A Real Prayer...

...that you'll never hear prayed in a church.

"What is man that you make so much of him, that you give him so much attention, that you examine him every morning and test him every moment?  Will you never look away from me, or let me alone even for an instant?  If I have sinned, what have I done to you, O watcher of men?  Why have you made me your target?  Have I become a burden to you?  Why do you not pardon my offenses and forgive my sins?  For I will soon lie down in the dust; you will search for me, but I will be no more.

"Why then did you bring me out of the womb?  I wish I had died before any eye saw me.  If only I had never come into being, or had been carried straight from the womb to the grave!  Are not my few days almost over?  Turn away from me so I can have a moment's joy before I go to the place of no return, to the land of gloom and deep shadow, to the land of deepest night, of deep shadow and disorder, where even the light is like darkness."

The Bible, Job 7:17-21, 10:18-22


Maybe I'm twisted, but stuff like this makes me smile in the morning.

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Nick
[this is good]

Ha! I'll be trying this on Sunday morning. I don't say enough in church anyway.

Should I stand on my chair while I'm shouting it, or what?

The Educated Fool
Job is one of my very favorite books of the Bible because it so honest in this way. And in the end, Job is still found blameless, which is amazing to me.
The Doug
God wants us to be honest with Him. He says he wants our whole hearts.

I like that you connect this passage with God finding Job blameless. A lot of people would cast blame on somebody for honestly telling God where they're at. But God found Job blameless.


Nick

It is a pretty amazing verdict. You'd think would be easy to be honest with someone who already knows everything; but I suppose that all of us contain a host of tiny 'Job's friends' set on dissuading us from voicing honest concerns. Mine are particularly persuasive..

The Educated Fool

I think most of the world is made up of Job's friends, one way or another. Job is an anomaly because he is so honest; the rest of us just get through life lying -- to ourselves and to each other.

Religion sees just the surface, God sees the heart. We all say we know this, but I'm convinced that we don't really. Because most of us are not what we seem to be, it makes little sense that people of faith would be so concerned with the surface. And yet it is these very people who are the MOST concerned with it. There ain't one single "conservative" Christian college that doesn't have a hundred rules about the physical appearance of their students.

Nick
Spot on. The crowning irony of that kind of Christianity is that Jesus himself wouldn't get into one of its colleges.
The Educated Fool

And he didn't fit in then, either. He was completely rejected by the religious establishment, and yet Christians are consumed by conformity. We uphold one another with our sameness, and yet God created us to be individuals. I could go on and on, but I know I'd just be preaching to the choir. It's a comfort to me to run into a few others here and there who "get it".

Sarge
It always comes back to our PRIDE! We would rather deceive ourselves than humble ourselves. Rationalization is a hard habit to break.

Can a person who knows he is being deceived still claim to be deceived?

No. It then becomes a falsehood, a mask, a lie to self and a deception to others.

Even when I cry woe is me, it is my pride that is telling me that I somehow deserve better than the situation I find myself in. To ask "Who am I?" can be prideful if the focus is on self, but it can be humbling if truly comparing the self to the awesomeness of God.

To learn to see self and all others through the eyes of God, as He sees us, is liberating indeed. It's a whole new paradigm through which a correct world view can be formed. Most people, Christian or not, are so biblically illiterate that they would never get it. I dare say that most people continue to create and re-create God in their own image. PRIDE!
The Educated Fool
I'm assuming you're talking about Job's friends when you mention the issue of pride. I certainly see that in them. But in Job himself, I see true, honest, even humble questions. And I'm all for that kind of questioning. In fact, I think that everybody comes to this point at some point in their lives. If only they knew that God understood their feelings and wasn't up in heaven glaring at them because of their "lack of faith".
Sarge
No, actually I guess I was just talking about us people in general. I'm all with Job. You're right, we're all there at various points of our lives. I guess the point I was getting at is the motive for asking the questions. Do we think we "deserve" better than we have and are basically whining? Or do we sincerely wish to seek out the truth of the matter? The first is prideful in my opinion and puts ourselves at the center. The second is humble and puts truth at the center.

I think that religious attitudes and practices all to often put us at the center rather than genuine worship or thanksgiving. Look at the songs we sing in church. Far too many, in my opinion, are not worshiping the majesty or attributes of God. A lot of them are fluff and feel good songs and some actually put us at the center. Just one example that gets my hackles up.

I was real fortunate this weekend that as people at a wedding reception I attended, at a church I formerly attended, asked how I was doing with my current difficulties, they intently listened and didn't offer any of the usual trite responses. It was loving kindness at it's best. None of Job's friends there.

Now that I reread that post while more alert, I guess it wasn't exactly on track with your thread. It was on my mind evidently and looked good at the time which was somewhere in the vicinity of 1:30am I believe.
The Educated Fool

I'm right with you there, Sarge. I heard a fellow by the name of John Piper once talk about the "God-centeredness of God". It was very interesting to me, as I have felt for a very long time that religion, particularly American Christianity, is generally man-centered and experience-centered. Not that I am against experience per se, but I believe that God has been reduced in the minds of people to a feeling on a Sunday morning. It's all about me and what I'm getting out of it. "Oh, it was nice, but I didn't get anything out of it." Drives me nuts.

I feel for you with all your difficulties.

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