“No one is so fierce that he would dare stir him up. Who then is able to stand against Me? Who has preceded Me, that I should pay him? Everything under heaven is Mine.” Job 41:11
“Who has directed the Spirit of the Lord, or as His counselor has taught Him? With whom did He take counsel, and who instructed Him, and taught Him in the path of justice? Who taught Him knowledge, and showed Him the way of understanding?” Is. 40:13,14
It is not a wise thing to take God to court. Even when you're certain that you'll be vindicated. To demand satisfactory answers from our eternal Sovereign concerning His management style of the universe and our lives is not for the faint-hearted. It takes tremendous chutzpah to put Yahweh on trial and require good explanations for why He runs the universe and our lives the way He does. It's something that shouldn’t be attempted by just anyone. In fact, it’s really best that no one try it. Just ask Job, the most righteous man of his day. He finally got his day in court (Job 23:1-7; 38:1-41:34). Read the passages and you’ll see it didn’t go so well for him. Seems he had a hard time coming up with answers when cross-examined about his own omniscience, omnipotence, and omnipresence.
“Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding. Who determined its measurements? Surely you know!” Job 38:4,5 No answer? Okay, let’s move on to some other questions:
“Have you commanded the morning since your days began, and caused the dawn to know its place…?” Job 38:12
“Have you entered the springs of the sea? Or have you walked in search of the depths? Have the gates of death been revealed to you? Have you comprehended the breadth of the earth? Tell Me, if you know all this.” Job 38:16-18
And while God delighted in and even boasted about Job’s righteousness (Job 1:8; 2:3); He refused to be handcuffed by it. And that my friends, is an easy trap for all of us to fall into. All to easily we can find ourselves quietly assured that if we just jump through the right hoops, stay on the right path; blessing (as we define it) will inevitably follow. "Surely, if I get up early to have a quiet time; God will make sure that I have a good day." "If I give my ten percent or more, God is bound to bless us financially." "If I follow through on what I learned from this parenting seminar then I can rest assured that my kids will turn out well and walk with God." Deep down within all of us is the stubborn belief of fallen flesh - "If I do what God says, then He owes me..." God’s response to Job’s demands that his righteous living be more carefully taken into account was essentially this, as one writer put it:
“Job, please tell me to whom I am obligated to give answers or blessings. You are a righteous man, my friend, and I appreciate that very much. But your righteousness does not make Me indebted to you. Everything I have given you and will ever give you is of grace. It is only the arrogant foolishness of your flesh that makes you believe that you can keep Me in check or your life intact (as you define it) through right living. Job, your life will always be lived in the grip of sovereign mystery; don’t try to put me into your grip of obligated reward. My dear Job, you can worship Me, or you can resent Me; but you cannot manage Me.”
Frederick Buechner describes it like this,
“Throughout the book of Job, Job whined, ‘Why are you treating me so unfairly, God?’ ‘Put yourself in my place.’ ‘No!’ God thunders in reply. ‘You put yourself in my place. Until you can offer lessons on how to make the sun come up each day or where to scatter lightning bolts or how to design a hippopotamus, don’t judge how I run the world. Just shut up, Job, and listen!’”
To his credit, Job allowed himself to be broken over the demandingness and subtle arrogance of his self-righteousness. He went from being a godly man to a godlier man. From a good man to a better man. Most of all, he became an even greater worshipper (Job 42:1-6). A more humbled worshipper. A more intimate worshipper. And a more deeply, deeply satisfied worshipper of an unmanageable God. The only kind of God there is.
Flashpoint: Genuinely righteous living delights the heart of God but does not bind the hand of God from bringing His sovereignly selected rains into our lives. But they are always meant to lead us to a wealthier place – nearer to Him.
