Making it to the Other Side

Readings: Job 6 and 2 Timothy 2

When we hear about Job, it is often, at least colloquially, about his patience. We have taken the story of all that happens to him, the loss of his health, his children, and all that he has, looked at his faithfulness through all of it, and dubbed him to be the biblical paragon of patience. While I don’t want to come out and say that this vision of Job is entirely incorrect, I will at least say this: Job’s own assessment of his patience does not match up with the more popular take. Job 6 gives us Job’s own perspective on things: Speaking of his death, he says, “This would be my comfort; I would even exult in pain unsparing, for I have not denied the words of the Holy One. What is my strength, that I should wait? And what is my end, that I should be patient?” 

Job’s suffering is so intense, his despair is so great, that he does not wish to wait for death. Job is in a very dark place. This one chapter does not tell the whole of Job’s story, and he will go back and forth with his three friends about the cause of his suffering for many chapters before God enters into the conversation, changing the perspective, and restoring Job. Job is not wrong in his cries to God, for the Scriptures say that Job remains righteous, but what we read in Job 6 does reflect his limited perspective. And who can blame him? We who have suffered understand Job’s point of view, and he is an example for us of how we can be faithful even in the midst of our trials, in the midst of our questions of God, in those times we aren’t able to see the other side. 

But what is the other side? How can we live in the midst of suffering, in days of fear and separation, and maintain our faithfulness? 

Paul gives us the answer in the first verse of 2 Timothy chapter 2: “You then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus.” Christ, who comes as the suffering one for our sake, has defeated death and has enabled us to gracefully accept the suffering that we endure. But this isn’t a magic formula, and there are skills that Paul tells us we should develop, which he lays out in a series of three metaphors. We are to have the focus of a soldier, the integrity of a fair athlete, and the dedication of a farmer. 

When I think of a soldier, my first thought is to think of the attributes of strength or bravery, rather than focus, but that is the line Paul takes here: “No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him,” he writes. A good soldier focuses on the mission and keeps the main thing the main thing. How often in this life are we distracted by things that do not matter, things that are not of ultimate importance? 

What is it that is important? Micah tells us that we are to do justice, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with God. Jesus tells us that the command to love God and to love our neighbor is the summation of all the Law and the Prophets. If we are going to remain faithful in times of trial, we must remain focused, and not let ourselves get distracted or bent out of shape over issues that are of secondary or lesser importance. 

Next, Paul encourages us with a metaphor from the world of sports, saying that those who cheat do not attain true victory. And while the theory of “cheaters never prosper” has certainly been tested in recent days, even those who do get away with breaking the rules do not do so forever (I’m looking at you, 2017 Houston Astros). The same is true in our personal lives. If we are not people formed by integrity, if we do not live lives where our words line up with out actions, we will not have the strength to bear the hardships that come our way. 

Finally, Paul encourages us that the strength to bear our suffering requires the hard work of a farmer. We will have good seasons, and we will have bad, but we must press on in all circumstances. The farmer’s job is never easy. There will be good days and bad ones, days filled with plentiful harvest, and days filled with blight and lost crops. The farmer is called to work all the same. So also for the Christian, for though we are not saved by our works, good work is the necessary fruit of our faith. Our faith lived out in our works, especially when life is hard, will form us into the people who can weather the storms of life. 

And this is the encouragement Paul gives, Paul, who is writing at the end of his life, a prisoner for the sake of the gospel as he writes these words. We must be steadfast in focus, integrity, and in dedicated, hard work. These disciplines will strengthen us in all our days, but especially in those that are filled with suffering. These disciplines help us to see the light in the midst of the darkness, to see hope in the midst of despair. 

I was reminded by these passages of a film I recently saw, called A Hidden Life. It tells the true story of the Catholic martyr Franz Jägerstätter, who was an Austrian man who was imprisoned and put to death in 1943 for refusing to join the Nazi army and take an oath of loyalty to Hitler. In the film, the prison that Franz is kept is shot in a very interesting way. It is always very dark in the prison, but almost without exception, there is light pouring in through a window or a door. This imagery is matched with Franz’s personal reflections that while his current suffering may be great, he is secure in his hope of the promise of everlasting life and union with God. Light in the darkness. That is how we can navigate days of suffering. 

Today, Wednesday of Holy Week, some churches will hold a service of Tenebrae. Tenebrae is a service of that consists of a series of Psalms and passages from the book of Lamentations, accompanied by the extinguishing of candles, so that the people are surrounded by darkness at its end. The darkness helps us to look toward the cross, aware of our own sin and the sin of the world that Jesus came to make right. At the end of the service, though, all is not completely dark. One candle is placed on the altar, reminding us that even in our darkest hour, even in the valley of the shadow of death, he is with us.