Gird up your loins

A litany for worship inspired by Job 39-42

In the book by his name, Job is addressed directly by the Lord God: “Gird up you loins, oh human one! I have questions for you. See if you can answer.

“Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Who laid its cornerstone, when the morning stars sang together and all the children of God shouted for joy?

“Who shut in the sea with doors when it burst forth from my womb and fashioned its garment with clouds?

“Have you commanded the morning, and caused the dawn to know its place, that it might take hold of the skirts of the earth to shake the wicked from its folds?

“Who has cleft a channel for the torrents of rain, and a way for the thunderbolt, to bring rain on a land where no one can survive, to satisfy the desolate wilderness with fields of grass?

“Do you give the horse its might? Do you clothe its neck with strength, making it leap like the locust? Stallion and mare advance headlong into the fray, laughing at fear and casting off dismay. Neither sword nor spear, nor quiver of arrows, can still the steeds’ movement when the trumpet sounds!”

From the pit of humiliation Job responded: “I know, Oh Lord, that you can do all things. Your Presence is too wonderful for me to speak. I have known your Reputation from the ancient stories; but now, with my own eyes I see, with my own ears I hear, with my own heart I understand.

“How wondrous is the world you make; how relentless is the grace you bestow; how manifold is the mercy of your Reign!”

©Ken Sehested, inspired by excerpts from Job 39-42