Pastor Ben’s Ponderings

“I will speak, that I may find relief; I must open my lips and answer.”
(Job 32:20)

One of the things I have always admired about Job is that he never shut up. Despite enduring unthinkable hardships, despite knowing that God Himself was allowing these things to happen, despite having so-called friends tell him it was his own fault and maybe he should just curse God and die — Job kept raising his voice. He raised it in protest. He raised it in argument. He complained bitterly, wept, and tried to reason things out with everyone — even God! Job needed to make sense out of this horrible situation he found himself in, and he needed to do it out loud. These days we call that processing — and the fact that Job kept it up for 40 chapters has always made him a man after my own heart.

When I read chapter after chapter of Job engaging in vigorous discussion with his friends and long conversations with God, I totally get it. Job cared too much to just clam up and hope this nightmare would go away. He needed to know why this was happening to him because his understanding of a gracious God didn’t include winding up covered with boils and sitting in a pile of ashes! So he kept pushing, and he kept talking. Giving up and giving in wasn’t a option for him.

Never let the pain of this world silence your voice. As long as you have breath, raise your thoughts, your questions, and even your complaints to heaven. The God of the universe can take it — He loves you and longs to hear from you.