Job teaches us again

 

Today in the One Year Bible, we read from Job 16:1-19:29. Job is once again our hero, and he teaches us something important right off the bat. His friends, who have presumably come to help him, keep pointing out that he must have done something to deserve all of this bad treatment. Job listens to them, but then he has enough (at least for the moment.) He says, "You guys just keep talking... and you're determined to find something wrong with me and how I've behaved. I could do the same to you, because we all have faults. But do you know what I'd be doing if you were going through this? I'd be trying to encourage you. I would try to take away your grief."

How many people do you know who are suffering these days? 2020 has been a rough year for many of us. Some of my good friends have lost their parents to COVID. Other friends have lost their jobs. Some are struggling with their health. We all have one reason or another to feel like Job, don't we? And to make it all worse, it's an election year, so many of us are at the throats of one another, attacking each other and, like Job's friends, pointing out the faults and mistakes and weaknesses of political leaders and of each other.

Once again, let's learn from Job. Let's lift each other up. Let's share love with one another. Let's "try to take away our grief", like Job says here. We can do that by praying for one another - that's the best way! But also by sharing our joys. Sharing jokes, happy things. Memes. Videos of kittens. A freshly baked pie. Whatever we know makes the other person happy. Life is full of grief and of joy. It's up to us to choose that joy, and to share it with other people. That's not just happy talk or blissful optimism. We're commanded to do it! Don't forget that in Philippians 4:8, the apostle Paul picks up where Job leaves off and tells us that, "Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable... if anything is excellent or praiseworthy... think about such things." We are told, in the Bible, to think about the good. That doesn't mean ignore the evil. But it means don't dwell on it. Dwell on the good - dwell on God.

God, thanks for giving us, once again, the example of Job to learn from. Fill us with Your joy so we can share it with other people.