On the Level

This is the message given in the United Methodist churches of the Wheatland Parish on Sunday, June 19, 2016.  The Bible verses used are Job 38:1-5, 12-13, 16-24; 40:1-2, 42:1-5.

            One of the reasons we’ve done a sermon series on the story of Job is that it’s a story that has bothered me over the years.  It just seems like Job is so poorly treated.  Here he is, living his live, doing his best to serve God, doing his best to be, as he’s described in the beginning of the book, blameless and upright, fearing God and shunning evil.  And then, through no fault of his own, all kinds of terrible things happen to him—losing his wealth, losing his family, losing his health, all of that stuff we’ve talked about during this series.

            Job, of course, does not understand why this has happened, and we would not expect him to.  Now, as we’ve said before, he did not lose his faith in God.  But he wants to know what’s going on here.  Job asks, at various times and in various ways, why?  Why, God, is all this happening to me?  If I’d done something wrong I’d understand it, but I have not done anything wrong.  And God, you know that.  You know I really am blameless and upright.  I know you’re not punishing me for sin.  So what are you doing?  What’s the deal here, God?  I don’t get it.

            And as we read the story of Job, and we see all the things that have happened to Job, we tend to think those are good questions.  They’re the kind of questions you and I might ask if we were in Job’s situation.  And some of us, to one degree or another, have been.  Not that we’ve had that many bad things happen all at once, the way Job did.  But a lot of us have had times where we’re going along, doing the best we can, and it seems like a bunch of stuff goes wrong, stuff that happened through no fault of our own. 

We struggle with that.  We struggle, and we ask God about it, because we want to know.  Why are you letting all this stuff happen to me, God?  I mean, I know I’m not perfect, but I’m trying.  I’m doing my best.  So what’s going on?  Why are all these bad things happening?  Why can I not seem to catch one lousy little break?

So we keep reading the story, and Job keeps asking all these questions, the same questions you or I might ask.  And if you’re like me, you start to get impatient, because it seems to go on and on and on.  And you think, how long will this story go on like this?  When is God going to come back into this and give some answers?

And at last we get to chapter thirty-eight.  And we see the words, “Then the Lord spoke to Job.”  And we think, “Finally!”  Finally Job’s going to get some answers to his questions.  And we’re going to get some answers to our questions, too.

Except—we don’t.  And neither does Job.  God comes along and basically says to Job, who are you to ask these questions?  Who are you to tell me how things should go?  I’m the holy, just, righteous, perfect God.  I created the world and everything in it.  Including, by the way, you!  And you come along and try to tell me I’m doing it wrong?  You come along and try to tell me what to do?  Just who do you think you are, anyway?

Well, that’s not very satisfying.  It’s not very satisfying to me, anyway.  But it was to Job.  Listen to what Job says in response.  Speaking to God, Job says, “I know that you can do all things; no purpose of yours can be thwarted…Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know.”

So what does that mean?  Well, for one thing, it shows that Job was a lot more blameless and upright than I am.  I’d still like to know the answers!  But I think there’s more to it than just that.

Remember last fall, when we did the sermon series on the minor prophets?  One of the recurring themes throughout all the books of the minor prophets is that the people have become arrogant.  The reason they have the problems they have is that, in their arrogance, the people have turned away from God.  And the prophet calls on them to turn back to God and turn away from their own arrogance.

When we go to God and demand answers, we’re showing arrogance.  Now there can be other reasons, too.  Sometimes we demand answers because we’re hurting.  Sometimes we demand answers because we’re confused and nothing seems to make sense.  Sometimes we demand answers because we’re doing the best we can and it seems like nothing is going right.  There are lots of reasons we demand answers from God.

But Job had all those things going on when he demanded answers, too.  Job was hurting—he’d lost everything.  Job was confused.  Nothing seemed to make sense to him.  Job had been doing the best he could—again, he was blameless and upright—and now nothing was going right for him.  Job had all those same things going on that you and I have going on when we demand answers from God.

But even though Job had all those things going on when he demanded answers from God, and even though you and I have all those things going on when we demand answers from God, it’s still arrogance.  It’s arrogance for all the reasons God gives.  It’s arrogance because God is God and you and I are not.  It’s arrogance because God is bigger and greater and more powerful and more righteous and more loving and is just flat-out perfect in a way that you and I could never even dream of being.

That’s something we probably don’t think about enough.  When we think about God, we tend to bring God down to our level.  Now, there’s some good in that.  It makes God seem more approachable.  It helps us feel that God is our friend.  It helps us feel that God loves us.  And all that’s true.  God is approachable.  God is our friend.  God does love us.  And it’s important that we know that.

But at the same time, we need to understand that God is not on our level.  God sometimes chooses to come down to our level.  God did that when Jesus came to earth.  God does it when God sends the Holy Spirit to come into our hearts and into our lives.  And we should thank and praise God that God does that.

But we need to remember that God is only on our level when God chooses to be.  And even then, when God comes down to our level, we don’t experience all of what God is.  Not even close.  There’s no way we could.  Our minds cannot even comprehend all that God is.  Moses was told that he could not even see God’s face and live.  If just the sight of God’s face is too much for us to handle, how in the world do we think we could actually understand God?  And if God is so far beyond us that we cannot understand God, then how can we possibly think we have the right to demand answers from God?

That’s why I say it’s arrogance:  you and I have no right to demand answers from God.  We have no right to demand anything from God.  God does not owe us answers.  Would I like to have some, sometimes?  Of course.  But God does not owe me answers.  God does not owe anyone answers.  God does not owe anyone anything.  Everything we have, everything we are, everything that is, comes from God.  We would not even be if it was not for God.

God exists on a level that is way beyond anything we can ever imagine.  And yet God, this incredible, all-powerful, all-seeing, all-knowing, all-wise, all-mighty God, chooses, sometimes, to come down to our level.  God chooses to allow us to come into God’s presence.  In fact, God wants us to come.  God is eager for us to come.  God wants nothing more than for us to come into God’s presence and feel God’s love.  God wants nothing more than for us to listen to God, to allow God to guide us. 

This God, who is so far beyond us that our minds cannot comprehend who He is, wants to be our friend.  God wants us to tell everything to God.  Our hopes.  Our fears.  Our problems.  Our joys.  Our doubts.  Our happiness.  Our sadness.  Our loves.  Our hates.  Our anger.  Our frustration.  And yes, even our questions.  God wants to hear it all, because God wants to be our friend.  God wants to be your friend, and God wants to be my friend.

That is the most incredible thing I can imagine.  When I think about it—when I stop taking it for granted and really think about it—I still am in awe and wonder that God would do that.  I mean, if I was God, I don’t think I’d want to bother with spending time with someone like me.  Why would I?  After all, what’s in it for God?  What does God get out of this deal?  How does it benefit God to come down to my level and hear all this stuff from me?

The only answer can be that God loves us.  God loves me.  And God loves you.  Because when you love someone, you don’t ask “What’s in it for me?”  When you love someone, you don’t ask, “What do I get out of this?”  When you love someone, none of that matters.  That’s what love is.  And that’s the love God has for all of us.  God has that kind of love for each one of you.  And God has that kind of love for me.

Job had no right to demand answers from God.  But God let him do it.  God let Job make that demand over and over and over again, for chapter after chapter in the book of Job.  God did finally let Job know why his attitude was wrong.  But God did not get mad at Job for doing it.  In fact, once Job realizes his attitude was wrong, God gave Job even more blessings than Job had received before.

In the end, Job gave up his arrogance.  Let’s give up our arrogance, too.  Let’s realize how far beyond our level God is.  Let’s praise God for choosing to come down to our level and have a relationship with us.  And let’s be grateful for the incredible love God has for each of us.