Recently I sat down and reread the story of the exodus. In the process I noticed something that caught me a bit off guard. God set Moses up to fail. As a matter of fact, God called, equipped, motivated, and even relocated Moses only to ensure in that his initial attempts would fail.
I am sure you know the story. Moses was the adopted prince of Egypt who was well in touch with his Hebrew heritage. One day as he was out visiting his people he saw an Egyptian abusing a Hebrew and in a fit of rage killed him and ditched the body in the sand. Word got back to Pharaoh who decided that Moses should die. Realizing the danger, Moses fled Egypt and ended up in Midian where he took a job as a shepherd watching the flocks of his eventual father-in-law Jethro. In search of food, Moses led the flock to the Mountain of God, Horeb. While he was there, God showed up in a burning bush and invited Moses to go back to Egypt and deliver his people from Egyptian slavery. There was a bit of a disagreement as to Moses' qualifications. Moses believed that he didn't have the right stuff, and God said, "EXACTLY! That's why you're the man." Eventually God convinced him, showed him some supernatural tricks he could do with his staff to help convince Pharaoh, and Moses and his family were off to Egypt!
Exodus 4:19-21 (NIV)
Now the LORD had said to Moses in Midian, "Go back to Egypt, for all the men who wanted to kill you are dead." 20 So Moses took his wife and sons, put them on a donkey and started back to Egypt. And he took the staff of God in his hand. 21 The LORD said to Moses, "When you return to Egypt, see that you perform before Pharaoh all the wonders I have given you the power to do. But I will harden his heart so that he will not let the people go."
Now I don't know if Moses thought like I think, but this idea of obeying to fail is not something I naturally gravitate to. As a matter of fact, fearing to fail is a much more apt description of my mindset. On more than one occasion I have uttered the words, "Failure is not an option." Yet when I look at this story I find God instructing Moses to brace himself for failure and rejection.
Why would God instruct us to do something that would ensure, at least initially, failure? There are probably a number of reasons, but I think that two transcend the rest: 1) God wants the glory; 2) There are lessons that we need to learn that only the laboratory of failure can teach us.
First, God wants the glory. Jesus told us that unless we abide in him we can accomplish nothing. And in Isaiah 57:15 we learn who God abides with: "For this is what the high and lofty One says--he who lives forever, whose name is holy: "I live in a high and holy place, but also with him who is contrite and lowly in spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite."
God abides in heaven where He is always glorified. At the same time, He dwells with those who are contrite and lowly in spirit. Why? Because the contrite and lowly in spirit are not glory thieves. They have met with failure and have learned to appreciate success. Uninterrupted success makes a glory thief. The person who succeeds may not want it that way, they don't set out to steal God's glory, but the celebrity of success ultimately diminishes the recognition of God's role in a great work. If a person has never met with failure, people will begin to believe that success is dependent upon the leader and not God.
Second, there are lessons that we need to learn that can only be learned through failure. Robert F. Kennedy said, "Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly." Think about it and you will realize that the scripture is chock-full of great leaders who enjoyed colossal failure. However, it was in the crucible of failure that they were equipped to succeed.
Peter was divinely selected to be the leader of the twelve. On one occasion his great faith in Jesus compelled him to hop out of a boat in an attempt to walk on water. He was successful until he he took his eyes off of Jesus and began to sink. Lesson learned: Stay focused on the Lord!
On another occasion Peter was praised for revealing a truth that was clearly sent from God. He immediately followed that up with some unsolicited advice to Jesus, insisting that he NOT give in to dying. Jesus responded, "Get thee behind me Satan!" OUCH!!! Lesson learned: Following Jesus demands self-sacrifice!
Many times the lessons of failure give us the ingredients for success. When it comes to failure we need to amend our perspective: FAILURE IS NOT AN OPTION, IT IS A NECESSITY!
Monday, March 30, 2009
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
God Finally Speaks
As Job's friends insistence that Job was experiencing the judgment of God due to sin crescendos through the book, Job's plea narrows. He stops asking his friends to hear him out and turns his attention to God. In Job 13:22 he articulates his plea challenging God, "Then summon me and I will answer, or let me speak and you reply." His idea was that if he could just get an audience with the almighty, if God would just hear him out, he would acknowledge Job's righteousness and then would explain exactly what was going on.
As we wrap up here, we need to be settled on the fact that Job was not wrong. He was a righteous man. Remember when Satan sauntered into God's presence, it was God who called Satan's attention to Job: "Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil" (Job 1:8). As I have pointed out before, Job was all that and a bag of chips! He was the bomb! So he knew that he wasn't being punished for some besetting sin. What he really wanted was for God to show up and let his friends know the truth, and, while he was at it, God could explain himself to the group.
While Job was asking for an explanation, God knew that what he needed was a revelation. Job knew some things about God but the problem was that he didn't have a sense of what he didn't know. What he knew was right, but it was woefully incomplete. In Job 38:2 God says, "Who is this that darkens My counsel with words without knowledge?" In other words, "WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE? Your argument, while trimmed in eloquence, is laced with ignorance. You may know about me but you don't know me, Job."
In chapters 38-41 of the book, God issues 77 questions to Job to help him understand that you don't know what you don't know. In asking His questions, God never answers Job's. But he reveals himself to Job. At the end of the book Job recognizes that God is really all he ever needed. "My ears had heard of you, but now my eyes have seen you" (Job 42:5). Job still had questions but now he had God. And the bottom line for Job was that he would rather have life with God and questions than life without God and answers.
As we wrap up here, we need to be settled on the fact that Job was not wrong. He was a righteous man. Remember when Satan sauntered into God's presence, it was God who called Satan's attention to Job: "Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil" (Job 1:8). As I have pointed out before, Job was all that and a bag of chips! He was the bomb! So he knew that he wasn't being punished for some besetting sin. What he really wanted was for God to show up and let his friends know the truth, and, while he was at it, God could explain himself to the group.
While Job was asking for an explanation, God knew that what he needed was a revelation. Job knew some things about God but the problem was that he didn't have a sense of what he didn't know. What he knew was right, but it was woefully incomplete. In Job 38:2 God says, "Who is this that darkens My counsel with words without knowledge?" In other words, "WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE? Your argument, while trimmed in eloquence, is laced with ignorance. You may know about me but you don't know me, Job."
In chapters 38-41 of the book, God issues 77 questions to Job to help him understand that you don't know what you don't know. In asking His questions, God never answers Job's. But he reveals himself to Job. At the end of the book Job recognizes that God is really all he ever needed. "My ears had heard of you, but now my eyes have seen you" (Job 42:5). Job still had questions but now he had God. And the bottom line for Job was that he would rather have life with God and questions than life without God and answers.
Friday, March 13, 2009
The Patience of Job?
When we hear talk of Job, the word that is attached to him is patience. His patience has become proverbial, how this man of impeccable integrity kept his faith in the midst of the most devastating storm imaginable. So tradition tells us that we should celebrate the patience of Job.
Where does that idea come from? I read the book and I'm not sure that what I see in Job is patience! In my home, when my boys are having a problem, any problem, they think they have to talk about it immediately. Without regard to what anyone else is doing or talking about, they interrupt, spewing forth an impassioned plea for relief. Sometimes their issue warrants attention, and sometimes we ask them to wait just a minute. Generally, one of two things happen: They either completely ignore our instruction and tell us the same story LOUDER or they wait about 15 seconds and ask if a minute is up. To this I almost always impatiently respond: Be patient!
The sign of their impatience is the interruption, the need to talk about it immediately. The fact that we make them wait doesn't indicate that they are patient, it indicates that we are in control and they have to wait whether they like it or not.
Job had to wait too. But that doesn't mean he was patient. God was in control. He was going to address Job when He was ready to address him. But any cursory reading of Job's monologues would lead one to conclude that Job was anxious for God's response.
Where does this concept of Job's patience originate? The first and only time that this word is specifically linked to Job in scripture is in James 5:11 (KJV); "Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy." See, even James had heard of the patience of Job.
But upon further inspection, the original Greek word that is translated patience is best translated as endurance or perseverance. Point of fact, the word translated "endure" in the first part of the verse is the verb form of the same word that is translated "patience" in the second part.
You may think that I'm splitting hairs here, but to me endurance or perseverance is the way to go because endurance is heroic.
The heroic example of Job shines through his endurance. He persevered through the unthinkable with his faith intact. He may have begged for his day in court so he could state his case to God, but it was with full faith that he was bringing his case to the one true God. He never wavered on his faith, understanding that if he persevered, he would come out a better man in the end. "When he has tested me, I will come forth as gold." (Job 23:10)
A. W. Tozer put it this way in Roots of Righteousness, “It is doubtful whether God can bless a man greatly until He’s hurt him deeply.” Do you believe that?
James does. Using the same Greek word for perseverance, James writes this about our suffering: "Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything." James 1:2-4
Where does that idea come from? I read the book and I'm not sure that what I see in Job is patience! In my home, when my boys are having a problem, any problem, they think they have to talk about it immediately. Without regard to what anyone else is doing or talking about, they interrupt, spewing forth an impassioned plea for relief. Sometimes their issue warrants attention, and sometimes we ask them to wait just a minute. Generally, one of two things happen: They either completely ignore our instruction and tell us the same story LOUDER or they wait about 15 seconds and ask if a minute is up. To this I almost always impatiently respond: Be patient!
The sign of their impatience is the interruption, the need to talk about it immediately. The fact that we make them wait doesn't indicate that they are patient, it indicates that we are in control and they have to wait whether they like it or not.
Job had to wait too. But that doesn't mean he was patient. God was in control. He was going to address Job when He was ready to address him. But any cursory reading of Job's monologues would lead one to conclude that Job was anxious for God's response.
Where does this concept of Job's patience originate? The first and only time that this word is specifically linked to Job in scripture is in James 5:11 (KJV); "Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy." See, even James had heard of the patience of Job.
But upon further inspection, the original Greek word that is translated patience is best translated as endurance or perseverance. Point of fact, the word translated "endure" in the first part of the verse is the verb form of the same word that is translated "patience" in the second part.
You may think that I'm splitting hairs here, but to me endurance or perseverance is the way to go because endurance is heroic.
- Patience tolerates setbacks with indifference, endurance seeks to redeem them.
- Patience says, "Wake me up when it is over." Perseverance says, "I won't quit no matter what happens!"
- Patience sits back and waits quietly (without interruption) for the storm to pass while endurance sits up and engages the storm.
- Patience believes it will soon be over while endurance believes we will soon be better.
The heroic example of Job shines through his endurance. He persevered through the unthinkable with his faith intact. He may have begged for his day in court so he could state his case to God, but it was with full faith that he was bringing his case to the one true God. He never wavered on his faith, understanding that if he persevered, he would come out a better man in the end. "When he has tested me, I will come forth as gold." (Job 23:10)
A. W. Tozer put it this way in Roots of Righteousness, “It is doubtful whether God can bless a man greatly until He’s hurt him deeply.” Do you believe that?
James does. Using the same Greek word for perseverance, James writes this about our suffering: "Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything." James 1:2-4
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