• Eirenicole

Hope in spite of…

Hope in spite of… 150 150 Nicole

‘I have heard many such things; miserable comforters are you all.  Have windy words no limit? Or what provokes you that you keep on talking?  I also could talk as you do, if you were in my place; I could join words together against you, and shake my head at you.  I could encourage you with my mouth, and the solace of my lips would assuage your pain.’ (Job 16:2-5)

Everything is stripped from Job: the mass of his material possessions, most of his servants and all of his children.  Finally, his health is swept away and all he can manage to do is sit on a heap and scrape his sore-crusted skin.  His response to this unimaginable loss is to acknowledge that God gave him everything; it is God’s prerogative to take it away.  After some time, he opens his mouth to lament, and immediately his so-called friends pounce.  ‘But now it comes to you and you are impatient’ (4:5), ‘How happy is the one whom God reproves; therefore do not despise the discipline of the Almighty’ (5:17), ‘God will not reject the blameless’ (8:20), and so on. 

The book of Job has always been difficult for me to read.  The seemingly random, impassive and indiscriminate ruination of Job’s livelihood and self is excruciatingly difficult to reconcile.  And, I have difficulty containing the fury I have toward Job’s unthinking, pious friends. Yet, as I am reading it this time around, I am struck by the likeness the dialogue (if one can construe the text as such) between Job and his friends bears to the public discussions swirling around the nation today: ‘The poor are just lazy’, ‘that hurricane was God’s judgement’, ‘why should my hard-earned money be siphoned off to those godless immigrants? this is a Christian nation, after all!’  It is precisely on these points the book of Job concerns itself: God is God and we can do nothing to earn God’s favor.  Yes, God loves us with a love that cannot be matched; a love that can bring death to life, light out of darkness.  But we cannot earn this love.  It is freely given because that is exactly who this God is. 

It is on this matter that I wonder why it is, then, that those who claim to follow this God expect that others ‘earn’ what they get, when in fact, these same only have what they have because they were born into a situation that set the conditions for them to get what they have.  Maybe they worked a bit harder than someone else in the same place; maybe they didn’t.  But to say that another doesn’t work hard as evidenced by how little that person has, is pure ignorance, utter idiocy.  The many truly poor people I know work harder than any of the wealthiest people I’ve encountered.  The majority are single moms working two and three jobs to keep a reasonable residence and food on the table—while caring or securing care for the children.

Jesus never judged the poor.  He called to task the rich, the ‘whitewashed’-pious and those who lacked faith, all of whom neglected the poor.  I love the conclusion at which Paul Ricoeur arrives when noting Job 42.1-6.  Ricoeur observes that Job’s questions are not “answered”: “Job presupposes an unsuspected meaning which cannot be transcribed by speech or logos…What is revealed is the possibility of hope in spite of….”  And, it is precisely here that I am provoked to act, as God’s image-bearer following after Jesus.  My task is not to judge the rich or the poor.  Rather, it is to understand the word of God to be eventful, not stagnant, benign; to be that instrument of possibility of hope in spite of the poverty, the lack of resources, the condemnation…in spite of my ignorance or prejudice…in spite of…myself.  Hope…does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us. (Rom 5:5)

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  • Right on! My thoughts on Ricoeur's comment goes right to "the possibility of hope in spite of…", which reminds me of Prov. 3:5-6 with the "lean not on your own understanding". And I go to our most recent circumstances of job seeking and during that time trying, but having a hard time with the hope. But continually trying to cling to that hope! …in spite of.

  • lovely. Yes, thank you.

  • I was trying to understand what the words, "hope does not disappoint us," mean. It sounds so good, but hoping without seeing any results gets old fast. I looked up the passage in The Message: 3-5There's more to come: We continue to shout our praise even when we're hemmed in with troubles, because we know how troubles can develop passionate patience in us, and how that patience in turn forges the tempered steel of virtue, keeping us alert for whatever God will do next. In alert expectancy such as this, we're never left feeling shortchanged. Quite the contrary—we can't round up enough containers to hold everything God generously pours into our lives through the Holy Spirit!Think about it: "Troubles can develop passionate patience in us…and that patience in turn forges the tempered steel of virtue…." I'll take two cups of passionate patience, thank you.

  • what I understood about hope from this meditation is first, where my hope is directed, and second, that it is active. Just as we say love is action, so hope. …'keeping us alert for what God will do next'… 'it does not disappoint because God's love has been poured into [us]'… Our hope is that God is God and that Jesus is who he claims to be. We hope because that redemptive love is poured into us more than we can contain so that we can love others. I think hope and faith are inseparable; that is, hope isn't really hope unless acted upon. And, it does not disappoint: we are not left without the resource. Then, through this action, we are instruments of hope to those who have not yet seen.

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About the author

Nicole

Nicole Oliver Snyder’s expertise lies in the areas of leadership, gender issues, and mindfulness practice as it affects both. Leadership, particularly in an urban setting, requires community-relations skills, and an ability to clearly convey justice issues as they relate to felt, spiritual ones. Dr. Snyder is author of Leading Together: Mindfulness and the Gender Neutral Zone, and specializes in teaching mindfulness leadership development, formative spirituality, counseling, and Old Testament theology (emphasis on justice issues). She has a diverse background in international community-relations work combined with volunteer work in multi-ethnic communities, and with local institutions. She is an ordained Clergy; holds a BS in Human Development and Family Studies, w/Education Certificate, an MA-Counseling, MDiv Equiv., holds a Doctor of Ministry and Advanced Certification in Formative Spiritual Direction, and is a Licensed Professional Counselor (CO, MI).

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