“Trust, Even in the Dark” by Colleen O’Sullivan
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| Léon Bonnat, Job, 1880, Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons |
God is wise in heart and mighty in strength; who has withstood him and remained unscathed? He alone stretches out the heavens and treads upon the crests of the sea. He made the Bear and Orion, the Pleiades and the constellations of the south; He does great things past finding out, marvelous things beyond reckoning. (Job 9:4, 8-10)
As Jesus and his disciples were proceeding on their journey, someone said to him, "I will follow you wherever you go." Jesus answered him, "Foxes have dens and birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to rest his head." (Luke 9:57-58)
Piety
Lord, may my trust, especially in times of suffering, always be in You and in the compassionate love of Your Son toward us.
Study
At one time or another we will all find ourselves in Job’s place, suffering, and totally in the dark as to why. Maybe we will even have “friends” like Job’s, who tell us our plight must be the result of our sinfulness, friends who won’t listen when we protest our innocence. Look around; there are Job-like figures on every corner:
§ Lord, what am I going to do? My parents brought me here when I was only a toddler. I’ve never known any other home. I’ve lived here, been educated here, loved it here. I am, or was, a Dreamer. But now the dream is going up in flames before my very eyes. How could this happen? What will become of me? Where will I go?
§ Lord, I have nothing left. The waters from Hurricane Florence have destroyed my home, my children’s school, even my workplace. Our vehicles were swept away. Yes, I am grateful that we are all unharmed, but why did this happen to us? What will we do now? We didn’t deserve this and neither did our friends and neighbors.
§ God, you know the fears that brought us here, the gangs, the lawlessness in our villages. I brought my children here where I thought they would be safe. Now, Lord, I don’t even know where they are. I wanted to apply for refugee status, and the authorities at the border took my kids and sent them away as though they were criminals themselves. They are just children, my children! Why has this happened?
§ Lord, my husband/wife/child/sibling/parent has been diagnosed with a terminal disease and he/she is suffering terribly? Why must they endure such pain?
It seems like cold comfort to be reminded that we are not God, that God and God’s ways are beyond our comprehension as human beings. That is all Job had to hold onto. God didn’t want that to be the last word, however, so God sent God’s only Son into the world. Jesus is the human face of God. Jesus comforts us in our sorrows, heals our ills and forgives our sins. Jesus shows us that suffering is part of life. He suffers and dies on the Cross for us out of love for us. We may not know the why of suffering any more than Job did, but we have a God who knows all about what we go through and who promises to walk beside us, holding us up if necessary, every step of the way.
Action
Today’s Scriptures readings were stark. Job struggles to make sense of his suffering against the background of his friends’ insistence that it’s his sinfulness that is responsible. Nor do we find much comfort in today’s psalm. Every commentary I looked at on Psalm 88 declared it dark, the lament of one feeling God’s silence. The Gospel reading is uncompromising; to follow Jesus, we must forsake all else. I said I would follow, but I’d hate to count the number of times I’ve strayed from the path, distracted by other things. Jesus always comes looking for the lost and pulls me back onto the trail, but it’s chastening to realize how often that happens.
We need each other and we need each other’s prayers. Look around your little part of the world today and pray for all who are suffering in mind, body or spirit.
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