Job 38

I thought maybe the rapture was going to happen today, because Kindal randomly decided to get up and run a 5k this morning and the Bible says that the end of days will be " strange times". That's pretty strange my friends. He never runs... never. In all seriousness, he has decided to run the the Race for the Cure with me on Saturday in honor of my mom who is a survivor. He says he is going to run all week to prepare, it's Olympic training at my house this week. I think that's pretty cool and I'm not as mad he wouldn't dance with me this weekend at my friend Lacey's wedding. ( See Facebook for photos of the events that took place at his "NO DANCE 2012" festival).


I only blog when God gives me my next post. He and I have been going through the book of Job. Have you read it? It's awful. Can I say that? Well, I said it. Job is a book I use to avoid. 1. Because it's suuuuppppeeerrr long. 2. Because I don't like it. 3. Because it makes me mad and 4. Because I was too caught up in my flesh to see the beauty of this story.

Background on Job
Job was from the land of Uz, not to be confused with OZ, no twista's and slippers in this story. The Bible describes him as blameless and upright which means he was pretty awesome.  He was wealthy and blessed with many children. V. 7 of Chapter 1 tells us that Satan came to see the Father and God asked him where he had been? Satan replied " From going to and fro on the earth..." This is where the plot really thickens. The Father asks Satan, " Have you considered my servant Job? There is none like him on earth, a blameless and upright man who fears God and turns away from evil?" You know you're living right when God Almighty uses you as an example of what is right with humanity. Just sayin. Then Satan has to get all snarky, " Does Job fear God for no reason? Have you not put a hedge of protection around him and his house and all that he has on every side?" (v.10) But stretch out your hand and touch all that he has and he will curse your face." ( v.11) Couple things. First of all, don't let the phrase " hedge of protection" just go in one ear and out the other. Think about that. I mean really think about it. The creator of the universe, the one who spun the stars and formed the land and the sea, thought enough of Job to not only keep his eye on him, or just check in on him, but to put a hedge of protection around him. Job was still just a man, unworthy of that kind of affection, but the Father saw fit to protect him and all that he had. Secondly, notice that Satan is very aware of that hedge. He insults God by saying, " Does he fear you for no reason?" He's basically saying, " He loves you only because you spoil him, because you have given him so much good. Let me give him some of what I have, let me bring destruction and not only will he stop loving you, praising you, trusting you... he will spit in your face." And so God agrees that Satan may have authority over his possessions but not his life. I really struggled with that. Why did God do that? Why didn't he just tell Satan to take a hike and keep Job in his happy little existence with his happy little hedge? Job handles the first round of attacks very well. He looses all of his livestock ( his income) his home and his servants and children. His response is truly beautiful. He states in v. 21 " Naked I came from my mother's womb and naked I shall return. the Lord gave and the Lord has taken away, blessed be the name of the Lord." Stop. Read that again. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away, blessed be the name of the Lord." This was a man who had EVERYTHING taken from him. One moment he was enjoying a great life, spending time with his family and by all accounts honoring the Father, and in a moment... gone. He did not react the way I would have, because you know that in one of my previous posts I wrote that I use to associate God's goodness with what was happening in my life, I would have been hacked. I would have thrown a fit, I would have, dare I say, spit in his face. My biggest fear is that Satan would have looked at the Father, Cheshire grin and just said " I told you so" as I lashed out at him, as I cursed his name. That brought tears to my eyes as I wrote it. Job's story is long. He endures much, much more. His wife begs him to curse the Lord and die. There are chapters, yes plural, chapters of conversations he has with friends telling him what a fool he is for still praising God. He is truly a man alone.

If you ever need to be put in your place, by all means read Job 38. It is the spiritual spanking we all sometimes need. It should humble you. Job 38 changed my life. It rocked my perspective of what i deserve, what others deserve and what God has authority over. ( everything, would be the answer to the last question, just FYI). After I lost the baby, I became the official judge of who was worthy to have children and who was not. I was constantly judging, constantly questioning why people were pregnant, why crack addicts have babies, why teenage girls have babies, why people who weren't trying have babies? You see, I guess I felt really entitled to having a child. I looked at women in the mall, children screaming, dirty and disobedient and I thought " Good call on that one God. Thanks for giving her six kids." I imagined my children, pristine and well behaved. They would never act out or behave like that, because I was worthy of motherhood and she was not. I'm sure some of you have though that. You've seen a mother so unconcerned with her children that it's disgusting, watched as a woman pregnant with another can barely control what she has and you just think "God, clearly your judgment is off. " In the past few months, God has become more real in my life then I realized was possible. I have not heard his voice audibly, but I have heard his voice. I was thinking about all the people unworthy of having children as I sat on my bed, mad because another month had come and gone and we still weren't pregnant and God made himself known to me. It wasn't pretty. " Who do you think you are, little girl? That you decide who is worthy to become a mother? That you decide when, where how and why I further their families. That YOU decide who is unworthy and who is worthy of anything is laughable. Who do you think you are?" Jump to Job 38

“Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?
³ Dress for action^[a] like a man;
    I will question you, and you make it known to me.

⁴ “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?
    Tell me, if you have understanding.
⁵ Who determined its measurements—surely you know!
    Or who stretched the line upon it?
⁶ On what were its bases sunk,
    or who laid its cornerstone,
⁷ when the morning stars sang together
    and all the sons of God shouted for joy?

⁸ “Or who shut in the sea with doors
    when it burst out from the womb,
⁹ when I made clouds its garment
    and thick darkness its swaddling band,
¹⁰ and prescribed limits for it
    and set bars and doors,
¹¹ and said, ‘Thus far shall you come, and no farther,
    and here shall your proud waves be stayed’?

“Have you commanded the morning since your days began,
    and caused the dawn to know its place,
¹³ that it might take hold of the skirts of the earth,
    and the wicked be shaken out of it?
¹⁴ It is changed like clay under the seal,
    and its features stand out like a garment.
¹⁵ From the wicked their light is withheld,
    and their uplifted arm is broken.

¹⁶ “Have you entered into the springs of the sea,
    or walked in the recesses of the deep?
¹⁷ Have the gates of death been revealed to you,
    or have you seen the gates of deep darkness?
¹⁸ Have you comprehended the expanse of the earth?
    Declare, if you know all this.

I'll stop there, but it continues on for quite a while. I think back on all the times I deemed myself better than a woman I decided was unworthy. I think back on all the times I have told the Father, the one set limits for the sea, that he didn't know what he was doing in my life, and I am amazed at his patience with me. The bottom line is, that wherever you are at in this journey, whether you've never been able to get pregnant, lost children, you're at a standstill in the adoption process, know two things. Number one: If you're constantly judging others who have children or who get pregnant, who do you think you are? I understand that there are people in this world who do not parent well and maybe they are unfit and maybe you will adopt one of their children, but to question their worth is to assume that your worth is higher. The only difference between you and a lost soul is Jesus Christ. That's it. Pray for them when you see them in the mall, pray for them when you see them at the park, pray for your own turn at motherhood because I trust in faith that it WILL come.  Number two: Make sure that you are doing well with what God has already given you. Are you begging him for more, yet you treat your husband like he doesn't exist because all you want from him is a baby? When was the last time you had sex with him just because you love him and not because your ovulation timer says to. When was the last time you asked him on a date, wrote him a note, prayed over him? If you have children but want more, are you honoring the ones you already have? Do they know that they are enough? That if you never have another, they are enough?  Who do you think you are, my friends? My prayer is that you are a son or daughter of the King. Don't be like me. Act like it.

We Press On,

LB

PS at the end of the story, Job gets everything he lost back 10 fold.... take that Satan