August 31st

“I am a laughingstock to my friends; I, who called upon God and he answered me, a just and blameless man, I am a laughingstock.” Job 12:4

ah, Job, you knew
what it was like to speak truth
and hear laughter instead of listening.
we know it as well these days—
empathy being mocked as weakness,
kindness seen as naïve,
when cries for justice are dismissed
even before they are heard.
Still, Job, you remind us
that being ridiculed
does not diminish truth.
so may we not be too eager
to offer the easy laugh,
to make quick judgments,
to dismiss others from
the comfort of our certainty—
but let us listen,
especially to those whose pain
makes us squirm.
for it just might be
that the voice we laugh away
is the one God is using
to snap us out of our
self-perceived blamelessness.

(c) 2026 Thom M. Shuman

Venmo:@Thom-Shuman