Oh for the days.....

"Oh, for the days when I was in my prime, when God’s intimate friendship blessed my house, when the Almighty was still with me and my children were around me, when my path was drenched with cream and the rock poured out for me streams of olive oil."

Job 29:4‭-‬6

One of my scripture writing plans is on Friendship. Today's writing took me to the book of Job. In the beginning Job's friends learned of Job's suffering and immediately went to him and graciously sat with him for seven days and nights....they spoke not a word because they knew his suffering was great. After those seven days there began a lot of conversation and the friends that recognized the suffering started to look for ways to "explain" to Job the "why" of his suffering. I know this to be true, it is very, very hard to respond to another's suffering. It's awkward, you don't know what to say, you want to take their pain away.... I can say, for me, my friends were absolutely amazing. They sat with me for weeks, months and years. I would never be able to thank them or express my gratefulness for the countless kindnesses that have been extended to me. Job's friends? A bit....maybe more than a bit.....rough.

I've spend a lot of time in the book of Job in the last years. Job POURED out his grief yet he NEVER cursed God. One thing I never want to do is quantify loss. Job lost everything but his wife. His children (all ten of them), his way of life and his health. Would I say, "but he didn't lose his spouse?" Of course not! Would I say to the woman who is divorced through no fault of her own, "well at least he's still alive?" Absolutely not! Would I tell a young woman that can never have children that at least she has a great career? Good heavens! I've been following a young man who had a devastating accident that rendered his body useless from the neck down. Would I say to his mother, "aren't you at least thankful that you still have him?" No! Grief, no matter the circumstances or the outcome, is grief. A lost job, marriage, singleness, childlessness......dreams not attained...hopes and desires seemingly unnoticed.....grief IS grief.

Those who profess to follow Jesus know that nothing happens outside of his plan. In our hearts and minds we know that he has a plan, a perfect plan, for each of us. We often may not understand it. I still don't understand why, nearly seven years later, I am where I am. I may never understand the whys on this side of heaven...actually that's a 100% certainty in my case. I.will.never.understand, period.

In chapter 29 Job begins to reminisce about his former life. How many of those who have suffered loss have done just that? Job says, "Oh, for the days when...". I've said that too but then God opens my eyes to familiar scripture and shows me something new and really sweet. "Oh, for the days when I was in my prime, when GOD'S intimate friendship blessed my house...."

One commentary says it this way:

"Job especially longed for the days before he lost his sense of God's closeness. There was a time when he felt that God watched over him and those days were gone." (EWC)
"His keenest sorrow is discovered. It was that of the feeling that, in some way, and for some reason, God no longeer watched over him." (Morgan)

“It is a great thing for a man to be near to God; it is a very choice privilege to be admitted into the inner circle of communion, and to become God’s familiar friend. Great as the privilege is, so great is the loss of it. No darkness is so dark as that which falls on eyes accustomed to the light.” (Spurgeon)

Oh my, that last sentence: "No darkness is so dark as that which falls on eyes accustomed to light."

And as Morgan said above, "His keenest sorrow is discovered." He could not feel the God who promises over and over to never leave us or forsake us.

Keenest sorrow....When you place your hope and future in the One who promises to love you, guide you, walk with you FOREVER you cannot comprehend WHY he allowed such things to happen and WHY he seems to have disappeared in the midst of it. I've done some research and can't find any definitive information on how long Job lamented.....how long God listened before he finally spoke...but in the end God DID speak and Job DID hear and Job DID see and Job DID realize, just as I did, that God was always there. He had never left. Deep sorrow is like that. We feel so very alone.....so alone that we often can't feel God. Job was a faithful man. He loved the Lord and even in his pain and crying out he did not sin against Him. Job KNEW God and he thought he understood him. I spent years pouring God's word into me and I thought I KNEW God too. After reading chapters 38-41 (which I highly recommend for those who believe and those who quesiton) you might find just what Job says here to be quite convicting:

"My ears had heard OF you but now my eyes have SEEN you."
Job 42:5

In Ecclesiastes, Solomon set out to prove that all he could possess with his great wealth would make him happy. At the end he said this:

"Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the duty of all mankind."
Ecclesiastes 12:13

When I put my faith in man and earthly "stuff" I will always be disappointed. When I place my trust in the One who has a plan and a purpose for my life I will never be disappointed. God doesn't say I won't have trouble, in fact, he says:

“Do you now believe?” Jesus replied. “A time is coming and in fact has come when you will be scattered, each to your own home. You will leave me all alone. Yet I am not alone, for my Father is with me. “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
John 16:31‭-‬33