wisdom

Job Wants to Know Why

By in Encouragement, wisdom

job_wants_to_know_whyJob wants to know why and so do I! This morning I found myself reading Job in my Chronological reading plan. The entire book seems to be a search in trying to answer that question. Job wants to know why. Why all of this trouble? His friends think they have figured it out. His wife has given up. We want to know why because we are searching for patterns and parallels for our own lives.

God does not answer the “why?” He does not answer that this is judgment, or discipline, or pruning for more fruit. He does not say he is trying to convince Satan or prove a point. He does not answer the “why?” But HE DOES ANSWER with the “WHO?”, and that is all that matters. It is all that ever matters. See Job chapters 38-42.

Who is God? A right view of God will mean a right view of myself, of life, of everything. A right view of God will ignite praise and thanksgiving in any and every circumstance we find ourselves in. In difficult times we can struggle to hold on to a right view of God – and even when we do, our emotions may take time to catch up to our theology. This was true for Job and it will be true for you and me.

At this (all of his calamity), Job got up, tore his robe and shaved his head. Then he fell to the ground in worship and said: Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised.” Job 1:20, 21.

The next time you go through a struggle and want to ask God, “why?”, consider exploring the “Who” instead. You will find yourself moving from discouragement and frustration to joy and praise.

The Wisdom of God in Indianapolis and Beyond

By in Gospel, wisdom

This past week we travelled to Indianapolis for the funeral of Chad and Courtney Phelps and their unborn little girl. Chad was born in Denver when Chuck and Linda were serving with us at Tri-City Baptist Church. Being with our dear friends and sharing in their grief, pain, hope, and joy, is something I don’t think I will ever have the words to describe.  I am so grateful to the Phelps and Gaddy families who have demonstrated for us the power of the gospel through grace-filled living. Our prayers continue to be with them.

There are times we won’t understand God’s wisdom or His ways in the events that touch our lives. During such times we must believe what we know to be true about God because our emotions will take us to some very dark places. God tells us He has all wisdom. He weaves this incredible wisdom throughout the tapestry of His sovereign plan for our lives to present a beautiful work of His grace that brings Him great glory.

Wayne Grudem writes, “Wisdom. God’s wisdom means that God always chooses the best goals and the best means to those goals. This definition goes beyond the idea of God knowing all things and specifies that God’s decisions about what he will do are always wise decisions: that is, they always will bring about the best results (from God’s ultimate perspective), and they will bring about those results through the best possible means.”

Grudem goes on to say, “‘We know that God works all things together for good for those who love him, who are called according to his purpose’ (Rom. 8:28, author’s translation). Here Paul affirms that God does work wisely in all the things that come into our lives, and that through all these things he advances us toward the goal of conformity to the image of Christ (Rom. 8:29). It should be our great confidence and a source of peace day by day to know that God causes all things to move us toward the ultimate goal he has for our lives, namely, that we might be like Christ and thereby bring glory to him. Such confidence enabled Paul to accept his “thorn in the flesh” (2 Cor. 12:7) as something that, though painful, God in his wisdom had chosen not to remove (2 Cor. 12:8–10). Every day of our lives, we may quiet our discouragement with the comfort that comes from the knowledge of God’s infinite wisdom: if we are his children, we can know that he is working wisely in our lives, even today, to bring us into greater conformity into the image of Christ.” Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine.

May we rest  in these words:

Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God!  How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out!  Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor? Who has ever given to God, that God should repay them? For from Him and through Him and for Him, are all things. To Him be glory forever! Amen.  -Romans 11:33-36

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