Am I Enough – Job States the Obvious

Greetings Dear Reader,

After his “friend” is so very rude to him Job indulges in a bit of sarcasm.  What he wishes from his friends is comfort.  Instead they are giving him further grief.  He asks that if they will listen he will consider that the comfort he needs.  He then assures them that after he is finished they can go on mocking him.

He reminds his friends that the wicked do prosper.  Those that reject God can still become rich, relatively happy, have fun, and feel good.  What he says next simplifies the real horrors that face those who reject God.  It is not hell and damnation that is the true horror one should fear.  It is rather, God giving you exactly what you ask for from him.

Job recounts what so many still say today, “But they say to God, 'Leave us alone. We don't want to know your ways.  Who is the Almighty that we should serve him? What do we gain if we pray to him?'”

I am not going to weigh in on what I think happens to those who reject God when they die.  I am going to express that the worst punishment possible is that he gives them exactly what they want.  If one spends his life not wanting to know God and his ways then is it not God simply giving you that separation from him that is a true hell?

Whether they admit it or not those who choose to believe that God does not exist are betting eternity on that belief.  That is enough for me to take that risk that God exists.  I have chosen to follow Christ because of who he represents God to be.  I do not wish for anyone to suffer.  I also do not want to spend my life running from someone who loves me. 

It is faith that God demands.  I follow in faith.  I accept that there will be suffering because of sin and even the righteous will suffer at times.  I am only as righteous as God sees me.  I fail and fall and forget to follow.  But I get up again.  I am determined by God’s grace to follow as fully as possible.  For those who choose not to believe I fear that God may give them exactly what they want.  That terrifies me.

Wishing you joy in the journey,

Aramis Thorn

Mat 13:52 So Jesus said to them, "That is why every writer who has become a disciple of Christ’s rule of the universe is like a home owner. He liberally hands out new and old things from his great treasure store."

Job 21:1-34

Then Job replied to his friends,

"Listen carefully to my words, and let that be the comfort you offer me.  Bear with me while I speak. Then after I've spoken, you may go on mocking.  Am I complaining about a person? Why shouldn't I be impatient?  Look at me, and be shocked, and put your hand over your mouth.  When I remember it, I'm terrified, and shuddering seizes my body. 

"Why do the wicked go on living, grow old, and even become more powerful? They see their children firmly established with them, and they get to see their descendants.  Their homes are free from fear, and God doesn't use his rod on them.  Their bulls are fertile when they breed. Their cows give birth to calves and never miscarry.  They send their little children out to play like a flock of lambs, and their children dance around.  They sing with the tambourine and lyre, and they are happy with the music of the flute.  They spend their days in happiness, and they go peacefully to the grave.  But they say to God, 'Leave us alone. We don't want to know your ways.  Who is the Almighty that we should serve him? What do we gain if we pray to him?'  Anyhow, isn't their happiness in their own power? (The plan of the wicked is foreign to my way of thinking.) 

"How often is the lamp of the wicked snuffed out? How often does disaster happen to them? How often does an angry God give them pain?  How often are they like straw in the wind or like husks that the storm sweeps away? 

"You say, 'God saves a person's punishment for his children.' God should pay back that person so that he would know that it is a punishment.  His eyes should see his own ruin. He should drink from the wrath of the Almighty.  How can he be interested in his family after he's gone, when the number of his months is cut short? 

"Can anyone teach God knowledge? Can anyone judge the Most High?  One person dies in his prime and feels altogether happy and contented.  His stomach is full of milk, and his bones are strong and healthy.  Another person, never having tasted happiness, dies with a bitter soul.  Together they lie down in the dust, and worms cover them. 

"You see, I know your thoughts and the schemes you plot against me because you ask, 'Where is the house of the influential person? Where is the tent where wicked people live?'  Haven't you asked travelers? But you didn't pay attention to their directions.  On the day of disaster the wicked person is spared. On the day of God's anger he is rescued.  Who will tell him to his face how he lived? Who will pay him back for what he did?  He is carried to the cemetery, and his grave is guarded.  The soil in the creek bed is sweet to him. Everyone follows him. Countless others went before him.  How can you comfort me with this nonsense when your answers continue to betray me?"