Job XXIX

 It’s sad to think that the theme song to The Facts of Life had a better grasp on human existence than many preachers today. Good and bad alike are part of our human journey. There has never been anyone who’s had all of one and none of the other. The difference between the children of God and those of the world is that we have the hope of future glory and His presence to keep us in our darkest hour, knowing that He will make away even when no way is visible to the human eye.

When we teach an entire generation that their expectations of living a life devoted to God should extend no further than good things heaped upon good things, when something bad comes along, as it always does, they begin to question not just the teaching they heard being proffered from the pulpit but the goodness of God Himself.

The preacher man told me I should be expecting blessings upon blessings, pressed down and shaken together, and here I am getting evicted and getting my car repossessed. If he was wrong about the blessing part, perhaps he is wrong about the God part, too. The desire for a lie to become truth does not transform a lie into the truth. Regardless of how much you want it to be the truth, it's still a lie, and if you cling to it in the midst of the storm, you’re clinging to a cement block that’s bound to take you under.

This is why doctrine matters. This is why men tasked with rightly dividing the Word must preach the Word and not their own vain imaginings. Yes, bad things happen to good people. Yes, the children of God grow old and feeble and die. The greatest preachers, evangelists, and writers of the eighteen hundreds have all returned to the earth because no one escapes this life alive. It is what happens after that gives us hope. It is eternity with Him that makes this present journey sufferable.

Job was able to remain faithful because his sufficiency was not predicated upon the things he possessed. He was able to fall to the ground and worship because his worship was not contingent upon whether or not God blessed him but because He is God and worthy of worship.

Fluffy clouds and chubby cherubs sell because they confirm our bias that if we surrender to God, our rightful expectation ought to be good things, always, for as long as we have breath. The only problem with that mindset is that it’s not Biblical. It is the presence of God in the midst of our suffering that we must focus on, and not the idea that we won’t have to suffer while we are here.

Trials, tribulations, hardships, and suffering are part and parcel of the human experience. As children of God, we also have persecution to contend with, wherein we may have to endure the ire of the godless for our faithfulness to Jesus. If you signed on to team Jesus because you thought you would be spared these things, someone lied to you, and you believed the lie.

Well, it’s your word against theirs. Not so. It’s their word against the Word and the anecdotal evidence of countless generations that came before us who suffered well and went to their reward, having remained faithful. We tend to gloss over the fact that of the twelve apostles, eleven were martyred for their faith. Whether crucified upside down, hung, stabbed, flayed, stoned, or decapitated, had these men been sold on the idea that the whole of their existence would forthwith be prosperity and plenty, they would not have given their last full measure for the great high calling of Christ.

If we have any hope of standing and having done all to stand, we must do away with childish machinations and be established in the Word of God, receiving both good and bad from his hand without grumbling, wavering, or growing bitter in our hearts. God knows what He is doing. If we don’t have that singular concept well cemented in our minds, we will wander to and fro, questioning why such and such is happening rather than falling down and worshipping at His feet.  

Our belief structure, what we believe, and why we believe it will determine our reaction to adversity, trial, and hardship. If our faith is anchored in God, if we are firmly rooted in the Word, and the desire of our heart is Him alone, then we will stand in the midst of the tempest and worship Him. If our faith is anchored in the things He gives us, the blessings He bestows, or the safety nets we’ve fashioned for ourselves, when they begin to crumble or are taken away, our faith will be shaken.

In reading the book of Job, one gets the sense that Satan does a lot of walking back and forth upon the earth. It’s not because he’s trying to get his ten thousand steps in or because he’s got a nifty new Apple watch that tells him he needs to make one more trek around the block, but because he is always on the prowl looking for opportunities to do harm to the household of faith, and situations where he can try and tip the scales in his favor.

His easiest prey has always been those that are on the outskirts of Christ and not in Christ. It’s not semantics or splitting hairs; it’s the difference between enduring and overcoming and being trampled underfoot.

Do you know Jesus, or do you know of Him? That is the question of this late hour because if we only know of Jesus and do not know Him as Lord and King of our lives, then we will sway with every wind that comes about attempting to deceive us away from the truth of His word.

You can’t say you know someone when all you’ve had is second-hand accounts of who they are or how they are. Every human experience is subjective, and although I may meet someone and think they’re the bee's knees, another person might meet them and wholly dislike them for whatever reason. It’s why so many reject Christ until they have a personal encounter with Him. They may have heard wonderful things about Him, but they always had their doubts until, like Paul, they meet Him on the road, and their lives are forever transformed. Once you know Him, you will love Him. Once you know Him, you will serve Him. Once you know Him, you will obey Him.

Why some today live duplicitous lives, hopscotching between the darkness and the light, is because they never knew Him. Had they known Him, their commitment would be unwavering and their purpose established. 

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr.