Reverence
2/20/16…Monday morning my shovel pushes the powdery snow to the
edge of our driveway. Back and forth I go. Snow falls. Cold nips my cheeks.
Sweat forms on my back. I pause. In the still of the morning, I gaze around.
Why does quiet sound so different when snow is falling? There is a stillness in
the air and yet the snowflakes quietly whisper as they descend. And then a
thought, maybe it is the whisper of a snowflake, enters into my head. My
problem is not my relationship with God, my problem is my reverence to my God.
I pause my shovel. All those days stuck in Job and rereading the same passages
over and over come rushing back to me.
After losing everything including his health, Job’s friends,
Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar come to mourn with him and give him comfort. For
seven days and seven nights they remain silent and grieve with Job. Then Job finally
speaks of his misery. And his friends feel compelled to offer advice. First is
Eliphaz. He tells Job the form of a spirit came before him and spoke words of
which he offers to Job. Eliphaz conveys to Job his issue is unresolved sin, and
God is chastening him for his sin. Bildad adds Job’s confessions are not in
earnest nor his supplications towards God. If they were, God would already have
restored Job. Zophar offers Job is hiding his iniquities and not bringing them
to the Light.
Like counterpunches, Job provides thoughts back to his friends,
mostly chastising them for their accusations. Eliphaz answers. Job’s knowledge
is puffing him up and causing him not to listen to his friends. Bildad counters
and asks how dare Job think they are stupid. It is Job’s wickedness which has
brought all this upon himself. Zophar accuses Job of being a hypocrite and
haughty. Bildad chimes in and asks how Job can really discern whether he
himself is righteous. Finally, after Job gives a final discourse, his three
friends give up because Job is righteous in his own eyes.
Elihu, remaining quiet the whole time finally erupts. He is years
younger than everyone else. He tells the spirit within him compels him to offer
words. He declares himself a spokesman before God. He lets Job know he will
teach him wisdom. To Job, he offers God would not do anything to Job unless Job
had committed iniquities. Further Job is without knowledge and wisdom, so he
does not speak truth. Added to this, Job is also rebelling against God.
Herein lies the problem from Job and all his friends. Through 37
chapters. Through all the questioning. Through all the advice, insight and
perspective. Through all the debate. The truth is no one spoke truth.
Beginning in chapter 38 God answers Job. Not regarding why his
oxen and donkeys were stolen, his servants killed, his sheep and servants
burned, his camels stolen, his sons and daughters killed, and his body infected
with boils from head to toe.
God’s answer to Job’s condition is this.
Where is your reverence…
