Getting What You Ask For

(Job 38:2 KJV)  Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge?

(Proverbs 30 also read)

In a sense, God asked for it.  Here we have Him asking us, “Just whom do we think we are?”  Job and his friends have been waxing eloquent.  They are studied and quoted by scholars and students of the word.  This book is considered one of the deep ones.  How does God respond?  From here He goes on to point out how ignorant we are.

But I repeat, God asked for it.  He created us in His image.  He could have made a perfect world with compliant robo-men.  He could have made us easy to get along with and made us so that logic and goodness always were our first response.  Instead, in order to get that spark of Imago Dei, He put something in us that makes us different than the animals.  

So?  Be humbled by our limitations.  Be exalted by His desire for us to have that spark.  He regretted it in the time of Noah.  He was on the verge of destroying Israel in the desert.  He also sent His Son to die for us because in some strange way He felt we were worth it.  Rejoice. 

The Tension of Wisdom

(Proverbs 8:35 KJV)  For whoso findeth me findeth life, and shall obtain favour of the LORD.

One of the constant questions in my mind is the tension between a sovereign God and the free will of man.  How do they work together?

Read Job.  He was upright and blameless and yet God allowed him to be tested.  In the dialogue with Job God brings out the fact that He is God, not Job.

(Job 38:4 KJV)  Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if thou hast understanding.

It was like God was saying, “Just because I told Satan you were a good man doesn’t give you the right to question Me.”

And then we have passages like this that tell us we are to seek wisdom and God will reward us if we find it.

So?  The tension will not go away in this life.  Maybe in eternity we will understand.  I find the joy of knowing that in His sovereignty God has chosen to allow me awareness and free will.  At times of pain I wish I were a robot but overall I rejoice in the relationship it allows.