Job CCCXLIX

 None of Job’s three friends hesitated in passing their judgments. None of them had any hesitation when it came to declaring who God was, how He operated, what His will was, and what the ultimate reason for Job’s suffering stemmed from. They were certain. They would not be swayed, yet they were wrong. So wrong, in fact, that unless Job interceded on their behalf, unless he prayed for them, God would deal with them according to their folly.

God didn’t say they’d gotten it half right, or that there were some things they said about Him and about Job that made sense. He didn’t give them a pass, or insist that they’d spoken out of ignorance, but that what they’d spoken of Him was not right.

Men have varied opinions about God. Nowadays, it seems such opinions have little to no Scriptural basis, more a reflection of how they would like God to be if they could fashion Him for themselves. It is the same snare Job’s friends fell into, wherein they did not perceive God as He is, but as they would have preferred Him to be. They assigned attributes of their own design to His nature, they insisted that because they willed it to be so, God must be as they described Him, and all of it was folly, so off the mark that God had to step in and say, what you have spoken of me was not right; it wasn’t true; that’s not who I am, and you were wholly ignorant of my plan and purpose for my servant Job.

If your view and understanding of who God is contradicts who Scripture unequivocally declares that He is, it is not God who must change to suit your understanding, but you who must change to be in harmony with Scripture. If man’s will alone is sufficient to compel God to become something other than what He is, then Job’s three friends wouldn’t have found themselves in the position they were in.

God would not have rebuked them, nor demanded sacrifice, nor commanded that they go and entreat Job to pray and intercede on their behalf. Well, that’s how you see Me, so that’s who I’ll be, wasn’t God’s reply or attitude to their folly.

Idols are malleable. Gods of man’s own making upon which he can project the attributes and characteristics he desires are inconsistent and ever-changing depending on man's mood, wants, needs, desires, and peccadillos. They may be more permissive, tolerant, less demanding, and easily swayed, but they are not real. They are imagined, created, and shaped by the minds and hands of men, with no inherent power, identity, or will.

My god does as I will! Then he is no God. The Creator will never be subservient to His creation, nor His will inferior to their will. Job’s friends tried to paint a picture of the One True God, and God said, that looks nothing like me. You may have painted something to be sure, but as far as any likeness or resemblance, you missed the mark so thoroughly that unless my servant Job prays on your behalf, I will deal with you according to your folly.

God doesn’t change at man’s whims. He’s not looking to capture an audience, pander to a certain demographic, or ingratiate himself to a particular class. He is God! His will is supreme, He is sovereign, and history proves that everyone who has attempted to stand against Him, or demand that He change for their sake, has failed utterly.

You thought you knew Me, but you didn’t. You thought you knew My will and purpose, but your conclusions were flawed and limited to your anecdotal understanding. You could have said, this is beyond us to comprehend. You could have humbled yourselves and admitted that this was beyond your capacity to perceive, but instead you took it upon yourselves to pass judgment, to draw conclusions, to insist that the way you saw the situation was the only way it could be, and that there could be no other explanation for what was happening to My servant Job than that which you surmised.

If you labor under the misconception that God will eventually see it your way, or that you’re so special that He will change His mind on things He has declared in His Word, you are in for a rude awakening. God doesn’t give in to peer pressure, because He has no peers. God does not side with the majority opinion, because He’s not looking to win an election. Once again, even at the risk of belaboring the point, He is God! He does as He wills, and there is nothing in heaven, on earth, or beyond the galaxy that can stand against Him. If God declared a thing, it is so, no matter how many rant and rage against it.

Our duty as sons and daughters of God is to humble ourselves, deny ourselves, pick up our crosses, and follow after Jesus. Those who insist that those steps can be circumvented will one day stand before Him and be told that although they did many wonders in His name, including prophesying and casting out demons, He never knew them. It’s no small thing. It’s not negligible. Eternity hangs in the balance.

Does He know you? Not your title, not your bona fides, not how many churches you’ve planted or built, not how many sermons you’ve preached, not how many books you’ve authored, or how many hungry you’ve fed, but does He know you as one of His own, one who has been reborn, transformed, and sanctified by the power of His blood?

Do you know of Him, or do you have a relationship with Him? Do you serve out of fear or out of love? Is fellowship with Him your preeminent desire, or do you approach Him only when you’re stuck between a rock and a hard place with no way out of the situation you find yourself in? Does He know you?

Job’s three friends believed wholeheartedly that they had a handle on the situation, knew the mind of God, understood His ways, and were unabashed in declaring it. Only when God rebuked them and called out the folly of their judgments did they come to understand that His ways are not their ways, and His thought are not their thoughts. The same can be said of many today who insist God is something He never declared Himself to be. Rather than submit to the authority of Scripture, they double down on their conclusions, because to do otherwise would be to admit that they were wrong all along, and that is something they cannot abide.    

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr.