I have had many comments about the disappearance of my blog. So, it's back. (again... who knows how long this time)
It's not that I don't enjoy blogging, but I don't enjoy blogging just to blog. And like any other habit, if I start to not do it, then I tend to not do it for a while.
Well... let's catch up a little bit with Job. Job is (possibly) the richest man in the world. Job follows God.
And in about 10 minutes, Job loses everything. His children, animals, livelihood, everything (except his lovely wife).
His 3 friends show up and give Job some really good advice. "Job, you are clearly sinning and God is mad at you."
Job isn't sinning and his friends are no help at all. Finally, Job finally says "God, come face me like a man and tell me what I did wrong..."
So, in Job 38, God shows up. And God is not exactly thrilled with being called out by Job.
God starts off with some hilarious "sarcasm." Then, moves on to reminding Job everything that He has done. And finally, ends with "who do you think you are?"
It is funny to read and think about God being "sarcastic."
BUT... like every other Bible story, I see a lot of Brent in the story.
Too often, I come to God and I know what is best for my life. I know what is best for my ministry. And most importantly, I know what is best for the entire world.
We all do this. We all start out sentences like this "If I were God, ____________________."
What is God saying in Job 38-42? He is saying "Guess what Job (Brent)! You are not God. You weren't there when I created the world. You don't know the birth time and place of every human/animal/flower/plant on the face of the earth. You can't harness the wind/rain/snow. You can't even tame wild animals."
And God is right. Yet again, God is right.
Why is it that we think we know best? Why is it that our first instinct is to tell God what He is doing wrong?
I think that it's my natural instinct because I love ME. I love ME, a lot. I mean, I love ME a ton.
There is no one on this entire planet who I love more than ME. I think about ME all the time. I can't stop trying to make ME happy. I live MY life in such a way to make ME the center of the universe.
Think about it... whose favorite TV shows do I watch? Whose car do I care gets into an accident or not? Whose blog do I read the most? Whose job is the most important job in the world?
When I do something wrong to somebody else, I want mercy. When someone does something wrong to me, I want justice.
So... the question that I have and Job had is this... why me? Poor me. What did I do to make God stop loving me?
Obviously, when you see this from somebody else, you call this a pity-party. But, when you see this from yourself, you call it wanting justice.
I think the solution to the problem is one thing. Perspective.
I have been working on perspective for about 6 months with our teens. It all started with Isaiah 6. Now, God is coming full circle with me in Job.
I heard a pastor say today on the sermon I was watching, "most Christians want Jesus AND..."
Most Christians want Jesus plus something else. I love Jesus so much, and I will be satisfied once I get married/new house/new job/promotion/graduate/retirement/money in the bank. That is really bad perspective.
The pastor went on to say "that is like saying I want Bill Gates' $50 billion and this music stand."
That is the perspective that "God-plus" Christianity gives us.
If God alone doesn't satisfy, then your (my) perspective is terribly, horribly, completely wrong.
If the God who made this universe and everything in it, who breathes life into every human being all the time, who knows the number and name of every star in the sky, who sent His Son Jesus to die on the cross in my place isn't enough for you (me).
We have some serious problems. Pray for me. Pray for my perspective. Pray for your perspective.
Pray that God will reveal Himself to us and He will completely blow us away.
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Wow. God is already revealing Himself to me, and He is completely blowing me away! I've had some really deep thoughts lately in regards to God, life, ministry, etc. I've even had people who read my blog comment that God really seems to be speaking to me right now.
ReplyDeleteAnd all of a sudden, just now, it hit me. Why is it that God is speaking to me? Maybe because I'm trying to read the Bible in 90 days? I don't know why I never made that connection before... when I am so engrossed in His Word, how can He NOT speak to me?? And I'm discovering that it's not just the verse/passage/chapter/book that I read on any given day that God speaks to me through. (I think a lot of times we as Christians expect that... we get disappointed if God doesn't use each passage we read to speak to us personally. We read genealogies in Leviticus and then give up, thinking the whole idea of reading the Bible is futile because God didn't speak to us through those verses!) God has been using a lot of different means, people and experiences in my life, sermons I hear, other passages of Scripture besides the ones I read that day, etc. But the point is He seems to speak more when I'm obeying Him (in this case, by reading His Word). Or maybe He's always speaking, and it's only when I'm in His Word that I actually listen! :)
Granted, I'm like 8 books behind in this whole Bible-reading thing! But I'm not giving up, because, in the process, I'm broadening my perspective on God.
I love reading your thoughts and seeing how God is working in your life, too! :)
Random other thoughts that jumped out from my reading (sorry I know you read these sections quite a while ago :))
on David and Bathsheba: possibly the cruelest part of David's sin here was not the actual adultery, but the fact that he made Uriah, unwittingly, deliver his own death notice! Also if you look at the end of the book, Uriah is not just some random guy in David's army like I originally thought. He was one of David's 37 mighty men, so presumably a good friend. This makes David's betrayal seem a whole lot deeper.
On Solomon: I am praying right along with him that God would give me a "wise and discerning heart"! How much that would help in ministry if all of us were a little more like Solomon in that regard.