There’s Jack in the Box — Ryan Saari
Job 38.1-4
S
Then the LORD answered Job out of the storm. He said:
“Who is this that darkens my counsel with words without knowledge?
Brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer me.
“Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation? Tell me, if you understand.
O Job has endured a TON at this point. Everything he has is destroyed. Everyone he cared about is dead. His health is gone. He has nothing to live for. And because of his theology (emphasize HIS theology) he is totally confused by what’s taken place. According to what he believes, if he’s good, then God will bless him and he’ll have a good life, and if he’s bad then he will be punished. But Job wasn’t bad. He did nothing wrong. So he’s in complete shock and confusion. And finally, near the end of the book he finally just asks the Lord, why. Why did this happen to me? Why did you allow such terrible things to take place? And then God answers. But He answers in an incredible way: with a question. He says, “Let me question you. You answer Me.” And he just lays in to Job. It’s brutal. It’s as if God is so frustrated with the last 37 chapters of people speaking for Him and wants to just say it Himself. Everyone’s box, EVERYONE’S, is too small for God.
A One of the things that I always take away from the book of Job is that I should never try to fit God into a box. There are some things that I absolutely believe about the Lord, but there’s quite a few points of theology that hold with an open palm. Here in Job we see God’s frustration with the “box” form of theology. When we tell God what He can and can’t do, He comes to us and says “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?” Good question. He is God, and I am not. Best to do what Elihu recommends in 37.24 “No wonder people everywhere fear Him. People who are truly wise show Him reverence.”
P God, break the box of my theology with You. Help me just to walk with you and trust you, not try and figure everything out, but show you the type of trust and faith that we see throughout the Scriptures of the amazing men and women that simply chose to ‘come and follow you.’
Amen
- This entry was posted on Monday, November 12th, 2007 at 11:45 am and is filed under Journal Entry, Ryan Saari. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
November 12th, 2007 at 4:11 pm
Wow, that’s so incredible when God says, “Brace yourself like a man.” It is so true that just when we think we have it all figured out, who God is, how he works, that’s when he throws it right into our face and drop us to our knees in humility.
November 13th, 2007 at 4:09 pm
This so hit home for me. I realize that I put God in boxes- all different of MY sizes and MY colors- more often than I thought. I am obedient in areas that are easy and then tell Him what He should do in areas of my life that I want to have control over. Good stuff, Ryan, good stuff…
November 14th, 2007 at 1:51 am
Thanks for sharing your thoughts on trusting God through perplexing times that don’t fit well with how we perceive God. Your entry helps me appreciate the humble, lowly place we need to find as we seek to trusy Him more completely.
November 14th, 2007 at 1:45 pm
Yes! the idol worship of the church is our theological contructs of who we think God is. The granduer of God must always be growing our hearts and minds. He is infinitely and wholely other than our greatest thought about him.
December 14th, 2007 at 1:36 am
Do you ever picture God laughing at you, I do. I imagine he laughs alot at what we think and the ideas we hold, I would. I can picture it in my head “ha, ha, ha….now let me tell you something…..” I think when we see Him face to face we get a glimpse of just how little we understand and know about Him. How foolish we can be to think we understand Gods world! Alls I can say is lead me on cause I am blind , Lord!
December 14th, 2007 at 2:03 am
Waay! I realize that we cant completely comprehend God–He is just too big. I get boggled just trying to picture what the Holy Spirit, Jesus and the Father are going to look like in Heaven!?–let alone how He created all this earth in just 6 days. Man will always try to say this and that about our creator–But We wont know fully until that day when our advocate meets us and says “well done good and faithful servant, now enter into the joy of your Lord!