Sometimes when I'm praying I wonder if I'm bordering on disrespect by asking Him questions, by demanding answers, by asking Him why, by questioning His reasons/timing/purposes. And sometimes when I'm having a conversation with other people, they convince me of it. They say things like "Who are you to question God?", and "Be careful! Don't be disrespectful in your questions." and "God isn't required to answer to you." and other things that convince me I must be a terrible person to verbalize the questions in my head.
The funny thing is: I know that the things I face are not unique to me. Therefore, the questions in my head cannot be unique to me. I'm not the first human being to question God.
And then tonight I read Job... in The Message.
Wow. Can I ever identify with him! Not, perhaps, in the specific things that went wrong in his life. But I do understand the feeling of things being stripped away from you - taken for no apparent reason. And I do have friends who have said the same things Job's friends told him - over and over and over and over again. And I do have conversations with God where I'm asking the same blunt questions, asking for - no demanding - answers to the "why", reminding God that I've tried with everything in me to live an upright life. Job even said "it's not fair!"... just like I have.
And just like me, Job had friends who were horrified at his conversations about (and to) God. Just like my friends, they told him he was being disrespectful - told him God would punish him for questioning Him.
Okay, so my friends may have been slightly more veiled about their speeches. They weren't quite so in-your-face as Job's friends were. But then... sometimes they were.
And just like me, Job grew angry. Angry at the unfairness. Angry at the accusations. Angry at the inconsistencies.
But surprisingly enough, in spite of the predictions of Job's friends, God did not grow angry with Job. On the contrary, He wasn't too pleased with Job's friends.
"After God finished addressing Job..." (Which address put Job in his place, by the way, but not in the angry and punishing way his friends had predicted. It was a response in kind to Job's blunt questions... a direct and blunt reply. Kind of like the kind He gives to me. Kind of very like the kind He gives to me.) Anyhow...
"After God had finished addressing Job, he turned to Eliphaz the Temanite and said, 'I've had it with you and your two friends. I'm fed up! You haven't been honest either with me or about me—not the way my friend Job has. So here's what you must do. Take seven bulls and seven rams, and go to my friend Job. Sacrifice a burnt offering on your own behalf. My friend Job will pray for you, and I will accept his prayer. He will ask me not to treat you as you deserve for talking nonsense about me, and for not being honest with me, as he has.'"
Did you catch that? He told Job's friends that they hadn't been honest with Him - nor about Him - not the way "my friend Job has." Amazing! Job has this blunt, confrontational, almost in-your-face conversation with God Himself, and what does God have to say about him?... "'My friend Job' was honest with me." Not only was God not going to punish Job for his questions and demands of answers, but He called Job His friend!
I guess maybe my friends were wrong. I guess maybe God can handle my questions and demands just like He did Job's. And I guess maybe He'll still call me His friend when we're done with our conversation.
The funny thing is: I know that the things I face are not unique to me. Therefore, the questions in my head cannot be unique to me. I'm not the first human being to question God.
And then tonight I read Job... in The Message.
Wow. Can I ever identify with him! Not, perhaps, in the specific things that went wrong in his life. But I do understand the feeling of things being stripped away from you - taken for no apparent reason. And I do have friends who have said the same things Job's friends told him - over and over and over and over again. And I do have conversations with God where I'm asking the same blunt questions, asking for - no demanding - answers to the "why", reminding God that I've tried with everything in me to live an upright life. Job even said "it's not fair!"... just like I have.
And just like me, Job had friends who were horrified at his conversations about (and to) God. Just like my friends, they told him he was being disrespectful - told him God would punish him for questioning Him.
Okay, so my friends may have been slightly more veiled about their speeches. They weren't quite so in-your-face as Job's friends were. But then... sometimes they were.
And just like me, Job grew angry. Angry at the unfairness. Angry at the accusations. Angry at the inconsistencies.
But surprisingly enough, in spite of the predictions of Job's friends, God did not grow angry with Job. On the contrary, He wasn't too pleased with Job's friends.
"After God finished addressing Job..." (Which address put Job in his place, by the way, but not in the angry and punishing way his friends had predicted. It was a response in kind to Job's blunt questions... a direct and blunt reply. Kind of like the kind He gives to me. Kind of very like the kind He gives to me.) Anyhow...
"After God had finished addressing Job, he turned to Eliphaz the Temanite and said, 'I've had it with you and your two friends. I'm fed up! You haven't been honest either with me or about me—not the way my friend Job has. So here's what you must do. Take seven bulls and seven rams, and go to my friend Job. Sacrifice a burnt offering on your own behalf. My friend Job will pray for you, and I will accept his prayer. He will ask me not to treat you as you deserve for talking nonsense about me, and for not being honest with me, as he has.'"
Did you catch that? He told Job's friends that they hadn't been honest with Him - nor about Him - not the way "my friend Job has." Amazing! Job has this blunt, confrontational, almost in-your-face conversation with God Himself, and what does God have to say about him?... "'My friend Job' was honest with me." Not only was God not going to punish Job for his questions and demands of answers, but He called Job His friend!
I guess maybe my friends were wrong. I guess maybe God can handle my questions and demands just like He did Job's. And I guess maybe He'll still call me His friend when we're done with our conversation.
No comments:
Post a Comment