2 I know that thou canst do every thing, and that no thought can be withholden from thee.
3 Who is he that hideth counsel without knowledge? therefore have I uttered that I understood not; things too wonderful for me, which I knew not.
4 Hear, I beseech thee, and I will speak: I will demand of thee, and declare thou unto me.
5 I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee.
6 Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.
We all know a little about the story of Job. He loses everything he has, wife, family, livestock, and land, and his “friends” keep wanting him to blame God. Most of the book is a dialogue between Job and his friends, but he never says anything negative about God. Now, Job and God have been in conversation. Job’s answer to God here speaks a profound truth about faith. We have been taught about God by others. But the time must come in each of our lives to actually “see” what God has done both in the world and in us. For our faith to be “ours,” we can’t let it rest on the confession of others.
The Apostles’ Creed is one of the earliest declarations of faith by Christians and begins with the words, “I believe.” We will never understand the mind of God. We will always ask “why” when a loved one dies, a catastrophe hits – a tornado, an earthquake, a hurricane, a flood, etc. It could be personal or national, and we don’t know the answer as to why. It is so easy to blame God. It’s one thing to be angry, another to blame. I know that I have been taught that life is like a beautiful tapestry, but in this world, we will only see the wrong side with the threads crossed and hanging down. We will only see beauty when we reach heaven.
And so, we need to answer God’s questions for ourselves, just as Job did. Have we seen the hand of God so that our faith is truly ours, or not? Faith dependent on someone else’s isn’t strong enough to withstand the trials this life will bring.
May our faith be strong enough to stand firm in a shaky world.
Heavenly Father, you know all things, you have made all things. We do not have the understanding to know your will. Please make our faith strong enough to last until the end of our days on earth. Amen.
