Job CCIII

 Absent context and an understanding of Job's timeline and when he lived, his declaration that a living Redeemer is real and present would not seem as revelatory or divinely inspired. Job didn’t have the benefit of the canon of Scripture. He lived before the time of the Patriarchs, long before the Pentateuch was assembled and collated, yet, based on his experiences, he knew the truth of a living, present God beyond a shadow of doubt.

Men today don’t know God because they don’t want to know Him. It’s not that He’s being elusive, or hiding, difficult to find, or hard to intuit; the workmanship of His hands is present, readily visible, undeniably divine in everything that surrounds us. From the stars and the moon, to a sunrise or a sunset, to a field of lilies, or a forest of evergreens in the dead of winter, God’s fingerprints are everywhere. While the righteousness of God is revealed through the gospel of Christ from faith to faith, the undeniable existence thereof is made manifest to all in all that exists.

Romans 1:20-21, “For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened.”

From the moment God said, “Let there be light”, and “Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters to divide the waters from the waters”, His invisible attributes are clearly seen. They were understood by the things that are made.

Long before Abraham and the ram, long before Moses and the burning bush, from the genesis of creation onward, men understood that the world and everything in it, including themselves, could not have come about accidentally, or by some serendipitous twist of fate. It’s too perfect, too ordered, too interconnected and interdependent to have been the byproduct of an accidental explosion, solar discharge, big bang, wormhole, or whatever explanation those whose hearts are hardened to the reality of His eternal power and Godhead come up with to explain away the precision and artistry, majesty, and intricacy of creation.

One miscalculation, one error in computing, putting the earth closer or further from the sun would make this entire rock uninhabitable. One missing organ in the human body, whether the lungs, the kidneys, or the heart, would render every human on the planet unable to exist.

It is easier by far to conclude that there is a Creator, that a master craftsman put everything in place as it ought to be, than to believe that an accident was the cause of it all. You can’t plan the outcome of an accident. You don’t know, to the minutest of detail, what will occur if you crash into someone or something. It takes more faith to believe that everything in the universe is accidental than to believe in a Creator. Yet, here we are, supposedly the most learned generation the world has ever known, denying the reality of He whose invisible attributes are clearly seen.

Job knew. Not simply by opening his eyes to the world around him and acknowledging God’s invisible hand in all that exists, but through personal experience of having walked with the selfsame God who spoke the universe into being.

This assurance was his anchor. This knowledge that his Redeemer lives was the only thing keeping him from descending into despondency, from giving up, and drowning in hopelessness.

The difference between a just man’s suffering and a wicked man’s suffering is that the suffering of the just has a redemptive component, an eternal dimension, and a revealing of God’s love in the most personal and intimate way possible. The righteous see purpose in the trials they endure, while the only thing the godless see is the trial itself. The righteous clings to the hope they have in Him, not in the hope they have in themselves, their doctors, their counselors, or their abilities.

Would you have the level of faith you have were it not for the trials you’ve had to endure? Would you have the level of trust in the sovereignty of God were it not for the valleys you had to traverse by your lonesome, with no one to lean on but Him? Would you be as refined, pruned, or sanctified absent the testing of your faith? These are questions only you can answer for yourself, but as for me, I know that every trial, hardship, setback, or test has produced quantifiable fruit in my life. They grew me, matured me, strengthened me, and drew me ever closer to Jesus.

The testing of one’s faith is not arbitrary. It is intentional and purposeful. It is a teachable moment, whether to show you the folly of trusting in the arm of the flesh, or the vanity of hubris, thinking you can do on your own only what God can do on your behalf. Suffering will always be a better teacher than prosperity, and trials a better tutor than a life of ease and comfort. God chastens those He loves not because He wants to see them suffer but because He wants to see them grow, mature, and become that which He desires them to be.  

The closer one draws to God, the more one’s own weakness and ineptitude become visible. They become acutely aware that of themselves they can do nothing, but the God in whom they trust can do all things. Fellowship with God does not stoke the fires of one’s pride or ego, but amplifies one’s humility. If the inverse occurs, then what one may deem as spiritual maturity or awakening isn’t.

Although God deemed him a blameless and upright man, the closer Job got to God, the more he acknowledged his own wretchedness. It is both a gift and a virtue to be so self-aware as to understand that your righteousness, or mine for that matter, is like a filthy rag in light of His righteousness.          

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr.