Sometimes being out of synch doesn’t necessarily imply
blasphemy. Job is a wonderful example of this. Here was a man who had done
nothing wrong, had lived his life in God’s favor, according to the will of God,
raised seven children and a wife and was a good steward with his assets. And
then for whatever reason, boom! Things turned sour. His children died, he lost
his money, he had boils on his skin and was reduced to sackcloth and ashes and
to saying, “The Lord gave and the Lord taketh away” (Job 1:21-22). He says in
Job 16:9,11,14, “He teareth me in his wrath, who hateth me; he gnasheth upon me
with his teeth; mine enemy sharpeneth his eyes upon me. God hath delivered me
unto the ungodly and turned me over unto the hands of the wicked. He breaketh
me with breach upon breach, He runneth upon me like a giant”. And again in Job
19:6,7,21,22, Job says, “Know now that God hath overthrown me, and hath
compassed me with his net. Behold, I cry out of wrong, but I am not heard: I
cry aloud, but there is no judgment. Have pity upon me, have pity upon me, O,
ye, my friends, for the hand of God hath touched me. Why do you persecute me as
God, and are not satisfied with my flesh?” Job feels the persecution, evidently
and clearly. Job is wounded to the depths of his soul and while he doesn’t know
where this is coming from, and why God would let that happen to him at this
point he is willing to just accept that God is God. Even though he questions
and does ask why, he has enough faith to accept God as God. While he is trying
to figure things out, he is taking a giant leap of faith. At the same time, he
is angry, justifiably so, with his friends who assume he has done the worst
sort of sin and do not accept him for just having something happen to him. He
even explains to them that he is not like others who tell God they have what
they need and choose not to follow Him. (Job 21:13,14) The one friend of Job
that makes any sense is the youngest of the young, and his advice is given in
Job 22:12-14,17: “Is not God in the height of heaven? And behold the height of
the stars, how high they are! And thou sayest, ‘How does God know? Can He judge
through a dark cloud?’ Thick clouds are a covering to Him, that He seeth not,
and He walketh in the area of heaven. Which said unto God, “Depart from us.”
What can the Almighty do for them?” It is an answer without answering. It is of
the type of “I don’t know, but don’t give up hope just yet.” It is a call for
patience. And it ultimately fails. Because Job is once and for all alone, as I
am when I suffer grief. None can know the pain I felt when my father died
although that was expected and when my brother died although that was just a
matter of time as well. Many have experienced death and separation, but each
feels it in his own way. And loss, whether it is personal, financial, work, or
whatever loss there is truly causes me to wonder if God took a nap while all
this was going on. Because I only have a quantum amount of faith and no more.
And I finally say with Job, “Thou art become cruel to me, with thy strong hand
thou opposeth thyself against me. Behold He findeth occasions against me, He counteth me for his enemies.
He puteth my feet in the stocks, He
marketh all my paths.” (Job 30:21; Job 33:10,11) And yet I vacillate, because I then say, as
did Job’s friend did in Job 34:5,6,9,16-19,37, “For Job hath said, ‘I am
righteous: and God hath taken away my judgment. Should I lie against my right?
My wound is incurable without transgression. For He hath said, “It profiteth a
man that he should delight himself with God”. If now thou hast understanding,
hear this: hearken to the voice of my words. Shall even he that hateth my right
govern? And wilt thou condemn him that is most just? Is it fit to say to a
king, “Thou art wicked”? And to a prince, “You are ungodly”? How much less to
him that accepteth not the person of princes, nor regardeth the rich more than
the poor? For they all are the work of his hands. For he addeth rebellion unto
his sin, he clappeth his hands amoung us, and multiplieth his words against
God.” Job’s friend knows that if he decides to blaspheme God, there is no hope,
there can be no peace and no order in his life. He knows Job cannot go against
God. And Job agrees somewhat sardonically,
as I do, in Job 37:20, meanwhile still asking why, almost whining to God. And
God then speaks for several chapters thereafter and basically tells Job who is
he to ask, who is he to question the wisdom of God, who is he not to maintain
his faith, or to say that he cannot, or to say that he is not strong enough,
when God tells him he is, when it is God that made him.
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