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Do you Love Me Enough to Fight?

Readings:

Job 10

Job 11

Job 12

Job 13

Excuse my harsh words,  but all of this “happy wife,  happy life” stuff is crap and lies. If a spouse of either gender needs to cower and placate and dance around the other one,  that is NOT happy, healthy, or sustainable.

When most people date,  they try to project a better image of what they think the other person wants than they actually are — this is because there is no relationship,  there is no commitment, there is no covenant yet. Even in the honeymoon phase, unless abuse is part of the picture,  people will rarely get as “real” with their spouse about their true frustrations as Job does here with God. It takes going through some battles together in a relationship before we know that we can be “real” and know they won’t either walk away or respond with abuse.
I see how Job talks with God and it doesn’t strike fear in me on his behalf like it used to when I read these passages years ago. Now, it stirs a respect for the relationship that He and God clearly have. Now God still has to respond to Job’s challenging words, no doubt. But it reminds me of how my wife and I can have arguments, or pick at each other, or even blow off steam — all the time loving each other, committed to each other,  and frustrated all at the same time.

Real relationships have depth and are so entangled with everything around us both that the words we are saying aren’t even just about “this thing” — but involve every argument we’ve had in the past, every set moment we’ve had, how our day has been, how much time we’ve spent together getting on each other’s nerves, and how much time we’ve been apart missing each other. All of these things are a part of our conversations that someone standing nearby can’t see, hear or experience themselves — but that we are both very intimately aware of when we’re being “real” with each other.

And it’s the same with God. He doesn’t need us repeating some words over our food to check the box of speaking at him today. He’s ready for us to grow closer and closer in relationship with Him so that in the good times and in the bad,  we are in it together. And He isn’t going anywhere when we say out loud the truth about our doubts,  our fears, our frustrations,  our anger,  etc. He already knows what’s in our hearts and what we are going to say before we even think it! So why do we hide behind our proverbial fig leaves instead of running back into His open arms?

Do we love and trust Him enough to wrestle — like all intimate, close relationships do?

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How different holiness “looks” than we might expect

Readings:

Genesis 11

Genesis 12

Genesis 13

Matthew 5

Psalms 5

Man, how many things we take for granted these days. Imagine a world so corrupt that a faithful and righteous man who walks with God chooses to offer up his wife to a ruler as if she is his sister so that he would not be killed — and God, knowing Abram’s heart and the whole situation brings curses onto the rulers house and blessings through this wickedness onto Abram and his wife. In a world where laws and attempts at justice for all are at least the appearance that most people and nations want to project — this story can seem confusing and uncomfortable, right?

But imagine how much closer our sin is to what Abram did here — in fact, how much closer our best acts are to what Abram did here — than they are to the holiness of God. In fact, our best works are filthy rags. We can easily be distracted if we’re looking for Abram, ourselves, or anyone else to be the hero figure in these stories. No, we are all fallen, we have all fallen short, we are all in great need of Christ.

And, I love the “don’t go to the altar of you have unsettled problems with someone”. Some of the most valuable missed Sunday church services or “walk outs” in the middle of a church service have been when I’ve remembered this very verse — and choose to fear God more than fearing man.

Those moments when you know that any attempts at actual prayer time in the presence of God are going to be hindered, and instead of “looking like a good church goer” you’d rather “look like a heathen but walk as the church we are called to actually be”.

It’s funny how many times doing the things that God actually calls us to do won’t earn us any honor or respect in the eyes of people around us — and it shouldn’t anyways, if it’s really Him doing work through us.

And what about those times when we are hurting and grieving so deeply that the one that we have a problem with is God — and we’re faced with the Rock that we need to fall down upon, but it feels in some way that the rock might crush us.

This path is narrow, but it’s still so much better than when I stray or when I was blind and lost. Thank you Jesus!

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The Quiet Blessings of Long Suffering and Calamity?

Readings:

Job 6

Job 7

Job 8

Job 9

I love how Job is being real with his “friends” about his suffering even in the midst of their “religious reasonings, justifications, and judgements” while he just needs someone to be a mediator on his behalf with God and a friend beside him in his suffering:

Job 6:4-5 NLT
For the Almighty has struck me down with his arrows. Their poison infects my spirit. God’s terrors are lined up against me. Don’t I have a right to complain? Don’t wild donkeys bray when they find no grass, and oxen bellow when they have no food?

I love how Job’s response starts with :

Job 9:1-2 NLT
Then Job spoke again: “Yes, I know all this is true in principle…

It’s like so many times when people are genuinely suffering or grieving and someone “tells them something about God”, quotes a scripture, or says “I’ll pray for you” yet never actually wrestles with God on their behalf over the pain their “friend” is going through.

It is in this place where Job points out what he truly needs — and unknowingly prophesies about the coming Messiah Jesus and the Holy Spirit. His great need and heart suffering cuts through any confusion or distraction and paints such a clear picture of exactly what is needed — and explains why men need a comforter, a guide and a teacher, who can pray on our behalf when we do not have words (the Holy Spirit):

Job 9:32-35 NLT
“God is not a mortal like me, so I cannot argue with him or take him to trial. If only there were a mediator between us, someone who could bring us together. The mediator could make God stop beating me, and I would no longer live in terror of his punishment. Then I could speak to him without fear, but I cannot do that in my own strength.

In this upside down Kingdom of God, it seems that deep suffering here and now in this life can be a great blessing in the grand scheme of eternity — because it cuts through the distractions and temptations to set our eyes in the only direction left (towards God).

It seems harsh and unkind if we only have eyes to see and consider the worthless things of this life (that will all eventually waste away) or we love our own lives (not realizing that our whole life is just a speck and blink of the eye in comparison to all of history and eternity).

So whether it is long suffering where our only option is to cry out to God (because no one else can help us) — or whether it is that moment of calamity (where we are definitely facing the possibility of our own destruction and our body and mind jump into high gear — where time seems to slow so much that we are in that quiet place with no distractions for possibly the last time) — will we turn to God in that moment and be real about our heart?