What is the human heart, what is the human spirit when all hope is gone? In Job 29-30 Job walks through the valley of despair. Rather than a balm of healing his friends bring only condemnation and more suffering. Has the church been guilty of the same?
It is indeed a terrible and miserable condition when you find yourself in the valley of despair. The memory of having once walked in the high places of joy is a haunting shadow. It follows too closely, always reminding you how things once were.
Half in fear and half in wonder I look at my friend of almost twenty-nine years who has MS. Once he ran without stopping to the top of Multnomah Falls. His eyes still sparkle and he laughs with great spontaneity, but he tires very quickly.
What sustains so many wounded and disabled people? Where do they get the courage to face another day with laughter? What makes them shutter at the thought of hurting someone else?
Why wasn't that unknown essence inside the 24 year old man who opened fire on a crowd of teenagers in downtown Portland almost a year ago? Why wasn't it in the authors of Columbine, Virginia Tech, Thurston ...? What is missing in the hearts of those who do the unthinkable? We seem to have a pill for everything else, why not this?
Did God suffer with Job? Does God suffer with us? What does it cost God to look into compassionless eyes and see an empty heart so broken, so twisted, and so hopeless it can take the lives of strangers? Do you think that breaks the heart of God? How does killing strangers make the pain go away?
In the valley of despair, like Job, you remember those who have forgotten you and the doors you once opened for them. There is a great danger in being alone, but especially when you are in the valley of despair.
I see the conversations in Job reflected not only in the response of some to the tragedy in Haiti, national and global politics, senseless acts of violence, but even in the people I once knew who now only wave in passing. I wonder if the purblind angels in the church have read the book of Job.
In Job, one bleak chapter after another culminates in a short chapter of final victory. Is "You will be better off in heaven?" the Christian response to life and the plea for mercy and justice? Something empty always strikes deep within my heart when I hear someone say, “He or she is in a better place now.” Of course the idea is that they are with God in heaven now, but aren’t we supposed to be with God on earth now? Didn’t Jesus tell us He would never leave us or forsake us? Is the message of the Bible one of bifurcation or one of reconciliation?
The circumstances that pulled Job down were incredible! We too are surrounded by tragedy, sorrow and pain. God help us not to be like Job's friends. God help us not to leave the hurting all alone.
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