Do Bible Characters Really Understand God?
Tuesday, October 21, 2014 at 09:11AM 
It was a simple tweet, and not even a new idea:
The difference between ‘everything happens for a reason’ and ‘God brings reason out of everything that happens’ is superstition and faith.
As the day ran on it was retweeted again and again, by people I’ve never met or followed.
Then last night I heard a gentle and godly woman reflect on the loss of her 18 day-old baby: “The Lord has the power of death and life, he gives and he takes away.” It was a comfort for her, but it left me wanting.
Every word of the Biblical narrative is inspired, but they are not all inspired in the same way.
When that guy in the Parable of the Talents tells the Master, “I knew you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed,” we know he has it all wrong. Our Lord’s inspired story invites us to consider how a flawed picture of God causes us to make poor choices. Instead, Jesus tells the story to invite us into the Master’s happiness (Matthew 25:14-30) No one would seriously maintain this one man’s description of God was “inspired and true,” would they?
Or consider Job--the book, and also the man. The scripture assures us Job was a righteous man, and so he was. The scripture tells us he did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing. Too true. When we read the Book of Job, we discover that Job’s friends bring a skewed picture of God, His love, and His justice. We take their words as part of a larger story, not as gospel truth. We know they are wrong. But what of Job?
I wonder if every word he says gives us an accurate picture of God, especially those very famous words:
“The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away;
may the name of the Lord be praised”
These words are beautiful. Job worships in the midst of heartbreak. But I wonder if we should trust his picture of God.
Did the Lord really take away? Did the Lord inflict suffering in order to win a celestial wager? We do not accept the counsel of Job's friends as godly wisdom. Why should we automatically believe Job that God "gives and takes away?" Today’s post is not an argument--it's a genuine question. Questions like this are the soul of meditation.
I invite you into the discussion--what do you think of Job’s assessment? He is a picture of humility and trust. He ordered his life around the reverent worship of God. I would love to have Job's humble heart and dedicated practices, but perhaps not his theology.
As you join the conversation (leave a comment, and help me meditate), consider two final points. First, when the Lord shows up at the end of the book, he says to Job, “Who is this that obscures my plans with words without knowledge?” and begins to paint a cosmic picture capable of blowing anyone’s mind. Second, Job finally concludes, “Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know” and “My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you.”
What do you think? Come meditate with me.
Reader Comments (8)
This has always tied me up. On the one hand, yes, God allowed satan to do everything to Job. But im not sure God should get the blame fof allowing it. Mainly because it is for the greater good for Job. I don't think we can know if there is a paparticular reason behind it other than God wanting Job to see him in his holimess and sovereignty, but also his ridiculous kindness to bless him. I think it's Peter who said God disciplines those he loves. The bigger point it would seem is that regardless if hardship ones from him or not, it should be counted as joy because God is treating us as his kids and is using it to reveal more of his presence. I'm not set on holding one veiw, but these are just my thoughts for the moment
Yeah, Chris, it is tough. It would be difficult for me to see the Job example as "discipline." Plus, there's nothing in the text to prohibit us from seeing it as a story--just like the parable of the talents is a story. We easily see how Job's friends are wrong, but what if Job--a good man--is also wrong?
Ray, I have revisited this topic many times as well as the correlation between thinking God causes bad things and fearing God due to this belief. I notice a theme throughout the Bible of an expectation of a healthy reverent "fear" of God and was brought up that I should exhibit this fear to have a healthy relationship with God. But then I think about a healthy relationship with a parent, where that "healthy fear" is a sign of respect and a disciplined child more so than a fear of maltreatment or abuse. Just pondering on the correlation between our view of parents and our view of God as that "parent figure" and how that fear comes into play.
Absolutely, Erica. For whatever reason, the Triune God *chose* the metaphor of Father/Son/Spirit, which means to me (in part) he wants us to draw upon our life-experiences between parents and children. One of the most meaningful verses to me is in Luke 11, "If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” -- Even when human parents fall short, God invites the comparison.
I think you're wise to distinguish between craven-fear, and a kind of fear that flows from respect--reverence even. Sounds to me like you're thinking along some pretty good avenues!
We're Job's words any different than those of the father of the possessed boy of Mark 9:24; confessing that which he does not completely understand?
My experience has been that when God says "no" or "later" to prayer, it is because there is much more going on than meets the eye. It seems like maybe Job's knowledge deficit was tied to what little he understood about God's global plan.
You ask excellent questions, Ed, but my personal biases tilt the other way. The differences between the father of the tortured boy and Job? For one, Jesus did, in fact, bring immediate relief: the father's anguish was more about his boy's suffering than any theological point. Also, I am not free to consider the Mark 9 story a parable, but I am free (by choice--there's no evidence either way) to interpret Job as storytelling, much along the lines of the parables. And this is part of my point: if we receive Job as "gospel," the only words we may be sure are divine are those of YHWH himself, not Job, but people quote Job's words as if they are revealed truth. If we receive Job as a parable, we are free to interact with all the characters in the tale, and imagine our own responses in light of the story.
I think of this one, too:
"Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him;
I will surely defend my ways to his face."- Job 13:15.
I always have enjoyed that Kevin Prosch song where he includes this in the song.
It's hard because I think it would be easy to dismiss these parts, but then I feel that David's psalms may include omitted parts as well(?). I like your blog because it challenges the idea of "what is the goodness of God?".
I think, maybe, the lesson of Job is that he was full of enough faith to still love God after he lost it all, in a manner that was not contingent upon what happens at the last segment with a double portion return. He loved God for God and I think that's something I need to grow in continually. Anyway, like you said, something to meditate on and seek Him through. Thanks for writing! It's not so bad having more questions than answers.
Hi Kyle: For me, having more questions than answers means there's room to grow! I think with King David he used lament as a means of worship, and so did Job--even before he said "The Lord gives and takes away," he bowed low in worship. I like your point about simply loving God for who he is, not about what happens in life.