Which Way Did He Go?

Job 23:1-9, 16,17

Here's a clip of one of the most said sayings of my childhood
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bs-Q0JmWjj0

You can watch the full episode if you want, it's actually very funny.

Of course, in today's passage we see the opposite of funny. I don't know how else to say it except that Job is lost, completely lost. Not only is Job lost but he also feels alone. Job is in a state of despair, needing a word of encouragement from his God and it would seem his God is nowhere to be found. Not that Job isn't doing his best to find God, it's just that for some reason God can't be found.

Actually, if we read the passage closer we discover that Job cannot "perceive" him or "see" him. This passage doesn't say God wasn't there, it just says Job couldn't see God. A closer look at this passage has us realizing it's in the middle of Job's defense against his closest friends who are faulting, if not downright blaming, all of Job's recent downfall on his lack of faith and belief in God.

Things don't look good for Job right now and if we take a look at where we are in our lives we see that sometimes we feel just as lost as Job does. So, what do we do when we feel like we're at the lowest point in our life? We keep moving forward, that's what. The story of Job is well known to many Christians. The moral of the story is that no matter what if we keep our faith in God we will get through whatever our "trials" may be and in the end God will reward us with so much more than we lost.

There, my friends, is the most difficult thing to do. When we're at our lowest, when the pain is so deep we don't feel anything and when the numbness of a life with no meaning is all we understand we want very much to give up. The thing is we don't. Somehow we find that inner strength, somehow we begin to see those around us who are trying to help, somehow we begin to see the light through the thickest darkness.

If you find yourself wanting to vanish into that darkness, it's okay, we've all been there or will be there at least once in our lives. Just please understand there are people who love you and a God who stands with you along the journey.