Wednesday, October 31, 2012

I Haven’t Left



10.31.12

Job 22.23 23 “If you return to the Almighty, you will be restored; if you remove unrighteousness far from your tent..." NASB

“Eliphaz” means, God is fine gold. Eliphaz is one of Job’s friends. Eliphaz is a wise person. Eliphaz means well but can’t shut his mouth. Eliphaz is convinced Job is being paid back for harboring some unknown evil in his life. Eliphaz is a guy and guys are good at coming up with solutions to problems that no one needs solved. Eliphaz told Job, “If you return to the Almighty, you will be restored; if you remove unrighteousness far from your tent..." I think Job looked at him and thought: you idiot!

Pet peeve time: I get peeved when people think they need to tell me what my problem is or what I need to do to fix a problem they think I’m having, that I’m not having… Sorry, I am normally a very teachable person, but I don’t need to be told how to fix an issue I’m not having. I appreciate your concern but would more appreciate your pulling your head out of the darkness and not jumping to conclusions to problems that don’t exist.

The more I read Job the more I realize that Job was just looking for someone – anyone – who would understand his problem: I didn’t do anything to deserve this except follow God! If this is what following God is all about then maybe I’m having second thoughts. But Job’s guy-friends are typical guys who jumped to conclusions and came alongside to fix Job, not necessarily to empathize with him.  We are so guarded and phony at times. We’re even guarded and phony when we try to show empathy! Damn, people! Ain’t anybody out there that understands!?

Well, yes Job there are but they, unfortunately, are few and far between. But what’s more important is what happens to us when everyone is trying to fix something in us that isn’t broken. These are some of the most trying times. “If you return to the Almighty, you will be restored; if you remove unrighteousness far from your tent..." What if I haven’t left?

God uses the most maddeningly bizarre circumstances (and people) to help us get it and brother, do we need to get it! I’m not sure what awaits us in heaven but I can guarantee God is using bizarre circumstances and people to prepare us for it… Ringo Starr (that great prophet of pop-culturedom) sang (a George Harrison song): Got to pay your dues if you want to sing the blues, And you know it don't come easy.

Job was busy one day minding his own business when he found himself smack-dab in the middle of a situation pushing and shoving contest between God and the devil. Job didn’t ask for it; didn’t expect it; and wasn’t happy about it and he tried his dangedest to get somebody to understand. And all anyone wanted to do was give him solutions of how to fix himself…

I must be careful the next time I venture out onto the thin ice of trying to fix somebody. I must remember that I do need fixing and God is going to use bizarre people and circumstances in that process. God expects me to us my ears more than I use my mouth and to offer empathy to my fellow creatures who are struggling every bit as much – in their own way, over their own stuff – as I am… over mine. It’ not my job to fix you, but to come alongside and help in the way you need and to listen for God to instruct me in just what way that is…

Sunday, October 28, 2012

Yes, I Read...



10.28.12

Job 19.23 23 “Oh that my words were written! Oh that they were inscribed in a book! NASB

Well friend Job, they are! And here I sit many centuries later in my comfortable little house with my cup of coffee at hand, wrapped in a comforter, while my dog snoozes over by hallway waiting for momma to come downstairs and fill her food dish, reading your words. Yes, Job your words are written… and mine are too. It seems God has something for books.

How sad it is that there are those who insist life is nothing more than a series of random events that happen randomly to random creatures; and they live and they die, and that is that. How stupid. Life has meaning and purpose. Life has its joys and surely its pain. But life has meaning.

To the one who believes life is only random, it appears their belief is more like a denial of the facts: a steadfast refusal to accept the presence of God (and a frustration over their lack of control). To them, books are written about important people with interesting stories and interesting lives. (Of course if life has no meaning then what’s an interesting life?)

It appears that in this “meaningless” life we are blessed with the ability to go through experiences and learn from them. That’s not to say everyone learns. Some, it seems, go through life and don’t learn a darn thing – they keep making the same mistake over and over – and call it progress! And we are blessed with memories, if we choose to remember. Job wanted someone to remember him and his life and maybe learn from it or at least say, “Yep! I’ve gone through the same thing.”

Why record our words in books somewhere? I’ve been told that Facebook has a permanent record of every word and picture you’ve ever posted there (if you’re into Facebook). Why tell the stories of our lives? Two reasons I can think of right off the bat…

One, there will be no denial of who we are and what we done, said, and thought. I don’t think the words of our lives will be used to club us over the head or as a weapon. The other reason is a permanent record of how we lived with what we’ve done, said, and thought. What we’ve done and how we’ve lived. How have we lived? What have we done? Have we been part of the solution or part of the problem? It’s all recorded so we can know because someday, I’m told, we’ll all give an accounting of our living and our doing. Will the accounting match the writing?

So, have I lived intentionally? Have I done things in my life for meaning and purpose? Have I been a contributor or a consumer – or both? Have I worked to make this world a better place? When I leave will I be remembered as someone who cared? It will all be spelled out for me in language I can read and understand, just how I lived my threescore and ten.

Yes, Job, your words were written; they were inscribed in a book so that all who chose to, could read and see how you dealt with the uncertainties of life and in the end, Whom you chose to serve. Yes, friend, your words were written down so I could read them and learn from them And I’m glad. My prayer is that my life will in some way match up to yours; and in the conversations in heaven when the question is asked, Have you considered My servant Paul? that someone will answer, “Yes, I read he served the Living God!”

Saturday, October 27, 2012

The Bildad in Me



10.27.12

Job 18.21 21 “Surely such are the dwellings of the wicked, and this is the place of him who does not know God.” NASB

I’m not sure where old Bildad was coming from; either he really didn’t know who the wicked were, or he really wasn’t sure what happened to them for their wickedness. I think he was thinking of the wicked poor who don’t have the cleverness or resources to hide in their wickedness like the wicked rich do. Bildad gave his little tirade about the wicked and summed it up with the words: “Surely such are the dwellings of the wicked, and this is the place of him who does not know God.” Which God would that be, Bildad; the real God, or the God of your own imagination?

There are lots of people who talk about God as if they’ve just come from coffee or lunch with Him. There are lots of people who see injustice and abuse and wish Someone would come and fix it all. There are lots of Bildads in the world. What they really want is to see vengeance exacted upon those who’ve little means to defend against it: the petty criminals amongst us.

When one thinks about the money we spend against the criminals who’ve the means to defend themselves and the effort we go to ‘get’ them; it’s no wonder the Bildads want swifter justice and crueler punishments for such societal scum. But Bildad, you’re fooled by the headlines: the ones who get caught are the ones who’ve no defense.  And the madness of your perspective is that Job – a really good guy – is the one upon whom you wish to dump all of your irritation about the wrongs of society that need to be dealt with, that you’ve no intention of lifting a finger to help deal with. Thanks Bildad, thanks a bunch. Just don’t get caught, right?

Bildad is the voice of the uncaring. Bildad is mad that something happened to Job and Job won’t own up to it. Bildad lives in a fantasy of belief where the wicked really get what’s coming to them. Uh, Bildad, can you show me how or when or where such ‘getting’ takes place? Most wickedness glides along so smoothly we hardly notice it and when someone really speaks out against it they’re shushed up by a society that wants to legalize marijuana use, applauds the destruction of the Defense of Marriage, and has stood by silently as millions of the unborn have been slaughtered. Some swift vengeance, eh Bildad?

My Job-lesson today is that I am called to wade into the fray to fight against such wickedness that goes along largely unchecked; where the wicked are those who staunchly defend a woman’s right to choose, whether or not, she’s going to stand up and accept her wrong and do what is right – or she’s going to abort her mistake and walk off free to make the same mistake all over again. How about that Bildad? My lesson is my calling – my test is will I answer the call or will I ‘Bildad’ my way out of it…?

Lord, what can be done is to speak up and speak out against the evils that are more cleverly hidden by society’s callousness. You have called me to that. May I recognize the Bildad in me that wants to sweep away the wicked poor into destruction rather than help them to maybe see that there is a God who loves them and desires they become His friends. Help me to avoid the temptation to be callous and cynical. Help me to do what is right – amen.

Friday, October 26, 2012

Byword



10.26.12

Job 17.6 6 “But He has made me a byword of the people, and I am one at whom men spit." NASB

There comes a point in suffering, where only few will go with you. At first everyone is shocked, dismayed and even outraged. And as time goes along they drift back into the routines laid out for them: kids, careers, etc. They have to because the one who suffers goes alone.

We tend to call ourselves sensitive and compassionate these days. We are the ones who will take up the cause and throw in our lot with the suffering. But bills have to be paid and attendance at work is not something to take casually. In Job’s day there weren’t those who took up the banner and led the walk for the cure. Job felt not only the bite of his “friends” suspicion but also the indictment of the crowd around him: “…He has made me a byword of the people, and I am one at whom men spit.”

I looked up the meanings of the word, byword, and this is what I found: an object of general reproach, derision, scorn, etc. Job was scorned for what happened to him. I have a friend who is terribly, terminally sick. I don’t know why, but he is. But the last thing I am ever going to entertain is the thought that he’s getting what he deserves. No one deserves to be sick. His name is a byword for courageous. Recently another friend died of cancer. Her name is a byword for courageous. Some battles are the biggest of our lives and they are inexplicable, and appear frightening and cruel, and we have to face them alone.

Job’s battle wasn’t the calamity that surrounded him. The loss of his ranch and his children, and the subsequent disease that ravaged him, were mere skirmishes compared to his battle for belief in the mercy and goodness of the Almighty. And all that happened to Job alone, and he alone, gave God Alone the credit.

That takes a special kind of person. That takes courage at a level that only the courageous will venture up to – and suffering, they do it alone, wiping the ‘spit’ of human derision from their self-view: God, why are You doing this!? The next time we find ourselves suffering, either from self-infliction or some other, will we have courage to level our concerns to God?

Because the suffering may be the reason God is growing courage within us. And courage may be the reason God allows us to suffer. But for sure, it is with God we go, either courageously, or kicking and screaming until we realize that maybe, possibly, there is a purpose to all of this that is only known by God and is ultimately revealed to us long after it is over.

And like it or not, suffering will bring out of us beautiful things that we never imagined were in us; and things that could not appear any other way. And things that only a perfectly loving, pure, and Holy God can appreciate: Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His godly ones. (Psalm 116.15) In some ways I think God longs for our death; but in other ways I think He intends for the death of something in us, so that the birth of something else may happen.

Job indeed became a byword to us, but oh, what a word: The patience of Job! Oh, to have patience like that! Hang on brother, with what God is up to in our lives, everything is possible!

Thursday, October 25, 2012

What God Calls Me



10.25.12

Job 16.12 12 “I was at ease, but He shattered me, and He has grasped me by the neck and shaken me to pieces; He has also set me up as His target. NASB

One time when we were coming home from somewhere we drove past a neighbor’s yard where a large dog had a small dog in its mouth by the neck and was shaking it to pieces like a rag-toy. After we parked, I got out of the car and went back over to the neighbor’s where this was happening to see if I could save the little dog. It seems the two dogs had been playing and the play turned rough. Eventually the big dog either lost interest, or wore itself out with the shaking, so it dropped the little dog on the ground. The little dog actually survived. Weird. I thought about this (obviously) when I read Job today. Sometimes the circumstances of life grab us and shake the living crap out of us…

Job was apparently minding his own business and doing his own thing one day when his ranching operation was attacked by marauders and his herds were stolen, lightning started a raging fire, and a tornado destroyed the house where his children were having a dinner party. I think at this moment, rancher Job felt the shaking start: my life is breaking apart. And then to top it off, he got really sick with boils of some kind – ugly, gross, painful boils from his scalp to his feet. The shaking was breaking him into pieces…

Job couldn’t find anyone to blame for his catastrophe but God but Job’s worldview was this: “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I shall return there. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.” (Job 1.21) I think Job, the practical man he was determined that there was some way out of this and given time, he’d figure it out. I don’t think he planned on getting sick; I don’t think sickness factored in to his getting it all figured out.

I wish there was some lesson we could learn from reading Job that would make us feel better about a boasting in heaven becoming a bane on earth. Job had no control over what was happening but God said, Have you considered My servant Job? God thought about him and God knew what Job though of Him.

Sometimes the only way we can learn is through great calamity, distress, or to be grabbed about the neck by God and shaken until the crap all falls out. Like the little dog, we’ll be sore for a few days, but we’ll learn and we’ll survive. As long as there is a God, there isn’t a thing in the universe that can harm us, apart from His permission. Have you considered my servant _____________? (Insert your name)

What happens to us when the shaking starts, depends a lot on our worldview: Job pretty much figured it was all God’s stuff anyway. Job thought he’d offended God. God just lovingly called him, ‘My servant’. That seems to be all the lesson I can come up with today: God calls me His servant. I think that’s enough lesson for today: that God calls me His servant. And He takes responsibility for who I am, what I am, and what I go through for His goodness and glory. If that’s the way God cares for His own, I feel sorry for those who think they can do it on their own…