Not a Sparrow Falls...

Read Job 23:1-24:25

I like how Job deals with Eliphaz’s barbs: he ignores them, paying no attention to the accusations or the angry venom of Eliphaz’s ignorance. Job does not seem to respond to Eliphaz even for a moment. Instead Job sort of wanders around in despair. One can sense the heaviness in Job’s heart through his words. Here is a man worn down by his friends, by God’s silence, and by his own physical affliction.

Listen to the profound sadness in Job’s words: “If only I knew where to find him; if only I could go to his dwelling!…But if I go to the east, he is not there; if go to the west, I do not find him. When he is at work in the north, I do not see him; when he turns to the south, I catch not glimpse of him” (vs. 3, 8-9). This is much different from the words of the Psalmist who declared that he could go nowhere without God being there. “Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?” (Psalm 139:7). Strange how we flit back and forth between the two points of view.

One view is so despondent and afraid that he cannot find God anywhere. The other view is so joyful that he can go nowhere without God finding him. The Psalm is especially delightful in light of these two chapters of Job. What I sense in Job is that his suffering had become so intense and his friends so discouraging that he felt utterly alone. That is an easy way to feel sometimes. Everything in the world seems to come crashing down upon us, all our friends have abandoned us, we cry out to God and no answer seems to be forthcoming from the gates of heaven. That is how Job felt.

What I sense in the Psalm is the keen awareness of God’s presence despite circumstances. Perhaps an enemy has made a threat, or perhaps we are still in the womb of our mother, or perhaps there is sin or even death. Whatever the case may be the Psalmist is aware that God is always present, always watching, and always concerned about the life of his child. It makes no difference if the child of God is yet in the womb of her mother or if the child of God is laying in the depths of Sheol. There is nowhere we can go that God has not already been; there is no place we can go that God cannot find us.

I do not blame Job for feeling the way he did. The walk through the valley of the shadow of death is at times perplexing and painful. Oftentimes we will feel utterly alone and abandoned. I encourage you today to remember the Psalm. Job’s feelings were not wrong they were real. Real feelings are attached to real situations and circumstances. But behind such real pain is the Real God who is always aware of where we are and what we are doing. “Not a sparrow falls to the ground…”

Prayer Thoughts on Job 23:1-24:25

Today spend some time praying the prayer uttered in Psalm 139. Think about the places you have been and the place you are and see how God has been present even when you felt alone. Job’s despair is not uncommon or wrong unless we never come around to the Psalm. Pray for God’s presence to be powerfully evident in your darkest moments and then trust that It is.