Spiritual Hiccups - Leave Us Alone, God

I've mentioned before that that those who use the phrase "the patience of Job" must never have read very far into the biblical book of Job. Job's patience quickly wears thin as he struggles to understand his suffering.  His "friends" insist he must have done something to deserve his fate, but Job knows this is not true.  And so in today's verses, he laments the fact that God pays attention to humans.  He says life would be better if God would "look away from them, and desist, that they may enjoy, like laborers, their days."

What an interesting notion.  Religious people are often trying to figure out how to get closer to God, how to improve the lines of communication, but Job wishes God would just go away and leave us alone.  It seems to me that this is a popular option for many today.  At least a lot of people seem content to live as though God had nothing to do with their lives.  Not that many folks opt for outright atheism, but a lot are happy to assume that what Job wishes for is actually the case.

I won't claim to know why this is so.  I don't think it's because the hand of God has weighed so heavily on them that, like Job, that wish it would go away.  But I do wonder if the God they have met via some Christians and some congregations doesn't make a distant God seem preferable. 

We church folks often look at our more secular neighbors and wonder, "What's wrong with them?"  Sometimes I think we'd do better to ask, "What picture of God have we presented that makes them so determined to stay away?" 

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