Sometimes We Must Walk In The Dark
Writer Author Jerry Lee Kay Sr.
Christian Article
:
Christian Living
- Fiction No
I must admit Poppa is a simple-minded man; I have been to many countries around the world and all, except for one, of the United States. I have found that folks are basically the same no matter where we may travel; all are just trying to make it. Some are greedy with the attitude it's us four and no more, with huge inflated egos, some are generous and will try and help others as they journey along. It is the same in every country! Folks are just Folks.
One thing for sure is that you just can't improve perfection, I once went to work for a company that was a new outfit and one of the owners was an egotistical man that thought he knew everything, it was his way or the highway. The very first board meeting I attended he made the statement that he was not going to do things the way the old-timers have been doing it. And you guessed it Poppa was one of those old-timers, I had worked in the industry for fifty years and as a supervisor, made every conceivable mistake known to man. In other words I knew what would work and what wouldn't, so he and I butted heads on nearly every issue that arose, and I eventually got my self fired, it was the only place I ever worked that chose to take that course of action. It wasn't a problem because I had job offers before I went there, I made one phone call and had a job before I got my stuff out of the building. I went to the new job started up a new branch of the company and built a successful, thriving, and profitable operation for them before I retired, and I might add, I did it using all of the same tried and tested methods I wanted to use at the prior company. Just want to throw in, the first outfit has struggled and spent untold amounts of money, and still not a smooth running company. You can be sure someday they will be, and will be doing what I wanted them to do at the outset. The problem with the partner was, he was in the dark and refused to see the light of truth. A brilliant dedicated Christian man, He and the company will do fine, I simply could have saved them a lot of money and headaches. How do I know they will be OK? Because I have prayed for them. Poppa sure didn't get hurt, the company I went to work for tripled my salary and gave me a Hugh bonus at the end of the project. You say, Poppa you sure are tootin your own horn! My answer is, there is no replacement for experience! And Poppa is convinced that it is the same way in the things of God. God has plenty of experience and knows what he is doing. We just need to leave Him to His expertise and let Him do it. Can You say Amen?
"My grandfather always said you learn most everything after you think you know it all," What have you learned since you thought you knew it all? What have you discovered about life since you thought you had it all nailed down and figured out?... Sometimes we learn the most after we think we know it all.
In this drama of human suffering, at last God speaks. In Chapters 38-42 of the Book of Job, we have the longest discourse heard from God in the entire Bible. You would think that God would come on with great compassion like a loving mother... Instead, He explodes on Job...Who do you think you are, Job?
Who is this that darkeneth counsel—As if he had said, "Who art thou who pretendest to speak on the deep things of God, and the administration of his justice and providence, which thou canst not comprehend; and leavest my counsels and designs the darker for thy explanation?"
Brace yourself like a man, Job; I have a few questions of my own. You want to know about Me? Let Me ask you a few questions. In fact, I will give a pop quiz on nature. (If you want to count them, there are about eighty questions altogether.) Where were you when the world was formed? Tell Me if you understand. Have you ever made the sun to rise or comprehended the vastness of space? Job, tell Me if you know all of this stuff. Can you explain the mystery of death or what is the way to the abode of light? If you've lived so long and know so much, how come you can't explain this? Does the rain have a father, Job? From whose womb does the ice come? Job, about that behemoth, this gigantic hippopotamus-like creature that lives in the minds of ancient people and the leviathan, this monstrous crocodile that your people believe to live in the sea, do you think you can subdue one of them with a sling shot or a fish hook... Who do you think you are, Job?
(Job 38:1) Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind and said, "Who is this that darkens counsel By words without knowledge? "Now gird up your loins like a man, and I will ask you, and you instruct Me! "Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding, Who set its measurements? Since you know. Or who stretched the line on it? "On what were its bases sunk? Or who laid its cornerstone, when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy? "Or who enclosed the sea with doors When, bursting forth, it went out from the womb; When I made a cloud its garment And thick darkness its swaddling band, And I placed boundaries on it And set a bolt and doors, And I said, 'Thus far you shall come, but no farther; And here shall your proud waves stop'? "Have you ever in your life commanded the morning, And caused the dawn to know its place, That it might take hold of the ends of the earth, And the wicked be shaken out of it? "It is changed like clay under the seal; And they stand forth like a garment. "From the wicked their light is withheld, and the uplifted arm is broken. "Have you entered into the springs of the sea or walked in the recesses of the deep? "Have the gates of death been revealed to you, or have you seen the gates of deep darkness? "Have you understood the expanse of the earth? Tell Me, if you know all this. "Where is the way to the dwelling of light? And darkness, where is its place, That you may take it to its territory And that you may discern the paths to its home? "You know, for you were born then, And the number of your days is great! "Have you entered the storehouses of the snow, Or have you seen the storehouses of the hail, Which I have reserved for the time of distress, For the day of war and battle? "Where is the way that the light is divided, Or the east wind scattered on the earth? "Who has cleft a channel for the flood, Or a way for the thunderbolt, To bring rain on a land without people, On a desert without a man in it, To satisfy the waste and desolate land And to make the seeds of grass to sprout? "Has the rain a father? Or who has begotten the drops of dew? "From whose womb has come the ice? And the frost of heaven, who has given it birth? "Water becomes hard like stone, And the surface of the deep is imprisoned. "Can you bind the chains of the Pleiades, Or loose the cords of Orion? "Can you lead forth a constellation in its season, And guide the Bear with her satellites? "Do you know the ordinances of the heavens, Or fix their rule over the earth? "Can you lift up your voice to the clouds, So that an abundance of water will cover you? "Can you send forth lightnings that they may go And say to you, 'Here we are'? "Who has put wisdom in the innermost being Or given understanding to the mind? "Who can count the clouds by wisdom, Or tip the water jars of the heavens, When the dust hardens into a mass And the clods stick together? "Can you hunt the prey for the lion, Or satisfy the appetite of the young lions, When they crouch in their dens And lie in wait in their lair? "Who prepares for the raven its nourishment When its young cry to God And wander about without food?.....
Who do you think you are, Job?
(Job 42:1) Then Job answered the LORD, and said, I know that thou canst do every thing, and that no thought can be withholden from thee. Who is he that hideth counsel without knowledge? Therefore have I uttered that I understood not, things too wonderful for me, which I knew not. Hear, I beseech thee, and I will speak: I will demand of thee, and declare thou unto me. I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seethe thee. Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.
One morning a little girl sat at a kitchen table to eat breakfast with her mother and father. As she listened to the prayer her father prayed before the meal, she was especially intrigued that he thanked God for God's presence everywhere.
After the father finished his prayer the little girl asked him, "Father, is it really true that God is everywhere?” "Yes," said her father... "Is God in this house?" she asked..."Yes," her father said..."Is God in this kitchen?" . . . "Yes," her father said..."Is God on this table?" she asked..."Yes," her father said...The little girl hesitated and then asked, "Is God in this cup?" . . . Her father said, "Yes."
Upon hearing this, the little girl quickly covered the cup with her hand and exclaimed, "I've got Him!"
In Job's attempt to make some sense out of his suffering, he tried desperately to figure God out by confining God to his own narrow conception of God. In other words, Job was trying to get God to respond within the limited confines of Job's own theological cup. In fact, Job was so certain of his theology that he believed he would prevail if his case were presented before God. To be sure, this is why he wanted to find God. He said, "Would he contend with me in the greatness of his power? No; but he would give heed to me. There an upright person could reason with him, and I should be acquitted forever by my judge" (Job 23:6-7).
Finally in chapter 38 God appears before Job as a voice 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?
As soon as God speaks, Job realizes that he can never have the luxury of saying: "I've got God!" Indeed Job now knows that God has exceeded Job's expectations and refuses to be contained and fit neatly into any theological box that Job has constructed. So God answers Job, but not according to Job's definition of the problem of suffering. Instead God transposes the issue to another level, which emphasizes God's power and divine knowledge in contrast to the human weakness and ignorance of Job. In response, Job now realizes how foolish he has been to propose that he understood everything that happens. In fact, Job answers God and says, "See, I am of small account; what shall I answer you? I lay my hand on my mouth. I have spoken once, and I will not answer; twice, but will proceed no further" (Job 40:4-5).
No longer does Job seek to arrange a debate where he can instruct God. He finally realizes that it is he, and not God, who is unaware of life's complete picture. When we too are tempted to believe that God is bound by our theologies, rituals, denominations, and traditions, like Job, we are called to remember that God is boundless and cannot be contained in any of our cups. We cannot put God in the cup of any ritual and say, "I've got God covered." We cannot put God in the cup of any theology and say, "I've got God covered." We cannot put God in the cup of any church tradition and say, "I've got God covered." We cannot put God in any ethnic or gender cup and say, "I've got God covered."
Job learned that God stands above all human systems and wisdom. The purpose behind it all is not to answer directly the problem of suffering, but to give Job a vision of God's glory and presence with Job in the midst of Job's suffering. Thus Job discovers that he can trust God's purposes even though he cannot clearly understand them. Indeed, he comes to see that his newfound relationship with God will sustain him in the midst of his suffering.
Job was stunned with silence. He then said, "Surely I spoke of things I didn't understand, things too wonderful for me to know. My ears had heard of you, but now my eyes see you and I am in awe."
You and I are God's creation. We are not little gods and the quicker we discover it, the better we will understand life. I may have a point of view, you may have a point of view, but God has a view. Or there is my way, your way. And then there is the right way! Let God be God. How do you gain perspective in the midst of life? You remember not only that you are created; you remember that you have a creator... God is watching us; and He is not watching us from a distance... God is working for us in the thick and thin of our existence. We can quarrel with God, we can fight with God, we can make up with God, but whatever we do, we are never without God. God can handle your arguments. God can live with us through our despair. God can deal with our arrogance, but stay in there with God until you know the communion between the Creator and the created in your life.
He came to a cave, where he spent the night. But the Lord said to him, What are you doing here, Elijah? (1 Kings 19:9).
'You have no business to be here' - that is what it means. Yes, The people of God, even prophets and apostles could make mistakes, and they did and they will; but the Lord was abundantly able to come in on their mistakes and sovereignly fix them and teach His servants something more of Himself and His ways. And, If you have never made a mistake, you for sure aren't doing anything!
It is the people who commit themselves, who let go and go right out in the direction of whatever measure of light the Lord has given them, who, on the one hand, find their mistakes - the mistakes of their zeal - taken hold of by Divine sovereignty and overruled; and, on the other hand, are taught by the Lord through their very mistakes what His thoughts are, how He does things, and how He does not do them.
Have you noticed that it is the men and women whose hearts are aflame for God, who have seen something truly from the Lord and have been mightily gripped by what they have seen, those are the people that are learning!
The Lord is teaching them; He does not allow their blunders and their mistakes to engulf them in destruction. He sovereignly overrules, and in the long run they are able to say, 'Well, I made some awful blunders, but the Lord marvelously took hold of them and turned them to good account.' To be like this, with vision which gathers up our whole being and masters us, provides the Lord with the ground for looking after us even when we make mistakes - because His interests are at stake, His interests and not our own are the concern of our heart. The prophets and the apostles learned to know the Lord in wonderful ways by their very mistakes, "for they were the mistakes", not of their own stubborn self-will, but of a real passion for God and for what He had shown them as to His purpose.
Over the years we make choices. I have been a Christian and in business long enough that I have watched people make 'the' choice again and again. We curse God for the circumstances, or we invite God into the circumstances.
All this didn't make Job a bad boy, no more than it makes you or me a bad person, just means, "We should never get caught up in our own self importance."
You see God really is the one with the most experience, and the sooner we stop arguing with Him and. let Him be God... the happier we shall be.
So on I go not knowing, I would not if I might
I would rather walk in the dark with God
Than walk alone in the light.
I would rather walk with God by faith
Than walk alone by sight.
Amen.
Jerry Lee Kay Sr.
Editor's Comment:
About the Writer Author
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Email:
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www.jerryleekay.net
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