Nearly everyone knows the story of Job. Job had it all...until he didn't. God allowed the Adversary to ravage all Job's possessions in order to test his righteousness and faithfulness. However, Job had some buddies that weren't keen on this celestial insight and spent ten or twenty or more chapters arguing with Job about why he suffered. God patiently waited until they shut their mouths, then he interrupted the prideful pow-wow with these words:
"Who is this, darkening my plans with his ignorant words? Stand up like a man, and brace yourself; I will ask questions and you will give the answers! Where were you when I founded the earth? Tell me, if you know so much." -Job 38:2-3
Following this is chapters 38, 39 and 40 which all include a series of rhetorical questions from God designed to humble his audience.
"Will the one who contends with the Almighty correct Him? Let him who accuses God answer him!" (Job 40:2)
Job, sufficiently humbled, says,"I am unworthy--how can I reply to you? I put my hand over my mouth. I spoke once, but I have no answer--twice, but I will say no more." (vs. 4&5)
Nice. Smart move, Job.
I bring all this up to tell you that I am part of a group called "Raw Goat Milk". Exciting, huh? Well, it's more exciting than you'd think. It's an online Yahoo group of people who raise goats worldwide and they share information on legal issues, cheese making, animal husbandry, recipes, etc. It's actually very valuable. Well, it would be if it wasn't so much like the counsel of Job's friends.
Imagine for a minute that you were a backyard dairyman with a sick goat. You didn't know how to cure her, your family depended upon her production, and you couldn't afford a vet. Leaning on the counsel of experienced goat keepers would be really valuable...only it seems no goat raiser can agree with another one about how to raise a goat! I bet if it was your goat, you would just want to get some counsel, heal your goat, and be done! However, there are times that it gets pretty heated when discussing stupid, trivial things like wormers, mineral mixes, and preserving milk. Really, people...does it have to be this way?
I spoke with a wise goat raising friend of mine of this issue and she nodded her head knowingly. We both had purchased goats from such people that literally worship their herd because it's a source of pride for them and they don't have something greater to live for. Their name, their reputation, and their sense of self-worth is tied up in their goat's bloodlines and productivity. "They don't know the Lord. How can I get offended when they criticize my herd? My assurance is with Him...my goats just give me milk and meat," said my friend. Yes, words of wisdom in a crazy, prideful world in which we don't know where to worship. A barn is a sad replacement for the awesome throne room of God.
"What does a person gain from all his labor at which he toils under the sun? Generations come, generations go, but the earth remains forever. What has been is what will be, what has been done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun. Is there something of which it is said,'See, this is new'? It existed already in the ages before us. No one remembers the people of long ago; and those to come will not be remembered by those who come after them." -Ecclesiastes 1:3&4,9-11
We can work our hearts out for something that we believe will demonstrate our greatness, but even if it impresses people....it will not impress God. What impresses God is this:
"Here is the final conclusion, now that you have heard everything: fear God, and keep his commands: this is what being human is all about. For God will bring to judgement everything we do, including every secret, whether good or bad." - Ecclesiastes 12:13&14
Like Job, may we simply put our hand over our mouth and say no more. Let us walk in humility because we are but dust and ashes graced with the Almighty's breath of Life. In Christ alone is our hope, and not in the work of our hands or the vehemency of our opinions.
"Adonai, you have been our dwelling place in every generation. Before the mountains were born, before you had formed the earth and the world, from eternity past to eternity future you are God. You bring frail mortals to the point of being crushed, then say,'People, repent!' For we are destroyed by your anger, overwhelmed by your wrath. You have placed our faults before you, our secret sins in the full light of your presence. All our days ebb away under your wrath; our years die away like a sigh. The span of our life is seventy years, or if we are strong, eighty; yet at best it is toils and sorrow, over in a moment and then we are gone. Who grasps the power of your anger and wrath to the degree that the fear due you should inspire? So teach us to count our days, so that we may become wise." -Psalm 90:2-4,7-12
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