(4.) The Gospel Story of Tobit: Low Moments in Chapter 3
(4.) The Gospel Story of Tobit: Low Moments in Chapter 3.
“… Now do with me as is best before You. Command that my life breath be taken from me so I may be released from the face of the earth into dust. It is better for me to die than to live, for I am overwhelmed with grief and sorrow. Command that I be delivered from such anguish and distress. Let me enter now into the eternal home. Do not turn Your face from me. For it is better for me to die than to endure so much misery in life.” (Tobit praying in Tobit 3:6).
“… Now, O Lord, I offer myself completely to You. Command that I be released from the earth… What should I live for? But if it does not seem good to You to kill me, command that I be looked upon with favor, and that mercy be shown to me…” (Sarah praying in midst of demonic assaults, Tobit 3:11-15).
Square One. We need to note that in each case above, with both Tobit and Sarah in their prayers of distress and bitter anguish, they began their prayers with high praise of God… “O Lord, You are righteous, and all Your works are just. All Your ways are mercy and truth. You are the Judge of the world, because Your judgments are true and just forever.” (Tobit 3:2). And in the case of Sarah’s prayer, she began with… “Blessed are you, O Lord, my God of mercy! Blessed is Your holy and precious name forever! May all Your works, everything that You have made, bless You forever and ever.” (Tobit 3:11). It is profound that their prayerful cries of distress and grief were in the context of a deep and personal faith. They were not groaning because of a lack of faith in God, but instead were acting out of raw honesty in their faithfulness.
Weak Moments Galore. The Judeo-Christian Bible is the most realistic book ever written. These old stories remain relevant because of their inclination to show everything there was to see about its characters. The Scriptures are totally transparent, revealing the people at their high points, low points, and everything in between. Its writers had nothing to hide, evidently, and was all about real life in all its glory and all its failures. Besides Tobit and Sarah, there were five biblical heroes who were revealed as all too human, all of them at low points during their life with God. These five all asked to die, they requested that the Lord take their lives. But God refused to take the lives of Moses, Elijah, Job, Jeremiah and Jonah. God had more for them to do, and anyway it was unthinkable. Of course God wouldn’t take their lives when they were at such low moments. Anyone who has ever reached their limit, who has had enough, can learn from these five real life episodes of faithful people at their lowest.
The Righteous Job. “There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was blameless and upright, and one who feared God and shunned evil… ‘May the day perish on which I was born, and the night in which it was said, a male child is conceived… Why did I not die at birth? Why did I not perish when I came from the womb?… Oh, that I might have my request, that God would grant me the thing that I long for! That it would please God to crush me, that he would loose His hand and cut me off!” (Job 1:1, 3:3 and 11, 6:8-9).
The Hero Moses. “Why are you treating me, your servant, so harshly? Have mercy on me! What did I do to deserve the burden of these people? Did I give them birth like a mother? Did I bring them into the world? Why did you tell me to carry them in my arms like a mother carries a nursing baby? How can I carry them to the land you swore to give their ancestors? I can’t carry all the people by myself! The load is too heavy! If this is how you intend to treat me, just go ahead and kill me. Do me a favor and spare me this misery! End my miserable life!” (Numbers 11:11-15).
The Prophet Jonah. “Then Jonah went out to the east side of the city and made a shelter to sit under as he waited to see what would happen to the city. And the Lord God arranged for a leafy plant to grow there, and soon it spread its broad leaves over Jonah’s head, shading him from the sun. This eased his discomfort, and Jonah was very grateful for the plant. But God also arranged for a worm! The next morning at dawn the worm ate through the stem of the plant so it withered away. And as the sun grew hot, God arranged for a scorching east wind to blow on Jonah. The sun beat down on his head until he grew faint and wished to die. “Death is certainly better than living like this!’ he exclaimed. Then God said to Jonah, ‘Is it right for you to be angry because the plant died?’ ‘Yes,’ Jonah replied, ‘even angry enough to die!” (Jonah 4:5-9).
The Prophet Elijah. “Elijah went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a juniper tree. And he prayed that he might die, and said, ‘It is enough! Now, Lord, take my life, for I am no better than my fathers!” (1 Kings 19:4).
The Prophet Jeremiah. “I curse the day I was born! May no one celebrate the day of my birth. Oh, that I had died in my mother’s womb, that her body had been my grave! Why was I ever born? My entire life has been filled with trouble, sorrow and shame.” (Jeremiah 20:14, 17, 18).
Each of these stories above deserves a deep dive into the context of these saints’ distress. If interested, in this blog there is a category entitled “Low Moments” which does just that.