If the only home I hope for is the grave, if I spread out my bed in the realm of darkness, if I say to corruption, ‘You are my father,’ and to the worm, ‘My mother’ or ‘My sister, where then is my hope—who can see any hope for me? – Job 17:13-15

Today’s Scripture Reading (June 7, 2018): Job 17

Do you know the taste of fear, that bitter metal flavor that wells up from somewhere deep within you and then sits on your tongue as if it has nowhere else to go? William Shakespeare wrote his tragedy “Macbeth” about King Macbeth of Scotland and a civil war in Scotland during the 11^th century C.E. But the legend of the Scottish Red King probably belongs more to the hands of Shakespeare than it does to those of history. Shakespeare imagines Macbeth sitting in his castle, fearing what was about to come next, realizing the taste of fear, one that until now he had forgotten even existed when he pens the immortal words that most of us remember from the play.

Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more: it is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.

The words that Shakespeare places into the mouth of Macbeth could have just as easily been used to sum up the struggle of Job. It is this kind of hopelessness that he feels. He has fretted his hour on the stage, he had possessed much of what someone dreams to possess, but now it is all gone. What is it that he has to look forward to in the near or distant future? The near future is a depressing possibility, but the distant future is seeming less and less possible with each passing minute. At one point, Job believed that there was a meaning to life, but now he is not so sure. In the end, he is convinced that he will pass from this existence without making a mark. His life truly was “a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.”

The reason why the words of Shakespeare have left a mark on us is that this is the universal reality, at some point, of all of our lives. The story of Job, if you can erase the beginning and the ending, is one of the most depressing stories ever told. From the point of view of Job, all he can long for is the darkness of the grave, because that would be better than the reality that he is being forced to live in this moment. Meaning is lost. His moment on the stage is gone. And in every one of our lives, there are moments when we understand what Job is feeling. It is in those moments that we need to be reminded that our stories also have a beginning and an end, and a conversation that is taking place in heaven over us. There is meaning in each of our lives, just as there was meaning in Job’s, because God has placed it there. And in our darkest moments, that is the understanding that we need to carry with us, as we believe in the hope that resides in even our tomorrows.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Job 18

Even now my witness is in heaven; my advocate is on high. – Job 16:19

Today’s Scripture Reading (June 6, 2018): Job 16

What we learn as a child follows us all the days of our lives. It is a simple reality of life that we sometimes forget. How many planets are in our solar system? My answer is nine, even though I know that Pluto has been demoted and that the actual answer is eight. Was Napoleon short? Yes, even though I know that Napoleon was probably of average height for his time, but as a child, I was taught that he was a short man. These are some of the answers of my childhood, and they are the answers that stick with me through life.

Often, I hear parents say that they want to let their children decide on matters of faith - “I am not going to force my child to go to church.” But the reality is that this response is a result of our own apathy about God. If you are devout and guide your child’s steps into the sanctuary where they can learn about God, you give them the gift of faith and a belief in something that goes beyond ourselves. If you don’t, you give the child the gift of your apathy. Either way, the gift will be with them as long as they live their lives. What we learned as children can be overcome, deep down I know that astronomers now only list eight planets even though my automatic answer is nine, but the process of overcoming our childhood lessons, in the direction of good or evil, takes a lot of time and effort. The truth is that we prepare our children for success or failure in all matters of life through the lessons that we teach them, and the actions that they watch us do, early on in life.

There is a battle that is being waged inside of Job. Even within this speech, Job asserts that “God has turned me over to the ungodly” (vs. 11) and that “He has made me his target” (vs. 12). These are Job’s reactions as he considers his situation and listens to the advice of his friends. This is the way that Job feels in this moment. And we understand that even though we know more about the story than Job does at this moment. But Job is not left alone with just his anger and bitterness brought on by his situation. His parents also gave him a gift of faith. And it is that faith that does not want to die, even under these circumstances. It is his childhood lessons that prompt him to declare that he knows that he has a witness, a true watcher, who is in heaven and who knows the totality of his story. He has one who will intercede for him on high.

The lessons of Job, taught to him when he was young and before disaster struck, continue to hold Job to a path that directs toward God. It is these lessons that form the bedrock of Job’s faith – the lessons of his childhood.

And it is the truth of Job’s childhood that provides a beautiful foreshadowing of the Christian message. The author of Hebrews picks up the message in that letter.

Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess.  For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin.  Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need (Hebrews 4:14-16).

Someone who understands our trial watches us, and advocates for us in Heaven.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Job 17

But you even undermine piety and hinder devotion to God. – Job 15:4

Today’s Scripture Reading (June 5, 2018): Job 15

Philosopher Noam Chomsky argues that there was a change in the political landscape after Jimmy Carter was elected to the Oval Office. Carter was the first President of the United States to make a point of presenting himself as a “born again Christian.” Suddenly, every presidential candidate began to understand that they could pick up a third of the vote by simply going to church. It was a thought that seemed to be absent from the political landscape before that time. Until Carter, the press didn’t ask about the religious beliefs or church-going practices of any of the candidates for the highest office in the land. But Jimmy Carter changed that. Chomsky goes on to comment that “Bill Clinton is probably about as religious as I am, meaning zero, but his managers made a point of making sure that every Sunday morning he was in the Baptist church singing hymns.”

I would argue that the day of Jimmy Carter has finally come to an end. Donald Trump seems to prove that Christians will fall in line behind candidates who promise to line their pocketbook and allow them to shoot guns, neither of which seems to have much support biblically. In the current political climate, we seem to have lost the core Christian ideals of “love one another” (John 13:34) and “turn the other cheek” (Matthew 5:39) and that “whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me [Jesus]” (Matthew 25:40). For this reason, I often abhor using both the terms “born again” and “Christian,” because the terms seem to have taken on a political meaning rather than a faith-based understanding. While some would argue that we need more separation between church and state, the truth is that the separation seems to be complete. As long as you can make us money, we will elect you and ignore any other moral shortcomings. Or maybe the economy has become our religion, and we simply don’t care about how the money was created. I will be honest; that thought scares me.

We need to hear the same thought in the argument being presented against Job. It is obvious that because God is not blessing Job financially, or in any social ways or with good health, then Job must be outside of the will of God. If he were blameless in the sight of God, then he would still be rich. The measure of a man’s faith is in how much money he has in his pocket.

Job argues that this is not true. Job insists that he is a believer and he has completed the sacrifices to his God, even more than was necessary. And the reader knows that Job is, in fact, telling the truth because these things were verified in the introduction of the story. But Eliphaz responds that if Job were telling the truth, then why would anyone want to follow God. If God does not pay me or give me good health, then why would anyone fall down at his altar. According to Eliphaz, Job’s words are going to build a barrier against faith in God. Who would want to worship God and still end up like Job?

And if our endpoint is ourselves, then the words of Eliphaz make sense. But that has never been the call of God. Countless worshippers have understood something else that Jesus said. Go and make a difference in the world. Give yourself away. Be salt and be light in the world. Ultimately, the problem with Christianity is that we are not doing that. We want the gain to be ours, and we promise to share (maybe, under the right circumstances). But those aren’t our instructions. Job has lost himself in the pursuit of God. And the promise of Jesus is “Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it” (Matthew 10:39). The act of losing yourself and still following God is true piety; and the reason why we care for the memories of Saints like Mother Theresa, and Presidents like Jimmy Carter.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Job 16

Surely then you will count my steps but not keep track of my sin. My offenses will be sealed up in a bag; you will cover over my sin. – Job 14:16-17

Today’s Scripture Reading (June 4, 2018): Job 14

I am a step counter. Every time I get up and move around, I make sure that my counter is with me. My goal is a minimum of 10,000 steps a day, and I am currently aiming for 400,000 steps a month. I know, for some I that is not much of a goal. I know of people who seem to be able to meet my monthly goal, often in a single day. But that is not me. Even though I endeavor to count every step that I take, and as soon as I finish this post I plan to go for a walk, I don’t think it would be possible for me to reach into the 100,000 steps a day club. Ten thousand, for me, is a reachable goal. (By the way, my personal record for steps according to my step counter is just under 18,000. And on days when I come close to that number of steps, my body seems to like to remind me of my age.)

I count my steps, but I try not to count my sins. Personally, that seems to be Satan’s job; to continually remind me of all of the ways that I have failed. Someone, and I have mercifully forgotten who, has argued that heaven was a place where we were able to view a replaying of our lives over and over again, including the greatest hits of all the ways that we have failed. The message seemed to be that we should be careful not to sin, because not only were we going to have to pay the consequences of our sin in this life, but we were also going to have a PVR recording of them to watch over and over again in the next. The idea sounds to me to be a lot closer to hell than heaven.

Job argues that God knows his steps. God knows where it is that he goes, he knows of Job’s movements on the earth. After all, nothing can be hidden from him. The Psalmist, David, would centuries later sum up Job’s comment like this:

 Where can I go from your Spirit?
    Where can I flee from your presence?
If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
    if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
    if I settle on the far side of the sea,
even there your hand will guide me,
    your right hand will hold me fast.
If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me
    and the light become night around me,”
even the darkness will not be dark to you;
    the night will shine like the day,
    for darkness is as light to you. (Psalm 139:7-12)

God, you know my steps. And because you know my steps, you know my sins. Because you know when I walk in the depths, or because you see me even when I am trying so desperately to hide from you, you know my sin. But while you might number my steps, when you encounter my sin, you hide it away. You seal it in a bag where it never has to be revealed or relived again.

And not only do you seal my sin away, but you also cover it over with your grace. You bury it so deep that it can never rise again. I’m not sure that we mortals could ever ask for anything more of the God who numbers our steps.   

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Job 15

But I desire to speak to the Almighty and to argue my case with God. – Job 13:3

Today’s Scripture Reading (June 3, 2018): Job 13

Last month the auto dealer Kia got in trouble for a practice that is becoming an issue in many industries; placing important information in the “fine print” at the end of the contract. In the case of the Kia fine print episode, the couple paid for options that, according to Kia, ended up not being available on the model. The fine print stated that Kia reserved the right to change the options available with the package without notice. The couple bought the car from what Kia insists was an outdated brochure, but the customer felt like they had paid for $1,000 worth of options they hadn’t received. Other examples of the practice include a fast food franchise that offers a $5 meal deal with fine print that states that the price of deal varies in different areas of the country. Or an airline which recently held a seat sale with the fine print clearly stating that the prices were for comparison only and that the final price of the flight would be decided when the customer paid to book the fight. It reminds me of an independent gas station owner who was frustrated with a gas war and low fuel prices and eventually decided to drop his fuel prices to an impossibly low amount and then immediately locked the door of his service station. You could compare the fuel prices all that you wanted, but you still were not going to get that good a deal on the price of gas for your car.

The answer from consumer experts is to never buy anything off of a single source. If you are buying a Kia, look at the advertising from the car company, but then go to the dealer and confirm the deal, itemizing the options that you are expecting to receive and verifying that the dealer is willing to deliver those options. In the case of the Kia sale, the car company eventually agreed to refund the $1,000 to the customer, but the problem that remains is that the customer is still stuck with a car that is missing options that they wanted and for which they were willing to pay, but were also never delivered.

I am not a salesman, and people who argue that I am a “Salesman for God” have never convinced me of the truth of that statement. And yet, the evidence is there. Anyone who advocates for faith is involved in a sales process. I have good friends who do not believe in God, and my response is usually an easy one. When they outline the characteristics of the God that they do not believe in, often I agree – I don’t believe in that God either. But somehow they have met a salesman that has got the options wrong; someone who has argued for options, like a life without struggle or problems, that I don’t believe were ever included in the idea of belief and faith.

And this is where Job finds himself. His friends are arguing that Job has wronged God on the evidence of his present circumstance. Job disagrees and is showing evidence here of his frustration with the salesmen of God who are gathering around him. Not being able to make sense of his current situation was frustrating enough to Job, what he didn’t need was salesmen trying to sell him wrong answers to the crisis that Job was experiencing.

And so Job argues that he wants to take the discussion to the dealer. He didn’t want to deal with the salesmen any longer; he was tired of their wrong answers. He wanted the opportunity to reason with God himself.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Job 14

He makes nations great, and destroys them; he enlarges nations, and disperses them. – Job 12:23

Today’s Scripture Reading (June 2, 2018): Job 12

Wouldn’t it be nice if we could make our nations great just by speaking the words? Wouldn’t it be nice if “Make America (or Canada or Britain or Russia) Great Again” was more than just a political slogan? Wouldn’t it be nice? Of course, then this world would also be a pretty phenomenal place to live. Every political leader or even megalomaniacal despot who assumes power is trying to do something good for someone. No leader of whom I am aware sets out to trash their nation. Even Kin Jung Un, and the political leaders of North Korea before him and after him, wants North Korea to be great. They want their nations and words to carry some kind of meaning on the world stage. If all we had to do was speak the words, then all the nations of the earth would be great.

But making a nation great takes more than words. And the reality that we sometimes miss is that nations and empires rise and fall on the world’s stage all of the time. No empire known to the history of this planet has been a forever power. They have all fallen. Some, like Russia, has seen ebbs and flows to their strength and relevance on the world stage. But no human country has ever known power that has lasted forever.

And every empire that has fallen from their perch atop the nations has done so because of very human decisions. Often decadence has been part of the condition that has preceded the fall, as well as an attitude that argues that this empire will last forever. But empires and nations don’t last forever, and so they need to make the most of their time on the stage.

Job argues that not only do nations not last forever, but also the rise and fall of the nations are dependent on God. Evidence would seem to argue that Empires are dependent on some kind of moral truth; there exists a God-given reason for the nation's existence, and when that reason passes from the consciousness of the leaders, the days of the empire are numbered. Eventually, the excesses of the rich and the exploitation of the poor cause an imbalance that cannot exist without an overwhelming moral cause to rally the people behind. The vision disappears, and the people perish.

I wish that making our nations great just depended on words, but that is not the truth. Great is a gift from God, and it is a gift that is often reserved for people and nations who, at least in some way, are willing to follow his moral imperatives. And as soon as that reason disappears, the empire is dispersed. It has always been that way, and it will always be that way.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Job 13

… and disclose to you the secrets of wisdom, for true wisdom has two sides. Know this: God has even forgotten some of your sin. – Job 11:6

Today’s Scripture Reading (June 1, 2018): Job 11

Is God omni? By this I mean to ask if God is omnipotent (all-powerful), omniscient (all-knowing), and omnipresent (always with you.) Ever since my childhood, I have been taught that this is true. And yet, as I grow older, I begin to wonder if God really possesses all of those omni characteristics. One of the books I would like to write might be called “What God Doesn’t Know: A Conversation About an Omni God.” The problem is that our theology seems to tell us that God is omni, but at the same time, it appears to argue against an omni God. The God who we understand to be the one who created the heavens and the earth just might not be omni.
Is God omnipresent? One of the versions of hell is that it is a place where we, by our own choices, choose to spend eternity totally devoid of the presence of God. We can’t imagine what that might be like because he is always present in this world, even when we don’t recognize him. He influences us every time we choose love over hate. But if hell is a place where God is not, then God cannot be omnipresent, because there is a place I can go where he is not.

Is God omnipotent? It is the question of the simple brain teaser that I would guess we have all pondered at some point: Can God create a rock so heavy that even he can’t lift it? Silly, yes. And yet it is still an argument against an omnipotent God. Oh, there is no doubt that he is stronger than anything our imaginations might conjure up, but there are limitations. Even if these limitations are self-imposed, placed on him by his gift to us of our free will.

Is God omniscient? I don’t think so. Of the three omni qualities of God, this is the one that I doubt the most. In my mind, I have a fantasy of the moment that I stand before God based on Zechariah 3. In my imagination, I am brought before God and Satan stands with me. Satan simply means “The Accuser” because making accusations is what he does best. And so at that moment before God, Satan will begin to list off all of my transgressions and sins; and all of the reasons why I should be banned from heaven. The list is long. And at the end of the list, God looks down on me and asks a question of me. “Is this true? I don’t remember?”

And I will be truthful at this moment. Satan has not had to make anything up. My life does not require Satan to have to lie. The truth is all there. All of these things I have done. And it will be in that moment that Jesus will take the stand in my defense. “Father, I died on a cross to pay the penalty for just those sins.” And at that moment God will issue the order to strip me of my old soiled clothing and place a new clean garment on me, and he will welcome me home

Why is God not omniscient? Why can’t he remember? While Zophar means to accuse Job, arguing that Job’s punishment should be much worse if only God could remember all of his sins, once again the words of Job’s friend contains some truth. God, speaking through the prophet Isaiah admits that in some ways his memory is not all that good. “I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more” (Isaiah 43:25). God knows much more than collectively we will ever know. And he remembers many things with great precision. But your sins are not one of them. Once they have been dealt with, they are removed from his memory. Satan likes to bring them up from time to time, it is what he does best, but God no longer remembers. Zophar is right. We serve a God who has forgotten our sin.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Job 12