Sunday, 06 May 2007

Sunday School Class Proverbs 23:6-8 Being around some folks can tie your stomach in knots. 

Scripture reading: #672

Sunday evening Vesper's 5-6 p.m. Matthew 9:9 Matthew and his friends...those who were looked down upon by religious folks.

Wednesday Study Class 7-8 p.m. Teaching our children how to live effectively as Christians in society: How to help kids know what’s serious and what isn’t.

'Shall we accept good from God and not adversity?'  Accepting Trouble...

"Accepting Trouble" doesn't seem to be a natural response. We struggle against trouble from our childhood. We learn strategies for fighting back. The struggle for dominance becomes an extension of our willfulness and sense of self. It is a part of survival! So why and when should we “Accept Trouble?” Perhaps for some of us we should replace the word ‘trouble” with ‘disappointment.’

Job 2:1. On another day the angels came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came with them to present himself before him. 2. And the LORD said to Satan, "Where have you come from?" Satan answered the LORD, "From roaming through the earth and going back and forth in it."

3. Then the LORD said to Satan, "Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil. And he still maintains his integrity, though you incited me against him to ruin him without any reason."

4. "Skin for skin!" Satan replied. "A man will give all he has for his own life. 5. But stretch out your hand and strike his flesh and bones, and he will surely curse you to your face." 6. The LORD said to Satan, "Very well, then, he is in your hands; but you must spare his life."

7. So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD and afflicted Job with painful sores from the soles of his feet to the top of his head. 8. Then Job took a piece of broken pottery and scraped himself with it as he sat among the ashes.

9. His wife said to him, "Are you still holding on to your integrity? Curse God and die!" 10. He replied, "You are talking like a foolish woman. Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?" In all this, Job did not sin in what he said.

In Job 2.10 we read Job's response to his wife's anger over the adversity that had befallen them. ("You are talking like a foolish woman. Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?")

In situations of trouble and adversity it usually isn't soothing to remind the troubled that "it rains on the just and the unjust."

Nor is it helpful to admonish with "sometimes bad things happen to good people." 

I wouldn't advise any husband to respond to his wife by saying, "You are talking like a foolish woman..." That not only isn't wise, it isn't loving. Job certainly wasn't perfect, as his friends would soon point out repeatedly.

However, Job did complete the statement to his wife with a powerful, philosophical question: "Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?" The question of "trouble" coming from God isn't acceptable to most Christians. It is usually rejected and summarily replaced with a condemnation of Satan as being the source of "trouble." Even Job's friends, while giving pseudo-acknowledgement of God as the source, actually blamed Job's behavior as the source in a cause-and-effect type of blame assessment.

If he’s having trouble – there has to be something he has done to bring it on…

WRONG! Let’s quit blaming the victim. Compassion reaches out to those hurt.

Job's position is understood by the Old Testament prophets, Ezekiel and Jeremiah, as they wrote of the sovereignty of God (Jeremiah 29 being an excellent example).

David's understanding of God's sovereignty is seen in his encouragement to "commit your way to God and He will bring it to pass."

Actually, the passage says: Ps 37:3. Trust in the LORD and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture. 4. Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart. 5. Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him and he will do this:

The underlying presupposition is that the person will be humble before God.

Humble before God…

Without humility before God for the fulfillment of His purposes in our lives – we will not be able to find anything but bitterness in the difficult times and changes of life.

With pride or humility we can "accept" good things, but only with humility can we accept bad things.

It seems that Job's real concern here is humility. There is a huge difference between the Israelite's attitude of what they had accomplished "with (their) own hands..." and David's attitude when he "went in and sat before the Lord and said, 'Oh Lord, who am I and what is my house that thou has brought me this far?' "

Job's awareness of his need for humility was the basis for his statement – ‘shall I only accept good from God, and not trouble?’

Micah summed up the requirement of a person before God, "He has showed thee, oh man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of thee? But to do justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with thy God." (Micah 6.8)