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| In the cabin garden this week - near the end of the butterfly season - near Mt. Celo Church |
My Lessons and Applications from Today's Readings
(Ellipses are mine and are used for contemplation.)
The tables have been turned on Job: a prince and now a beggar, watched over and blessed by God and now abandoned by and cursed by God, surrounded by 10 children and now childless, the blessed of God and now sackcloth and ashes, respect and honor and now mocking and ridicule. He is still agonizing over what he has done for God to cause or allow this: "I delivered the poor who cried out... the fatherless...the perishing...caused the widow's heart to sing for joy...righteousness clothed me...justice was like a robe and a turban...I was eyes to the blind...feet to the lame...a father to the poor...searched out the case I did not know...broke the fangs of the wicked...plucked the victim from his teeth." Then He accuses God: "I cry out to You, but You do not answer me...You have become cruel to me...Your hand opposes me...You spoil my success". Why God? "Have I not wept for him who was in trouble? Has not my soul grieved for the poor? But when I looked for good, evil came to me." Look at me. "I waited for light, then came darkness...my heart is in turmoil and cannot rest...days of affliction confront me...I go about mourning...I stand up in the assembly and cry out for helpful..I am a brother and companion of jackals and ostriches...my skin grown black and falls from me...my bones burn with fever...my music and song is turned to mourning and weeping."
My Lessons and Applications: A Psalm and Proverb that Speak to Job's Agony - 1) Psalm 97:10-12 - "You who love the LORD, hate evil! He preserves the souls of His saints; He delivers them out of the hand of the wicked. Light is sown for the righteous, and gladness for the upright in heart. Rejoice in the LORD, you righteous, and give thanks at the remembrance of His holy name." Note that the saints may be allowed into the hands of the wicked, since He delivers them out of their hands. God has allowed the testing of Job to prove to Satan that there is a righteous man. God will restore and revive Job. The psalm says that God will preserve the souls of His saints - not necessarily our temporal lives. The tables have been turned on Job, but they will turn yet again in his favor. 2) Proverbs 23:15-16"My son, if your heart is wise, my heart will rejoice - indeed, I myself; Yes, my inmost being will rejoice when your lips speak right things." God will address Job's speech and his (and our) finite knowledge. 3) As Job analyzes his situation to try to see where he went wrong, he hits on truth and untruth. Yes, God is behind his tragedy in that He allowed Satan to torment Job. But God does not hate Job - just the opposite. Every time I read this book I cannot wait until God finally speaks and the friends cease their foolish counsel. I want to hear God speak directly with Job and watch Job's response because that is exactly where I long to be so often in life. There are no answers for me with earthly counselors. I am God's and Job is God's, and only God can give him - and me - the answers that will soothe our souls. Am I listening to God or to the world? Do I recognize and remember that there is a spiritual realm that impacts this natural realm, and that only God can speak to my heart about that?
Unity and Division / Wisdom and Foolishness / Chosen and Called - 1 Corinthians 1 - In this letter to the church at Corinth, Paul...pleads with...true believers (professing vs. possessing) to "be in unity...joined together...of the same mind...in the same judgment...speak the same thing...that there be no divisions...no contentions among you." Paul reminds the Corinthians that..."God has made foolish the wisdom of the world...through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe...for...the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God." The apostle reminds the believers that even their faith is a result of God's calling...of God's choosing them. "but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God"..."for you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty...the things which are despised God has chosen...that...no flesh should glory in His presence."
My Lessons and Applications - It is the Holy Spirit that binds true believers together in unity. (see Spurgeon's quote related to this at the bottom of yesterday's post, "A Call for Unity but Not at the Expense of the Gospel") Dissension and strife enter when satanic attacks, self-interest, or hidden agendas are leading instead of the Holy Spirit. When I am uncomfortable in a church setting, am I laying this before God to search my heart for any wickedness (Psalm 139:23) or to give me discernment for what lies behind the disunity? Am I seeking God's leading in how I should act upon the discernment He has given me? How do I react to the world's mockery and ridicule of the gospel, of my belief in Jesus Christ? The world's wisdom is constantly bombarding my mind. Is God's wisdom? Am I devoting enough time to study, meditation, and application of His Word, to time alone with Him in prayer, to a close moment-by-moment walk led by Him to counteract the wisdom of the world that is contrary to God's wisdom? Am I willing and able to say no to worldly success that comes by the rejection of God's Word? Do I remember in humility that even my faith is a gift of God, not something I earned because of my good works? How are our lives impacted by this knowledge that we as believers are called, chosen, by Almighty God through Jesus Christ - not because of any merit of our own but because He loves us? Do our lives glorify God only?
The call of God is of the nature of the One Who calls. The call is the expression of the nature from which it comes and we can only record the call if the same nature is in us. To be brought into the zone of the call of God to to be profoundly altered. Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest
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