Your hands shaped me and made me. Will you now turn and destroy me? – Job 10:8

Today’s Scripture Reading (March 21, 2012): Job 10

I have a question. Does ownership imply that the owner has authority or responsibility? I have to admit that it is a question that I wrestle with. It is not that I own that much, but I sometimes wonder what it does mean to own anything. For the big ticket items in my life, maybe it is a little of both – or more precisely, the authority element exists (I can sell or dispose of any item I own - any time that I want to), but it is the responsibility side of ownership that I occupies more of my time and on a more daily basis. Acting responsibly with what I own means I am taking positive steps to protect the value of my possessions. But I still am not sure what the primary attribute is – authority because it is the ultimate power to dispose of my property or responsibility because that is the attribute that occupies most of my time.

As far as the Bible is concerned, God holds the ownership papers on all that is. But the Bible does the same balancing act that we do on the idea of ownership. Sometimes I hear a parent joke to an annoying child that “I brought you into the world and I can take you out of it” (at least, I hope that they are joking.) But the words could actually be spoken by God. He created this world and everything that is in it – and at his command he could destroy it.

And yet, that is not his action. Job asks God, “Is now the time that you will destroy me.” And our response is to ask whether it is within the rights of God to do that? And the only answer that I can come up with is – why not? The truth is that we are doing a pretty good job at destroying this world ourselves. But God’s most common response, testified to by the fact that we are still here and the world hasn’t been destroyed, is one of responsibility.

Even within the story of Job, it is God’s responsibility for the world that wins out. The story starts off with Job being bragged about by God to Satan, but by the end of the story there is no one in the story that God is really proud of. But God isn’t about to take anyone out either. His desire is to shape those who are involved in the conversation – his response is responsibility.

God wants to shape us. And that shaping is God taking responsibility for us – his creation.

  

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading:  Job 11