“Oh, that I knew where I might find him,
that I might come even to his seat!
I would lay my case before him
and fill my mouth with arguments.”
– Job 23:3-4
Ah, poor Job! Even he finally gave in into the false thinking that if he could just argue with God, all his problems would be solved. Many Christians think the same thing in times of despair. “There must be some mistake…” “What is God doing…” “This isn’t how it’s supposed to work…” Asking to speak with the manager about his complaints isn’t going to solve anything for Job. It generally doesn’t solve anything for anyone. Why not? Two reasons…
First, Job is wrong about why he’s suffering. He’s fallen into the same theological error as his so-called friends. He believes his suffering is being caused by God. He’s forgotten the existence of the devil, who is the real source of his pain. Wrongly blaming God for your suffering results in a lot of warped theology. Job’s desire to argue with God is literally barking up the wrong tree.
Second, and this is arguably more important, Job forgets that he can’t ever fully understand God, His will, and His ways. God is an infinite being. He’s all good and utterly without sin. He’s all-powerful, all-knowing, and all-wise. He sees all of space and time simultaneously and knows exactly how everything is going to unfold across countless generations. For theses reasons, God’s plans unfold in ways we simply can’t understand. We can’t understand how hard things today can yield glorious fruit generations from now. But God can!
When we long to argue with God about how He’s running the universe we do so from an incredibly narrow perspective – one moment in time and overwhelmingly focused on one single person – ourself. This is why a desire to debate with God, to dump our complaints on Him and blame Him for what He’s doing will never satisfy us. Never!
Do you know what will satisfy? Trusting God and intentionally laying aside doubts, questions, indignation, and argumentation to simply draw near to Him in faith and love. Abiding in Him. Dwelling in His presence. Meditating on the person and work of Jesus and His sacrificial death on your behalf. Choosing to delight in Him rather than debate with Him. It’s so simple and yet so difficult. Nonetheless, it’s the road to peace and joy amidst the chaos of life on earth. #FollowJesus