Funny… during all this, I am in the midst of getting a root canal on a molar. Tonight, whatever temporary thing was stuck in it fell out. It really is funny. I mean, I can’t help but laugh about the whole thing. At least my tooth takes my mind off my leg. I talked to a good friend of mine, Jeff, earlier today who encouraged me a great deal. And I can’t help but jump back into the book of Job which I have become so frequent in recent months. Here is an interesting note: “Pain” is mentioned only four times. You add “painful” for another two times in Job.
Job 2:7-8
So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD and afflicted Job with painful sores from the soles of his feet to the top of his head. Then Job took a piece of broken pottery and scraped himself with it as he sat among the ashes.
I don’t think I have mentioned this to anyone, but recently I did a little acting. That’s right, I played the wife of Job in my class over the summer. I guess that made me a what – supporting actress or actor… not really sure, there.
Now, I know painful is an adjective, and I know that the word is implicating that of hurt or pain. But let’s look at it the definition anyway.
Painful (adj.):
- Laborious; exacting; difficult.
- Causing misery or pain or distress.
- Exceptionally bad or displeasing.
- Causing physical discomfort.
Job 2:7 painful:
shekh-een'
From an unused root probably meaning to burn; inflammation, that is, an ulcer: - boil, botch.
Now, here is Job, he’s in all this pain. It is burning pain, according to the Hebrew. And it hurts so bad, that he is willing to take glass and scrape his skin to do something to the sores that, in his mind, helps in some way. Have you ever hurt in a spot SO BAD that you felt that cutting out the area might just make things all better, at least in the long run? I have. And I can relate to job and the pottery scraping thing.
Pain (noun):
- An unpleasant sensation occurring in varying degrees of severity as a consequence of injury, disease, or emotional disorder.
- Suffering or distress.
Job 6:10 pain:
kheel, khee-law'
A throe (especially of childbirth): - pain, pang, sorrow.
Job 6:8-10
“Oh, that I might have my request, that God would grant what I hope for, that God would be willing to crush me, to let loose his hand and cut me off! Then I would still have this consolation - my joy in unrelenting pain - that I had not denied the words of the Holy One.”
1st Peter 4:12-13
Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed.
AAA-HHHAAA!!!... First off… what sin did Job do to get the sores on his body? What sin did Job commit for his family to be killed and his wealth to be taken away? He didn’t sin. It was a trial. A painful trial, at that. It wasn’t pleasant. And as I had noted in a previous time, Job was considered patient in his suffering. I personally don’t feel the need to look it up. I think it is in James, should you want to check it out. But here I am… a painful trial. Should I be surprised by it? Well, no. Although, after a good 26 months of the garbage, I am becoming weary about having to go through it all. I’m tired.
1st Peter 4:12 painful trial:
poo'-ro-sis
Ignition, that is, (specifically) smelting (figuratively conflagration, calamity as a test): - burning, trial.
Now… I am going to go to the dictionary to define trial, and doing so, I saw a definition for trial in regards to trial with that of a kiln. It stuck in my mind. The reason is due to the many references in the bible to pottery. Before the definition and my thoughts, the scriptures:
Romans 9:19-21
One of you will say to me: “Then why does God still blame us? For who resists his will?” But who are you, O man, to talk back to God? “Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, ‘Why did you make me like this?’” Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for noble purposes and some for common use?
1st Corinthians 4:5-12
For we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that his life may be revealed in our mortal body. So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you.
Jeremiah 18:1-6
This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD: “Go down to the potter’s house, and there I will give you my message.” So I went down to the potter’s house, and I saw him working at the wheel. But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him. Then the word of the LORD came to me: “O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter does?” declares the LORD. “Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel.”
2nd Timothy 2:20-21
In a large house there are articles not only of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay; some are for noble purposes and some for ignoble. If a man cleanses himself from the latter, he will be an instrument for noble purposes, made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work.
1st Peter 1:3-9
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade - kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith - of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire - may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
Now, these scriptures all have something in common. That’s right, the BIBLE. But more that, they are all talking about be refined. In most cases, they have something to do with clay: the potter. In most cases, the potter melds the clay into whatever he wants. Being an art major for many years, I know a thing or two about clay. It’s messy. It doesn’t want to do what you want it to do. You have to be patient with it. And when you finally get it to where you want it, you have to prep the kiln. The kiln is the fiery oven in which you cook the clay, the pottery, in. This thing gets really, really hot. And to prepare it, you have trials in which to get it ready, to make sure you do not ruin the pottery. Because, if you get the pottery in at a temperature too low, it will crack and the pottery will be useless. And if pottery is put in at a temperature too high, it will also crack and the pottery will be useless.
Trial (noun):
- Ceramics. a piece of ceramic material used to try the heat of a kiln and the progress of the firing of its contents.
I never thought my art knowledge would be used in this way… but alas, something interesting to show for my associates degree. So I walk away today encouraged, by Jeff, by CC and Kashara, by Ben and Erica, and numerous others… hey, by my teachers at Mountain View College, I actually used something tonight! Anyway… Johnny Out.
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