The Joy of Glory

Discovering endless joy in the boundless glory of God…

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April 5, 2014

Lent Devotional: Job 23-24

Job 23-24 (click here)
Behold, I go forward, but he is not there, and backward, but I do not perceive him; 9 on the left hand when he is working, I do not behold him; he turns to the right hand, but I do not see him. 10 But he knows the way that I take; when he has tried me, I shall come out as gold. (Job 23:8-10)

Reflection
Where is God? Job cannot “sense” the presence of the Lord. It doesn’t matter what direction he moves in, what he does, what he says… it is as if God is absent. Every believer knows this feeling. In fact all people know this feeling… we call it “alone.” But, when one has known the presence of the Lord and all of a sudden if feels removed, then “alone” transformed into “forsaken.”

This is how Job feels. This is how we have all felt. But… Job recognizes that feelings do not equal reality.

God is not a feeling! So, when we cannot feel him that does not mean he is not there! It just means the feeling is not there. Job recognizes the truth that God is still present and God is still at work amidst all his suffering. He says God is working, but he cannot behold him. The problem is not God’s presence… the problem is our perception.

He is present, but we don’t perceive.

So what are we to do? When we cannot perceive God’s presence we believe he’s present. Job says, “He knows the way I take; when he has tried me, I shall come out as gold.” Job cannot “feel” God, but he believes he is present, he knows, he sees, and he will save.

Times when we “feel” God’s presence are blessings indeed, but at the end of the day I would rather have the guarantee of his presence that I don’t perceive, than a feeling that turns out to be false.

*The complete SVCC Lenten reading guide is available here.

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April 4, 2014

Lent Devotional: Job 22

Job 22 (click here)
If you return to the Almighty you will be built up; if you remove injustice far from your tents, 24 if you lay gold in the dust, and gold of Ophir among the stones of the torrent-bed, 25 then the Almighty will be your gold and your precious silver. 26 For then you will delight yourself in the Almighty and lift up your face to God. (Job 22:23-26)

Reflection
With these words, Eliphaz reveals the root problem with his (and Job’s other friends) theology. We’ve already seen that he has a “transaction” based theology. In other words, do good and God does good to you. Do bad and God does bad to you. This is the exact belief system that Satan assumed Job had in chapters 1-2.

Yet, right here, in chapter 22, Eliphaz reveals the ultimate problem created by such a “transactional” faith. He tells Job that if he will repent and return to the Lord he will be built back up… i.e. God will bless him with wealth, health, and favorable circumstances again. Then come his words in verse 25… and it is the kicker…

Once Job returns and is built back up, THEN God will become his treasure. Eliphaz believes that God is treasured through things. This could not be further from the truth! This is a treasuring of things… not of God! It is a treasuring of gifts… not the giver! Eliphaz cannot imagine a scenario in which God is treasured when all the gifts are gone.

Job is struggling with what God is doing in his life, but he has not let go of God, because he understands what it truly means to have God as treasure… to love him more than any of the possessions or people in your life… to treasure him more than your own health. If God is not our treasure amidst pain, he will never be our treasure amidst pleasure. We, like Eliphaz, will deceive ourselves into believing that we delight in God when, in reality, all we delight in are his gifts.

*The complete SVCC Lenten reading guide is available here.

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April 3, 2014

Lent Devotional: Job 21

Job 21 (click here)
[The wicked] spend their days in prosperity, and in peace they go down to Sheol. 14 They say to God, “Depart from us! We do not desire the knowledge of your ways. 15 What is the Almighty, that we should serve him? And what profit do we get if we pray to him?” (Job 21:13-15)

Reflection
Job is once again rebuking his friends and pointing out holes in their tight knit theodicy. Again and again he claims that the wicked do not always experience punishment for their sins, but are often prosperous in this life. Do we not see this played even today?

All around us, people prosper through lying, cheating, oppressing, etc. Dishonesty has become considered necessary if one wants to succeed in gaining power or wealth. Even more than that, how often have you seen someone be successful who has no regard for God… or perhaps they even mock him! Yet, their success seems to have no end.

Without meaning to do so, Job is actually highlighting for us another tactic of Satan to keep people from worshipping the Lord, namely, prosperity. Throughout this book, we have watched Satan use pain to try and get Job to curse God, but I think Satan actually uses prosperity for this purpose even more so than pain.

Perhaps the entire reason he brought pain into Job’s life was that Job was not distracted from worship of the Lord amidst all his original prosperity! Job points out to us that many people who are prosperous see no need for God. There is no purpose in serving him or praying to him, for they have everything they want and couldn’t imagine any more benefit from serving some deity.

This is what happens when we view our relationship with God as a means to some other end. If we only want God so that he will do “x” for us or give us “y” then if we already have it… we don’t need him… and if it is withheld or taken away… we curse him. Pleasure or pain brings our “relationship” with God to ruin when the foundation of that relationship is anything other than joy in God himself!

*The complete SVCC Lenten reading guide is available here.

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