I seriously think that Job is my favorite book in the bible. I know, strange choice, but hear me out. Here is this guy who is prosperous on every front of his life. He has money, land and great family. He is looked up to by others in his community. He is an honored man. So much so that Satan begs God to let him mess with Job to see if he is a righteous as everyone thinks he is. Satan's bet is that Job will curse God so he can just die. So, God says "Sure, go ahead. I have faith in my man Job. Do what you will." And off Satan goes to systematically tear apart Job's life one layer at a time. He lost everything (literally!)
Now through all of this, I would say that Job had a very human reaction (understandable in view of what he was facing - I would be right there too.) Actually he had quite the pity party. He didn't curse God. Oh, but he did question him! A LOT! So, here's where it gets good. Around chapter 38, God gets a little sick of the "Oh woe is me" attitude and comes down to have a little chat with Job - from inside a tornado! Hello!! Did you get that part? From inside a tornado!!!!! I think that might have been enough to snap me out of it right there, but God says...
2"Who is this that questions my wisdom
with such ignorant words?
3 Brace yourself like a man,
because I have some questions for you,
and you must answer them.
I love that! Brace yourself like a man! We're gonna have a little talk. So, God proceeds to ask Job a series of questions. You really need to read the whole thing, but I will put a few of my favorites here to wet your appetite...
4 "Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?
Tell me, if you know so much.
8 "Who kept the sea inside its boundaries
as it burst from the womb,
9 and as I clothed it with clouds
and wrapped it in thick darkness?
10 For I locked it behind barred gates,
limiting its shores.
11 I said, `This far and no farther will you come.
Here your proud waves must stop!'
12 "Have you ever commanded the morning to appear
and caused the dawn to rise in the east?
18 Do you realize the extent of the earth?
Tell me about it if you know!
19 "Where does light come from,
and where does darkness go?
20 Can you take each to its home?
Do you know how to get there?
21 But of course you know all this!
For you were born before it was all created,
and you are so very experienced!
OK - I really must stop. But this kind of amazing question (and definite lack of answering) goes on for 2 chapters. Then, in chapter 40 God says,
2 "Do you still want to argue with the Almighty?
You are God's critic, but do you have the answers?"
Job replies with the only thing one could reply with after that... "I got nothin to say!" So, God continues his little question session for ANOTHER 2 chapters and finally (I guess he figured Job had finally gotten the point - thick headed human!) he stops. And Job's reply is where I want my attitude to dwell forever, take a look...
2 "I know that you can do anything,
and no one can stop you.
3 You asked, `Who is this that questions my wisdom with such ignorance?'
It is I—and I was talking about things I knew nothing about,
things far too wonderful for me.
4 You said, `Listen and I will speak!
I have some questions for you,
and you must answer them.'
5 I had only heard about you before,
but now I have seen you with my own eyes.
"Before I had heard about you, but now I have seen you with my own eyes!" How much of our time is spent just "hearing" about the things of God and rushing past them in our busy day? Have we really seen Him? I mean gotten a real good, up close, "Jobesque" view of Him?
Every time I read these chapters I am impassioned again to really see God for who He is and then live accordingly. I know I am only scratching the surface on that in my life, but I long to do better. I want to SEE HIM and KNOW HIM so well that the over flow of that would drive others to search out and find the same. It is only then that our lives have true meaning.
So today, my challenge to you is to "Stand up and take it like a man!" Read through these last chapters of Job and let God ask you the same questions. I bet you will join me in echoing Job's response at the end of it. I pray that you will see and know the magnitude of the God that created you for a purpose and loves you more than you will ever know!
Thursday, January 14, 2010
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3 comments:
Jan,
Thank you for that this morning. Job and God have really smacked me upside the head this morning! I really need to stand up and take it like a man...and I am ready...
I am also a fan of Job--I read it about 2 yrs ago and it just happened to kick off a period of my life in which a lot of difficult things happened that I simply could not explain.
I tend to see Job's questioning of God in a more sympathetic light, though. Job was undeniably upright, something his friends failed to understand as they repeatedly tried to convince Job he must have been guilty of something in order to be punished as he was. Yet, at the beginning of the book, we know that Job in fact did nothing wrong, and was being tested by Satan with God's sanction.
Job has the natural reaction of any human being thrown into chaos: namely, "What the heck is going on?"--and he raises these questions. So far as Job can tell, he did nothing to deserve this--and he's right.
I, too, love the chapter you quoted from, when God finally answers Job's lament. He doesn't condemn Job so much as remind him of his place in the order of things. Who are you to question me? You are sad and don't understand, but do you think I don't understand and have no purposes in this just because you do not?
It is a reminder that the depth and breadth and complexity of creation and God's process and purpose within that is so much more than Job can ever understand, and that he would be better off to trust blindly in God than to wallow in pity. Remember that God offers Job no explanation at any point in their discourse; he does not say, "You are being tested in order to be shown worthy." Instead, God more or less tells Job to shut up and accept that he will never understand things too great for his mind, and that given Job's feeble and limited understanding God is under no obligation to provide answers. In other words, Job's very notion of the justice he craves is intellectually primitive, and he knows not what he is asking for or from whom it is he is asking, as God reminds him through His exposition on the wonders of His creation.
Oddly, I found comfort in this. I could've sought out some fake, logical answer--that the things that have happened to me are so that someone else doesn't suffer, or to teach me a lesson or put me in some place in life that I need to be. Instead, the realization that I would receive no answer but could receive God's blessing regardless, as Job did, was greater than any minimal human understanding behind the purpose of suffering that I could've gained.
At the end of the day, for all his whining and questioning, God holds no grudge against Job and in fact finds him worthy--so worthy that He will only accept Job's prayers on behalf of his friends, whom God condemns for passing judgment. Job, who earlier in the book asks God to testify against him if he is guilty of something and is being punished for it, never has to take the stand. Instead, he realizes that God is so much bigger than him that peace will only come through true faith--which by definition means believing without absolute proof that, in Job's case, everything was done for a higher purpose and will work out ok.
I see in Job, at least on a philosophical level, a strong link to Ecclesiastes, and both of these books are among my favorites and have brought me great comfort and wisdom. Both books tell us that we can't make sense out of the day to day happenings in our world, and that perhaps we shouldn't even try to. Nevertheless, amidst the chaos, we learn that God and His greater purposes are there, and that it is still worthy to strive for these things, even though we fall for reasons beyond our control. If we only honor God for some guarantee of earthly safety and prosperity, then what room for faith?
So true Paul! I actually changed my wording just a bit in light of your comment. I don't think may of us would stand up as well as Job did under the distress he endured.
My point, more than condemning Job and running the risk of being just like his friends, is to see that at the end of all of that - Job had his eyes opened to who and what God really is and we should do the same. It is a comfort in knowing that sometimes there are just no answers for us and we just need to trust that God has our best interest in mind for His glory!
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