Job has been waiting for his chance to speak to the Lord. In nearly every chapter of this beautiful book we’ve listened to his anguish and plea to speak to God … or to have someone who could speak to God for him. And finally, it has happened. And look what Job does: he shuts up. He doesn’t have a word to say to God. After wishing and moaning and groaning and contemplating and arguing and begging that God would hear what he had to say, he finally gets the opportunity. And he’s speechless:
“I am nothing — how could I ever find the answers? I will cover my mouth with my hand. I have said too much already. I have nothing more to say (vs. 4-5).”
Have you ever been caught talking smack about someone? This feels like that to me. Job is like, “Ummm, heyyyyyy, God. Yeah, I was just asking some questions here, and yeah, whatever, … you go ahead now. I’m all ears.”
But this is way more cool than getting caught with your pants down, so to speak, because … it’s God who’s doing the catching, not some dude you don’t like at work. And God’s reaction to Job’s questioning is enough to shut down all of his babbling and all of his friends’ babbling as well. It also points to a few other things, one being that Job may have been “blameless” in God’s eyes, but he certainly was not Mr. Perfect-O, like some of us have been raised to believe. And if you’re one of those people, like me, I think it’s sad that we were taught at a young age that perfect people – I mean, people who are Jesus quality – exist. That sounds bad. I know there are many really super-duper people, who reflect Jesus accurately, walking around on this Earth. But I don’t for one second think that they don’t have their “stuff,” you know? When I was younger, I used to believe that all these model citizens had it all together … just like Job. But as I got older, I’ve learned that everybody’s got something … even Job. The great thing is, though, that we can all look blameless through the eyes of the Father who loves us. And that’s all we need to know.
Writing prompt: nothing more to say
Write about a time when you listened, really listened. If you can’t think of a time, write about how you could be a better listener.
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