ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS
May 13, 2023
As you move toward the end of the Book of Job, God finally answers the frustrated cries of Job. For so many chapters, Job has dealt with the condescending questions of his so-called friends, who assumed Job must have committed a king-sized sin to deserve all the bad stuff that happened. Of course, the ‘friends’ were working from a worldview that believed good people got good stuff and bad people got bad stuff, no exceptions. The Book of Job is one of the first deep-dives into the question, “Why do bad things happen to good people?” But after God gives what I would describe as a sort of lackluster response, Job makes the statement, “…no purpose of yours (God’s) can be thwarted.” Those words are often spoken by the very people who are throwing roadblocks in the way of God’s purpose. In the end, I believe God’s purpose (God’s great dream for all creation) will be realized, yet how often have we delayed or derailed this purpose in the moment? God doesn’t give up, but our claim to follow Jesus suggests that we should not be the people who are postponing the fulfillment of God’s dream of love, mercy, and justice for every corner of the universe and beyond. We should be those who, as the Prophet Isaiah teaches, are lifting every valley, bringing down every mountain, and straightening out the crooked paths. Why? To see this dream of God’s begin to pick up speed toward completion.
Holy God, I believe your purpose will never be thwarted, but it sure appears to have paused more than I’d like. Make sure I am one who is pressing the exhilarator and not tapping the brake. It’s time for our gifts to be put to work so that we might be full participants in what you are seeking to do. Amen.
