21 “Although I am blameless,
I have no concern for myself;
I despise my own life.
22 It is all the same; that is why I say,
‘He destroys both the blameless and the wicked.’
23 When a scourge brings sudden death,
he mocks the despair of the innocent.
24 When a land falls into the hands of the wicked,
he blindfolds its judges.
If it is not he, then who is it?
-Job 9:21-24
This passage blows me away with in each line. I think of it as a compilation of images, each with its own puzzling characteristics, that, when brought together, creates a picture all its own. Let me tell you what I mean by each image.
Let’s start with verse 21. “Although I am blameless, I have no concern for myself; I despise my own life.” Firstly, WOW! What a man to be able to say, “I am blameless”. I’m sure very few people have ever been able to truthfully say this. I suppose this is why the LORD chooses Job as an example of a faithful man. The next part in this line, at first, strikes me as contrary to the view most people (believers included) think of how a man of God, especially one as devout as Job, would regard his life. However, when one takes into consideration what had just happened to Job, for him to “have no concern for [himself]” and “despise [his] own life” shouldn’t surprise anyone. My point is that I believe God accepts our mourning and sorrow as worship, just as He takes the joy and happiness, so long as we are reverent and honoring of our God.
In the following verse, Job says, “It is all the same; that is why I say, ‘He destroys both the blameless and the wicked.’” Here, I was puzzled. I wondered, “Does God really destroy the blameless as well? I thought that God brought down only the wicked and exalted the humble, upright, and blameless.” Without digressing, let’s push on. Job states, “When a scourge brings sudden death, he mocks the despair of the innocent.” What?!?! God mocks the despair of the innocent?!?! I DON’T BELIEVE THAT! Then, Job says, “When a land falls into the hands of the wicked, he blindfolds its judges.” Okay…what does that mean? Who are the judges of the land? If we look back into the previous books of the Old Testament, we see who the judges are. These men were called by God to help steer His people in the right direction, to discern what was right and God-willed, helping the people to come to the appropriate conclusions and make the correct decisions. So, is Job saying that God will not even allow the judges to see what is going on? Will God prohibit the judges to help the land from falling into wicked hands? There is no hope for these lands, and God is partly to blame? Then, Job says, “If it is not he, then who is it?”
Wait, what? Job doesn’t realize who is at work here. However, we know that Satan is the one who is putting Job through these times. It is Satan who destroys the blameless and the wicked, who brings the scourge upon men, who mocks the despair of the innocent, and who lords over the hands of the wicked to whom these lands fall. It is not the LORD! Satan is to blame!
The fog in my mind as I read through this passage is now cleared. I can see again. Thank God. I would bet that Job was quite confused to say the least! Job lost everything and had no idea who was at work. He knew God was in control and that he had done nothing to deserve this loss, so he wondered why God would do this, not knowing that God hadn’t done this at all.
I suppose the reason I found this passage so significant is because, like Job, many of us find ourselves in moments of great sadness and confusion. On countless occasions of losing loved ones, for example, many of us lash out at God; we are hurt and confused. Some of us even dishonor God by blaming him for our loss. I hope that this passage will serve as a reminder that, in too many ways we, as believers, will go through hard times. We will have to carry the cross of Christ and suffer through some hard times. We may be mocked, punished unfairly, and lose much that is dear to us. Still, we have hope! We have hope in the God who is proud of his children who honor Him and are faithful. We have hope in a God that has control over good and of the wicked, who makes all things turn for good. We have hope in something that Job was unaware of in his time, “someone to mediate between us [and God], someone to bring us [and God] together, someone to remove God’s rod from [us], so that his terror would frighten [us] no more.” (Job 9:33-34) We have hope in our Savior, Jesus Christ! Let us not forget!
Thursday, February 9, 2012
Monday, January 23, 2012
Friends of Job
Job 6:14-17
14 “Anyone who withholds kindness from a friend
forsakes the fear of the Almighty.
15 But my brothers are as undependable as intermittent streams,
as the streams that overflow
16 when darkened by thawing ice
and swollen with melting snow,
17 but that stop flowing in the dry season,
and in the heat vanish from their channels.
As I read this passage, I first thought about my own friends. Then, before I got carried away searching for the specks in the eyes of my friends, I realized I have to first look at the plank in my own eye. As I think about my own faults as a friend, I wonder how often I have told friends from BYX and from camp how I would help them and support them through life. I wonder how many times I’ve carried out those promises. I can’t even count the number of times I said I would pray for someone or be there if they ever needed me or promised someone that I would walk alongside them in their spiritual journey! I usually follow through with my promises and statements to pray or be available but not for very long. I might hold a friend accountable for a while…then we tend to get complacent and lazy. Every once in a while, I’ll call them up to check-up on them, but it is inconsistent, which is the problem.
The real truth to consistency, I think, is being steadfast even when times are good. So often, we will be there to support friends in distress, when their river is dry. We will flood them with love until they are soaked, but as soon as they are well nourished, we cut them off and move on instead of remaining consistent in feeding them the love and support they need.
I suppose I could and should apply this to my marriage. Don’t jump to conclusions too quickly here. I certainly try to remain steadfast in loving and supporting my wife, but I’m sure I’m rather inconsistent and have a few swells and rather dry seasons. I can say that I don’t think the river has ever run completely dry, but there may have been a few dams put up that have limited the love supply. Thankfully, God has been able to break down my walls and knock down those dams. Unfortunately, it requires that parts of me (mostly pride) get smashed down, which is often a rough process. Thankfully, this is how God works, because once the walls and dams are knocked down, love comes rushing through. I suppose the key and main point of the scripture passage is to keep the river rushing at all times, instead of the intermittent swells and droughts.
If we are being thorough and honest, I think we are the same with friends as with God. I mean this in the sense that when we are in need and our river is dry, we allow God to break down the flood gates and let him pour into us. He soaks us and washes out all the debris that has cluttered up the riverbed. (What a messy and wonderful thing!) The problem most of us face is that as soon as we are clean and have allowed the Living Water to soak in, we think we are good. We think that the spring of Life is in us…and, in a way, it is. The key is that the source of that water is our God, not us! As soon as we forget to keep coming back to the source, our river begins to dry up and the water level drops. As debris begins to dam up the stream, things get exponentially worse. The worst thing about this is that, at least in my experience, I can tell when things are getting dry and cluttered. I can tell when I am being lazy in my relationship with God and allowing the world and sin to clutter up our relationship. I just tend to wait until I’m in a drought before I go back to the source. Oh what a fool am I!
Therefore, my prayer is that, first and foremost, I will remain constant in my pursuit of the Spring of Life, the Living Water that sustains and supplies. Secondly, I pray that in my marriage, I may be consistent in keeping the dams knocked down and not allowing them to be rebuilt, that my wife may never be in need of more love from me than I am providing. I also pray that my friends may not be forgotten or left “high and dry” just because life gets busy. I pray that, at the very least, I regularly pray for my friends and am available when I’m needed. Lastly, I pray that my friends would do the same in their own lives and relationships with the Lord and their loved ones.
If we haven’t spoken in a while, please help me out and get that river flowing between us. As you may have realized, I need a little help in these pursuits, and although rivers flow in one direction, relationships should not.
14 “Anyone who withholds kindness from a friend
forsakes the fear of the Almighty.
15 But my brothers are as undependable as intermittent streams,
as the streams that overflow
16 when darkened by thawing ice
and swollen with melting snow,
17 but that stop flowing in the dry season,
and in the heat vanish from their channels.
As I read this passage, I first thought about my own friends. Then, before I got carried away searching for the specks in the eyes of my friends, I realized I have to first look at the plank in my own eye. As I think about my own faults as a friend, I wonder how often I have told friends from BYX and from camp how I would help them and support them through life. I wonder how many times I’ve carried out those promises. I can’t even count the number of times I said I would pray for someone or be there if they ever needed me or promised someone that I would walk alongside them in their spiritual journey! I usually follow through with my promises and statements to pray or be available but not for very long. I might hold a friend accountable for a while…then we tend to get complacent and lazy. Every once in a while, I’ll call them up to check-up on them, but it is inconsistent, which is the problem.
The real truth to consistency, I think, is being steadfast even when times are good. So often, we will be there to support friends in distress, when their river is dry. We will flood them with love until they are soaked, but as soon as they are well nourished, we cut them off and move on instead of remaining consistent in feeding them the love and support they need.
I suppose I could and should apply this to my marriage. Don’t jump to conclusions too quickly here. I certainly try to remain steadfast in loving and supporting my wife, but I’m sure I’m rather inconsistent and have a few swells and rather dry seasons. I can say that I don’t think the river has ever run completely dry, but there may have been a few dams put up that have limited the love supply. Thankfully, God has been able to break down my walls and knock down those dams. Unfortunately, it requires that parts of me (mostly pride) get smashed down, which is often a rough process. Thankfully, this is how God works, because once the walls and dams are knocked down, love comes rushing through. I suppose the key and main point of the scripture passage is to keep the river rushing at all times, instead of the intermittent swells and droughts.
If we are being thorough and honest, I think we are the same with friends as with God. I mean this in the sense that when we are in need and our river is dry, we allow God to break down the flood gates and let him pour into us. He soaks us and washes out all the debris that has cluttered up the riverbed. (What a messy and wonderful thing!) The problem most of us face is that as soon as we are clean and have allowed the Living Water to soak in, we think we are good. We think that the spring of Life is in us…and, in a way, it is. The key is that the source of that water is our God, not us! As soon as we forget to keep coming back to the source, our river begins to dry up and the water level drops. As debris begins to dam up the stream, things get exponentially worse. The worst thing about this is that, at least in my experience, I can tell when things are getting dry and cluttered. I can tell when I am being lazy in my relationship with God and allowing the world and sin to clutter up our relationship. I just tend to wait until I’m in a drought before I go back to the source. Oh what a fool am I!
Therefore, my prayer is that, first and foremost, I will remain constant in my pursuit of the Spring of Life, the Living Water that sustains and supplies. Secondly, I pray that in my marriage, I may be consistent in keeping the dams knocked down and not allowing them to be rebuilt, that my wife may never be in need of more love from me than I am providing. I also pray that my friends may not be forgotten or left “high and dry” just because life gets busy. I pray that, at the very least, I regularly pray for my friends and am available when I’m needed. Lastly, I pray that my friends would do the same in their own lives and relationships with the Lord and their loved ones.
If we haven’t spoken in a while, please help me out and get that river flowing between us. As you may have realized, I need a little help in these pursuits, and although rivers flow in one direction, relationships should not.
Thursday, January 19, 2012
The Goblet of Fire and the Cup of the New Covenenant
I’ve heard of the books and films under such titles as The Gospel According to Star Wars…Harry Potter…Garfield…etc. I’ve never read or watched any of them, probably due to my desire to better understand the gospel as represented in scripture before checking it with outside sources. Having never actually divulged in one of these gospel explanations, I can, at times, see how such films portray the gospel of our LORD, Jesus Christ.
Last night, I was watching “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire” with my wife, Shadia. If you are familiar with the film, there is a scene in which Harry has completed the Tri-Wizard Tournament’s last task and has been transported to a graveyard, where his friend is quickly killed by the villain Lord Voldemort’s sniveling servant Peter Pettigrew. Voldemort gives the instruction, “Kill the spare.” He casts the friend aside as meaningless, not just as meaningless to his sinister cause but completely disregarding the value of his life at all.
We find ourselves in the climax of the adventure as Harry and Voldemort find themselves at a stalemate. Of course, Harry, our protagonist, escapes the hands of the wicked Lord Voldemort but only just. Upon his return, the fall of the drama strikes. Only moments after returning to the stadium of our tournament, the crowd starts in uproar to celebrate the completion of the tournament…until the crowd sees that one of the competitors is dead. As eyes open in shock and heads lower in sadness, the father of the murdered son runs out of the stands and falls before the body of his son, crying out, “That’s my boy! That’s my son!” Moments follow filled with subtle tears and whimpers in the crowd, overpowered and drowned out by the guttural roaring cries of the father.
It is at this point that I see the gospel story “finished”. As Christ says this word, the Father accepts his Son’s spirit, and I can only imagine the unbearable, unequaled sadness that our Heavenly Father felt at the sight of his Son. This sadness is difficult to witness, and I found myself barely able to keep from crying at this scene and the thoughts of Jesus’ sacrifice that streamed through my mind, piercing my heart.
What a sacrifice to make! To give one’s only son for another. My parents have told me that to watch their child die would be the world’s greatest pain. Therefore, only through understanding God’s love for me can I comprehend why anyone would willingly give up the life of His Son.
So I am eternally grateful! I am grateful to a God who would go through the saddest moment in history with the intent to forgive me, unworthy of such love. I can never understand exactly why he did, but thank God he did!
Last night, I was watching “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire” with my wife, Shadia. If you are familiar with the film, there is a scene in which Harry has completed the Tri-Wizard Tournament’s last task and has been transported to a graveyard, where his friend is quickly killed by the villain Lord Voldemort’s sniveling servant Peter Pettigrew. Voldemort gives the instruction, “Kill the spare.” He casts the friend aside as meaningless, not just as meaningless to his sinister cause but completely disregarding the value of his life at all.
We find ourselves in the climax of the adventure as Harry and Voldemort find themselves at a stalemate. Of course, Harry, our protagonist, escapes the hands of the wicked Lord Voldemort but only just. Upon his return, the fall of the drama strikes. Only moments after returning to the stadium of our tournament, the crowd starts in uproar to celebrate the completion of the tournament…until the crowd sees that one of the competitors is dead. As eyes open in shock and heads lower in sadness, the father of the murdered son runs out of the stands and falls before the body of his son, crying out, “That’s my boy! That’s my son!” Moments follow filled with subtle tears and whimpers in the crowd, overpowered and drowned out by the guttural roaring cries of the father.
It is at this point that I see the gospel story “finished”. As Christ says this word, the Father accepts his Son’s spirit, and I can only imagine the unbearable, unequaled sadness that our Heavenly Father felt at the sight of his Son. This sadness is difficult to witness, and I found myself barely able to keep from crying at this scene and the thoughts of Jesus’ sacrifice that streamed through my mind, piercing my heart.
What a sacrifice to make! To give one’s only son for another. My parents have told me that to watch their child die would be the world’s greatest pain. Therefore, only through understanding God’s love for me can I comprehend why anyone would willingly give up the life of His Son.
So I am eternally grateful! I am grateful to a God who would go through the saddest moment in history with the intent to forgive me, unworthy of such love. I can never understand exactly why he did, but thank God he did!
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