Page 80 - Job

Reading JOB to Know God

Chapter 7 The Wrong Answers

I came across a cartoon that showed two fish in a bowl who were trying to
understand the mysteries of life. These two goldfish were discussing the
purpose for existence and the reality of God. Now one of the goldfish was
a doubter and the other a believer. The first panel showed these fish
angrily debating back and forth. Then in frustration the believing goldfish
said to the doubting goldfish, “Okay, Smarty, if there is no God, who
changes our water every Tuesday?” Now as ridiculous as it is to think
that two fish can understand the great mysteries of life, it’s just as absurd
to think we humans could do any better. Little tiny fish and all they could
see is, somebody’s out there.
Just so, Job and his three friends were like four fish trying to understand
the ways of God. There is no way! And the best they could do is just
poke at the truth and try to touch it. Man has not advanced very far
beyond the reasoning of those fish. We look around and we think we
know something, but I will tell you, we don’t know anything. Shame on
us if we think we have begun to know God. God is infinite and we as
finite beings just don’t have the capacity. He is toooooo big. In Job 11:7,
Zophar said this: “Can you discover the depths of God? Can you
discover the limits of the Almighty?” Isn’t that a marvelous verse? And
Job said in chapter 26, verse 14 “Behold, these are the fringes of His
ways; And how faint a word we hear of Him! But His mighty
thunder, who can understand?” These are the fringes of His ways, just
the edges. We only see the hem of His garment. We have not begun to
know Him.

Let me show you what all three of Job’s friends had in common, beside
confusion. They all suffered from the same preconceived notion; God
always prospers the upright; God always punishes the perverse. It was, to
them, inconsistent that a holy God, a righteous God, an omnipotent God,
could allow men, good men, to be miserable in this life. Job’s friends
never did rise above that juvenile understanding of suffering. They never
saw the blessed side of suffering. They never saw its sanctifying and
purifying effects. They never saw the beauty and the dignity that shines
through broken vessels when Christ is displayed in their woundedness.

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