12th Sunday of Ordinary Time

 Questioning God. Job 38

Job had it all!

Wealth, Health, prestige, family and friends. 

And then He lost it all. 

His children died in a storm 

His wealth disappeared 

His health deteriorated 

And his family and friends deserted him. 

And in the midst of his suffering he begins to lament. 

He wishes he was never born. 

He blames God for all that has happened to him

And he asks God to turn away from him and leave him alone,

Long enough to swallow his own spit,

Before the next disaster comes upon him. 

And he questions God, Why?

He tried to be good. 

He did all that God asked.

Why is this all happening to him?

And rather than answer Job,

God chooses to ask Job a question. 

Where were you,

When I put the stars in the sky?

Where were you when I dug out the oceans

And built up the mountains?

Where were you when I made the birds in the sky

And the animals in the fields?

And to all of these questions, 

Job had no answer. 

For he was not there at the beginning of the world

And will not be there at the end. 

So in the face of God’s questions 

Job fell silent. 

And he realized that all he had came from God and would one day return to God. 

And all that Job had lost, came back to him a hundred fold. 

In the face of Job’s suffering and loss,

He teaches us that sometimes there are no answers to the questions of life

And all we can do is to have Faith!

For the One Whom the wind and sea obey,

Will one day still the storms and suffering of our lives as well!