I have a stack of old notebooks from classes and I love to look through them and try to remember things that I learned. I have a notation that I found wonderfully illuminating. A forgotten prof from my Senior college day years ago says that the Old Testament figure, Job, was complaining that God “needed to keep office hours”. Opposed to the inspiration of Luther’s great hymn “”, Psalm 46:1, Job would say that God is not an ever present help in times of trouble. He looked for God but could not find Him. He cried out to God but no one answered. In Job chapter 24 he goes on a rant about God as an absentee landlord who missed out on the groaning of the dying, the mourning of the families of those who are murdered, and yet God seemed to give the godless strength and security. A Mighty Fortress indeed!
Job, as the old professor said, wanted God to keep office hours.”Why are not times of judgment kept by the Almighty, And why do those who know Him never see His days?” (24:1) When we are suffering or sad or depressed it is sometimes hard to remember that God never slumbers or sleeps and that His eye is on the sparrow and that all His promises are “yes and amen” in Christ. Office hours aren’t needed but a sense of our own sinfulness that fails to see the guiding hand of God in all things would be helpful.
