A Nation of Jobs

Listening to Matt Redman sing "Blessed be the Name" this morning, I just wept and wept over the resiliency of the Haitian spirit. I am so challenged. The reports coming out of Haiti are that still, weeks later, the days and nights are filled with praise and beautiful deep worship. Like the Sufferer of the Old Testament, they are a nation of Jobs. Everything is gone: family, possessions, health, safety, the very ground beneath their feet is no longer a trusted friend. (I have thought numerous times since I have returned from the initial days of the quake, how unreliable even the earth is...sometimes it shakes and there's no place to hide.) Everyone has lost someone, something and collectively, a price could never be placed on the great and utter loss. Like Job, they have chosen to say, " 'Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I will depart, the Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised.' In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing." (Job 1:21-22)

"Blessed be Your name, in the land that is plentiful, where your streams of abundance flow, when the sun's shining down on me when the world's all as it should be, every blessing You pour out I'll turn back to praise" - this is easy. We naturally want to give thanks and praise.

"Blessed by Your name, when I'm found in the desert place, though I walk through the wilderness, on the road marked with suffering, though there's pain in the offering, when the darkness closes in, still I will say 'blessed be Your name' " - I am so challenged, it punches me in the gut; I've failed here many times in much lesser crises.

"You give...and take away; my heart will choose to say, Lord, blessed be Your name."

It is the Holy Spirit of God within them that rises up and gives strength. He is the Comforter. The Great Physician. The One who is closer than a brother. If we could see with spiritual eyes, we would see all over the nation, Jesus holding little ones, mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, pastors, friends, leaders and peasants, the elderly...holding them and comforting them and giving them great peace.

This is the kind of correspondence that I regularly receive from Pastor Val: "We appreciate your great love manifested toward us in Haiti working hard to lift up this country naturally and spiritually. I am very thankful to you and to all of those who are helping you making it possible to accomplish that great job.Thank you so much for your help, love and prayers, my greetings and thanks to all the sponsors; the children are fine and we are praying for you all. We love you."

I think if I were the suffering one, I'd be sending desperate emails full of prayer requests and for needed things. But he just plugs along, never having become accustomed to comfort, and never having developed expectations of plenty. He has always seemed so thankful for whatever God provides, and he has frequently said to us, "Let's just see what the Lord will do!"

I want to live my life that way. Just simplify everything, and detach myself from the entanglements of abundance. How do you do that when you live in America? It's like survivor guilt of a different kind. Must we lose everything, like Job? Perhaps, but I doubt we'd respond the same way. We need to learn from those who have nothing. Jesus said, "how hard it is for a rich man to enter the kingdom of Heaven." We have no idea...