Blessings and Curses

“Then his wife said to him, “Do you still hold fast to your integrity?  Curse God and die!”” Job 2:9

Curse – You’re reading Job in Hebrew.  You come to this verse.  Something shocking happens.  The word translated “curse” is not qalal (which we saw yesterday).  It is barak and barak means “bless”.  This verse jumps off the page because it seems to say exactly what we don’t expect.  Does Job’s wife really say, “Bless God and die”?

What we discover when we realize that the word is “bless” not “curse” is this:  Job’s wife employs powerful sarcasm to get across her point.  Job has become a scapegoat of blessing.  All his good has been turned to evil.  Now his wife ridicules his previous blessed state.  “You thought God was so good to you.  You constantly talked about His blessings.  Now look at you.  You’re pathetic.  Why don’t you bless your “blessing” God now, and die!”

Years ago when I had my first face-to-face encounter with Job, when my life suddenly collapsed into ruin, I heard these same sarcastic remarks.  “Don’t wait for a miracle.  It’s not going to happen.”  “You were so stupid.  Now maybe you’ll wake up to the real world and take care of yourself.”  “Stop living in a fairy tale.”  The words of Job’s wife echoed across the centuries.  Look at your life.  It’s ruined.  What kind of God does this to people?  If that’s what God’s blessings mean, then why bother to live.

Job is a very difficult book to study.  It’s not difficult for those who read only the first two chapters and the last few verses.  They are the ones who are convinced that God directs MGM studios.  Everything turns out good in the end.  Job isn’t for them.  Job is for the rest of us who have to live in the middle.  Job doesn’t become ours until we hear those sarcastic words, until our faith is challenged by the unthinkable, until we are standing alone, destroyed, under the banner of a God who cares.  Then Job is as real as it gets.  Job is the theology of pain and it is utterly useless to those who do all they can to avoid pain.  Job is only for brave souls who are willing to face life as it is.

Pain is an essential ingredient in the growth of faith.  It wasn’t supposed to be that way, but a fallen world changed the plan.  Where we deny and avoid pain, we bypass the power of Job’s story.  Pain isn’t good, but it’s important.  Pollyanna was wrong.  Listen to Job.  He knows.