Scootering

Scootering

Friday, 22 July 2016

Bad Itch

This week I felt like I was about to come down with a cold. The younger kids were yet again unwell and there is also a bug going around in the work place. And then I also developed rashes or hives, I don't know which it is, around the neck and shoulders. At one point I was scratching so badly that I thought of the story of Job from the Bible when he was afflicted with "painful sores from the soles of his feet to the crown of his head." And then it says that "Job took a piece of broken pottery and scraped himself with it as he sat among the ashes". My allergy and condition pales in comparison so I am not drawing any parallels. Mine were not sores and they were not painful and no I certainly did not resort to broken pottery. But like the beginning of the book of Job, I did have that moment of as-if-it-wasn't-bad-enough; compounding chemo and wearing a facemask most of the time with a cold and a bad itch!

Job had a painful story. He was a godly man who suddenly lost all his children, wealth and health in the blink of an eye and he spends more than 40 chapters trying to figure out why all this happened. His struggle reminds us that even if we are feeling incredibly lousy or itchy, we are not the only ones who have felt that way. It reminds us that pain, suffering and discomforts are part of our humanity, and Job was at the extreme end of that spectrum. And from Job's story we have the benefit of knowing that God gives us the space to download our emotions and to be brutally honest about how we feel. He does not expect us to play happy bunny, not to Him and not to the people around us. And for the same reason, the rest of the Bible records the stories of many more weepers, strugglers and doubters. 

Towards the end of the book of Job, it says that the "LORD blessed the latter part of Job's life more than the first." But ironically when God himself took the form of a man to pay the price of our sin, His suffering ended in death. Unlike Job, Jesus didn't regain a great fortune or live 140 years. When Job questioned God about his misery, he didn't know that God had already planned out His own suffering. Job prophetically declared:

You asked, 'Who is this that obscures my counsel without knowledge?' Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know. You said, 'Listen now, and I will speak; I will question you, and you shall answer me.' My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you.

Job didn't yet know of Jesus or that His death would defeat death itself, but he prophetically declared:

"I know that you can do all things; no plan of yours can be thwarted."

I resorted to WhatsApp to broadcast my sorry state to a group of friends and family who have committed to pray for me. I managed to sleep well that night and didn't wake up the next morning with a runny nose or sore throat. My itch is still there but not as bad, certainly not as bad as Job got it.


The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases
His mercies never come to an end
They are new every morning
Great is Your faithfulness
Lamentations 2:22-23


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