VIII.
As we reflect on our two focus Scripture passages for this week, hold these two statements of Job in mind

        “… I know that my Redeemer lives …” Job 19:25
        “I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you …” (Job 42:5)

… and consider the “distance” between the two statements.

IX.
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.”

X.
Certainly the two statements (can we call them “faith” statements?) are distant from one another as they are presented in the book of Job. Maybe we can also consider the distance as one appears after a speech of Bildad and the other after Job “hears” from God.

Give some thought to how they might reflect a distance from one another as to where Job is in his relationship to God. Dare we call this his “spiritual” journey?

How does he move from the “knowing” to the “seeing”?

What might be the limitations in the “knowing” he speaks of as compared to the “seeing” he speaks of at another time?

Take some time to consider your own journey of faith. What “movement” do you notice? What brings it about? What do you hope for as your journey continues?

charles
{ubi caritas et amor, Deus ibi est}