Tag: order

Questions Without Answers (Job 38:1-7, 38-41)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment
God Answers Job Out of the Whirlwind, by William Blake, 1805

Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind:

“Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?
Gird up your loins like a man;
    I will question you, and you shall declare to me.

“Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?
    Tell me, if you have understanding.
Who determined its measurements—surely you know!
    Or who stretched the line upon it?
On what were its bases sunk,
    or who laid its cornerstone
when the morning stars sang together
    and all the heavenly beings shouted for joy?…

“Can you lift up your voice to the clouds,
    so that a flood of waters may cover you?
Can you send forth lightnings, so that they may go
    and say to you, ‘Here we are’?
Who has put wisdom in the inward parts
    or given understanding to the mind?
Who has the wisdom to number the clouds?
    Or who can tilt the waterskins of the heavens
when the dust runs into a mass
    and the clods cling together?

“Can you hunt the prey for the lion
    or satisfy the appetite of the young lions,
when they crouch in their dens
    or lie in wait in their covert?
Who provides for the raven its prey,
    when its young ones cry to God
    and wander about for lack of food? (New Revised Standard Version)

The Book of Job is rather long. After the initial two chapters which set the scene for Job’s awful suffering, we then get an extended and agonizing thirty-five chapters of speeches between Job and his companions. It’s a lot of words which generally go nowhere.

So, by the time we get to this point in chapter 38 of Job, we may likely say, “Finally, God speaks!” Indeed, this is the moment Job has anticipated.

Perhaps we are looking for something in Job’s story which may help us in our own story of suffering. Like Job, maybe we’re looking for vindication of our situation, a restoration to some semblance of life before the grief, or to have our reputation upheld.

But that is not what we get from God. For the next nearly four chapters, God only speaks in questions, and does not answer a single one of them.

If it’s answers to questions we’re searching for, it is unlikely you will get them, at least on this side of heaven. You are more likely to get even more questions than you started with. And then, imagine being questioned by God, and having no answers for God whatsoever.

Yet, that is the point. We humans know jack squat – absolutely nothing, in comparison to an omnipresent and omniscient God.

If it’s God’s voice you really want to hear, you may not know what you’re actually asking for. That was certainly true for Job and his friends. God’s questions are really rather rhetorical; there is no way any of us could really answer them with any sort of knowledge or understanding. It would be a bit like a parent asking their toddler to describe his own birth and how it happened.

God’s unanswerable questions revolve mostly around the workings of the universe. God is the Creator, and none of us were around when it all came into existence. So, of course, we have no answers.

Yet, with all of the questions, we quickly get the impression that humans have very little control over much of anything. And I think that perhaps God wants us to be aware of that reality.

It seems to me that with every question of God, we are led to believe that God is God, and is really big; and that we are not God, and are pretty dang small.

I don’t think any of this is meant to make us feel irrelevant or disposable. Rather, it gives us some needed perspective, that is, that our perspective on world issues, events, and problems is very narrow. But God sees the whole big picture and has a stellar full perspective of all things and all people.

The God in the Book of Job is no vending machine deity, in which we can pick-and-choose what we like and don’t like. There is no grand certainty that if we press the right buttons in prayer that we get what we want.

Therefore, God is not some automaton who predictably rewards the righteous, and punishes the wicked (according to our definitions of those terms). Yet this is the God that Job’s friends believed in – which is why they reflexively interpreted Job’s situation as Job himself being a sinful man.

Even Job believed in this sort of God, at least to some degree. Up to the point of his terrible trouble, he was good and righteous, and received due reward for his faithfulness. The divine system was serving Job well.

But then the system seems to have broken down. Job interpreted God as not doing the expected divine job of operating within the predictable divine structure.

Believers in every generation and era must come to grips with the reality that – although personal virtue and devotion are important – one’s piety does not necessarily lead to personal health nor wealth.

In other words, good guys don’t always win in this life, because having faith typically means we will actually suffer, rather than not.

This is, to me, good news. Why? Because it means, conversely, that persons victimized by violence, poverty, and loss are not necessarily to blame for their troubles. Frankly, there are times when bad things happen to us that are not our fault, and we don’t see any good reason for it happening.

Whenever God is silent, we might start to think that God is also absent. We may begin to entertain nihilist thoughts that nothing matters, that everything in this universe is just random chaos.

Yet, God’s response with all the questions lets us know that there is a solid structural foundation to this universe that we aren’t always aware of. In other words, there is meaning, purpose, and order to it all. We are not forgotten. God sees and remembers us.

I do believe there is a reason for everything. However, I do not believe that we are always privy to know what that purpose may be. Which means that oftentimes, like Job, we don’t have any answers to our existential questions of human tragedy and trouble. This line of thinking isn’t meant to be a cop out; it’s meant to help us accept that we are human.

Sometimes all we can do is affirm what we know to be true, and accept the limits of our own human understanding of things such as:

  • God is God. I am not.
  • God created the world. I didn’t.
  • God established order in the universe. I sometimes see order, and oftentimes see what looks like random chaos.
  • God is Love all the time. I love, but not always.
  • God is with us, even though I may not always sense or feel that divine presence.

Maybe what is most important is that we humans keep up our dialogue with God – our questions, musings, emotions, and expressions of faith and devotion. Because it is in the relationship that we discover the key to the universe.

O God, by whom the meek are guided in judgment, and light rises up in darkness: Grant us, in all our doubts and uncertainties, the grace to ask what you would have us to do, so that the Spirit of wisdom may save us from all false choices, and that in your light we may see light, and in your straight path may not stumble. Amen.

The Tower of Babel (Genesis 11:1-9)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment
The Tower of Babel, by Hendrick van Cleve III (1525–1589)

At one time, the whole Earth spoke the same language. It so happened that as they moved out of the east, they came upon a plain in the land of Shinar and settled down.

They said to one another, “Come, let’s make bricks and fire them well.” They used brick for stone and tar for mortar.

Then they said, “Come, let’s build ourselves a city and a tower that reaches Heaven. Let’s make ourselves famous so we won’t be scattered here and there across the Earth.”

God came down to look over the city and the tower those people had built.

God took one look and said, “One people, one language; why, this is only a first step. No telling what they’ll come up with next—they’ll stop at nothing! Come, we’ll go down and garble their speech so they won’t understand each other.” Then God scattered them from there all over the world. And they had to quit building the city. That’s how it came to be called Babel, because there God turned their language into “babble.” From there God scattered them all over the world. (The Message)

At first glance, the Bible reader may wonder what the big deal is about people coming together to build a tower.

A mere cursory look at the text might seem as if God is having some sort of divine anal-retentive moment of control. After all, the people are just trying to get some work done; it’s not like they’re going to somehow invade God’s privacy with a very tall tower.

But that’s not what was going on, way back there several millennia ago. Something more subversive was afoot, and the Lord was completely savvy to what was happening.

The previous chapter (Genesis 10) presents a rather orderly spread of the burgeoning humanity across the earth – which is consistent with God’s original blessing and mandate at the creation of people:

“Prosper! Reproduce! Fill Earth! Take charge!
Be responsible for fish in the sea and birds in the air,
    for every living thing that moves on the face of Earth.” (Genesis 1:28, MSG)

Yet, here in Genesis 11, people have intentionally stopped discovering the earth. It appears they are more curious about heaven. So, they amassed themselves together and decided to move vertically rather than horizontally across the world.

There seems to have been a great deal of human ambition that was eyeing an assault and takeover of the divine realm, instead of busying themselves with their God-given human realm. Another way of putting it is that they were irresponsible – not caring for creation – but more concerned about having some leverage on God.

Ambition, in and of itself, is neither good nor bad; it’s where that ambition is aimed. And the early people were directing their sights up rather than out – trusting in their human ingenuity and technological abilities to achieve autonomy for themselves.

Because God created humans in the divine image and likeness, people were (and still are!) amazing creatures who can accomplish incredible feats of achievement in whatever they set their minds and hearts to do. Yet, in the case of constructing a tower (or ziggurat) humanity was ignoring their mandate to care about the earth and its inhabitants. Instead, they were working their own will to build a name for themselves, apart from God.

So, the Lord stepped in by confusing their common language so that they would have difficulty communicating with one another. On the surface, it might seem that God was being capricious. But examining just a bit deeper, we can observe what would happen if people threw off their responsibility to the planet and all of its creatures.

The entire world could be subject to terrible inattention. Much like a backyard garden that becomes overrun with weeds due to neglect, the whole earth was in jeopardy of falling into a system of evil that would care nothing for its abundant life and intricate ecosystems. In short, the earth could be ruined.

If this sounds eerily like what we humans are doing today, its probably because that is precisely what we are doing – putting a collective stiff-arm to God and doing whatever the heck we want in exploiting the earth for our own human purposes.

Never mind that entire species of fish and animals, along with flora and fauna and forests and wetlands and grasslands are being harmed and destroyed by so called human ingenuity and technological advance.

It is our own arrogant pride and hubris of abject selfishness, in setting up ourselves as masters of the universe, that brings us to the edge of an environmental holocaust – not to mention fighting amongst ourselves about who will be in charge and in control of it all. We’ll engage in wars and atrocities if that’s what it will take.

Therefore, the Tower of Babel is a symbol of all that is wrong – not right – with humanity. Until we can unlearn our ancient ways of arrogance and injustice, ignorance and lack of awareness, and recover even older ways of caring for one another and the earth, then we will find ourselves being broken by the divine gravity of judgment which exists whenever people choose to defy the order of the world.

In many ways, primeval history remains alive in our daily current events. Yet, it can change. But it will take a heavy dose of humility and confession of guilt to begin undoing the harm we have imposed on others and on our world. And it will take a return to Eden, to the responsibility of creation care, and of healthy relational connections with both other people and God.

Every one of us is culpable – whether we have been directly involved in systemic evil, or not. We all have participated in and benefited from our privilege as human beings living on this planet – sometimes to the extent of turning a blind eye to the great needs of the earth and its inhabitants.

So, what will you do about it? Who will you turn to? Where does your ultimate trust rest? Are you willing to work for good, to be merciful, just, kind, and loving in a pursuit of right relationships with God, others, and the earth?

Sovereign Lord and Creator, renew our spirits and cleanse our hearts. Renew our minds and transform our lives. Renew our cities and rebuild our ruins. Renew our world, in your name we pray, Amen.

Some Well-Ordered Wisdom (Psalm 37:1-17)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year ALeave a comment

Don’t be worried on account of the wicked;
    don’t be jealous of those who do wrong.
They will soon disappear like grass that dries up;
    they will die like plants that wither.

Trust in the Lord and do good;
    live in the land and be safe.
Seek your happiness in the Lord,
    and he will give you your heart’s desire.

Give yourself to the Lord;
    trust in him, and he will help you;
he will make your righteousness shine like the noonday sun.

Be patient and wait for the Lord to act;
    don’t be worried about those who prosper
    or those who succeed in their evil plans.

Don’t give in to worry or anger;
    it only leads to trouble.
Those who trust in the Lord will possess the land,
    but the wicked will be driven out.

Soon the wicked will disappear;
    you may look for them, but you won’t find them;
but the humble will possess the land
    and enjoy prosperity and peace.

The wicked plot against good people
    and glare at them with hate.
But the Lord laughs at wicked people,
    because he knows they will soon be destroyed.

The wicked draw their swords and bend their bows
    to kill the poor and needy,
    to slaughter those who do what is right;
but they will be killed by their own swords,
    and their bows will be smashed.

The little that a good person owns
    is worth more than the wealth of all the wicked,
because the Lord will take away the strength of the wicked,
    but protect those who are good. (Good News Translation)

Today’s Psalm feels as if it could be in the book of Proverbs; it’s chocked full of wisdom sayings. And wisdom is most definitely something you, me, and the entire world needs. Indeed, we have enough fools around us running their mouths with a bunch of gobbledygook that’s nonsensical and meaningless.

We need helpful language and well-ordered words which reflect our ordered creation.

The underlying assumption of all biblical wisdom literature is that our world has been created by God with a material and moral order built into it.

That means that to buck this order is stupid and foolish. Somebody who walks off the roof of their house because they don’t believe in gravity will experience the harsh reality of that belief. Likewise, anyone who walks any old way they want in this world, without regard to the divine force operating within it, is going to experience a broken spirit.

Our human well-being depends on knowing the ordered creation we inhabit. There are social expectations which need to be realized in order to conform and be in sync with the natural (and supernatural!) universal rhythms all around us. Those expectations are framed for us as wisdom sayings.

Our actions and inactions have consequences. It’s our task to gain experiential knowledge as we move about this earth and interact with others. Notice I did not say we need to be perfect. No, instead, we are continually in a mode of improvement – seeking and learning to be better and do better.

And one of the things we all must discover is that our own personal actions and attitudes effects the entire surrounding community.

Biblical wisdom literature communicates how we receive blessing and how we hold onto it. True wisdom is to live in a responsible awareness of both Creator and creation – and then to make appropriate choices which will bless God and others.

So, in our Psalm for today, we have some wise choices to make that put us in the groove of how things are ordered and established:

  • Don’t worry about the evil simpletons around you. Why? Because in the Lord’s well-ordered world, the wicked cannot and will not survive; their end is certain, just as sure as death and taxes.

Those who are evil—
they are like straw
    blown by the wind.
Sinners won’t have an excuse
    on the day of judgment,
and they won’t have a place
    with the people of God.
The Lord protects everyone
    who follows him,
but the wicked follow a road
    that leads to ruin. (Psalm 1:4-6, CEV)

  • Trust the Lord. Everything changes. Everyone is fickle. Why trust? Because God, unlike everything and everyone else, is consistent, stable, and always true to character.

Trust God from the bottom of your heart;
    don’t try to figure out everything on your own.
Listen for God’s voice in everything you do, everywhere you go;
    he’s the one who will keep you on track. (Proverbs 3:5-6, MSG)

  • Be patient and wait on the Lord. Why? Because God is good, all the time, and has only good plans in mind for you and me. We short circuit what God is doing whenever we fail to have patience.

Be patient, then, brothers and sisters, until the Lord’s coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop, patiently waiting for the autumn and spring rains. You too, be patient and stand firm, because the Lord’s coming is near. (James 5:7-8, NIV)

The best things in life are internal, not external. One’s inner well-being, peace of mind, emotional awareness, and spiritual health are worth infinitely more than any title, position, wealth, or delusions of control.

A well-ordered life comes from tapping into the divine resources available to us.

Grant us patience, O Lord, to follow the road you have taken. Let our confidence not rest in our own understanding but in your guiding hand; let our desires not be for our own comfort, but for the joy of your kingdom; for your cross is our hope and our joy now and unto the day of eternity. Amen.

– A Prayer of St. Augustine