If You're So Smart...
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| "Illustration to Book of Job" by William Blake |
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the
Lord Jesus Christ!
“If you’re so smart, then tell me this…” Ever
heard those words? They’re usually words children speak when they’re playing
the game of one-upmanship. One child brags how far ahead he is of the rest
because he’s been there, done that. Someone else doesn’t like the insinuation
and says, “Oh, yeah. Well, if you’re so smart, then how did you get a C on that
last science test? If you’re so smart, why did you have to stay in for recess
yesterday? If you’re so smart…”
Our Old Testament Reading contains God’s words
to Job at the end of the lengthy discussion between Job and his three friends,
Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar, plus a fourth by the name of Elihu. After letting
the human counselors and counselee vent for thirty-five chapters, God finally
speaks out of the storm.
His silence throughout the long days of Job’s
illness no doubt parallels the silence of God during some of our tough times. Sometimes
it appears God is silent, or maybe sleeping, like Jesus was in our Gospel
Reading. But God does care. He is not asleep. God is not silent. But neither
does He owe us an answer.
As Job forgets, and as we may well be reminded
this morning too, God is so much bigger and smarter than you or me. We can
trust Him even when life seems out of control, even when things just don’t make
sense to our human reasoning.
Lots of people think they know better than God,
and they need to hear these words from Job. The atheist who claims not to
believe in God. The skeptic who questions whether God cares what goes on in the
world. The secularist who’s far too practical to depend upon God. And the
materialist who says if he can’t see it, it doesn’t exist. These and many
others think they know better than God. To use the words of the text, they speak
“words without knowledge.” They “darken counsel.”
But let’s face it: they’re probably not going
to hear these words. But we do. We need to! The truth be told: we play that
game all the time as well. It’s just that we don’t express it quite so crudely.
We don’t say, “I know everything.” We say, “I know Scripture says it’s wrong,
but in my case…” Or we cry out in despair, “God, why have You let this happen
to us? Don’t You care?”
And then God says, “Who is this that darkens counsel
by words without knowledge?” Could it be that most of us have at times thought
we knew better than God? Perhaps when we wanted an illness healed, a war
stopped, or even a voters meeting decision to go our way? Or we wonder, “Why does
it seem that everything in my life has to be so hard? Look at so-and-so! They’ve
got it so easy!”
Let’s learn from Job this morning. His is not a
formal institution of higher education. His is the school of hard knocks.
Remember, Satan has challenged God about Job. “He
only serves You because You’re making life easy for him,” Satan charges. “You
let me afflict him, and he’ll curse You to Your face.” And so Job suffers
greatly. In just a short time, he loses his twelve children. He loses his great
possessions and wealth. And then he even loses his health.
Job’s wife isn’t exactly encouraging or
supportive. As Job sits among the ashes and scrapes at his festering sores with
a broken piece of pottery, she asks, “Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse
God and die!”
Job’s friends have nothing comforting to say to
Job, either. Their greatest help is when they just sit with him for an entire
week before speaking. When they begin to speak, though, they accuse Job of
great and secret sins that are the cause of his suffering. In their faulty
theology, every person’s suffering is in direct proportion to the measure of
his guilt in God’s eyes.
In reply, Job protests his innocence. But to
whom do you appeal when your friends don’t believe you, and God appears to be
giving you the silent treatment?
As much as Job suffers physically and
psychologically, what pains him the most is God’s apparent alienation from him.
Several times in this book, Job requests that God speak to him: “Oh, that I had
one to hear me!… Let the Almighty answer me; let my accuser put His indictment
in writing” (31:35).
Job has been saying, “I know my situation
better than you do, God. I know I’m innocent. I know I don’t deserve the rough
lot I’ve had. If I could just talk with You about this, man to God, we could
surely resolve this problem.”
About this time God’s silence ends. Out of the
storm, God demands: “Who is this that darkens counsel by words without
knowledge? Dress for action like a man; I will question you, and you make it
known to me.
“Where were you when I laid the foundation of
the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding. Who determined its
measurements—surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it? On what were
its bases sunk, or who laid its cornerstone, when the morning stars sang
together and all the sons of God shouted for joy?
“Or who shut in the sea with doors when it
burst out from the womb, when I made clouds its garment and thick darkness its
swaddling band, and prescribed limits for it and set bars and doors, and said,
‘Thus far shall you come, and no farther, and here shall your proud waves be
stayed’?”
Pretty good questions, aren’t they? Some of
them we still can’t answer, even now. Just like people today, Job asks, “Where is
God when these bad things happen to me? How can a loving God allow suffering,
pain, and death? Even if He doesn’t fix my problem, can’t He at least let me
see why it’s happening?”
And God answers Job’s questions with His own,
beginning with: “Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation?” In other
words, “If you’re so smart, if you know better than I do, then you tell Me.”
God first uses the image of the construction of
a major building, where He is the architect, surveyor, and engineer. He talks
about laying the foundations of the earth and stretching the measuring line
across it. In effect, God says, “Believe it or not, Job, I knew what I was
doing when I created the earth. It didn’t just happen. I put a lot of planning
into it. No matter how hard you try, you couldn’t begin to cram My creative
wisdom into the narrow confines of your limited imagination.”
Then God uses the image of a midwife. “Who shut
up the sea behind doors when it burst forth from the womb? Who else was present
at the birth of the seas, when I wrapped them in the swaddling clothes of
clouds and darkness?”
God the builder, God the midwife: both images
tell us that God knows what He’s doing. He understands the master plan. He
knows how things operate—whether He’s building a home, delivering a baby, or
allowing Job to suffer. Each of those images is designed to create confidence
in the God who is speaking and to remind His listeners of our smallness in
comparison to God.
In the verses that follow our text, God gives
rapid sketches of some 20 creations. God’s words testify to a sense of beauty
and order in the world, whether it’s in the spiritual realm, cosmic elements,
meteorological phenomena, animals, or birds. Job is to conclude that if God
cares for the many creatures He has created, He will care for His human beings
far more wisely and compassionately. If God is in control of the clouds, the
storm, and the rain, as our Gospel reminds when Jesus stills the storm, then
God is in control of what happens in our lives as well.
Well, that’s what God says. Now, for what He doesn’t
say. Does it strike you as odd that God doesn’t answer Job’s questions? He doesn’t
debate with Job or Job’s friends. He doesn’t even refer to Job’s suffering. Instead,
God raises Job’s sight from his own troubles to the marvelous order that
undergirds the whole world. He patiently instructs a man who needs to see the
larger picture.
Job is brought to contentment without ever
knowing all the facts of his case—that Satan had brought up the matter and that
God had allowed the suffering. Job must operate “by faith, not by sight.” He must
love God for God alone. God invites Job to love Him for no reason other than
that God is worthy of love.
God invites us all to have a humble perspective
that is willing to learn and listen. He says, in short, that it’s more
important to know Him than to have all the answers. Which is a good thing—because
none of us do. But that’s okay! We don’t have to have all the answers because
God does—even when things seem their worst, even when everything seems out of
control as it did that dark day two thousand years ago when it appears Satan
had won, when the disciples have no clue why Jesus was abandoned by the
heavenly Father to die on a cross.
Jesus’ disciples don’t have the answer, but God
does. Christ bears our sins on the cross that we might not have to die for our
own sins. We know that now through the preaching of the Gospel. And unlike Job,
with Christ’s resurrection, we come to understand God’s reasons for the
greatest, most unjust suffering that ever happened. Jesus willingly gave up His
life for the salvation of the world—yours and mine, the disciples’, and yes,
Job’s.
Well, how does the Book of Job end? What’s the
result of Job’s meeting with God? In the final chapter Job says, “Now I’m
satisfied; I’ve seen You with my own eyes.” With his newly opened eyes of faith
and spiritual understanding, Job learns that everything is right between
himself and God. And knowing that, Job becomes content not knowing all the
answers to his questions. He learns to rest in the power and grace of God. He
learns to trust that even in suffering and unanswered questions, God is
graciously working all things for “the good of those who love Him and have been
called according to His purpose” (Romans 8:28).
Today, you also meet with God. He is present in
His Word to instruct, comfort, rebuke, correct, and train us in righteousness. He
is present in the assembly, wherever two or three gather together in Jesus’
name. He is present in the Sacrament you will share in a few minutes. He
invites you to learn with Job that you need not have all the answers as long as
you have God. You need not know why certain things happen as long as you know
that He loves you in His Son, Jesus Christ. That’s the larger picture. That’s
the teaching you can always trust.
You are right with God. He is not silent. He is
not asleep. He loves you. He promises to work all things for your good. No
matter what may happen in this life, He will bring you to the joy of eternal
life with Him. In the meanwhile, He speaks to you peace and absolution. For
Jesus’ sake, you are forgiven for all of your sins.
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of
the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Unless
otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from the Holy Bible, English
Standard Version, copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of
Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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