Where was I when this was created?
Not even alive. Not even a thought.
Job's Answer to his LORD is just beautiful and forces one to deal with those existential questions: Who is God and what is He up to in Job's life; in my life; in your life.
Job's Response: Behold, I am insignificant; what can I reply to You. I lay my hand on my mouth. Job 40:4 "I will add no more."
"I have heard of you, God, by the hearing of the ear;
But now my eye sees You. Job 42:5-6
Therefore, I
Retract and I
Repent in Dust and Ashes.
When God comes up from behind and we sense His Presence
When God comes up through strangers unaware
When God comes up within and we know His Goodness,
When God comes up to surprise us to uncover His Goodness ...
and we learn that
We are not the Prosecuting Attorney.
God is not the Defendant.
Nor does He need us to defend Him and
pretend that all is well even though He has allowed suffering.
"God extinguished all the lights that had been guiding Job on a pleasant path through life, in order to gain entrance into Job's heart with Light of His Presence."66LL Are we mad that God has nudged us off the pleasant path? There is only One Source. There is only One Light. We want God to undo all our problems and steer us back to that pleasant path. But, God is uncovering His Beauty, His Presence in you and me. So be it. Amen & Amen.
With my hand over my mouth.
PRAYERS FROM PSALMS
"Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me away from Your Presence." Psalm 51:10
OVERVIEW: Job 40-42
Retract and I
Repent in Dust and Ashes.
When God comes up from behind and we sense His Presence
When God comes up through strangers unaware
When God comes up within and we know His Goodness,
When God comes up to surprise us to uncover His Goodness ...
and we learn that
We are not the Prosecuting Attorney.
God is not the Defendant.
Nor does He need us to defend Him and
pretend that all is well even though He has allowed suffering.
"God extinguished all the lights that had been guiding Job on a pleasant path through life, in order to gain entrance into Job's heart with Light of His Presence."66LL Are we mad that God has nudged us off the pleasant path? There is only One Source. There is only One Light. We want God to undo all our problems and steer us back to that pleasant path. But, God is uncovering His Beauty, His Presence in you and me. So be it. Amen & Amen.
With my hand over my mouth.
PRAYERS FROM PSALMS
"Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me away from Your Presence." Psalm 51:10
OVERVIEW: Job 40-42
Job gets his court date before God which he had asked for. And it looks nothing like he thought it would. Standing before Holiness Himself, Job knows his sin, pretending to understand things too wonderful to comprehend. Too wonderful--whatever God wants to do is justified. Job still doesn't know why he or, for that matter, any man, suffers. He does know his God is in control and he repents in dust and ashes.
ReplyDeleteDon't you wish just one more chapter was dedicated to more info about Job's restoration. We've just gone through 41 1/2 chapters of suffering and we get one paragraph to know that he lived another 140 years and was restored.
What do we take away from Job?
Faith and suffering exist together.
Suffering isn't always the product of sin.
Well-intentioned friends may not be giving good advice.
Joy cometh.
God is in control.
His creative Power and Might are too wonderful to grasp.
If we wait for the answer to our questions, we very well could miss out on a lifetime of communion with our God.
Sometimes questions are cleverly-disguised defiance or ambivalence.
And it's worth saying again: JOY cometh!