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Job 24:8, 12. "They are wet with the rain of the mountains, and cling to the rock for want of shelter. ... From out of the city the dying groan, and the soul of the wounded cries for help; yet God pays no attention to their prayer."

 

Job is lamenting all the injustice, pain, evil, and suffering in the world and wondering why God does not set things right. This chapter begins with him asking "Why are not the times of judgment kept by the Almighty, and why do those who know him never see his days?" (Job 24:1) He goes on to list so many wrongs he sees in the world - wicked men taking what little the fatherless and the widow have; men having to toil "like asses in the desert" to be able to feed their children; people having no covering in the cold or the rain; people treading the wine presses but suffering thirst themselves. They groan and they cry for help, "yet God pays no attention to their prayer." (Job 24: 2-12).

 

I think we all feel like this sometimes, I know I do, especially over the last five years. I see now that it had been happening slowly and unnoticed by me, but with COVID I saw so clearly that wicked people are willing to, and took advantage of COVID to, consolidate power and wealth while depriving ordinary people of livelihoods, the ability to get ahead, the freedom to move about, the freedom to see loved ones, the freedom to speak one's mind, the ability to be with dying relatives, the freedom to worship as they chose, and basically any human freedom that gets in the way of their desires and plans. They mocked and ostracized anyone who raised their voices in protest, and turned people, even families, against one another. They fostered hatred and division, their actions and policies led to mental anguish, suicide, child abuse, drug and alcohol abuse, and on and on. The litany of their wrongs is just as horrific as the one Job lays out. Yet here we are, five years later, and they act as if it is all water under the bridge. There is no sign, yet at least, of God's justice, although throughout these last years, I have heard so many people crying out for it. It seems, as it did to Job, that God is not paying attention to their prayers.

 

For all of that, though, the book of Job saw me through a lot of the misery of the last five years. While I felt the same way that Job does here, unlike Job I had the benefit of knowing the end of his story, and applying its lessons in my times of misery. The lament of Job quoted today is mid-book. Although he thinks that men who know God "never see his days", later Job will have his very own incredible day with the Lord. God will come to Job and enter into conversation with him. Importantly, though, God will not explain Himself to Job (how could He?!). He will, instead, basically ask Job who he thinks he is! In so many words, and by reference to the great beasts of Leviathan and Behemoth, God will bring Job to see the complexity of the world and the heavens; the way we cannot possibly know how one thing affects another; the way that all of Creation works for God, even the mightiest and most terrible of beasts; the way Creation is held together by God and God alone. Job will be appropriately chastened, and will come to trust God implicitly, the same as I must do, the same as we all must do.

 

So God is definitely paying attention. The Lord hears the cry of the poor. (Psalm 34:6) He will eventually have justice, in His time and in His way. In the meantime, we must trust, and know that the Lord gives, and the Lord takes away. But always blessed be the Lord. (Job 1:21)

 

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"Do you see evil growing instead of weakening? Do not worry; close your eyes and say to me with faith: 'Thy will be done, you take care of it.' I say to you that I will take care of it ... And I will accomplish miracles where when they are needed." The Surrender Novena,-  Day Four.