reasons for bad stuff happening. Why did it happen? How did it happen? Who caused it?
At the end of the story, God speaks. He reminds Job who he is dealing with, who God is. What he has done. You know, like creating the world and stuff.
And God reminds Job of who Job is not (eg God). And he suggests rather pointedly that maybe Job could remember all that and try to ride out the hard times a little more gracefully. That faith and trust in God and ALL THAT HE IS doesn’t have to be situational.
And God brought Job through. Blessedly through. To the point that Job had double what he had lost.
So, that’s what I got out of Job that night.
I am SO not a theologian so maybe I got this all wrong. But I fell asleep that night with more peace and genuinely rested more than I had in a long long time.