FROM: Banbury, Oxfordshire, United Kingdom
ABOUT ME: Living the highs and lows of life in the adventurous pursuit of God Himself and of who I'm meant to be as the Bride of Christ.
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Thursday, February 26, 2009,6:36 p.m.
INSIGHT FROM JOB
I've been reading Job lately. I started a while ago, then got side-tracked into some other parts of scripture and am finishing it off now. I find Job an interesting book. Perhaps that's slightly overstating it, since there is a great deal of repetition in the book, at least for the first 30 chapters or so. It is interesting to me to think of Job as a righteous man. And that is how he is described. It is interesting to see his friends take a mental leap and assume that since his life has been destroyed he must be being punished for some wickedness. They continually try to get him to repent, assuming that since he is being punished, he must be guilty.
But Job himself makes a mental leap and an assumption, too, and I was wondering this morning if he didn't in this way actually sin. At the very least I think that he has thought too highly of himself - perhaps pride is where he fell down. Don't mistake me. This observation came after his property and family were taken from him and he is deeply depressed and bitter. But it is in that season that I wonder if he did not make a mistake.
You see, Job unceasingly asserts his innocence - that he has not sinned and is not guilty of anything that could necessitate this type of punishment. He does, however, in his bitterness of spirit, cry out to God and blame Him, thinking Him unjust. He asserts that the wicked prosper and he suffers. He accuses God of injustice.
What caught my attention is that Job claims his right to blessings because of his righteousness. But who among us has a right to blessings or grace? It is God's prerogative to bless or not to bless (which He does assert a few chapters ahead of where I am today). Our duty is to pursue righteousness regardless of what might or might not lie in store for us as a reward. Our blessings - or lack thereof - are up to God, not a result of our own righteousness. What could we possibly do to have the right to demand blessings? Shall we take that further? What could we possibly do to have the right to demand sanctification? The very thought defies the concept of grace and the need for the cross that Jesus chose to bear.
Job's situation was rather unique as we look at it. But if we think just slightly outside of the box, I think we can see a parallel to our own lives. How many times do we think that a blessing deferred or held back is unjust? I have done it - assumed that "God is late" or "This thing in my life isn't fair." Why do I assume that because I do my best to follow His commands and go where He sends me that I have a right to an easy life? If I have told Him at some point in the past that my life is His, why do I then complain about the lot He has chosen to give me? Is that not an accusation of injustice? God the Almighty - Yahweh - the Creator of every living and inanimate thing ever made - He has the ability to be unjust? He does not. Not even a little bit. It is against His character.
So if God cannot be unjust, we must look again and realize that we - and Job - might have grabbed hold of the wrong end of the stick. Once again it is about perspective. A true vision of God - that's really what we need. It is what Job needed, and received in the end.
I sometimes wonder how badly warped our perception of God and His power and majesty really is. Maybe it's closer than I think. When I read the book of Job, I see a lot of myself in His assumptions about what he 'deserves'. May God grant me, like He did to Job, great mercy and a much truer vision of who He really is.
But Job himself makes a mental leap and an assumption, too, and I was wondering this morning if he didn't in this way actually sin. At the very least I think that he has thought too highly of himself - perhaps pride is where he fell down. Don't mistake me. This observation came after his property and family were taken from him and he is deeply depressed and bitter. But it is in that season that I wonder if he did not make a mistake.
You see, Job unceasingly asserts his innocence - that he has not sinned and is not guilty of anything that could necessitate this type of punishment. He does, however, in his bitterness of spirit, cry out to God and blame Him, thinking Him unjust. He asserts that the wicked prosper and he suffers. He accuses God of injustice.
What caught my attention is that Job claims his right to blessings because of his righteousness. But who among us has a right to blessings or grace? It is God's prerogative to bless or not to bless (which He does assert a few chapters ahead of where I am today). Our duty is to pursue righteousness regardless of what might or might not lie in store for us as a reward. Our blessings - or lack thereof - are up to God, not a result of our own righteousness. What could we possibly do to have the right to demand blessings? Shall we take that further? What could we possibly do to have the right to demand sanctification? The very thought defies the concept of grace and the need for the cross that Jesus chose to bear.
Job's situation was rather unique as we look at it. But if we think just slightly outside of the box, I think we can see a parallel to our own lives. How many times do we think that a blessing deferred or held back is unjust? I have done it - assumed that "God is late" or "This thing in my life isn't fair." Why do I assume that because I do my best to follow His commands and go where He sends me that I have a right to an easy life? If I have told Him at some point in the past that my life is His, why do I then complain about the lot He has chosen to give me? Is that not an accusation of injustice? God the Almighty - Yahweh - the Creator of every living and inanimate thing ever made - He has the ability to be unjust? He does not. Not even a little bit. It is against His character.
So if God cannot be unjust, we must look again and realize that we - and Job - might have grabbed hold of the wrong end of the stick. Once again it is about perspective. A true vision of God - that's really what we need. It is what Job needed, and received in the end.
I sometimes wonder how badly warped our perception of God and His power and majesty really is. Maybe it's closer than I think. When I read the book of Job, I see a lot of myself in His assumptions about what he 'deserves'. May God grant me, like He did to Job, great mercy and a much truer vision of who He really is.
