Where Many Hop In

11.13.11

Job 40.8 8 “Would you discredit my justice? Would you condemn me to justify yourself? NIV

Strangely, sadly, for most folks, “Yes” would be the answer to the above questions – especially in condemning God to justify oneself. How man looks at God is very strange and sad. But that would explain the depth of our fall, and also the height to which God wants to take us.

Every day, I find myself wanting to control my circumstances: there is a deep-rooted sense of control in me that would have me condemn God for His inaction, and justify my heart and thoughts accordingly. One of the things in my life that has never really grown is humility. Submission, in me, is weak and small as well. And both of these things require a trust in God that despite what I feel, see, or think, that God really is in control of all of my life all of the time, and I can honestly believe I will not crash and burn in the process. Life is often like a scary movie: it’s hard to separate oneself truthfully from graphically displayed fiction.

The flip-side of this is looking objectively at what is happening in my life today: what do I do, who do I know; what am I reading; how am I spending my time? All of these things are indicators of whether I am investing trust in the Almighty or using these things as drugs to dull my senses as to what God is accomplishing in me. How am I praying? What am I saying to God in the midst of how I feel? And please understand me: feelings are not necessarily true, but they are indicators of the level of my cooperation with my heavenly Father. I might feel like crap but what are my dealings with my feelings; do I entertain them, or do I carefully consider them and assess what they are doing to me in my faith journey?

My thought is: feelings are largely responsible for us coming to that place where we would discredit God’s justice; that we would actually condemn Him to justify ourselves. Feelings need to be dealt with carefully, and more often than not, ruthlessly. I do not walk by sight or how I feel: I walk by faith that says regardless of how I feel, I will trust Father for all I need (and especially the things in me that I know are there and I am reluctant and/or afraid to deal with!) Fear will cause me to doubt God and justify my own actions or inaction. Faith will cause me to damn the torpedoes and steam on knowing God is on the other side of the torpedoes (whether real or imagined) to save me.

Job, fairly or unfairly, was party to a divine action for which he had no choice in the matter, and no voice in its outcome. Job did what most of us would do: blame God for treating him so poorly, and cry out in self-righteousness that God’s treatment (for whatever reason) was unfair. And there’s the killer:  blaming God for being unfair. That attitude alone is where many hop into the blame-game that God is untrustworthy in His dealings with us… it’s a sad and tragic place to be.

Fortunately for Job, God lovingly set him straight; and fortunately for us, in Christ  and through our circumstances He’ll do the same if we’ll trust Him and praise Him and quit giving Him the blame. God bless you as you serve Him in faith today no matter what you’re going through.