Sermon for March 19th, 2017

Job 10:1-22

1“I loathe my life;
   I will give free utterance to my complaint;
   I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.
2 I will say to God, Do not condemn me;
   let me know why you contend against me.
3 Does it seem good to you to oppress,
   to despise the work of your hands
   and favor the schemes of the wicked?
4 Do you have eyes of flesh?
   Do you see as humans see?
5 Are your days like the days of mortals,
   or your years like human years,
6 that you seek out my iniquity
   and search for my sin,
7 although you know that I am not guilty,
   and there is no one to deliver out of your hand?
8 Your hands fashioned and made me;
   and now you turn and destroy me.
9 Remember that you fashioned me like clay;
   and will you turn me to dust again?
10 Did you not pour me out like milk
   and curdle me like cheese?
11 You clothed me with skin and flesh,
   and knit me together with bones and sinews.
12 You have granted me life and steadfast love,
   and your care has preserved my spirit.
13 Yet these things you hid in your heart;
   I know that this was your purpose.
14 If I sin, you watch me,
   and do not acquit me of my iniquity.
15 If I am wicked, woe to me!
   If I am righteous, I cannot lift up my head,
for I am filled with disgrace
   and look upon my affliction.
16 Bold as a lion you hunt me;
   you repeat your exploits against me.
17 You renew your witnesses against me,
   and increase your vexation toward me;
   you bring fresh troops against me.
18 “Why did you bring me forth from the womb?
   Would that I had died before any eye had seen me,
19 and were as though I had not been,
   carried from the womb to the grave.
20 Are not the days of my life few?
   Let me alone, that I may find a little comfort
21 before I go, never to return,
   to the land of gloom and deep darkness,
22 the land of gloom[e] and chaos,
   where light is like darkness.”

Job's Prayer of Despair

There are three categories of "desperate prayers" that we are prone to resort to at least at some point in our lives, if not more often.

The first category, which is not nearly so desperate as the other two, is what I call the "slot machine prayer." Basically, you put in your imaginary prayer quarter, pull the lever, and hope that God will give you something you desperately want, something you don't currently have: God, please help me to win the lottery, or get that promotion, or find the love of my life. Or maybe just a puppy.

I don't call them slot machine prayers in a derogatory sense--God certainly hears all kinds of prayers--but rather because they express a hopefullness against the odds that we might gain something worth a whole lot more than what we deserve, and certainly more than the quarter we put in the machine.

In a slot machine prayer, sometimes the "quarter" might be a promise on your end: God, if you help me get a good grade on this test, I promise I'll go to church every Sunday for a month. Or sometimes the quarter is just the act of praying itself.

Obviously, not all slot machine prayers are desperate, but some are. God, help me to find a job so I can take care of my family. Or Hannah's prayer in the Old Testament: Lord, please give me a son. I also refer to them as slot machine prayers because, while sometimes (as in Hannah's case) we actually get what we ask for, if we're being honest, a lot of the time these prayers (no matter how desperate) go unanswered.

The second category of desperate prayers is what I call the "status quo prayer." Whereas the slot machine prayer is a prayer that God will give us something we don't already have, the status quo prayer is a prayer that God will help us keep something we already do have, but don't want to lose: God, please keep my children safe. Lord, please don't let my mother die. God, please don't l

Status Quo prayers are decidedly more desperate.