Job Remembers His Righteousness

This meditation is based on a passage for September 7, 2010 in the Daily Lectionary Year 2 from the Book of Common Worship for the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) (1993).

Text: Job 29:1-20

Reflection and Question: Here Job reminisces about the grace of his life before his troubles. He does what most of us do. Job associates God’s presence with the good times and God’s absence with the bad. For me, one of the provocative approaches to Job is to understand the poem to be the musings of a devout Jew in exile who is working through the punishment of God’s people despite their faithfulness. Job presents a very different view from the history writers for whom, like his friends, the people’s sin is the cause of their suffering. How are your days “when God watches over you” like Job’s?

Prayer: Blessed Spirit of God, we are tempted, like Job, to see You when Your
Friendship is upon our tent and to lose sight of You when life is full of trouble. Open our eyes to Your constant loving presence so that we may stay steady in our faith. Amen.