V.
As we return to Job’s words, I wonder what we should make of his statement –

“… therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes.” (Job 42:6)

VI.
Job 19:19-27 (New Revised Standard Version)

All my intimate friends abhor me,
    and those whom I loved have turned against me.
My bones cling to my skin and to my flesh,
    and I have escaped by the skin of my teeth.
Have pity on me, have pity on me, O you my friends,
    for the hand of God has touched me!
Why do you, like God, pursue me,
    never satisfied with my flesh?
“O that my words were written down!
    O that they were inscribed in a book!
O that with an iron pen and with lead
    they were engraved on a rock forever!
For I know that my Redeemer lives,
    and that at the last he will stand upon the earth;
and after my skin has been thus destroyed,
    then in my flesh I shall see God,
whom I shall see on my side,
    and my eyes shall behold, and not another.
    My heart faints within me!

Job 42:1-6 (New Revised Standard Version)

Then Job answered the Lord:

“I know that you can do all things,
    and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.
‘Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?’
Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand,
    things too wonderful for me, which I did not know.
‘Hear, and I will speak;
    I will question you, and you declare to me.’
I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear,
    but now my eye sees you;
therefore I despise myself,
    and repent in dust and ashes.”

VII.
How has his encounter with God brought him to “despising” himself and finding he needs to “repent”?

Or is that what brought him to such a place?

He does say, “… I have uttered what I did not understand…” (Job 42:3)

Is he moving from a place of self-confidence (maybe even arrogance) to a place of humility?

But, he still approaches God with, “Hear, and I will speak; I will question you and you declare to me.” (Job 42:4)

He doesn’t sit silently before God, does he? He still believes he has the right to question God. And expect an answer?

Or does he move to a place of knowing something different about his expectation of answers? Answers don’t always come in the way we want and expect? Or, maybe, answers just don’t come?

What did Job want from God? What might he want from God now?

Do you think Job is justified in his approaching God with questions? Even if his questions don’t result in answers? What will come from the questions?

charles
{ubi caritas et amor, Deus ibi est}