Job at Davis Point
20181002 0646CDT beneath a pastel sky of swirly morning clouds, a tug pushes two barges past Davis Point, pristine, natural and beautiful thanks to TAFB.
For soon four years, I have seen a schooner, the twin-masted fishing smack Annie & Jennie, rounding Davis Point every time I look across StAndrewsBay from 7H; the January 1918 voyage that, from the moment Mom woke Alfred from sleep into chaos and death, created the opportunity for my own life, the lives of my brother and sister, and the lives of now four generations of people I love. I loved my grandmother so dearly, if I could might I change that night for love of her and Pop, but that I love these generations even more. So then, Frost again, "The Road Not Taken," about seemingly at the Time insignificant decisions that, looking back, forbade all that might have been, decreeing all that came to be. The significance of our most insignificant thought, word, deed. IDK.
Anyway, here (scroll down) is our OT reading for next Sunday, Job and its responding Psalm 126, a good match. Sunday, October 7 begins our first of four Sundays reading from Job, an epic theodical poem of wisdom literature, an early exploration of theodicy as we try in vain to vindicate God: "if God is as all loving and all powerful as we like to insist, why do such terrible things happen to us," where something has to give.
Job 1:1; 2:1-10
There was once a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job. That man was blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil.
One day the heavenly beings came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them to present himself before the Lord. The Lord said to Satan, “Where have you come from?” Satan answered the Lord, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it.” The Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man who fears God and turns away from evil. He still persists in his integrity, although you incited me against him, to destroy him for no reason.” Then Satan answered the Lord, “Skin for skin! All that people have they will give to save their lives. But stretch out your hand now and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse you to your face.” The Lord said to Satan, “Very well, he is in your power; only spare his life.”
So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord, and inflicted loathsome sores on Job from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head. Job took a potsherd with which to scrape himself, and sat among the ashes.
Then his wife said to him, “Do you still persist in your integrity? Curse God, and die.” But he said to her, “You speak as any foolish woman would speak. Shall we receive the good at the hand of God, and not receive the bad?” In all this Job did not sin with his lips.
For soon four years, I have seen a schooner, the twin-masted fishing smack Annie & Jennie, rounding Davis Point every time I look across StAndrewsBay from 7H; the January 1918 voyage that, from the moment Mom woke Alfred from sleep into chaos and death, created the opportunity for my own life, the lives of my brother and sister, and the lives of now four generations of people I love. I loved my grandmother so dearly, if I could might I change that night for love of her and Pop, but that I love these generations even more. So then, Frost again, "The Road Not Taken," about seemingly at the Time insignificant decisions that, looking back, forbade all that might have been, decreeing all that came to be. The significance of our most insignificant thought, word, deed. IDK.
Anyway, here (scroll down) is our OT reading for next Sunday, Job and its responding Psalm 126, a good match. Sunday, October 7 begins our first of four Sundays reading from Job, an epic theodical poem of wisdom literature, an early exploration of theodicy as we try in vain to vindicate God: "if God is as all loving and all powerful as we like to insist, why do such terrible things happen to us," where something has to give.
There was once a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job. That man was blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil.
One day the heavenly beings came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them to present himself before the Lord. The Lord said to Satan, “Where have you come from?” Satan answered the Lord, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it.” The Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man who fears God and turns away from evil. He still persists in his integrity, although you incited me against him, to destroy him for no reason.” Then Satan answered the Lord, “Skin for skin! All that people have they will give to save their lives. But stretch out your hand now and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse you to your face.” The Lord said to Satan, “Very well, he is in your power; only spare his life.”
So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord, and inflicted loathsome sores on Job from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head. Job took a potsherd with which to scrape himself, and sat among the ashes.
The Response
Psalm 26
Judica me, Domine
1 Give judgment for me, O Lord,
for I have lived with integrity; *
I have trusted in the Lord and have not faltered.
for I have lived with integrity; *
I have trusted in the Lord and have not faltered.
2 Test me, O Lord, and try me; *
examine my heart and my mind.
examine my heart and my mind.
3 For your love is before my eyes; *
I have walked faithfully with you.
I have walked faithfully with you.
4 I have not sat with the worthless, *
nor do I consort with the deceitful.
nor do I consort with the deceitful.
5 I have hated the company of evildoers; *
I will not sit down with the wicked.
I will not sit down with the wicked.
6 I will wash my hands in innocence, O Lord, *
that I may go in procession round your altar,
that I may go in procession round your altar,
7 Singing aloud a song of thanksgiving *
and recounting all your wonderful deeds.
and recounting all your wonderful deeds.
8 Lord, I love the house in which you dwell *
and the place where your glory abides.
and the place where your glory abides.
9 Do not sweep me away with sinners, *
nor my life with those who thirst for blood,
nor my life with those who thirst for blood,
10 Whose hands are full of evil plots, *
and their right hand full of bribes.
and their right hand full of bribes.
11 As for me, I will live with integrity; *
redeem me, O Lord, and have pity on me.
redeem me, O Lord, and have pity on me.
12 My foot stands on level ground; *
in the full assembly I will bless the Lord.
in the full assembly I will bless the Lord.