May 26–Psalm 1-8

“How blessed is the man. . .(who) delights in the law of the Lord. . .The wicked are not so. . .(they) will not stand in the judgement. . .the way of the wicked will perish” (Psalm 1:1-2, 4-6).

It is not a popular idea. Not even very familiar, these days. God has enemies. Humans who reject Him, who ignore His authority. People toward whom He has wrath/righteous anger.

Good news! God also has friends. The true God is very partisan. Intensely loyal to His children.

We encounter this idea often in the Psalms. Psalm 1 speaks of God’s blessing on the man who delights in His word, who rejects the world’s counsel in favor of God’s truth. As an act of faith and faithfulness, this man meditates on God’s law, day and night. And, God blesses him! Makes him fruitful. Gives him endurance and strength. “He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him,” says Hebrews 11.

The Scripture is equally honest in its description of the opposite reality. Some people are “wicked” says v. 4. See Psalm 2 for a honest portrait of these men in their rejection of Christ’s authority. Note the Father’s calm, fair anger at such rebellious people! They will be blown away in the coming judgement.

Two kinds of people walk side by side in this world. Different attitudes toward God. Different relationships with God. Different outcomes from God.

“PEOPLE are basically good,” says the near universal narrative of this age. The scripture denies it, and never more clearly than in the Psalms. Only GOD is good. People are good only in a derivative sense, as we share His goodness by right relationship to Him.

“That I may gain Christ , and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which comes through faith in Christ”(Philippians 3:8-9).

Friend, do the Psalms remind you of your minority status? “The way is narrow that leads to life and few find it.” God has called us, a small and mighty army, out of the world into His friendship, out of judgement into blessing. May the Lord use the sweet, strong songs of the Psalms to restore our hearts to the privileges and duties of this path.

May 25–Job 38-42

“I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear; but now my eye sees You; therefore I retract, and I repent in dust and ashes”(42:5-6).

It did not go as Job expected. Never does. For 39 chapters Job demanded a meeting with God. When his request was granted, the conversation turned in a surprising direction.

Speaking from a whirlwind (tornado?), God answered questions from Job with questions for Job. Each one was a reminder of God’s greatness/Job’s relative insignificance. Each was an unnuanced challenge to Job’s presumption and lack of trust.

“Have you ever in your life commanded the morning, and caused the dawn to know its place?”(38:12)

“Do you know the time the mountain goats give birth? Do you observe the calving of the deer?” (39:1)

To understand life one must finally see a GREAT and GOOD GOD who stands at the center of an intricate and beautiful universe. The size and scope of the cosmos testifies that none of us understand all things, and never will. The questions of God humbled Job, convicted him of arrogance, called him to trust.

Strange. God answered none of Job’s questions. Not directly. Didn’t even address them. Instead, He answered Job by giving him the deeper question that should have been the focus all along.

Someday, it will be so for all of us. We shall see Him and, in the light of His glory, we will see ourselves. When that day comes, our questions will be answered, too.

“When I pondered to understand this, it was troublesome in my sight until I came to the sanctuary of God; then I perceived their end (God’s answer). . .Whom have I in heaven but You? And besides you, I desire nothing on earth. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever”(Psalm 73:16-17,25-26).

” ‘Enough,’ said the judge. There was utter silence all round me. And now for the first time I knew what I had been doing. . . I had been reading it over and over. . .quick as I could, starting the first word again almost before the last was out of my mouth. And the voice I read it in was strange to my ears. There was given to me a certainty that this, at last, was my real voice. . . At last the judge spoke. ‘Are you answered?’ he said. ‘Yes,’ said I”( C. S. Lewis, Till We Have Faces).

May 24–Job 35-37

“Can anyone understand the spreading of clouds, the thundering of His pavilion? Behold, He spreads His lightning about Him. . .and commands it to strike the mark”(35:29-30,32).

As Elihu speaks, a storm gathers. You can sense it in his words, can almost hear it in the background. Take a moment and scan chapters 35-37. Circle every time cloud or rain or thunder or lightning is mentioned. Notice how these words increase in frequency as the skies darken and the wind begins to indicate a coming storm. In a very dramatic scene, Elihu’s words fade in significance as a larger voice begins to speak.

David is another man who heard God’s voice in a storm. “The voice of the Lord is upon the waters; the God of glory thunders!” he says in Psalm 29:3. “The Lord also thundered in the heavens, and the Most High uttered His voice”(Psalm 18:13).

What does a storm SAY? When the furious display of God’s power comes, what message is communicated?

A storm speaks of God’s power. If a storm is strong, the God who creates/controls it is even stronger.

A storm speaks of His anger. Not everything in a storm is benevolent. Our God is as fearful as He is good.

It speaks of our smallness. To stand in an open field in a storm is to feel vulnerable. Holly and I recently traveled west. The Grand Canyon, the Rockies, the vast stretches of Wyoming, all of it reminded me. I am very small compared to the vast power that created this magnificent world!

A storm also speaks of God’s provision. If a storm is dangerous, it is also necessary for life. We need rain. A gift from God.

Friend, when a storm comes do you hear God? Sense Him? Intuitively understand what He is saying?

For 37 chapters, Job has been calling for a meeting with God. Now, his request is granted. Riding on a storm, the Great God comes to have a conversation with his suffering friend. It will be a very humbling experience for Job.

A similar conversation is coming for each of us. “For we must all appear before the judgement seat of Christ”(2 Corinthians 5:10). Someday, we will stand face to face with the Mighty God and have a conversation like the one described in Job.

God give us the wisdom to prepare! Every storm, every Scripture is the voice of a God who desires to be known and deserves our trust!

May 23–Job 31-34

“If I have walked with falsehood, and my foot has hastened after deceit, let Him weigh me with accurate scales. . .if my step has turned from the way. . .let me sow and another eat”(31:5-8).

Job didn’t deny his own sinfulness. He did deny that his sin is sufficient explanation for the suffering he is experiencing. “Something is wrong here,” Job said. “There are factors at work that we do not know.”

He was right, of course. There WERE other factors at work. As readers, we know the heavenly conversation that precipitated this season of suffering.

Scripture says that prayer is (should be) a call for God to establish justice. It is a declaration that life (our experience of it) is not fair! Not yet, anyway. There ARE good people who suffer. Many. There ARE bad people who succeed. Many. Prayer is the privilege to ask God for a remedy, to call on Him to make things right. “How long, O Lord, holy and true, will You refrain from judging and avenging our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” (Revelation 6:10).

I must be careful with such a prayer. I must ever be aware of my tendency for self-justification. (I am quick to see the injustice of others. Not so quick to see it in myself.)

I must be courageous, too. Prayer is not a way to get what I want. It is God’s invitation for me to join Him in the cosmic enterprise of restoring the world to its original goodness. Prayer is standing with God, looking on the world with HIS eyes. Do I see what He sees? Do I want what He wants? Prayer is my opportunity to say so.

“Will not God bring about justice for His elect who cry to Him day and night. . .I tell you He will bring about justice for them quickly”(Jesus, Luke 18:7-8).

“I am the Lord who exercises lovingkindness, justice and righteousness on the earth; for I delight in these things”(Jeremiah 9:24).

May 22–Job 26-30

“He hangs the earth on nothing. . .He quieted the sea with His power. . .Behold, these are the fringes of His ways; and how faint a word we hear of Him! But His mighty thunder, who can understand?”(26:7,12, 14).

As a believer, I must be careful to avoid arrogance. To affirm that Jesus is truth does NOT mean that I UNDERSTAND all the truth in Jesus. As Paul said, “We see through a glass, darkly.” We see only a part of God’s plan. Full understanding will come later.

Job’s intense and disorienting pain gave him new appreciation for this reality. How small and partial is our perspective! How incomplete is our knowledge of the invisible world and its purposes. Better for us to admit the mystery, to face it with honest questions/real faith. What we know of Him is just the fringe of His garment. (What a remarkable word picture!)

When God came to fill the tabernacle (Exodus 40) He did so in the form of a cloud. Think about the symbolism! God communicating that even when we see God, the essential experience is of not seeing! He is majestic. He is mystery. We are all called to humility and trust.

“The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our sons forever”(Deuteronomy 29:29). In Christ, I can be certain of the things revealed and, at the same time, humble before the vast horizons of truth that I do not yet see.

As he endured his suffering, Job learned an important lesson. God is huge and good. Even when I do not understand Him, I must trust Him.

Friend, will you kneel today before the Mighty and Mysterious One? Will you be still (stop talking)? Will you open your heart to VAST goodness and wisdom and power? Will you confess that what you understand of Him is only the fringe of a much larger and more glorious garment?

No matter where you are with the Great One today, you are JUST beginning to understand Him!

“Who understands the power of Your anger and Your fury, according to the fear that is due You?”(Psalm 90:11).

May 21–Job 21-25

“Then Job answered, ‘Listen carefully to my speech, and let this be your way of consolation”(21:1).

One of the best ways to love someone is to listen to them. We don’t always. Sometimes, our concentration is on what we want to say. We are self-focused. Deaf to the what is being said, both the words and the emotions.

It is a place of stumbling for many believers. In our attempt to defend God we sometimes disobey Him. Alarmed by any question that even hints of doubt, we lecture before we listen. Without sympathy. Without love.

As Job struggles in his searing sorrow, he begins to verbalize fair questions. Why do wicked people NOT have struggles? (Two ways to ask this question. “Why DO good people suffer?” “Why DON’T bad people suffer?”) As Job speaks, his friends react!

Eliphaz attacks. He is so certain his theology is comprehensively true that he cannot allow, even for a moment, evidence that deserves to be examined with a larger and more honest heart.

As Jesus talked with the woman at the well (John 4) he listened to her. Heard the hurt behind her defensiveness and error. It was a spectacular demonstration of love! Job’s story challenges us to do the same.

We don’t always have to FIX other people. Our first gift, sometimes our best gift, is just to HEAR them.

Today is Alex Guthrie’s birthday. (Happy Birthday, Buddy) Listening to others is something he does well. It is a gift God gave him. As I write this, I thank God for him, and ask the Lord to help me learn again the value of this lesson.

“Be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger”(James 1:19).

May 20–Job 16-20

“I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last He will take His stand on the earth. . .whom I myself shall behold, and whom my eyes will see”(19:25,27).

Suffering, for the believer, can be corrective surgery. For all the discomfort, suffering is used by the Father as a healing process. “For those who are trained by it (God’s discipline), it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness”(Hebrews 12:11). “Momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory”(2 Corinthians 4:17, italics mine).

As Job struggled under the weight of his trial (and God’s silence regarding it), something beautiful happened in his heart! Something new. He began to look forward. Like a bright star in a dark-night sky, a future day glimmered into focus.

“I know that my Redeemer lives,” said Job. “At the last (on the last day) He will stand on the earth and I will see Him with my eyes.” Amazing revelation! As he peered into the future, Job saw the Living Redeemer, and a solid assurance rose in his heart that, at some point, he (Job) would see Him (Jesus) with his own eyes. From this hope, Job drew great strength.

Too often, too easily, material life becomes all-consuming. Gradually, even though we assent to the idea of a future day, “right now” becomes the full focus of our thoughts/decisions/affections. The present moment is all we can see, all that matters.

Before the cross, Jesus reminded the Sanhedrin of a coming day. “You will see the Son of Man coming in the clouds.” See Mark 14:62. At other moments, and with similar purpose, He encouraged His disciples to think about an owner who goes away for a while, but will come back!

When suffering causes me to look forward, when it shatters the hold this present world has on me, it proves itself part of God’s healing in my life. Friend, in your present pain are you learning hope? Like Job, do you have a certainty that you will see Him?

“People need three things in this world to be truly happy; someone to love, something to do, and something to hope for”(Tom Bodett).

“Face to face! O blissful moment! Face to face–to see and know; face to face with my Redeemer, Jesus Christ who loved me so”(Carrie Ellis Breck).

“For the joy set before Him, He endured the cross”(Hebrews 12:2).

May 19–Job 12-15

“Though He slay me, I will hope in Him. Nevertheless I will argue my ways before Him. This also will be my salvation, for a godless man may not come before His presence.”–13:15-16

Disagreement is not disloyalty. It took me a long time to learn this truth. For years I wrongly believed that we were not to question those in authority above us. Especially not God.

Job knew better. Sometimes arguing with God isn’t unbelief. Actually the opposite. Saying what you honestly feel isn’t disrespect, rather it is part of a genuine love relationship. Not only allowed, expected!

Moses. Elijah. David. Gideon. Jeremiah. All of them, in slightly different circumstances, expressed disappointment or challenge for the way God was allowing life to go. In every case (as with Job) the answer came from God (in His own time and way) without the slightest hint that He was offended by the frank challenge. Job’s friends were aghast that he would argue with God. See 15:13. Job’s God was pretty ok with it.

As I walk with the Great God, I must allow myself the same margin, require of myself the same honesty. I must accept the privilege of honest conversation. I trust Him. I really do. Even to death. My questions don’t challenge this firm foundation of genuine belief in Him and His goodness any more than Job’s words did.

If I am honest (and God knows I should be), there will be times that I am puzzled or disappointed. Times when my heart is filled with a question or complaint. Saying so is not a sin. It is what He expects from me.

May 18–Job 7-11

“I waste away; I will not live forever. Leave me alone, for my days are but a breath. What is man that You examine him, and that you are concerned about him?. . .Have I sinned? What have I done to You, O watcher of men?”(7:16-17, 20).

Human life is complicated.

Scripture says we are created with a UNIQUE role in the universe. We are material AND Spiritual creatures. Made of dust, but also animated (made alive) by the very breath of God. We have capacity for life in two worlds. Dual citizenship.

As a pastor, I occasionally encountered people who were ready to die. Divested of all material meaning or pleasure, they didn’t want to live any longer. “Pastor, why won’t God let me die?” they asked.

Job expressed similar feelings. MUST life be so complicated? When life gets painful, why can’t I just go on to eternity? Why must I be “watched”? Can’t I be insignificant to God, inconsequential in the scheme of things?

Like it or not, the answer is no. Made in His image, made for fellowship with Him, we remain important to God, significant in His plan, to the very end. We are creatures with an eternal soul.

Do you ever wish that life could be less complicated? I do, but the Lord never does.

Even when we are weary and just want to be left alone, the “Watcher of men” has to be dealt with. Our capacity for relationship with Him is who we are. Baked-in. Non-negotiable.

Friend, will you consider? God is watching over you, accomplishing things in you that you cannot understand or appreciate. Even in confusion and discomfort, He calls you to Himself in trust.

“What is man that You take thought of him, And the son of man that You care for him? Yet You have made him a little lower than God, And You crown him with glory and majesty!” (Psalm 8:4-5).

May 17–Job 3-6

“Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered, ‘If one ventures a word with you, will you become impatient? But who can refrain from speaking?”(4:1-2).

I have made this mistake. Often. God forgive me.

A person in pain is asking deep questions of faith, struggling to express the inner turmoil. Rather than offer support in silence, I feel the need to speak. To explain God.

It doesn’t go well. When I try to fix what only God can, the sufferer feels misunderstood. Judged. Criticized. More alone than before. Who can blame him? He now has no place to go, no person to whom he can express his honest questions and emotions. I have robbed him of something God wants him to have. See Psalm 13.

At the end of the story, God’s harshest criticism was not toward Job, but toward his talkative friends. Refusing to face the mystery of evil with required humility, they over-simplified God and became false witnesses. See 42:7.

The New Testament teaches me to, “rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep.” It insists that I trust God and respectfully allow every honest question. “Call unto Me and I will answer,” is God’s offer, not mine.

Here is the truth that humbles me, (or should). There are times (many) when the wise path is to stand with those who suffer in silent sympathy and solidarity. No words. Just presence. Sometimes, faith and silence are the same thing.

“After you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you”(1 Peter 5:10, italics mine).