There have been moments in the dialog when Job got distracted by his friends’ bad theology, as they tried to persuade him that his suffering obviously comes from God paying him back for his secret wickedness. It can be pretty aggravating when people work so hard to turn you into the villain of the story. At his best, though, Job was trying to ignore them and persevere in prayer – because what he really wanted to engage in direct dialog with God.

He wanted this even though he was sure he could not stand before God’s power: “Let me have silence, and I will speak, and let come on me what may. I will take my flesh in my teeth, and put my life in my hand. See, he will kill me; I have no hope; but I will defend my ways to his face” (Job 13:13-15). In his prayer he asked God, “call, and I will answer; or let me speak, and you reply to me” (13:22).

We might wonder whether his attitude was sarcastic or teachable when he asked, “How many are my iniquities and my sins? Make me know my transgression and my sin.” (13:23). Either way, it is clear that at the moment he believed that God had punished him despite his innocence. And, of course, we know that Job was correct about this, because we have read the narrative at the beginning of the book (1:9-13): the point of the bet between God and the Satan was regarding whether Job would continue in righteousness if he were made to undergo grievous suffering he did not deserve.

We can feel the haunting anguish of Job’s despair, when he reckoned that God would not respond; in the end, Job would simply be as dead as his children, and that would be that. “There is hope for a tree, if it is cut down, that it will sprout again, and that its shoots will not cease” (14:7) – but “mortals lie down and do not rise again; until the heavens are no more, they will not awake or be roused out of their sleep” (14:12). And even so, even in the midst of all his grief, and despite all the accusations of his friends, we should notice this: Job kept on praying.

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Grant us that kind of courage, O Lord, to continue to seek your face: even when our hearts are broken, even when the people we count on for support are working at tearing us down, and even when you yourself seem so distant. Help us to persevere, trusting in you.