Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him; I will surely defend my ways to his face. (NIV Job 13:15)
I remember being in a camp service as a teenage girl singing one of those emotionally charged worship songs the contemporary church is known for. "Though he slay me, I will worship him..." the lyrics to the song were taken from the well known bible verse in book of Job. Job is one of the most perplexing stories in the biblical cannon. A "blameless and upright man" (from Job 1:1), a man who God uses to prove a point, sending destruction on his household, or rather "allowing it". Still, Job worshiped God. In the end, Job's life and family are restored when God bring his children back from the dead. Oh, wait, he didn't. He gave Job new children and the new daughters were really beautiful too. Beautiful enough that they were considered worthy to be on equal terms with their brothers (Job 42:15). That's a great story. One that I would like my daughter to read.
Looking back on that day, in that auditorium, singing that song in unison with the other devout youth, I bought it. I bought the idea that the God "slayed" the worthy. God would always redeem his chosen ones....eventually. I believed that facing "trials and tribulations" made me special and that my reward would be in heaven. Why is the reward in heaven now instead of on Earth as it was in Job's day? Because too many people have noticed a pattern, as I have. The pattern is that God does not reach his big daddy hand from the heavens and care for his people. People get sick and die. Tragedy and suffering happen, but many things we can control. Changing my life and my fortunes is largely up to me. The grand lesson in the book of Job is one of submitting your mind to the largeness of God and the incapability of the human mind to understand his ways. The church taught me that to serve the greatness of God would make me great in the end. Ultimately, am I really here to serve God's ego? I guess I'll never know, I was created to not understand, right?
I really enjoy watching your continual liberation and ascent into YOU, not following dogma. You inspire me!!
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteAmen. ;-) I once had the benefit of listening to my Rabbi explain how the Jewish Reform movement had come to the conclusion from the illustration of of Job (and other texts) that God is not able to save us from harm. That is not to say that Reform Jews are not free to make up their own minds of course, but after the Holocaust with the highest number of Jews lost from "pious" and the most observant and "faithful" Orthodox groups, there were questions. (This would also be the case with Christians like Corey Tenboom.)
ReplyDeleteWhy would God "turn his back" on the most faithful but not the secular who more often were spared for taking matters into their own hands? Psalm 23:4 points out God's comfort but not "salvation": Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. (NIV) The lesson here, for me and not unlike your conclusion, is that the unknowable aspects or concept of G-d is by nature unknowable and therefor a concept that offers courage or comfort but not direct influence.
The knowable aspects of God or the concept of God that we may hold must always come from an awareness or acceptance of god within and of our own ability to realize change and influence the world. To hold the belief that all that is necessary is to be faithful to an unknowable G-d devalues the gift of life. We must chose to live. :-)