Living in the Spirit

June 15, 2021

Scripture Reading:

Job 38:1-11

Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind:
‘Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?
Gird up your loins like a man,
   I will question you, and you shall declare to me.

‘Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?
   Tell me, if you have understanding.
Who determined its measurements—surely you know!
   Or who stretched the line upon it?
On what were its bases sunk,
   or who laid its cornerstone
when the morning stars sang together

   and all the heavenly beings shouted for joy?

‘Or who shut in the sea with doors
   when it burst out from the womb?—
when I made the clouds its garment,
   and thick darkness its swaddling band,
and prescribed bounds for it,
   and set bars and doors,
and said, “Thus far shall you come, and no farther,
   and here shall your proud waves be stopped”?

A class I took on theology dealt with the Trinity, a subject argued at least since the beginning of Christianity. I was not a good student for this topic. I have no problem with worshipping an all-powerful God, trying to model my life after a very human man who was also fully divine, and following the guidance of a Spirit all working together somehow. I do not care if that grouping has a name or not. I do not think there is a shape, title, or description that can illustrate this phenomenon. If such artwork is helpful to others’ understanding of God, I am glad it is meaningful to them.

God’s frustration described in the above scripture is not how to define God but the paradox that we can take God for granted and we never should. God had a purpose in creating the world and all that is in it. The Lord made life with which God could relate.  The story of Job starts at a meeting in heaven where God and Satan discuss whether Job would continue to be a blameless, steadfast follower of God if all the things God had provided for Job were taken from him. And so, a test was created. Job lost everything he cared about and was chastised by his friends for the loss resulting from Job’s sins even though he had not sinned. Job held forth his innocence. The book of Job is a morality play illustrating how vital our relationship with God is and that we should never assume we know God better than God knows God’s self as we attempt to judge others.

Prayer: Thank you, Lord, for your abiding presence with us. Forgive us when our love falls short in our relationship with you and with your other children. Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.