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Prism Women | What the World Needs Now
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What the World Needs Now

When Jesus tells his disciples, and therefore us, that we’ll have many troubles in the world but to take heart in his overcoming, my heart is bolstered against news of heartache, terrorist attacks, or unfair death.

 

I think we show ourselves as biblically and spiritually mature Christians when we embrace Richard Feynman’s assertion that he “would rather have questions that can’t be answered than answers that can’t be questioned.” Most true believers I know and interact with aren’t afraid to cast doubt on long-held beliefs: often, this questioning allows them to reconcile their faith with the truth—of reality, of God.

 

But when it comes to our personal suffering, these tribulations that smack us down, regardless of our struggles and victories over philosophical doubt, there are the voices around us—what our friends and church families tell us about these circumstances—that often cast the most ominous shadows across our faith.

 

If we examine Job’s friends, it’s astonishing to see how many modern day Christians—including you and me—still behave as they did, even though God emphatically rebuked their advice.

 

Eliphaz the Temanite (Job 4; 5; 15; 22) offers that Job’s suffering is the result of his sin. Granted, many times the consequences of our actions cause us suffering, but what if we’re not facing a black-and-white situation? We now essentially have to go digging in desperation of finding out what we did to deserve this. Yet across the faith spectrum—from fundamentalists to Pentecostals—this often is the first place to begin. In my early ministry, this is where I started.

 

I want to adjust my thinking in light of the Gospel, where Jesus has overcome not just the world but also sin. If Jesus is our redeemer, and sin is not obvious in this circumstance, then how can the conversation with the one suffering shift to reveal redemption and not reproach? This is a healthy place to start.

 

Bildad the Shuhite (Job 8; 18; 25) argues that Job is stubborn to admit his sin; therefore, he suffers. Here’s the classic case of the unrepentant sinner getting what she deserves. We think No wonder she’s in such a mess; if only she’d just repent! How sanctimonious we are. If only we’d repent for our pride, perhaps things could go better for us, too.

 

Reframing this mindset is tricky because we know how valuable true repentance is. However, to start here, to appropriate someone else’s guilt based on her response toward circumstances—whether or not sin is involved—is to miss the entire point of grace. Jesus says that his kindness leads us to repentance (Romans 2:4). With this in mind, if sin is the culprit, then God’s grace should be the catalyst for repentance. Therefore, let us lead by grace. Let us offer love before solutions.

 

Zophar the Naamathite (Job 11; 20) believes Job’s situation merits increased suffering: Job doesn’t know how good he has it, so he should be thankful.  From this perspective, the grass is browner somewhere else, so tend to your own yard with gratitude (If posted on Facebook, this platitude likely ends with an exclamation point after “gratitude!”). Who’s to say, however, that someone else has it worse? Does your friend, or pastor, or church ladies group leader have special powers to perceive from God’s vantage point?

 

May we forgive the times we’ve received at least you have other kids upon miscarrying; at least he lived as long as he did when a loved one dies; at least you have modern medicine upon a harrowing diagnosis. It’s the at leasts among the most well-intentioned among us that helped send Christ to the cross. Our at leasts condemn people into vortexes of guilt. Often, we never get to deal with our pain because we’re too busy thanking God that we don’t have it worse. Don’t misread me: gratitude is precious and important to cultivate, but so is honesty. Sometimes we have to let the real stuff out in order to arrive at a posture of praise.

 

Finally, Elihu the Buzite (Job 32-37) offers that God seeks to mature and teach Job through suffering. This is where most of us tread, and sometimes assuredly so, when we’re counseling others. We seek the lesson, the treasure God has hidden at the end of our perilous f(l)ight. It’s not wrong to pursue God’s wisdom in our circumstances, especially those we’d rather not endure.

 

But what answers does God give? He is silent in the questioning but loud in declaring his character. Out of the storm, God speaks to Job:

 

"Who is this that obscures my plans/ with words without knowledge? / Brace yourself like a man; I will question you, / and you shall answer me…." -Job 38:1-3

 

 

God asks if Job—or any of his friends—have kept the universe and its inhabitants in perfect order.

 

"Shall a faultfinder contend with the Almighty? / He who argues with God, let him answer it." -Job 40:2

 

Job’s response is to admit:

 

"I know that you can do all things, /and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted. /‘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. / ‘Hear, and I will speak; / I will question you, and you make it known to me.’ / I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, / but now my eye sees you;/ therefore I despise myself, /and repent in dust and ashes." -Job 42:2-6

 

Job gets it, and God restores him for it. It’s not about Job, is it? It’s about God. It’s about the unfailing love of the Most High, the incomparable grace of his character, the unrelenting mystery of his ways, the terrifying voice of his love.

 

And so when we suffer, when we stand alongside those who do, when we turn on the news to watch a devastated world, let’s choose to shift our eyes away from our flesh and circumstances and fix our gazes on God, who is good. In this we will see miracles. In this we will see the world restored.

 

Image: Job and His Friends (1869) by Ilya Repin; Courtesy of WikiArt.org

 

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2 Comments

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