Job CCCXXXV

 If you claim to be a chef, you must know how to cook. If you claim to be a carpenter, you must know how to build a house. If you claim to be a woodsman, you must know how to chop down a tree. Not only must you know how to do these things, but you must also be able to follow through and actually do them. Theoretical knowledge of something isn’t practical application. Saying you’re a little god yet not being able to do godlike things only proves you’re a liar, and your pride and arrogance have compelled your tongue to speak things that are wholly fabricated, untrue, and worthy of scorn.

Job never claimed to be a little god, as so many have taken to doing today, but in his pain and despair he wondered out loud why all these things had happened to him. God’s first question to Job is one that those of us who have suffered loss, or the untimely death of a loved one, have likewise had to contend with: Would you indeed annul my judgment?

It’s an easy question to ask but a hard question to answer due to the duality with which all of us must contend. I was heartbroken when my mother died, as well as when my grandfather and most recently my father, and I would be lying if I didn’t say I wished we had more time together. Part of me rejoiced that they had gone to their reward, that they had run their races and now had received their crowns, but another part of me felt sorrow for their departure.

Especially when it came to my grandfather’s passing, I was tempted to do as Job did, and ask why, contend with God, and insist that there was still work to be done had He allowed him to live, but in the end, all I could do was submit to God’s authority and say, “Your will be done!”

To those who have been taught an erroneous dynamic of who God is and who man is, insisting that we are on equal footing with Him, and that He must bend to our will whenever we pout or hold our breath, accepting the trials of life is the hardest thing of all.

I spoke life, yet death has come. I spoke joy, yet I am shrouded in mourning. I spoke prosperity, but I could barely pay my bills. Why is this happening? I did what the preacher on TV said I should: I spoke all these things, yet none have come to pass. Why? Because you’re not God! You may have been talked into believing you are a little god, but you have neither the power nor the authority to make the claim, for there is only one God, and His plan and purpose are known to Him.

Our duty is neither to annul God’s judgment, nor is it to condemn Him that we may be justified, but to submit ourselves to Him. I know you are a good Father; I know you are a gracious God; I know you are faithful even when I am faithless; and I know you have a plan. I may not see it, especially in the valley, but you know the way I must go and what I must endure to reach the destination You have in mind for me, and so I submit willingly, wholeheartedly, completely, without exception or exemption.  

If you feel you are entitled to play God, to question, to disagree, to challenge, or override Him, then do what only God can do such as adorn yourself with majesty and splendor, array yourself with glory and beauty, look on the proud and humble him, and if you are able to do those things, God said, then I will confess to you that your own right hand can save you.

Anyone can claim to be a brain surgeon until they’re staring down at a brain pan and asked to remove a tumor. In their hubris, some might attempt it, inevitably killing the patient, but unless you possess the authority and attributes exclusive to the one true God, stop claiming that you are one.

Job already knew the dynamic between himself and God, but God nevertheless reminded him of it, setting up the framework for the rest of their conversation.

There is one thought that I can’t shake as I read this chapter, and that is, if a man whom God deemed blameless and upright could be taken to task for questioning God, whether in his heart, or with his words, how many times have we fallen short of the mark given that none of us have been singled out as one in a generation when it comes to uprightness and blamelessness.

If you think you can save yourself, have at it. If you believe you do not require the grace, mercy, and redemptive, atoning power of the blood of Jesus, and that by your will alone you will accomplish only what He can, I can’t twist your arm into changing your mind. The only thing I can do is tell you what the Word says, and encourage you to consider that even one such as Job could not save himself.

Job did not rebel; he did not sin against God, nor did he charge God with wrong. He did, however, perhaps in his heart, wish that things had been different, that he hadn’t had to go through what he had, and even that small, seemingly insignificant action was enough for God to call him to task and ask a series of questions that would reacquaint Job with the sovereignty of the God he served.

So what is the practical application for us today, when considering the conversation between Job and God thus far? Simply put, what Isaiah would later declare so succinctly: our righteousnesses are as filthy rags. By God’s own words, Job was a righteous man, blameless and upright, yet even his righteousness fell short of the holiness of God and required His grace and mercy.

Walk humbly with your Lord. Lean on Him, depend on Him, understand that no matter how righteous you may see yourself, you still require His grace to carry on, press forward, and reach the finish line.

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr.  

Job CCCXXXIV

 Job 40:6-14, “Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said: ‘Now prepare yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer Me: ‘Would you indeed annul My judgment? Would you condemn Me that you may be justified? Have you an arm like God? Or can you thunder with a voice like His? Then adorn yourself with majesty and splendor, and array yourself with glory and beauty. Disperse the rage of your wrath; look on everyone who is proud, and humble him. Look on everyone who is proud, and bring him low; tread down the wicked in their place. Hide them in the dust together, bind their faces in hidden darkness. Then I will confess to you that your own right hand can save you.’”

To a hypersensitive, perpetually offended, endlessly emotive generation insisting they’re the victim in every story, God’s words seem less than conciliatory. To some among the aforementioned generation, His words seem downright mean, because as is the case with every self-important naïve who insists that they could do everything better, they’ll rattle off a hundred things they would have done differently, or said differently, all beginning with the famous last words, “If it was me in that situation.”

If it was me in that situation, I would have picked Job up and held him close, and told him how great he was doing. If it were me in that situation, I would have praised Job’s steadfastness. If it were me in that situation, I would have never agreed to Job’s being so sifted by the devil. The thing is, it wasn’t you, it wasn’t me, and our ways are not His ways; our thoughts are not His thoughts, and rather than demand that God align His ways with ours, we must endeavor to align our ways with His.

God was not addressing a child; He was addressing a man. God was not addressing someone who crumbled under the weight of the first trial he’d ever had to endure, but one who walked through the valley and came out the other side with the scars to show for it. Modern-day preachers may coddle and excuse the sheep of His pastures as though any sort of correction were akin to being flogged in the public square, but God chastens those He loves and will not omit or ignore shortcomings for the sake of sparing our feelings.

It’s not out of cruelty, malice, or callousness that God corrects and chastens us, but out of love and a desire to see us grow in righteousness, holiness, and purity of heart. God knows what the end product must look like, and He will not accept an inferior iteration to avoid hurt feelings.

Correction is part of the process; it is part of the walk, and it confirms that God sees us as His own, sons and daughters whom He desires to see walking in the fullness of all that He has for them.   

Hebrews 12:7-11, “If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom a father does not chasten? But if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons. Furthermore, we have had human fathers who corrected us, and we paid them respect. Shall we not much more readily be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live? For they indeed for a few days chastened us as seemed best to them, but He for our profit, that we may be partakers of His holiness. Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.”

Absence of correction is not a demonstration of love; it is proof of indifference. Whether in a spiritual sense, or as it relates to one’s children, if love is the driving force, if love is what motivates, you will do your utmost to correct and chasten them whenever you see them doing something that will ultimately lead to either their destruction or a life absent joy, peace, and purpose.

We are where we are as a society because men have redefined indifference to mean love, and no matter how far-fetched a child’s ideas, they are validated and celebrated rather than corrected and challenged. I love my babies enough to let them destroy themselves utterly, mutilate their bodies in irreversible ways, and ensure that they have no future other than a lifelong cycle of pain and regret! Can that really be called love? You can call it many things, but love isn’t one of them.

That’s just one example, but there are plenty we can point to. The tragedy of it is that by the time the parents realize that permissiveness isn’t truly love, it’s far too late to do anything about it but mourn over what could have been had they done their duty and chastened their children, corrected them, and trained them up in the way they should go.

The Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind and instructed him to prepare himself like a man. We’re going to have a conversation, you and I; I will question you, and you will answer me. Job wasn’t given the option to curl up in a corner and pretend as though he had not heard the voice of God, he wasn’t given the option to throw a tantrum and insist that he would only entertain God’s request if He spoke in a kinder tone, God answered out of the whirlwind and said, this is how it’s going to be, now man up, prepare yourself like a man, and let’s hash this out.

If the Lord tarries, perhaps one day we will look back on the last forty years and begin to acknowledge the damage that was done to the household of faith by those who, pretending to be shepherds, turned out to be nothing more than soothsayers, speaking lies and distorting the Word of life for fear of being deemed unkind or unloving. Perhaps, one day, we will acknowledge that turning a blind eye to sin, rebellion, and the twisting of the gospel was not the act of love they claimed it was, but something far more nefarious, destructive, and deadly.  

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr. 

Job CCCXXXIII

 Job 40:1-6, “Moreover the Lord answered Job, and said: ‘Shall the one who contends with the Almighty correct Him? He who rebukes God, let him answer it.’ Then Job answered the Lord and said: ‘Behold, I am vile; what shall I answer You? I lay my hand over my mouth. Once I have spoken, but I will not answer; yes, twice, but I will proceed no further.’”

How does a man that God described as blameless and upright react upon hearing the voice of God addressing him personally? Whether it’s Job or Isaiah, when contrasted with the holiness of God, one saw himself as vile; the other insisted he was a man of unclean lips, a man undone by the presence of the One he served.

Even though both men had served God faithfully for years, even though their hearts were pure in the sight of God, and He saw them as true servants, the moment God made His presence known, they saw themselves in the light of His righteousness and couldn’t help but conclude that there was no comparison.

There was no familiarity; nobody in the Bible attempted to high-five God, braid His beard, sit on His throne, or challenge Him to a game of backgammon. The holiness and omnipotence of God demanded the humbling of one’s very being, because they understood who was addressing them, whose voice they had heard, and faithful as they were, blameless and upright as they were, the magnitude of God’s holiness brought them low.

One of the reasons I am ever skeptical of individuals who claim to have wandered the halls of heaven and shared a rainbow sherbet with God is the utter lack of holy reverence, holy fear, and holy awe. Are you telling me there was no reaction similar to Job or Isaiah as you stood before the Almighty? You got to look into His eyes while Moses had to turn his back, for as God said, “no man shall see Me and live?”

What you are inferring is that you exceed the uprightness of Job, Isaiah, and Moses put together, and that you are the singular exception in the history of mankind given that God went back on His own word and allowed you to not only see Him face to face, but sit on His lap, toy with His beard, and have a familiarity with Him that none other claimed to have.

If that’s the claim you’re making, just come out and say it. Don’t be coy; don’t allow others to draw that conclusion based on your insinuations, then when called on the carpet for the claims you made, obfuscate and act demure, insisting that you never said those things yourself; people just assumed them.

You’re attempting to play games with a God who doesn’t. You’re attempting to elevate your status by claiming things you’ve never experienced, speaking words God has never spoken, and appropriating authority that was never yours to appropriate.

Perhaps the best course of action would be to imitate Job, lay your hand over your mouth, and be silent. It is a profound thing to consider and contemplate: the one man that God deemed blameless and upright in his generation saw himself as vile in the light of God’s presence, His voice, and His holiness.

It’s only on extremely rare occasions that men see themselves as less rather than more of what they truly are. Whether it’s more faithful, wise, knowledgeable, or righteous, men usually round up rather than round down. The see themselves in a more positive light than objectively deserved, then in what soon becomes an endless loop of self-aggrandizement, they use that positive assessment of themselves to elevate their status in their own minds, excusing behaviors otherwise looked down upon and condemned by the Word, because if God deemed it so bad they wouldn’t see themselves as being so righteous, take one step further away from truth and light, and the cycle begins anew again.

Was Job truly vile? Had Elihu and Job’s three friends been right all along? Was his love for God just a pretense? Was he putting on airs for the sake of saving face? In light of how God viewed him, and being told that Job never sinned with his lips, it’s unlikely, but that’s how he saw himself in the moment when God addressed him. That’s how he viewed all that he had done, because it wasn’t man striving for God any longer, but God striving with man.

God had thrown down the gauntlet, addressed Job specifically, and the only response Job had to hand was to say, “Behold, I am vile; what shall I answer you?” Then immediately he laid his hand over his mouth.

Those who fault God, who insist that He has treated them unfairly, that He fell short of righteous judgment regarding some issue or another, would have the wind knocked out of their sail in an instant if God were to turn their gaze upon them and ask that they substantiate their claims.

Feelings and facts are distinctly different and separate from each other. They are not interchangeable, nor can you claim something is fact when it is a feeling. Conversely, you cannot accuse someone of being emotional, or reacting based on feelings when facts have been presented to them, and they are unwilling to contend with the matter with objective intellectual honesty.

Job knew two things at this point: first, that God had addressed him personally, and second, in light of His holiness, the only thing he could say was, “Behold, I am vile; what shall I answer You?”

In the end, Job was just a man. Blameless and upright he might have been, diligently fearing the Lord and shunning evil, but he was flesh and bone, sinew and blood, now having the God of the universe addressing him, with the light of God’s holiness making any measure of it Job may have achieved seem vile in comparison.

No man can stand before God in his own righteousness. No man can insist that by their merit, their labors, their adherence to a particular set of practices, they have no need of the atoning, redemptive blood of Jesus to wash them and make them clean. All fall short of the glory of God, and though he was singularly blameless and upright in his generation, so did Job. Now all he could do was humble himself in the sight of the Lord, with sincerity of heart and purpose, understanding that God owed him no answers, but in His love He would nevertheless provide them.    

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr. 

Job CCCXXXII

 Job 39:26-30, “Does the hawk fly by your wisdom, and spread its wings toward the south? Does the eagle mount up at your command, and make its nest on high? On the rock it dwells and resides, on the crag of the rock and the stronghold. From there it spies out the prey; its eyes observe from afar. Its young ones suck up blood; and where the slain are, there it is.”

Were God addressing any one of a multitude of self-appointed modern-day prophets, by now they would have attempted to interrupt him at least a dozen times, shoehorning their opinions, attempting to highlight their own perceived wisdom, or even contradicting He who is eternal, Almighty, creator of all that is, without beginning or end.

Self-importance is a disease that is spreading like an out-of-control brushfire within the household of faith, and the damage it has wrought is unquantifiable. It doesn’t matter that those who suffer from this malady are proven wrong time and time again. Whenever the current topic du jour runs its course, and they realize they’re out of runway, they pivot to another just as irrelevant, tertiary, and pointless as the one before.

Oddly enough, they never get around to talking about Jesus, the existential need of Him, the sacrifice He made upon the cross, or that no man can come to the Father but by Him. Up until a couple of weeks ago, the alien disclosure was the thing everyone was talking about, not realizing it was a way of marketing a movie that ended up bombing at the box office anyway, but you couldn’t go anywhere without hearing the anxiety in people’s voices when discussing what it was they were ready to reveal to the world.

The hubristic among the godless even went so far as to gleefully insist that what they’ve got cooking would destroy the faith of countless Christians, put an end to Christianity itself, and upturn the world and what it considered the norm. That only goes to show how little they understand of faith. What was meant to be a bonfire was less than a fizzle, and since the silence must be filled with something, anything, no matter how inane or ridiculous, they jumped onto the next bandwagon, the next thing, that new and fresh take on an old idea that has been around for centuries.

Meanwhile, God is still on the throne; He is still in control, and He looks upon the machinations of men not with dread or a sense of foreboding, but with mockery and derision.

Psalm 2:1-4, “Why do the nations rage, and the people plot a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and against His Anointed, saying, ‘Let us break their bonds in pieces and cast away Their cords from us.’ He who sits in the heavens shall laugh; the Lord shall hold them in derision.’”

If I had a dollar for every time someone insisted that they would drive a death nail into the heart of Christianity, I’d have a lot of dollars. The only instance I can think of where I would have more dollars still is if I had a dollar for every time someone predicted the date of the rapture that came and went only to be replaced by another date in the not-so-distant future.

Men have always plotted and schemed to find ways of casting away the existence of God, because while He remains, they cannot replace Him. Technology has gotten better, but the root of their desire remains the same: to be like God. From the onset, when there were only two walking in the garden, and no other human existed on the face of the earth, that was the offer, the temptation, the lure, enticement, and appeal: the day you eat of it you will be like God!

God only said you shouldn’t eat of the tree because He doesn’t want the competition. It’s selfish of Him to withhold the knowledge of good and evil, blessing and calamity from you, isn’t it? All it takes is one act of disobedience, one act of rebellion, for you to be on equal footing with Him, then you won’t have to submit to His will, you won’t have to submit to His purpose, you won’t have to submit to His sovereignty; you can do as you will, and He won’t be able to do a thing about it.

People can think themselves little gods until the One True God steps in and makes His voice heard above the roar of the thundering waves. He doesn’t have to shout; He doesn’t have to ball up His fists and get red in the face, because His whisper holds the authority of infinite power, and it’s no hard thing for Him to prove to the stiff-necked and proud that they are not what they claim to be.

Humble yourself in the sight of the Lord. That’s the first rule of living a life of peace, joy, and fulfillment. Notice that I did not say abundance and prosperity, because those rarely bring you peace, joy, or fulfillment. More often than not, the more men have, the more they want, endlessly churning themselves into a lather on the hamster wheel until their heart gives out and they fall off, only to be replaced by another who’s fallen into the snare of believing that this is where joy is found.

Men demand respect, reverence, and awe; they demand that you defer to their wisdom or the way they see things, but God deserves and is worthy of these things by the nature of who He is and all that He has done.

God’s not asking for something He does not deserve or isn’t owed. From commanding the morning and causing the dawn to know its place, to dividing a channel for the overflowing water, to causing the tender grass to grow, to binding the cluster of the Pleiades, or loosening the belt of Orion, to the ostrich, the horse, the hawk, and man himself, God spoke all into being, and governs them by His mighty hand.

He is worthy! He is worthy of all praise, all honor, all glory, and worship. He is worthy of our obedience, faithfulness, and service. When one is worthy, it means they merit the recognition assigned to them; they have earned it, and not simply implied that they have. He is worthy and none other, no matter how many might claim otherwise.     

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr. 

Job CCCXXXI

 Job 39:19-25, “Have you given the horse strength? Have you clothed his neck with thunder? Can you frighten him like a locust? His majestic snorting strikes terror. He paws in the valley and rejoices in his strength; he gallops into the clash of arms. He mocks at fear and is not frightened; nor does he turn back from the sword. The quiver rattles against him, the glittering spear and javelin. He devours the distance with fierceness and rage; nor does he come to a halt because the trumpet has sounded. At the blast of the trumpet he says, ‘Aha!’ He smells the battle from afar, the thunder of captains and shouting.”

I am not given to equestrian endeavors. I like being on things that can’t buck me off if they get a mind to, like a comfy couch or the beat-up chair in the corner of our den from where I do most of my writing. Even so, it is undeniable that horses are beautiful beasts, majestic creatures, and that’s before realizing how many different breeds there are, and how much they differ in both temperament, size, and purpose.

God did not pick the horse at random when speaking of the nuance of His creation. There is a purpose in it, as there is a purpose in all God says and does, even if we fail to see it or glean the underlying lesson in what He is attempting to convey.

Even someone as admittedly ignorant as myself when it comes to horses in general knows enough to know that, unlike the stork or the ostrich, there are countless variations and breeds of horses. You’ve got Arabians, Appaloosas, Clydesdales, Mustangs, Andalusians, Holsteiners, Palfreys, thoroughbreds, Coursers, and destriers, just to name a few, each with its specific temperament and size.

In the olden days, a good war horse could mean the difference between life and death, victory or defeat, because if the horse is skittish, reticent, or unwilling to go where its rider is guiding it, it will end up either running away from the battle or in the midst of a mêlée the rider never intended to be in.

God drills down and focuses on what one might readily call a warhorse. He focuses on the warhorse’s attributes, different from other breeds and types, attempting to highlight the finite, granular detail in the difference between them and other breeds like Shetland ponies or miniature horses.

I have a friend who, for some unexplained reason, decided having a miniature pony was a good decision. I’ve never seen a more skittish animal in my life. It would jump at its own shadow, and if ever a squirrel decided to square up to him, he would run into the barn as if his tail was on fire. Had someone decided to ride the tiny trotter into battle, they would have been laughed off the battlefield, because the first lesson we must learn from this discourse into what makes for a good warhorse is to pick the right tool for the job, whether that’s a screwdriver, a socket wrench, a saw, a hammer, or the right type of horse.

It doesn’t matter how expensive your socket wrench set was if what you need at that moment is to hammer in a nail. Likewise, a miniature pony might be fun to look at and let the neighbor kids ride once in a while, but it wasn’t bred for war, no matter how fearsome you try to make it look.

The second lesson that, for some, is hard learned is that more often than not, we learn to appreciate the true value of something only once it's gone and no longer within reach. In his famous last words, Richard III cried aloud, “A horse, a horse, my kingdom for a horse!” only after he’d been knocked off his destrier was he forced to fight on foot.

Just because you’ve had the freedom to worship, fellowship, gather, and openly declare your faith for as long as you can remember doesn’t guarantee it will always be this way. Just because you could get a free Bible upon request from most churches, and in a pinch request one from the Gideons, it doesn’t guarantee it will always be as readily accessible. Value the things you take for granted before they are gone, and redeem the time you have in availing yourself of them with the enthusiasm that comes with knowing what they are truly worth.

The warriors of old had an unbreakable bond with their mounts because they understood their value. They cared for their horses, made sure they were well shod, well fed, well groomed, and cared for, because they understood that at some point they would need to depend on their mounts to press on when others would not, mock at fear, and not turn back from the sword.

History tells us that men of unequaled bravery whose lives were spent in war and on the battlefield wept openly when their horses were felled, because to them their warhorse was more than an animal used in service of a purpose, but a companion and friend.

That a warhorse gallops into the clash of arms, that he does not come to a halt because the trumpet has sounded, or that he is not frightened nor turns back from the sword is not a happy accident. There are no such things as happy accidents. God makes it clear that this fierceness and fearlessness were ingrained in their nature from creation, and like all things, it was done purposefully and for a purpose.

Again, the question begs to be asked and answered: if God took such painstaking details into account when it comes to the horse, what makes you think for one second He doesn’t have your situation well in hand? If He meticulously designed and crafted a horse for battle, making it different in temperament and disposition from the placid, timid horses that just want a carrot, what makes you think He is less engaged or aware of your need or pain?

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr.  

Job CCCXXX

 Job 39:13-18, “The wings of the ostrich wave proudly, but are her wings and pinions like the kindly stork’s? For she leaves her eggs on the ground, and warms them in the dust; she forgets that a foot may crush them, or that a wild beast may break them. She treats her young harshly, as though they were not hers; her labor is in vain, without concern, because God deprived her of wisdom, and did not endow her with understanding. When she lifts herself on high, she scorns the horse and its rider.”

If you ever run across a Swiss timepiece, an Italian suit, or a German car, your rightful expectation is that they are impeccably crafted, made of the best materials, and as such highly sought after and coveted. When you drill down even further, you have the premier specialists in a general field that are sought after even more, especially when it comes to art, whether watercolor, oil paints, acrylics, or everything in between.

One’s reaction is different if they chance upon a long-lost Picasso than if they discovered a Roberto original, even though they were of the same generation, applied themselves, and put brush to canvas. Who’s Roberto? Exactly! No clue. I’m sure there was a guy named Roberto in the 1900s who tried just as hard as Pablo Picasso to create masterpieces on canvas, but while one succeeded, the other is long forgotten, with little to no value placed on his creations.

Who the artist is matters more than anything. There have been hand-etched pencil drawings on napkins that fetched more than all of the imaginary Roberto’s works put together, just because a specific artist signed them.

Everything we behold with our eyes and can touch with our fingers, whether the grass, the trees, or the ostrich, was created by the Master Craftsman, the Master Artist, and His signature is on it all, including mankind.

Granted, I wouldn’t go around trying to pet an ostrich; they tend to spit at people, but countless other animals lend themselves to being petted, if you are so inclined.

It’s not subtle. It’s not vague. God did not hide His fingerprints, nor was He working from the shadows. There is no uncertainty as to who created all that exists, because the Word makes it clear that it was God. Even the little things we can’t notice, the things that are not readily perceived, like the difference between how an ostrich and a stork flap their wings, were meticulously taken into account.

What we have in this monologue, which spans two chapters in the book of Job, is nothing less than the Artist explaining His work, His intention behind it, and the subtle brushstrokes that would have gone unnoticed by a cursory or superficial glance. We can either take God at His word and see creation through His eyes, as He explains it, or take the word of self-appointed critics who had no hand in creating the masterpiece that is the world that surrounds us, as they try to blunder their way through attempting to convince us that it was all serendipity, a happy accident that brought everything together and knitted it perfectly.

If you’ve ever seen a critic try to explain a work of art, then later chance upon an interview with the artist explaining his motivation and what his art means, you’ve likely concluded that critics are full of hot air, unanimously self-important and self-aggrandizing, and most often less intelligent than they think themselves to be.

While the critic can go on for an hour explaining how the painting of a man sitting in a rowboat adrift on a lake has profound undercurrents of desperation, and speaks to the soul’s endless search for meaning, when asked what the piece means to him, the artist will likely say that he was walking by a lake one day, saw a man sitting in a boat, and thought it would make for a good painting.

Perhaps there is no deeper meaning as to why the ostrich and the stork flap their wings differently than that God spoke them both into existence, and saw that it was good.

Yes, there are mysteries; there are things worthy of contemplation and deep reflection, but not all things are mysteries. Why we tend to focus on the non-essentials and take the words of men regarding God over God’s words regarding Himself as viable and true is one of those issues that warrants consideration and contemplation.

God doesn’t stutter, nor does He attempt to shroud ignorance in a multitude of words. He is clear, direct, and has made His will known in His Word. No man living or dead can honestly say they don’t know what God wants of them after they’ve read His Word. They cannot plead ignorance or cast the blame at God’s feet for not being clear and forthright enough about His expectations of those who are His.

Micah 6:8, “He has shown you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?”

Ephesians 4:20-24, “But you have not so learned Christ, if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus: that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.”

Romans 12:1-2, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”

That’s all well and good, but Aunt Midge insists I have to burn incense, stand on one foot, and repeat a secret prayer only she is privy to in order to be pleasing in the sight of the Lord. It seems as though God made the way straight and clear, but what if that is a red herring to deceive those unwilling to listen to Aunt Midge?

Stop overcomplicating your walk because someone insists you should. Worship God in spirit and in truth, put off the old man, present your body a living sacrifice, and know what it is to be transformed by the renewing of your mind, walking humbly with your God, and feeling His presence in your life. He has shown you, O man, what is good; you just have to be willing to see it and follow through with action.

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr.  

Job CCCXXIX

 Job 39:5-12, “Who set the wild donkey free? Who loosed the bonds of the onager, whose home I have made in the wilderness, and the barren land his dwelling? He scorns the tumult of the city; he does not heed the shouts of the driver. The range of the mountains is his pasture, and he searches after every green thing. Will the wild ox be willing to serve you? Will he bed by your manger? Can you bind the wild ox in the furrow with ropes? Or will he plow the valleys behind you? Will you trust him because his strength is great? Or will you leave your labor to him? Will you trust him to bring home your grain, and gather it to your threshing floor?”

There is one God. There is one King on the throne, and all the rest are pretenders to it. Men might aspire to the title of little gods, but once we get a glimpse into what God can do, what He has done, who He is, the detail that went into the creation of something as insignificant as the wild donkey, or the wild ox, we soon realize that though they might claim to be deities, they fall short of the definition, and vastly so.

Even so, self-delusion is a powerful aphrodisiac, and there have been those throughout history who insisted that they could readily replace the God of the universe, and in their hubris insisted they could do a better job of it. When pressed on the issue and asked what they would have done differently, it’s always some vague, opaque thing about healing the world, or making men live in brotherhood, not understanding the underlying implications of either.

As far as the world goes, God created a perfect world, harmonious and wondrous. It’s not God who systematically went on a rampage to destroy His wondrous creation; it was man. It’s akin to my wife baking a cake, perfect in every way, then having one of the neighbor kids come by and crush it into an oddly shaped amalgam of frosting, unrecognizable in its current form from what it was intended to be, then blaming my wife for making such an unappetizing dessert. What she made was glorious, and she is not to blame for its destruction because it wasn’t her hands that crushed it and mangled it, but the hands of another.

As far as the brotherhood of man is concerned, if free will does not exist, then all we would end up being are automatons, robots in flesh suits going about doing the bidding of another without agency or choice. Compulsion isn’t love. Love is not compulsory. We choose to love. We choose to submit. We choose to worship. We choose to honor. We choose to obey. God’s desire is that we choose Him and reciprocate the love He has shown, rather than force us into fealty like some medieval overlord who sacked a neighboring village and now rules over the peasants with an iron fist.

Yes, God reveals Himself; God entreats; God beckons; God calls, but we must heed the call, answer His entreaties, and choose to humble ourselves at the foot of the cross and follow after Him.

When Joshua stood before the people and declared, “Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve”, it means they had a choice! As for him and his house, the choice had already been made. They would serve the Lord in sincerity and truth.

You can’t serve two masters; you must choose one. The choice is yours, as are the consequences. I can’t drag you into heaven; I can’t browbeat you into serving God in sincerity and truth; I can’t force you to take your walk seriously and circumspectly, putting away the things you know are hindering your spiritual growth. All I can do is tell you what the Book says, and reaffirm the truth that there are no exemptions or carveouts for anyone. I’m not special, and neither are you. What God demands of the least He demands of the greatest.

Whosoever means whosoever. God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him would not perish but have everlasting life. Belief isn’t something that can be projected onto another, nor is it something that can be forced upon someone. It is inherent and inborn to the individual and something they must come to discover and acquire.

You can tell me you were teleported to heaven and played hopscotch with the Almighty until you’re blue in the face; you may even believe it, but I don’t. See how that works? I believe that Jesus is the only begotten Son of God, the only means by which man might be reconciled to the Father, that He lived, died, and rose again and ascended into heaven, not because someone told me I should believe it, but because to the deepest recesses of my soul, to the marrow of my bones, I do.

The reality of Jesus must be experienced on a personal and intimate level. It can’t be a second- or third-hand retelling of how another was saved and born again, but something you must experience for yourself. What good does it do a blind man if someone tells them they’ve seen a Monet in person? They have no frame of reference; they don’t know what a Monet is, and the most vivid description of one won’t come close to the reality of seeing it.

I once was blind, but now I see. I once was lost, but now am found. I once had no hope, but now He is my hope. I once had no purpose, but now He is my purpose. All these are true, but fall short of describing what it is to be born again, to be transformed, to be made new, and to be reconciled to God.

Another aspect that stood out in God’s description of His attributes is that none of them have anything to do with destruction or chaos. Every one is about order, creation, and the painstaking detail that went into speaking the world we take for granted into being. There is a reason Jesus said He is the light of the world, and not the darkness thereof.

John 8:12, “Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, ‘I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.’”

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr.