Have You Considered Job?

Wednesday, November 22, 2023

Then Job spoke again:  “I have heard all this before.  What miserable comforters you are!  Won’t you ever stop blowing hot air?  What makes you keep on talking?  I could say the same things if you were in my place.  I could spout off criticism and shake my head at you.  But if it were me, I would encourage you.  I would try to take away your grief.  Instead, I suffer if I defend myself, and I suffer no less if I refuse to speak.  “O God, you have ground me down and devastated my family.  As if to prove I have sinned, you’ve reduced me to skin and bones.  My gaunt flesh testifies against me.  God hates me and angrily tears me apart.  He snaps his teeth at me and pierces me with his eyes.  People jeer and laugh at me.  They slap my cheek in contempt.  A mob gathers against me.  God has handed me over to sinners.  He has tossed me into the hands of the wicked.  “I was living quietly until he shattered me.  He took me by the neck and broke me in pieces.  He set me up as his target, and now his archers surround me.  His arrows pierce me without mercy.  The ground is wet with my blood.  Again and again he smashes against me, charging at me like a warrior.  I wear burlap to show my grief.  My pride lies in the dust.  My eyes are red with weeping; dark shadows circle my eyes.  Yet I have done no wrong, and my prayer is pure.  “O earth, do not conceal my blood.  Let it cry out on my behalf.  Even now my witness is in heaven.  My advocate is there on high.  My friends scorn me, but I pour out my tears to God.  I need someone to mediate between God and me, as a person mediates between friends.  Job 16:1-21

There is so much pathos and meaning of life in the Book of Job, it could hardly be exhausted in months of study; perhaps years; maybe only when, in Heaven, we have One who can unveil for us the depth of Job’s sorrow, confusion, and grief. 

This chapter is the fifth time Job answers his friends.  They have been trying to get their suffering friend to see how he must have sinned really-big, and really-dark to get God that ticked-off.  Job’s children were all dead, his riches gone, his livestock and goods carried off by robbers and thieves.  The icing on the cake is painful boils covering Job’s body, and his wife has suggested suicide would be better. 

Most studies of Job focus on this calamity of a good man suffering utter loss.  And there’s nothing wrong with picking it apart in the search for meaning, purpose, and order in human existence.  God created us with a brain to figure these things out!  But there is one connection we must never miss.  Given the total unravelling of a good man’s life, what can we say about God’s purpose in allowing all that?  Simply put, all of what happened to Job helps us understand life’s rain, good or horrible, falls on the just and the unjust, and is an example, which Paul writes in   1 Corinthians 10[1] that leads to Job’s conclusion:

I need someone to mediate between God and me, as a person mediates between friends.  Job 16:1-21

Job was hurting, and he knew God permitted everything that happened to him.  He knew, as good a life as he’d led, and as holy as he tried to be, his efforts just weren’t enough.  Whatever troubles anyone on earth could experience, Job was not exempt; he needed a mediator, an advocate to plead his case before God.

My dear children, I am writing this to you so that you will not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate who pleads our case before the Father. He is Jesus Christ, the one who is truly righteous.  1 John 2:1

For You Today 

You may be on the verge of following Mrs. Job’s advice to her husband, or maybe you’ve suffered little in life…yet!  Whether you are there now, and down to your last shred of hope, or leading a joy-filled, even carefree life, remember this, and count on it…you do have someone who will love you.  His name is Jesus.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!

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There are about 2,600 devotional posts and 400 sermons in the Rocky Road library.

Today’s title Image from Pixabay.com  

Images without citation are in public domain or cited via weblinks.  

Unless noted, Scripture quoted from NLT^©  

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[1] Read 1 Corinthians 10

So Many Questions - Only One Answer

Thursday, June 1, 2023

Then the Lord answered Job from the whirlwind:  “Who is this that questions my wisdom with such ignorant words?  Brace yourself like a man, because I have some questions for you, and you must answer them.  “Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?  Tell me, if you know so much.  Who determined its dimensions and stretched out the surveying line?  What supports its foundations, and who laid its cornerstone as the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy?  “Who kept the sea inside its boundaries as it burst from the womb, and as I clothed it with clouds and wrapped it in thick darkness?  For I locked it behind barred gates, limiting its shores.  I said, ‘This far and no farther will you come.  Here your proud waves must stop!  Job 38:1-11

For 37 chapters Job has heard no answers from heaven about why his children died, why his reputation in the community died, and why his wealth crumbled, and why his wife lost faith in him and advised him to curse God for all of it, lie down and just die.  You can certainly believe it; Job had questions…a lot of them.  And from the tone of Job’s voice, while debating with his well-intentioned dragons, the neighbors who feigned deep concern, but had already made up their minds that Job must have had closet sins which were the reason God was punishing him, you can deduce that Job figured he was entitled to some answers! 

Finally, God does give an answer to all those questions.  And they all had the same answer…a question, really; God asked Job:  With so little understanding, my dear child, how did you even manage to lace-up your sandals this morning?

God’s commentary followed, describing for Job how he couldn’t possibly understand God’s thought process for allowing Satan to sift through Job’s life and create such chaos.  That commentary was about the creation, starting with the DNA of the tiniest creature, to the great Leviathan beasts roaming the open seas.  He described assembling the foundation of the earth, and teaching the stars to sing, while arranging all the majestic splendour of life, physical and metaphysical. 

Gods’ answer continues for another chapter and a half, but it’s still one answer, a description of God’s majesty, displayed in creation, and how Job, a latecomer to time and eternity, really doesn’t have enough brain power to even begin understanding God’s ways, let alone instructing God in His responsibilities.  Here’s how the conversation finishes…God says to Job:

“Do you still want to argue with the Almighty?  You are God’s critic, but do you have the answers?” 

Then Job replied to the Lord, “I am nothing—how could I ever find the answers?  I will cover my mouth with my hand.  I have said too much already.  I have nothing more to say.”  Job 40:2-5

Finally…Job lays-hold of an intelligent thing to say to an Almighty, Sovereign God!

For You Today 

There exists in our world an arrogance which is as old as Satan prancing into heaven and challenging God to this battle with Job’s soul as the prize.  It is the arrogance that we humans have judging God for the bad stuff that happens.  We charge God as scapegoat for all the misery we have created by ignoring His love and righteousness.  We choose destruction over the plan of God for good and holy living.  And then, in our pride, we blame him for our choices.

Approach God in your day today…listen much, say less…let Him love you.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!

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There are about 2,500 devotional posts and 400 sermons in the Rocky Road Devotions library.  To dig deeper explore some of these:   Wondering About the Big Stuff Series:  Part 1  Part 2  Part 3  and We Mortals

Title Image:  via Pixabay.com   Images without citation are in public domain.

Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©   

Real Strength

Thursday, August 4, 2022

What joy for the nation whose God is the Lord, whose people he has chosen as his inheritance.  The Lord looks down from heaven and sees the whole human race.  From his throne he observes all who live on the earth.  He made their hearts, so he understands everything they do.  The best-equipped army cannot save a king, nor is great strength enough to save a warrior.  Don’t count on your warhorse to give you victory—for all its strength, it cannot save you.  But the Lord watches over those who fear him, those who rely on his unfailing love.  He rescues them from death and keeps them alive in times of famine.  We put our hope in the Lord.  He is our help and our shield.  In him our hearts rejoice, for we trust in his holy name.  Let your unfailing love surround us, Lord, for our hope is in you alone.  Psalm 33:12-22

The Psalmist makes me think of the absurdity of strength, the far-as-the-east-is-from-the-west difference between perceived strength and genuine strength.  Imagine a four-year-old child, angry at his father, swinging his fists wildly at Dad’s face.  He imagines he will do damage, but doesn’t have a strength that will sate his anger.  Consider the imagination of a little girl, dressed in her best WalMart princess costume.  What throne in all the world belongs to her strength, it’s all only in her mind.  Picture a young man, three days after graduating from college, dressed in a new suit he purchased with his new credit card, for the interview with a prospective employer.  His bank account is down to $1.84, but the bills from tuition to earn his degree weigh-in at $86,000.  There are two-outs in the 9^th inning, and he’s down to his last swing at the plate.  For all his “accomplishment” the strength of that moment is sitting on the other side of the interview table.

The genuine strength one possesses can never be measured, except in the relative position to absolute strength.  It is often said the President of the United States is the most powerful person on the planet.  But the powers of the office (which by far supercede the powers of the human being in that office) are only granted by the will of the people who elect presidents.  And even then, the checks and balances of our governance question that power. 

Genuine strength resides outside of time, space, and creation.  Ultimate strength belongs to God alone.  All else was, and is, subject to God’s creative will.  And the human, created person, confidently believing in his or her own supremacy, is about as hapless a fool as a gnat in a wrestling match with an elephant, no matter the perception of that person’s strength by other created beings.

For You Today

Is your hope in your dreams, your abilities, your determination, or even someone who you perceive champions your best interests?  Do you sense strength coming your way from that promotion, salary increase, or new nutritional regimen?  Have others told you how much they admire your accomplishments?

Remember He who created all of what you see, hear, sense, and imagine…and so much more.  His genuine strength is to be found in His unfailing love…for you!

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!

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There are about 2,000 devotional posts in the Rocky Road Devotions library.  To dig deeper on today’s topic explore some of these:  Total Trust and Misplaced Trust

[1] Images:  Pixabay.com     Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©   

Bright Morning Star

 

Tuesday, April 6, 2021

“I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give you this message for the churches.  I am both the source of David and the heir to his throne.  I am the bright morning star.”  Revelation 22:16

Driving to the churches I serve takes close to a full hour.  After nearly 9 years I hardly think of how long it takes; in fact it is a wonderful opportunity to be quiet and see the rolling hills of the Piedmont Triad, to pray, and (try) to remember my sermon points.  That’s a normal Sunday.  Last Sunday was not your average, run-of-the-mill Sunday.  Last Sunday was Easter, Resurrection morning!

That Sunday always begins differently.  The first part is getting up an hour earlier.  It was still pitch-black when I left the house before 6am.  By the time I got to the new by-pass around Asheboro, driving East, the sky was showing faint signs of dawn approaching.  When I began that long stretch of straight, uphill road, only a few miles from my destination I was staring right at the most impressive dark sky, with only one bright, dramatic point of light – the beautiful morning star.

I’m not an astronomer, barely having escaped High School science with tailfeathers burning, so I wouldn’t know if it was Venus, or a supernova without an astronomical guide.  But, for me, it was the Morningstar, and I was reminded of the Revelation’s declaration.  The bright morning star, the prophet Daniel’s Ancient One[1] ruling from Heaven, is ancient enough to be King David’s ancestor (source), and also heir to David’s throne.  At once, and always, history, current events, and future; here is our eternal God.

It was unsettling, heartwarming, strange, and, in some ethereal sense, a thin place between heaven and Randolph County.  That different moment spoke to my heart a sense of serene peacefulness the soul craves…and which is largely unavailable in any other way than as a gift from Christ’s nail-pierced hands.

The rest of my Sunday was like many before, worship service at first church, mad-dash to get to worship service on-time at second church, drive back to first church to pick up the coat I’d forgotten on the first pew, picking up potatoes on the way home, quick change, 10 minute nap (OK just a long sigh with a nap-wannabe), and then gathering dishes of food, and heading-out for our Easter gathering at daughter, Jen’s house.  There were the usual phone calls from scattered family, too much food on the plates, hugs, laughter, remembering past gatherings, and hearing news of what the family’s been up to.  The drive home around 5:30 pm was the first leisurely thing of my day.  The thoughts on our short ride were of leftovers, cleaning up the pots later, and just how ridiculous that mailbox on Becks Church Road looked with a silly wooden flamingo draped over it.  These thoughts were largely just a vague background for the overwhelming sense of gratitude I felt for my life, and how God was so gracious to let me live it.

And, amid the random wildflowers of my thoughts, sprang-up a beautiful rose, the picture of the bright and morning star I’d seen around 6:30 that morning, the promise of God’s presence through every day, all day, without fail.  He was there, guiding our gathering, worshipping, and leaving to other gatherings.  He was present in the cooking, driving, potato-gathering, and every other little detail.  He was in the prayers before our meal, and even the laughter over that ludicrous flamingo mailbox.  And I’m certain he was there when I pulled up the covers for a much-needed night’s rest!

The bright morning and morning star shined on all of it, even when I momentarily just didn’t think about Him. 

For You Today

If it’s been a while since you examined some of the details of your busy days, or your lonely days, or your painful days, let the morning star’s presence shine a little light on it all; makes for a wonderful night’s sleep!

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!  

[1] Title Image:  Pixabay.com      Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©

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[1] Daniel 7:13

In This Time of Our Deep Need

 

Friday, December 11, 2020

I have heard all about you, Lord.  I am filled with awe by your amazing works.  In this time of our deep need, help us again as you did in years gone by.  And in your anger, remember your mercy.  I see God moving across the deserts from Edom, the Holy One coming from Mount Paran.  His brilliant splendor fills the heavens, and the earth is filled with his praise.  His coming is as brilliant as the sunrise.  Rays of light flash from his hands, where his awesome power is hidden.  Pestilence marches before him; plague follows close behind.  When he stops, the earth shakes.  When he looks, the nations tremble.  He shatters the everlasting mountains and levels the eternal hills.  He is the Eternal One!  Habakkuk 3:2-6

A friend came to me years ago to ask for help.  I responded immediately, because the need was there, and this was my friend.  Simple as that; end of story.  Reflecting on the prophet’s words, I thought of my friend and what my response might have been if he weren’t in the friend category; what if he were my enemy…what would I have done?

Prayer is a little more complicated, but like that.  We are now in as deep a need for the hand of God as can be.  But the question is still the same, for God’s consideration, as mine about my friend…what if we’re not the friends of God?  Will it do any good, not being His friend, to ask for relief from the many dangers that encircle the camp? 

Habakkuk’s words are like any of the other prophets.  He speaks of the majesty of the Eternal One, His splendor displayed in creation, along with judgment measured by pestilence and plagues.  When God arrives, the earth rocks and nations tremble.  Just a word and a mountain crumbles; this is the God of judgment and grace.  The question becomes, for those who are accustomed to turning to God for help in times of distress, which God are we asking to show up?  Is it the one who holds forgiving grace and mercy, or the one whose fingers flash in destruction and judgment?

The answer to that question is dependent on who’s asking.  When a friend asks, he is evoking the meaning of friendship as a fulfillment of friendship vows.  When an enemy asks, he is implicitly throwing himself at the feet of the judge, asking for mercy.  Friends have a right to ask; enemies can expect nothing.

So the question begs another:  are we, in American culture (or any other nation on earth) friends or foe to the Eternal One?  And this is not a question about what we say – that would be cheap grace.  How have we acted?  What is the measure of our reasons for asking for our “friend’s” help in this time of our deep need?  Or should we be recognizing the enemy status we’ve courted, and just throw ourselves down in front of the bench for the mercy of the judge?

Well, as if a lover picking the petals off a daisy chants, let me count the ways…

·       War after war

·       Empty church after empty church

·       Homeless and starving amid a “Christian nation”

·       Aborted lives in favor of choice

·       Anger and politics the answer to just about everything

As a nation the popular vote seems to be to count on God’s friendship like the Emperor loved his new suit of invisible clothes; we’re rather naked in the end.

For You Today

Please know there are tears ready to flow from my eyes in the next sentence. 

If you’re prone to pray for your nation this day (or any other) pray for God to have mercy on us; we’re hardly in the friend category.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!

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Title image, Pixabay.com and    W   Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©

For other posts on Prayer see:  Why Doesn't God Answer My Prayers? and Bi-Polar Prayers  

 

Patience for the Empty Times

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Monday, June 25, 2019

“Surely the light of the wicked will be snuffed out.  The sparks of their fire will not glow.  The light in their tent will grow dark.  The lamp hanging above them will be quenched.  The confident stride of the wicked will be shortened.  Their own schemes will be their downfall.  The wicked walk into a net.  They fall into a pit.  A trap grabs them by the heel.  A snare holds them tight.  A noose lies hidden on the ground.  A rope is stretched across their path.  “Terrors surround the wicked and trouble them at every step.  Hunger depletes their strength, and calamity waits for them to stumble.  Disease eats their skin; death devours their limbs.  They are torn from the security of their homes and are brought down to the king of terrors.  The homes of the wicked will burn down; burning sulfur rains on their houses.  Their roots will dry up, and their branches will wither.  All memory of their existence will fade from the earth; no one will remember their names.  They will be thrust from light into darkness, driven from the world.  They will have neither children nor grandchildren, nor any survivor in the place where they lived.  People in the west are appalled at their fate; people in the east are horrified.  They will say, ‘This was the home of a wicked person, the place of one who rejected God.’”  Job 18:6-21

The over-arching message of the Book of Job is that God is in-charge, and ultimately will balance everything; good will be rewarded, and evil will also be recompensed.  It’s the law of the harvest…you reap later than you sow, you reap more than you sow, but you definitely reap what you sow!

At some time in our lives most of us look at the world’s culture and shake our heads in disbelief; it must have been that way for Job.  I must confess that last week at Annual Conference I did a little head-rattling questioning myself.  The question is more of a shell-shock exclamation – if you’d told me thirty years ago things would be like this, I would’ve told you, YOU’RE CRAZY!

And then reality hits, and you are still in shock, but you must begin to admit that the culture in which we imagined we were still living no longer exists.  And you’re smack-dab in the middle of one of those empty times.  The insides have been ripped from you, and your legs are too wobbly to stand, and you lift your face heavenward to ask, what’s up with this, God…what do I do now?

That’s where our friend Bildad comes in.  When it looks like everything’s come unglued, when it looks like game-over and you’re on the short stick, and nothing will ever-again make sense, Bildad says, hold on, Bud; you’re forgetting Who’s really in charge.  Have a little faith in God.  You don’t want to be an evil person who rejects God…that’s what tossing your confidence in the Almighty really is; you’re being a rejecter (who is going to be rejected)!

The bottom line for Job was the last chapter of his story…not the first, or the ensuing pain of losing his family, position, wealth and even children.  That was the entrance to the valley of questioning, struggle  to hold-on, questioning of everybody around him, and the war to keep the faith.  Eventually Job’s life turned back to blessing; it even turned out better than it was before!

For You Today

If you find it hard to keep the faith sometimes, put this on your tool belt and pull it out when the battle gets really hard and you don’t know if you can hold on.

But in that coming day no weapon turned against you will succeed.  You will silence every voice raised up to accuse you.  These benefits are enjoyed by the servants of the Lord; their vindication will come from me.  I, the Lord, have spoken!  Isaiah 54:17

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day.

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[1] Title Image:  Pixabay.com     Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations are from The New Living Translation©

Be Present Like a Child

[1]

Don’t let evil conquer you, but conquer evil by doing good.  Romans 12:21(NLT)

I have a pastor-friend in Missouri whom I’ve never met.  Roger and I are Facebook friends.  He often posts a devotional thought, and a few months ago pointed out the word Jesus spoke when healing a blind person – ephatha, which means be opened.  Jesus gave sight back to this unseeing one.  Our prayer in the United Methodist Church is that marketing slogan we adopted some years back, open hearts, minds, and doors.  We long to be open “…to much more than what we currently understand; to those who may not look, act, or dress, or speak, or even think like we do.”[2]

The truth is our hearts and minds MUST be open if we ever hope to open the doors that shut us off from each other in this culture.

Our theology – what we know about God – must determine and drive the actions of our everyday lives.  We follow Jesus, not the world’s fads, customs and behaviors.  So, this is all about relationships, not just how we treat one another, but how we act and work together, so we can serve as God’s ambassadors to the world. 

Paul tells us to faithfully serve together to transform a world steeped in anger, hostility, rage, and vengeance into a place of peace.  This peace is shalom, not just a treaty signed, but a condition of the heart which is characterized by everything that makes life worth living.  It’s that place where the lamb and lion can lie down together, and everything will be just fine!

The manger was where God chose to start that whole process.

This morning – a ONE-POINT SERMON (can you believe it?).

Showing-up, being present like a child, is 100% of what God requires of a disciple

To “show up” is to be present, not just in body, but with everything you’ve got:

·      An open mind – to learn what God wants you to do.

·      An open calendar – to let God’s business have priority in your life.

·      An open wallet – to be uncaptured by the world’s materialistic ways.

·      An open life – to be transparent as a witness for the Gospel good news.

·      An open heart – to go for God when, where, how, and why He sends you.

To show up is to be what we started out with as we studied Romans 12 – becoming a living sacrifice, offering who we are in total to Christ.  We are like the Magi, covering great distance if we must, bearing precious gifts – not gold, frankincense, myrrh, or even a new Lexus…but the most precious of all, we bear the gift of our will, laid on the altar of our time, talent, and tithe.  In the words of the Gospel hymn-writer:

We surrender all!

In Romans 12: Paul called this surrender “holy”.  What makes the living sacrifice holy is that you do those things that will honor God.  You submit to His authority.  Jesus did that in the Garden of Gethsemane; He prayed:  Not my will, Father…yours!

How is your commitment level?  Are you giving God the respect He is due? 

Evil is all around us and it is so easy to get overwhelmed or discouraged by what we see in the newspapers and on the nightly news.  It’s so easy to drop out and just look after your own.  But that is not Christ’s call on our life, is it?  Christ bids us to come and die to self, so we can live for Him.  He calls us to overcome evil with good

Christian believers reject the standards and behaviors of this world’s culture in favor of following Jesus, making disciples, and transforming the world.

Conclusion

Are you tired of doing things to please the people who were instrumental in your early years?  Have you ever questioned why you do what you do? 

           Do you have a job because that’s what people do – they go off to work? 

           Do you belong to a church because that’s what the good people do? 

           Do you behave yourself in public just because that’s what decent citizens do?

Wouldn’t you rather have a vision?

Wouldn’t you rather be on a mission?   

Wouldn’t you rather have a purpose for your life that is overwhelming and drives you to the very depth of the well of joy and meaning in life? 

If that is your desire – surrender your life to the will of God.  Break out of this world’s mold of greed, materialism and selfishness. 

Overcome evil by choosing to follow the One Who IS good!

In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; Let the church say “Amen”!

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[1] Title Image: Courtesy of Pixabay.com

[2] Adapted from a post by Roger Carey on Facebook: "Be Opened-Ehphatha", Morning Musings-10/4/2018