Today’s Scripture Reading (April 27,
2015): Job 11
Mark Twain
once commented that “a half-truth is the most cowardly of lies.” One would
think is that Twain had modern day politicians in mind. It has long been the strategy
of political minds to attempt to twist the truth for their own advantage. And
as long as what they are saying is at least partially true, then it is harder
for the accusation of them being untruthful to stick. But the flip side is also
true, the best lie contains an element of truth. The truthful element makes the
lie both easier to tell and easier to believe.
Half-truths
seem to be the theme of Job’s friends, although the comments made might be
better understood as half understandings. It is not that the friends are intentionally
trying to mislead Job, but rather that they have been misled by the predominant
culture to believe something that as only partially true. Culture might be the
best purveyor of the half-truth. The truth part of what is being said is that
we are to devote ourselves to God and put our trust only in him. To trust in
something or somebody else is an insult to the God who created all that we
know. The comment that if Job will “stretch out his hands to him” indicates a
position of supplication. It specifies that if Job will only open his hands and
receive the forgiveness that God has for him, he can be restored. And there is
an element of truth in all of this.
The problem
is the assumption that Job’s situation indicates that he has not done this. The
writer of Job continues to hammer home the simple idea that looks can be deceiving
- and that it is unfair to judge someone on the external circumstances of our
lives. There is just too much about the lives of those around us that we cannot
understand or even know.
The teaching
of Job is an ancient one, but it is still one that is hard to assimilate. We
still make assumptions based on the external conditions of the people that we
meet. Often we overestimate our own ability to make the assumption, and as a
result we believe the half-truth that our culture serves up for us.
Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Job 12
No comments:
Post a Comment