Today’s Scripture Reading (May 22, 2018): Job 1
It is maybe the one thing that people outside
of the Christian faith do not understand about Christians and, admittedly, sometimes
we don’t understand it either. It might be
phrased this way – “Why do Christians thank God for the smallest things
and yet refuse to blame him when things go wrong?” As I said, sometimes even Christians
don’t quite get it. An old band mate of mine would argue with me that my
attitude that said “when everything goes right it is because of God and when
everything goes wrong it is because of me” was plain wrong. I worked hard, and
I deserved some of the recognition for what went right.
As a Christian, the best way that I can
describe the idea is by using a clock. People have been using clocks to
describe God for centuries. The idea behind a clockmaker God is that God, like
a good clockmaker, put all of the things in motion in this universe. He
constructed this universe right so that it would function on its own. And just as the clocks in your home do not need their
creator to come by on a daily basis and check the clocks, although I admit that
I have owned clocks that from the very beginning seemed to need a check-up from
the clockmaker, so this universe is so well created that it was able to work
without God. So God, the clockmaker, after he had finished with his
creation, walked away. Our world simply didn’t need him anymore.
It might surprise some that I have some
respect for the idea of a clockmaker God. In fact, through the beginning stages
of creation, God might have been a clockmaker. I believe that God is powerful enough and smart enough to set the mechanism of
creation in motion so that it did not require his constant attention. I don’t
know if that is the way that it happened, but I think it is at least possible.
Or, at least, it was possible until we showed
up. God’s decision to breathe his Spirit into us, to give us the ability to
choose and so much more, was a game changer. The world could have still worked
fine under our guidance. We could have chosen right and constructive actions.
But we didn’t. One of the first things that we did was break the clock. We can
put all of the blame on Adam and Eve, but it happens in every generation and
every life. We are not good at being constructive. We repeatedly break the
clock. Over and over again we break the clock. We don’t break it a little bit.
We smash it to pieces. I have smashed the clock to pieces.
The miracle is that the clock still runs.
And, from a Christian point of view, the only reason for the clock to run is
God. He keeps the broken pieces moving. God keeps my broken pieces moving.
Without him, the brokenness is simply too much and the clock, and this world, would simply stop.
Job knew that he was living in a broken
world. He believed that somehow God kept the pieces moving. He understood that
his ancestors had broken the clock, and that he had broken the clock, and that
his children had broken the clock. If the clock worked, it was only because the
clockmaker allowed it to work. If the clock stopped, well, he had participated
in the breaking. Job was thankful for all
that God had given to him. It was much more than he deserved. But if things
didn’t go well, maybe something was going
on that he just didn’t understand. After
all, the clock is broken.
When Christians give thanks for every small thing, it is because we understand how broken
we are as people. We shouldn’t function, and yet we do. When things go wrong, and we refuse to blame God, it is not that we
do not understand that God had a role in the negative events that cause us to
mourn. But we understand that we broke the clock and that we do not deserve all
that we have. And deep down, we have faith that the clockmaker knows more about
the clock than we do. And that even when things go wrong, he is holding us –
loving us. And that even the wrong things are evidence of the clockmakers
continued touch as he fixes all that is broken
around us.
Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Job 2
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