I made a wonderful promise to Israel and Judah, and the days are coming when I will keep it.
15 I promise that the time will come when I will appoint a king from the family of David, a king who will be honest and rule with justice. 16 In those days, Judah will be safe; Jerusalem will have peace and will be named, “The Lord Gives Justice.”
God,
above and beyond
everything else.
God of safety.
pf promise.
of hope;
you are our certainty,
our surety,
our foundation
and our steadfast rock.
You are a God of planting
a God who breaks weapons,
for there is no place for them
in your place of beauty and peace.
What we need is to stop,
listen to you,
take stock,
look at you
rather than the things we have deemed as important,
look at others,
people you have made
and love
as much as you love us
and then
consider how we might live
together for you
for your protection,
hope
and love
is for each and every one of us.
we need fight no one for it.
Our call
Is to bring your way of life here
– for everyone
46 1-3 God is a safe place to hide, ready to help when we need him. We stand fearless at the cliff-edge of doom, courageous in seastorm and earthquake, Before the rush and roar of oceans, the tremors that shift mountains.
Jacob-wrestling God fights for us, God-of-Angel-Armies protects us.
4-6 River fountains splash joy, cooling God’s city, this sacred haunt of the Most High. God lives here, the streets are safe, God at your service from crack of dawn. Godless nations rant and rave, kings and kingdoms threaten, but Earth does anything he says.
7 Jacob-wrestling God fights for us, God-of-Angel-Armies protects us.
8-10 Attention, all! See the marvels of God! He plants flowers and trees all over the earth, Bans war from pole to pole, breaks all the weapons across his knee. “Step out of the traffic! Take a long, loving look at me, your High God, above politics, above everything.”
11 Jacob-wrestling God fights for us, God-of-Angel-Armies protects us.
I see it now,
how wrong I have been,
how I thought I had the answers,
trotted out my glib assurances,
spoke
when really I had no idea.
I said to much
and listened to you
too little;
said things about you
rather than hearing from you
and now, here I am.
I see that you can do
what you will do,
you will do
what you need to,
it’s not me
in control.
Help me Lord,
to work with you,
not rile against you,
to speak with understanding,
not trot out
what I’ve heard.
May I speak as I hear you,
and say as I see you
in truth
and reality.
From my place of despair
take me to a place of hope
in you.
2 No one can oppose you, because you have the power to do what you want. 3 You asked why I talk so much when I know so little. I have talked about things that are far beyond my understanding. 4 You told me to listen and answer your questions. 5 I heard about you from others; now I have seen you with my own eyes. 6 That’s why I hate myself and sit here in dust and ashes to show my sorrow.
A Happy Ending
10 After Job had prayed for his three friends, the Lord made Job twice as rich as he had been before. 11 Then Job gave a feast for his brothers and sisters and for his old friends. They expressed their sorrow for the suffering the Lord had brought on him, and they each gave Job some silver and a gold ring.
12 The Lord now blessed Job more than ever; he gave him fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, a thousand pair of oxen, and a thousand donkeys.
13 In addition to seven sons, Job had three daughters, 14 whose names were Jemimah, Keziah, and Keren Happuch. 15 They were the most beautiful women in that part of the world, and Job gave them shares of his property, along with their brothers.
16 Job lived for another one hundred forty years—long enough to see his great-grandchildren have children of their own—17 and when he finally died, he was very old.
Two sides. The place of abject despair, of realisation of rock bottom – and the place of hope. Does our journey end in sackcloth and ashes, in pain and anguish? Will there be a happy ending for me and my story?
This apparent ‘happy ever after’ ending is an expression of hope and faith. That everything will be OK, because God is in charge. I’m not convinced our happy ending will always look like Jobs, in fact life has shown me that often it won’t – but in the world where Job lived, long life, wealth and happiness were the expression that God was happy with you, and we have to read this ending in that context.
Our happy ending may look very different. It may not look so happy and rosy. We may still be in a place of distress and pain. But, from the place of sackcloth and ashes, we may come to a place of hope, of blessing, of knowledge and security of God’s love – and a place of peace. It may not look like Job’s happy ending, but we can still find that place of rest and security that God is with us, and though we may not understand – he does. There is our hope.
