Job CLXII

 Granted, fire has its uses; it refines, it purifies, it cauterizes wounds, but it all seems so archaic. It was fine for the people of Job’s day, but we’ve discovered the power of ‘I am’ in our modern era; the guy on the television said so. Rather than submit, we declare. Rather than obey, we command. Rather than follow, we prefer to take the lead because our route bypasses the pruning and the refining.

I realize nobody wants to hear it, but it is nevertheless true: trials, tests, and hardships are an indispensable ingredient to the purification of one’s faith, to the forging of one’s character, and to the strengthening of one’s witness.

I’ve said it before in passing, but it bears repeating: I don’t trust self-titled warriors who have no battle scars to speak of. They were either never in the battle, or so far back as to never have seen the whites of the enemy’s eyes. Either way, boasting of one’s valor when they never struck a blow is self-serving at best, or a deliberate lie intended to elevate one’s stature to heights they would otherwise never attain.

I’ve had the grace of meeting my fair share of true warriors of the faith throughout my years in ministry, and unsurprisingly, they were not boastful men, endlessly blabbering on about their exploits, but rather quiet, thoughtful men with an inner strength and depth of character that could neither be denied nor ignored. They understood that it was not in their strength that they were victorious, that they persevered, endured, and overcame, but by the power and presence of the Holy Spirit, and the blood of the Lamb of God.

Yes, we are living in an age when men have no shame about taking credit for another’s labors, or insisting that they are more than they know themselves to be, but God knows all, whether hidden or in plain sight, and He will reward all according to their works.

Matthew 16:27, “For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to His works.”

When will you be rewarded for your faithfulness? When will you be rewarded for your obedience? When will you be rewarded for your perseverance and tenacity, clinging to Jesus in the midst of the raging storm? Is it now by way of abundance, prominence, and prosperity, or when the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels? The text is straightforward enough. I’m sure you can draw your own conclusion without my input.

We have strayed so far from the truth, and what’s worse is that, for the most part, we don’t want to admit or acknowledge that we have done so. We refuse to allow the Word of God to be a lamp to our feet and a light to our path, so we stumble and fall and muddle through life, grasping at straws, and digging for kernels of truth in a sea of detritus, when all the while the truth, the whole truth, unfiltered, unabridged, and unmolested sits gathering dust on a nightstand or an end table.

Is it pride? Is it arrogance? Is it hubris? Or is it the flesh asserting its dominance because it was never nailed to a cross? Why is it that so many are looking for a different way than The Way? Why is it that so many reject the simplicity of the message of salvation, looking for something more expedient, less demanding, and less rigid?  

All of me for all of Him? Perhaps when there wasn’t a church on every street corner, but if anyone brings that up nowadays, we’ll just pack up our stuff and go across the street where they insist I can have all of me and all of Him, and the two will never be at odds. Their purposes will never conflict.

God has to be accommodating just to keep up. He must have seen the growth in competition, and, well, there’s only one of me. Our inflated sense of self keeps us from humbling ourselves and walking in obedience. I have gray hairs, therefore I must be wise, said the fool to no one but himself, but if he repeats it often enough, he’ll come to believe it, then even go so far as to question the God of the universe, and find Him culpable.

This isn’t some cosmic version of point, counterpoint. He is the Creator, and we are creation. It’s not within our right or ability to question Him as though He were a witness taking the stand, and insisting that He see the world through the prism of modernity rather than His righteousness.

Because the Bible says it is so should be the end of any doctrinal or theological debate, but that is not the case, at least not anymore. Yes, that’s what the Bible says, but I’d like it to say something different, so I will infuse my feelings, emotions, feigned wisdom after having scrolled the interwebs, and even up to date polling of how people would like God to be in order to twist it in such a way that by the time I’m done it will no longer resemble the text itself.

There are entire books of the Bible, such as the book of Job, which are given a wide berth by many simply because what is contained in them contradicts the image they have of God in their own minds, or fables they hold to be true in their hearts.

Only the truth makes men free. Not an approximation of truth, not truth reimagined, not truth revamped, or restructured for a modern audience. Anything other than the truth is by default a lie, a deception, a man-made, manufactured counterfeit that does not bring freedom but bondage. That does not bring life, but death. That does not bring light, but darkness.

John 8:32, “And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr.