Heart Matters
“Then Job answered the LORD and said: “I know that You can do everything, And that no purpose of Yours can be withheld from You. You asked, ‘Who is this who hides counsel without knowledge?’ Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, Things too wonderful for me, which I did not know. Listen, please, and let me speak; You said, ‘I will question you, and you shall answer Me.’ “I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear, But now my eye sees You. Therefore I abhor myself, And repent in dust and ashes.” Job 42:1-6
I’m a left handed, supposedly right brained person who just so happens to be very analytical as well. I love details, structure, rules and order-you know, so all the pieces of the puzzle can fit perfectly together. I love mysteries, forensic science, and anything that encourages you to think outside of the box (within God’s order) in order to arrive at the correct conclusion. I’m always trying to figure it out. Unfortunately this cerebral bent has caused me to dissect every unwelcomed and in my opinion unwarranted circumstance that’s come into my life and the lives of those I care deeply about. In my quest to know the reason why, many times the conclusions I arrived at have led me to overly access and wrongfully judge. When something new and difficult entered my life, I’d think maybe I’m having this issue because: of a sin problem; or maybe it’s due to my lack of discipline; or perhaps it has to do with that stronghold I’m refusing to let go of? Well it could be those things but it also could be for reasons I was never meant to know of. God is Creator of both the things that are seen and unseen. He is Sovereign over both the natural world and the supernatural. I’m not knocking examining oneself before the Lord because that’s always a good thing. A spiritually mature and wise person will make sure he/she keeps short accounts with the LORD. However, we err if we think that if we just keep searching and examining, we will eventually be able to figure it all out. We must never think examining ourselves will be (or should be) the catalyst for the Lord to reveal to us the reason why we’re facing what we’re facing. For those of you who have analytical minds, I know what you’re thinking. “But wait a minute, truth be told, isn’t there a reason for everything?” Yes there is! But that doesn’t mean we have a right to be privy to it! The secret things belong to God! (Deut.29:9).
Why? Why?! Why?!!! That big W always ruined me! Have you ever experienced a little kid asking you a question and every time you give the answer he/she responds with another “but why?”? A toddler might decide he wants to know why we live on earth instead of Mars. He’d ask “why do we live on the earth?” We’d respond “because the atmosphere has air which we need to breathe.” He’d then ask “but why do we need air to breathe?” To which we’d say “because we have lungs which need fresh air in order to function properly.” To which the little guy would then ask “but why do we have lungs?” We’d respond “because God created us that way.” To which he’d question “but why did God create us that way?” Finally in exasperation we’d decide it’s time to put an end to the nonsense, so we’d wrap it up by saying “Because HE just did! That’s why!” See my point now? A kid can never run out of “why’s” but we can run out of our patience to explain or our willingness to give the reason why. We too can be like that unrelenting child when we demand to know why God has allowed something in our lives we never asked for. We can spend weeks, months, and even years searching and pressing in to find the answer to no avail. Why is that you ask? Because no one gets to question God. Nothing we attempt or try can persuade Him if it’s not His will to reveal it. If you don’t believe me, just read the book of Job.
It took me many years to realize I had this arrogant, annoying, disposition towards God in this area of thinking I should know the reason why-especially when it came to the difficult things in my life. I don’t think it was that I needed to know why so much as it was that deep down I really felt I deserved to know why. If there’s a reason for everything then inquiring minds want to know! This could be a very tricky and deceptive thing in my life. For example, if I had a lot of logical facts that seemed to point to one conclusion-for me that conclusion had to be the reason-right? Wrong?! Even when things may a look a certain way doesn’t necessarily mean they are indeed that way. God is too big, too awesome, too mighty, to fit into my or anyone else’ little box. I have to say, to my shame, that if I had been one of Job’s friends I would have had the same responses his friends had for him (and God was very displeased with how they handled Job). I would have tried my best to explain away the crisis Job found himself in. I would have been looking for all the ways he messed up to explain why the Lord would allow such heartache and hardship in his life all of a sudden. I would have done my darnest to give Job a reasonable conclusion. From reading the book of Job we can know the LORD allowed satan to have temporary power over Job’s possessions. Satan was trying to prove that if Job lost all he had he would curse God “to his face” (Job 1:11). But God knew that instead it would all lead to Job really seeing Who God is and repenting of himself in response. When God decided to reveal Job’s heart to him, he found out that although he remained righteous in his actions in that he refused to “curse God and die” (like his unwise wife advised), he did expect an explanation for his trials. But God never gave it to him. Instead God told him to “brace yourself like a man” as HE revealed who HE WAS/IS to Job. You see when we take our circumstance and our expectations and look at it through the lens of the enormity of Who God is, we should realize we really don’t need to know why. We only need to trust who? We only need to trust THE LORD!
Oftentimes I hear people say something like instead of asking “why me” we should ask “why not me.” I get it but I have to say it just doesn’t do it for me. I think an even better way of seeing it is how a Christian father imprisoned in Iran responded to his daughters’ question of “why”. Pastor Abedini had been imprisoned for years when his daughter wrote telling her dad she didn’t understand why the Lord allowed him to remain in prison when so many people around the world had been praying for his release. He wrote her back “when the question is “why” remember “WHO”. He wanted His daughter to understand that since the sovereign LORD could set him free at any time and hadn’t yet done so, then HE had a reason and a purpose for allowing him to remain imprisoned. He wanted his daughter to know that when God doesn’t answer our prayers right away it means He has allowed it for a greater purpose than our desire to be free from it. Pastor Abedini wanted her to know that God is good all the time-even when what He is allowing doesn’t look or feel so good. He wanted her to know that God still “works all things together for good for those who love Him and are the called according to His purposes” (Romans 8:28). Pastor Abedini has since been released and returned to his family here in the United States. Praise GOD!
God is so good and so gracious I’m sure our precious Lord doesn’t mind our minds going to “why”. Nor does He mind us asking why (because sometimes He’ll actually tell us). The Lord told Ananias regarding Paul “For I will show him how many things he must suffer for My name’s sake.” (Acts 9:16) However, when He is silent, and/or what we’re going through just doesn’t seem to make sense, we mustn’t persist in trying to find out why or insist that He tells us why. We mustn’t have hearts that strongly believe we have a right to know why. For when we do so, it’s like trying to annul His judgement (Job 40:8), it’s like attempting to condemn Him so that we may be justified (Job 40:8), it’s like trying to make ourselves equal to who He is (Job 40:8-9).When He is silent and it isn’t His will for us to know, we need to remember is WHO HE IS!
HE IS THE ONE WHO: – Can thunder with His voice; Adorn Himself with majesty and splendor; Array Himself with glory and beauty; Disperse the rage of His wrath; Look on everyone who is proud and humble him; Look on everyone who is proud and bring him low; Tread down the wicked in their place; Hide the wicked in the dust and bind their faces in hidden darkness; Who created the behemoth; Who created and can draw out Leviathan; Who no one can stand against; Who has never been preceded; Who owns everything under heaven.
HE is incomparable, invincible, and incomprehensible! And yet HE is our LORD, our Savior, and our Redeemer! HE gets to decide everything about our lives! If we think we have a right to challenge Him in what He chooses for us- we need to remember WHO He is so we can humble ourselves and repent-just as Job did. If you belong to Christ remember this “Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s. 1st Corinthians 6:19-20
The WHO-THE LORD JESUS will help you accept and deal with the “what”, “when”, “where” and “how”.
HEART TO HEART: REMEMBER WHO HE IS AND WHOSE YOU ARE!