After Job's friends have all shared their thoughts and opinions, God Himself starts to speak: for several chapters, He asks questions that reveal His power, wisdom and majesty... until finally, in chapter 42, Job is forced to confess that he had spoken in ignorance, getting all worked up about things that were too complex for him to understand.
How often do we do that as human beings? We shoot our mouths off about things we actually have no clue about, and only demonstrate our own ignorance as we question the wisdom or the justice of God.
Perhaps the most well known verse from the book of Job is the words that he speaks in chapter 42 vs 5: I had only heard about you before, but now I have seen you with my own eyes.
If we're ranting and raving against God, like Job did at some points on his journey, we're probably demonstrating that, no matter how long we've been a Christian, ours is more a "hearsay" knowledge of God (at least in the area under question) than a "seen you with my own eyes" kind of knowledge. It doesn't mean that we're not saved, and it doesn't mean that God isn't able to handle our honestly asking Him the hard questions that we struggle with. But it does mean that the time is ripe for Him to take us to deeper levels of revelation and experience of who He is.
The only reasonable response in this situation is for Job to repent and say, vs 6, "I take back everything that I said."
And God is pleased with this attitude. He doesn't hold Job's previous struggles and questions against him. On the contrary, He blessed him even more than He had done in the past. We read that Job lived to a ripe old age and only died after living "a long, full life."
There was, however, one other thing required of Job before he experienced that overwhelming level of restoration and blessing: he needed to forgive the three friends who had spoken so harshly and accusingly to him. God rebuked those men for how they had behaved and for not speaking accurately about Him. He asked Job to pray for them, so that they would be treated with mercy. It seems that Job let go of any desire to see his friends punished for the way they had treated him, and prayed instead for their restoration. This important step, vs 7 - 9, preceded Job's own restoration and blessing.
Ironically, when a bunch of family and former friends come back to celebrate with Job, it says they consoled and comforted him "because of all the trials God had brought against him." It seems that some people continued in their wrong belief that God was the source of Job's trials and suffering.
And perhaps the strangest thing about the story of Job is that is seems God never did set the record straight on that aspect. He didn't say, "Look, everyone, it wasn't me who did all that stuff; it was Satan." He allowed people to continue in their own journey of seeking Him and finding out the truth about Him, and it seems that it is only we, in future generations, who are allowed the privilege of a peek behind the scenes, to Job chapters 1 and 2, to discover what was really going on in that long ago situation.
But that insight should be sufficient to settle any doubts we may have had about the goodness of God. Job's journey shows us that we live in a world where bad things happen, but a good and just God is never the source of any evil we face.
As the book of Job continues, we are introduced to Job's three "friends," sometimes known as his "comforters," although we don't need to read very many chapters before we discover that they weren't much of a comfort at all.
Job's dilemma and the level of his suffering was perplexing to them and they didn't know how to respond to his pain. They lived with a worldview that was very black and white: good people will be blessed and bad people will suffer for their misdeeds. And to be fair to them, this philosophy is not completely wrong. We see it all through the Old Testament book of Proverbs: do good and you will see good fruit; do evil and you will end up reaping the consequences of your actions. It's common sense in a way. We all understand that someone who has smoked all their life is at greater risk of lung cancer than someone who hasn't. Or that someone who fails to weed their garden will end up with a jungle at their back door. It's simple cause and effect.
And so Job's friends had a very straightforward explanation for his suffering: you must have sinned, Job, and that's why these terrible things are happening to you; your children must have sinned, and that's why they died in a horrible accident. It's totally understand-able that this only increased Job's despair and wasn't a comfort to him at all. On top of his grief, loss and pain, he now also felt judged and criticised by those closest to him.
The problem was that neither Job nor his friends had the whole picture of what was really going on. You and I have read the first two chapters of Job, and so we know that it was Satan who was attacking him and his family. Job's friends had simply no idea that this was going on behind the scenes... and so they came up with their own conclusion: all of this suffering must be Job's own fault; he brought it upon himself. It's like the photo at the top of this blog post: the shadow appears to be of a cow riding a scooter. It's only when you have the whole picture that you realise the shadow is due to some clever posing by three creative people.
In real life, we so seldom have the whole picture. We don't know the things that happened in a person's background; we don't know the difficulties they may be facing at home or at work; we may be totally clueless about what is going on behind the scenes in the spiritual realm. How important it is that we guard our hearts from judging others and seek instead to understand them and their situation. How important it is to take time to pray and seek God's perspective before offering our own criticism and advice to a friend in need.
Job's friends seem to have missed out that step. They didn't take time to seek God's understanding and so they had to fall back on their human understanding and limited perspective. Let's not make the same mistake.
Read on in the post below for more about the danger of incomplete theology.
Stung by the criticism of his so-called friends, Job resorts to sarcasm: "You think you know everything, don't you? Well, I know a few things myself." (Job 12 vs 2 - 3) He then goes on, throughout chapter 12, to make an impressive presentation of God's power, strength and sovereignty. There's no doubt that he does know a lot about God.... but, sadly, he draws the wrong conclusion, vs 9, that this means all his misfortunes have been sent by God. It's the danger of partial theology - when we know a little truth, but are missing some elements and therefore drawing wrong conclusions.
In fact, this is exactly what Job accuses his friends of, as we move into chapter 13. In a biting indictment, he says that they are defending God with lies - using untrue arguments in their desire to protect God's reputation.
The danger of partial theology! We see the same thing happening today when a young person dies in an accident and well meaning people tell the family that God decided "it was her time" and called her to Himself. Or a baby is born handicapped and people say that, "God knows best." Their partially correct theology (God is all powerful) leads them to make wrong inferences about life's tragedies, and they're forced to come up with the nonsensical theory that the God who created a perfect world sometimes plans for children to be born with disabilities.
Job dares to suggest that this is displeasing to God and that we need to be in the fear of the Lord when we are making such claims. (Job 13 vs 9 - 10) He then makes a decision to plead his own case directly before God, asking God to show him how he has sinned.
However, as we move into chapter 14, we see that Job himself is just as guilty of faulty theology. He obviously believes that death is the end, and that there is no life or resurrection after our physical death. He compares human life to a tree, saying that if a tree is cut down it can begin to sprout new branches again, but that there is no such new life for people who die.
Job is equally guilty of partial or incomplete theology. He says in vs 5 that God has decided the length of our lives and that we are not given a minute longer. It may well be true that we don't have the power to lengthen our lives, but this doesn't take into account that we ourselves do have the power to shorten our own lives - by suicide, by causing ill health through our smoking or eating habits, or by taking risks that expose us to accidents (such as drunk driving or extreme sports, etc.) It also doesn't allow for the fact that other people might shorten someone's life - like a murderer or a reckless driver.
If our theology doesn't allow for that, we're forced to conclude that it was "God's will" for someone to be murdered. This is an illogical nonsensity. Why would God forbid murder in the Ten Commandments and then plan for someone to die that way?
Father, guard us from faulty and incomplete theology, and from using our own imperfect wisdom to explain life's mysteries.
Did the title of this post shock you? I believe that the Bible is completely true.... but sometimes it gives us a completely true account of someone's wrong opinion or behaviour.
It's December today and 2019 is slowly beginning to draw to a close. As I reflect back on this year of my 60th birthday, my thoughts are drawn to "life lessons" that I've learned during those sixty years - particularly during my five decades of knowing the Lord and my four decades of working as an overseas missionary.
Then, in my quiet time this morning, I began reading in the Old Testament book of Job, and there I was reminded of a lesson that has become kind of a "life message" for me - something that I've preached about and talked about throughout most of my lifetime. It's an insight that I first grasped when I was in my mid twenties and I realised this morning how it has hugely impacted my life over the past 35 years. I am so thankful that I was equipped with this understanding when I entered some of the hardest and most painful seasons of my sixty years here on earth.
If you're familiar with the book of Job, you'll know that it tells the story of a godly man who faced an incredible amount of suffering and injustice. Much of the book is given to dialogue between Job and his friends, as they grapple with the question of, "Why do bad things happen to good people?"
I won't go into the details of the story at this point. (Perhaps that will come in later blog posts over the coming month.) In the first two chapters, that I read this morning, I'm particularly struck by two WRONG pictures of God that Job holds.
- Job 1: 21 - he believes that God arbitrarily takes away the good things that He has given us.
- Job 2: 10 - he believes that God sometimes sends bad things into our lives, and not only good.
It's ironic that some Christians, even today, use these arguments to explain the mystery of suffering. They're based on a belief in the sovereignty of God (and it's true that He is sovereign) but these two opinions are completely contrary to the picture of God that we see in the rest of the scriptures. For example:
- Romans 11: 29 tells us that God's gifts, and His call, can never be withdrawn. Even when we sin, God doesn't "take away" what He had given us.
- James 1: 13 - 17 tells us that every good thing comes from God and that nothing evil - like temptation, for example - can have its source in Him.
So those two ideas - "He gives and takes away" and "He has the right to send us bad things as well as good" - are there in the Bible, but that doesn't make them true. They are simply a true account of someone's wrong belief system.
The rather amazing thing in these chapters is that, even though Job has this wrong understanding, he doesn't sin by blaming or cursing God. While this is commendable on the one hand (demonstrating unconditional allegiance to God), it's dangerous on the other hand, as it borders on an Islamic kind of fatalism, where we become passive, believing that everything is "God's will," and so we never do anything to alleviate suffering or to combat evil in the world.
A correct response to suffering and injustice is to recognise that God is not responsible and that He might actually want us to do something about it.
Its source might be our own sin that we need to deal with, or other people's sin that we need to forgive. Or, as clearly shown in these two chapters of Job, its source might lie in our enemy, Satan, and we need to do spiritual warfare against that.
So, what was my life lesson from these first two chapters of Job? What is the mind-blowing insight that has impacted my life for these past 35 years? It's the understanding that Satan's attacks are not so much about hurting me (I'm relatively insignificant in his eyes) but are aimed at hurting God - by distorting my picture of His character, and therefore robbing Him of the trust and worship that He deserves.
I'm eternally thankful for a three-step strategy that has guided my life over the past few decades:
- Ask
- Choose
- Worship
When bad things happen, I ask myself, "What aspect of God's character is being called into question by these events?" Then I choose to believe in that aspect of God's character, anyway, and to worship Him by proclaiming Bible verses that tell the truth about who He is in that aspect of His character. This response has seen me through some of the most challenging times in my life and has left me knowing and believing beyond a doubt that God is good.
What aspect of God's character has been under attack in your life this year?
I'm back in Europe again, but you can click on this photo to read more news of my recent trip to South Africa.
It's been a long time since I got two summers in the same year. That only happened when I lived in Southern Africa, enjoying a summer Christmas every December, and a summery visit to Scotland every August.
This blog is called "Back in Europe," because it started when I returned to Europe, twelve years ago. If you've come here looking for European news and reflections from the Old Testament book of Judges, please keep reading on in the posts below. If you've come here looking for news of my trip to South Africa this month, you can check my Africa blog by clicking on the photo below.
Talk about sabotaging your own destiny! In Judges chapter 13 we read about a married couple who, after years of infertility, saw God give them a miracle baby. They're told that the boy's life purpose will be "to begin delivering Israel from the Philistines." The Philistines were an enemy people who was oppressing Israel at the time.
Fast forward to Judges chapter 14, when baby Samson has grown up and is a young man now. And what is the very first thing we see this hero doing? He lustfully takes a fancy to a young Philistine woman and demands to have her as his wife.
Wait a minute! Samson was supposed to begin rescuing his people from Philistine oppression. Instead he wants to get in bed - literally - with the enemy! It seems unbelievable. Why would someone deliberately choose a course of action that was the exact opposite of their destiny and calling?
Not only that, in the course of the drama, we also see him touching a dead body, something that he had specifically committed not to do, because of his calling as a Nazirite who was especially dedicated to serving the Lord.
Samson's case may seem a little extreme, but how often in everyday life do believers deliberately choose things that sabotage their destiny? It might be a bad habit, like gossip, criticism or pornography. It might be embracing unbelief, so that we fail to take steps of faith that God is asking of us. Or, like Samson, it might be a subtle self-centredness that keeps us living our lives the way we want, rather than the way God wants.
We are called to love God, love others and become more like Jesus. How often in our daily lives do we make choices that take us in the opposite direction from that destiny?
Read on below for the sad epitaph of Samson's life.
