OT 37

Lord and God,

For what did you rebuke Eliphaz and the comforters of Job, Our Lord? Was it that they claimed the innocent do not suffer? But you have said elsewhere the hope of the poor will not be taken away, and that your justice is absolute. Was it that they claimed none are just before you? But you have said elsewhere there is none just, no not one. Perhaps it was that they looked upon your providence and claimed to simply and infallibly interpret it. Like those seeking to pin a sin upon a man born blind, you tell them no. Perhaps it was this: that you reserve the right to speak for yourself. It is not for us to justify you, but you to justify yourself.

Yes, though you have given private assurances and manifestations of your spirit, we often speak as foreigners one to another. Yet you are not strange to any of us. Even as prophets capable of building up, we tear one another down when we speak wrongly of you. Hear us and answer us, and keep man’s presumption from us. Hear the cry of those who say, “remove your stroke from me; I am spent by the hostility of your hand.” Let men and women keep silent. For we would hear even you, and you alone.