Superstitious Faith
I was reading the book of Job again the other day and was reminded of some of the lessons we can learn from this ancient story. It seems to me, in spite of all his integrity, that Job was a bit superstitious about his faith in God. Why do I say this? Well, for one...he believed as long as he did right things and pleased God, nothing bad would happen to him. Secondly, he feared what would happen to him and his family if he didn't. Just look in the fifth verse of the first chapter... (NLT version) "He would get up early in the morning and offer a burnt offering for each of them. For Job said to himself, perhaps my children have sinned and have cursed God in their hearts..." Then, after Satan was given permission to strike Job, he says in chapter three, verse 25, "What I always feared has happened to me. What I dreaded has come true."
Job's three friends seem to have the same view of God; one example here...(4:7,8) "Stop and think! Do the innocent die? When have the upright been destroyed? My experience shows that those who plant trouble and cultivate evil will harvest the same. "
My point? Job, while maintaining his integrity, had a small view of God. We, the readers, looking in from the outside, know the whole story...we know the part Job can't see with his eyes. But I remind you that this is about the only time we ever do know everything that's going on in real life.
And don't we tend to have this same kind of superstitious faith? Our "leading of the Lord" is based almost entirely on our outside circumstances--what we see with our eyes--not on actually hearing God. If our circumstances are going well, we must be pleasing God, it must be His will...and if things aren't going well, we must be missing God or lacking faith. We believe that God will never let anything bad happen to us if...we don't sin, or say the right prayers or have the right kind of positive confession of faith? So, what happens to our faith when the "bad things" do happen? It must be that we've sinned, we confessed the wrong things? To this, I ponder again...can our God be this small?
I won't want to minimize the value of believing and faith confession... but I don't think we can put God in this "nothing bad will happen to me if..." box. Are we not treating an almighty sovereign and omnipotent God like some Mesopotamian idol we pray to...His anger to appease, or a genie's lamp we rub so our wishes always come true...all so we can get what we want? And didn't Jesus also promise tribulation in this life? (John 16:33).
But I think that God wanted Job to see something a lot more important than what's in it for you and me, and I don't believe He was engaging in some sort of cruel gamesmanship with the devil either. From my own experience, it seems that our Heavenly Father is more interested in the process than the answers. He's more interested in what we're becoming while walking through the valley. And I believe He wanted Job to see something about Himself throughout his time of testing. And my question here...do we ever really learn these kinds of things any other way? And can we really appreciate the mountaintop without going through this mysterious valley of testing?
We don't want to miss the fact that Job did indeed maintain his integrity and faith in God throughout these horrific trials. And his friends were...well...wrong. But, more importantly, Job got a bigger picture of God; a God not created in our own image, or one that can be managed and manipulated. To me, the point of the whole thing here is in Job's revelation in chapter 42, verse 5..."I had only heard about you before, but now I have seen you with my own eyes."
Oh, that we, too, would understand this about our indescribably, infinite God! His ways are past finding out! That we would go beyond our superstitions about God and grow in real faith...to really know the One we worship in spirit and in truth.
Job's three friends seem to have the same view of God; one example here...(4:7,8) "Stop and think! Do the innocent die? When have the upright been destroyed? My experience shows that those who plant trouble and cultivate evil will harvest the same. "
My point? Job, while maintaining his integrity, had a small view of God. We, the readers, looking in from the outside, know the whole story...we know the part Job can't see with his eyes. But I remind you that this is about the only time we ever do know everything that's going on in real life.
And don't we tend to have this same kind of superstitious faith? Our "leading of the Lord" is based almost entirely on our outside circumstances--what we see with our eyes--not on actually hearing God. If our circumstances are going well, we must be pleasing God, it must be His will...and if things aren't going well, we must be missing God or lacking faith. We believe that God will never let anything bad happen to us if...we don't sin, or say the right prayers or have the right kind of positive confession of faith? So, what happens to our faith when the "bad things" do happen? It must be that we've sinned, we confessed the wrong things? To this, I ponder again...can our God be this small?
I won't want to minimize the value of believing and faith confession... but I don't think we can put God in this "nothing bad will happen to me if..." box. Are we not treating an almighty sovereign and omnipotent God like some Mesopotamian idol we pray to...His anger to appease, or a genie's lamp we rub so our wishes always come true...all so we can get what we want? And didn't Jesus also promise tribulation in this life? (John 16:33).
But I think that God wanted Job to see something a lot more important than what's in it for you and me, and I don't believe He was engaging in some sort of cruel gamesmanship with the devil either. From my own experience, it seems that our Heavenly Father is more interested in the process than the answers. He's more interested in what we're becoming while walking through the valley. And I believe He wanted Job to see something about Himself throughout his time of testing. And my question here...do we ever really learn these kinds of things any other way? And can we really appreciate the mountaintop without going through this mysterious valley of testing?
We don't want to miss the fact that Job did indeed maintain his integrity and faith in God throughout these horrific trials. And his friends were...well...wrong. But, more importantly, Job got a bigger picture of God; a God not created in our own image, or one that can be managed and manipulated. To me, the point of the whole thing here is in Job's revelation in chapter 42, verse 5..."I had only heard about you before, but now I have seen you with my own eyes."
Oh, that we, too, would understand this about our indescribably, infinite God! His ways are past finding out! That we would go beyond our superstitions about God and grow in real faith...to really know the One we worship in spirit and in truth.
posted by Pastor Mel at 5:09 PM
2 Comments:
"More than that...we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit which has been given to us." Rom 5:3-5
The story of Job certainly shows us Who is in control. God shows us that as He allows the circumstances that surround us, and even allowing satan himself to intervene...HE uses it all to bring us to a place of knowing Him... that we may see His glory, know He is just, and understand His mercy, love, and grace.
Amen, good points. As you point out, there are aspects that we cannot understand about God's nature apart from trials and testing. For example, we understand His peace in turmoil, His comfort in times of grief and sorrow, etc.
Admittedly, it sounds strange for us in the natural realm to "rejoice in our sufferings." No one really rejoices for our trials and testing and we don't look forward to them. But if we understand them properly we can, nonetheless, rejoice in the midst of them because we understand what God is working out in us through it. Again, it's all about what we're becoming.
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