Job 10:20
My days are few, so desist,
Leave me alone, that I may be diverted a little.
Diversion. I think of it as something to do to avoid being bored. I always have the opportunity to feel like I have a million things to do, but I also have hit brick walls and been bored. I spoke with the little kid about introverts and extroverts and how these ideals do not mean one is a loner or always looking for interaction. One of my diversions with her once was to collect a quarter from each state. I guess I should have kept that gold quarter to put in the collection too.
The weirdest part of this verse is how the desist part was either in the first or second stitch. I do not see how it could possible go in the second, but my sources were divided on it. “Desist” was also “let me alone”, “turn away”, “cease”, “leave me alone”, and “let me be”. Turn away was the only option repeated, but I obviously split the difference by using it twice and following closely the old child’s phrase of “Stop it, leave me alone.” Interestingly, the Christian sources all had “are my days not few”, whereas the Jewish sources had “My days are few”.
“Diverted” was also “comforted”, “have a moment’s joy”, “catch my breath”, “have some gladness”, and “may be happy”. Diverted just seemed to be the smaller ask.
One of the wisdom pieces from the Old Testament tells us to eat, drink, and take comfort in our work (more or less). The hungry, the thirsty, and the unemployed have a harder time with this. We spoke about the battle over free speech and social media in our accountability group this morning. There is a gap in the world between who believes what is acceptable or offensive, and many opinions are self biased. One group said we should only have 74 total garments in our wardrobe, and each should last 15 years. Even the best of clothes is not going to last that long being worn that often. Speech by one religion to “overcome” another may be “protected”, but it sure is offensive.
The world is full of big issues. The appropriateness of much of it is minimal for the Christian goal of godliness. But we do need clothes and we do need to not alienate everyone around us by intolerance. We have work to do, and we have suffering coming our way. God is not trying to overwhelm us with “Everything, Everywhere, All at Once”, but it can seem that way. The ideal is that we find rest in God. That we take time for ourselves and experience joy from the things that bring it to us, and take time for a little happiness as well. Christ says our burden is light. It therefore must be so. So if your burden is heavy, it is a sign you need to give it to Him.
(Written 1/17, Posted 1/20, Job 228)