Job 3:6 As for that night, let darkness seize upon it; let it not be joined unto the days of the year, let it not come into the number of the months.

I have in the past made a joke out of this passage. It went something like this. Job was born on February 30^th and he cursed the day he was born for so long, he cursed it right off the calendar. OK, maybe it isn’t all that funny, especially for someone who can identify with the pain that Job felt.

Chapter 2 of Job is where his three friends agree together to come together and try and comfort Job. It is obvious to me that these men cared about Job. They came from different regions as they did not live in the same area as Job. They recognized Job’s grief and for seven days said nothing as they sat with him.

Mourning is like that, they did good in my experience. Having suffered loss, I recognize that early words rarely are heard and if heard only fall on the ears and do not touch the heart. Jesus said to mourn with those that mourn, so this was good.

Then Job spoke cursing the day he was born. His expression of the depth of his pain is hard to hear. It was then after this that his friends tried to fix Job in their own strength and wisdom, which failed. This too is common among many of us. We turn to our own experiences, our own solutions, what worked for us and if that fails, feel exasperated. What went wrong?

Matthew 18:20 For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.

Jesus centered togetherness brings He who is able above all to heal into the event. We have to remember to bring Jesus to the gathering, we need to invite Him first.

Matthew 5:44 But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;

That’s a tough one isn’t it? I struggle with it. I try and find ways to understand exactly what God expects of me in context of all that He has to say about sin, pigs, dogs, and mostly about sanctification. It isn’t easy to know all that God has to say on all these subjects and pull them all together to act as He would have us act.

Have you seen the movie “The Matrix”? It is a fantasy with no real basis in any kind of world we live in and yet there is a glimmer of an idea that kind of makes me wonder if that might speak to me about the enemy.

Everyone goes about living life in the matrix according to the code. They are all subject to the code, all except those who move about among them who are alive and free. Then there are the “agents”. An agent seeks to destroy the free. Anyone who is not free is subject to be turned into an agent.

Our world is much like that. People go about living their lives not knowing they are dead in their sins. Just as the main character had to make a choice to take a blue or red pill, to have the eyes of his understanding opened, or to go back to sleep, we offer those in bondage the same opportunity.

The choice is theirs, to receive the truth or to ignore it. I know that there are times when we run across those who turn into agents, but all that are dead to sin can turn on us. They are the enemy but just not agents. It is a delicate process to offer the truth without turning a lost soul into an agent of the Matrix.

Another analogy to the movie is that we live in the world/matrix until we are called out.

1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.