Judith 8:25-31: a reflection

25Besides all this let’s give thanks to the Lord our God, who tries us, even as he did our fathers also. 26Remember all the things which he did to Abraham, and all the things in which he tried Isaac, and all the things which happened to Jacob in Mesopotamia of Syria, when he kept the sheep of Laban his mother’s brother. 27For he has not tried us in the fire, as he did them, to search out their hearts, neither has he taken vengeance on us; but the Lord scourges those who come near to him, to admonish them.” 28And Ozias said to her, “All that you have spoken, you have spoken with a good heart. There is no one who will deny your words. 29For this is not the first day wherein your wisdom is manifested; but from the beginning of your days all the people have known your understanding, because the disposition of your heart is good. 30But the people were exceedingly thirsty, and compelled us to do as we spoke to them, and to bring an oath upon ourselves, which we will not break. 31And now pray for us, because you are a godly woman, and the Lord will send us rain to fill our cisterns, and we will faint no more.”

As her people despair under siege and are ready to give up on God, Judith calls them to a different response: Let us give thanks to the Lord our God, who is testing us, even as he did our ancestors. She reminds them how God tested Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and she reframes their present trial not as God's abandonment, but as his testing, the kind of trial that God brings to those near to him, to refine and to admonish them, not to destroy them.

Notice how Judith reframes the trial. Her people were reading their suffering as a sign that God had abandoned them; but Judith sees it as a testing, the same kind God brought upon the patriarchs whom he loved. A trial, she says, is not necessarily a sign of God's rejection; it can be a sign of his relationship, the way he tests and refines those who are near to him. And so, rather than despair, she calls them to give thanks, even in the midst of the test.

That reframing can steady us in our own trials. When suffering comes, we are prone to read it as a sign that God has abandoned us, that something has gone wrong in our relationship with him. But trials can be God's testing, the refining he brings to those he loves, as he did to the patriarchs; they are not proof of his rejection. When you are tested, do not conclude that God has forsaken you. Consider that he may be refining you, as he refined those he loved before you, and, like Judith, find a way even to give thanks in the midst of it. The testing of those near to God is a mark of relationship, not abandonment; trust him, and give thanks, even in the trial.

Lord, when her people despaired under siege, Judith called them to give thanks to you, who were testing them as you tested Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, reframing their trial not as your abandonment but as the refining you bring to those near to you. Steady me with that truth in my own trials. When suffering comes, I am prone to read it as a sign that you have abandoned me, that something has gone wrong between us. But trials can be your testing, the refining you bring to those you love, not proof of your rejection. When I am tested, keep me from concluding that you have forsaken me. Help me consider that you may be refining me, as you refined those you loved before me, and, like Judith, help me find a way even to give thanks in the midst of it. Your testing of those near to you is a mark of relationship, not abandonment; help me trust you, and give thanks, even in the trial.