Imago Scriptura 70 - Job 22-24 - Bones
Coming to the end of the first section of Job - the dialogue between him and his friends before a 4th voice comes in, Elihu. It very much feels by this point that Job is worn down. His language is more raw and feels much more stripped down from where we started with him. Its totally understandable and its a place that is important for someone to feel free to express as they go through difficult times. Too often, we feel like we need to need to soften our language to avoid offending or to not make others uncomfortable. But pain is pain and needs to be expressed and not hidden away.
The thing is that, while other people might not feel they can take it, God can take it. God can take the gratitudes that we offer and God can take the anger that we offer. Otherwise, God is not taking the whole of our selves.
The picture today is not the prettiest one I have ever put up but it represents where I feel the book of Job is at. I am writing this up sitting in the waiting area of an auto repair for one of our vehicles to get a scheduled service. Just outside of the building is a drainage area that, about a year ago, I walked by and was saddened to see an owl's body right by the grate. I mentioned it to the people at the service place but they never seemed to do anything about it. So today I wandered by and saw that it was largely just bones. I can imagine that Job felt something like this - stripped away and forgotten...