Hope for Light
Let those curse it who curse the day, who are ready to rouse up Leviathan. Let the stars of its dawn be dark; let it hope for light, but have none, nor see the eyelids of the morning, because it did not shut the doors of my mother’s womb, nor hide trouble from my eyes.
Job 3:8-10
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Hope for Light
Job is consumed by suffering and anxiety. He curses the day in which he was born. If only the day of his birth had never happened, then none of the tragedies which he is suffering through would have happened. It of course is true, but only in a nihilistic way. He would have had to never existed for his tragedies to not have existed. This is what Job is ultimately saying here. And throughout the book of Job, we see him wrestle with this idea and with the bad advice his friends will give him. And in a world where God does not exist this reasoning might make sense. Afterall, if there is no God what’s the point? Yet we do not live in a world where God does not exist. In fact, existence itself is created by God. The devil, the world, and our sinful flesh may try to convince us this is not the case, but the fact remains, in the beginning God created. So what is the answer to Job’s suffering and anxiety, to ours? It is the faith we have in God. In His Word and promise to never abandon us. Job wishes the light to have not shone forth on the day of his birth so it would never be, “let it hope for light, but have none.” But God had other plans. And He sent forth the dawn that day and He sent it forth the day of your birth as well. And even more importantly He sent forth His Light on the day of your rebirth through the water and the Word of Holy Baptism. You were remade as a child of God, and you now have an answer to the “reason for the hope that is in you.” It is the source of all hope, it is the Light of the world, Jesus Christ.
Job 3:8-10
+
Hope for Light
Job is consumed by suffering and anxiety. He curses the day in which he was born. If only the day of his birth had never happened, then none of the tragedies which he is suffering through would have happened. It of course is true, but only in a nihilistic way. He would have had to never existed for his tragedies to not have existed. This is what Job is ultimately saying here. And throughout the book of Job, we see him wrestle with this idea and with the bad advice his friends will give him. And in a world where God does not exist this reasoning might make sense. Afterall, if there is no God what’s the point? Yet we do not live in a world where God does not exist. In fact, existence itself is created by God. The devil, the world, and our sinful flesh may try to convince us this is not the case, but the fact remains, in the beginning God created. So what is the answer to Job’s suffering and anxiety, to ours? It is the faith we have in God. In His Word and promise to never abandon us. Job wishes the light to have not shone forth on the day of his birth so it would never be, “let it hope for light, but have none.” But God had other plans. And He sent forth the dawn that day and He sent it forth the day of your birth as well. And even more importantly He sent forth His Light on the day of your rebirth through the water and the Word of Holy Baptism. You were remade as a child of God, and you now have an answer to the “reason for the hope that is in you.” It is the source of all hope, it is the Light of the world, Jesus Christ.
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