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Thursday, October 1, 2015

Dear Job...





Dear Job,

Lately I have been struggling
The Spirit and the flesh
Seem quite at odds within this rack
Of sorry humanness
So, I would like to ask you
For advice on how to be
The person God intended
Job, can you help me?
I’ve worn sack-cloth and ashes
And it didn’t change a thing
I’ve wept and wailed and questioned God
On ‘why this suffering?’
And everyone that stands around
to offer up their views
makes me quite cross because they’ve never
stumbled in my shoes
or sat where everybody points
And thus provoked God’s wrath
I stagger in a costume
Drained of joy and energy
A mind and body battleground,
Oh Job, can you help me?

From: Physically and mentally depleted

Dear physically and mentally depleted;

The body is a temple, not an idol, sometimes we
Get so caught up in ‘my-my’ hurt
That we neglect to see
How ‘God in us’, Immanuel
Desires that we trust
Instead of seeking answers
In these agonies of dust
Sack-cloth and ashes cannot change
That place where change must start
Yet, often we ourselves estrange
The Hand the moves the heart

Shall we accept only the good?
And while bulging jowls drip
Curse God because He tests the faith
We boast from fattened lips
Say, where were you when God laid out
Or measured its dimensions
Or breathed very Time to birth?
To challenge God with ‘why’
Then answer,
Where were you when He
Splayed seas beneath the sky
Earth’s oceans to contain
Dare you correct the One who spawned
Or spreads the sky like hard, cast bronze 
Beneath the womb of Light?
Then, can this cloth explain
The mind of He whose excellence
And then, when He says trust in Me
Why is it not enough?
Why do you think you need to see
The mystery of His Love?
For who of us has understood
Will you only accept the good?
Tell me, fool-headed clod
Why is it not enough to know
Since Time began, why is it man
Has argued and appealed
where changeless through the ages still
God’s reply vexes dust
Believe in Me and trust”

Speaking from experience,
Your humble servant, Job

This month each person in our writer's group was assigned to seek advice from a Bible-character.
Mine was Job.
Have you read the Book of Job lately?
What a, what a book!! 

This poem was shamefully easy to write as I drew
from my lack-of-trust training...
because every fear I have
is a matter of trust
...the more I trust
the less I fear.







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