One of the problems with our civil religion is that it is far, far too positive. We preach prosperity and blessings. We preach about the power oif God to heal. We do not wrestle with the evil of this world.

Yesterday I was reading the Gabriel Method. The author — who has lost a lot of weight, spends a lot of time on trying to get one to change the reality around them by thinking positive.  Gabriel had hit a truth –there is  evil in this world and in our life because we allow it and become enslaved by it. But at times the world is unjust.

And depressives often speak the truth.

Job 9:1, 10:1-9, 16-22

1Then Job answered:

1″I loathe my life; I will give free utterance to my complaint; I will speak in the bitterness of my soul. 2I will say to God, Do not condemn me; let me know why you contend against me. 3Does it seem good to you to oppress, to despise the work of your hands and favor the schemes of the wicked? 4Do you have eyes of flesh? Do you see as humans see? 5Are your days like the days of mortals, or your years like human years, 6that you seek out my iniquity and search for my sin, 7although you know that I am not guilty, and there is no one to deliver out of your hand? 8Your hands fashioned and made me; and now you turn and destroy me. 9Remember that you fashioned me like clay; and will you turn me to dust again?

16″Bold as a lion you hunt me; you repeat your exploits against me. 17You renew your witnesses against me, and increase your vexation toward me; you bring fresh troops against me.

18″Why did you bring me forth from the womb? Would that I had died before any eye had seen me, 19and were as though I had not been, carried from the womb to the grave. 20Are not the days of my life few? Let me alone, that I may find a little comfort 21before I go, never to return, to the land of gloom and deep darkness, 22the land of gloom and chaos, where light is like darkness.”

You can see his friends saying — “You cannot think this. You must not think this. In that way lies madness. This is evil speech”. But Job is poor because his land was invaded and his famiklly and property destroyed, and in his poverty he now has a painful skin disease. This reflects reality. Often bad things happen on in threes, but in dozens. And there is apoint when we are left without and comforts.

Job was asking God to judge as a man.God stated that he would not do that. The closest we have to understanding the mind of God is the teachings of Jesus. and he refused to do that either…

John 8:12-20

¹²Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life.” ¹³Then the Pharisees said to him, “You are testifying on your own behalf; your testimony is not valid.” ¹⁴Jesus answered, “Even if I testify on my own behalf, my testimony is valid because I know where I have come from and where I am going, but you do not know where I come from or where I am going. ¹⁵You judge by human standards; I judge no one. ¹⁶Yet even if I do judge, my judgment is valid; for it is not I alone who judge, but I and the Father who sent me. ¹⁷In your law it is written that the testimony of two witnesses is valid. ¹⁸I testify on my own behalf, and the Father who sent me testifies on my behalf.” ¹⁹Then they said to him, “Where is your Father?” Jesus answered, “You know neither me nor my Father. If you knew me, you would know my Father also.” ²⁰He spoke these words while he was teaching in the treasury of the temple, but no one arrested him, because his hour had not yet come.

via Daily Lectionary Readings — Devotions and Readings — Ministries & Programs — GAMC.

What shall we do?

• We cannot understand, but we can comfort.
• We need to audit ourselves around the habits we have that encourage evil.
• We need to acknowledge that we are not rigtheous. We are not asking for justice. We are asking for mercy — from God and from each other.

For only then can we truly sing this.

Psalm 100

¹Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth. ²Worship the LORD with gladness; come into his presence with singing.

³Know that the LORD is God. It is he that made us, and we are his;we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.

⁴Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise. Give thanks to him, bless his name.

⁵For the LORD is good;his steadfast love endures for ever,and his faithfulness to all generations.