But principled people hold tight, keep a firm grip on life, sure that their clean, pure hands will get stronger and stronger! (17:9)I agree with Job's assessment and description of principled people here - because I've been one and because I've encountered many! In fact, in my early adulthood I really thought that principled living was what the Christian life was all about. It's logical, makes sense, and seems to be an equation that works. Do the right thing = get God's blessing. Live by the right rules = a balanced life. It all sounds so appealing and so in my control: right living, rules, blueprints, doing the basics. Thankfully, God in His mercy hasn't allowed me to remain in that way of thinking. Although it's still seems a lot nicer, neater way to live and it's where my heart naturally goes.
Here's how the "miserable comforters," Bildad and Zophar, described their way of principled living:
Bildad from Shuhah chimed in: ..."Here's the rule: The light of the wicked is put out. Their flame dies down and is extinguished. Their house goes dark - every lamp in the place goes out....They'll never again be remembered - nameless in unmarked graves. They are plunged from light into darkness, banished from the world....So this is what happens to perverse people. This is how the God-ignorant end up!" (18:1, 5-21)My limited vocabulary just screams out - Really?!? How many wicked do you know that actually live quite the opposite of this description? Their homes are well-lit and beautiful not dark and extinguished; their names are broadcast and lifted high not nameless in unmarked graves; they are exalted in the world not banished. In fact, Asaph had a much more accurate description of the wicked:
I was looking the other way, looking up to the people at the top, envying the wicked who have it made, who have nothing to worry about, not a care in the whole wide world. Pretentious with arrogance...pampered and overfed, decked out in silk bows of silliness. They jeer, using words to kill; they bully their way with words. They're full of hot air, loudmouths disturbing the peace. People actually listen to them - can you believe it? Like thirsty puppies, they lap up their words. (Psalm 73:6-10).Then there's Zophar who describes "God's blueprint for the wicked" (20:29). His implication is that if you live the opposite way of the wicked (the right way), then you won't experience the disgust of acquaintances or being forgotten or a short life:
Don't you even know the basics...The good times of the wicked are short-lived; godless joy is only momentary. The evil might become world famous, strutting at the head of the celebrity parade, but still end up in a pile of dung. Acquaintances look at them with disgust and say, 'What's that?' They fly off like a dream that can't be remembered, like a shadowy illusion that vanishes in the light. ...Right in the prime of life, and youthful and vigorous they'll die. (20:4-11)Sigh. We'll hear Job's response to this nonsense tomorrow. For now, Eugene Peterson sheds some light:
"On behalf of all of us who have been misled by the platitudes of the nice people who show up to tell us everything is going to be just all right if we simply think such-and-such and do such-and-such, Job issues an anguished rejoinder. He rejects the kind of advice and teaching that has God all figured out, that provides glib explanations for every circumstance. Job's honest defiance continues to be the best defense against the cliches of positive thinkers and the prattle of religious small talk.
The honest, innocent Job is placed in a setting of immense suffering and then surrounded by the conventional religious wisdom of the day in the form of speeches by Eliphaz, Bildad, Zophar, and Elihu. The contrast is unforgettable. The counselors methodically and pedantically recite their bookish precepts to Job. At first Job rages in pain and roars out his protests, but then he becomes silent in awestruck faith before God, who speaks from out of a storm - a "whirlwind" of Deity. Real faith cannot be reduced to spiritual bromides and merchandised in success stories. It is refined in the fires and the storms of pain." (Peterson, Intro. to Job)
2 comments:
Doesn't it seem that life would be so much easier if it was a set of rules?!? I am one of those people who just wants to know how to "do it right" and then I'll do it that way. I do want to reduce everything to a rule or a process.
"For Bildad, the problem of suffering was reduced to a simple cause-effect sequence: Sin is the cause; suffering is the effect. Consequently, he interpreted Job's lament as a clumsy attempt to divert attention from what was obviously wrong with his life. Bildad's theology was one of rules to be obeyed rather than a relationship to be enjoyed." Eugene Peterson, Conversations
I guess I'm Bildad, huh? I'm still trying to get my brain around this book of Job. In some ways, I feel very confused and off-kilter, but I haven't had much time to really sit and process it. This is VBS week, and things are crazy.
BTW, have we finally lost everyone in Job?? Where'd the rest of you go?? I'm starting to feel like Staci and I are just writing to each other. :-) Seriously, I miss you!
If you're behind in reading, jump back in where we are. (You're not going really going to catch up. You know that, don't you?)) And if you just don't know what to say about Job, believe me, I totally understand!
Okay, I'll quit rambling.
When I read and think about Job's friends, and then CiCi and Staci, when I read your posts and think about my own situation, in many ways, I think my friends have been better to me than I have to myself. I think I've believed a lot of the same lies the enemy spoke to Job through his friends. I guess that's why I wanted to post in the first place, to say say a BIG THANK YOU to both of you and to let you know how much your time and effort in reading and thinking and praying and reflecting through your posts means to me. I really want to encourage you both to keep going, to not "grow weary in well-doing" because you are really providing a profound ministry to those of us who are here on the other side of your screens.
Through circumstances of the last several years, I think I am finally beginning to see what the Lord has had in mind all along for this health issue as well as other things that seem to be points of suffering for me. Maybe it's kind of like being the leaders of this blog, especially through the book of Job. I think in many ways, you are both verbalizing for us all the whole purpose for the book of Job, guiding us through the journey of suffering that comes with the process of counting the cost of truly following Christ and worshipping God, no matter what.
So if I may offer this challenge ---Please, don't let our silence keep you from pressing forward. I know you are sacrificing time you could be dong other things, energy some days you frankly don't feel you have to spare, and efforts to keep up with this blog day in and day out. You probably wrestle many days to stay emotionally connected and remain vulnerable and open to what the Lord is revealing in your life and what He is wanting to say through you. I say "Keep going." You're amazing. I soooo apreciate you. And I know the Lord is greatly pleased!
As for the rest of us participating, If things are for you, like they are for me, it's really hard to even know where to begin to respond. We just need to be willing to jump in and dive in and share some too. More and more I know the Lord is showing me, we need each other! I know I need ou. I think too He has a place for me in your live too.
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