It’s not just Job who must undertake these life journeys where the pendulum swings between despair and hope. The reality is that not all loss leads to renewal. Not all disillusionment and suffering have a happy ending. Recently, I watched a horrifying news segment showing a badly burned little girl on a hospital bed in Gaza after yet another bombing. Her silent screams were cries to heaven on behalf of a silent world. And it made me reflect: around this time last year, I sat on a step in front of a barrack in Auschwitz-Birkenau, Poland, holding a piece of paper with a quote from Tadeusz Borowski: “Night. Night without end. No dawn comes.”
Perhaps you, like me, hoped that our month-long journey through the book of Job would bring us closer to answers about all the suffering in the world. Why does God allow it? Alas, Job did not receive answers, except the same one that Isaiah would receive centuries later: “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you” (Isaiah 43:1). The same answer that Jesus would echo: “No one will snatch them out of my hand” (John 10:28). The same answer that Paul would reiterate: “Nothing can separate us from the love of God” (Romans 8:39).
We share one confession of faith wholeheartedly with Job when he declares: “I know that my Redeemer lives, and in the end, He will stand on the earth” (Job 19:25). This is also the promise with which the Bible concludes: “He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death, or mourning, or crying, or pain” (Revelation 21:4).
“Night without end. No dawn comes.” No. There will come a time when “there will be no more night” (Revelation 22:5). Until then, “the grace of the Lord Jesus be with all” (Revelation 22:22).
PRAYER: Thank You for not leaving us without a promise, Lord.
MUSIC:
We listen to Jake Runestad’s song “Let My Love Be Heard” performed by the VOCES8 choir.
From the lyrics:
Angels, where you soar
Up to God’s own light
Take my own lost bird
On your hearts tonight;
And as grief once more
Mounts to heaven and sings
Let my love be heard
Whispering in your wings