Job 38:1-4 (ESV)
Then
the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind and said:
“Who is this that darkens counsel by
words without knowledge?
Dress for action like a man;
I will question you, and you make it
known to me.
Where were you when I laid the foundation
of the earth?
Tell me, if you have understanding.”
It occurs to me
that when we read Job we make the same error that Job and his friends made.
They speak as though the issue was about Job. Job cries out for justice and an
explanation. Job’s friends insist that the explanation is that there is
unconfessed sin in his life. When God speaks, he doesn’t reference either Job’s
physical condition or his spiritual condition. The truth is, it is not about
Job. And that is what bothers us the most.
We want life to
be about us. It isn’t. We want Job to find relief, but what he really needs to
find is God. Like Job, we think and act as though we are the center of the
universe. If there is pain in our lives, it must be the consequence of some
great sin. If there is pleasure in our lives, it must be that God is pleased
with us. “Why me?” is one of the most common prayers uttered around the world.
Perhaps God’s answer is, “Why not you?” After all, life is not really about us;
we just think it is.
God never answers
Job’s question of why. That leaves us feeling unsatisfied. We want to know why.
We want to know that Job’s suffering had some higher purpose. We read Job as
though it were about suffering, but I am beginning to think that it is not
about suffering at all. It is about theology. It is about who we believe God
is, and what we believe about him. If we believe that he is the Celestial
Servant of mankind, then that question of why Job suffered is the ultimate
question of life. If he is the Sovereign Creator, then the question of Job’s
suffering is hardly the point. The real question is, who is God?
There is the
bottom line. When we insist on answers and explanations, then we have put
ourselves in the place of God. When we insist on a gospel that is primarily
about feeling good about ourselves, then we have placed ourselves at the center
of the universe. Granted, we are the only part of creation that was said to be
made in the image of God. Granted, God placed people over the rest of his
creation. Granted, we were designed to rule and oversee creation. But, we were
not designed to oversee creation as gods. We were designed to oversee creation
under God. Ultimately it is all about him.
Does that make
him a megalomaniac? Hardly! It makes him creator, designer, sustainer, and
upholder of all that exists. Without him we would not be here. Without him this
universe would not hold together. The Apostle Paul quotes two Greek poets in
Acts 17:28 to make this point. “For ‘In him we live and move and have our
being’; as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are indeed his
offspring.’” Colossians 1:16 says it like this,
For by him all things were created,
in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or
rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he
is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
Bottom line? Life
is not about us. Maybe that is the real message of Job. Maybe we would be
better off if we could just learn that simple lesson. I am not the center of
the universe; nor will I ever be. Bishop Noel Jones wrote a simple chorus
around these words, “It's not about us, But it's about Jesus.” His response to
this truth follows:
I present my body
A living sacrifice
Holy, acceptable
Unto You now
Everything I am
And everything I'll be
I lay it all at Your feet
May
that be my prayer today!
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