There are days when I nostalgically look back and long for the vigor of youth, when all things seemed possible and everything was new. Life has a way of grinding you down and wearing you out. Day to day we have trials and tribulations, worries and problems, sometimes nothing is easy. Job's problems where far worse that anything I will ever be faced with (I hope!), yet even though in this chapter he is looking back to better days; he is still strong. I know my family who surrounds me, loves me. In their love I see God's love. They give me the ability to face each day, one day at a time, with a strength which is renewed and reinvigorated in my faith that God loves me only as a Father can love his children.
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Although his children are not, God is still with Job. The future is breaking into the present, so nostalgia for the past (or regrets from it) has very little place. That is easier said than done.
ReplyDeleteThe Mighty One is by our side every day. We renew our partnership with God by helping people in trouble, being fair...eyes to the blind, feet to the lame, champion of outsiders.
As your leader, I will work to establish the mood and set the pace (sorry if I started out of the blocks a little too fast). I will always point you toward Jesus and his mission for the world.
Bill, my sermon for this weekend is entitled Temptation, Trials, Testing, Trust. It should be right up your alley.
I'm not so quick to discount nostalgia. As we remember our history - world, corporate, or individual - we are strengthened by it and grow from it. We learn from the past...but we do more than that. We honor it, and allow it to become part of who we are. The people and moments of our lives have eternal life...not just in their own existential reality by God's grace, but also because they become a part of all that they touch.
ReplyDeleteWe know this when we speak of the holocaust. We remember not just because we learn from the past and strive to make a world where such a thing could never happen. We remember because the act of remembering changes us - who we are, who we want to be, and how we love.
Job's nostalgia is core to who he is. If he should ever stop looking back entirely, he would be less of a man. No matter how God may bless him in the future, the past is always with him - its joys and its sorrows live on.
The struggle for me, for Job, and for all of us - is to look back honestly. In my youth, I had more energy, but made some really stupid mistakes. In Job's past he had great wealth and the love of a family --- but there were doubtless trials and tribulations that should not be discarded any more than the joyous memories.
I'm too young to look back on the vigor of my youth, which means I have more mistakes in my arsenal than wise choices. If you want my two cents you can bet one is a slug.
ReplyDeleteI have made many decisions in my life that your self driven. In my youth I was reckless and destructive. But through it all God has been with me. Every tribulation that I experience is part of my journey. The Lord protected me when I didn't listen for his voice. Today I am grateful that I have taken the cotton out of my ears. My life is full and it is all due to the grace of God.
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