FROM THE SERVANT GENERAL
OUR THEME FOR 2025
(Part 3)
JOB
October 1, 2024
Today’s readings:
Job 3:1-3,11-17,20-23
Psalm 88:2-8
In Ecclesiastes we saw that there is a time for everything, involving diametrically opposite situations, such as war and peace, as well as mourning and dancing. This is what Job experienced. He was prosperous and had a very nice family. But due to the assaults of Satan, done with God’s permission, Job lost everything. He lost all his possessions. He lost his health. He lost his family, except his wife, who nagged him, saying: “Curse God and die!”
Job never spoke against God, but he did curse the day of his birth (Jb 3:1,3) and wanted to die (Jb 3:11). He said, “Why give light to a man of grief? Why give life to those bitter of heart?” (Jb 3:20). Who could blame him?
There are those good Christians who suffer greatly as well—the untimely death of a loved one, financial ruin, extreme poverty, debilitating illness, being innocent victims of war. They would cry out all day to God. “Lord, the God of my salvation, I call out by day; at night I cry aloud in your presence.” (Ps 88:2). But at times there is no answer. There is no relief. The miserable situation, with all its troubles, persists (Ps 88:4). They then feel like being among the dead whom God has forgotten (Jb 88:6). There might seem to be no way out, no light at the end of the tunnel. One is left hopeless and helpless.
But there is always hope, because there is a loving and merciful God. Even in the extreme case of Job, we know how the book of Job ends, with Job restored by God, with twice as much blessings.
We can look to God for restoration and well-being, with the overturning of our grave and seemingly impossible situation—from bad to good, from mourning to dancing. For committed Christians, we look to God’s faithfulness and put our whole trust in Him. But we need to do our part—endure in affliction and persevere in prayer. “Let my prayer come before you, incline your ear to my cry.” (Ps 88:3). If we do so, we can confidently rejoice in hope.
Restoration will come, if not in this life then in the next.
Hope abounds.
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