Lam 3-5 - so... that's that...

The readings - Day241 - Lamentations 3-5

I guess I should have known that grief like Lamentation have a limited run - as it should - but I didn't expect/remember/whatever that it was such a short book. Shows how much I've been paying attention, I suppose.

Anyway, here in the second bit of Lamentations we get another "alternate view" of something we often hear about, but (I think) usually fail to grasp the actual horror of: the siege.

I was really struck in Jeremiah when it talks about the eventual conquest of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar, in that it was far from a quick slash-and-burn affair, but rather a 2-year siege. It's a tactic that's been used for millennia, and continued well into the modern era, with shocking stories of what people went through in WWII in the Siege of Leningrad and others.

Job 40-42 - With a pink ribbon...

The readings - Day 164 - Job 40-42

Although Job has spent dozens of chapters moaning and whining and making all manner of wild accusations about God's character, there is the silver lining that shows up at the end.

Job, unlike some other books so far, actually has a fairly satisfying and summarized ending. After God's awesome summary of His own rad-ness, Job actually does as God says, mans up (God actually said to do this - it's awesome!) and just admits that he was wrong all along, he doesn't know everything, God's still the best and he's very sorry for being such a twit.

It's good stuff.

Then God takes a second to tell Job's friends that they're a bunch of jerks, restores all of Job's wealth (gives him new kids, too!) and land and livestock, and everyone lives happily ever after.

I still don't quite know what to make of God's willingness to just give Satan free reign over Job's life, or what exactly Satan was doing at a Heaven's Council meeting in the first place, but at least Job's story ends on an up note, and everything's back the way it was.