This is about Job, though. Job is a perfect illustration of what Josh Ritter sings about in his masterful work of metaphor and simile, “Thin Blue Flame”.
But you need faith for the same reasons that it's so hard to find
And this whole thing is headed for a terrible wreck
And like good tragedy that's what we expect
-Josh Ritter, “Thin Blue Flame”
“In the land of Uz there lived a man whose name was Job. This man was blameless and upright; he feared God and shunned evil.”
Job 1:1
“But now stretch out your hand and strike everything he has,
and he will surely curse you to your face.”
Job 1: 11
“But I'm not sure what I don't know
Oh chariots, if you're out there
Please swing low”
-Josh Ritter, “Here at the right time”
“The oxen were plowing and the donkeys were grazing nearby, and the Sabeans attacked and made off with them. They put the servants to the sword, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!”
Job 1:14-15
“The fire of God fell from the heavens and burned up the sheep and the servants, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!”
Job 1:16
“The Chaldeans formed three raiding parties and
swept down on your camels and made off with them.
They put the servants to the sword, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!”
Job 1:17
“Your sons and daughters were feasting and drinking wine at the oldest brother’s house, when suddenly a mighty wind swept in from the desert and struck the four corners of the house.
It collapsed on them and they are dead, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!”
Job 1:18-19
“Naked I came from my mother’s womb,
and naked I will depart.
The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away;
may the name of the Lord be praised.”
Job 20
Evil wants to appear relentless, but like everything from the fruit of the love of money: that is an illusion. It is a firehose of pain and lies that evil uses to create this illusion. It comes fast, hard, and in rapid succession. Those who can keep their faith in the face of these attacks remain humble. That is the challenge, though, isn’t it? The temptation to fight fire with fire is great, but back-burning a forest fire has to be planned and faithfully executed or the back-burning will only serve to increase the flames. Humility tells a person to step back and ask: will this help or hurt the situation?
“Skin for skin!” Satan replied. “A man will give all he has for his own life. But now stretch out your hand and strike his flesh and bones, and he will surely curse you to your face.”
Job 2:4
“Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?”
Job 2:10
Being here is a miracle. The fact that we live and breathe and dream and dance here together is truly awe worthy. Would we know joy if not for pain? Would we recoil from a hot iron if not for pain? Pain is the genesis of healing. Those who deny their pain deny themselves a chance to heal. Those who embrace it will heal.
“What I feared has come upon me;
what I dreaded has happened to me.”
Job 3:25
Everyone in the USA who grew complacent in our liberty over these past few decades can relate to Job in this chapter. Even Jesus on the cross had a moment of doubt. Doubt is natural, human. Living in the liminal space between ideologies is the only way to see the body politik as it really is. This is not easy to do - one must surrender their pride and ego. One must accept that everything they think they know for certain might well be wrong, otherwise the confusing dissonance of evil will invade what would otherwise be right and just.
“As I have observed, those who plow evil
and those who sow trouble reap it.”
Job 4:8
“If you plant ice, you’re going to harvest wind.”
-Robert Hunter
We are witnessing the harvest of trouble in a great and powerful wind. Those who cultivated it think they are doing righteous work, but we know them from their inedible fruit. It is easy to get lost in the dark. It is easy to get discouraged. But it is those very traits all people of conscience share which give us faith. Those who make us their enemy see those traits and, recognizing it in themselves, lash out in anger and hate. They are jealous that we found faith where it was so hard to find and try to emulate faith as if that is the way to find it. Then they reassure themselves, “you are a man of faith,” and “so are you”.
Faith exists in the liminal spaces between light and dark. Without embracing that space, one can not find faith. I don’t need to prove mine to anyone but myself and what we call “God”. I don’t need to force my faith on anyone because I know it is “knock and ye shall enter”, not “you will enter whether you like it or not”.
I don’t need you to use my book or my heritage or my words to find your faith. I don’t need you to name “God” the way I name it. I don’t need you to even believe that “God” exists. Faith has nothing to do with any of those human constraints. It has everything to do with your commitment to righteousness in the face of evil and their tribulations.
“And every heart is much the same
We tell ourselves down here
The same chambers fed by veins
The same maze of love and fear
We thought you were a saint
But the halo is an eye
It's hard to see how there could be
So much dark inside the light
Don't you leave us in the dark”
-Josh Ritter, “In the Dark”
“Blessed is the one whom God corrects;
so do not despise the discipline of the Almighty.
For he wounds, but he also binds up;
he injures, but his hands also heal.”
Job 5:17-18
“What strength do I have, that I should still hope?
What prospects, that I should be patient?”
Job 6:11
“Therefore I will not keep silent;
I will speak out in the anguish of my spirit,
I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.”
Job 7:11
Has anyone noticed what time I send these posts out on Fridays? This is how I came to choose that time: to constantly lead me back to Job’s example of faith.
“Ask the former generation
and find out what their ancestors learned,
for we were born only yesterday and know nothing,
and our days on earth are but a shadow.”
Job 8:8-9
Generational wisdom is profoundly powerful in the fight for justice. But we are also called to challenge and to not blindly accept. In these verses, Bildad the Shuhite was smart to consult generations before. But he did not challenge them.
“Indeed, I know that this is true.
But how can mere mortals prove their innocence before God?
Though they wished to dispute with him,
they could not answer him one time out of a thousand.
His wisdom is profound, his power is vast.
Who has resisted him and come out unscathed?
He moves mountains without their knowing it
and overturns them in his anger.
He shakes the earth from its place
and makes its pillars tremble.
“He speaks to the sun and it does not shine;
he seals off the light of the stars.
He alone stretches out the heavens
and treads on the waves of the sea.
He is the Maker of the Bear[a] and Orion,
the Pleiades and the constellations of the south.
1He performs wonders that cannot be fathomed,
miracles that cannot be counted.
”When he passes me, I cannot see him;
when he goes by, I cannot perceive him.
If he snatches away, who can stop him?
Who can say to him, ‘What are you doing?’
God does not restrain his anger;
even the cohorts of Rahab cowered at his feet.
“How then can I dispute with him?
How can I find words to argue with him?
1Though I were innocent, I could not answer him;
I could only plead with my Judge for mercy.
1Even if I summoned him and he responded,
I do not believe he would give me a hearing.
He would crush me with a storm
and multiply my wounds for no reason.
“He would not let me catch my breath
but would overwhelm me with misery.
If it is a matter of strength, he is mighty!
And if it is a matter of justice, who can challenge him?
Even if I were innocent, my mouth would condemn me;
if I were blameless, it would pronounce me guilty.
“Although I am blameless,
I have no concern for myself;
I despise my own life.
It is all the same; that is why I say,
‘He destroys both the blameless and the wicked.’
When a scourge brings sudden death,
he mocks the despair of the innocent.
When a land falls into the hands of the wicked,
he blindfolds its judges.
If it is not he, then who is it?
Job 9:1-14
I saw Royal City far below
Borders soft with refugees
Streets a'swimming with amputees
It's a Bible or a bullet they put over your heart
It's getting harder and harder to tell them apart
Days are nights and the nights are long
Beating hearts blossom into walking bombs
And those still looking in the clear blue sky for a sign
Get missiles from so high they might as well be divine
Now the wolves are howling at our door
Singing bout vengeance like it's the joy of the Lord
Bringing justice to the enemies not the other way round.
-Josh Ritter, “Thin Blue Flame”
We need faith for the very reason it is hard to find. If not for pain and suffering, what need would we have for faith? If not for pain and suffering, what joy would we ever know? It is not our job to bring pain. There is more than enough trouble to go around without any of us repaying evil with more evil. And this is why I keep saying that we must maintain our humility and our joy.
“Why then did you bring me out of the womb?
I wish I had died before any eye saw me.
If only I had never come into being,
or had been carried straight from the womb to the grave!
Are not my few days almost over?
Turn away from me so I can have a moment’s joy
before I go to the place of no return,
to the land of gloom and utter darkness,
to the land of deepest night,
of utter darkness and disorder,
where even the light is like darkness.”
Job 10:18-22
“Are all these words to go unanswered?
Is this talker to be vindicated?
Will your idle talk reduce others to silence?
Will no one rebuke you when you mock?”
Job 11:2-3
Faith and doubt are two faces of the same state of being. You can not have one without the other. Even the atheist has faith in something when he has doubts. Doubt is how we determine true from false, right from wrong, good from evil. Without doubt, even the good become evil. Embrace your doubts, but don’t forget your faith.
You, dear reader, may have noticed I have abandoned my 350-word limit. There are not enough words to impart what I am called to impart and my intended audience has changed from when I started.
If Job, with his grief and his pox, could maintain his faith and gratitude, then so can I. If Job, with his doubt and torment, could maintain his faith and rejoicing, then so can I. If Job can listen to and accept those who rebuke him, but still hold onto what he knows to be true, then so can I. If I can do it, so can you.
"Preach the gospel at all times; when necessary, use words" - attrib. Francis of Assisi
After Job had prayed for his friends, the Lord restored his fortunes and gave him twice as much as he had before.
Job 40-42.