Author Archive: joe

Remember when you used to get in trouble with your mom or dad. First choice for what to do was go somewhere and hide. Friends, neighbors, basement, treehouse – just get away somewhere, and hopefully mom or dad would cool down. Then, there was the dreaded Principal who's path you dared not cross.

As we grew older, we found that there were others who's path we dared not cross or world we better not mess with. Yes, there were the neighborhood bully (male or female). And then, there was the old man or lady down the street who seemed to have it in for all the kids in the neighborhood.

Then all of a sudden, you were out on your own and there was the dreaded boss, almost like a slave driver. At least that was the feeling you got every morning as you prepared to head off to that "awful place" called WORK. You trudged in prepared to face not only the boss, but the customers and co-workers who's demands on your life outweighed the rights you may have thought you had.

Got to one of the shortest books in the Bible – Philemon. All twenty-five verses of it. So, the thought occurred to me as I started reading, that this should be a no brainer.

NOT!

Here was Paul, in prison in Rome, along with Mark, Demas and Luke. In comes this slave (yes, there were slaves way back then – still) who had stolen from his master Philemon. Who knows what he took – that was not the important thing. What was important, was that he got to Rome and must have looked up Paul and paid him a visit. He knew Paul, because his master was someone whom Paul knew from Colossae when he was ministering there.

So, here's this guy Onesimus (the slave), who knows he's in trouble and he pays a visit to Paul, and probably tells him what he has done. Paul ministers (works?) with/to him enough that he becomes a Christian – gives his life to Jesus. Scary!

It was scary, because as Christians, we are supposed to "make it right" with those we have harmed. But Onesimus is probably a lot like us. You know…"I can't go back and tell them I'm sorry, or that I did them wrong." Almost as though admitting we did anything wrong will instantly erase our relation with Jesus.

Not true!

What Paul was doing in this little letter to Onesimus was laying it all on the line. Read verse eight through seventeen. Paul takes a shot across the bow when he says "I…could order you to do what is proper, but instead I appeal to you…"

YOu have to ask yourself, "what is proper and right?" Read on, and Paul passionately reminds Philemon that Onesimus should be reconciled to him, even as we Christ followers are reconciled to God – not because of how good we are, but because of how good and loving God is.

Paul kind of puts it all on the line when he says to Philemon, "Okay, you see me as a partner with you, then accemp him (Onesimus) just like you would accept me."

If you had been robbed, mistreated, spat upon (so to speak) like Philemon, what would you say to Paul?

On the other hand, if you were Onesimus, could you say "I'm sorry – please forgive me"?

Hard choices aren't they?

If you have been following this, you probably wondered when we'd get to the end. The hard thing is that there is so much to Job. As you listened to his friends Bildad, Eliphaz and Zophar more or less put him down as "you had to have done something wrong." In every case, Job's response was "I didn't do anything!" Yet, his friends persisted, based on their supposed knowledge of how life is – ie: "you do something bad, and something bad happens to you."

So after all the older, wiser men had their turn, a young guy named Elihu jumps in. He was courteous and let his elders speak first. But when he jumped in with both feet, he was not on the same page as the old guys. He starts with a sharp reminder that God does not do wickedness or wrong. His words must have cut like a very sharp knife when he declared "Surely, God will not act wickedly, and He will not pervert justice." In other words, justice will be justice – it will not be twisted or corrupted. God cannot do anything but be "just".

That is a far cry from where we humans exist. "Justice" becomes revenge or takes on a relative side. It's like saying that one plus one is two unless you are adding ____________, and you fill in the blank. Elihu seemed to have the message – "Our God is an awesome god – there is no other like Him." Remember Elihu in 37:23 said "Even if we cannot find Him, He is still above anything else we know of, and He not only cannot, but will not change what justice is." Maybe that's the key point.

Finally, after all God had to say in chapters 38 through 41, Job stops. His mouth forms the words "surrender" and he admits "I talked about what I really did not fully grasp." Job lays his life before God and says "Okay, I'm going to shutup and let you instruct me."

While the end of the story is about God rebuking Job's friends and then restoring all Job's fortunes, the real story is how God and Job treated one another.

Job stepped back from a precipice and simply said "You are great, and I know that I am nothing. Teach me so I can change." He was willing to listen and change.

God laid it out to his friends and said "Make an offering and have Job pray for you and I will accept his prayers and act justly." God accepted the prayers and God accepted Job and did not smash them for their foolish words. Not only did God restore what job had, he increased it twofold. Can you imagine the headlines (if there had been newspapers then)! "Richest man's fortune doubles overnight."

When God blesses, He blesses. All it took was recognizing who God is and letting Him show the way. Job decided to listen – to change – to follow.

What about us?

Right now, in chapter 40, that was about how Job had to be feeling. Not only has God already said "put on your fighting clothes", He has been sparring with him. Now, comes the real test.

"Since you have found so much wrong with Me (God), and you know everything that is wrong with Me and what I do, speak!" (verse 2)

Job knew he was in a corner and in deep trouble. He recognizes that he is nothing (the word was "insignificant"), and as a result he said "Hush my mouth!" After all the words of Job and his friends in chapters 1 through 37, Job is speechless. Not only that, his friends don't even utter a single word. There were probably scared witless as they watched and heard their friend being "drawn and quartered" by God.

This was not going to be pretty!

God kind of joked with Job by telling him again to get his "war clothes on" and face the test of your life. God said "I'm gonna ask some questions (like because I am dumb) and you teach Me." It's interesting here that God just by making that statement says again "You are so smart, tell the world!"

With the four questions in verses 8 and 9, God stretches Job's knowledge beyond it's limit…[html]<ul><li>Do you have the ability to change what I have decided?<li>Can you condemn Me so that you look right?<li>Who's arm is bigger – yours or mine?<li>Can your voice roar and rumble like thunder?</ul>[/html]
There is was…Job had no where to turn. He was boxed in. It's surprising that he did not just run for his life.

Job listened well here in chapters 40 and 41 as God reminded him again about His handiwork as he created the animals that bring fear to mankind. The real question was buried in the statements, but nonetheless, Job understood. He could well have uttered the words we hear in Psalm 8 verse 4 – "What is man that You even want to take time to think about him or even care about him."

Even in all his suffering, Job got the message – but will we?