Week 1: Reassurance

Welcome to the first full of week Lent! This week we're discussing how God hears us when our community doesn't. How can we wrestle with feeling unheard, and how can we lean on God for reassurance?

When I first thought of this study, I actually didn't have any specific points in mind. Unlike my previous study where I was pretty sure where I wanted each week to go, I went into writing this pretty blindly. However, for my first week I wanted to go to the scripture that really inspired me to write this series: the story of Job. 
Now, the story of Job could be a sponsored advertisement on remembering who God is in relation to who we are. Job not only had to watch his family fall apart alongside his riches falling away, but had to sit and listen to his friends completely gaslight him. 

gaslight ​| verb

1. manipulate (someone) by psychological means into questioning their own sanity

I think the story of Job tells a more empowering story than a story of lament. Throughout Job's story, we see him and his friends in a lengthy conversation about why he was going through what he was facing. To his friends and to their understanding of God and His intentions, Job must have done something horribly wrong to be going through what he was facing. To Job, however, he knew that he was a faithful servant of the Lord. He did everything as he was supposed to do, and telling him he had done something wrong was not only a false interpretation of his character but also of God's. His friends then go on to gaslight him into thinking that he is wrong to even question the actions of the Lord, and that he should be ashamed for even complaining about what is wrong in his life. This banter goes back and forth for a few more chapters until we see God appear in chapter 38. 

When I first read Job seriously a few years ago, I got to this chapter and I was completely terrified. As you read on, God begins to press into Job and almost embarrass him in his disbelief. However, as I began to think of this chapter and the chapters following, I started to read this much differently. God's need for Job to understand his place in God's design is one of comfort rather than fear. I, like many people, have struggled with processing the absolute chaos of a few years we've had. From racial injustice to gender inequality to a whole pandemic: it became hard for me to keep my cool when it came to trusting in the Lord. God's reminder to Job of who He is was what I kept leaning into. It led me to two conclusions that I want to guide you through and leave you with. 

​1. Anger is holy. God is holier.
In chapter 38, God begins to ask Job a series of questions that put into context the power and splendor that He holds, and that Job is incapable of ever holding that much power over the earth. Although He makes it abundantly clear that Job will never be able to understand the inner workings of God's design, God never makes Job's pain feel invalid or just. He never intends for Job to feel as if he shouldn't complain about the pain and suffering he faces. However, He does reassure Him of how intricate the workings of His hands are displayed throughout the earth. From the rising and setting of the sun to the life and death of animals in the forest: God's hand is present. His intricate work in our stories is far more beautiful and holy than we could ever see it. 
2. Our God hears us. 
After He gets done putting Job back into his place, He goes back to Job's friends and reminds them of the hurt that they caused Job. I think that this encounter is a display of how God doesn't just want to heal our broken wounds, but heal what broke them too. God not only heard Job's lament, but He heard his friends' words about God's character. Our God is a God that not just heals, but forgives and restores. I love that He doesn't just yell at them and leave them with no hope, but He allows for them to be restored through forgiveness, and Job prays for them. If the story of Job has taught us anything, it's to never forget the lens that God sees the world through. We can only see but a fraction (and a small one at best) of the intricacy that God has painted throughout the universe. When we see brokenness, God sees a beautiful stained glass window waiting to be finished. When we need reassurance, our God will hear us.