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The story of Job has always intrigued me for a variety of reasons. Here he was, the man that God himself was impressed with. “Have you seen my friend Job?” It almost sounds as though God himself were boasting. “Look around. Try to find anyone that is more stable, more blameless than he is! Try to find someone. I dare you!”
Apparently, God had reason to boast (If God boasted). Job had it all together. He was the poster child for spiritual living. Job had it all. A great church, a great family, well behaved kids and although Scripture says little about her, I’m guessing his wife was a knock-out.
If Job were alive today he could probably have whatever he wanted. The evangelicals would flock to him as the one who could do away with all the social ills. Those on the other side would have to admit he was a class act. Besides, he had money, and money always speaks loud and clear.
Try looking at Job from a human perspective. Look at his story without the advantage we have of the backstage drama between God and Satan. At the peak of his career Job suffers the trifecta of disasters. Economically he loses all his livestock. In his day, livestock = $$. Secondly, he loses everything relationally. The one thing every man hopes for is to leave a heritage behind him. Job lost any hope of passing on his good name that day when, due to natural disaster, every one of his children was killed. But, he still had his health, right? A man can suffer lots of adversity if he’s healthy. Not so fast. Job loses his health too.
So here he is, this man of greatness wallowing in a burnt out campfire scraping his sores with a dirty, broken piece of an old dish.
Enter the church…well, maybe not exactly the church, but close. Three of Jobs ‘closest friends’ come to hold an intervention. Perhaps Job’s demise was casting a dark shadow on their ministry. Give them the benefit of a doubt. Maybe they were there with good intentions. Whatever their motives, the men all had the same message for Job. The message was worded differently, and arguments were made rationally, from our perspective. The bottom line to these ‘friends of Job’ was that adversity comes as a result of sin. Job suffered adversity. Therefore Job sinned.
It’s a simple equation that has been handed down through the centuries. Sin = adversity. Spirituality = Blessing. We have to explain things. We have to give reasons for those times when our Theology about a God of Love falls short. We all have the tendency to explain those times when ‘good people’ suffer and ‘bad people’ are victorious.
Eventually, Job had his wealth and position restored, and a new family to carry on his good name. But Job learned a valuable lesson that each of us needs to learn and I have to admit I’m not good at this yet. That lesson is this. God is God. He is sovereign in all he does.
While I’m not advocating that when trials come we need to don the sackcloth and grab the nearest broken plate on our way to the burnt-out campfire, each of us needs to take the time, during the tough times, to stop and evaluate what got us here. Sometimes it is our sin. Sometimes it’s the sin of others. Sometimes we won’t know.
I appreciate the fact that Job questioned God. He didn’t question YAHWEH’s existence. He evaluated himself and could find no sin. But he shows each of us a couple valuable lessons.
First, God is God and is of another world. We have no idea of the future. We have no idea what is going on in the spiritual realm involving our lives. It takes faith, but each of us must look first to see if there is sin that needs to be dealt with. If so, deal with it. Ask repentance and work towards a cure with the help of the Holy Spirit. If not, faithfully trust that God will eventually make His way plain. It may not be until heaven, but He will reveal Himself.
Secondly, it’s okay to question God, to ask for answers. To share frustrations. To cry. Our Heavenly Father isn’t an emotionally weak old man that can’t handle adversity or argument. He’s a loving, understanding Heavenly Father that only has our best in mind, and He knows better than us what is best for us.
Lastly, stay true to yourself. There are many people out there that will tell you exactly why you are going through this trial and what you need to do to get out of it. Before you jump on some ‘quick cure’ bandwagon spend some time with the Master. Then listen with a Godly wisdom to that others say.
(From ‘Sifted as Wheat’)
Any of us involved in ministry and/or public speaking are well aware that no matter how well prepared we are for ‘ministry’, God can have other plans. Sometimes those plans remind us that it really isn’t about us, or our material. It’s about people and relationships.
I had the privilege of ministering at LIFE 24/7 again on Saturday night. Shortly into the service I became aware that the real ministry that night was not going to be the material prepared by Mike Fisk. The real ministry was going to be done by the Holy Spirit of God working through a bunch of ex-cons trying to make a new start in life.
LIFE 24/7, formerly Discipleship House, is a recovery home for men who are overcoming a variety of addictions and either just coming out of prison or landed at LIFE 24/7 instead of going to prison. Either way, these are guys who know the rough side of life and are all about second chances.
I recently listened to the testimonies of a few of these guys and was amazed at the stories of broken relationships, violence and dysfunctional families these guys had come from. These are guys that are living proof that Jesus Christ changes lives and that second chances are a normal part of his working in men.
Tonight’s service was led by Dillon. Dillon has a passion for Jesus and a desire to learn everything he can about the Bible, the Christian faith and how to help others change their lives. He has a passion for God and compassion for people. This was his first time leading the service. He was the fledgling Pastor Randy chose to be pushed out of his comfort zone and into the limelight. He handled it well and I now refer to him as ‘Pastor Dillon’. While he isn’t real comfortable in the position, he has something every minister needs to have in order to be effective. Dillon has passion, and passion beats technique every time.
After our time of Praise and Worship, and before I was to speak on how each of us can live ‘Grace-fully in God’s Silence’, Dillon asked Adah to come forward. He’d told me this was going to happen earlier, so I was expecting it. Adah was going to leave her position of ‘house mom’ at LIFE 24/7. What Dillon didn’t tell me (and he couldn’t know) was how emotional the ‘good byes’ would be.
One by one, each of the eleven guys thanked Adah for being the inspiration all of them needed to believe in themselves. For one man, Adah was the ‘mom I never had’. Another shared that his grandmother had died recently, and Adah was his ‘adopted’ grandma. Still another said thank you to Adah for ‘saving his nephew’s life’. I watched these guys say thank you one by one and there wasn’t a one of them that had a dry eye.
It was a stirring reminder that the real change in lives comes from the people in the background, doing the mundane things in life. We speakers/teachers/ pastors get the ‘upfront’ attention, but life change comes after the curtain falls.
So there I was all ready to speak about how God can seem silent and far away. But before I could get up to share that message, we’d all heard our Heavenly Father loud and clear, and through the life of his faithful servant, Adah, we’d seen His face.
Thanks to the guys of LIFE 24/7 and Adah for your ministry to me on Saturday night. I can’t wait to join with you once again!
When you think about it, Grace really isn’t fair. Here we are, a bunch of stubborn, rebellious humans intent on our own way and demanding that the Creator God of the universe meet our every need.
We are His finest creation, the masterpiece of all that is. We were originally created in His image so that we could be in relationship with him. There are two things that strong loving relationships are defined by. First of all, strong, loving relationships offer both parties complete and total freedom. I Corinthians 13 is often referred to as the love chapter. Here, love is described as trusting, patient, enduring, selfless. THAT is freedom. Freedom to be everything we were created to be.
A second defining characteristic of a strong loving relationship is that both parties benefit from the situation. If there is not mutual benefit with the parties involved, then, in reality, relationship does not exist. Rather, such a situation is better referred to as an arrangement. One party is the beneficiary of warm fuzzies, the other is simply a provider of warm fuzziness.
A common acrostic to define Grace is God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense. Theologically, this is very true. Grace is God’s unlimited gift to all who will accept it. He holds nothing back regardless of what anyone has done.
While this definition is certainly true, I’m not sure it tells the whole story from God’s point of view. Every day I’m thankful for the fact that God has extended his grace towards me. Like Paul I find myself failing to obey on a daily basis. The Apostle’s frustration as expressed in Romans 7 is a testimony to my own existence. I find myself at war with my old self. I don’t do what I know I should and do what I know I shouldn’t. I fight a losing battle.
While I am more than willing to accept God’s grace towards me, it’s not always easy for me to extend that grace towards others. In fact, to be honest, there are some people that I just flat out don’t want to extend grace to, and to be brutally honest, I don’t want God to extend grace to either. Before you crucify me for that, take a close look at yourself. Remember that guy that cut you off last week? How about the incompetent server at the last restaurant you were at? How many times MUST you forgive the son/daughter that refuses to clean their room, do their homework, mow the lawn, etc. etc.
It was during one of these ‘grace-less’ moments that I came up with my own definition of Grace. For me, Grace is defined as, “It is an emotional decision made by a rational being to grant undeserved and unlimited rewards to someone who has no ability to repay.”
Grace, is an emotional decision. God loves me. That is emotion. His decision was well thought out. He knows I’ll fail He knows I’ll rebel and go my own way. Having thought all this out, He made the decision, not only to love me, but to give me all the blessings in his arsenal, knowing full-well that I could not return the favor.
While this definition may not be inspired, it’s helped me to gain a new appreciation for the love my Heavenly Father has for me.
Mike Fisk & Built with Grace 