Daily Devotional • September 1
A Reading from Job 11:1-9, 13-20
1 Then Zophar the Naamathite answered:
2 “Should a multitude of words go unanswered,
and should one full of talk be vindicated?
3 Should your babble put others to silence,
and when you mock, shall no one shame you?
4 For you say, ‘My conduct is pure,
and I am clean in God’s sight.’
5 But O that God would speak
and open his lips to you
6 and that he would tell you the secrets of wisdom!
For wisdom is many-sided.
Know then that God exacts of you less than your guilt deserves.
7 “Can you find out the deep things of God?
Can you find out the limit of the Almighty?
8 It is higher than heaven—what can you do?
Deeper than Sheol—what can you know?
9 Its measure is longer than the earth
and broader than the sea.
13 “If you direct your heart rightly,
you will stretch out your hands toward him.
14 If iniquity is in your hand, put it far away,
and do not let wickedness reside in your tents.
15 Surely then you will lift up your face without blemish;
you will be secure and will not fear.
16 You will forget your misery;
you will remember it as waters that have passed away.
17 And your life will be brighter than the noonday;
its darkness will be like the morning.
18 And you will have confidence because there is hope;
you will be protected and take your rest in safety.
19 You will lie down, and no one will make you afraid;
many will entreat your favor.
20 But the eyes of the wicked will fail;
all way of escape will be lost to them,
and their hope is to breathe their last.”
Meditation
Job’s three friends take turns trying to explain his suffering and it is the third, Zophar, whose words are the harshest. Zophar is certain that Job’s suffering is divine punishment and Job therefore must be guilty of great wickedness. Zophar’s worldview, where bad things only happen to bad people, is enticing. In a well-ordered and perfectly just world, we need only “direct our hearts rightly” and misery and fear will fall away; darkness will turn to light. From righteousness flows blessedness.
In Zophar’s world, we are the masters of our own destiny and creators of our own hope. This is false comfort – a form of idolatry driven by our craving for understanding and control. In times of trial and suffering, we ask “why?” and “how do I make it stop?” When answers elude us, as they so often do, it only adds to our suffering.
Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount gives us a very different worldview. In the worldview that is the Kingdom of God, blessedness is not a matter of self-determination, nor is it the converse of suffering. Blessedness comes to us when we embrace our lack of control, when we lean into our suffering, and when we follow Jesus in the way of poverty of spirit, meekness, merciful open-heartedness and peaceful acceptance. True blessedness flows from surrender.
Monica Coakley, a graduate of Nashotah House Theological Seminary, provides pastoral care to men on Tennessee’s death row. She lives with her family on a small farm and hoards books and yarn.
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Daily Devotional Cycle of Prayer
Today we pray for:
The Diocese of Ika – The Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion)
St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church, Durham, North Carolina