Job’s TQ (Trust Quotient)

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Blessed be the name of the Lord, Book of Job, challenges, destruction, distress, give, loss, suffering, take, thank God, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, trust in God, unwavering faith

When I read the text of the first reading from the Book of Job this morning (JB 1:6-22) I thought – as  usual – that it sounds like the synopsis of a bad movie. Satan, vying with God, bets that Job won’t be as faithful as he has been if bad things happen to disturb his idyllic life of favor as God’s friend. God disagrees. After he hears all the terrible destruction that his servants come one after another to tell him about, we hear the familiar line that “I came into the world naked and will leave it naked. The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.” Of course Job doesn’t say these words as declarative, emotionless sentences. He does wail and rend his garments…and this is only the first chapter of his test.

While it is clear to me that God does not bargain with evil, even on a sure bet, the Book of Job does make me think. I am always edified in conversations with people who have lost virtually everything in life or who have had horrendous experiences, when they make similar statements to Job’s, attesting to their ongoing faith in God. I wonder sometimes what I would be able to endure of suffering – I who often profess to have lived “a charmed life.” There have been challenges, to be sure, but my supports have been such that I never have cause to complain.

Today I shall think about Job and about all the people I have known who have met and survived incredible distress in unwavering faith – especially those like our Sisters in Japan who survived the atomic bombs of World War II, the man from Aleppo whose whole world was destroyed in seconds – including the loss of his four children and his wife, or all the people I have spoken of during this year who have been victims of weather events, who say when standing in the rubble of their town, “I thank God to be alive.” I don’t think we ever know the strength of our faith until it is tested, but I am urged by these thoughts to practice, in whatever ways I can, for a time when I might feel severely shaken and need to place my trust totally in the God who loves me more than I can imagine.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Time Passages

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calling to God, life, practice love, psalm 90, surrender, thank God, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, wisdom of heart

There it is again! Psalm 90 appears again today with it’s plea that God will “teach us to number our days aright that we may gain wisdom of heart.” Having already commented recently on this line, I need not repeat myself, but the thought does give me pause. I have heard myself say often lately, “I can’t believe it’s been 40 years since…” or “How could I have lived here for 30 years already!” And last year I often shocked myself with the thought, “I’m 65 years old!” It just popped up in my consciousness at various times for no reason, stunning me with the reality of it. Life seems to be passing at an increasingly rapid rate – all the more reason for awareness of the passage so I won’t miss the lessons.

All this makes me understand a bit what it’s like for God, of whom the psalmist says, “A thousand years in your sight are as yesterday now that it is past…” I certainly can’t slow it down. It doesn’t make sense to try. It seems then that the only response is to surrender to it, make the best of every day and thank God for the opportunities that appear at every moment to practice love.