God's whispers

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Job 24-28; Psalm 141

TO CHEW ON: "Indeed these are the mere edges of His ways,
And how small a whisper we hear of Him!
But the thunder of His power who can understand?" Job 26:14

Job did not struggle with the fact of God's existence. He found evidence of God wherever he looked, and credits Him with the massive brush strokes of creation (for a man in physical distress, he sure hadn't lost his knack for poetry!):

"He hangs the earth on nothing
He binds up the water in His thick clouds,
Yet the clouds are not broken under it
He drew a circular horizon on the face of the waters
At the boundary of light and darkness..." Job 26:7-10

And these things, Job says, are just the 'edges of His ways,' a mere whisper of what He is really like.

I wonder if, in that mention of God's whisper, there isn't a hint too of Job's longing to hear God's voice more clearly? He seems to be saying, evidences of God's power are everywhere but does He see me? Is He aware of what's going on in my life? Couldn't He speak to me more loudly about why these things are happening?

I have felt this way. Perhaps you have too. That's why I'm glad that the Bible also contains passages that reassure us of God's detailed knowledge of us. Psalm 139 is one. If you're feeling abandoned or ignored by God as Job was so often during his illness, let the words of David reassure you:

"O Lord, You have searched me and known me.
You know my sitting down and my rising up.
You understand my thought afar off.
You comprehend my path and my lying down,
And are acquainted with all my ways..." Read all of Psalm 139:1-24.


PRAYER: Dear God, thank You for seeing me completely down to my thoughts, always and everywhere, and that Your eyes are eyes of love. Amen.

PSALM TO PRAY: Psalm 141

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Living with questions

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Job 37:1-24

TO CHEW ON: "God thunders marvelously with His voice;
He does great things which we cannot comprehend." Job 37:5

After Job's three elderly friends are done speaking, a younger man, Elihu, joins the conversation (Job 32-37). Our reading today is the end of Elihu's final speech. His argument (quoting from my Bible's Introduction to Job) is:

"... God is greater than any human being; therefore a person has no right or authority to require an explanation of Him. He argues that some things that God does are humanly incomprehensible. At the same time, Elihu suggests that God will speak if we will listen. His emphasis is on the attitude of the sufferer, that is, an attitude of humility allows God to intervene .... Elihu's appeal to Job is: 1] to have faith in God Himself rather than demand an explanation; 2] to change his attitude to one of humility" Charles E. Blair, Introduction to Job, New Spirit-Filled Life Bible, p. 645.

In our reading, Elihu refers to the mysteries of nature—the grandeur of thunder and lightning, the cycling of rain and snow, the capriciousness of clouds, the instinctive wisdom of animals in response to seasonal changes.

What strikes me about several of these speeches is how closely Job and his friends observe nature and the seasons. They attribute its enigmas and splendours to the mind and intention of God. In today's chapter Elihu describes them in glowing terms: "thunders marvelously .... great things .... wondrous works of God .... awesome majesty .... He is excellent in power."

So much of what they say still expresses our awe of these things.

But what about when nature does more than put on a show for us while we're watching from the safety of our homes? Because when hurricanes and tornadoes bring devastation and floods, when lightning sparks wildfires burning homes along with vast tracts of forest or grass, when earthquakes destroy communities forever we, along with Elihu, are also puzzled:

"He does great things which we cannot comprehend...

"He causes it to come
Whether for correction
Or for His land
Or for mercy" - Job 37:5,13.

Are there any answers to the theological and existential questions Job and his friends have been grappling with? Our consecutive readings in Job end here, but the Bible account continues with God's reply to Job (and his four friends) in Job 38:1-41:34. It's an answer well worth reading for our own lives.

PRAYER: Dear God, I find it uncomfortable to live with questions. Help me to wait for Your answers and to recognize them when they come. Amen.

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Don't stop at reasoning

Jesus teaching at the temple - Artist unknown

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Luke 20:1-18

TO CHEW ON: "And they reasoned among themselves saying, 'If we  say, "From heaven," He will say, "Why then did you not believe Him?" But if we say, "From men," all the people will stone us, for they are persuaded that John was a prophet.'" Luke 20:5,6

These chief priests, scribes and elders had the mindset of the conniving politician down pat. Their reasoning showed that they were more concerned with the impression they were making on observers than about facing the answer of their own hearts.

Jesus' claims often pulled out of His hearers such a reasoning response. For example, after He said to the paralytic (whose friends lowered him to Jesus through a roof), "Your sins are forgiven," the scribes "reasoned" in their hearts that He had made a blasphemous statement (Mark 2:6-12).

When He talked about being the bread of life, the Jews "quarrelled" with His claim (John 6:52).

Though such back-and-forth conversations in a reasoning, what-might-appear-to-us-as-argumentative style was the manner of Jewish teachers, Jesus never left the discussion on the theoretical plane. He inevitably pushed for a decision and  a commitment.

In our reading today, Jesus refused to answer the leaders' insincere question (Luke 20:2,8).

After forgiving the paralytic's sins, Jesus healed him physically, challenging the onlookers' assumptions that He was an ordinary man.

After hearing the objections to His claims of being the bread of life, Jesus challenged the Jews to eat His flesh and drink His blood (a metaphorical allusion to the Last Supper and His death) - John 6:53-58.

Another time, when Jesus heard the wise answer of a scribe to His question, "Which is the greatest commandment?" He concluded, "You are not far from the Kingdom of God"  Mark 12:34) (the implication being, 'Why don't you just take that  last step and enter it?').

Paul does a good job of summing up the tension between reasoning and going farther.

"Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For since in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe" - 1 Corinthians 1:20,21 (emphasis added).

It's fine for us to discuss and reason. But at the end of the day we need to take that step of admitting who He really is and, in the perfect reasonableness of believing conviction, surrender to Him the lordship of our lives.

PRAYER: Dear God, there is in our age more than ever the tendency to reason away Your claims. Help me to go beyond playing with words and ideas, and to commit myself to You in action-changing belief. Amen.

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New King James Version (NKJV) Used with permission. The Holy Bible, New King James Version Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.

Why?

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Habakkuk 1:1-2:4


TO CHEW ON: "Why do you show me iniquity, and cause me to see trouble?

....Why do you look on those who deal treacherously and hold Your tongue when the wicked devours a person more righteous than he?

Why do you make men like fish of the sea, like creeping things that have no ruler over them?" Habakkuk 1:3, 13, 14

The prophet Habakkuk lived during a critical period in Judah's history. Josiah's reforms had eroded so that Judah's citizens were now vulnerable to violence and oppression with little hope of help from a just legal system.The nation was also threatened from outside as Egypt and rising Babylon lusted after her. (Scholars date Habakkuk at about 600 B.C., the interval between the fall of Nineveh in 612 and the fall of Jerusalem in 586 B.C.)

As Habakkuk (who may have been a Levite or temple worker) views the state of his country and the world, all he has is questions. Why, God? Why this violence (to which God's reply, 'You haven't seen anything yet!' seems hardly satisfactory: Habakkuk 1:5-11)? Why, if You're so pure and just, do You allow the treachery I see all around me? Why do you allow the wicked person to triumph over the righteous one? Why do you allow men who act as brutish as animals, flourish in their mistreatment of others?

Who of us hasn't asked questions about the things we see around us?
- Why does God allow nation-crippling natural disasters?
- Why do some people seem to get all the bad breaks?
- Why do babies and children have to suffer with birth malformations and sickness?
- Why am I sick?
- Why can't my husband find a job?

And on and on...

My Bible's introduction to Habakkuk makes this observation about the book and how it relates to us:

"Habakkuk reminds us that the question "Why?" can, should and must be asked. His circumstances demanded that he ask God about the apparent reign of unrighteousness around him. Because he believed in God, he believed that God had an answer to his problem. His questions demonstrated the presence of faith, not the lack of it. For an atheist the question, "Why?" has no meaning; for a believer the question "Why?" finds its ultimate answer in God." - New Spirit-Filled Life Bible, p. 1223.

So, as Habakkuk did, let's bring our hard questions to God.


PRAYER: Dear God, help me to be honest with you, acknowledging when I am confused and frustrated. Thank You for inviting my questions. Help me to hear and understand Your answers. Amen.


MORE: Sing your questions and answers

A genre of music — Negro Spirituals — came out of the questions and dark times of the African slaves brought to America to work for white masters on plantations or in town. An article about the history of this music says:

"The lyrics of negro spirituals were tightly linked with the lives of their authors: slaves. While work songs dealt only with their daily life, spirituals were inspired by the message of Jesus Christ and his Good News (Gospel) of the Bible, “You can be saved”. They are different from hymns and psalms, because they were a way of sharing the hard condition of being a slave." (Read entire...)

Find out more about Negro Spirituals.

Negro Spirituals - what the music meant to the people who sang the songs.



Acapella Spirituals - "Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen"