Insightful Musings on the Scriptures
by
Raymond P. Sparre
Northwest University class of '67
Good morning to you, pikini mo olgeta fren blong mi.
Oops…I slipped into that funny island toktok. Now I need to slip into some serious work.
I just had a pleasant telephone call from a college classmate…who now resides in Edmonton, Alberta. Mohan Maharaj. I haven’t seen him since he came for a visit in the Western Solomons in about 1992.
Please have a good day.
Love, Dad/Ray.
There are all kinds of support groups out there to help people cope with all kinds of problems. I reason that many of them offer various forms of psychological organization—maybe some mental gymnastics—an attempt to configure one’s thinking to achieve “mind over matter” as a strategy for facing reality. While they may render some very helpful coping skills, Job recognizes that the God factor is critically important—that no amount of positive thinking is going to alter his reality or the judgment of the Almighty. “If I say, ‘I will forget my complaint, I will change my expression, and smile,’ I still dread all my sufferings, for I know you will not hold me innocent” (9:27-28). Happiness, peace, and mental balance are not the results of an effort of the will. If He is the final Judge and Source of these benefits, it makes a lot of sense to maintain a HEART AFTER GOD—even when the going gets rough. Let’s review this New Testament advice: “So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised. For in just a very little while, ‘He who is coming will come and will not delay. But my righteous one will live by faith. And if he shrinks back, I will not be pleased with him’” (Hebrews 10:35-38).
Job did not go join a support group, but a “support group” joined him. At least they had intended to support Job. The problem was that their support was overloaded with a bunch of bias that transformed their “help” into more unbearable affliction. Very seldom do we have evidence that Job resonated in agreement with one of his supporters. However, he did acknowledge agreement with Bildad at the beginning of chapter 9, but in so many words he said, “OK, Bildad, that’s true—but you didn’t tell me anything I didn’t already know” (9:2). He also implies this: “You can give me cliches and platitudes all you want, but what does right standing with God really look like. No amount of talk will create reality” (9:2).
Job is left to struggle for a time with that question as deeply and intensely as a man can. His crecendo cry is contained in the FOCUS VERSE—“If only there were someone to arbitrate between us” (9:33). The wonderful good news of the Biblical Gospel is, THERE IS! “For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all men — the testimony given in its proper time” (1 Timothy 2:5-7).
We are wise to recognize the limitations of support groups, counseling, and too much dependence upon human reps. There remains no substitute for going to the Top.