Oct. 18, Job 38, Ps. 104, Heb. 5
God doesn't answer Job’s suffering questions directly, nor does God defend the friends when they try to defend the work of god in the world. Instead, god gives Job a tour of the universe as understood at that time, an ancient cosmos program.theodicy and creation-Creation here is pictured as a complex set of relationships. this is not a romantic view of nature, but a candid shot of nature. When I was a child Mutual of Omaha sponsored a show with Marlin Perkins, Wild Kingdom. My favorite memory is hazy at best, but Marlin is narrating and his assistant Jim Fowler was with anaconda that was wrapping itself around Jim and in his safe perch Marlon goes, it looks like Jim is in a bit of trouble, as the life’s breath was being squeezed out of him.We are not at the center of this picture of life, but we are clearly part of this vast panoply of creation, room for all sorts of activity. In particular look at how God cherishes the wild, not the domesticated animals. it. In this immense universe is it any wonder that things go awry, from our perspective? Job sees a world that mixes birth and death, of animals that kill in order to live, of unexplored, unimagined questions. Job gets a tour of cosmic scope. In large part, it is to enlarge his perspective (s) to see the pageant of life from different viewpoints, even a divine viewpoint.
Heb. on temptations would that include power and our desire to judge God in the world? Job learns that nature is vast and deep. He learns that the world is not centered on humans but the entire natural order. He learns that a balance, even a harmony exists between order and chaos, predator and prey. In the wildness of creation, predictability for humans is not the measure of all things.Creation is good but it entails risks and dangers for human beings we are removed from considerations of propriety and deserving blessing or punishment in this reading.Janzen sees Job being moved from a zero-sum game of dualism.God speaks probably less out of a tornado and more out of a blistering hot wind a scirocco, signalling real trouble or signalling the end of the heat and the fall rain.
Jesus is tempted/tried/tested too, so has real empathy and sympathy for our plight
Ps 104-McCann-As Psalm 104 moves beyond v. 26, God is celebrated not only as creator, but also as provider and sustainer. “Food” and “good things” for “all” (vv. 27-28) derive from God’s beneficent care (see also Ps 145:15-16). vv. 29-30 -- air or “breath” (or “spirit,”. Human beings breathe about once every five seconds. On the one hand, respiration (that is, re-spiriting) can be understood as a natural process. But for the psalmist, the breath of life is a gift; every breath we take is a new creation! ..We would be a lot more inclined to gratitude and humility!
Webb-When God provides, creatures thrive, . If God’s face were to turn away from the creation, God’s creatures would be dismayed; God’s presence and attentiveness are necessary for the fullness of life of all God’s creatures. ..but the sending forth of the spirit of God brings life, and renews that which has been reduced to dust (verses 29b-30). -There is joy at the foundation of the earth, in the dew on the grass, in the romping of a dog, in the quiet of cricket song on a summer night. here is joy in the gifts of life and spirit that we receive from God, and in our rejoicing in those gifts. For this joy, we offer God our joyous praise.
Suffering precludes joy. In our passages, joy can re-emerge . Suffering does not defeat its presence, even if it appears on the far horizon.
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