Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi
As there are no mentions of 'Desert' in the story of Esther, we find ourselves looking at the book of Job, which has three. -- 1:19, 24:5 and 38:26.
The first reference is the culmination of the losses Job incurred in a single day...each messenger of woe arrived before the one before him had finished speaking. The final one bore the most personally devastating news; picking up in verse 18; the 'he' who 'was still speaking' had just brought news of the loss of all Job's camels and the servants who were tending them, concluding, as did all the others 'I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!'
While he was still speaking, yet another messenger came and said, "Your sons and daughters were feasting and drinking wine at the oldest brother's house, when suddenly a mighty wind swept in from the desert and struck the four corners of the house. It collapsed on them and they are dead, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!"
The 'mighty wind from the desert' probably was a haboob (dust storm); my NIV Atlas says that the location of Uz is unknown, but it was likely on the edge of the Arabian desert, which fits this description. Job, of course, falls on his face and utters his famous response, 'The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away...may the name of the LORD be praised." (Job 1:21b). The scripture doesn't record it, but Job and his servants surely went to his son's house and excavated it to give his children a proper burial. It was one thing to lose his servants and his livestock...it was something else entirely to lose all his children.
Then Job got sick and went to the dump to scrape his sores.
I have always wondered if the reason he went to the dump was because the townspeople drove him out, believing him to be cursed, or at least, contagious. His wife, who is often disparaged for her statement, was frustrated with Job for maintaining his faith in God. But she was, herself, distraught with grief...they were her children, too. And she was watching her husband suffer. And it was quite possible that the entire population of their area had ostracized them, so that she had no one at all to grieve with her. Not excusing her...just pointing out that any one of us might have done the same thing at such a low moment.
But Job has a few friends who come to console him...or at least, try. Because they, too, were convinced that Job was being punished for some secret, hidden sin, and basically their consolation consisted of them trying to convince him to admit to his sin, publicly, and repent and be received and restored. Chapters 3 - 31 are pretty much their argument back and forth...Job maintained his innocence, repeatedly asked God to reveal to him his error, and got rather salty with his friends who were convinced he was hiding something. Elihu, the youngest one, kept silent until the others fell into a rather pouty stalemate, but finally spoke up and told them all they were missing the point and declared God's greatness, using an approaching thunderstorm as an illustration. God spoke to them all from the thunderstorm...and he never answered Job's questions or explained why all of that had happened to him. Instead, God questioned Job to demonstrate how little Job knew of all of God's plans and purposes...then he declared Job righteous, healed his sores, and told the others to bring an offering for Job to present on their behalf with prayer so they would be forgiven for speaking against God's goodness. Word got out to the townspeople that Job was not cursed or contagious, so they all showed up with a carry-in dinner and a gift for Job so that he was able to rebuild his fortune.
The other mentions of the desert located in that narrative seem to me to be a bit related. 24:5 is in one of Job's laments about the futility of life...
"Like wild donkeys in the desert, the poor go about their labor of foraging food; the wasteland provides food for their children."
38:26 is part of God's reply to all of Job's questioning (Job 38: 25 - 27, for context)
"Who cuts a channel for the torrents of rain, and a path for the thunderstorm, to water a land where no man lives, a desert with no one in it, to satisfy a desolate wasteland and make it sprout with grass?"
Because, of course, the wild donkeys in the desert are the ones who survive on that grass that has sprouted in the desolate wasteland. God has put it there to sustain them...just as he provides for those who trust in him. And Job, who had suffered so much, ended up with more than he had lost.
There is so much in this story....but one of the things that hits me so strongly is that we all tend to think that everything that happens to us is because of us. Job's trials had nothing whatever to do with him. He went through all of that so that his life would be a testimony to someone he didn't even know was watching him.
There's a big, eternal story that we all are part of. What happens to one, may affect another, which affects another..on down the line. The events happening now may not have much to do with the now, but a lot to do with the later.
It's a challenge to all of us to realize God's grace is enough and he will make it right in the end...so long as we don't give up on him.
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