Sylvester Ngonga.
Tuesday, 5 2021.
“Yet as for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last, He will take His stand on the earth. Even after my skin is destroyed. Yet from my flesh I will see God,
Whom I, on my part, shall behold for myself. And whom my eyes will see, and not another.
My heart faints within me!”
Job 19:25-27
Last week, I was granted a chance to visit an ailing friend on palliative care in a medical facility. I could not help but notice that in the room everything had its place – the IV machine, the telephone, the rolling tray holding the Styrofoam cup and straw, the reclining chair, and the board where the duty nurse writes her name.
But I also noted that inside this room there was the space for the messengers from the church: a space to comfort the afflicted and offer prayers to God. The management assigned this precious space for use by clients who call on the church for support. “Pray for me, pastor,” “pray for the healing of my child,” “pray for a gentle death for my mother.” This place assigned to God’s representatives is one foot inside the cold, sterile hospital room, one foot inside the mystery that governs our meaning!
Strange occurrences are never neatly arranged in the place of our choosing. We cannot always bring order where there is chaos no matter how hard we try. We cannot explain confusion leave alone arranging the rooms of our lives the way we want them. In places of chaos, where our heart’s deepest yearning shouts down our rational selves, we sometimes realize that we need nothing more but God.
Job raises his cry to God and gets a hearing. Overwhelmed by a recitation of natural mysteries that he and his friends’ best theology could not adequately explain, God’s forceful rhetoric seems to discourage the faithful from questioning persistence injustice or his seeming loud silence. Many journeys of faith stumble at this place, as sometimes we are inclined to raise the white flag to God and give up the struggle.
But the hospital room, like every other room in our lives, does not have a place for everything, and not everything has a meaning that we can understand. Like Job, the people of God ask for an explanation but instead receive moments of mystery.
In such encounters, we should learn to recognize God’s work not just in the exceptional down-moments of our lives but embrace the understanding that sometimes we can never understand why certain things happen to us. The chaos is still there, but so is God. And that is enough!
Prayer:
Precious Lord.
In my afflictions, may I experience a deep closeness with you.
Since my perspective is limited and narrow, help me to surrender everything to you.
Relieve my suffering and focus my heart and mind on your unconditional love.
Amen!