Job 9:10
who does great things beyond understanding, and marvelous things without numbers.
Reflection: I didn’t expect to find something so beautiful in Job’s lamentation. “beyond understanding, without numbers”. I teach, and time is measured by the calendar and the clock. I have to remind myself that there are different types of time. God’s time, nature’s time, eternal time. I have begun to trust real time, in the sense that I think I’m late, but then I happen to be in a place where I met someone that if I’d been “on time” I wouldn’t have met. It’s good for me to remember that there are things beyond my understanding, and all things do not have to be numbered. Each snow flake is unique, a design of it’s own.
Prayer: Help me to remember that clock time is not the only time. To take the watch off, put the cellphone away and be in real time for awhile.
Job 8:2
How long will you say these things, and the words of your mouth be a great wind?
Reflection:At this point his friends don’t seem very sympathetic. They seem to have assumed that he has done something wrong, that he must have done something wrong to have had this happen. It’s not easy reading but I can close the book and put it down. Some people are living his life and they can’t. I was at the laundromat during the week of 9/11. A woman watching the T.V. said she just wanted to turn it off and not hear anymore. I thought of the many people whose lives had been permanently changed. They would never be able to turn off what had taken place.
prayer: a prayer for all those who are walking in Jobs footsteps.
Job 7:6
My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle, and come to their end without hope.
Reflection: this is a very depressing chapter, so I don’t want to stay with it too long. But at least he’s still talking and hasn’t curled up into a ball and quit.
Prayer: A prayer of strength for all those that have as heavy a heart as Job. All I have to do is pick up the newspaper and see that there are many who are facing the life that Job describes.
Job 6:5
Does the wild ass bray when he has grass, or the ox low over his fodder?
Reflection: This reminds me of how fortunate I am. I have good food to eat, a safe place to sleep and I can stand in front of a window and not have to worry about someone trying to do me harm. In so many parts of the world the everyday chores such as getting food and drinking water involve great risk. To stand in front of a window or doorway could catch a snipers eye. To dare to teach girls could put your life in danger.
Prayer: Help me to be mindful of the simple blessings that fill my life.
Job 5:9
verse: who does great things and unsearchable, marvelous things without number.
reflection: One year I had my young students drawing the frogs. I wanted to get as much variety as possible. I was looking for different color frogs, to move the students beyond “frogs are green”. I knew there were yellow frogs and blues frogs. Could there be purple ones? Yes there are. What an amazing sense of humor the creator has.
Prayer: help me to keep my mind open to creativity and wonder, to remember that there are purple frogs.
Job 4:2
If one ventures a word with you, will you be offended? Yet who can keep from speaking?
reflection: This makes me think of the times when someone is hurting and I want to say something that will take away the pain, that will be the answer that they need. It’s taken many years but I’ve become friends with the idea that I don’t have to have an answer. That one of the best things I can do is come alongside and listen.
Prayer: Please help me to listen to others, not be thinking ahead to say something profound, but simply listen.
Job 3:9
Let the stars of its dawn be dark;
let it hope for light and have none,
nor see the eyelids of the morning,
Reflection: He has been beat down to the ground but his mind is still so rich. The imagery he creates, “eyelids of the morning”. I would imagine that most people would be numb after what he went through but he just pours it out.
Prayer: A prayer of thanks that I am not in that dark a place, that I was able to welcome the coming morning.
Job 2:3
And the Lord said to Satan,” have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil? He still holds fast his integrity, although you moved me against him, to destroy him without cause.”
Reflection: At first I was going to write about verse 10 where Job questions his wife asking her “shall we only receive good at the hand of God and not evil?). As I reread chapter 2 the word integrity kept coming up. His wife questions whether he shouldn’t just give it up (his integrity), yell and scream at God and die. Because of his integrity he can’t believe the way she is looking at things. God seems to have a special place in his heart for Job, that after all that has taken place Job “still holds fast to his integrity”. His inner compass is true. So I went to the dictionary to see what different meanings, integrity might have. State or quality of being complete, unbroken, unimpaired state, moral soundness. When I read the newspaper I often think of Job. A woman goes to help her neighbor, to share a cup of coffee and she doesn’t make it to the new day. She was being kind and evil struck her down. Now her family has to work through that. I am so fortunate to have ordinary woes, ones others would gladly trade for.
prayer: Help me to take the time to be thankful.
Job 1:22
In all this Job did not sin or charge God with wrong.
Reflection: This is the first time since we’ve begun reading that I have come across underlining that I did when I was 17. My 17 year old self underlined verse 21. But it was verse 22 that quietly caught me at 55. I don’t underline anymore ( at least not yet) now it’s a gentle touch on the side with pencil. Job wasn’t a fair weather believer. I hope I can be that strong if need be.
Prayer: Help me to be awake to the blessings of each day.
Ephesians 6:22
I have sent him to you for this very purpose, that you may know how we are, and that he may encourage your hearts.
Reflection: I think of Paul in prison reaching out to others. Sending letters and a person to help them. Not giving in to his surroundings.
Prayer: Help me to move beyond myself and encourage others that I meet during the day.
