January 7 - Order through the eyes of Job

January 7 - order

 

There was a praise song we sang for many years called, “Blessed be.” There was a bridge to the chorus that said, “You give and take away, You give and take away. My heart will choose to say, Lord, blessed be your name.” Now if you don’t know where this lyric comes from, it is out of the book of Job. After receiving 4 different reports of destruction that has claimed everything he owned, his children’s lives, and the livestock that made his livelihood, Job is left with this moment that is described as worship. Job 1:20-21 says, “At this, Job got up and tore his robe and shaved his head. Then he fell to the ground in worship and said:

 

“Naked I came from my mother’s womb, 

And naked I will part.

The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; 

May the name of the LORD be praised.” 

 

It’s such an interesting concept and even more interesting that we made it into a song of worship. 

 

Now I don’t think this is completely wrong theology. God can give and take away anything that he chooses. Yet throughout the scriptures, we don’t see a place where God takes away in order to simply cause pain or suffering. And on top of that, Job is responding to only some of the information. He doesn’t know the behind the scenes or the entire story. 

 

IN the beginning of this narrative, Satan - or the accuser - stands before the Lord and basically tries to tell God that people will only follow him If there is good in their lives. It is satan’s way of trying to poke at God and say that his creation isn’t as good as he thinks it to be. 

 

So God says for him to consider Job. 

 

To which satan responds that Job is only faithful to the LORD, because he has kept his hand of protection on him and wont’ allow anything bad to happen to him. The LORD then says he will lift his hand and allow Satan to do whatever he wants except physically harm him. Then we will see if he worships still. 

 

God says to satan in 1:12 -
“Very well, then, everything he has is in your power, but on the man himself do not lay a finger.” 

 

At this point, destruction hits Job’s family. 

 

But this is the important part. The LORD didn’t cause destruction. . . He simply lifted his protection from Job and destruction came as Satan took control of everything Job had. So when Job says that the LORD gives and takes away. . . He is misguided. Other than his hand of protection, the LORD didn’t take anything away from JOB. Chaos and death took away. Not the LORD. 

 

See we often wonder why God would cause destruction and darkness. 

 

But the truth is - He doesn’t. 

 

Since the beginning of time, he has been working to make new life in the middle of the chaos. 

 

But what we see also in the Garden narrative, is that there has been an adversary working against order this entire time as well. 

 

For this, we jump to Genesis 3:1-7

 

“Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden?”

 

The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, ‘ You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’

 

“You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, Knowing good and evil.” 

 

When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.”

 

Now we will come back to this part of the narrative next week to take a deeper look at this part, but for now I want to highlight a very important part. Their eyes were opened. There was specific order that God had for them and if they followed it, everything would be good. But because they chose to disobey God and rebel against his order, they allowed chaos to enter back into their lives. 

 

Now they were able to understand evil. They now had an experiential knowledge of evil. 

 

What did wisdom tell us yesterday in Proverbs 8?

 

“For those who find me find life

And receive favor from the LORD.

But those who fail to find me harm themselves; 

All who hate me love death.”(35-36)

 

The rebellion that Adam and Eve participated in allowed for this death to enter in. The result is that harm existed towards Adam and Eve. They now had first hand knowledge of what evil looked like. They found themselves in a precarious balance of knowing good, but also understanding that evil exists and is ready to cause harm and death. 

 

Again, Not God causing these things. 

 

Just the cover of God being removed allowed death to come in and consume Adam and Eve. 

 

Because this was the role of darkness since Genesis 1:2. . . Darkness was covering the surface of the deep and consuming all things like a black hole. And now Adam and Eve have allowed themselves to be removed from the order God created and now evil stepped back in and began to devour. 

 

But God didn’t cause it. He still causes order and purpose. 

 

So back to Job. 

 

He tries to explain God’s plan. But half way through the book, we watch his disposition change. His wife tells him to curse God and die. His friends tell him he deserves what has happened. And he is left wondering why God would do such a thing to him.

But here is the best part. 

 

God didn’t step in and try to convince Job that he is goo. 

 

He didn’t give him a theology of how darkness tries to consume. 

 

He simply stepped in and reminded Job of what the order of creation looks like. 

 

Listen to this amazing passage of scripture in Job 38

 

JOB 38

 

See, the answer to why evil exists in this world, is because people have walked away from God’s order. They have chosen for themselves a way to do things instead of following his purposes and plan. HE don’t cause evil. . . . So when we try to explain it away and rationalize why he would allow it to be, we miss the point. God intended order and structure. .. But we continually believe we know best. So God has to allow moments where we can be taken back to the fact that he creates order. We focus on the mess. 

 

Pastor Wanda Burgund sent me a verse today that helps explain the intent of God. 

 

Colossians 1:19-20 says this, “For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him (Jesus) and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood shed on the cross.” 

 

While evil has come in and has begun to consume us. . . God is still in the process of declaring order in the middle of the chaos. And he did that with Jesus. 

 

When things don’t seem to make sense. When there is death and destruction and brokenness that we walk through, it can be so easy to point toward God and ask why. . . But the truth is, he doesn’t create mess. He isn’t vindictively causing pain and suffering. But while evil exists in this world and is trying to consume all living things into udder darkness, God continues to speak life. He calls things back into order. And that is why he sent Jesus. That through him, peace would come to all things, through his blood shed on the cross. 

 

I don’t know what mess you have had to walk through. 

 

I don’t know what answers you have waited for and not seen. 

 

But I do know this. 

 

God hasn’t caused you harm and pain. 

 

That’s a deeper issue of evil that exists in this world. 

 

But I also know that in the middle of the chaos of life. . . God is still in the process of creating beauty and order, right where you are. 

 

Don’t try to answer why you are walking through this moment. 

 

Simply go to the LORD with your frustrations and pains, 

 

Rely on him. 

 

And watch, as he creates order in the middle of your chaos.