You might want to make yourself a tea or coffee before reading today’s blog! It is longer than normal because I want you to read Job’s words firsthand. I find them utterly compelling!
One of the big questions that arises in this ancient book from the Hebrews Scriptures is, “Can I actually trust God?”
Trust is at the heart of every true relationship. It is the foundation and most basic building block in all good and healthy relationships
Therefore, you might imagine that Job, given all that he had gone through, would find it difficult to trust God again. In one devastating day he lost everything – possessions, family and even his health. His friends saw it as a judgment from God because of his sin and so he lost their support. His wife urged him to curse God and even she distanced herself from him. There are times when he rages against God; moments when in utter despair he prays that God would blot out the day he was born. He can find no reason why so much suffering has come knocking at his door.
Is a relationship with God, based on trust, possible now?
Incredibly, Job’s answer is, “Yes.” From a place of seeming abandonment he finds a reason to hope.
Some time ago I climbed one of the mountains in Glencoe. It was a fairly cloudy but thankfully dry day. And there was a moment on the summit when the sun broke through the clouds and its rays lit up the whole of the hillside. It was a truly beautiful sight (see photo below). Something like that happens in the book of Job. There are brief glimpses of faith, similar to the sun’s rays, bursting through the dark and menacing clouds of suffering and despair.
On what basis, then, does Job trust God?
He reflects on the fact that God’s works are INDESCRIBABLE…
He spreads out the northern skies over empty space;
he suspends the earth over nothing.
He wraps up the waters in his clouds,
yet the clouds do not burst under their weight.
He covers the face of the full moon,
spreading his clouds over it.
He marks out the horizon on the face of the waters
for a boundary between light and darkness.
The pillars of the heavens quake,
aghast at his rebuke.
By his power he churned up the sea;
by his wisdom he cut Rahab to pieces.
By his breath the skies became fair;
his hand pierced the gliding serpent.
And these are but the outer fringe of his works;
how faint the whisper we hear of him!
Who then can understand the thunder of his power?’
(Job 26:7-14)
The conclusion Job arrives at is that if this is something of the greatness of God then I can trust him with the details and circumstances of my life.
He then considers how God’s wisdom is IMMENSE…
12 But where can wisdom be found?
Where does understanding dwell?
13 No mortal comprehends its worth;
it cannot be found in the land of the living.
14 The deep says, ‘It is not in me’;
the sea says, ‘It is not with me.’
15 It cannot be bought with the finest gold,
nor can its price be weighed out in silver.
20 Where then does wisdom come from?
Where does understanding dwell?
21 It is hidden from the eyes of every living thing,
concealed even from the birds in the sky.
22 Destruction and Death say,
‘Only a rumour of it has reached our ears.’
23 God understands the way to it
and he alone knows where it dwells,
24 for he views the ends of the earth
and sees everything under the heavens.
25 When he established the force of the wind
and measured out the waters,
26 when he made a decree for the rain
and a path for the thunderstorm,
27 then he looked at wisdom and appraised it;
he confirmed it and tested it.
28 And he said to the human race,
‘The fear of the Lord – that is wisdom,
and to shun evil is understanding.’
(Job 26:7-14)
God is wise. The comfort Job finds in this attribute of God is that he knows. There is enough truth in that one word for Job to go on trusting God in spite of his circumstances.
Finally he mediates on how God’s Word is INSIGHTFUL…
“But if I go to the east, he is not there;
if I go to the west, I do not find him.
When he is at work in the north, I do not see him;
when he turns to the south, I catch no glimpse of him.
But he knows the way that I take;
when he has tested me, I will come forth as gold.
My feet have closely followed his steps;
I have kept to his way without turning aside.
I have not departed from the commands of his lips;
I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my daily bread.”
(Job 23:8-12)
Job circumstances appeared to point to the absence of God. He looked north, south, east and west and there seemed to be no evidence of God’s presence.
But even here we find the bright rays of faith splitting through the clouds of unbelief.“But he knows the way I take; and when he has tested me, I shall come forth as gold” (verse 10). This confidence grew in Job’s heart because he stuck close to God’s Word. He treasured it, allowed it teaching to direct the course of his life and followed its instructions closely.
In the great storyline of the Gospel of Christ which runs through Old and New Testaments we encounter (as Job did) a God who never, ever gives up on us and never stops calling us and pulling us and inviting us into a new and better future.
The God of Scripture is with us, around us, beside us and present with us in every moment…
Christ with me, Christ before me
Christ behind me, Christ in me
Christ beneath me, Christ above me
Christ on my right, Christ on my left
Christ when I lie down, Christ when I arise
(St Patrick’s Breastplate 4th century)
(Picture - Blair Atholl)
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