Daily Devotion Monday 7th September 2026
Monday 7th September 2026
Reading Job 1:1-5, 13-22; 2:9-13
There was once a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job. That man was blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil. There were born to him seven sons and three daughters. He had seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen, five hundred donkeys, and very many servants; so that this man was the greatest of all the people of the east. His sons used to go and hold feasts in one another’s houses in turn; and they would send and invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them. And when the feast days had run their course, Job would send and sanctify them, and he would rise early in the morning and offer burnt-offerings according to the number of them all; for Job said, ‘It may be that my children have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts.’ This is what Job always did.…One day when his sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in the eldest brother’s house, a messenger came to Job and said, ‘The oxen were ploughing and the donkeys were feeding beside them, and the Sabeans fell on them and carried them off, and killed the servants with the edge of the sword; I alone have escaped to tell you.’ While he was still speaking, another came and said, ‘The fire of God fell from heaven and burned up the sheep and the servants, and consumed them; I alone have escaped to tell you.’ While he was still speaking, another came and said, ‘The Chaldeans formed three columns, made a raid on the camels and carried them off, and killed the servants with the edge of the sword; I alone have escaped to tell you.’ While he was still speaking, another came and said, ‘Your sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother’s house, and suddenly a great wind came across the desert, struck the four corners of the house, and it fell on the young people, and they are dead; I alone have escaped to tell you.’ Then Job arose, tore his robe, shaved his head, and fell on the ground and worshipped. He said, ‘Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return there; the Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.’ In all this Job did not sin or charge God with wrongdoing…Then his wife said to him, ‘Do you still persist in your integrity? Curse God, and die.’ But he said to her, ‘You speak as any foolish woman would speak. Shall we receive the good at the hand of God, and not receive the bad?’ In all this Job did not sin with his lips. Now when Job’s three friends heard of all these troubles that had come upon him, each of them set out from his home—Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite. They met together to go and console and comfort him. When they saw him from a distance, they did not recognize him, and they raised their voices and wept aloud; they tore their robes and threw dust in the air upon their heads. They sat with him on the ground for seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his suffering was very great.
Reflection
The book of Job opens with words that sound as though they have come straight from a fairytale. Once upon a time, in the land of Uz, there lived a man called Job. His life was perfect. He had a large family, great wealth, and he was the most righteous man in the whole world.
And then terrible things happened.
It does not take a great leap of imagination to see this situation as traumatising, and the lens of trauma has become increasingly popular as a way of interpreting the book of Job. Trauma is often described as a rupture between the way things were and the way things are now. The life that a person knows is disrupted so cataclysmically that there appears to be no way back. Beliefs about the safety and justice of the world are shattered. Relationships are altered. Language itself becomes inadequate for communicating something that is beyond anything the individual experienced before.
It is not events themselves that are traumatic though. Two people might experience the same event and yet only one experience it as a trauma. The act of discovering a bomb might result in nightmares and flashbacks and ongoing anxiety for one person, and yet for a bomb disposal expert it is simply another day at the office. Our own unique combination of past experiences and expectations shape how our brains and bodies respond to different situations.
Thus, the prologue alone is not enough to make us reach for the lens of trauma theory when reading the book of Job. What comes next and the way that Job responds is, and throughout this series we will explore passages of Job and the trauma we see reflected in Job’s story. We will think about ways in which people respond to trauma and how we might care for others when they have experienced trauma.
But we are not there yet. For today, we must simply sit with Job in his shock. We are there, as the messenger brings the news that will tear his world apart. We are there, as Job goes through the motions to do and say the things he is expected to do and say, whilst knowing that nothing will ever be the same again.
Prayer
In the darkness and the grief,
in the shock and in the pain,
we wait.
In the turmoil and disruption,
in the numbness and the confusion,
we wait.
Wait with us, Lord.
Sit beside us and hold us when there are no words.
Amen.