Peter Misselbrook's Blog

Jun 13 2019 - Job 38:1-15; 40:1-14 – God's response

Job concludes his words in chapter 31 before Elihu steps in to try to put Job straight (chapters 32-37). Amongst the final words of Job are these in 31:35:

Oh, that I had someone to hear me!
    I sign now my defence – let the Almighty answer me;
    let my accuser put his indictment in writing.

Job longs to be able to come before God and present his case in the courts of heaven. He will answer all the charges of his accuser, and will prove himself innocent. He will stand proud and justified before God and will seek an explanation from God as to why he has suffered in this way.

Have you ever felt like this? Have you ever said in your heart, if not out loud, if only I could stand before God I would set him right? Well, in chapter 38 God turns up and tells Job to stand before him (38:3), but it is not that Job may question God and justify himself; God appears to question Job.

First of all, God describes his work of creation and asks Job where he was when the earth was formed (38:15). The suggestion is almost ironical; how could God have managed to do all this without Job's help and advice?

In chapter 40 verse 2, the Lord says to Job:

Will the one who contends with the Almighty correct him?
    Let him who accuses God answer him!

So here is Job's opportunity to seek an answer from God. But he can only reply (v. 4):

I am unworthy – how can I reply to you?
    I put my hand over my mouth.

Job claps his hand over his mouth. He is silenced before God and knows that he has no right to question the Almighty. God again tells Job to stand before him like a man (40:7), and asks if he could really make a better job of the moral government the world? Would Job be able to crush those who are proud while bestowing unmixed blessing on those who lived upright lives? (40:8-13). God is telling Job that his feeling that God has not treated him fairly is rooted in too small a view of the world and too small a view of God's justice. God's concern is larger than Job.

The Apostle Paul presents us with a similar challenge saying, "Who are you, a human being, to talk back to God? Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it, 'Why did you make me like this?'" (Romans 9:20). In our folly we might imagine that if we ruled the world we could make a better job of it than God; but that is indeed folly. God is not answerable to us and if we were brought into his presence our mouths also would be stopped and we would be humbled before him.

Thank God that he does not treat us as we deserve. We have all fallen short of his glory and are deserving of his judgment, but, in grace, he sent his Son into the world to be our Saviour. And if he has given his Son for us, will he not with him freely give us all things? We may not understand the things that have happened to us in life or why they have happened, but we know that we can trust our Heavenly Father. He calls us to walk by faith and not demand that we see and understand.

Father God, these are hard lessons for us to learn, even as they were hard for dear Job. Help us to have a right view of ourselves and a right view of you as our God – our creator, sustainer and redeemer. Thank you that in the Lord Jesus you have shown us that you do not treat us as we deserve but always look upon us in compassion, grace and mercy. Strengthen us by your Spirit that we might know your presence and your love in every situation we face and that we may always trust you and rejoice that we know you.

Jun 13 2020 - Romans 9:1-24 – Holding it all together

Can you understand the relationship between the sovereignty of God and the freedom he has given to us as those made in his image? Can you understand how all things can be under God’s control and yet we are not mere puppets but are free moral agents, responsible and answerable for our every action? Can you understand how God is both sovereign and perfect in goodness and yet there is evil in the world? I readily confess that I cannot fit all of these things together; the very effort to do so makes my head hurt.

Yet Scripture is clear in insisting on both of these perspectives on the world and even on bringing both together is such statements as that of Peter who, when preaching on the day of Pentecost said of Jesus, “This man was handed over to you by God's set purpose and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross” (Acts 2:23, see also Acts 4:27-28). Scripture affirms both the complete sovereignty of God and undiminished human responsibility; it will not allow us to affirm the one in order to deny the other. We tie ourselves in knots and end up denying the testimony of Scripture when we so emphasise one aspect of these truths that we all but deny the other.

This may seem very confusing but it is surely both challenging and encouraging. It is challenging because we can never excuse our own sins and failings or our lack of zeal for God with the excuse, “That’s just the way God made me.” We cannot blame God for our sin. Rather, God calls us to continual repentance; to a radical change of heart and of mind and of behaviour. And it’s comforting because we know that God is able to do in us and with us and through us all that he calls from us. The power is from him and not from ourselves, and this drives us to our knees in prayer.

The mystery of divine sovereignty and human responsibility finds its practical application in earnest prayer and faithful discipleship. These two also are intimately connected.

We see these two connected in the ministry of the apostle Paul. He is convinced that God’s purpose is to save both Jews and Gentiles and that God’s purpose will not fail. But he does not therefore sit at home praising God for the greatness of his saving plan. Paul is a man driven by his understanding of God’s purpose. He will let nothing, not shipwreck or persecution, turn him back from his mission of proclaiming Christ to all the world. But neither is he so busy that he has no time for prayer, convinced that it all depends on his furious activity. Paul is always on his knees, praying continually and exhorting others to join him in prayer for the success of the Gospel. Paul is a wonderful example of a man who believed both in the sovereignty of God and in the efficacy of human activity. He believed that God fulfils his purposes through people who are gripped by his Spirit and captivated by Christ.

Heavenly Father, my mind cannot comprehend your mind, but you have revealed your heart to us in the Lord Jesus Christ, and shown us that your love is wide as the oceans, high as the heavens, deep as the deepest sea and more enduring than the universe. Enable me to know that without you I can do nothing, but keep me from doing nothing because I am waiting for you to do without me what you have called me to do. Help me to be fervent both in prayer and in the work of the kingdom.

Peter Misselbrook