Wednesday of the Twenty-sixth Week in Ordinary Time
Feeling that God is on your side is easy when things are going well. When life seems to be one difficulty after another God’s loving support seems not so clear. Still we are reminded in the readings that we are to follow the Lord completely, even when the going gets tough. The dialogue in Job goes back and forth between understanding God’s power and then asking the question is it wise to challenge God’s wisdom. This discourse is a response to Job’s friend Bildad who says that God is a God of knowledge whose justice is fair. For Job who has lost much, and yet has a clear conscience, God’s justice feels more like divine anger. Job’s suffering feels not as a “just” reward for sin, but more as a recipient of an arbitrary allocation of God’s power. Job realizes that the person (God) to whom he wishes to complain may in fact be responsible for his pain. Job’s catch twenty-two leaves him feeling powerless.
Like Job, the psalmist questions God as to the purpose of long term suffering. This lament asks the Lord to hear his prayer because it seems like God is not listening. For many of us, there are times when we feel God is not hearing our prayer. These times leave us feeling spiritually in the dark.
Jesus, in today’s gospel, gives us an insight to help us to overcome spiritual darkness. We must stay focused on being a disciple and attempt to recognize suffering’s redemptive nature. With this understanding, suffering can be conduit through which we draw closer to Christ. As Jesus asks each of us to follow Him, do we say; “Lord first let me bury my dead,” or do we let the frustrations of our lives consume all of our energy? It is then we need to quit arguing with God and start living as a committed disciple.
Lord, today as we carry out our daily activities, help us to withhold our complaints and instead pray… “Lord, more of You and less of me.”
Mike Montgomery