BE A MAN AND ANSWER GOD
Job experienced an extended time of suffering. He asked God why he was in such misery. His friends said he was guilty of sin. He protested and maintained the fact that he was innocent. Job desired an audience with God so he could speak to Him about struggles. Job stood defiantly before God and sought an audience to plead his case. He demanded a judicial hearing but got far more than he expected. “Oh that one would hear me! behold, my desire is, that the Almighty would answer me, and that mine adversary had written a book.” (Job 31:35) He said, “Surely I would speak to the Almighty, and I desire to reason with God.” (Job 13:3) We may ask for something that we do not really want when we get it. Job was given an opportunity to face God but it was not at all what he expected. Speaking from a whirlwind God said to Job, “Gird up thy loins now like a man: I will demand of thee, and declare thou unto me. Wilt thou also disannul my judgment? wilt thou condemn me, that thou mayest be righteous? Hast thou an arm like God? or canst thou thunder with a voice like him?” (Job 40:6-9) Job was overwhelmed and humbled. He admitted his own unworthiness and inability to answer. We might likewise be very humbled if God questioned us. What might God ask us in our hearing before Him? BE A MAN AND ANSWER GOD!
God might ask us, “Who are you who teach everything but the truth?” God asked Job, “Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge?” (Job 38:2) God doth not charge Job, as his three friends had done, with hypocrisy and living a sinful life. He charged Job concerning his words. He spoke words without knowledge. His words proceeded from ignorance. God could easily say the same thing about all the false teaching of our day. Peter wrote, “But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction.” (2 Peter 2:1) There are many false teachers in this Christian age. They subvert both truth and holiness and bringing upon themselves swift destruction. The sad thing about false teachers is that, “Many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of.” (2 Peter 2:2) God might ask us, “Who are you who teach everything but the truth?” BE A MAN AND ANSWER GOD!
God might ask us “How big is your heart?” God told Job to tell Him how big the earth is. “Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if thou hast understanding. Who hath laid the measures thereof, if thou knowest? or who hath stretched the line upon it?” (Job 38:4-5) Job had no answer for God‘s questions. God might ask us if our heart is big enough to love Him and others. “Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” (Matthew 22:37-40) God might ask us “How big is your heart?” BE A MAN AND ANSWER GOD!
God might ask us “Why can’t you put some doors on your mouth?” God asked Job, “Or who shut up the sea with doors, when it brake forth, as if it had issued out of the womb?” (Job 38:8) God set a boundary over which the seas could not pass. “Thou hast set a bound that they may not pass over; that they turn not again to cover the earth.” (Psalms 104:9) Why can’t we put doors or a boundary on our tongue where we will allow our words to go? I think of the harsh words people say even to their own children. “You're pathetic. You can't do anything right. You disgust me. Just shut up. Hey stupid, don't you know how to listen? You're more trouble than you're worth. Get out of here. I'm sick of looking at your face.” In Psalm 34:12-13 we learn that one of the keys to enjoying life and seeing good fruit is how we use our tongue. “What man is he that desireth life, and loveth many days, that he may see good? Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips from speaking guile.” God might ask us “Why can’t you put some doors on your mouth?” BE A MAN AND ANSWER GOD!
God might ask us “Have you brought spiritual light to some soul lost in darkness?” God asked Job, “Hast thou commanded the morning since thy days; and caused the dayspring to know his place.” (Job 38:12) God wanted Job to answer if he had ever caused the darkness to go away and the morning light to shine. God might ask us if we have ever brought life and immortality to light through the gospel to another human being. “But is now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.” (2 Timothy 1:10) Jesus said, “I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.” (John 8:12) Are you helping others to have the light of life in their life? Jesus sent the apostles and us “To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me (Jesus.)” (Acts 26:18) God might ask us “Have you brought spiritual light to some soul lost in darkness?” BE A MAN AND ANSWER GOD!
God might ask us, “What is the depth of your conviction?” God asked Job, “Hast thou entered into the springs of the sea? or hast thou walked in the search of the depth?” (Job 38:16) Just as God asked Job concerning the depth of the sea He might asked us concerning the depth of our conviction. Many who claim Christianity have no conviction about Christ being the only Savior; they have no conviction about Christ having only one church; they have no conviction about the necessity of faithful attendance at the services of the church. The depth of spiritual conviction of many is so very weak. What type of person are you? Are you consistently faithful to Christ and His church? Many Christian, although they have been set free from sin, guilt and shame that came into their lives from living in the world, only partially follow God and they go through life with a very shallow commitment to godliness. They never commit themselves to true holiness, or consecration of their entire lives to God. They never seem to recognize the benefit of consistently following God. True depth of conviction remains an illusion never to be realized and yet these are religious people. God might ask us, “What is the depth of your conviction?” BE A MAN AND ANSWER GOD!
You have the wonderful privilege to know God and to obey His will. The Lord will bless his faithful child. “So the LORD blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning.” Be converted now! To become a Christian you must hear the gospel (Romans 10:17), believe in Jesus as the Christ (John 8:24), repent of all sins (Acts 17:30), confess Christ as Lord (Matthew 10:32) and be baptized to be saved. (Mark16:16) After baptism remain faithful to God. (Revelation 2:10) Let us never forget that, “The eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open unto their prayers: but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil.” (1 Peter 3:12) BE A MAN AND ANSWER GOD!
By Charles Box, Walnut Street Church of Christ, 306 Walnut Street, Greenville, Alabama 36037
God’s people are content to live by faith, looking for an eternally blessed future.