Don’t Simplify God
Daily Old Testament Reading: Job 11-14
Daily Focus Passage: Job 11-14
Job's friends speak to him concerning his plight through the worldview defined by humanity. They fail to see dynamics through the wisdom of God and seek to make sense of everything through human logic. As a result, their advice to Job is limited and lessens the Lord. As Job responds to Zophar, Bildad, and Eliphaz, he reveals that God cannot be understood in a simple formula; instead, the Lord is sovereign and works in a complex manner that we do not fully grasp or understand. Thus, we must seek to trust the Lord through all of life's moments.
THE THREAT OF A MORALISTIC APPROACH
Zophar presents a case to Job in chapter 11 that pain, difficulty, and struggle can become understood. Zophar simplifies the concept by forming a simplistic formula to make sense of Job's situation. Zophar held that when one does bad, they receive punishment, and if one does good, they receive a blessing. This simplistic approach attempts to understand the Lord's work based on people's actions and reflects a view where people completely control the dynamics around them. This approach attempts to make sense of blessing and pain based on one's moral activities or the lack thereof. This viewpoint misunderstands the Lord and does not grasp his sovereignty.
UNDERSTANDING GOD'S SOVEREIGNTY
Job responds to Zophar by describing the power, work, and wisdom of the Lord. He offers descriptions that reveal the Lord's omnipotence, omniscience, and omnipresence. The reality of these traits sets the groundwork for the sovereignty of the Lord. When we speak of the Lord's sovereignty, we mean that the Lord rules, and has the right to carry out his work, will, and ways within creation in the manner he chooses. Job identifies that the Lord works through the forces of nature, setting up and removing leaders and nations' rising and falling. Job is not saying that the Lord causes all pain but that the Lord is more than enough to overcome. Thus, Job holds not a simplistic moralistic approach but a complex understanding of pain, grief, and difficulty based on the sovereignty of God.
LEARNING TO LIVE IN GOD'S SOVEREIGNTY
When we believe in God’s sovereignty, we must accept the presence of pain and suffering in a manner that aligns with this truth. As a result, we must learn to live in God’s sovereignty through the lens of the cross. This statement implies that we accept this reality in faith, not logic. We will never fully understand the ways of the Lord and how all things work together. Yet, we must develop the ability to live by faith. This mindset comes as we move to the place of complete trust in the Lord and do not need proof for understanding. When we learn to live in God’s sovereignty, we walk by faith and not by sight or experience.
We need to guard against simplifying God. We must never adopt a moralistic approach to understanding struggles in life. Instead, we must set our eyes on Jesus and live in a faith that ultimately trusts the Lord. What areas of life do you tend to take a moralistic approach? How can you become more faithful to living in God’s sovereignty?
