Then Job took a piece of broken pottery and scraped himself with it as he sat among the ashes. – Job 2:8

Today’s Scripture Reading (May 23, 2018): Job 2

Twentieth-century poet Ogden Nash wrote that “Happiness is having a scratch for every itch.” I seriously believe that every dermatologist should be someone who has had to suffer through some sort of skin ailment. I laugh at the constant instructions of doctors who implore those who are suffering from their skin disease not to scratch the itch. Eventually, I am convinced that the doctor’s advice might save the skin and allow it to heal but, by the time that the healing comes, the patient will have long ago been driven absolutely insane.

If you have never suffered from a serious skin disease, this might be hard to understand, but pain is often more tolerable than the unending itch. I have to admit that I feel a bit of an affinity with Job. Although his situation is much worse than any that I have known, I do sometimes look for something with which to scrape my skin. And if the action brings pain, well, pain has its benefits. It drives the maddening itch away for longer periods of time than anything else that I know. Job’s skin also contained ulcers, and the skin scraping might have been part of Job’s process for cutting open the ulcers and allowing the sores to drain. At any rate, Job was dealing with his affliction in the best way that he knew how.

The comment that he sat in ashes also might have had a medicinal benefit. As strange as it might sound, it is likely that Job had removed himself to the local garbage dump, a place where garbage had been or was in the process of being burned. Ashes have long been used as a sign of mourning, and there is no doubt that Job had much to mourn, but there also might be more to his action than we realize. The residual heat from the fire might have felt very good on the afflicted skin. And, whether or not Job realized this, the burnt garbage might also have been the most sterile place for a man with running sores on his skin to sit. Most of what could have made him sick was already burned in the fire.

But whatever the reasons, the image that we have here is simply of a man trying anything to cope with his condition, to make it through one more day. While those around him seem content to urge him to “curse God and die,” Job seemed to have a drive to stay alive so that he could see tomorrow. This drive for life is something that I think we often miss as an essential part of Job’s character. He was not going to give up. In spite of all that had gone wrong and seemed to be continuing to go wrong, Job had a belief that maybe tomorrow could be different.

And if there are lessons that we need to take from Job’s life, this might be one of them. In the midst of our pain our task is to try to make it one more day; to do whatever is necessary to find our way into tomorrow. And trust that, with God, tomorrow has at least the potential to be better.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Job 3