Reading from Monday, August 30

Hey ho.

So after work tonight I came home and put on the new New Ancients CD while I was doing laundry. These are the guys who lead worship at our church - and they're awesome. Anyway - after I finished folding and hanging I just laid down and listened. It had been so long since I only listened to music. I listen to music all the time while I'm working or driving, but hardly ever do I just listen to a song. And it was awesome. I would really encourage you to do that - find a song that really inspires you or gets you going or whatever and just put it on, close your eyes and listen. Put on your earbuds before bed, blast it out of your computer, rock the block with your jambox, but just enjoy it.

Reading for August 30
Job 34:1-36:33
This is all that guy Elihu. He's got some incredible things to say in these few chapters. A lot of it is spot on to my questions about this book and about God in general. Check it:

¹⁰ "So listen to me, you men of understanding.
       Far be it from God to do evil,
       from the Almighty to do wrong.

 ¹¹ He repays a man for what he has done;
       he brings upon him what his conduct deserves.
 ¹² It is unthinkable that God would do wrong,
       that the Almighty would pervert justice.

So far, no one in this book has mentioned this. We've been told our whole lives that God is good. "God is good" is almost God's slogan. And yet, they never say "it's impossible that God would do something wrong - he's God. He's good." (But Brawndo has electrolytes. It's got what plants crave).

So when God does something that seems wrong to us, it shatters our expectations of who God is and what his motives are. I experienced this when reading through a lot of the Old Testament - God ordered and approved actions that were straight evil. But I think we need to remember two things about this:

1) "Good" is subjective. What's good to you may suck for someone else.
2) God will do whatever he wants. We have no say in his plans for the world or for individuals.

Basically - and I think this is the main point of the book of Job - we cannot box him up and say "God is good". God is wise. God is powerful. God is good most of the time, but not always. Sometimes he's purely powerful. And he does something nasty to prove his power. Maybe that will have a future benefit, maybe it won't. But we will know it was God, and hopefully we will fear him, which - as we learned - is the foundation of wisdom.

Then we have this:

⁶ If you sin, how does that affect him?
       If your sins are many, what does that do to him?
 ⁷ If you are righteous, what do you give to him,
       or what does he receive from your hand?
 ⁸ Your wickedness affects only a man like yourself,
       and your righteousness only the sons of men.

This was touched on a couple chapters ago, but Elihu really makes a strong point of this idea here. But I would argue a little differently. Sure, if I steal a car, it will have no direct effect on God whatsoever. But it will effect the person whom I stole the car from. It will effect me in that I'm now a car thief. And I believe that God laments for not only people who are suffering, but for people who have turned away from him. So in a way, it does effect God if I sin. In the same way, doing good doesn't have any impact on God, but it impacts the recipients of the goodness and the giver of the goodness, and I believe that makes God's heart glad.

The last verse I want to point out is this one, and I agree with him 100% on this one:

 ⁵ "God is mighty, but does not despise men;
       he is mighty, and firm in his purpose.

2 Corinthians 4:1-12
This is a pretty popular couple verses:

⁸We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; ⁹persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.

It sounds to me, from my limited understanding, that these little "we are this but not that"s were designed to read like oxymorons. Like you would read that and say "how could you be perplexed, but not in despair? That's impossible."

And I think the point of it is to showcase the incredible amount of hope and strength that comes with faith in God. My favorite is "persecuted, but not abandoned" - I imagine that gives hope to a lot of people who are stuck in a situation of suffering.

Psalm 44:1-8
So here is an example of God's power, but not necessarily his goodness:

¹ We have heard with our ears, O God;
       our fathers have told us
       what you did in their days,
       in days long ago.
 ² With your hand you drove out the nations
       and planted our fathers;
       you crushed the peoples
       and made our fathers flourish.

Yeah - great for "our fathers" but what about "the nations"? They get destroyed because someone else wants to move in? That's not goodness, that's playing favorites.

"He is not good - he has simply been strong, he has simple been on our side." [God on Trial]

Proverbs 22:10-12
 ¹⁰ Drive out the mocker, and out goes strife;
       quarrels and insults are ended.
 ¹¹ He who loves a pure heart and whose speech is gracious
       will have the king for his friend.
 ¹² The eyes of the LORD keep watch over knowledge,
       but he frustrates the words of the unfaithful.

Sweetness, yo. Have a good night, and remember. Listen to your song. Let me know if it does anything for you. Love you guys.