Day 3- The response.

Day 3.

Tragedy or Triumph –it all requires a unique response.

Job 42:1-6

Job answered God: 2 “I’m convinced: You can do anything and everything.
Nothing and no one can upset your plans. 3 You asked, ‘Who is this muddying the water,
ignorantly confusing the issue, second-guessing my purposes?’
I admit it. I was the one. I babbled on about things far beyond me,
made small talk about wonders way over my head. 4 You told me, ‘Listen, and let me do the talking.
Let me ask the questions. You give the answers.’ 5 I admit I once lived by rumors of you;
now I have it all firsthand—from my own eyes and ears! 6 I’m sorry—forgive me. I’ll never do that again, I promise! I’ll never again live on crusts of hearsay, crumbs of rumor.”

Question 1- What does this passage say?

This is the last chapter in the book of Job. At this point…Job gets it. He sees that he should not have listened to everyone in his life telling him how sinful he must be and how God must have taken his hand off of his life.

This is the restoration point after going through personal tragedy after personal tragedy. Job admits that he has spoken unwisely. He  sees that he has made assumptions about the heart of God and it has gotten him nowhere.

Job is apologizing and asking God to forgive the unbelief in his heart. God hears him and restores his life…to even better than before.

Question 2 -What does this passage mean?

The biggest nugget of wisdom is that suffering should cause us to increase our faith…not to rebel against God or to think that we know better than God. While it is ok for us to wonder what God is doing through the tragedy’s we face in our lives…its not ok for us to assume.

Gods ways are not our ways.

Even though the previous passages were not what I am chewing on today, in chapter 40: 8-14 God actually tells Job: “If you think you can do this better than I can, come and try it.” [I wonder how many times God has thought that about me?…ouch.]

Question 3 -What does this passage mean to me?

One of the areas I have struggled with in the past is –thinking to much of what others think of me. I’ve been desperate for assurance, confirmation and hope from others. In hard situations sometimes all I want is for someone to say, “You are going to get through this.”

But often I have solicited advice and wisdom from others when God just needs me to come to Him.

Even our greatest friends [with the purest motives] can sometimes make assumptions of what God is doing in our lives. I believe we are never to assume that we KNOW what God is doing. We as humans will always tend to missmanage our time, resources and the tasks that God puts in our lives.

But God never mismanages the way He runs the universe.

I’m so thankful that I’m starting to grow in this area. But it hasn’t come without a season of being somewhat lonely. I have a handful of friends that I could come to with a serious issue…but over the past year or so, God has seemed to allow many seasons of friendships to change. And I think [not assuming…just guessing] that I’ve needed it.

There have been some personal areas that I have been walking through that its not healthy to talk about with friends. It’s Gods business…not even mine. So who I am to run my mouth about the frustations that I feel God placed in my life? [I’m just being honest…told you, you may not like me to much after this journey]

And not just the frustrations…but the triumphs. Sometimes I just think God wants us to keep our mouths shut. My entire circle of influence doesn’t need to know every frustration I have or every triumph I have. This is where I struggle with our social media outlets [facebook, twitter, blogs…].

How much is too much to share?

Do we realize that what we share could cause other people to stumble?

How do we bring back the sacred places of our relationships with God?

These are the questions I’m posing in my heart today.

This much I know…my response is never to assume that I know and understand what God is doing. I love how Job humbled himself so deeply before God and apologized for his assumptions.

This is a unique response to God. And since I’m all about being Unlikely…I think this is the place I need to start today.