Have you asked God, “Why?”

Questions are a normal part of life; especially in the midst of situations we don’t understand. During hardship, it can be difficult to reconcile our belief in a good and righteous God with the facts of life as we see them.  At such times, it’s not unusual to wrestle with doubts and to ask God, “Why?”  We wonder, “Why does a good God allow evil things to occur?” “If God is all powerful, why doesn’t he stop people in their lawlessness and their mad rush for power?” “Why does God seem silent in the midst of trouble?” “Why do the bad guys seem to win and the wicked people seem to prosper?”

The prophet Habakkuk asked such questions of God and he received answers.  Habakkuk was bewildered by the evil he saw running rampant in Judah.  When he brought his honest questions to God, God responded. However, Habakkuk was neither ready for, nor did he completely comprehend,  the answers he was given. Habakkuk complained to God about the sinfulness of the people of Judah and God’s lack of action in correcting it. He  asked God, “Must I forever see this sin and misery all around me and why do you idly look at wrong?” (Habakkuk 1:3). God responded that He was doing something Habakkuk would be astounded by. He was bringing the cruel Babylonians to power and they would overrun his people, thus bringing God’s justice and correction upon them (Hab 1:5-11).  This really bewildered Habakkuk. How could God use evil to bring about a good purpose? Would God really allow the wicked to destroy people more righteous than them? (Hab 1:13).

What’s so beautiful about Habakkuk is that he didn’t run away from God or doubt God’s character in the midst of things he did not understand.  Instead, he trusted that God would clarify things for him.  Having asked God his questions, Habakkuk said, “I will climb into my watchtower and wait to see what the LORD will say to me and how he will answer my complaint,” (Hab 2:1).  G. Campbell Morgan once said that when Habakkuk looked at his circumstances he was perplexed (1:3), but when he waited for God and listened to Him, he sang (3:18-19).  God responded by admitting the wickedness of the Babylonians, but declared that they would eventually destroy themselves through their own evil. Pride and cruelty always lead to destruction. (Hab 2:2-20).

What becomes clear in the book of Habakkuk is that people sometimes have to wait to know what the final outcome of things will be.  While God may seem slow to act by our standards, time is not an issue for him. God sometimes takes ages to show his plans. As the apostle Peter said, “With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day,” (2 Peter 3:8). Though it may seem that the wicked are winning, in the end they are doomed. During such times of trial, God is testing and refining his people.  Hardship always brings out who we really are and reveals what we really believe.  God’s direction to us whether in the good times or bad is to live out an everyday trust in him.  “The righteous will live by his faith,” (Hab 2:4).

Habakkuk believed God and rejoiced that God answered Him. He trusted that God knew what He was doing by bringing the Babylonians against his people and that in the end things would work for the good.  Habakkuk looked past the hardship to the restoration that would occur. “Even though the fig trees have no blossoms, and there are no grapes on the vine; even though the olive crop fails, and the fields lie empty and barren; even though the flocks die in the fields, and the cattle barns are empty, yet I will rejoice in the LORD! I will be joyful in the God of my salvation. The Sovereign LORD is my strength! He will make me as sure footed as a deer and bring me safely over the mountains.” (Hab. 3:17-19).

When you experience trials, remember that God is in control of the universe and he is working out his own plan in his own time. I encourage you, like Habakkuk, to trust God in the midst of your hardship. Live by faith! It’s okay to bring your honest questions to the Lord but be sure to wait for his answers and know that it often takes time for God’s program to be revealed. When mystified by it all, remember that God’s thoughts are above our thoughts and God’s ways are above our ways (Isaiah 55:9).  And trust that, “In all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose,” (Romans 8:28).

Stripped Away

This week’s readings have really challenged us; particularly as we’re on vacation.  That’s way we haven’t posted this week; that and a very old computer that won’t connect to the internet with any predictability.  But we have continued to read along with each day’s readings and have been moved and disturbed by the book of Ezekiel.  Its a hard and discomfiting book–not the lightest fare for vacation time.  Nonetheless, we have found the Lord using it to sift our hearts and overturn some places that needed upending.

In Ezekiel 21, God makes this sweeping pronouncement through the prophet:  “Son of man, set your face against Jerusalem and preach against the sanctuary.Prophesy against the land of Israel 3 and say to her: ‘This is what the Lord says: I am against you. I will draw my sword from its sheath and cut off from you both the righteous and the wicked. 4 Because I am going to cut off the righteous and the wicked, my sword will be unsheathed against everyone from south to north.” (Ezekiel 21:2-4).  What a provocative statement; disturbing to say the least.  It is hard to imagine that God would allow the righteous to suffer the devastation of judgement along with the wicked.  What’s going on here?

So, let’s look back and remember that Ezekiel is among the exiled Jews who are living in captivity in Babylon.  As he prophesies in this chapter, his view is on the people “back home” in Jerusalem but his message has several intended targets.

First, he is announcing that judgement is coming upon Jerusalem because the people had abandoned their loyalty to God.  All our choices have consequences.  The place is going to be wiped out and no one will be spared; not even those who follow God.  This points to the fact that sin’s consequences affect other people.  It isn’t just the God deserters whose lives will be devastated; even the upright will suffer.  We see this today in our culture as well.  So many suffer injustice due to the poor decisions of others.  The breakdown of family systems in our country has profoundly affected generations who are growing up without healthy role models. Sadly, sin and its dreadful by-products can never be contained to individual lives —  sin cannot be isolated — it has a way of hurting those around us. Consider the case of an addict whose dependency brings underserved pain to their spouse, children, friends and co-workers. Think about the angry father whose verbal rants demoralize and destroy the members of his family. Consider the critical mother whose sharp tongue and disapproving comments wither the souls of her children. Yes, sin always overflows the individual and affects others in dreadful ways. So, the actions of the “wicked” will affect the lives of the “righteous.”

Next, God will use Jerusalem’s destruction to bring about another result. It will also affect the exiles. God’s intention is to cleanse and purify his people so that they will belong completely to him. He intends to bring a remnant of faithful people back from exile who are free of idolatry. Restoration is the ultimate goal. But the people in exile had not yet fully repented and returned to the Lord (even though they had been taken to exile!). The people continued to look back toward home and saw that Jerusalem and the temple were intact. They viewed these outward things and assumed that God was still for them. They were still synchretistic in their hearts — blending their identity as God’s people with the worship of other gods. It is amazing how deep denial runs in the human heart. They put their hope in externals (Jerusalem and the temple) while still running their lives according to their carnal desires. They were people who wanted it both ways. On the one hand they identified themselves with God and professed faith in him. On the other hand their actions proved otherwise. God knew that as long as Jerusalem stood, the people would avoid the real work of honest relationship with him and repenting of their sinful ways — of doing an internal housecleaning of the heart that was visible in their external lives. If Jerusalem fell and the temple was destroyed, the people would have to own the reality that they were out of relationship with God; that he would not tolerate them “dating” other gods; and that their hope had to be in him alone and not in any external, lesser thing.

So how does this apply to us?  We, too, can put our hope in externals while convincing ourselves that we are fully committed to God. We profess faith in Christ, but also hope in lesser things like family relationships, friendships, our churches, our spouse, a boyfriend/girlfriend, our health, our job or our finances. We too have a way of “dating” the lesser ‘gods’. We don’t call them this, nor do we tend to think of them this way, but in essence we make idols of anything in our lives in which we place our hope outside of Christ. An idol is usually a good thing that becomes an ultimate thing that we rely upon or trust in beyond our hope in God. It pulls our hearts away from him and affects our decision making and our choices. It is less that God’s perfect will for our lives. He wants our complete devotion; just as he has already given us his. And because he loves, he is willing to strip away any and every thing that competes for our complete dependence upon him.

Haven’t I had enough pain already?

“Haven’t I had enough pain already?” (Jeremiah 45: 3 NLT). This is the woeful lament that came from the lips of Baruch, Jeremiah’s aide and scribe.  Just as Jeremiah faced ridicule, derision and persecution from the people of Judah, Baruch did also.  It was unpopular work being a prophet (or in this case a prophet’s assistant). But God promised to watch over and protect Baruch no matter what else happened around him or where his service to God took him. God said– “Baruch…I will destroy this nation that I built. I will uproot what I planted. Are you seeking great things for yourself? Don’t do it! But don’t be discouraged. I will bring great disaster upon all these people, but I will protect you wherever you go. I, the LORD, have spoken!” (Jeremiah 45:4-5).

This word to Baruch was given to him earlier in life but is placed in the book of Jeremiah at the end of their time in Egypt.  Following the destruction of Jerusalem, both Baruch and Jeremiah were kidnapped by their own people (who again were faithless toward God) and taken down to Egypt. These faithless and apostate Judeans who took up residence in Egypt  as a feeble attempt to avoid God’s judgment through the Babylonians would suffer destruction for their disobedience to God.  But God promised to watch over Baruch. The reason the message is placed out of historical context is to provide a reminder that God does take care of his own, despite the way things sometimes look.

Ultimately, Baruch’s cry is a result of the difficulty of serving God in a world that is hostile to Him. Let’s face it, history shows that those who serve Christ in this world suffer at the hands of the world. But our suffering, pain and difficulties in this life are not the last word.  The promises of God are. God will have the last word on our lives, our work and our fate.

If you are feeling isolated or depressed by your circumstances, remember God’s word to Baruch. While Baruch didn’t understand his pain and he didn’t “deserve” the treatment he received at the hands of others, he was not outside of God’s will.  God was still paying attention to him. God was still at work shaping and molding him.  God was still using his service. God was still on the throne of the universe and on the throne of Baruch’s life.  And God promised that he would watch over him and protect him.   He will do that for you too, if you’ll simply trust him in the midst of wherever you find yourself.  Reach out to God today.  Tell him your troubles. Invite Jesus into your circumstances.  And listen for his word of comfort and reassurance in your life.

Is Anything Too Hard for God?

The Lord asked Jeremiah, “Is there anything too hard for me?” (Jeremiah 32:27). It’s a profound question. It’s a question that is designed to evoke what one really believes about God. The obvious answer is, “No. Nothing is too hard for you God.”  Any reasonable person who believes in the Lord and has read the scriptures would have to come to this conclusion.  However, for a person who is hurting and struggling under the pain of life and/or the mistakes of their past, or for a person who can’t possibly see how things can change for the better, the question may be difficult to answer.

When God asked this question, he did so in the face of the destruction that was emerging upon Jerusalem. The place was about to be overrun by the Babylonians.  The siege engines were already against the walls. Downfall was imminent. The sins of the people had finally caught up to them. Their wanton rejection of God, who repeatedly had called them to change their minds and turn their lives back to him, had finally run its course. The inevitable destruction that God warned them would come had come.

In the midst of this impending doom, God began to speak words of hope to the people.  It began with God instructing Jeremiah to buy a piece of land from his cousin. Even though the Babylonians were about to overthrow everything, God used Jeremiah’s actions to show there was still hope. God was saying through Jeremiah that even though immediate loss was coming, restoration was on the horizon. Though the people would be sent into exile, they would one day return to their homeland and to normalcy. Jeremiah’s action was an investment in a future that God said would come. “Fields will again be bought and sold in this land about which you now say, ‘It has been ravaged by the Babylonians, a land where people and animals have all disappeared.’ Yes fields will once again be bought and sold…in the land of Benjamin and here in Jerusalem, in the towns of Judah and in the hill country…For someday I will restore prosperity to them. I, the Lord, have spoken,” (Jeremiah 32:43-44).

The impending exile was not intended by God to forever destroy the people. It was not the malicious act of a vindictive deity. It was designed for one purpose: to totally and thoroughly turn the people back to their God. God wanted his people to accept responsibility for their failures and bad choices. The exile would cause them to become thoroughly honest about themselves and to stop hiding from the truth of their unfaithfulness. When they finally got real with God and honestly sorrowed for their sins, his restoration would come. When they realized and admitted their need for God’s healing power, they would have it. “I will surely bring my people back from all the countries where I will scatter them in my fury. I will bring them back to this very city and let them live in peace and safety. They will be my people, and I will be their God. And I will give them one heart and mind to worship me forever, for their own good and for the good of all their descendants,” (Jeremiah 32:37-39).

Though the people faced judgment, judgment was not the last word.  It never is.  Hope is. The pain, the discipline, the destruction were merely tools designed to open hearts and pull them away from self-sufficiency. That’s what these things are always designed to do. They open the way for the inrushing of grace and the healing of the merciful and forgiving God.

Know this: no matter what you face today, God is for you and not against you. No matter how difficult your impending future looks, God is greater and has seen beyond the immediate. He’s already there waiting for you. He can and will see you through it, because nothing is too hard for the Lord.

Rumors of God

Have you ever had someone in your life that you first heard about through friends?  They would tell you all about this person and you would feel like you already knew them based on what you had heard.  You make assumptions, even judgments based on the stories recounted to you. You may decide this person is a hero or that they’re someone to avoid at all costs.  You might even warn other people away from this person.   And you’ve heard it all through “reliable” sources; rumors, really.  But you assume what you’ve heard must be the truth.  Later on, however, you have some real life interaction with this person and discover he or she is not at all what you expected.    You may leave pleasantly surprised or deeply disturbed.

Job worshiped and revered God all of his life.  He lived a good life and followed all the teachings about God, honoring God, and serving him.  But a long  season of challenge, affliction and hardship changed him.  Job is spent.  He has argued, wrestled, defended himself, and reconsidered all he knows about God.  Once God reveals himself to Job, however, Job realizes he has just known God by rumor.   Job is both relieved and disturbed by God’s self-revelation.  He is relieved because the long silence of the One he loves is over.  He is disturbed because he learns that he didn’t really know God at all.

The primary rumor by which Job has known God is perpetuated by his three friends.  That rumor is: If you are blameless and without sin, trouble won’t touch you.  Your behavior directly impacts the way your life goes.  If things are going wrong for you, it’s because you’ve done something wrong.  The prescription for this is: Fix it and everything will turn around.  Many of us know intellectually that this isn’t true, yet our hearts insist otherwise.  When bad thing happen, we immediately do an inventory and wonder if certain actions or sins have caused our trouble.  While poor choices do have their consequences, there is no hard and fast rule that says, “If you’re good, nothing will go wrong for you.”  You can change your behavior and the challenge you’re facing may continue anyway. That’s what Job discovered.

But this changed when God revealed himself to Job.  Job dropped his false understanding of God and admitted, “I babbled about things far beyond me, made small talk about wonders way over my head,” (Job 42:3 Msg). Ultimately, God’s self-revelation not only righted Job’s misunderstandings, but also led Job to a place of humility and acceptance. “I admit I once lived by rumors of you; now I have it all firsthand – from my own eyes and ears! I’m sorry – forgive me. I’ll never do that again, I promise! I’ll never again live on crusts of hearsay, crumbs of rumor,” (Job 42: 4-6 Msg).

Do you really know God or do you rely on “hearsay” and “crumbs of rumor” about him?  The good news is that you can know him intimately and personally.  God has revealed himself in a myriad of ways to us.  We can know him as the Holy Spirit reveals God to us in Scripture, through other believers, through creation, through the events of our lives.  We can know him most clearly through his Son Jesus Christ, who is the very image of the invisible God. It’s important when we face trials like those Job faced that we not rely on misinformation or rumors of God. Like Job, we need to sit with God in the pain and questioning until God clearly reveals himself to us.

God Questions

God’s silence is deafening.  The struggle is immense.  It has gone on and on.  Back and forth.  We’ve endured the arguments between Job and his friends and Job to God.  We’ve gained insight into the shortcomings of human wisdom.  No one can adequately explain or make sense of the suffering Job has withstood.  And truthfully, none of us can wrap our minds around the mind of God.  Chapters 38 and 39 of Job are awe inspiring and reveal God’s majesty and how his very being is simply beyond our understanding.

Job’s friends have suggested suffering comes only to the evil as punishment from God.  Repent of your sin and the suffering will end.  But Job knows this is a false understanding of God.  We may find it easier to blame God for suffering, but that is to fall short of knowing the truth of his character.  The truth of his character reveals an abundance of righteousness.  God is right.  He is not evil nor does he ordain or cause evil in the world.  Adam and Eve’s choice to move away from God and to seek from understanding beyond what God had for them ushered in evil to the world.  Evil, at its core, is the absence of God.  Suffering is a direct result of evil.  Not God.

Reading Job today allows us to take a breath of ease if we have been suffering.  While God is silent for the major portion of the book he is hardly absent.  When he finally appears, it’s clear he has not been distracted or otherwise engaged.  He is fully aware of all that has transpired in Job’s life and the arguments between Job and his friends.  Rather than defend himself, God chooses to reveal himself.  His is a commanding presence that requires all of us watching and listening to stop in reverent awe.  Taking center stage, he ends the debate by asking some profound and revealing questions.

These questions open the door to consider him in the truth of his being beyond the scope of suffering.  His questions are a welcome relief from the arguments gone round and round trying to solve the dilemma of suffering with the human mind.  The truth is we simply cannot.  We cannot resolve God sized issues with the extraordinary limitations of our human minds.  The vastness of who God is and what He knows is only a pin drop in our consciousness.  We can’t know what we simply don’t know.  It is pride to think we can.

Each question God poses to Job and his friends sweeps back the curtain of his majesty and his strength.  There are hardly words to describe how inept and insignificant one feels to follow God’s queries and to recognize how close to simple dust we are.  God’s questions reveal the heart of who He is in the splendor of his glory.  And no one can remotely access it but by God’s permission himself.  In asking Job these questions, he simultaneously challenges Job to understand him while pointing out that there is no way to fully comprehend him.  Even partial comprehension seems an extraordinary leap of our limited minds.

God’s questions are worthy of a second read.  A third, fourth, fifth…well, they are worthy of pondering for the rest of our lives.  They offer us rest in the midst of our trial to let go of our control and slip into a place of yielded trust to Him.  He is so much greater.  He is so much wiser.  He has ideas and purposes we can’t begin to articulate in our minds.  So once you have wearied of the wrestling and struggle, walk into these questions with the space of being simply the created walking hand in hand with the Creator.  And the Creator is good.  In his immense proportion to ourselves, we can rest in the knowledge that out of His great love for us he created us.  He has plans and purposes beyond our skirmishes today.

God’s Love

“If you love me, why are you treating me this way?  Wouldn’t love treat me better than this?”

That was my heart’s cry to God in the middle of the night on a cold basement floor in Ambridge, Pennsylvania in 1997. I was in my first year of seminary and life looked bleak. My father had recently died. We had moved from the South to the North and were experiencing both culture shock and seasonal affective disorder.  We had to relocate 2 more times in a span of four months due to terrible and unsafe housing situations — and that with a 3 year old and a very pregnant wife. Our last move came as the result of a plumbing issue that caused our basement to back up with all the sanitation waste from the houses on the hill above us.  The wretched filth destroyed all of our family pictures and important mementos.   The timing of the last move came just days before Christmas – we could barely celebrate due to boxes and exhaustion.  By January it was utterly bleak.  We had 15 days straight of ice and snow; and not the pretty, serene kind you see on postcards and movies. This was infused with the pollution of steel country and had a greyish black look to it.   At three in the morning I was up and in my study in the dark, cold basement. My heart boiled over at that point.

I wept before the Lord. I was confused and disappointed.  I had left my lucrative and rising career to serve God with my life. I had removed my young family from all that was known and safe to us and jumped on what felt like “Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride.” I was missing my father, whom I had led to faith in Christ not long before his death.  It seemed as though I had just gotten him back and he was taken away from me again. And perhaps the worst part of it, I was spiritually empty.  I had come to a community of faith where people were joyfully loving and serving God, yet to me, the experience was as dry as  dust in my mouth.

I cried out to God, “If you love me, why are you treating me this way?  Wouldn’t love treat me better than this?” As I lay on the floor splayed out before the Lord I had a vision.  It was of the cross of Jesus Christ.  It wasn’t the pretty bronze cross that we process behind as we enter church. It was the bloody, cruel instrument of torturing death.  I saw the body of the Lord in his brokenness and pain. I felt the loneliness of Jesus that came from his friends’ betrayal and abandonment. I sensed the derision and scorn of the religious elite. I saw the anguish on his face as His Father looked away from him as the sin of the world, as my sin, was placed upon him. It nearly broke me.  And then I heard the Lord speak to my heart. He said, “On that day in space and time my love for you was forever demonstrated and sealed.”

And I had the answer.  God’s love is not dependent upon anything but himself.  God’s love for us is not proved nor disproved by the outward circumstances in life.  God’s love is not conditioned by our behavior.  God loves because God loves us. As the Apostle John tells us, “This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins,” (1 John 4:9-10).

No matter what you are experiencing today, whether good times or hardship, know this: God loves you and has demonstrated his love decisively in the cross of Jesus Christ.  He has done absolutely everything necessary to bring you to himself.  Let the cross be your guide today.  Keep it before your eyes and close to your heart. Meditate on its beauty and power and embrace the love of God for you.

Where wisdom is found

Elizabeth Elliot, in her book Let Me Be a Woman, records the story of Gladys Aylward. Gladys grieved deeply over the physical appearance God had given her. As such, she struggled mightily to accept herself. Ms. Aylward told how when she was a child she had two great sorrows. One, that while all her friends had beautiful golden hair, hers was black. The other, that while her friends were still growing, she had stopped. She was about four feet ten inches tall.

Eventually, God called her into the foreign mission field.  When at last she reached the country to which God had called her to be a missionary, she stood on the wharf in Shanghai and looked around at the people to whom He had called her. “Every single one of them” she said, “had black hair. And every one of them had stopped growing when I did.” She was able to look to God and exclaim, “Lord God, You know what You’re doing!”

Without exception, human wisdom always falls short.  We simply cannot see all that God sees. We cannot understand all that God understands. He alone can see the end from the beginning, while we are limited by time and our circumstances. He alone knows the plans and purposes that he has set in place and unless he reveals them to us, we will always come to the wrong conclusions about life.

In Job 28, we encounter a stalemate between Job and his friends.  The friends have applied every bit of human wisdom they can muster to the problem of Job’s suffering.  They have no answers. Job is also dumbfounded. He simply cannot understand why his life is filled with pain and loss. Job finally turns the conversation to the question: “Where can wisdom be found?” (Job 28:12). Job declares that wisdom cannot be found among the most precious elements of this earth (gold, jewels and precious metals). Neither can wisdom be purchased. Ultimately, wisdom is found only in God (vv 20-27). God alone is all knowing, all powerful, and all wise. He is the Creator of all things and from him everything moves and has its being. Job concludes, “The fear of the Lord – that is wisdom, and to shun evil is understanding,” (Job 28:28).

What each of us needs, in the confusion and finiteness of our lives is the wisdom that comes from God alone.  His wisdom brings understanding to the confusing messages the world continually gives us. His wisdom helps us to see through the darkness of life. His wisdom helps us to discern the difference between the true and false.  His wisdom illuminates our minds to deception and danger.  Ask the Spirit of God to give you the wisdom you need today.

What’s the Point?

The past eight months have been a painful trial for me.  I have struggled through my first extended physical illness.  Despite the many healthy changes I’ve made to my diet in recent years, I had to completely overhaul my eating.   Food has been a source of comfort and joy to me over the years; particularly sugar.  The biggest challenge in changing my diet has been the stripping away of every comfort food I have enjoyed.  I really had no idea how much food meant to me until it was taken away.

In the midst of this personal health crisis, it feels as if all hell has broken loose in other areas of life also.  The medical challenges our family incurred over the past several years have led to extreme financial stress.  We’ve had family issues, sick dogs, dying computers (the children attend a school that requires working computers), broken old cars, isolation from others, minor depression, lack of vision, and to top it off, a month long case of severe poison ivy.   I have never experienced a season where the book of Job so resonated with me. 

Yet the most challenging aspect of this season has been my perception of God’s distance from me.  I know he has not moved because Christ lives in me.  But the normal, intimate relationship I have always shared with him has seemed increasingly quiet and almost dormant.   I have searched my life for sin that would rupture our relationship and that which I discovered I have repented of and changed.  But in general, there isn’t any major flaw in our relationship; except he seems distant.   A few times, when the pain was particularly bad, I have been tempted to throw up my hands and cry out, “What’s the point?” “Why is this happening?”

1 Peter 4:2 says, “Think of your suffering as a weaning from that old sinful habit of always expecting to get your own way,” (The Message). My own suffering appears to be accomplishing this.  If it doesn’t cause you to “curse God and die” as Job’s wife foolishly counseled, suffering is proficient at stripping you of “expecting to get your own way.” Peter tells us that as we faithfully endure this self-stripping, we become truly available to God’s purposes in our lives. “Then you’ll be able to live out your days free to pursue what God wants instead of being tyrannized by what you want,” (1Peter 4:3 Msg).

Continuing to discover that I am not in control (all life teaches us this!) gives me the opportunity to choose the freedom of resting in Him.  I can rest knowing that Christ already suffered through this and I am receiving the privilege of joining him in that.  Despite how I feel, I choose to trust his goodness and care for me. I choose to trust that He has a plan that He is busy working out in my life and the lives of those I love.  I know based on God’s Word that this time of trial is working good things for me.  I don’t write these things lightly… it hasn’t come easily. But I know it to be true.

Be encouraged today.  No matter what you are going through, God has you in his sight.  His love for you was demonstrated and forever declared in space and time through the suffering of his Son on the cross. As Peter writes, “When life gets really difficult, don’t jump to the conclusion that God isn’t on the job. Instead, be glad that you are in the thick of what Christ experienced. This is a spiritual refining process, with glory just around the corner,” (1 Peter 4:13).

Get Real With God

I was studying in Spain the summer before my junior year in college when my grandmother died.  After returning to the States, I made it a point to go to her graveside.  I was terribly sad to lose her; she had lived 90 years well.  She had a deep, abiding reverent faith in God.  She was very proper and formal.  She and my grandfather had served in ministry together for nearly 70 years.  I can remember her telling me as a child that I needed to dress up for church to show my respect for God in his house.  So, when I decided to see her grave, out of respect for her viewpoint, I put on a dress.  I thought she would approve.  I drove over to the cemetery and parked the car.  Her grave site was a long walk across the graveyard.  I made my way through the fence and past dozens of graves to her gravestone when I realized I had a huge wad of bubble gum in my mouth.  In my angst of visiting, I was smacking it loudly to myself.  Mortified that perhaps she could hear me, I turned and ran out of the cemetery and looked for the nearest trash can to throw it out.  As I returned, I realized how foolish I was.  First of all, Grandmother was not watching me.  What I wore to visit her grave was of no consequence.  She was in a much better place where style and etiquette simply don’t matter.  Second, she couldn’t hear me popping my gum, either.  I didn’t need to waste it throwing it out before the flavor was gone.  Finally, while my Grandmother was right about nearly everything, I don’t agree that God cares for reverent piety and an outward show of respect through clothing.  I do think, though, that  Grandmother would agree that He looks upon the heart.  Where we differ is that she would challenge that your outward piety demonstrated an inward reverence.  But I disagree.

And I’m in good company.  Job is having quite a dialogue with his buddies.  Repeatedly, they call him on the carpet for addressing God so irreverently and speaking to God as if he were mortal.  Eliphaz scolds him,

“Would a wise person answer with empty notions or fill their belly with the hot east wind? Would they argue with useless words, with speeches that have no value? But you even undermine piety and hinder devotion to God,” (Job 15:2-4).

Religion dictates that certain rules and forms be followed.  But Job is not interested in religion.  He knows religion is useless to him.  What he is desperate for is answers from God himself.  The only way to get answers is to ask questions.  When you’re whole life has turned inside out, you are going to have some emotional questions to ask God.  What further torments Job is that he can’t hear God.  Eliphaz adds insult to injury when he say, “Are God’s promises not enough for you, spoken so gently and tenderly?” (Job 15:11).  At this point in Job’s story, God hasn’t entered the conversation yet so I have to assume Eliphaz thinks his own words are directly from God.  Hardly gentle or tender.  Job rebukes him as such in chapter 16,

“I’ve had all I can take of your talk. What a bunch of miserable comforters! Is there no end to your windbag speeches? What’s your problem that you go on and on like this? If you were in my shoes, I could talk just like you. I could put together a terrific harangue and really let you have it. But I’d never do that. I’d console and comfort, make things better, not worse!    (Job 16:1-5)

I love Job’s engagement here.  He differentiates himself and maintains his position.  Job speaks clearly and directly to God venting his frustration and bewilderment over his suffering.  He is serious about understanding God.  He wants truth and he wants answers.  His heart is blameless.  Nowhere does he curse God or trivialize God.  If fact, he does just the opposite.  He addresses God head on.  I see Job’s intensity and volatility representing a deep passion for true relationship with his Creator.  Nowhere do I see impropriety or an inappropriate familiarity.  He is simply getting it all out to get to the bottom of his despair.  He cannot get to the bottom of it by piping out platitudes and religious cliches.  He knows the pain is not going away until God himself removes it.  He knows his situation is not going to change unless God himself changes it.  So he takes everything he’s got and goes all out to question and understand God.

We’re only halfway through Job’s story but I’ve already peeked at the end.  And Job ends well.  God is okay with Job venting his frustration because Job’s heart is pure.  Job isn’t looking to trash God or belittle him, he’s looking for a way out of a pretty extraordinary situation.  And God can handle his anger.  He can handle yours, too.  We get into trouble when we minimize our troubles and snack away on pious, pithy Christian expressions.  Put all that away and simply pour out your heart to God.  He can handle your anger and he can handle your questions.  Nothing you’ve got is anything He hasn’t seen before.  If you can’t hear him just yet, then strengthen yourself by waiting.  Trust that at his very core, God is good.  Good things are coming.  They always do.  I’ve peeked at the end.