Sermon 12, Job 3:11-19
I struggle with road rage. When I am driving, I often find myself thinking, saying, yelling things that I am embarrassed about. Often immediately embarrassed about. For a moment I loose control of my rational thoughts. This happens at other times in my life also, but it is particularly obvious to me when I am driving. I am actively working to curtail this behaviour.
In Calvin’s sermon today we look at how Job has moved past the curses of his birth, a series of incantations, and is now lamenting and longing for the peace of death. Here, again, Job has understandably lost his composure due to the immense pain of suffering.
Today’s message that I resonate with: Calvin writes “…no amount of afflictions should cause us to forget God’s blessings and mercies, but we do.” Job experienced infinitely worse things in his life than I do during my commute(!) and yet there seem to be beneficial parallels to think about.
It appears to me that Calvin suggests I do three things to help me with this.
Quickly and more frequently take note and think on the good things that happen, will happen, or have happened to me.
Frequently take time to reflect, practice mindfulness during which I should regularly recall the good things that are going on.
And this one is a little odd - be the gray man.
For (1), this is the one that I need to work on. However, not for nothing, Calvin is quick to point out how much we have to be thankful for even when it doesn’t much feel like it. For (2), I have started using the Apple Watches Mindfulness app and I find this helps with my happiness and contentment, especially in the mornings and evenings. Point (3) deserves some explanation that is a little long for here. Briefly, I have for sometime been thinking about how there is a peace to be had by becoming “invisible” in the world - many would hate this and it is very counter culture. However, I think that there is something in the doomsday prepper’s mindset to not stick out, just go about your own tasks and business. These thoughts dovetail with a verse from Colossians that Calvin uses in this sermon: “That is why it is said that our lives are hidden in Jesus Christ until he appears.” (Col 3:3). My, admittedly not thought through and not unique “gray man” idea is consistent with a life that does not seek admiration, acknowledgement, and hence avoids power struggles.
Back to my commute. If I could fully harness the above three approaches, all here advocated by Calvin, and all extracted from the example of Job, then my life would improve. It’s interesting to me that these approaches are, with the exception of (3), fairly common self-help tips among many modern social media personalities and within the resurgence of interest in stoicism, yet they are all biblical principles that are in the Book of Job and are teased out by Calvin.
Quotes:
“…weakness…carries us away so tempestuously that we are no longer able to control ourselves as we should.”
“…as soon as our Lord reveals to us some good that we received from his hand, let us be moved by it so as not to be so base and perverse as to change good into evil.”
Speaking to how we survive our infancy “…God provides for us in this way even before we have understanding or reason, while we are so vulnerable…”
“We see now, from examples, that worthy emotions are sometimes excessive in God’s children and cause them to forget what they knew and were absolutely certain of.”
“Our knowledge will be rusty and will not come to mind when we need it. That is a bit of useful instruction, for it is good to that it is not enough to have once known what God shows us for our advantage, but we must review it regularly and our memory must be refreshed so that we will know how to use holy scripture rightly.”