A Study in Job part five

 

So the supernatural Book of Job is entirely in keeping with the rest of the supernatural Word of God. Like many other strange instances in Holy Scripture, the four men coming to Job with the exact same account may be hard to swallow, but gnat-straining thoughts of doubt will only keep us from the comforting truths of Holy Scripture. It is a freeing thing to be able to let go of doubt and rest in knowledge-based trust. It’s like a man who has never flown in a plane, letting go of his natural reasoning. He could sit in his seat indignantly mumbling that it is impossible for human beings to fly at 35,000 feet in the air in a massive steal can with wings, at 500 miles per hour. Then again, he may say that it’s a reality that he can’t deny and relax, or he can reason a little and consider how gravity can be superseded by the law of aerodynamics, and a steal can, can be airtight and filled with renewable air to keep human beings alive at that height. So you and I can rest in the fact that all of us that believe in a Creator of creation believe in the supernatural, or we can have a knowledge-based trust that works things out a little by realizing that God has deliberately placed strange and hard-to-believe instances in the Scriptures, to humble the proud. All who trust that the Bible is the Word of God are forced to humble themselves and become as a little child, much to the scorn of a proud and godless world. But that is the way of salvation. The door has been made low to exclude those who are wise in their own conceits. God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble.

So how did Job handle the fourfold and terrible news? He didn’t hold his fist to the heavens and accuse God of some sort of wrong. The man tore his robe, shaved his head and fell onto the ground and worshipped God. He was a godly man and he therefore knew that He is the giver of life, and ultimately He’s the One that takes it away. That was his fortification. Every blessing and every good gift comes from above.

But this isn’t how the ungodly think. God isn’t in their thoughts (see Psalm 10:4). Millions don’t attribute the blessings of loved ones, food, light, the seasons, color, beauty, fruits, eyesight, hearing and their own lives to God. They think that they are the mere product of change. There was a big bang, and there you have it, we are here. No one is to be thanked for anything. Others believe in the existence of God, but never even think to bow their heads in prayer and thank Him for His amazing kindness. Even though their very ability to breathe comes from their Creator, if you ask what God has done for them, they will shake their heads and say, “I can’t think of anything.” I know because I have asked many people that question. I also know because I was once in darkness, alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that was in me because of the blindness of my heart.

Continued Monday...