With God at Starbucks

10.22.11

Job 13.3 3 But I desire to speak to the Almighty and to argue my case with God. NIV

There are many occasions in life when I wish I could just sit down at coffee and argue my case with the Almighty. After all, He is the Almighty. And don’t the Almighty’s do the almighty: like solve all of my problems and give me what I need to succeed? Seems like they ought with a Name like Almighty. I mean, it makes perfect sense to me…

Like Job, the only feed-back I get from the Almighty is this: trust Me; read My word, hang on every promise I’ve made, and trust Me. Seems like it would be so much simpler if He and I could just do Starbucks for about an hour and hash things out; I’d even buy.

Job’s story is very interesting because it seems God saw things in Job that Job didn’t see in himself. Job’s argument was he wanted to justify himself before God and show why he wasn’t deserving of the treatment he got; but God appeared to be uninterested in Job’s position. And according to chapters 1 and 2 of Job, God had bigger fish to fry with Satan’s accusations of God’s treatment of Job B.C. before calamity.

My problems are miniscule compared to Job’s. I haven’t suffered like he did. I haven’t experienced the utter collapse of my life like he did. But I do face things in my life that sure seem big to me. And I really want God’s help to face them and overcome them. What God saw in Job was a pure heart: Job loved God not for what he got but for Who God was. Said Job: Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him. Job knew which side of the toast was buttered.

God, however, doesn’t work in our lives because we know what side of the toast is buttered. God doesn’t work in our lives to give us what we want; He works in our lives to perfect what He’s begun in us through Jesus Christ. And He does so without having long conversations with us about how it’s going all going to pan out or how we feel about His methods. Job was dying for an explanation and God wasn’t going to give him one until He was good and ready. Job’s whining wasn’t winning. And mine won’t either.

Job’s success was not the result of a conversation with God and getting God to give him the gory details of all life was going to deal him. Job’s success was when God had to intervene and stop Job from going down a mental dead end that might’ve cost him his faith (I think that began about chapter 38 of Job’s book). God does do that for us as well; He intervenes to get us to stop thinking one way and get us to think another. Thank God for that every time you can – it’s a HUGE gift.

In the meantime, our job – yours and mine – is to seek God diligently with all of our heart. Hebrews 11 says: And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him. (v 6) Whatever those rewards are I’m betting they’re better (infinitely so) than sitting down with God over a steaming cup of today’s blend and arguing why I think my way is better than His and why I want Him to give me what I want. He thinks my character is more important than that.

Sometimes God’s silence is deafening and sometimes I just need to plug my ears in faith and watch with wonder as He leads me right where He wants me to be: trusting Him the whole way…