Good Question!

On Sunday mornings we are exploring the world of disorientation - those times where God is conspicuous by his absence and we have spent the last couple weeks on Job. What an interesting book and oh the questions that are brought to the surface! Some of life's toughest questions (and their baffling answers) are found within its confines and yet we often leave the book having most of our questions unanswered. We don't know why good people suffer. We don't know if the conversation between God and Satan can be applied to all circumstances of suffering. We don't know how bold we are to be before God because we find in Job a brashness way too uncomfortable for people today. Is God's answer to Job (can you imagine God actually answering someone's complaint?) in chapter 38ff really the answer to our lofty questions of theodicy - " I'm God. You're not. So shut up." (very loose translation :) ) All of these and more are asked of Job but in my opinion are secondary to the more important question asked by Satan - "Does Job fear God for nothing?" GREAT QUESTION!! Way to go Satan! (I did feel quite weird typing that last statement) He went straight to the heart of the matter and removed all doubt as to what he thought Job was in it for. He was convinced that Job's relationship with God was only as deep as his pockets. And then the rest of the book...

Though he had the right question, thank God he had the wrong answer. Why do I serve God? What do I expect from this relationship that I am involved? What are my "rights" (to steal a term from our political scene) before God and what am I entitled to before the great I AM? The typical answer that I hear from people and pulpits around the nation is that we serve/love God because he sent his Son to earth to die for our sins so we could live with him for eternal life. Valid argument. However, a subtle and sometimes sinister assumption rests in the middle of this statement. We serve God primarily because of what God does for us, not who God is! I realize that sending Jesus was an expression of God's character but we don't answer that way nor do we often live that way. If God had not sent Jesus yet, we would not serve Him as the people of Israel did for so many years? For Job, the blessing of Jesus was not yet available. He was faced with the test(s) of his life and had to choose why he served God. For Job the answer was "Naked I came into this world and naked I will depart. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away - May the name of the LORD be praised." God's actions - good or bad - were in no way tied to Job giving him praise for being the GREAT I AM. Yahweh wasn't Job's genie or his Santa Claus or his divine ATM. He is/was worthy simply because he was/is... GOD!

When I look at my life and I look at Christianity in the world - especially in the USA - I see the consumer-driven "what have you done for me lately?" mentality that would not think of praising a God that killed (allowed...whatever) their family, took away their money and reputation, and took away their health. A God that did that would get kicked to the curb in second! Satan was wrong about Job. However, when looks at Kyle or _____ or America, is he right? I don't know but if I'm honest, I'm at least a little scared! Is HE worth it?

Thank God for Job!!