Tuesday 15th September 2026
Reading Job 19:1-12
Then Job answered:
‘How long will you torment me,
and break me in pieces with words?
These ten times you have cast reproach upon me;
are you not ashamed to wrong me?
And even if it is true that I have erred,
my error remains with me.
If indeed you magnify yourselves against me,
and make my humiliation an argument against me,
know then that God has put me in the wrong,
and closed his net around me.
Even when I cry out, “Violence!” I am not answered;
I call aloud, but there is no justice.
He has walled up my way so that I cannot pass,
and he has set darkness upon my paths.
He has stripped my glory from me,
and taken the crown from my head.
He breaks me down on every side, and I am gone,
he has uprooted my hope like a tree.
He has kindled his wrath against me,
and counts me as his adversary.
His troops come on together;
they have thrown up siege-works against me,
and encamp around my tent.
Reflection
Job 19:7 might sum up Job’s whole experience. Even when he shouts “Violence!”, there is no answer. There is no justice. It is like screaming “Fire!” and nobody taking the slightest bit of notice, even as the building burns around you.
Job wants justice. He wants what he is going through to be noticed. He wants it to be recognised that, even if he has done something wrong, no crime could possibly justify the torment that is being inflicted on him.
The psychologist Judith Herman wrote an influential book in the 1990s in which she described three stages of recovery from trauma. First, she argued, safety must be established. There can be no healing if the causes of trauma are still ongoing. Second, the individual can construct a ‘trauma narrative’ so that they can start to understand and come to terms with what has happened. After this, there can be reintegration into community and the rebuilding of life after trauma.
Thirty years later, Herman published another book, in which she added a fourth stage: justice. People who have suffered trauma, she writes, “want the truth to be known”.
Trauma does not occur in isolation. Violence is perpetrated by another person. The trauma of war is tied up in politics. Natural disasters disproportionately impact poorer communities.
Given that trauma always has a social cause, and it is not possible to move forwards if the causes of trauma are still present, justice is vital. Drawing attention to the causes of trauma and holding people to account – whether this is individual perpetrators or governments committing war crimes – is the first step towards healing. Like Job, the simple act of declaring “Violence!” can be the first step towards acknowledgement, accountability, and ultimately healing.
Prayer
We pray for all those who have suffered harm through the words, actions, or neglect of another person, for those who suffer under oppressive regimes, who are impacted by war and conflict, who are forced to leave their homes in the hope of finding safety. For those who are made vulnerable by lack of opportunity, support, healthcare, or financial security. Help us to recognise the causes of suffering in your world and have the courage to speak out against them and be a part of building justice in your world. Amen.