Brothers Keeping: Joseph and Job by Tristam Joseph
ambitious endeavors, feared to be transient and destined to perish.
Job: God promises if I am willing and obedient, I will be rewarded with the good of the land. Show me how I lack these virtues?
Joseph: Obedience to the Lord is costly, often unrewarded, some to me but more to others, compensating envious one to hate me, unable to accept my faithfulness, weakening their little faith, seeing deference to Him hardly serves to name them blameless, never driving out their demons, convinced they are upright, secure in their wisdom, being like all others, worthy of maintaining their dignity, free from judgments of righteous hypocrites.
Bystander: All live convinced of blamelessness, assured by dispositions of illusion, convictions of innocence, trusting their wisdom to intercede on behalf of others, conveying truths all cherish, promising their importance, but people soon show where their heart lies, determined by earthly treasures, never supporting their claims of uprightness, consistent with desires to surpass other’s powers, accumulating an abundance of possessions, expecting admiration from all, making them appear kind and gracious, preserving their image of being blameless.
Joseph: You see through us all, revealing we are indeed born to sin, but we are not hopeless.
Job: All claims for wisdom, understandings people have created, die with them, making mine no less worthy than theirs, dying and never deposing God's wisdom, concerning me to wonder if my wisdom in some way caused my misery, perhaps developing from sinful one’s profound thoughts.
Reckoner: Joseph, venturing so little to say, does silence testify to your guilt, unveiling your shame? Ones without words must be suspected, hiding evil thoughts, unlike Job whose unstoppable invectives scream out, pleading for justice.
Joseph: God has given me few things to say, and what I have been led to utter has done me little good, leaving me to question what I have thought to hear, unable to be certain if what I said was my words or God's. My youth has not prepared me for wisdom, seeing my hair has yet to lighten, and though I listen, I am not ready to advocate truths developed by humans. I also am not so presumptuous, believing God chooses me to be His messenger, trusted to deliver His truths, and especially ones concealed in apparitions so difficult to understand. Realizing His prophets come threatened with danger, such as demands for death at the hands of fear, why should I have jeopardized my fate, ending promises for a life abundant with happiness, by telling others of dreams I didn't understand? Removing all my restraints, commanding me to follow His orders, God compelled me to reveal His visions, never divulging them as unseen threats, so I reported them to my family, never anticipating they might disown me or even consider taking my life. Having little wisdom to respond, to say anything, God directed me to report His messages and remain silent as He prepared my siblings to do their thing.
Bystander: The Lord's covenant proclaims My Spirit will not leave you, and neither will the words He gives you. They will be on your lips and the lips of your children and your children's children forever. Have your brothers also sealed them on their souls, assuring little need for prayers to protect them from being cleansed away, removing hidden sins, consequences of their revelry, trusting all humans must never neglect His command? Take heart, for though God may oversee your suffering, supervising your afflictions, He will always be with you, exercising mercy through His grace.
Reckoner: You were treated justly, driven by your brothers to exercise vengeance--despite knowing it belongs only to God--for what messenger from God suffered any better fate, judgment by humans, death being people's answer for any of God's messengers. Maybe He silenced your tongue so you would accept your fate without any questions.
Joseph: Could silence possibly hide wisdom, saying nothing to confront God's displeasure, displaying prudence without knowing it, but wondering if He will invade my thoughts, prompting me to reveal what I decline to utter?
Reckoner: Maybe you should demand justice, even if undeserved, seeing Job's trust in doing his right thing, reminding God of His testimony, declaring him blameless and upright, a pronouncement spoken by God, rewarding Job, acknowledging virtue for his deeds, fruits ripened by wisdom of his years.
Job: Joseph has lost the love and respect of only his family, but nothing of other humans. I have lost regard and honor from everyone, making me--declared a just and blameless man--their laughingstock, contemplating my body disgraced by disease, disfigured for all to see, transformed to be unapproachable, an outcast even to the most merciful, hiding in the shadows, never coming out, remaining in darkness, never venturing into the light, but wisdom has never abandoned me with reason remaining at my side, promising to never leave as long as I live, assuring convictions of my virtues, sustaining my honor.
Reckoner: God, testing for righteousness while tolerating sinners, patiently waits for them to repent, so He bears with unrighteous ones, blameless ones engaging in efforts to store up wealth, waiting until His grace can absolve them, erasing consequences of their evil doings, easing judgments to release salvation.
Job: Do you think you are the only one wise? From where did your wisdom materialize? Will you bequeath it to anyone after your time, preparing it for others who may suffer my fate, thinking they will lack understandings of mine, believing my acts have never been stained with injustice and should never suffer retributions reserved for the wicked?
Bystander: Not only creation but providence testifies to God, both witnessing He controls everything, both supporting the life and soul of human beings, allowing Him, as the need arises, to punish and correct their ways. If you are unjustly punished, give time to understand this, wait on reason to fathom God's ways if the Spirit has been silent. Have you seen evidence for God's retribution, mandatory for administering His justice, essential for being a God of reason, acknowledging no one is free from inherent sinfulness, no, none at all?
Reckoner: I have known this for many years, enough to have honed my wisdom, sharpening it to parry anyone's words.
Bystander: You may claim greater insights than Job's, responding to his narrow understanding, impatiently waiting for maturity, impetuously relying on his own truths, but couldn't you offer more, relying on eternal truths, destroying your truths as well as Job's, dismissing them to consider the Lords?
Reckoner: My truths may be worth something or they would have gone the way of Job's, destroyed by God so I could never oppose His will. He leaves me here for a reason, preserving my aptitude to counsel Job, revealing his truth as tenuous, exposing the shortcoming of his blamelessness. Evil ones can soon discover the peril of their ways while upright ones likely never admit they are born in sin. Job needs me, more than any wayward sinner, telling him his decency is unacceptable, never enough to cleanse his conscience, making him tolerable, unlike the common human. He claims much innocence but he will never be like one after discerning my wisdom and partaking of my strength.
Bystander: Truth says to the wicked, Depart from me, never ask me to know you, you an evil one, as I judge your unseen thoughts, hidden from all others but me, sent by God, assigned to expose Job's self-righteousness, convincing him to confess and change his ways, dismissing other's encounters claiming he is blameless, distrusting uprightness as being good enough. From where comes your truths?
Reckoner: My reason whispers, telling me God hereby makes me a messenger, His prophet to right some wrongs.
Bystander: You may have been chosen before time's beginning for this, designating you for this moment, creating it as your opportunity, knowing God develops such circumstances for every one.
Reckoner: People might say my judgment is unfair, telling me I am casting the first stone, to judge not because I might be judged, to cleanse myself of sins I accuse Job of, but God can choose to change my speech, transforming my words, convicting me to not speak unfairly, convincing me to hear only Him for truth, renouncing all authority for my truths. I must listen to Him who tells us, Come out, those of you in shadows of your truths, show yourselves, restore life to those tottering at the br
ink of being.
Job: Why did God choose now to bring the shadow of death to light, exercising His authority for revealing His eternal truth? My eye has seen and my ear has heard all this, understanding all, more than handwriting on the wall, knowing all you claim to discern, making me not inferior to you, so I fail when listening to your advice, believing it no better than my determinations, convincing me to best consider speaking directly with God than heeding your words, begging you to protect your truths with silence, reasoning it would be a blessing. I pray God would hear my arguments, exercising free will's power He equipped me to use, to consider my pleading, coming in humility, soliciting mercy to hear my sufferings, releasing me from your banter, my companion's babbling claims to know all.
Reckoner: We are here for you, caring for your needs, sensing times for comfort, offering solace God might neglect, because He may decide to remain silent, frustrating you for no good reason. Besides, would you know if He speaks to you, recognizing His voice, being confident of His messages?
Bystander: Silence could be His message, confusing you with empty revelations, fleeting imaginations, nothing to discern, confident your impatience would never survive, lasting only to destroy your composure.
Job: Do you think you console me, offering dismissive suggestions? Do you think God would remain silent as the fool to be considered wise? My accusers, unlike God, continue to blame me, telling all I suffer because of my sins, but they may discover my suffering is for a different reason, uncovering my inherent virtues for all to see, never more to remain hiding in silence. Don't believe you can deceive God as you do for a human being.
Bystander: Words tumbling from a person's tongue has convicted many claiming innocence. Be careful of words God may return to judge you.
Job: It is too late to lament an unwanted birth, but I can control my life to end my undeserved and unexplained suffering, trusting only this to console me and relieve my agony, allowing me to freely determine life's ending, exercising my will's option, but I must wonder if God might intervene and invoke His compassion by ending it Himself, believing it is time for His mercy and for me to praise my executioner. If He writes the orders for my death, could my blamelessness offer any hope for salvation so all would not be lost? Could I give Him more cause to judge me righteous by words more truthful than others? He must hear me to be convinced of my virtue, prepared by my arguments, giving me consolation of being vindicated.
Bystander: God is always available to listen, but hearing His answers are dependent on your patience and if you are one with Him.
Reckoner: Job, you must fear God, more than seeking oneness with Him, knowing righteousness demands reverence and reverence commands fear and awe, both making you right with God.
Job: I may want to encounter God face-to-face, but only to be certain He will listen, asking Him to withdraw His hand from me, removing me from the terrifying fear of His presence, trusting I would consent to honor His invisibility, protecting me from death on seeing His face, assuring my reverence for Him, never seeing His countenance on holy ground.
Bystander: Reverence abhors fear. Perfect love casts out fear. Do you love God? He will never isolate you in bondage to fear, rejecting laws never promoting you from fear to love, assuring you will never fear again, allowing your love for God to be perfect, needing no admonitions for perfection to become more perfect.
Reckoner: Only the righteous never fear facing God, but is anyone righteous? No, not one. People have been hiding from God ever since Eden, beginning with Adam and Eve, hiding among its trees, concealed in sin's shadow after being disobedient, maybe thinking it was a trivial act, leaving them blameless--merely exercising their novel gift of free will--but preventing them from being right with God, defiant in their willfulness, exercising their prerogative to choose, following a conviction never encountered before. Hiding behind blamelessness tainted Job, giving him no excuse, leaving him bereft of righteousness.
Job: I ask no more than for God to reveal my transgressions, but He never speaks up to let me know. I have hidden nothing, call some things transgressions if you will, believing so-called sins--justifying me to be unworthy, but worthy for my afflictions--have been commonplace if anything, no more than like petty deeds for other blameless people, convincing me of being mostly upright, giving no one anything noteworthy to write about. I disagree every sin is slavish, trusting only some are bound to evil, so I can claim blamelessness and its freedom to be.
Reckoner: Have you hidden iniquities of your youth, inflamed by lust, inherently peaking unabashed at its time, excused by ignorance, forgotten now as indiscretions of little consequence, relegated now to the nature of immaturity, tolerated as common to all humans, never believing sin is always sin, but by disposing of their memory, you think your sin seldom affects another person, especially ones of scant consequence?
Job: Must I be hounded by forgotten liaisons of youth, trusting they would never be resurrected to haunt old age's comfort, tearing away what little happiness remains? The flower of my youth, quickly fading, had been filled with happiness, but withering soon it packed my baggage with trouble, created by me, invading beyond limits I should not have breeched, tormenting me and never looking away, renouncing the world's goodness believed to be everlasting, leaving me to repent for sins, unjustified as evil by my innate directions, having driven me to do what I must do. Is it better to remain here, suffering decline in a tormenting existence or would it be better to be in God's custody, however that might be?
Reckoner: Do you think your hope can be grafted on some healthy root, giving birth to new life, sprouting a bud removed from a decaying branch, thinking God devises a plan for you to live on?
Job: If God provides a living water, who knows what He will do. His truth tells us, Whoever exalts himself shall be humbled, so we shall all be humbled by death; going on it tells us, One who humbles oneself shall be exalted; and we ask how are we exalted beyond death, questioning if we would live again, to toil with the work of our hands, trusting our transgressions would be sealed, covering our iniquities, believing if the Lord appears, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is, expecting then He would respond to my call.
Joseph: I may have dreamed of being exalted, but I don't know now how this could have been more than a nightmare. Does reporting a vision exalt oneself, believing it was of God's doing?
Bystander: Did pride contribute to the downfall of these men? Does God tempt us with pride to facilitate His plans, knowing its pitfalls, the possibility of unrighteousness thwarting His intents? He tells us, For I know the plans I have for you, plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. In those days when you pray, I will listen. If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me. I will be found by you. Without prideful certainty, assuring us of God's existence, how can human beings hope to find Him? Don't blame Satan for human's pride, classifying it as a sin, when it is essential for driving people to find God. God has laid the framework and now continues to create the circumstances for continuing His plans.
Reckoner: You, Job, mourn your circumstances, never understanding why you must suffer, but you are still free, having full faculty of your will and common sense, enabling you to commiserate with your friends, and giving you freedom to reject God and creation's goodness. Look at Joseph, who losing his freedom was bound and shackled, forced to leave the Promised Land, exiled to a foreign place, always declared off limits to ventures by His chosen ones, enslaved to a situation never having been blessed. Should Job suffer such bondage?
Bystander: Job cannot be satisfied with the advice he has heard, nothing to understand why his Lord continues to remain silent, seeming to dismiss him as just another complainer. Here comes another to offer suggestions for his afflictions.
Finegold: Wait more moments, tarry to hear wisdom other than your own, seek a godly person, ordained by righteousness--as much as can be allotted--consulting common sense, trusting in truth. Avoid anyone steeped i
n wrath, destroying themselves by foolishness, falling on the sword of their tongues, beckoning you to follow and suffer their demise. Do not condemn yourself with unprofitable words, engaging your iniquity to choose crafty responses, shunning any fear of God, frustrating any chance for mediation, forging obstacles to His presence, confirming your wisdom surpasses any other's.
Job: I speak from my heart's reason and my mind's common sense, arguing with my own words of wisdom for I hear none from God, One never open to revealing His ways, never hearing my urgent cry, calling to Him whenever I'm in trouble, pleading why have You forsaken me, being so far from helping me, unresponsive to my soul's groaning, but giving me no answer, perhaps You respond with silence to those reaching out with blame.
Finegold: Does anger direct your words since they do not seem to be suggested by reason? If you are afflicted unjustly, the one afflicting you must be accused of iniquity, raising the question, Can God be sinful. Can you reason with Him if He is the cause for your problems where your treatment is unjust? Do you fear someone who is unjust, contemptuous of one, even if He is the Almighty, or is He your equal, acknowledged to be no greater than you, castigating anyone's pride for giving you counsel?
Job: Do I dare to speak more, hearing nothing to help me, nothing but gibberish, vainly attempting to justify my suffering?
Finegold: When blameless ones, discovering lapses in their uprightness and striving to become righteous, are afflicted with misfortune, they must confess their involvement, acknowledging trouble never springs from nowhere, openly admitting their sins, never for self-expiation to seek solace, but for unveiling hidden secrets, unfolding them with uncompromising sincerity, unblemished truth tumbling from a humbled spirit, convincing their unrighteousness they are repentant, unlike the sinful ruler pleading with God for healing, beseeching Him to forget his lies, claiming he walked before Him in truth, spilling out from a perfect heart, weighing words of righteousness, spoken by his immediate needs, translating them into a sudden feeling for God, reconstructing
Job: God promises if I am willing and obedient, I will be rewarded with the good of the land. Show me how I lack these virtues?
Joseph: Obedience to the Lord is costly, often unrewarded, some to me but more to others, compensating envious one to hate me, unable to accept my faithfulness, weakening their little faith, seeing deference to Him hardly serves to name them blameless, never driving out their demons, convinced they are upright, secure in their wisdom, being like all others, worthy of maintaining their dignity, free from judgments of righteous hypocrites.
Bystander: All live convinced of blamelessness, assured by dispositions of illusion, convictions of innocence, trusting their wisdom to intercede on behalf of others, conveying truths all cherish, promising their importance, but people soon show where their heart lies, determined by earthly treasures, never supporting their claims of uprightness, consistent with desires to surpass other’s powers, accumulating an abundance of possessions, expecting admiration from all, making them appear kind and gracious, preserving their image of being blameless.
Joseph: You see through us all, revealing we are indeed born to sin, but we are not hopeless.
Job: All claims for wisdom, understandings people have created, die with them, making mine no less worthy than theirs, dying and never deposing God's wisdom, concerning me to wonder if my wisdom in some way caused my misery, perhaps developing from sinful one’s profound thoughts.
Reckoner: Joseph, venturing so little to say, does silence testify to your guilt, unveiling your shame? Ones without words must be suspected, hiding evil thoughts, unlike Job whose unstoppable invectives scream out, pleading for justice.
Joseph: God has given me few things to say, and what I have been led to utter has done me little good, leaving me to question what I have thought to hear, unable to be certain if what I said was my words or God's. My youth has not prepared me for wisdom, seeing my hair has yet to lighten, and though I listen, I am not ready to advocate truths developed by humans. I also am not so presumptuous, believing God chooses me to be His messenger, trusted to deliver His truths, and especially ones concealed in apparitions so difficult to understand. Realizing His prophets come threatened with danger, such as demands for death at the hands of fear, why should I have jeopardized my fate, ending promises for a life abundant with happiness, by telling others of dreams I didn't understand? Removing all my restraints, commanding me to follow His orders, God compelled me to reveal His visions, never divulging them as unseen threats, so I reported them to my family, never anticipating they might disown me or even consider taking my life. Having little wisdom to respond, to say anything, God directed me to report His messages and remain silent as He prepared my siblings to do their thing.
Bystander: The Lord's covenant proclaims My Spirit will not leave you, and neither will the words He gives you. They will be on your lips and the lips of your children and your children's children forever. Have your brothers also sealed them on their souls, assuring little need for prayers to protect them from being cleansed away, removing hidden sins, consequences of their revelry, trusting all humans must never neglect His command? Take heart, for though God may oversee your suffering, supervising your afflictions, He will always be with you, exercising mercy through His grace.
Reckoner: You were treated justly, driven by your brothers to exercise vengeance--despite knowing it belongs only to God--for what messenger from God suffered any better fate, judgment by humans, death being people's answer for any of God's messengers. Maybe He silenced your tongue so you would accept your fate without any questions.
Joseph: Could silence possibly hide wisdom, saying nothing to confront God's displeasure, displaying prudence without knowing it, but wondering if He will invade my thoughts, prompting me to reveal what I decline to utter?
Reckoner: Maybe you should demand justice, even if undeserved, seeing Job's trust in doing his right thing, reminding God of His testimony, declaring him blameless and upright, a pronouncement spoken by God, rewarding Job, acknowledging virtue for his deeds, fruits ripened by wisdom of his years.
Job: Joseph has lost the love and respect of only his family, but nothing of other humans. I have lost regard and honor from everyone, making me--declared a just and blameless man--their laughingstock, contemplating my body disgraced by disease, disfigured for all to see, transformed to be unapproachable, an outcast even to the most merciful, hiding in the shadows, never coming out, remaining in darkness, never venturing into the light, but wisdom has never abandoned me with reason remaining at my side, promising to never leave as long as I live, assuring convictions of my virtues, sustaining my honor.
Reckoner: God, testing for righteousness while tolerating sinners, patiently waits for them to repent, so He bears with unrighteous ones, blameless ones engaging in efforts to store up wealth, waiting until His grace can absolve them, erasing consequences of their evil doings, easing judgments to release salvation.
Job: Do you think you are the only one wise? From where did your wisdom materialize? Will you bequeath it to anyone after your time, preparing it for others who may suffer my fate, thinking they will lack understandings of mine, believing my acts have never been stained with injustice and should never suffer retributions reserved for the wicked?
Bystander: Not only creation but providence testifies to God, both witnessing He controls everything, both supporting the life and soul of human beings, allowing Him, as the need arises, to punish and correct their ways. If you are unjustly punished, give time to understand this, wait on reason to fathom God's ways if the Spirit has been silent. Have you seen evidence for God's retribution, mandatory for administering His justice, essential for being a God of reason, acknowledging no one is free from inherent sinfulness, no, none at all?
Reckoner: I have known this for many years, enough to have honed my wisdom, sharpening it to parry anyone's words.
Bystander: You may claim greater insights than Job's, responding to his narrow understanding, impatiently waiting for maturity, impetuously relying on his own truths, but couldn't you offer more, relying on eternal truths, destroying your truths as well as Job's, dismissing them to consider the Lords?
Reckoner: My truths may be worth something or they would have gone the way of Job's, destroyed by God so I could never oppose His will. He leaves me here for a reason, preserving my aptitude to counsel Job, revealing his truth as tenuous, exposing the shortcoming of his blamelessness. Evil ones can soon discover the peril of their ways while upright ones likely never admit they are born in sin. Job needs me, more than any wayward sinner, telling him his decency is unacceptable, never enough to cleanse his conscience, making him tolerable, unlike the common human. He claims much innocence but he will never be like one after discerning my wisdom and partaking of my strength.
Bystander: Truth says to the wicked, Depart from me, never ask me to know you, you an evil one, as I judge your unseen thoughts, hidden from all others but me, sent by God, assigned to expose Job's self-righteousness, convincing him to confess and change his ways, dismissing other's encounters claiming he is blameless, distrusting uprightness as being good enough. From where comes your truths?
Reckoner: My reason whispers, telling me God hereby makes me a messenger, His prophet to right some wrongs.
Bystander: You may have been chosen before time's beginning for this, designating you for this moment, creating it as your opportunity, knowing God develops such circumstances for every one.
Reckoner: People might say my judgment is unfair, telling me I am casting the first stone, to judge not because I might be judged, to cleanse myself of sins I accuse Job of, but God can choose to change my speech, transforming my words, convicting me to not speak unfairly, convincing me to hear only Him for truth, renouncing all authority for my truths. I must listen to Him who tells us, Come out, those of you in shadows of your truths, show yourselves, restore life to those tottering at the br
Job: Why did God choose now to bring the shadow of death to light, exercising His authority for revealing His eternal truth? My eye has seen and my ear has heard all this, understanding all, more than handwriting on the wall, knowing all you claim to discern, making me not inferior to you, so I fail when listening to your advice, believing it no better than my determinations, convincing me to best consider speaking directly with God than heeding your words, begging you to protect your truths with silence, reasoning it would be a blessing. I pray God would hear my arguments, exercising free will's power He equipped me to use, to consider my pleading, coming in humility, soliciting mercy to hear my sufferings, releasing me from your banter, my companion's babbling claims to know all.
Reckoner: We are here for you, caring for your needs, sensing times for comfort, offering solace God might neglect, because He may decide to remain silent, frustrating you for no good reason. Besides, would you know if He speaks to you, recognizing His voice, being confident of His messages?
Bystander: Silence could be His message, confusing you with empty revelations, fleeting imaginations, nothing to discern, confident your impatience would never survive, lasting only to destroy your composure.
Job: Do you think you console me, offering dismissive suggestions? Do you think God would remain silent as the fool to be considered wise? My accusers, unlike God, continue to blame me, telling all I suffer because of my sins, but they may discover my suffering is for a different reason, uncovering my inherent virtues for all to see, never more to remain hiding in silence. Don't believe you can deceive God as you do for a human being.
Bystander: Words tumbling from a person's tongue has convicted many claiming innocence. Be careful of words God may return to judge you.
Job: It is too late to lament an unwanted birth, but I can control my life to end my undeserved and unexplained suffering, trusting only this to console me and relieve my agony, allowing me to freely determine life's ending, exercising my will's option, but I must wonder if God might intervene and invoke His compassion by ending it Himself, believing it is time for His mercy and for me to praise my executioner. If He writes the orders for my death, could my blamelessness offer any hope for salvation so all would not be lost? Could I give Him more cause to judge me righteous by words more truthful than others? He must hear me to be convinced of my virtue, prepared by my arguments, giving me consolation of being vindicated.
Bystander: God is always available to listen, but hearing His answers are dependent on your patience and if you are one with Him.
Reckoner: Job, you must fear God, more than seeking oneness with Him, knowing righteousness demands reverence and reverence commands fear and awe, both making you right with God.
Job: I may want to encounter God face-to-face, but only to be certain He will listen, asking Him to withdraw His hand from me, removing me from the terrifying fear of His presence, trusting I would consent to honor His invisibility, protecting me from death on seeing His face, assuring my reverence for Him, never seeing His countenance on holy ground.
Bystander: Reverence abhors fear. Perfect love casts out fear. Do you love God? He will never isolate you in bondage to fear, rejecting laws never promoting you from fear to love, assuring you will never fear again, allowing your love for God to be perfect, needing no admonitions for perfection to become more perfect.
Reckoner: Only the righteous never fear facing God, but is anyone righteous? No, not one. People have been hiding from God ever since Eden, beginning with Adam and Eve, hiding among its trees, concealed in sin's shadow after being disobedient, maybe thinking it was a trivial act, leaving them blameless--merely exercising their novel gift of free will--but preventing them from being right with God, defiant in their willfulness, exercising their prerogative to choose, following a conviction never encountered before. Hiding behind blamelessness tainted Job, giving him no excuse, leaving him bereft of righteousness.
Job: I ask no more than for God to reveal my transgressions, but He never speaks up to let me know. I have hidden nothing, call some things transgressions if you will, believing so-called sins--justifying me to be unworthy, but worthy for my afflictions--have been commonplace if anything, no more than like petty deeds for other blameless people, convincing me of being mostly upright, giving no one anything noteworthy to write about. I disagree every sin is slavish, trusting only some are bound to evil, so I can claim blamelessness and its freedom to be.
Reckoner: Have you hidden iniquities of your youth, inflamed by lust, inherently peaking unabashed at its time, excused by ignorance, forgotten now as indiscretions of little consequence, relegated now to the nature of immaturity, tolerated as common to all humans, never believing sin is always sin, but by disposing of their memory, you think your sin seldom affects another person, especially ones of scant consequence?
Job: Must I be hounded by forgotten liaisons of youth, trusting they would never be resurrected to haunt old age's comfort, tearing away what little happiness remains? The flower of my youth, quickly fading, had been filled with happiness, but withering soon it packed my baggage with trouble, created by me, invading beyond limits I should not have breeched, tormenting me and never looking away, renouncing the world's goodness believed to be everlasting, leaving me to repent for sins, unjustified as evil by my innate directions, having driven me to do what I must do. Is it better to remain here, suffering decline in a tormenting existence or would it be better to be in God's custody, however that might be?
Reckoner: Do you think your hope can be grafted on some healthy root, giving birth to new life, sprouting a bud removed from a decaying branch, thinking God devises a plan for you to live on?
Job: If God provides a living water, who knows what He will do. His truth tells us, Whoever exalts himself shall be humbled, so we shall all be humbled by death; going on it tells us, One who humbles oneself shall be exalted; and we ask how are we exalted beyond death, questioning if we would live again, to toil with the work of our hands, trusting our transgressions would be sealed, covering our iniquities, believing if the Lord appears, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is, expecting then He would respond to my call.
Joseph: I may have dreamed of being exalted, but I don't know now how this could have been more than a nightmare. Does reporting a vision exalt oneself, believing it was of God's doing?
Bystander: Did pride contribute to the downfall of these men? Does God tempt us with pride to facilitate His plans, knowing its pitfalls, the possibility of unrighteousness thwarting His intents? He tells us, For I know the plans I have for you, plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. In those days when you pray, I will listen. If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me. I will be found by you. Without prideful certainty, assuring us of God's existence, how can human beings hope to find Him? Don't blame Satan for human's pride, classifying it as a sin, when it is essential for driving people to find God. God has laid the framework and now continues to create the circumstances for continuing His plans.
Reckoner: You, Job, mourn your circumstances, never understanding why you must suffer, but you are still free, having full faculty of your will and common sense, enabling you to commiserate with your friends, and giving you freedom to reject God and creation's goodness. Look at Joseph, who losing his freedom was bound and shackled, forced to leave the Promised Land, exiled to a foreign place, always declared off limits to ventures by His chosen ones, enslaved to a situation never having been blessed. Should Job suffer such bondage?
Bystander: Job cannot be satisfied with the advice he has heard, nothing to understand why his Lord continues to remain silent, seeming to dismiss him as just another complainer. Here comes another to offer suggestions for his afflictions.
Finegold: Wait more moments, tarry to hear wisdom other than your own, seek a godly person, ordained by righteousness--as much as can be allotted--consulting common sense, trusting in truth. Avoid anyone steeped i
Job: I speak from my heart's reason and my mind's common sense, arguing with my own words of wisdom for I hear none from God, One never open to revealing His ways, never hearing my urgent cry, calling to Him whenever I'm in trouble, pleading why have You forsaken me, being so far from helping me, unresponsive to my soul's groaning, but giving me no answer, perhaps You respond with silence to those reaching out with blame.
Finegold: Does anger direct your words since they do not seem to be suggested by reason? If you are afflicted unjustly, the one afflicting you must be accused of iniquity, raising the question, Can God be sinful. Can you reason with Him if He is the cause for your problems where your treatment is unjust? Do you fear someone who is unjust, contemptuous of one, even if He is the Almighty, or is He your equal, acknowledged to be no greater than you, castigating anyone's pride for giving you counsel?
Job: Do I dare to speak more, hearing nothing to help me, nothing but gibberish, vainly attempting to justify my suffering?
Finegold: When blameless ones, discovering lapses in their uprightness and striving to become righteous, are afflicted with misfortune, they must confess their involvement, acknowledging trouble never springs from nowhere, openly admitting their sins, never for self-expiation to seek solace, but for unveiling hidden secrets, unfolding them with uncompromising sincerity, unblemished truth tumbling from a humbled spirit, convincing their unrighteousness they are repentant, unlike the sinful ruler pleading with God for healing, beseeching Him to forget his lies, claiming he walked before Him in truth, spilling out from a perfect heart, weighing words of righteousness, spoken by his immediate needs, translating them into a sudden feeling for God, reconstructing