Poor Leroy had fallen on hard times. He lost his job at the fertilizer plant, his wife had left him, his unemployment had run out, and he was evicted from his apartment. He packed what little he had in a knapsack, made a little sign that read “Will work for food,” and set off down the road on foot.
Toward the middle of the day, he came to a farmhouse. He was getting very hungry, and so he knocked on the front door. A woman answered, and Leroy explained his situation, and how he could do most anything and how hungry he was.
At first the woman wanted no part of Leroy, but he persisted. Finally she asked, “Can you paint?”
“Oh yes, ma’am,” Leroy said, “I sure can paint. I’ve done a lot of painting. Just let me show you.” The woman relented, found a can of paint and a brush and said, “You can go around back and paint the porch, and I’ll fix you some dinner.” Happily, Leroy went to work.
About 40 minutes later, Leroy appeared at the front door. “Are you finished so soon?” asked the woman. “Oh yes, ma’am,” said Leroy, “but I think you ought to know that it’s not a porch, it’s a Volvo.”
Misunderstandings can definitely create problems. I have dealt with many people who come to wrong conclusions about God because they do not understand his nature, his purposes, and his ways.
Isaiah tells us this about God’s “ways”: “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways And My thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:9)
The Bible is best understood by someone who has made a commitment to Jesus as personal Savior. We make this profession of our faith based on our belief that God is a loving God, and that he provided a way for forgiveness, salvation, and freedom through the death and resurrection of his one and only Son, Jesus Christ. If ever there is a question about God’s ways and the events of our lives, we fall back on that basic belief, God is good and loving.
The story of Job in the Bible is one of suffering, as he loses his family and wealth, and thus falls into despair. How does anyone who experiences such tragedy interpret the ways of God? Well, in the process of trying to figure this out, Job has three friends who come with advice.
The first is Eliphaz (Job Chapter 4), who makes a long speech, essentially telling Job that he must be guilty of something because the innocent do not suffer such things. Job struggles with this idea, but contends that he can’t think of anything, and even if he could, it still doesn’t make sense. He wants to know why he was picked out for this.
Then comes Bildad (Job Chapter 8), who confounds Job further by asserting that God rewards good people, and therefore Job is mistaken about something. Job again mulls this over and is even more frustrated.
Finally, his friend Zophar (Job Chapter 11) gives Job a tongue-lashing rebuke, claiming all this happened because Job’s heart is not right with God.
Does any of this sound familiar? The problem with many people is that once something terrible and seemingly random strikes them, they abandon their basic assumption that God is good and loving, and has provided salvation, hope, forgiveness, and peace. Instead they assume that God is vengeful, capricious, and unfair.
To avoid adopting a misunderstanding of who God is and what he intends for us, we need to stick with that beginning assumption that brought us to Jesus. We should not come to the false conclusion that God does not love us. There must be another interpretation for the difficult events of life. We cannot let the enemy use them to lead us toward distrust and despair.
Ending today’s devotion this way seems to leave us hanging, with lots of questions for which a long discussion would be in order, but that is too much to cover today. Suffice it to say, in the long-run, sticking with our Father God, his Son the Savior, and the work of the Holy Spirit is the only approach that leads to life at its best … and certainly the only way that leads to life eternal. Like Job, we should continue the search and God will provide the answers.
Have a blessed weekend, including rest, family, and worship,
Chaplain Mark