Job on the dung hill

Week 4: Wednesday

Reading

Job 2.1-10

One day the heavenly beings came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them to present himself before the Lord. The Lord said to Satan, ‘Where have you come from?’ Satan answered the Lord, ‘From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it.’ The Lord said to Satan, ‘Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man who fears God and turns away from evil. He still persists in his integrity, although you incited me against him, to destroy him for no reason.’ Then Satan answered the Lord, ‘Skin for skin! All that people have they will give to save their lives. But stretch out your hand now and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse you to your face.’ The Lord said to Satan, ‘Very well, he is in your power; only spare his life.’
So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord, and inflicted loathsome sores on Job from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head. Job took a potsherd with which to scrape himself, and sat among the ashes.
Then his wife said to him, ‘Do you still persist in your integrity? Curse God, and die.’ But he said to her, ‘You speak as any foolish woman would speak. Shall we receive the good at the hand of God, and not receive the bad?’ In all this Job did not sin with his lips.

Reflection

The Book of Job is one of the oldest within the Hebrew Bible. It is a rich examination of the enduring question of how an all-loving and all-powerful God can allow undeserved suffering. Job finds himself on a dung hill, scraping his putrid sores. All he has and all that he owns has been taken away, violently and suddenly.

Most of the book is Job’s deep questioning of why such evil and misfortune has befallen him. To make things worse, heaven is quiet. God does not answer him. Job does not know of the bargain over his life and faith God has made with Satan (whose name means “the accuser”). And when God answers Job, there is no justification given.

Black Spirituality has been shaped by experiences of injustice and undeserved suffering affecting whole communities for generation after generation. However, even when heaven is quiet, the faithful still learn to trust the goodness of God.

Watch

Reflect on how you react when you feel unjustly wronged.

...and pray

for the courage to lay these feelings honestly before God.

Copyright © The Archbishops’ Council 2024.