Today’s Scripture Reading (May 7,
2015): Job 21
I could never
serve a God who would allow __________. I can’t tell you how often I have heard
the statement with various endings attached to it. I could never serve a God
who would allow thousands to die in an earthquake in Nepal. I could never serve
a God who would allow nations to be decimated by AIDS. I could never serve a
God who would allow orphaned children to have to survive alone on the street. I
could never serve a God who would allow depression to reign so supremely in the
lives of people that some just can’t figure out how to live. We blame God for the
untimely death of people we that we love. The problem of evil is one of the
most perplexing problems for anyone who believes that there is a God in charge
of the universe – especially for those of us who believe that there is a loving
God who is in charge.
And all of
this is complicated by people who bear the name of Christ (Christians) and by
people who claim to follow the Yahweh of Israel and the Allah of Islam and who
refuse to love. If God – Yahweh – Allah truly is the one God over everything
that has been created (and just in case you missed it – this I believe), then
he is the God who is over everything and everyone. We cannot allow him to
become a tribal God over a single race or nation or tribe on the earth. He has
to be simply God.
Job’s
friends have a solution to the problem of evil on the earth and it is basically
this – evil begets evil. And, to a certain extent, they are right. Some of the
problems on the earth we have had a direct influence on. I know that the
evidence is still coming in, but the record making California drought would
seem to be a direct result of climate change – and climate change that is manmade.
The question that we need to be dealing with is whether or not climate change
can be reversed, but first we have to admit that our presence has caused a
problem. Various kinds of cancer are known to be caused by smoking, and that is
something that is within our grasp to change. Drug use and unprotected sex have
greatly increased the ability of AIDS to move through and kill in our society.
We can fix that. But not everything comes with a simple solution. The deaths in
Nepal as a direct result of an earthquake is not, as far as we can tell,
directly a result of something that human kind has done – at least that we know
right now. And even if we were perfect in our behavior, problems and death
would still exist.
So Job turns
the discussion around. While his friends argue that Job’s pain is a direct
result of Job’s sin, Job argues that those who are evil seem to get a free pass
while Job himself seems to suffer their fate. For example, the children of
those who do evil are established around them (vs. 8 – Job is the man whose
descendants are cursed and not established), their houses are safe from fear
(vs. 9 – Job is the man whose house is subject to fear), their livestock multiply
(vs. 10 – Job is the man whose livestock has perished), their children dance
(vs. 11 – Job is the man whose children no longer dance), and they bluntly tell
God to go way (vs. 14 – while Job is the man who cannot shake the hand of God).
So Job asks the question – why then should I serve God? What is it that I have
to gain from praying to him?
Job’s
friends have attacked the easy problem of evil, Job’s question is a lot harder.
But what Job is missing is the end of the story. And I think that is what we
miss as well. I don’t understand the existence of pain on the earth. And I have
suffered very little of it, but what little I have suffered has broken my heart
more than once. All I know is that deep down I understand that there is a
purpose for pain that I cannot, in this moment, comprehend. And I don’t want the
pain that exists in my life to go to waste because I am too busy fighting against
God.
And in the
end, because I believe that God – Yahweh – Allah is the only God, he is the only
one who I need to serve and who I need to pray to. It does not make sense to
say that I will not serve him; I might as well just say that I refuse to live
on a planet where these things exist. Honestly, where else can I go?
Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Job 22
Personal Note: Happy Birthday to my
son, Craig. I hope you are having a great day!
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