Job CCXXIX

 Between the “nothing is as it seems crowd” and the “everything is exactly as it seems crowd”, there are those blessed few who understand that some things are not as they seem, some are, and some will remain a mystery no matter how much they dwell on it. From doctors who can’t explain the miraculous recovery of a terminal patient, to why your wife’s smile is broader when you do the dishes without being asked than when you bring her flowers, some things just can’t be understood, no matter how hard we try to understand them.

As far as the sudden recoveries go, the doctors who don’t view themselves as something akin to a god possessing the power of life and death will allow for the possibility of a miracle and concede that some things are beyond their understanding. As far as the reason for the wife’s broader smile, that’s a mystery unlikely to ever be solved.

Job was attempting to show his friends that not everything was black and white, that some things don’t fit neatly into one box or the other, but in order for them to concede the point, they would have to admit that they had erred, and that would mean swallowing their pride. Better to accuse an innocent man of wickedness than to admit your conclusion was in error. They were, after all, learned men, men who understood patterns and historical precedent, and that was enough for them to keep doubling down.

Recent events and disclosures prove that sometimes the most despicable among us continue to prosper for a season, even when the best they deserve for the rest of their existence is a damp, windowless dungeon with the resident rats and mice as their only company and source of sustenance. Some of the most notable names and richest men on the planet have been exposed as being monsters wearing human flesh, and if Zophar’s conclusions had been true of every wicked man, they would have been served justice decades ago.

That’s what Job was trying to point out. From the outside looking in, at least some percentage of the time, the wicked did not suffer the consequences of their actions but enjoyed lives filled with mirth and abundance.

The thing Job’s friends failed to understand is that for those walking in the Spirit, for those wholly submitted to God, there are no longer qualifiers for the things occurring in their lives. They don’t live out their days dividing the good and the bad that occurred in a given week, weighing and measuring if more good than bad took place, but receive it all as God’s plan and purpose, trusting that even what seems bad in the moment will work together for good at some point in the future.

My grandfather’s passing was hard on me. To be fair, hard doesn’t even begin to describe it. I pleaded with God, begged with Him, tried to bargain with Him, all in the hope that God would extend his days. It turned out it was his time, God took him home, he went to his reward, and for the briefest of moments, I was bitter, broken, disillusioned, and bereft.

This was the man who’d taught me how to fish, ride a bike, shoot a slingshot, a man whose faithfulness I’d witnessed my whole life, who did his duty even when the pain would have felled any other, who sacrificed everything to preach an unpopular message to an indifferent church, and for all that he would return to the earth from which he came while others whose only concern was for themselves lived on to ripe old ages.

Yes, I thought as a child, and in my defense, I was still a child, comparatively speaking. I could not see God’s plan in taking him home as anything positive, as something good, and I wrestled with God over this matter because I wanted an answer. I needed a resolution, closure, something that would make it make sense.

I was my grandfather’s interpreter. I traveled with him not because God gave me the message for America, but because he needed someone to translate his words into English and deliver them to the people in a way they could understand. I had no aspiration for ministry beyond my grandfather’s need for my being his translator. In the back of my mind, there was always a plan for after; I just never imagined the after would come so soon.

I didn’t have a clear plan for what I would do with my life after my duty to my grandfather ended, but I had an outline. I was going to go back to school, become an archeologist, and spend the rest of my days digging in the dirt in hard-to-reach places far away from the hustle and bustle of big cities, alone with God, with a chisel and a trowel. That was the dream. That was all I wanted, and it did not seem unattainable.

There’s the adage that if you want to make God laugh, all you have to do is tell Him your plans. I told God my plans, and He didn’t laugh; He just said no. I tried explaining it again, with more context and detail this time, and He still said no. Having never been one given to petulance, stomping my feet and holding my breath until God saw it my way, I offered up all the reasons why this would be the best course for my life, harkening back to the decade-plus I’d faithfully served without groaning or demands for remuneration, and once again I was denied.

Sometimes it takes more than once for God to say no before you resign yourself and submit to His will. Perhaps it’s just me. Perhaps everyone else takes having their life’s trajectory derailed and their plans turned to ash in stride, but I wasn’t as smart as all that.

When God finally revealed what He wanted me to do, it was the one thing I prayed He would never ask of me: to continue the work my grandfather had started. I’d lived it since I was twelve, and I knew the sacrifices it required, the hardships that would have to be endured, and if I’d had a choice in the matter, I would have gladly passed it off to another without a second thought.

I didn’t have a choice, though, not really. The one choice afforded to me was no choice at all, which was to disobey God, and that was something I would not, and could not do. Would I have been as content digging in the dirt instead of doing what I’m doing? Perhaps, perhaps not, but I would have been in rebellion had I chosen the path not taken, and that would have been detrimental to my spiritual man.

When God changes the plans you’ve made for yourself, it’s for a purpose. It’s not because He doesn’t want you to be happy, or fulfilled, it’s not because He doesn’t want you to live your dream, but because He has a different path in mind for you, a different calling, a different journey, a different purpose, one that you may not see in the moment as greater than your own plans, but that will be exceedingly more rewarding if you choose to pick up your cross and follow after Him.       

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr. 

Job CCXXVIII

 The proud, the haughty, the hedonistic, and the self-indulgent may scoff at the idea that the true worth of a man is not in the wealth he possesses, the authority he commands, or the respect he garners from his contemporaries, but it is one of the most profound truths that one can learn early in life. It frames the entirety of your existence wherein you extend kindness to prince and pauper alike, wherein you show humility in every area of your life, and you learn to value the thing that matters above all else, which is the knowledge of God as Father, Lord, King, and Savior.

Jeremiah 9:23-24, “Thus says the Lord: ‘Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, let not the mighty man glory in his might, nor let the rich man glory in his riches; but let him who glories glory in this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the Lord, exercising lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth. For in these I delight,’ says the Lord.”

Any pursuit not directly beneficial to your spiritual man is wasted effort, and worse still, a waste of time that you can never get back, no matter how much you try. Any spiritual pursuit not directly focused, anchored, and centered on Jesus is likewise a waste.

If that sounds restrictive or exclusionary, it’s because it is. The supremacy of Christ is not a point of debate. He is singularly the Son of God, He singularly died on the cross for the sins of man, He singularly rose again on the third day, and He is singularly the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father but by Him.

It’s a straightforward enough statement, yet time and again the spiritual leaders of the day try to water down this all-encompassing truth, insisting that there are different paths to the same destination and that choosing which god to serve is like choosing the flavor of ice cream you prefer. It’s all ice cream in the end, just different flavors. Sure, there are some outliers like sherbet or gelato, but in a pinch, they’ll pass for ice cream, too, because the more choices you give someone, the likelier they are to become a customer.

There is no other way by which a man can be saved than through Jesus. There is only one item on that menu, and there are no specials or substitutions, nor can you bring your own bagged lunch to eat inside. Jesus is the only way.

That doesn’t sound very inclusive. What happened to the big tent mindset? It was a lie, it is a lie, and it will continue to be a lie. If the desire of your heart is to serve God, then you must do so based on His rules and not your own. Anyone who insists on playing by their own rules while claiming to serve the God of the Bible is lying to themselves and the world at large.

No, eternity is not a game, but the analogy applies because of the implicit and explicit rules. If you’re playing basketball and someone starts body slamming his opponents, taking the ball and walking it to the net, they’re no longer playing basketball because they are not adhering to the pre-established rules.

If you want to enter heaven, there is only one door, and you must walk through it to enter therein. The door is Jesus, for only He can save, transform, and sanctify. Only He can reconcile man to God, and anyone who hints at another avenue, or the possibility that there is another way, is lying to your face.

Job 21:9-13, “Their houses are safe from fear, neither is the rod of God upon them. Their bull breeds without failure; their cow calves without miscarriage. They send forth their little ones like a flock, and their children dance. They sing to the tambourine and harp, and rejoice to the sound of the flute. They spend their days in wealth, and in a moment go down to the grave.”

While Zophar outlined what the lot of the wicked was, insinuating that Job was wicked because he was checking off all the boxes, Job looked at the world from a different angle, one that shattered Zophar’s thesis.

Without absolute intellectual honesty, we tend to see only what we want to see. Zophar saw what he wanted to see. He saw the ultimate judgment of the wicked, but failed to acknowledge that wicked men still prospered until they didn’t.

Job’s approach was more nuanced, more balanced, because given his former status, he’d likely run across such men with regularity. In Job’s eyes, it seemed as though the wicked had not a care in the world. The wicked prospered, became mighty in power, lived and grew old, they spent their days in wealth, and when the time came for them to shuffle off this mortal coil, they did so quickly and without a protracted season of pain and torment.

It’s far easier to wrap our minds around the prospering of the wicked than it is the trials of the righteous, because, while on the one hand God makes the sun rise on the evil and on the good alike, and sends rain on the just and the unjust, the trials and tribulations of the righteous seem unfair to both our sensibilities and our intellect.

We’ve adopted the world’s mindset that good things happen to good people, bad things happen to bad people, and when something bad happens to a good person, we can’t understand it. Because our understanding is limited, because our thoughts and God’s thoughts are oceans apart, and our purpose and His purpose differ, we tend to become modern-day Zophars, concluding there must be some hidden wickedness that precipitated their trial.

It’s the most straightforward conclusion to reach, requiring no thought, nuance, or follow-up questions. I have a few questions, though. Who determines that the thing is bad, man or God? Who determines that a man is good? Who can rightly say they see the end from the beginning as God does, and conclude that God is being unjust or unfair, given that their view is limited to the present and unable to see into tomorrow?

Whatever trial you may be going through, trust God. Whatever hardship you may be enduring, trust God. He sees what you cannot, He knows what you do not, and His word tells us that all things work together for good to those who love Him, and are called according to His purpose.       

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr. 

Job CCXXVII

 People approach life from different angles, via different avenues, but they all lead to the same core, the same center, regardless of where they start. For some, the path is straight; for others, it's meandering. Some get to it quickly, while others struggle against its pull, intuiting that giving in is an empty, meaningless life, but in the end, save for divine intervention and the revelation of a new path heretofore unseen, everyone finds themselves in the same spot. It’s the center of the maze, the reason for lies, deceit, heartlessness, greed, selfishness, malice, and all forms of evil.  

Well? What is it? I’m sure you’ve guessed it by now, but in case you haven’t, that center is the self. Whether it’s self-reliance, self-esteem, self-worth, self-motivation, self-promotion, or selfishness, it all funnels to the self, gravitates toward it, and makes the self the singular priority of one’s existence.

As long as I get mine, I am unconcerned with what others are going through. As long as I have my mansion on the hill, my private jet, my chauffeured limo, and my excesses, I will compromise, obfuscate, align myself with the worst kind of evil, and not lose a minute’s sleep over it. The ends justify the means every time, even if the means require that I sell my soul, hurt people who trusted me, and betray the gospel of Christ, because I am my own god and my entire existence is in service to me.

The current state of the contemporary church, and especially its leaders, has more to do with those who ought to know better living in service to their flesh, catering to it, and prioritizing it, than with the active meddling of the devil. It’s not that he wouldn’t have meddled if he needed to, but why bother when the televangelists, preachers, pastors, and heads of denominations were doing his work for him voluntarily and free of charge? We haven’t seen false prophets and false Christs showing great signs and wonders as yet because it’s been unnecessary.

The focus on the self, this present life, the here and now, is but the first salvo in a multi-pronged war, and it’s been more successful than the enemy could have ever dreamed. There was no need to threaten prison, persecution, or martyrdom when all it took for the church to capitulate was an offer of luxury, country clubs, gated communities, and Japanese Wagyu.

Those days are coming, be sure of it, because the Bible warns us that they will, but that will only be after the sifting, the purging, and the separation of those who serve Jesus with their hearts from those who say they serve Him with their lips. When a glut of souls pretends to serve Jesus only for the earthly benefits they’ve been told He offers, once that offer is no longer on the table, they will gravitate toward some other deity that promises them the comfort and ease of life they were promised by the faux-representatives of Christ.

It was never about fealty to Christ; it was about fealty to self and using Christ as the means by which they could achieve what their flesh wanted all along. That’s the hard part we must come to terms with: that many claiming to be His were never really His to begin with. They were never true soldiers of the cross but mercenaries offering their services to the highest bidder, no matter who that bidder happened to be. Their loyalty extended only as far as themselves, and whatever master they served was interchangeable as long as they got what they were after.

For the better part of a generation, if not longer, Christianity has been incrementally made less about Jesus and more about self, to the point that, for many, Jesus has become an afterthought. How can we be the temple of God without the presence of His Spirit indwelling in us? How can His Spirit indwell in us if we refuse to repent or resist being transformed into His likeness because we love the sin in our lives more than we love Him?

1 Corinthians 3:16-17, “Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are.”  

While we are told from various pulpits that we are the pinnacle of everything, that it’s all about us, and the universe itself must bend to our will, God says crucify the flesh, crucify the self, crucify the image of you that you have in your mind’s eye, and become reliant on Me. Become dependent on me. Find your joy, your fulfilment, your purpose, and your worth in what My Son did for you on the cross, and understand that any nobility you may attain, any righteousness you may project is as filthy rags without My Son’s blood having washed and made you clean.

For some, it’s a big ask. So much so that they try to thread the needle in such a way that they’ll rely on their strength, intelligence, aptitudes, and abilities for as long as they can, and only after they see the ragged edges, the threads pulling apart, and the ground upon which they stand begin to shift do they run to God for aid. They make it all about themselves until it’s no longer tenable, and only then do they grudgingly acknowledge their own weakness, impotence, and frailty.

Even when Job was on top of the world, he was still reliant on God. Even when he had everything he’d ever want or need, he served God from a pure heart and a genuine desire to fellowship with Him and not because he wanted more stuff or felt as though he had to fake his faithfulness in order to retain the things he had. How can I be sure of this? Because God knows the heart of man, and He declared it to be so. You can fake it until you make it in the eyes of the world, but God is not so gullible. You can’t get one over on Him. He knows the intent behind all we do, and those who serve Him out of a genuine desire for relationship and fellowship with Him will know His presence and hear His voice.  

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr. 

Job CCXXVI

 Job 21:4-8, “As for me, is my complaint against man? And if it were, why should I not be impatient? Look at me and be astonished; put your hand over your mouth. Even when I remember I am terrified, and trembling takes hold of my flesh. Why do the wicked live and become old, yes, become mighty in power? Their descendants are established with them in their sight, and their offspring before their eyes.”

You’re attacking me, and I’m beseeching, entreating, pleading with, and crying out to God. The two are not the same. You accuse me of things I haven’t done, and I plead my innocence. The two are not the same. You conspire to shake my faith, to make me give up, to curse God and die, and conclude that I am deserving of my lot. I cry out to God, asking that He reveal my error to me if there is error, that He reveal my wickedness to me if there is wickedness, and I will repent of it. The two are not the same.

Job didn’t threaten to sue for defamation; he didn’t pull out a stack of NDAs and insist that his friends sign them; he didn’t try to create a straw man or point to others in similar situations, thereby justifying his own actions. He was an innocent man who pleaded with God in the presence of his friends, and not with his friends in the presence of God.

If there was any doubt, Job made it clear: as for me, is my complaint against man? Obviously not, because what could any man do to ease my suffering, or remedy my situation? What could any man do to take away the pain or inject some hope into my weary soul?

Job knew that if there was any hope, it was found in God. His friends had become burdensome, cumbersome, a noisy nuisance that he felt obliged to answer, but as far as hoping they had some means of rectifying his situation, there was none to be found.

Few in the history of mankind have found themselves in a situation as dire as Job’s. I can’t think of one offhand, but there must have been at least a handful that came close. Conversely, we’ve all had varying degrees of hardship, of seemingly impossible situations, or valleys and rocky roads that seemed to never end, and in those moments, we choose to run to God or to men.

Perhaps it’s thinking that the problem isn’t big enough to bother God with, so we will try to rectify it on our own, only to discover we’ve made it worse than we could have imagined. Perhaps it’s hoping we can prove to God that we can manage without His intervention. Maybe we’re just stubborn and stiff-necked, but whatever the reason may be that we don’t run to God first, in the end, we live to regret it.

The best man can offer, whether friends, brothers, sisters, or family, however well-meaning and well-intentioned, is what amounts to a temporary fix. God is the only one who can offer permanent solutions.

It’s the difference between discovering you have a flat tire, putting air in it, only to discover it’s flat again come the morning, and getting a new tire, without a puncture that will hold air for months if not years to come.

I’ve lived long enough to see the folly of trusting men to solve issues God could readily remedy. I’ve also seen the danger of impatience when it comes to not waiting on the Lord to do it, and striking out on one’s own, thinking we know better. Job knew enough to know that men would not have a hand in his restoration if there were any to be had. He knew that trying to appease his friends was likewise a nonstarter.

All he had left was God, and God was more than enough. This is a good reminder and a teachable moment for everyone, including myself. God is sufficient, no matter your trial or situation. He is enough. Even in your most desperate moments and your darkest season, God is all you need. Run to Him! Not after you’ve exhausted every avenue, not when there’s nothing left to cling to, but first, every time, without fail, and your faith will grow and mature with every iteration of seeing that your trust was not misplaced, and that He did not fail you.

Job’s complaint was not against man, but if it had been, he would have been within his rights to be impatient. Job knew that man cannot see as God sees, man cannot hear as God hears, and man cannot intervene as God can, and his first salvo seems a bit tongue-in-cheek.

If my words were targeted toward you, by now I would be within my rights to be impatient given that I’ve seen nothing by way of resolution, but fear not, my friends, I know the extent of your impotence and inability to affect my current lot, and so it’s not you I’m pleading with, it’s with the God whom I know can do what you cannot.

Were my hope tethered in you, I would be a man bereft, watching the ashes of my life slip through my fingers, adrift in an ocean of pain and hopelessness, with no shoreline in sight, or hope for redress.

But, even as I am, broken, shattered, and stripped of everything, including my own dignity, I cling to the One who knew me before He formed me in my mother’s womb, who counts the hairs on my head, who sees me as I am, and I will trust Him still.

Though He slay me, yet I will trust Him. Even so, I will defend my own ways before Him. If that sounds familiar, Job spoke those words some eight chapters back. His position had not shifted. He had not given up addressing God, nor had he shifted his focus from what God saw in him to what his friends thought of him. He remained consistent, knowing that how God sees us is the only thing that matters. Does God view you as a son or daughter? Does God count you as His own? If so, it matters not what the world, your family, your friends, or anyone else thinks of you. Strive to be pleasing in the sight of the Lord and not praised by the forked tongues of the world, and you will always have God on your side, no matter the situation.

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr. 

Job CCXXV

 Job 21:1-3, “Then Job answered and said: “Listen carefully to my speech, and let this be your consolation. Bear with me that I may speak, and after I have spoken, keep mocking.’”

Some people are talkers, others are listeners, and a handful know how to balance the two and speak when they ought, listen when they should, and do it in such a way as to make the other person feel as though they weren’t speaking to a brick wall, or listening to a monologue rather than having a dialogue.

When someone has a tendency to ramble, I let them. If they like the sound of their own voice so much, why should I be the one to yuck their yum? It happens on occasion when someone asks to interview me, and for thirty minutes or an hour, depending on the length of the program, I hear my life story read back to me, and other than thanking the individual for having me on their program, I could barely get a word in edgeways. I’m glad they did their research, or at least know how to use the interwebs well enough to pull up my bio, but if I made the time to block out an hour of my life to focus solely on having a conversation, it would be nice to actually have one.

Some of the most brilliant interviewers of our day have mastered one skill: listening. Especially when it comes to long-form interviews, it’s not the ones that like to flex their vocabulary muscles, those who want to prove how smart they are, or those that like to hear the sound of their own voice that stand out, but those that ask a simple question, and wait for the answer, allowing for the interviewee to make their point without interruption.

Once they’ve made their point, if the need arises, there are follow-up questions, requests for clarification, or the fleshing out of an idea, but for the most part, the interviewer listens.

Conversely, some of the most insufferable individuals roaming about today are those who act as though the person they’re trying to have a dialogue with isn’t even there, because they need to make their point, they need to be right, and they deem the person before them to be beneath them, whether socially or intellectually.

Job knew his friends would likely bristle at what he had to say and would feel compelled to interrupt, challenge, or otherwise verbally try to steamroll over him, so he made it clear that it would be greatly appreciated if they’d let him get his point across, and once that was done, they could return to their previously scheduled program of mocking him. It wasn’t that he held out hope of convincing them. That ship had already sailed, and he knew their mockery would return anew once he was done speaking, but sometimes things must be said for posterity if nothing else.

Even though Job knew the three men who had been accusing him would not change course, and that they would continue down the path of accusation, insinuation, and mockery, he likewise knew he could not keep silent. Even at the risk of having his words seen as cynical, serving to solidify their preconceptions, because an innocent person wouldn’t get so defensive about such things, Job knew he must answer.

One of the most off-putting things you can witness is when an accuser starts playing the victim in order to save face. They can’t prove that the individual they’ve accused has done anything untoward; there is no evidence to substantiate their claim. Yet they keep at it until the person speaks up, and suddenly they feel victimized for being called out. It’s a defense mechanism, a way of saving face without having to concede to the fact that there was nothing substantive in the words you spoke against them.

Some people project guilt on others simply because they’ve concluded that the individual they are attempting to sully needs to come down a peg or two. Taking the words of Job’s friends in the aggregate and at face value, one can’t help but wonder if they’d harbored some resentment against him, and now was the perfect opportunity to let it all out.

The greatest of all the people of the East, huh? How did that turn out for you?

Everyone has someone in their life who will gleefully celebrate their demise. It’s sad, it’s tragic, but it’s also true. What’s worse is that sometimes the individual in question is so unexpected as to blindside you, and now, rather than dealing with one heartache, heartbreak, loss, or tragedy, you’re dealing with two because someone you thought was a friend is holding a bloody knife, grinning maliciously, and waiting for you to expire.

My words may not sway you, you may not alter your course, you will likely think worse of me by the time I’m done, but I need to speak them nonetheless. If ever you were my friends, if ever you cared for me, show me this mercy, extend this grace, bear with me that I may speak, and when I am done, do as you will.

It would not require an overactive imagination to conclude that this seemed like the last wish of a dying man. Given that conjecture was the bread and butter of Job’s three friends, by this point, I doubt any of them held out hope of his being restored. In their minds, Job was getting what he deserved because if he wasn’t guilty of everything they’d presumed him to be guilty of, why would God have allowed him to fall so far so quickly?

Between their confirmation biases, feedback loops agreeing with each other, and the undeniable wretched condition Job was in, there was no other plausible explanation that Job’s three friends would entertain, and he saw the reality of it plainly written on their faces. He was no longer asking that they believe him, just that they bite their tongues long enough for him to say what he needed to say.      

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr. 

Job CCXXIV

 Because self-discipline is looked down upon as legalistic and prudish, and self-control is seen as limiting the freedoms we have in Christ, much of what calls itself the church today is impulsive, reactionary, fickle, faithless, easily swayed, and prone to speaking before thinking, and doing so with such inflection and passion as to convince others they actually know what they’re talking about.

The moment their words are challenged, not because someone has a bone to pick with them personally, but because the words they are speaking do not harmonize with Scripture but rather contradict it, the moment people look beyond the presentation to the substance of their claims, they’re quick to insist that it was the Lord telling them these things as a means of deflection.

It was some type of new revelation that they alone received, and if you dare to rebuke them, or call them out for the liars they are, you are resisting the Lord himself. That it’s usually some self-serving drivel that puts them squarely in the spotlight is unsurprising and should be a clear warning sign, but we’ve been cultivating a culture of man worship for so long that a hefty spoonful of self-promotion no longer raises any alarms.

One can’t help but shake their head and wonder if some people really have no shame, and the short answer is no, they don’t, they have no shame at all. Shame left the building decades ago, and now their entire purpose is to elevate themselves above Scripture itself and insulate themselves from criticism by invoking the Lord and insisting He is the originator of their fabrications.

We’ve adopted the mindset that the institution must be defended at all costs, even if it means giving false teachers and false prophets a pass, without realizing we’re voluntarily walking into the enemy’s snare. Jesus is not an institution, He is not a denomination, and the idea that the faith itself will not survive if some big name gets exposed for the evils they’ve committed is a bold-faced lie, and one that has damaged the household of faith to the point that it’s on life support, gasping for breath, with no strength or purpose to speak of.

You cannot build a house on rotten timbers and expect it to stand. You cannot prop up a ministry or a denomination on the shoulders of a compromised, deceptive individual and expect it to thrive. It doesn’t matter who the person is if the person isn’t Jesus; whatever they’ve managed to build will come to ruin, for He is the One who sustains, refines, and builds up a work not for the glory of man but for the glory of God the Father.

When we are not rooted in the Word of God, we swing from one extreme to the other like a pendulum, ever a slave to its own momentum. We go from believing everything to believing nothing, from desiring spiritual gifts to wanting nothing to do with them, when our position as children of God should be nuanced and purposeful.

We can believe in the prophetic without despising it, as we were instructed, yet also test all things to ensure they originate from God and are in harmony with His word.

1 Thessalonians 5:19-22, “Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophecies. Test all things; hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil.”

Those are the guardrails. Those are the dos and don’ts. As long as you do not quench the Spirit, do not despise prophesies, but test all things and hold fast what is good, you will not be swayed nor blown to and fro like a reed in a hurricane.

The key is to test all things not through the prism of one’s own understanding, prejudices, or inclinations, but via the prism of God’s Word. That is how we determine whether something is good and worth holding fast to, or whether it is deception couched in a layer of truth and to be discarded, knowing it will be detrimental to our spiritual walk.

I do not have the authority to determine what is good, and neither do you. God does, and He has detailed it in His Word. If we dismiss the Word of God as the filter by which we test all things and lean on our own understanding, our understanding will draw us further away from the light because our understanding is rooted in the heart and the mind, which are flesh, and flesh is at enmity with God.

Follow your heart, and it will lead you to ruin. Follow men, and they will lead you to resentment and disillusionment. Follow God, and He will lead you to green pastures and still waters.        

Misery, loving company, would be a satisfactory explanation for why the deceived do their utmost to draw others into their deception if it were not for the reality that there is a nefarious third party involved who is willing to do anything, say anything, and align himself with anyone to reach his intended ends.

One inevitably grows more sober-minded, disciplined, and cautious when they realize the lengths to which the devil will go to sow doubt, fear, deception, resentment, or bitterness in their hearts. The presence of Christ in one’s life, not occasionally but perpetually, is the antidote to all of these and more.          

Job 20:25-29, “He pulls it out of his back, the gleaming point out of his liver. Terrors will come over him; total darkness lies in wait for his treasures. A fire unfanned will consume him and devour what is left in his tent. The heavens will expose his guilt; the earth will rise up against him. A flood will carry off his house, rushing waters on the day of God’s wrath. Such is the fate God allots the wicked, the heritage appointed for them by God.”

Evil has no future. It is a truth that Zophar repeatedly hammered home, the only problem being that it did not apply to Job. No, Zophar wasn’t wrong about anything he said regarding the wicked and their ultimate end, for it is the fate God allots the wicked; however, Job was not in the camp of the wicked as Zophar and his friends presumed, and that is where they erred.

It would be myopic to dismiss Zophar’s words altogether just because they did not apply to Job. He wasn’t wrong about the fate of the wicked, just about his friend being numbered among them. There is truth in the words he spoke, and that truth is both revelatory and pertinent when removing Job from the equation.

You can be right and wrong at the same time, depending on the context and a specific situation. Zophar proved it beyond a doubt, but rather than stir him to humility, his pride compelled him to double down.  

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr. 

Job CCXXIII

 When a man is wise in his own eyes, it’s difficult to get him to acknowledge the flaws in his logic. You’d have an easier time rolling a boulder up a hill while on crutches than getting them to concede that, although, generally speaking, their words are valid, and their conclusions are apt, in this specific context, they are flawed, and do not apply.

It’s not as though Job hadn’t tried to convince his friends that they were barking up the wrong tree. It’s not as though he hadn’t pointed out time and again that he was not guilty of the wickedness they’d assumed him guilty of because of what he was going through. He had repeatedly, yet in their hubris, they would not allow for another possibility than the one they’d already come to.

Professing to be wise, thinking oneself wise, and being wise are neither the same thing nor are they interchangeable. Anyone can profess to be wise. Anyone can claim wisdom. Only God can determine who is wise indeed. What makes a man wise? That is the fundamental question. Is it the piece of paper from the online seminary that makes one wise? Is it being a professional student collecting degrees like some people collect baseball cards? Is it a position you hold? Is it a title you possess, or is it something else?

As is always the case, the Word of God has the answer, and it is neither opaque nor difficult to understand.

Proverbs 9:10, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.”

The first step on one’s journey toward wisdom is the fear of the Lord. That’s what the Book says. Absent the fear of the Lord, one cannot hope to attain true wisdom, no matter how many classes they take, how many workshops they attend, or how many sweaty hands are laid upon their heads, imparting wisdom to them. The fear of the Lord is the environment in which wisdom can grow, flourish, broaden, deepen, and mature. Without it, true wisdom is always out of reach, ethereal, and unattainable.

Proverbs 26:12, “Do you see a man wise in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him.”

Harsh? Perhaps. True? Undeniably so. It’s evident in every arena and on a daily basis. You have individuals who are wise in their own eyes with the degrees to prove it, unable to answer a question as fundamental as whether men can get pregnant. Anyone could be stumped by a question, I guess, but I never thought anyone would get stumped by that specific question.

Ask a farmer, a welder, a fisherman, or a handyman the same question, and although they might not have diplomas gracing the walls of their shack, they can answer the question without missing a beat because while one is wise in their own eyes, the other has basic common sense that goes a long way to proving wisdom.

A degree from Harvard or Yale is not the beginning of wisdom, but the fear of the Lord is. All the things the world obsesses about, focuses on, and sacrifices its time to don’t amount to anything more than stroking one’s vanity, especially if what you’re learning doesn’t apply to everyday life, if you haven’t learned a skill, whatever that skill might be, or if you don’t add any value to anyone but your ego.

It’s why you have people with college degrees working at the local Piggly Wiggly. You have a degree in liberal arts with a minor in indigenous Peloponnesian women’s fashion of the seventeenth century? That’s fabulous, congratulations. Now remember, you have to double-bag anything made of glass or that weighs more than three pounds. Oh, and remember to smile and wish the customers a good day.

A piece of paper saying you are educated is only worth as much as someone is willing to pay you in order to ply your trade and put your skills to use. Evidently, knowing the ins and outs of Peloponnesian high fashion in the seventeenth century is worth precisely $12.50 an hour.

There is only one way to gauge true wisdom, and that is whether or not the individual possesses the fear of the Lord. It is a wisdom that acts as a guiding light, as a prism by which you make the choices you make and pursue the things you pursue.

If the fear of the Lord is at the forefront of your mind daily, you will inherently understand the futility of this present world and the things thereof and set your sights firmly upon Christ and the cross. There will be no turning, no second-guessing, no feeling of regret for not having taken a different road or pursued a different vocation. He satisfies. His presence and power never wither nor fade, for His mercies are new every morning.

Those who say Jesus is not enough and go on endless crusades to convince others to likewise deconstruct their faith never really knew Jesus. They may have read of Him, heard of Him, seen others in true relationship with Him, waved a hand, said a prayer, had an intellectual understanding of who He is, but as far as feeling His indwelling presence, love, peace, comfort, and joy, they never did. How could I be so certain? Because once you feel the presence of God, everything else is dim and unsatisfying. Once you know Him as Lord, King, and Master of your life, there is no going back to the bondage and despair of yesterday.

It’s no accident that those who decide to deny the Lordship of Christ, deconstruct their faith, and insist that they’re now spiritual rather than saved and sanctified find the tallest rooftops from which they can announce their rebellion. You don’t see such rabid denunciation of anything else in their lives, yet this is the one thing they have to be loud and proud about. No one’s out there screeching how they left their wife, left their job, or left their pet pug on the side of the road, but the chorus of those who left Christianity behind is growing ever louder, and it’s with a purpose. The purpose is to demoralize those who are still walking faithfully with Jesus, and hoping to plant seeds of doubt in their hearts. It is a tool of the enemy, and these individuals are being used by Satan, whether wittingly or unwittingly.

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr.