Staying Spiritually Grounded During Uncertainty
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We read Job knowing that God will turn his life around, but Job had to live through it without knowing that. When he sat in the ashes, his children were dead, his livelihood was gone and his own body hurt. He had no last page to turn to. If you have prayed for a change and woken to the same trouble for longer than you care to count, you may understand that part of Job’s story better than the people who keep telling you how it ends. [1]
There will without doubt come a time when you grow tired of giving hope another chance to disappoint you. You have prayed, done what you could and tried to be patient with people who assure you that your time will come. Now you are considering whether it would hurt less to expect nothing. I understand why you would want that relief. But before you give up hope, spend a little time with Job in the chapters people tend to hurry past. That is where he has the most to say to someone still waiting.
The Man Who Worshipped Also Wept
When Job learns that his children have died, he tears his robe, shaves his head and falls to the ground in worship. Later, after his friends have sat with him for seven days, he speaks again and curses the day he was born. It is easy to remember the worship and overlook what he says next. Scripture has kept both. The man who fell to the ground before God was also the man who would later speak about the pain of being alive. [1]
Think about what that gives you permission to say. Perhaps you have been praying for strength when what you really want to tell God is that you have had enough. Perhaps you have thanked Him for what remains, then felt guilty for going to bed thinking about what you lost. Grief can return after a sincere prayer. When it does, you can bring it back to God with the same honesty you brought to your gratitude.
If your words are few, let them be yours. ‘God, I’m finding it hard to hope today. I still want to believe You can turn this around. Help me get through what is in front of me.’ There may be more to say tomorrow. For today, you have prayed from the place where you actually are.
God Knows Where You Are
In chapter 23, Job wants to find God and put his case before Him. He looks in every direction and cannot see Him. Then comes a sentence worth keeping close: ‘But he knows the way that I take’. Later in the same speech, Job admits he is terrified. His conviction that God knows where he is survives alongside a fear that has yet to leave him. [2]
There may be days when that is the part of your faith you can hold on to. You cannot tell what God is doing. You can still believe He knows the history behind the prayer you are too tired to explain again. He knows how much it took to make the last attempt and why you are hesitating over the next one. You can live a day on that much faith. You can ask for guidance, make the call you need to make and leave tomorrow’s decisions for when you have more to go on.
Choose Who Sits With You in the Ashes
Job’s friends do something tender when they first arrive. They see how much he is suffering and sit on the ground beside him for seven days without speaking. Later, when they try to explain his suffering, their certainty becomes another thing he has to bear. At the end of the book, God rebukes them for the way they have spoken about Him. Remember the friends who sat down beside Job before they felt obliged to explain his life to him. That is the sort of company worth seeking when your faith is sore. [1, 3]
There is a reason to take that strain seriously. In a study that assessed 302 US adults living with chronic health conditions at three points in time, Richard Cowden and colleagues found a relationship in both directions. Spiritual struggles were associated with later psychological distress, and distress was associated with later spiritual struggles. The finding is specific to the people studied, but the question it raises is worth asking yourself. Has the weight of what you’re going through made it harder to pray, and has that difficulty left you feeling more alone? Tell somebody who can hear both parts. [4]
Leave Room for God to Turn Things Around
When Job’s fortunes are restored, his brothers, sisters and former acquaintances come to his house. They eat with him and comfort him over what he has suffered. That meal is easy to miss in a chapter people remember for his possessions doubling. Yet there he is, receiving comfort even as his life begins to open up again. The people at his table have reason to be glad for him and reason to grieve with him. A turn for the better can make room for both. [3]
I would encourage you to ask God plainly for the change you still want. Then look at what you can do about the situation as it stands. If you have been trying alone, ask for help with a specific part of it. If the same approach has brought you to the same place, give yourself time to consider a different one. You may have spent so long looking for an answer in one direction that you need someone else to help you see what's possible elsewhere.
And when you are too tired to do any of that, rest before deciding what your whole future holds. You'll have time to look at the situation again. Tonight you may need a meal, a conversation and a few honest words with God. Give yourself those things if you can.
Final Word
Please don’t give up hope. There is enough in what you have lived through to explain why you feel as you do. Give that pain its place when you pray, and leave room for the possibility that God can still change what you have begun to think will always be this way. You may see the answer you have been asking for. You may begin to see a way forward that you could not have imagined from where you are today.
Job could not see the table where people would one day sit and eat with him. What he could say, while he was still looking for God, was that God knew the way he took. If that is the only part of his story you can carry with you today, take it. Tell God where you are, ask Him for what you need, and give yourself another day before you decide you have seen all there is to see.
Recommended Books
The Book of Job: A Biography by Mark Larrimore. Explores how readers across centuries have wrestled with Job’s suffering, his arguments and the book’s ending.
Prayer in the Night: For Those Who Work or Watch or Weep by Tish Harrison Warren. Offers a way into prayer when fear and weariness make it hard to find your own words. Publisher’s page
The Inner Voice of Love: A Journey Through Anguish to Freedom by Henri J. M. Nouwen. Short reflections from a period of personal anguish, suited to reading a few pages at a time.
References
The Bible, New International Version. Job 1–3. Read the passage
The Bible, New International Version. Job 23. Read the passage
The Bible, New International Version. Job 42:7–17. Read the passage
Cowden, R. G., Pargament, K. I., Chen, Z. J., Davis, E. B., Lemke, A. W., Glowiak, K. J., Rueger, S. Y., & Worthington, E. L., Jr. (2022). Religious/spiritual struggles and psychological distress: A test of three models in a longitudinal study of adults with chronic health conditions. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 78(4), 544–558.
