LIVING WITHOUT AN EXPLANATION (5 OF 5)
Scripture: Job 38:1-7
This content is part of a series.
Living without an Explanation (5 of 5)
Series: Why?
Jonathan McLeod
Job 38:1-7
'''Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?' Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know'' (Job 42:3).
SCRIPTURE READING
The book of Job is a book about suffering. Job was a man who experienced great suffering. He lost his wealth, his children, and his health. In chapters 3-37, Job complains about his suffering, and his friends tell him why they think he's suffering. Then in chapter 38, God speaks.
[Read Job 38:1-7; 40:1-14; 42:1-17.]
GOD IS NOT OUR PERSONAL ASSISTANT
In the 1960s, Elisabeth Elliot wrote a fictional novel entitled No Graven Image. The story is about an American missionary in South America named Margaret who devotes her life to translating the Bible into the language of an indigenous tribe. To make a long story short, Margaret fails to finish her translation.
Elliot had difficulty getting her book published because publishers didn't think God would allow Margaret to fail. They must have forgotten about what had happened to Elliot's husband Jim. He was a missionary who was killed trying to contact a tribe in Ecuador.
In the book, Margaret's only consolation is stated on the final page of the book: ''God, if He was merely my accomplice, had betrayed me. If, on the other hand, He was God, He had freed me.'' Margaret had been worshiping a God of her own creation-a God who was supposed to act like her personal assistant. Many Christians have this same concept of God. To them, God exists to do what they think is best. What the book of Job tells us is that the all-wise, all-powerful, all-good God is not our personal assistant.
NO EXPLANATION
When suffering comes into our lives, we ask, ''Why? Why me? Why this? Why now? Why?'' And Job wanted an explanation from God.
God did finally answer Job: ''Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind'' (38:1). But God didn't ...
Series: Why?
Jonathan McLeod
Job 38:1-7
'''Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?' Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know'' (Job 42:3).
SCRIPTURE READING
The book of Job is a book about suffering. Job was a man who experienced great suffering. He lost his wealth, his children, and his health. In chapters 3-37, Job complains about his suffering, and his friends tell him why they think he's suffering. Then in chapter 38, God speaks.
[Read Job 38:1-7; 40:1-14; 42:1-17.]
GOD IS NOT OUR PERSONAL ASSISTANT
In the 1960s, Elisabeth Elliot wrote a fictional novel entitled No Graven Image. The story is about an American missionary in South America named Margaret who devotes her life to translating the Bible into the language of an indigenous tribe. To make a long story short, Margaret fails to finish her translation.
Elliot had difficulty getting her book published because publishers didn't think God would allow Margaret to fail. They must have forgotten about what had happened to Elliot's husband Jim. He was a missionary who was killed trying to contact a tribe in Ecuador.
In the book, Margaret's only consolation is stated on the final page of the book: ''God, if He was merely my accomplice, had betrayed me. If, on the other hand, He was God, He had freed me.'' Margaret had been worshiping a God of her own creation-a God who was supposed to act like her personal assistant. Many Christians have this same concept of God. To them, God exists to do what they think is best. What the book of Job tells us is that the all-wise, all-powerful, all-good God is not our personal assistant.
NO EXPLANATION
When suffering comes into our lives, we ask, ''Why? Why me? Why this? Why now? Why?'' And Job wanted an explanation from God.
God did finally answer Job: ''Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind'' (38:1). But God didn't ...
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