We left Job last week in the middle of a terrible storm with lightning flashing all around him and his friends with rain pouring down in sheets and deafening thunder. It is like the storm in King Lear. In part, the storm echoes Lear’s inner turmoil and mounting madness but also a physical, turbulent reflection of Lear’s internal confusion: Blow, winds, and crack your cheeks! rage! blow ...[Read More]

Again, we need to see the context of our assigned passage this morning. Last week we met Job’s three friends, Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar. It’s not exactly our definition of friendship, is it? They sit with him silently for seven days but then their responses to his misery grow increasingly harsh. This morning is no exception. In fact, it is growing hard to believe that they have ever been friends. ...[Read More]

\= We left Job last week with him having experienced the loss of everything but in spite of that his response was not numb shock or anger. It was simply “the Lord gives and the Lord takes away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.” We are in Chapter 14 this morning but I think it is important to give the context before we get there. The final words of Job in Chapter 1 might have been the end of Satan’ ...[Read More]