Journey Through Job: A Pilgrimage of Holy Acceptance
Day 36 – Holy Acceptance Trusts the God We Cannot Fully Understand
“Remember that thou knowest not His work, concerning which men have sung. Behold, God is great, exceeding our knowledge: the number of His years is inestimable.” — Job 36:24–26 (Douay-Rheims)
As Eliu continues speaking, he draws Job’s attention away from the arguments that have consumed their conversation and toward the greatness of God. He reminds Job that the Lord sees what man cannot see and works according to a wisdom far beyond our own. Though Eliu still tries to interpret Job’s suffering through his own limited understanding, his words point toward a truth that has been quietly unfolding throughout Job’s journey: there are mysteries of God that we will never fully comprehend.
Holy Acceptance begins where our need to understand ends.
Eliu tells Job that God “will not take away his eyes from the just” (Job 36:7). What a beautiful reminder for a suffering soul. Job may feel forgotten, misunderstood, and even abandoned, but the Lord has never taken His eyes from him. God’s gaze is not the gaze of a distant observer. He sees the hidden places of the heart. He sees the suffering no one else recognizes. He sees the faithfulness that others question.
How often do we mistake God’s hiddenness for His absence?
When our prayers seem unanswered, we may begin to believe that God has turned His face away. When suffering continues, we may wonder whether He has forgotten us. But Holy Acceptance asks us to trust what faith tells us even when our emotions tell us something different: God sees. God knows. God remains.
Eliu also speaks of God opening the ear of the suffering soul: “He also shall open their ear, to correct them: and shall speak, that they may return from iniquity” (Job 36:10). Again, we must be careful not to conclude that Job’s suffering was punishment for sin. We already know that it was not. Yet suffering can still become a place where God opens our ears.
There are things we may hear in the silence of suffering that we could not hear in the noise of comfort.
Pain can expose the places where we have tried to remain in control. Loss can reveal the things upon which we have placed our security. Weakness can uncover our need for God. None of this means that God delights in our suffering. Rather, it means that His grace is powerful enough to enter even the places we would never have chosen and bring forth something holy.
This is the heart of Holy Acceptance.
It is not saying, “I understand why this happened.”
It is saying, “I trust You even though I do not understand.”
Eliu reminds Job, “Who can search out his ways?” (Job 36:23). There is humility in recognizing that we cannot always trace the movements of Providence. God’s work is often hidden until much later. Sometimes we may never see the full reason during this life.
Yet we do not have to understand the whole story to trust the Author.
We see this most clearly in Jesus. The disciples could not understand the Cross while they were standing beneath it. They had followed Jesus, trusted His promises, and believed He was the Messiah. Yet suddenly He was beaten, rejected, and crucified. Everything they thought they understood seemed to collapse.
But God was not absent. The Father was accomplishing salvation through what appeared to be utter defeat. The Resurrection revealed what the disciples could not see on Good Friday. The Cross had never been outside the Father’s providence. What looked like an ending was the beginning of something infinitely greater.
We often stand in our own Good Fridays and ask God to show us the Resurrection before we are ready to trust Him in the darkness. Holy Acceptance asks us to remain faithful without demanding that God reveal the ending first.
Eliu looks toward the heavens and speaks of the rain, the clouds, the light, and the majesty of creation. “In His hands he hideth the light, and commandeth it to come again” (Job 36:32). Even the light itself is in God’s hands. He can hide it for a time, but He also commands it to return.
What a beautiful image for the suffering soul. There may be seasons when the light seems hidden. Prayer feels dry. Hope feels distant. The path ahead is obscured. Yet the God who holds the light has not ceased to possess it. Christ is our assurance of this.
He is the Light that darkness could not overcome (John 1:5). He is the One who entered the darkness of death and emerged victorious. Because of Him, we can trust that no darkness is permanent when surrendered into the hands of God.
Holy Acceptance does not ask us to love the darkness. It asks us to trust the One who holds the light. We may not understand what God is doing. We may not know how long the night will last. We may not see how He can possibly bring good from what has been lost. But we can place our lives into His hands.
For the God who knows what we cannot know, sees what we cannot see, and holds what we cannot hold is the same God who gave Himself for us on the Cross. And if He has already given us His Son, we can trust Him with everything else.
Prayer
Lord, You are great, and Your wisdom is beyond my understanding. When I cannot comprehend what You are doing, help me surrender my need for answers and trust Your heart. Open my ears to whatever You desire to teach me through this season, without allowing me to believe that suffering means You have abandoned me. When the light seems hidden, remind me that it remains in Your hands. Teach me the Holy Acceptance that trusts You in the darkness, knowing that You are still at work and that Your love will never fail. Amen.
Day 35 Day 37