Daily Devotion for Lent 2025, Day 23

Today's Reading: Job, Chapter Twenty-three

As we see Job having a conversation with his friends, he is really having a conversation with other scripture.  Yesterday, we saw commentary on Ezekiel and today seems to pick a bone with Psalm 139.

This Psalm is a wonderful example of God's prevenient grace that reaches to us beyond our wildest expectations.  We see the concept of the omnipresence of God especially in verses 7-8:

Where can I go from your spirit?

    Or where can I flee from your presence?

If I ascend to heaven, you are there;

    if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there.

The cat gets the psalm!

This would have been one of the first places in scripture that would speak of God's presence with us in the afterlife.  It is pastoral in nature and has a very comforting vibe.

The author of Job was undoubtedly aware of this psalm as we see the declaration refuted in Job 22:8-9:

“If I go forward, he is not there;

    or backward, I cannot perceive him;

on the left he hides, and I cannot behold him;

    I turn to the right, but I cannot see him.

The absence of God is something that many people have experienced in suffering.  We see Jesus experience this on the cross as he expresses feeling forsaken.

What is interesting is that Psalm 139 seems to take a retaliatory tone after verse 18.  One wonders if the material starting with verse 19 was a later addition.  

If Job 23 is a commentary on this psalm, it is interesting to note that the wicked and hated enemies from verses 19-24 of the psalm could be seen as Job!  Since God obviously hates Job, we should hate Job too!  Of course, since the reader knows that Job is innocent, it makes this retributive logic seem childish at best.  

Job seems to be calling us to question who we count as an enemy.

Prayer for the day:

O creator and mighty God, you have promised strength for the weak, rest for the laborers, light for the way, grace for the trials, help from above, unfailing sympathy, undying love.  O creator and mighty God, help us to continue in your promise.  Amen.

Photo by fabcom via Flickr.com.  Used under the Creative Commons license.

Prayer is traditional from Pakistan

New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Daily Devotion for Lent 2025, Day 22

Today's Reading: Job, Chapter Twenty-two

Eliphaz speaks about Job’s great wickedness.  This isn’t anything new from the perspective of the other speeches from Job’s friends.  But as we begin to see the list of unhelpful qualities, we can see how Job could easily be seen theologically as a stand-in for the country of Judah.

The prophet Ezekiel has a critique of Judah and gives the ideas that those who transgress will die and those who follow God’s laws will live.  In chapter 18 of his own book, Ezekiel mentions the importance of restoring to the debtor his pledge, giving bread to the hungry and covering the naked with a garment in verse seven.

Interestingly, Eliphaz states in Job 22:6-7:

For you have exacted pledges from your family for no reason

    and stripped the naked of their clothing.

 You have given no water to the weary to drink,

    and you have withheld bread from the hungry.

Within Ezekiel’s understanding, the transgressors of these things will end up in exile.  

And even though Job has remained in his home, it is as if he is in exile in that all of the fruitfulness of his land (including his offspring) is gone.  Even Job’s health is in exile.

Sometimes our theology is in line
with a good dog/bad dog mentality

And the author of Job moves us to see that the character Job’s protestations are that he has done all the things that should afford him life.  And since this hasn’t happened, he wants answers.  The reader can see that the character Job is not really any different theologically from Eliphaz – the difference is that Job knows he should be on track with the blessings he’s received from God.

And as we see Job as a stand-in for Judah, we could see that there may be those within the country who would be asking the same questions.

This may allow us to ask the question, “Is there a way in which we can grow spiritually while in exile?”

Prayer for the day:

God, give us the confidence to believe that you remain with us even in our darkest times.  Remind us that even the beloved suffer from time to time.  Help us to understand that the faithful acts in which we engage do not guarantee us freedom from strife.  And when we forget these truths, be patient with us.  Amen.

Photo by Paul David via Flickr.com.  Used under the Creative Commons license.

New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Daily Devotion for Lent 2025, Day 21

Today's Reading: Job, Chapter Twenty-one

Job is refuting the dominant belief of his day that God smites the wicked in the here and now through a number of ways.

In a world where miscarriage seemed mysterious, it was often thought to be God's judgment on a family.  If one was fortunate enough to be a live-stock owner, miscarriages among livestock could also be seen as divine disfavor.

Ethically, a calf might be saying, "Why
am I being punished for the sins of my parents?

Job seems to say that there are wicked people who never experience this as a disincentive for bad behavior whether it be through their loss of livestock or children.

In fact, Job states that even those who scoff at God seem to get away with it.

If we see Job as a stand-in for the country of Judah who was carried away to Babylon in the Exile, we know that there were some within that country that didn't follow as faithfully as they should have.  But there would also have been people who did do the right thing most of the time.  If you looked at the behavior of some of the other countries in the region, it may be that they felt they were getting a raw deal.  

They might very well be asking God, "Why would we lose all that we had while the aggressors who murdered your people seem to increase their holdings?"

Prophets within the day indicated that the injustices toward the widow and the orphan and the outsider by the country as a whole led to the Exile.  

And so, we seem to have a both-and.  

It may be that we find ourselves questioning our own behavior, when we face difficulty.  When things make us move toward better action, one could say that God is utilizing calamity to move us toward holiness.  But at the same time, it's important to note that Job's critique seems to be saying that God doesn't work that way or else you would see it universally applied.

As a pastor, I would never want to blame the victim.  However, I know that sometimes drastic change brings upon self-reflection which may be helpful.

How do I open myself to the possibility of change during suffering while simultaneously seeing God giving me the strength to live through it?

This is a theological movement that Job seems to be nudging God's people toward.  It would speak to a people in exile. 

Prayer for the day:

God, the hosts of evil round us scorn your Christ, assail his ways.  From the fears that long have bound us, free our hearts to faith and praise.  Grant us wisdom, grant us courage for the living of these days, for the living of these days.  Amen.

Prayer by Harry E. Fosdick, "God of Grace and God of Glory", 1930.

Photo by jomango274 via Flickr.com.  Used under the Creative Commons license. 

Daily Devotion for Lent 2025, Day 20

Today's Reading: Job, Chapter Twenty

Zophar has a rebuke that Job may not disagree with in today's reading because Job doesn't count himself among the wicked.

This scathing review of the unjust takes the long view.  Basically, the evil people will perish and their deeds will be forgotten.

The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in a speech given on March 25, 1965 (sixty years and a couple of days ago) stated that injustice had become normal in our country.  In order to see some relief, some were asking, "How long will it take?"

And Dr. King began the famous litany of "How long?  Not long."  He stated with a similarity to Zophar's speech that "No lie can live forever" and "You shall reap what you sow."

And then one of my favorite quotes by Dr. King: "The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice."

This is the long view.  It is a hopeful view.  It takes resolve because the injustice doesn't disappear today.  It takes community because we need one another to endure hardships.  But it also takes work on progress toward a goal.  

Dr. King's goal was this: "The only normalcy that we will settle for is the normalcy that recognizes the dignity and worth of all of God’s children."

With Job's situation, we recognize that there is always suffering even in the midst of working toward the goal.  Yes, the wicked will eventually perish but what does that do for the one distressed today?

Zophar is privileged in that he hasn't endured the same calamities that have befallen his friend.  And so, if he doesn't share with his friend who has suffered misfortune, does Zophar become the greedy person that he highlights?  

How do we use the times we are in good circumstances to lift the fortunes of those who are experiencing hard times?

Prayer for the day:

Behold, O Lord God, our strivings after a truer and more abiding order.  Give us visions that bring back a lost glory to the earth, and dreams that foreshadow the better order you have prepared for us.  Scatter every excuse of frailty and unworthiness.  Consecrate us all with a heavenly mission.  Open to us a clearer prospect of our work.  Give us strength according to our day gladly to welcome and gratefully to fulfill this goal, through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

Prayer by Brooke Foss Westcott, Church of England, 19th Century

Quotes by Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. from "How Long?  Not Long."

Photo by Unseen Histories on Unsplash

Daily Devotion for Lent 2025, Day 19

Today's Reading: Job, Chapter Nineteen

What is the nature of piling on?

In American Football, piling on is a 15-yard penalty when the offensive player with the ball is already down and the play has been blown dead and a defender jumps on top of the defenseless player.  This penalty is considered a personal foul because it is unnecessary to the outcome of the game.  It is also dangerous and can cause injury against a player who is in a vulnerable position.  

It likely happens because the defender's blood is worked up and the aggression is difficult to turn off with the blowing of a whistle.  The penalty (and likely yelling from the coach) is a way to train people not to pile on.

Today, Job basically accuses his three friends of piling on.  He's already down with all of the tragedies that have struck.  What good does it do for his friends to berate him?

One of the baser instincts among animals is to attack the wounded.  Predators find wounded prey easier to dispatch and so they may go after them even more aggressively.  Does some of this carry over into social situations?

Job is calling foul and wishes that there was a referee to intervene.  

As we consider the people around us, we may find it easy to pile on - especially if we believe that the person's actions are to blame.

"You should have studied harder."

"I told you that outfit was too suggestive."

"You shouldn't have been late so many times."

"Why did you talk back to your boss?"

Our comments are meant to be instructive so as to prevent more bad consequences.  We are really saying, "You should get in line with the social norms."  

Job is reminding us that these comments may be less than helpful in the moment.  And we don't want to drive someone over the edge.  If we pile on, we could hurt a vulnerable person.  And that may be worth more than 15 yards.

How can we seek to be more empathetic?

Prayer for the day:

God, help me to be patient with the people I know - especially the people for whom I feel responsible.  As I seek to guide, may I do so with humility and compassion.  May the goal of their health and wholeness be my first thought for them.  And may it also be the first and last thing I share.  And please silence me when the things in between are better left unsaid.  Amen.

Photo by Kyle T via Flickr.com.  Used under the Creative Commons license.

Daily Devotion for Lent 2025, Day 18

Today's Reading: Job, Chapter Eighteen

Bildad's discourse lays out the community thinking along the lines of those who obey the law and those who don't.  He lifts up the ungodly and the consequences of their actions which are quite a laundry list of awful things.

This kind of boogey man thinking is fear-based and designed to keep the members of the community in line.  It is easy to slip into without thinking about it.  

"Nothing good happens after midnight"

"If you're five minutes early, you're already ten minutes late"

"You think education is expensive, try ignorance"

"What you eat in private, you wear in public"

Some community standards are flatly ignored!

These types of phrases are proverbs that are designed to keep the community in line.  They keep the populace in bed at roughly the same time.  They keep us punctual.  They keep us in school.  They keep us at a healthier weight.

All of these outcomes are fairly positive from a community standpoint but none of them are absolute.  Sometimes a good thing does happen after midnight.  There are circumstances where you might actually be late to a meeting, and the world will not end.

From a biblical standpoint, the author is using Bildad to show us that these absolutes are not always true and that when we judge others by them as if they were, we may be doing a great disservice to them.  The reader can see Bildad doing this to Job and we feel like he's being a jerk.  This is by design so that we can remember to offer a little grace to others - especially those who have experienced tragedy.

It is important to have a strong community and to have standards that respect others.  But one of those standards should also be compassion.  How can we lean into being more merciful today?

Prayer for the day:

Tender God, touch us, be touched by us; make us lovers of humanity, compassionate friends of all creation.  Gracious God, hear us into speech; speak us into acting; and through us, recreate the world. Amen.

Prayer by Carter Heyward, Church of England, 20th Century

Photo by Katherine Hood on Unsplash

Daily Devotion for Lent 2025, Day 17

Today's Reading: Job, Chapter Seventeen

There comes a time when we experience depression when we may give up.  One might say that Job is vacillating between depression and acceptance.  He acknowledges that things are not going to get better.  He also recognizes that others scorn him.

When people believe that they are in the hands of forces beyond their control and that spiritual powers are at work to undermine their lives, this can be a helpless feeling for sure.  They may be afraid to get too close to a person who is undergoing tragic circumstance because they may fear that it is contagious like a disease.  If a person has offended the gods (or God), and we're not sure what they did, the natural reaction would be to avoid them "like the plague" because we certainly don't want the same results in our lives.

This is why we see in verse six, that Job states, God "has made me a byword of the peoples, and I am one before whom people spit."

This image likely conjures negative feelings!

The spitting before a person was an ancient near east practice intended to ward off the evil that had descended upon the person or household.  The practice may have been as common as applying hand sanitizer today after you shake hands with someone and then see them cough.  

Either practice can make the person feel like a pariah, but it allows the person doing the spitting or applying the sanitizer some feeling of control over the chaos of life.    And of course, today, we believe in the efficacy of our practice, but they likely did as well.

Job is mourning his future in verse eleven when he says, "My days are past; my plans are broken off, the desires of my heart."

All of us know what it is to be surprised by change whether that be through death or illness or accident.  All of a sudden, the plans we had made are no more.  We must mourn our assumed future as much as we mourn our loved ones.  This can be a difficult task.

If we get to the point where we give up, sometimes things can change to give us hope.  As we move through Lent, we would say that our faith can give us hope.  Our friends and family can give us hope.  Some people seem to have natural resolve that bolsters them to give them hope.  

When chaos is swirling all around, how do we as people of faith not only find hope, but offer it to the world?

Prayer for the day:

O Lord, in whom is our hope, remove far from us, we pray, empty hopes and presumptuous confidence.  Make our hearts so right with your most holy and loving heart, that hoping in you we may do good; until that day when faith and hope shall be abolished by sight and possession, and love shall be all in all.  Amen.

Prayer by Christina Rossetti, England, 19th Century

Photo by Ви Го via Flickr.com.  Used under the Creative Commons license

New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Daily Devotion for Lent 2025, Day 16

Today's Reading: Job, Chapter Sixteen

Job is in a difficult place.  He feels that no one is on his side.

His friends have been no comfort and have made him feel worse by blaming him for all the ills that have transpired.  He also feels that God for whom he perceives to be the author of these tragedies, has also come against him.

One of the ways that humans have tried to break down people has been to isolate them.  As people are social by nature, when our perception is that we are truly alone, our mental and emotional health begins to suffer.  It takes a truly resilient person to stand alone.

When I served through disaffiliation as a district superintendent, in many places, I found myself standing up for The United Methodist Church against the majority.  Many times, I voiced my disappointment as to the way our denomination had been portrayed by the leadership of the church.  It could be a lonely time indeed.  At one of the first churches where I had to oversee a vote, I remember Rev. Dr. Mark Foster being willing to stand alongside me (this was not his church).  He didn't know what I was going to say or how the vote would turn out.  But he was my friend and sat as my second in case I needed some advice.  He proved to be a good sounding board that day as a motion for reconsideration arose.  We found ourselves in new territory!

What does it mean to be alone?

This may have been one of the only votes for reconsideration across the denomination.  I've not heard of others. Both votes failed to achieve the necessary threshold, and the church remained United Methodist.

When a friend has your back, no matter the circumstances, it is easier to face the storm.

I can only imagine what Job must have experienced with all his loss, combined with the feelings of abandonment.  Theologically, I have never felt alone because I've always understood God to be walking alongside me.  It would be a dark place indeed to believe that God was against you as well.

Jesus on the cross cries out that he has been forsaken by God.  In a way, God, as the divinity in Jesus Christ, is experiencing what Job experienced.  

People today still experience this isolation.  How do we help people cope?  How do we make a meaningful connection that says, "I've got your back"?

Prayer for the day:

Grant us grace, O God, not to pass by suffering or joy without eyes to see.  Give us understanding and sympathy, and guard us from selfishness, that we may enter into the joys and sufferings of others.  Use us to gladden and strengthen those who are weak and suffering; that by our lives we may help others to believe and serve you, and shed forth your light which is the light of life.  Amen.

Prayer by H. R. L. Sheppherd, Church of England, 20th Century

Photo by Emre on Unsplash

Daily Devotion for Lent 2025, Day 15

Today's Reading: Job, Chapter Fifteen

One of the first rules about Systems Theory is that systems resist change.  We see this all the time when changes are suggested whether they be in work, government, military, education, family or church.

Some responses that may be inspired by this resistance include:

"We've tried that before and it didn't work."

"We don't have the budget for that."

"That sounds like extra work."

"We've never done it that way before!"

Or if you're in a church, you could just study it in a committee!

Within the book of Job, we are seeing the main character challenge the status quo around their understanding of God and how God works in the world.  This is very uncomfortable for his friends and Eliphaz challenges Job not by arguing theologically, but by belittling him.

He calls Job windy and notes that the words of his own defense come out of the sin that put him in this mess in the first place.  It is hard for Job to argue with this kind of logic.  If only those who sin are punished by God, then Job must have done something really awful to warrant this treatment.

It's hard for Job to say anything in his defense if he's condemned before he can speak.

Sometimes we may defend a little too hard

This reminds me of the Gospel of John where Jesus heals a man who was born unable to see.  The Pharisees were questioning him and when they didn't like his answer, they say to him, “You were born entirely in sins, and are you trying to teach us?”

Within today's reading, we know that Job is in the right and Eliphaz has got it wrong.  This may cause us to pause and think about the times when we may have asserted the "truth" without knowing all the facts.  But we were sure that we were right!

In a world where people can just assert something confidently whether it is true or not, how do we seek to employ a higher discourse?  And when do I need to pause my judgment and consider another point of view?

Prayer for the day:

God, we would seek to defend you before the hostility of the world.  But sometimes, in our enthusiasm to stand for our faith, we may disparage some of your children.  Help us to recognize when we are simply uncomfortable.  May we always be willing to build a bridge before erecting a wall.  We pray this in Jesus' name.  Amen.  

Photo by Jochen Fray via Flickr.com.  Used under the Creative Commons license.

New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Daily Devotion for Lent 2025, Day 14

Today's Reading: Job, Chapter Fourteen

Job seems to be addressing God by taking the stance that human beings are so insignificant in the grand scheme of things that God shouldn't bother noticing them to punish them.

As Christians, we often speak of the eternal presence of God as being a comfort.  Because earthly strife was connected with divine punishment, it seemed kinder to Job to experience the absence of God rather than the presence of God.  

Significance is a matter of perspective

A person of faith with this mindset could develop similar characteristics to a person with an alcoholic parent.  Growing up with an alcoholic parent, you would never be sure when the next tantrum might come.  What is difficult to understand in the moment is that this is less about you and more about the disease of the parent.  It creates dis-ease in the household.

And because sometimes tragedy is random, such as being in an automobile accident or surviving an earthquake, a person who believes that this is divine punishment would have to cast about to think, "what did I do to deserve this?"  Most of us have at least one or two things that are deficient and we would subsequently lay the blame on these.  This can lead to the idea that we have earned or deserve whatever dire occurrence has come our way.  

It becomes far kinder to God (and to the faithful) to lessen our view of the sovereignty of God.  In other words, God doesn't have to be in complete charge of the universe.  Some things can be random.  The advantage of this is that we are not robots caught in God's ordering of the universe.  We have real determination over our own actions.

Of course, this deeper thinking about God and free will is part of what the author is seeking for us.  Verses 16-17 state to God:

For then you would not number my steps; you would not keep watch over my sin; my transgression would be sealed up in a bag, and you would cover over my iniquity.

This is of course the theology that Christians took to heart with our understanding of atonement in Jesus Christ.  While we are in Christ, God covers over our sins and transgressions - seals them up in a bag to quote Job.

How does this understanding of grace help us to see God in a way that is helpful rather than problematic?

Prayer for the Day:

Gracious God, we believe that you love us even in all our imperfections.  We also believe that while our sins do grieve you, that you don't pile on any more than what natural consequences provide.  And at the same time, Jesus leads us to believe that you don't see us as insignificant.    Help us to do the right thing more often, not to avoid punishment or to receive praise, but because it delights you and follows your will for the world.  May we increase in this integrity for our faith.  Amen.

Photo by Dave Campbell via Flickr.com.  Used under the Creative Commons license.

New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Daily Devotion for Lent 2025, Day 13

Today's Reading: Job, Chapter Thirteen

Job opens up and gives as good as he gets to his friends.

He names them as "worthless physicians" as they have been no help at all!  Have you ever felt at times that you should have kept your mouth shut?  I think Job wishes that they would have followed this unheeded piece of wisdom.

He then goes on to tell them to act as God's court defenders if he could put God on trial.  It makes us consider, could I really be impartial if I were defending God?

If something is an act of God, we all jump to the conclusion that it must have been done for a reason that we cannot understand due to our limited sight.

We have historically called extreme weather acts of God.  I'm not sure if insurance still uses this terminology but I would classify these as mislabeled.  My defense would be the book of Job!

As a pastor, I've actually met with multiple families who have lost homes to tornado damage.  I didn't ask any of them what they had done to deserve such a punishment!  

That's a lot of sin to clean up!

At a previous appointment, when we had storm damage across our town, I noted that our church was unscathed while the Baptist church had some damage.  I guess we know which congregation God favors after all!

I said this with tongue firmly in-cheek as I know that some people still cling to this type of belief about God.  I also like to tease with the best of them!

Job helps us to avoid making these kinds of assumptions.  

As he prays, Job claims to God that you "make me reap the iniquities of my youth."  This kind of statement makes us recognize that no one wants to be held responsible for the things they may have done as teenagers.  So, we recognize that some grace must be involved with how God sees us!

If we would ask this kind of grace from God, it makes us recognize that we should also afford God grace for the calamity of the world.  Maybe these things aren't acts of God after all!

Prayer for the day:

While faith is with me, I am blest;

It turns my darkest night to day;

But, while I clasp it to my breast,

I often feel it slide away.

 

What shall I do if all my love,

My hopes, my toil, are cast away?

And if there be no God above

To hear and bless me when I pray?

 

Oh, help me, God!  For thou alone

Canst my distracted soul relieve.

Forsake it not: it is thine own,

Though weak, yet longing to believe.

Amen.

Prayer by Anne Brontë, England, 19^th century

Photo by Sheryl Heaton Powers, Moore, Oklahoma, June 4, 2013

New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Daily Devotion for Lent 2025, Day 12

Today's Reading: Job, Chapter Twelve

When the exile came to Judah, the leadership was taken away to Babylon.  These were the wealthy and the esteemed.  They had been in control of their own destinies.  Once they were taken away, they were no longer in charge.  They must have felt like laughingstocks.

Their culture was one of shame and honor.  Within this mindset, to have others mock you would be a true low point.  Job feels that those who are less honorable such as thieves and those who provoke God are better off than he is.  And now society at large sees Job as being shamed by God as if he were worse than these shameful categories.

If we can see Job as a stand-in for the country of Judah, today's prose makes a lot of sense.  They would have seen others who didn't seek to follow God as doing better.  You who tried to follow God - even though you sometimes got it wrong - have known greater shame than those who followed after other gods.

We see Job as Judah in that God is the one who "looses the sash of kings" and "leads the priests away stripped."  This is the exile.

How must the people of God have felt during this time?

Some would have given up their faith.  Others would have stayed true.  It's likely that the majority would have been somewhere in the middle.

The final verses indicate how the people must have felt: God "strips understanding from the leaders of the earth and makes them wander in a pathless waste.  They grope in the dark without light; he makes them stagger like a drunkard."

To lose one's composure - like a drunkard - would be shameful indeed.  

When one is dealing with these emotions, how can one see?  We may want to help but they may be in such a dark place that they are unable to see the light we offer.  When this is the case, it may be better just to hold onto the person as best we can.

Prayer for the day:

Jesus, my feet are dirty. Come even as a slave to me, pour water into your bowl, come and wash my feet. In asking such a thing I know I am overbold, but I dread what was threatened when you said to me, “If I do not wash your feet I have no fellowship with you.” Wash my feet then, because I long for your companionship.  Amen.

Prayer by Origen of Alexandria, 3rd century

Photo by Mick Haupt on Unsplash

New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Daily Devotion for Lent 2025, Day 11

Today's Reading: Job, Chapter Eleven

It is almost comical that Zophar is listed as a Naamathite which is someone from Naamah.  The Hebrew meaning of this word is pleasant! 

Zophar is less than pleasant in his initial advice to Job.  He's someone that needs a lot more training before we would send him around for hospital visits.

He starts off by telling Job that you're better off than you deserve!  If someone has just lost all of their children, this is pretty harsh to say the least.

Zophar also adopts the understanding of the justice of God is being meted out in this lifetime.  And so, since Job has suffered all these calamities, Zophar would be wondering what Job did to deserve all of this.  It must be something pretty bad!

Verse twelve is downright insulting.  We're not sure exactly how this ancient Hebrew phrase should go but the Common English Bible translates it as "A stupid person becomes intelligent when a wild ass of a person is born tame."

Job, are you feeling better yet?

Zophar then goes on to share how much better it will be once Job fesses up.  This is condescending to say the least.

Today's passage is helpful for us to examine ourselves for when we have been sure that we were in the right.  Have we ever adopted a style similar to Zophar's and rubbed someone's nose in it?  This reminds us that humility may be more helpful in persuasion than arrogance.

Prayer for the Day:

God, give us the humility which realizes its ignorance, admits its mistakes, recognizes its need, welcomes advice, accepts rebuke.  Help us always to praise rather than to criticize, to sympathize rather than to condemn, to encourage rather than to discourage, to build rather than to destroy, and to think of people at their best rather than at their worst.  This we ask for your name's sake.  Amen.

Prayer by William Barclay, Church of Scotland, 20th Century

Photo by studio tdes via Flickr.com.  Used under the Creative Commons license.

Scripture reference Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible

Daily Devotion for Lent 2025, Day 10

Today Reading: Job, Chapter Ten

Here Job is complaining about God’s seemingly negative attention toward him.  He seems to vacillate between the bargaining stage of grief and depression.  There’s probably a little anger as well if we read between the lines.

Job is bargaining because he also wants to believe in the contract that if one is righteous, then one won’t suffer the losses of offspring and wealth that have afflicted him.

The difficult piece for us as we look on is that Job seems genuinely confused as to why God would be working against him in this way.  Life has been pretty good up to this point.  Job’s earlier response to his wife of “receiving the bad along with the good” seems to have been forgotten by him.  It could have been that he said this while he was still in denial.

As Job questions God, we see in verses 4-5 a beginning of the idea that an omnipotent being might not be able to empathize or completely understand what it is to be mortal.

When Job asks, “Do you have eyes of flesh?  Do you see as humans see?  Are your days like the days of mortals or your years like human years,” these questions are rhetorical.  The answer is no.  

Try on other shoes sometimes!

Christians began to embrace this ontological question through the theology of incarnation in Jesus.  God self-limits in Jesus so that God can answer yes to the above questions.  

Both the Jewish text and the Christian theology help us understand the power of putting ourselves in another’s shoes.  When we can see a viewpoint other than our own, it allows us to connect with that person on a more fundamental basis.  When we only connect with our judgment, we might tell them to do better or to quit sinning.  This is blaming the victim.  

How can we empathize with others while maintaining our standards and morals and ethics?  

Prayer for the day:

Loving Lord, we seek your help.  As we have received grace and forgiveness, we find that it is easier to move into a new beginning.  Help us to see others through the eyes of the mercy we’ve been shown.  May we not be so quick to look for a cause for their trouble.  Give us the patience to sit in silence and hold them in comfort.  We pray this in Jesus’ name who suffered much.  Amen.

Photo by Heather Cowper via Flickr.com.  Used under the Creative Commons license.

New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Daily Devotion for Lent 2025, Day 9

Today's Reading: Job, Chapter Nine

Job begins to recount the mighty attributes of God that places God far beyond mere mortals. Interestingly, (spoiler alert) these are some of the same things that God asserts later in the book for why Job doesn't understand!

God as the creator of all things is far beyond mortals in wisdom and knowledge.  

But even as ignorant as human beings may be, we still know when things have not worked in our favor.  At some level, every person has felt cheated before.  Anyone who has watched competitive sports would say that their team hasn't always received a fair shake.  Every person living has probably heard from their parents growing up that life is not always fair.  

But there comes a point where injustice moves past annoying and hovers around catastrophic.  When our life track is substantially altered, it may be that we would like some answers from God.

J

Sometimes life seems stacked for others

ob recognizes that the power differential is such that he would have a difficult time making a good case before God anyway.  He would be too intimidated to make rational points.  

When we experience some type of life-changing loss whether it be a loved one passing too soon or news of an unforeseen illness or being unexpectedly laid off, we are often left asking the question, "why?"  Sometimes people may believe that this is a consequence for some type of sinful behavior.  But if you didn't do anything that would be worthy of the supposed penalty, you may still wonder about the justice of the universe.  

If anger is one of the stages of grief, dare we be angry with God?

The fact that Job is in the Bible at all indicates that God doesn't duck these kinds of feelings.  In order for us to move past anger, it is far healthier to express it in prayer than to repress the emotion and pretend we are okay.  In my experience, it will eventually come out.

If God wants health for us, which I believe to be true, then God is big enough to take us at face value throughout the whole of our lives.  Even when we're angry.  

Prayer for the day:

God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to distinguish the one from the other.  Amen.

The Serenity Prayer attributed to Reinhold Niebuhr, Union Theological Seminary, 20th Century

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Daily Devotion for Lent 2025, Day 8

Today's Reading: Job, Chapter Eight

It’s time for Job’s second helper Bildad to take a swing and see if he can talk some sense into his despondent friend. 

It seems as if Job’s very existence (if one were to believe his testimony of innocence) to be a threat to the honor of God.  If God is just, which all attest God to be, then Job’s situation of being unjustly punished seems to call into question the very notion of a just God.  

So Bildad would rather silence Job than question his assumptions about God.

And if God is beyond question, then Job must be in the wrong.

But the ground-breaking idea of this book is that we, the readers, know that Job is in the right.  And so, it creates a difficultly for the reader in that we are now questioning the justice of God right alongside Job.  

Bildad is right in that sometimes
our foundations are flimsy.

A simpler world exists for the Bildads.  Those in the right are justified.  Those in the wrong are punished.  Faithfulness will lead to blessing in this lifetime and you can bank on it.

If Job does represent the country of Judah to some extent, then the premise of the book does call into question whether the exile was caused by God because of their sinfulness (which seems to be Bildad’s position), or if the exile just happened to a faithful people (or faithful at least relative to those around them).

The difficulty of randomness as opposed to God being totally in charge of the universe, is that it makes the world a more dangerous place.  You might follow all of the right actions and still end up sitting alone in poverty.  

So for the faithful during Lent, how do we remain faithful when circumstances move against us?  And how does our faith understand that God will “fill your mouth with laughter and your lips with shouts of joy” in spite of the world around you?

Prayer for the day:

Give us, O Lord, steadfast hearts, which no unworthy thought can drag downward, unconquered hearts, which no tribulation can wear out, upright hearts, which no unworthy purpose may tempt aside.  Bestow upon us also, O Lord our God, understanding to know you, diligence to seek you, wisdom to find you, and a faithfulness that may finally embrace you; through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

Prayer attributed to Saint Thomas of Aquinas, Italy, 13th Century

New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

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Daily Devotion for Lent 2025, Day 7

Today's Reading: Job, Chapter Seven

It is very likely that Job is a product of the Babylonian exile.  This was the time that Judah lost everything - their country was overrun, the Temple was destroyed in Jerusalem and much of the leadership was marched off in captivity to live in Babylon.  

Some think that the book and story of Job represent God's people en masse.  

Today's reading alludes to this as it speaks to the futility of being human.  Our time here may seem short until we are suffering and then it seems as if it will never end.  We see in this chapter more of the theology of Sheol which is the afterlife where all people end up.

And when we seek solace in sleep, sometimes even that is elusive when misery surrounds us.

When Job asks, "What are humans, that you make so much of them, that you set your mind on them," this would recall the eighth Psalm which asks, "what are humans that you are mindful of them, mortals that you care for them?"

But the Psalmist answers, "Yet you have made them a little lower than God and crowned them with glory and honor." while Job responds that God tests them every moment.  

We see Job speaking with scripture and it takes serious critique with some of the positive aspects.  Job speaks from the position of the one who suffers whether that be a country or an individual.  

It could be that this wrestling is important for those in grief.  And in our faith tradition, we can see that God doesn't censor the wrestler.  And for those in the depths of anguish, we can see that platitudes don't really sugar coat anything.

This may speak to the freedom of expression and the need for our voice to be heard when we are crying out.

For those not suffering, it is hard to listen to and hard to read.  Our faith may be asking, how does it lead us to empathy rather than pity?

Prayer for the day:

O God, that we may receive your blessing, touch our brows, touch our heads, and do not look upon us in anger.  In a hard year, offer us mercy; in a year of affliction, offer us kindness; dark spirits banish from us, bright spirits bring close to us; gray spirits put away from us, good spirits draw near to us.  When we are afraid, offer us courage; when we are ashamed, be our true face; be over us like a blanket, be under us like a bed of furs.  Amen.

Prayer is a traditional Mongolian prayer.

New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Photo by Alyssa L. Miller via Flickr.com.  Used under the Creative Commons license.

Daily Devotion for Lent 2025, Day 6

Today's Reading: Job, Chapter Six

As Job replies to the critique of his friend, his poetic language lets us know right where he is: his vexation and calamity are heavier than the sand of the sea!

And as he grieves his loss, we can also see that Job has no appetite.

He seems ready to die although he is still not going to curse God before he goes as his wife suggested earlier.  

Job names the fear of his friends as greed in that they wouldn't want to share with him which may not be quite fair.  Sometimes when we are in need, we imagine that no one would want to spend any of their resources to help us.  Some of this may be our pride.  I think most people prefer to be self-sufficient if at all possible.  If we must rely on the charity - even that of our friends - we would rather not go on!

Self-reliance can actually be an illusion.  If enough hardship comes our way, even the mightiest can

Someone still brought her the milk.

topple.  It reminds us of the phrase attributed to John Bradford, who upon seeing criminals led to their execution in 1553 stated, "There but for the grace of God go I."

As we consider our own means today, we like to think it was all earned through our own hard work and ingenuity.  While the sweat of your brow is important, it is also good to remember that we all have had breaks go our way in life.  

During the season of Lent, it is helpful to be thankful for what we have.  It is also helpful to be charitable to those who have experienced misfortune.

But in our giving, it may also be the most helpful of all to do so with a humble approach!

Prayer for the day:

Gracious God, we thank you for all that we have and all that we are.  We are thankful for the work ethic that was given through the influences of those who raised us.  We are thankful for the times we have escaped the snare of misfortune when it could easily have trapped us.  And we are thankful that in Christ, our happiness doesn't rely on feeling superior to those who have it worse.  Help us to remember to seek forgiveness when it does.  We pray these things in Jesus' name.  Amen.

Photo by Alex Motrenko via Flickr.com.  Used under the Creative Commons license.

Daily Devotion for Lent 2025, Day 5

Today's Reading: Job, Chapter Five

Eliphaz continues in his "helpful advice" to Job who has lost everything with only his spouse and his friends to support him.  

It is interesting that Eliphaz makes assumptions about Job's relationship with God as if he needs to work on it.  The difficulty of equating misfortune with God's displeasure is that if the one in question is innocent, what does this say about our understanding of God?

If God is thoroughly just, what does it mean for good people to experience injustice?

As Eliphaz indicates that misery doesn't just happen, he does remind Job that human beings are the authors of their own difficulties.  The answer for this is to turn to God.

Sometimes our disdain is fairly obvious.

What the reader knows (but apparently to which Eliphaz is ignorant) is that Job is accounted in the first verse of the first chapter as "blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil."

Eliphaz's attitude of religious or spiritual judgment of Job would surely be salt in the wound for him.  

I've been judged before spiritually by others who do not know my relationship with God.  Of course, this is only privy to God and oneself.  People like to judge external visible properties and ascribe value to them.  But Jesus warns us against doing this in the Sermon on the Mount and the Sermon on the Plain.  

Eliphaz was sincerely trying to help his friend.  No one who sits in silence with someone's misery for seven days has ulterior motives.  But this reminds us that we need to watch our words.  Even more so, we need to watch our judgment.

How does our spiritual judgment of others often do harm?

Prayer for the day:

O Lord and Master of my life, take from me the spirit of sloth, despair, lust of power, and idle talk.  But give rather the spirit of chastity, humility, patience, and love to your servant.  Yes, O Lord and King, grant me to see my own transgressions, and not to judge my sibling, for blessed are You, unto ages of ages.  Amen.

Prayer by Ephraim of Syria, 4th Century

New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

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Daily Devotion for Lent 2025, Day 4

Today's Reading, Job, Chapter Four

One of the major viewpoints from that time period was that God punished evil people while the just were similarly rewarded within their lifetime.  This view becomes especially important for their sense of justice if their idea of the afterlife in Sheol was a similar fate for all people.

The Psalms and Proverbs often express this kind of wisdom.

Humanity has long imagined a just world.

Psalm 7 speaks of God as “a righteous judge” in verse 11 and then in verses 15-16 goes on to speak about the wicked, stating, “They make a pit, digging it out, and fall into the hole that they have made.  Their mischief returns upon their own heads, and on their own heads their violence descends.”

This kind of wisdom is often true.  Those who are not kind often receive the measure they give and deal in misery more often than not. 

But is it always true?

With this kind of thinking, it becomes very easy to imagine that if a person is wealthy, it is because God is blessing them for something they or their parents before them must have done.  But if calamity strikes such as a tornado or flood, then this devastation also must have had some human misdeed to account for it.

Eliphaz is speaking from this mindset.  The reader knows that Job is innocent, but his friends do not.  Only Job and God know and so far God is silent and Job is suffering more than they had seen anyone suffer in their lifetimes.

As we think about our own understanding of the world, where do we see victims blamed in society today?

As we think about this, we recognize that there are still many with Eliphaz’s mindset still alive.  And if we're honest with ourselves, it is difficult for us to completely escape this bias.  What is our responsibility as faithful people of God?

Prayer for the day:

O Lord, baptize our hearts into a sense of the conditions and needs of all people.  Amen.

 

Prayer by George Fox, Quaker tradition, 17^th Century

Photo by Tingey Injury Law Firm on Unsplash

New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Daily Devotion for Lent 2025, Day 3

Today's Reading: Job, Chapter Three

Job’s suffering is such that he would wish that he was never born.

When Tennyson expressed, “Tis better to have loved and lost, than never to have loved at all” it seems that Job does not agree.  At least in this moment.

We begin to get an idea of the understanding of Sheol or the ancient Jewish understanding of the afterlife in chapter three.  It is there that the prisoners are at ease (and not made to toil) and slaves are free from their masters.  We get a sense of egalitarianism in Sheol.

Job expresses his anguish by saying it would be better to blot out his existence.  If we can look at this from a patriarchal understanding, if one’s belief is that all go to a similar dreary afterlife, then one establishes oneself through descendants.  By having a lots of offspring, one’s name is assured for generations.  From an evolutionary perspective (of which they had no knowledge), this actually makes a lot of sense – only its one’s DNA rather than one’s name that lives on.  Before the tragic news of the loss of his children, Job had thought he had secured a future for himself long after he ceased to walk this earth. 

In a time when infant mortality would have been high, he must have thought himself successful with seven sons and three daughters that lived past childhood. To lose his children was to lose everything. 

To give us an understanding of this mindset, Abram questions God’s promise while still childless when he states in Genesis 15:3, “You have given me no offspring, so a slave born in my house is to be my heir.”

What would it look like for you to lose your entire future in one fell swoop? 

Prayer for the day:

O Comforting One, Compassionate One, be with us all when we suffer loss and ache with the pain of grieving.  Give us a glimpse of the way it will be when love will never be taken away, when life itself will not be diminished, when all that we hold most precious will live and remain with us for ever.  Amen.

 

Prayer by Miriam Therese Winter, Roman Catholic Church, 20^th Century

Quoted Scripture: New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

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Daily Devotion for Lent 2025, Day 2

Today's Reading: Job, Chapter Two

We continue with the narrative portion of the book that we won't revisit until the very last chapter which bookends the prose - the majority of Job.  Today, we find Job maintaining his faithful stance.  He's lost everything but his health and now that is being tested as well.

What if you lost your wealth, your children and your health all in a matter of a few days?  

The question from Job's wife is about his persistence in integrity.  Why bother?  You have nothing left to lose - simply curse God and die.  Of course, this sounds different from a 21st century understanding when one would still be hoping to end up in heaven.  Jewish perspectives on the afterlife in the time of its writing were that everyone went to Sheol when they died.  So, the hope of eternal reward was not on Job's radar.  This makes his stance all the more impressive.

With seemingly nothing to gain, Job persists in his faithfulness.

Being faithful doesn't always keep depression from our door though.  Job's three friends show up and do the best thing sometimes people can do for us: they stay with him and sit in silence.

They don't try to fix the situation or bolster him with their words.

They sit with him in silence for seven days and nights.  Soon, they will open their mouths and ruin everything, but they have been faithful to their friend in his grief.

I think sometimes we don't recognize the power we all have of being present with someone.  We may get nervous and feel like we have to fill the space with words but in reality, our being able to be with another person without saying a word can be a gift when a person is suffering.

Who in our lives today may need us to be present?  It may be that we need to simply be an encouragement without bringing a solution.

Prayer for the day: 

Ever-present God, we give you thanks that you never leave us.  And yet, we sometimes need a physical presence along with a spiritual one.  Help us to recognize you when you sit with us in silence.  And help us to embody your grace to those we know who need your touch. May we recognize what it is to be the body of Christ.  Amen.

Photo by Transly Translation Agency on Unsplash

Daily Devotion for Lent 2025, Day 1 - Ash Wednesday

Today's Reading: Job, Chapter One

Job is a figure that is larger than life.  He's billed as sinless and goes to extraordinary attempts to keep his children safe from any possible divine wrath that one of their missteps might lead them into.  

In a sheerly ironic movement, perhaps if he had not quite been so perfect, he wouldn't have attracted the notice of the accuser (the Satan in the original Hebrew).

We see the heavenly court and this part of the story seems to be influenced by Greek religious understanding of that time.  We might imagine the various Greek gods and goddesses carrying out the same type of contest.  

It is important to note that Job is a theological book rather than a historical one.  It even starts like a fairy tale, "once upon a time..."  Certainly, the land of Uz is not known historically.  And so, we might think of Job as a parable that allows us to enter into a theological conversation.  What does it mean to suffer in this lifetime if you haven't done anything to deserve it?

If the world is unjust, is this God's fault?

We'll explore these questions and more over the next forty days as we read through Job.

In today's chapter, we see a couple of sayings that have made it into the wider culture:

"Naked I came into this world and naked I shall leave it."

"The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away."

We don't hear the follow-up as often: "Blessed be the name of the Lord."

Sometimes we can't hear any more bad news

Some might say that Job is in denial (one of the stages of grief) and isn't allowing the full measure of his grief to touch him yet (he'll get there).  His stoic nature has led to the wider cultural saying, "The patience of Job."

As we consider this chapter, it does make one ask the question, does my faithfulness to God depend upon circumstance?  As we consider this for our own lives, I think it is a question worthy of self-reflection.

Can I bless the Lord in all circumstances?  

Prayer for the day:

Gracious God, help us to wrestle with our faith during this season of Lent.  Give us a stronger sense of who we are today.  And as we move forward, may we honestly account for those places that we can celebrate with you.  At the same time, let us honestly account for those places where we fall short.  As we know your grace, may our path forward align with you more consistently each day.  Amen.

  

Photo by Towfiqu barbhuiya on Unsplash

Preparing for the Season of Lent

The sign of the cross deepens
its impact when we
add a spiritual discipline.

As we move into the season of Lent, this is the forty days (not including Sundays) prior to Easter Sunday.  It always begins on Ash Wednesday but because Easter is tied to the lunar cycle, the calendar date moves around each year. 

Many Christians give up something during the season of Lent as a spiritual discipline.  It might be a fasting from soda, desserts, or television.  One year I tried fasting from food on Fridays during Lent.  Lately, I’ve seen people give up certain entertainment apps on their phones. 

Rather than give something up, some people prefer to adopt a new spiritual discipline during Lent.  In the latter part of my life, I’ve discovered the discipline of journaling through a book or section of the Bible.  Last year, I took the Sermon on the Mount (in Matthew) and the Sermon on the Plain (in Luke) and looked at parts of these each day and wrote about them.

This year, I’m going to be working through the book of Job from the Hebrew Bible.  Since it contains 42 chapters, it is fairly easy to divide for daily reading (I don’t post on Sundays).  The book will be helpful during Lent as we examine the overarching theme of suffering and how our faith intersects with it.  This corresponds nicely with the journey of Jesus to the cross during these forty days.

I will post these to my blog (precedinggrace.blogspot.com) and each day’s piece will hit the web at 3 am in case there are some really early risers out there!  I will also post these to my Facebook and X accounts at a more reasonable hour of the morning each day.    Boston Avenue UMC will feature these as their Daily Devotions and you can signup for a daily email if you prefer.

Each post will include a link to the day’s reading.  At the end of Lent, you will have read through the entire book of Job.  Some people include as a part of their discipline to comment on something that relates specifically to them.  This also has the added advantage of circulating the post to a wider audience.

As we look toward Lent starting on Ash Wednesday, what might you consider for your spiritual discipline this year?

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