Job CXI

 There is a realm beyond the physical that is just as real. A realm with principalities and powers, where the war between light and darkness rages, where good and evil are well defined and delineated, and the human soul is both the prize and the object of contention. From time to time, some of us are given a glimpse beyond the veil of the physical into the spiritual realm, and we quickly realize that the picture in our minds of chubby cherubs playing harps on puffy clouds couldn’t be further from reality.

One need only read the account of Daniel and that it took twenty-one days for the messenger to make his way to him, having had to battle the prince of the kingdom of Persia and be aided by Michael, one of the chief princes, to understand how preposterous some of the fables being spun by so-called modern-day prophets are.

You’re telling me a messenger had to fight his way to Daniel for twenty-one days, yet you’re getting teleported to heaven via a porta-potty every other day? You’re telling me that every time someone is graced with seeing an angel or a messenger of the Lord, they are undone and see the frailty of their current existence, yet you claim to have sat on God’s lap, braided His beard, and even played a spirited game of pinochle, being so flippant about it as to infer it was just another Tuesday?

We sit enraptured listening to individuals who should likely be institutionalized regale us with stories of pet dinosaurs and body part rooms in heaven, not realizing we are surrounded by spiritual hosts and war is being waged on our behalf. We’ve infantilized the spiritual realm to such an extent that we are wholly ignorant of its reality. No, you cannot obtain victory without battle. No, the enemy will not flee from you if you do not resist him.

We have become as children playing at being adults. We have become as couch potatoes playing at being soldiers. Walking circumspectly with our God and being sober-minded in all things is too boring for our taste. We would rather have aliens and blue beams than Christ and the cross. We would rather play some deranged version of Where’s Waldo trying to spot the antichrist than prepare our hearts and minds for the eventuality of suffering for His name’s sake.

The world will do what God said it would do, and it will become what He warned it would become. How we meet that iteration of humanity wherein we will be hated by all because we belong to Him, betrayed by those closest to us, and finding no solace, safety, or security but in His embrace is something we are individually and wholly in control of. If you’re driving down the road and see a sign warning you that the bridge is out a mile ahead, if you gun it rather than turn around, it’s nobody’s fault but your own. It’s not as though the sign wasn’t big enough or that there weren’t multiple signs by the time you nosedived into the depths. You ignored the warnings and the signs because you either thought you knew better or that all the flashing lights were simply hyperbolic fearmongering.

Our duty is to count the cost and ensure we are willing to pay the full freight. Jesus didn’t mollycoddle his disciples or hold back when it came to telling them what their futures held should they choose to follow after Him. He didn’t promise them mansions of private jets, the approval or adoration of the masses, or any comfort while they walked this earth.

He made it clear that they would be persecuted, hated, put to death, mocked, belittled, spoken evil of, dismissed, rejected, and villainized. If you sign on, you’re not signing up for an all-expenses paid life at Club Med. You’re signing on for a lifetime of battle, service, trials, tribulations, and hardships galore, but the prize at the end of your race, the reward at the end of your journey, is well worth any hardship you may incur on your way to it.

Jesus wasn’t trying to sell a timeshare. He didn’t bury the lead or have a dozen pages of fine print that he insisted his disciples ignore because it was just for legal purposes and not really that important. He made it very clear what we as His servants should expect while in the world, and not telling the truth to those we would have embrace it, does nothing for them except give them false expectations of what they think their Christian walk will be.

Job knew that both blessing and adversity come from the hand of God. He knew that although he could despise his current existence and even wish that he would perish, he could charge God with no wrong because He is sovereign over all.

Job 8:11-18, “Can the papyrus grow without a marsh? Can the reeds flourish without water? While it is yet green and not cut down, it withers before any other plant. So are the paths of all who forget God; and the hope of the hypocrite shall perish, whose confidence shall be cut off, and whose trust is a spider’s web. He leans on his house, but it does not stand. He holds it fast, but it does not endure. He grows green in the sun, and his branches spread out in his garden. His roots wrap around the rock heap, and look for a place in the stones. If he is destroyed from this place, then it will deny him, saying, ‘I have not seen you.’”

In his attempt to undergird his conclusion and prove that he was right in his assessment, Bildad began to pontificate. He didn’t come right out and say that Job had forgotten God or that he was a hypocrite, but he alluded to it nonetheless because, in his understanding, he could not fathom that Job had not done something to displease God and bring upon himself the tragedy that had befallen him.

It’s okay to admit that you don’t know the reason or purpose around some event in your life or someone else’s life as long as you acknowledge and fully trust that God does. We were never meant to know everything. Even the best of us see in part and understand in part, but what we were meant to do is grow our faith and our trust in the God we serve to the point that come what may we rest in Him and are at peace.

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr.