"Why Me"- Continued
This post is going to be a little longer but it is necessary to wrap up our study together on "why me" and getting to the answer that I found in the book of Job.
I must finish and get on to the next topic of study so bear with me and get comfortable!
While reading over the final chapters of Job again this morning I realized another interesting fact that just added more mystery to Jobs questioning. In chapter 32 Elihu come forward and begins to speak. He said that he was a young man and was waiting because the older men had more wisdom, as in crafty and experienced according to the Hebrew translation. Then he explains in verse eight that there is a spirit in a man and that it is by the inspiration of the Almighty that he receives understanding. This is the understanding that allows a man to explain to others the wisdom of God!
The next thing Elihu says is this,
Job 32:9 Great men are not always wise: neither do the aged understand judgment.
Job 32:10 Therefore I said, Hearken to me; I also will shew mine opinion.
Job 32:11 Behold, I waited for your words; I gave ear to your reasons, whilst ye searched out what to say.
Job 32:12 Yea, I attended unto you, and, behold, there was none of you that convinced Job, or that answered his words:
Job 32:13 Lest ye should say, We have found out wisdom: God thrusteth him down, not man.
It is directed to Jobs friends and he is saying that they have not come to a conclusion to convince or answer Jobs questions. Then Elihu goes on to say in verse eighteen through twenty that he is about to burst with the message that his spirit is forcing him to give! Have you ever felt that way when you are listening to a conversation and you know that you have the answer or solution to the problem that is being discussed but you are trying to hold your silence because they aren't talking to you? Then somehow you blurt something out that allows you to join in so that you can share your experience or knowledge. If you have been waiting for long, you can get to where you feel as though you were going to burst if you couldn't speak!
In the construction projects that I have participated in managing we would have weekly meetings and during the meetings I would usually address areas that the trades were not keeping up with the schedule. It was an understanding that in our meetings that people were not to speak up unless called on and this kept our meetings in order so that we could finish in about an hours time. Well, I can tell you this for sure, there were certain men and women in those meetings that were always about to burst with things to say! They would squirm and move as if they were going to explode if they couldn't speak up, but I kept them at bay until I had finished the list that I had prepared. After I had gone over everything that I had planned for the meeting and only then would I begin to go around the room and let each person say whatever they needed to say. Every time we would start into this part of the meeting, I would look at the ones that were doing all the squirming and they would seem to begin relaxing a little, just knowing that their time to speak was coming up soon. I would imagine Elihu must have felt that way too. He said he had been waiting but I'm not sure how long. He had been given inspiration by the Almighty but he still had to wait for the right time. Maybe that's a lesson for us to remember when we feel the urge to speak up!
Job 32:18 For I am full of matter, the spirit within me constrains me.
Job 32:19 Behold, my belly is as wine which hath no vent; it is ready to burst like new bottles.
Job 32:20 I will speak, that I may be refreshed: I will open my lips and answer.
Let's move on to Jobs big question,"why me?" and find out what his answer was!
Elihu reminded Job that he had claimed his innocence and that he had said that God had treated him like a prisoner. Elihu then tells Job that he was not justified in saying this because we cannot argue with God and that God doesn't have to give an account of what He does,
Job 33:9 I am clean without transgression, I am innocent; neither is there iniquity in me.
Job 33:10 Behold, he finds occasions against me, he counts me for his enemy,
Job 33:11 He puts my feet in the stocks, he marks all my paths.
Job 33:12 Behold, in this thou art not just: I will answer thee, that God is greater than man.
Job 33:13 Why dost thou strive against him? for he gives not account of any of his matters.
A few more chapters later Elihu is still pouring out the message he had been given. He tells Job here to listen to this! Think about the wonderful works of God. Look at what he says,
Job 37:14 Hearken unto this, O Job: stand still, and consider the wondrous works of God.
Job 37:15 Dost thou know when God disposed them, and caused the light of his cloud to shine?
Job 37:16 Dost thou know the balancing of the clouds, the wondrous works of him which is perfect in knowledge?
He asks Job if he knows when God put this all in place and caused the light beams that shine through the clouds to shine. He may have very well been pointing up into the sky at the rays of sunlight streaming through a cloud while he was saying this to Job! Then he points out that the clouds stay up in the sky and is asking Job if he knows how it does. He returns to the praise of God who is perfect in knowledge.
Then at the end of the chapter Elihu tells Job that we cannot figure out the Almighty because His power, judgement and all of His justice is excellent! He will not afflict. Let's See what the Hebrew translation of this is,
He will not afflict - לא יענה la yeanneh, he will not Answer. He will give account of none of his matters to us. We cannot comprehend his motives, nor the ends he has in view.
Wow! It sounds to me like Elihu is telling Job here that he needs to not question God because God is just and doesn't answer to man because we couldn't understand it if God told us! That's not exactly what I was wanting to learn here! How about you?
What kind of answer is that? Whenever I asked someone a question and they told me it was not for me to know, it kind of struck me wrong and I would feel my pride rising up inside. Who were they to tell me what I should and shouldn't know? I wonder if Job may have felt this way at all right now. Maybe he was feeling a bit exhausted being covered with sores and still having lost all of his possessions and now a young man is telling him not to question God! I wanted to include these verses in this post because I want you to see for yourselves the last verse also,
Job 37:23 Touching the Almighty, we cannot find him out: he is excellent in power, and in judgment, and in plenty of justice: he will not afflict.
Job 37:24 Men do therefore fear him: he respects not any that are wise of heart.
The last thing Elihu says is that God will not respect any that are wise of heart. This means those who feel in their own heart that they have achieved the level of God in their wisdom. They have reached a level where they feel that they can talk to God on equal grounds! I have heard some popular celebrities in recent years telling us that we are Gods or we are on the same level as God.
Watch Out! Beware of the deception of our flesh that wants us to believe we are high and mighty!
Finally we get to the answer Job receives to "why me?"
Job 38:1 Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said,
Job 38:2 Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?
Job 38:3 Gird up now thy loins like a man; for I will demand of thee, and answer thou me.
Job 38:4 Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if thou hast understanding.
Job 38:5 Who hath laid the measures thereof, if you know it? or who hath stretched the line upon it?
Job 38:6 Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened? or who laid the corner stone thereof;
Job 38:7 When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?
The verses above are just the beginning of a long list of questions that God proceeded to ask Job! They are some pretty tough questions to answer too! All through the Bible, God asks men and women questions that he already knows the answer to, doesn't he?
I like these first few questions especially because of my experience in construction. I know the importance of proper measurement and layout! I know how critical it is that the foundation be built and fastened securely to assure that a building doesn't fall or shift! I realize how important the corner of a building is! Did you know that every building or home starts with a corner?
That's right! The first this that is laid out on the ground is a corner and everything else gets laid out off of that. You see, God planned from it from the very beginning of our existence that we lay things out in angles and degrees and the placement of that first corner is what decides where the rest of the building will be. Now, you'll never look at a corner the same again, will you?
You see, God has all of the answers and what you will find if you continue to read for the next three chapters is God revealing this to Job through more and more questions. And finally Job realized the answer!
Job dropped down on his face before God and cried out the following,
Job 42:5 I have heard of you by the hearing of the ear: but now my eye sees you.
Job 42:6 Wherefore I abhor (despise) myself, and repent in dust and ashes.
It was at the moment that I read this, still sitting in that fifty foot wide circle in the middle of the forest, that I found the answer to the question I had been asking every single day for the past eighteen months, "Why did this happen to me God, why me?. I had found out what the answer was! I was not suppose to be asking God "why" but I was suppose to be trusting Him with all of the things that I couldn't understand in life! Trusting God was what Job learned that day and that is when he began to learn what God wanted him to learn. In verse six it says he repented in ashes! There weren't any ashes in the middle of the woods but there were plenty of leaves on the ground.
I know it sounds crazy, but I thought about it and decided, if it worked for Job then it would work for me too! I got down on my face, prostate on the ground and repented to my God for questioning His mighty plan for my life for the past eighteen months! I cried out for His forgiveness and told Him that I trusted Him with all things!
You know what happened next? God spoke in a still small voice to me while laying face down on the ground and He told me that He had been waiting a long time for me to come to Him in trust and to accept that He knows all things. I'll never forget the peace that came over me that day as I felt what felt like the hand of God on my back holding down against that bed of leaves and telling me it was going to be alright. I'm not sure exactly how long I lay there but I knew when I rose up to my feet that EVERYTHING was going to be alright, no matter what happens. That's why you will see that I often attach the verse reference for Psalm 118:8 to allot of my letters!
I found my answer, "To trust God and not depend on my own understanding!"
Let's pray,
My heavenly Father I come before you today, humbly at your throne, in awe at your Wisdom and knowledge that laid out the corners of the earth and fastened the foundations. Many times we speculate the future of our planet based on our very limited knowledge and you probably chuckle at the things we come up with. Sometimes we begin to feel as though our lives are spiralling out of control or we are threatened by catastrophe or illness and we want to understand why this is happening. I know that most people will not understand but I want to put it in your hands God and trust you! I repent that I have asked you why instead of trusting you as I should. Lead me and guide me, especially when I cannot see the way! Amen.
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