observation
You think that you are so smart? You think that you can give an answer for why God does whatever he chooses? How can you explain God’s actions?
You see all that God has done in creating the heavens and the earth, the seasons the atmosphere, the vast stars in the heavens. You see all that God has put on the earth, all the awesome beast the mighty power that he gave to them. How can we think that we could explain anything about God?Whether good times or bad come our way how can we think that we can explain the reason?
If our suffering on this earth is only a tool to get us back to God then we would all become robots that follow God out of fear instead of following him in love, gone would be our free will, why would you step out of line if he was going to zap you as soon as you did?
The rain does fall on the good and the bad and who can know or explain it.
Job 42:1-6 Then Job replied to the LORD: “I know that you can do anything, and no one can stop you. You asked, ‘Who is this that questions my wisdom with such ignorance?’ It is I—and I was talking about things I knew nothing about, things far too wonderful for me. You said, ‘Listen and I will speak! I have some questions for you, and you must answer them.’ I had only heard about you before, but now I have seen you with my own eyes. I take back everything I said, and I sit in dust and ashes to show my repentance.”
The human tendency is to attempt to figure out everything and know how it works, that may be okay with most things, but our God and his ways are far above our comprehension. Job had to admit that even though he knew God from a human perspective, he didn't really "know God" well enough to explain everything that happened to him.
Isaiah 55:8 “My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the LORD. “And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine.
Job could not comprehend why God would choose to hurt him or even "slay" him but he could still say that his hope is in God.
Job 13:15 Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him
application
There are many things that I should not attempt to explain. When you see someone going through a difficult time it is easy to talk and say something about God that isn't true.
Remember this, Jobs friends got in trouble for saying things about God that were not true:
Job 42:7-8 After the LORD had finished speaking to Job, he said to Eliphaz the Temanite: “I am angry with you and your two friends, for you have not spoken accurately about me, as my servant Job has. So take seven bulls and seven rams and go to my servant Job and offer a burnt offering for yourselves. My servant Job will pray for you, and I will accept his prayer on your behalf. I will not treat you as you deserve, for you have not spoken accurately about me, as my servant Job has.”
Although we can't always see it in the midst of the storm we need to remember that God is love, he is holy and righteous and he is our only real hope.
prayer
It is easy to speak up for you Lord and try to explain the things that happen to us, help us to walk through the difficulty with our brother in love rather than explaining it away erroneously.
