One lesson from the troubled life of Job

 This morning my eyes caught the headline from yesterday's WSJ about the scurrilous, ongoing assault against the previous President called impeachment. Reliably, "my" Senator, Susan Collins (R)ino is with the Democrats in yet again another unfounded if not unconstitutional attach.  In my reading Job this morning I am lifted up.

""Do you know this from of old, From the establishment of man on earth, That the triumphing of the wicked is short, And the joy of the godless momentary? "Though his loftiness reaches the heavens, And his head touches the clouds, He perishes forever like his refuse; Those who have seen him will say, 'Where is he?' "He flies away like a dream, and they cannot find him; Even like a vision of the night he is chased away. "The eye which saw him sees him no longer, And his place no longer beholds him. "His sons favor the poor, And his hands give back his wealth. "His bones are full of his youthful vigor, But it lies down with him in the dust."  (Job 20:4-11) 

A lot of people seem not to like the parts of the Bible that underscore the fact that there actually is a Day of reckoning.  It means that no one gets away with anything--ultimately. There IS a Day of Judgement before the One Who is perfectly Just.  I suppose there may be two reasons for this. The first is that such a sentiment just doesn't ring true with our personal experience of life. The bad advance, the good are punished. How often do we see people of "status" getting away with serial wickedness? The second reason is because of biblical ignorance, most people recoil at the thought (and evidence) of a "GOD" who gets angry much less who vows to right all the wrongs of the world which means severe unpleasantries to those who practice all manner of wickedness. So how does Job fit in here?

The Lord Himself tells us in the opening verse of Job's saga, he "was blameless, upright, fearing God and turning away from evil." (Job 1:1) Never-the-less, all Hell breaks forth against Job--literally--and Job is beside himself unable to figure out what he had done wrong to deserve it. Enter Job's friends who were quick to tell Job in so many words that he needed to own up to his obvious wretchedness and his tragic life would be uprighted.  

It's not an uncommon knee-jerk reaction for most of us. "Well he must have asked for it...," "I don't know but I'm sure she deserved it..." So before we're quick to hammer Job's friends, remember they didn't have the Divine revelation telling them at the outset what a stellar individual their friend was. 

But what makes me all warm and fuzzy is the irony of Job's colleagues self-righteous ire as they excoriate their afflicted friend--who we are told is blameless--while they are up to their knees in self-righteous crap.  God is so annoyed with them that he tells Job to pray for them lest God steps in to shut them up. What's equally amazing is that Job actually does.  I'm not sure I'd do that...

So it was good for me to be reminded that all the injustices, which have been piled on the previous POTUS over the past 4 years, will ultimately cave in on the smug accusers who are guilty of all they protest. But also let us be mindful that we too are susceptible to the same myopic view of things.

God is in Control...But!

“God’s in control!”      How many times through out the Trump presidency have I heard this exclaimed as the be-all, end-all answer to whatever new revelation of abject lawlessness had arisen that week. (For clarity, the lawlessness to which I am referring is not the [proven] baseless accusations against the POTUS, but rather the [proven] lawlessness of the incessant Trump-haters fabricating serial accusation after accusation.)

 

It seems to me that anyone who is informed, and has a pennies worth of objectivity would be and should be outraged. God is in control. It is true in every sphere of life. But--"Because the sentence against an evil deed is not executed quickly, therefore the hearts of the sons of men among them are given fully to do evil."  (Ecclesiastes 8:11) 

 

You have probably seen some iteration of a list of the top ten “problems” teachers had to deal with in the 50’s compared to latter decades. In the 50’s I was sent to the principal’s office for talking in class, throwing snowballs on school property, and having a fight—with my brother.  A few years later, first day student Gini D., a new student from California, was kicked out of sophomore geometry for wearing a mini-skirt and Mrs. Wienberg worked the halls separating boys and girls who had their arms around each other.

 

Parents became advocates for their child’s “rights” to wear whatever they wanted with the ACLU joining in even filing lawsuits on behalf of the child.  Not surprisingly discipline of any stripe became another form of child abuse. In a few years, instead of smoking in the bathrooms, kids were dropping acid, popping pills, and shooting up a few years later.  Instead of concern for arms around waists, condoms were readily available from the school with practical life lessons on numerous “how-to’s” to make it all “safer.”  And the times they keep a changin!

 

Richard Nixon was my commander in chief when Watergate became a household word. The clarion cry of the 70’s was, “No one is above the law!”  President Richard Nixon resigned in ignominy and rightly he should have. But looking back, the “crime” of the 70’s that brought down a president in merited disgrace is truly laughable when compared to the scurrilous conduct of presidents that followed. Evil has only escalated in both volume and depravity. Oh but God is in control…

 

Well God is indeed in control. A sweep of biblical history removes any doubt about that. But what does that mean?  In facing the troubles of our times whatever the epoch do we cue up Doris Day singing Que Sera, Sera, [look it up]  put on the coffee, remain aloof of the machinations of a culture run amuck with boundary-less autonomy, godlessness, and relativism? Explaining the messy transfer of power from King David to Solomon Donald Carson affirms, God is in control--BUT:

 

“The sovereignty of God works through the complicated efforts of his people. When David is informed of the problem, he does not throw his hands into the air and pray about the situation: he immediately orders that decisive, symbol-laden, and complex steps be taken to ensure that Solomon ascends the throne. Trust in God's sovereign goodness is never an excuse for inactivity or indolence. Long years of walking by faith have taught David that whatever else “walking by faith” means, it does not warrant passivity. If we are to avoid acting in defiance of God, or in vain efforts to be independent of God, we must also avoid the pietism that is perennially in danger of collapsing trust into fatalism.”  

D.A. Carson  For The Love of God

Where's the joy of salvation?

“We have become so accustomed to the idea of divine love and of God’s coming at Christmas that we no longer feel the shiver of fear that God’s coming should arouse in us. We are indifferent to the message, taking only the pleasant and agreeable out of it and forgetting the serious aspect, that the God of the world draws near to the people of our little earth and lays claim to us. The coming of God is truly not only glad tidings, but first of all frightening news for everyone who has a conscience.” Dietrich Bonhoeffer

 

Years ago Barbara and I watched a video put out by New Tribes Missions about a couple who tried to get on the “mission field” but didn’t have the “right” credentials for various agencies to which they applied. They were older than the typical candidates, not as educated etc. New Tribes Missions accepted them and they went off to New Guinea to work with the Mauk people where there had never been a gospel witness. After learning the language they spent the first *3-6 weeks solely in the Old Testament. *(The exact time may be wrong; this was over two decades ago…so ya know, memory...)

 

After focusing on the OT stories of law, sacrifices, and judgment the Mauk tribe was nearly despondent as they came to understand the gravity of sin and its consequences.  THEN—The missionaries spent the next weeks giving them the glorious news of grace, mercy and faith.  As their eyes were beginning to open to the glorious realties of salvation by faith made possible by God’s own sacrifice of His Son, the tribe exploded into raucous celebration of relief that there is a way out of the horrible grip of sin—His name is Jesus.  This celebration went on for days.

 

Could it be that the prosperous church of the West and elsewhere has so diminished the message of Good News, so as not to be offensive, rarely mentioning things like SIN, judgement, damnation, and eternal punishment, that the Good News, is hardly good news?

 

I don’t know how many of you reading this have been hungry. I mean ravenously hungry to where things you would never eat having the choice not to, actually looked and sounded pretty great. We are so blessed with bounty, and manifold choices, sitting down to a meal is hardly an “event” much less, cause for celebration. But to one who is truly starving, a slightly moldy crust of stale bread, and some cloudy water is life giving. In short, it’s hard to appreciate a sumptuous feast if you are bloated from sumptuous feasts as a matter of course. Food insufficiency in America is a mockery of "real food insufficiency" as I have experienced in Haiti and Central America. So the appreciation of what is in front of us is marginal at best.

 

When slave trader John Newton realized the wretched depths of his sin he was undone by the grace of God in providing him with the remedy of his polluted soul. Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me..." was the out pouring of his gratitude--the lyrics flowing from unimaginable joy.

 

You don’t need to be an ex-con, murderer, pedophile, or addict to really appreciate the offer of salvation. All one need do is observe the cross, meditate on the fact that God Himself was the recipient of all your sin's wretchedness which put Him there. And don’t rush too quickly by Passion week: The brutality, the injustice, the derision, the whip-crack splitting Divine skin open and blood oozing and ultimately the cry of derision: “My God why have you forsaken me,” was all in your place.  “He who knew no sin became sin on our behalf that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.” (2 Cor. 5:21)

I highly recommend investing 25 minutes in viewing the video referenced above. You'll be glad you did.   https://ethnos360.org/mission-videos-and-mission-photos/ee-taow-the-mouk-story