Saturday, September 3, 2016

THE MINISTRY OF SILENCE AND PRAYER

Job 2:13 THEN THEY SAT ON THE GROUND                       WITH HIM FOR SEVEN DAYS


When Job’s friends arrived on the scene and saw Job’s suffering, they sat on the ground and were silent for seven days and nights. The moment they opened their mouths (starting in chapter 4), Job’s suffering got a lot worse. Job hadn’t yet asked why he was suffering, but in case he did, his friends wanted him to know why. The reason was, to their way of thinking, simple. Good things happen to good people, and bad things happen to bad people. 

The universe is morally ordered by a God who punishes evil and rewards good. Bad things had happened to Job, exceedingly bad things; Job must therefore have done some exceedingly bad things. But Job’s friends were wrong. Job knew they were, and God eventually said they were (see 42:7).

Job’s friends’ errors can be put this way: They were superficially right but fundamentally wrong. God does punish evil and reward good – the Bible says so. But when it comes to the timing in this world, there are exceptions and mysteries. Job’s friends were following the letter of the law: They looked at Job’s symptoms, checked their listing in the index, read the appropriate pages, and drew their conclusions. The problem is that God’s Word isn’t an owner’s manual because God isn’t a mechanism. Job isn’t either. Both are persons. The moment we forget that axiomatic truth, we make ourselves the god of God. We elevate our theology, what we think about God, to the level of God.

How much better it would have been if Job’s friends were slow to speak and quick to listen (see James 1:19). How much better it would have been if, when they spoke, it was to ask questions and listen to Job, and then pray with him. Especially pray with him. 

A ministry of silence and prayer would have been healing to Job and honoring to God. The Spirit who moves us to pray is the Paraclete, the Spirit of encouragement, who comes from the God of all comfort 
(see John 14:16; Romans 8:15-16:2; 2 Corinthians 1:3-4).

Consider how quiet his ministry is, and do likewise.



In Christ,

Playwright Janet Irene Thomas
Founder/CEO
Bible Stories Theatre of
Fine & Performing Arts


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