Jump Start # 1969
Job 11:7-8 “Can you discover the depths of God? Can you discover the limits of the Almighty? They are high as the heavens, what can you do? Deeper that Sheol, what can you know?”
Zophar, one of the three friends that showed up to comfort the hurting and grieving Job makes these profound observations from our verse today. Can a person really know God? It is so easy to think that we have God figured out. It’s easy to think that God thinks like I do.
Consider God’s amazing grace. We first learn of this through the Scriptures. We see God forgiving the unfaithful David. We see God not only forgiving, but turning the murderous Saul into the central figure and writer after the Gospels. There is just a short bridge from those pages to our own lives. We look and remember the foolish, sinful and wrong things that we have done. We look at how selfish we have been. We realize how many people we have hurt. And, yet, here we stand among the people of God, forgiven and accepted. It is amazing!
Consider the justice of God. It’s difficult to understand why God stuck Uzzah dead when he reached out and tried to steady the ark of the covenant. He wasn’t being rebellious. He wasn’t willful. He was trying to protect it. God’s word said not to touch it, but under the circumstances, that seemed to be the right thing to do. I expect, had I been in his shoes, I would have done the same. I know what would have happened to me, if I did. We understand opening the earth for the rebellious sons of Korah. We get the lying Ananias and Sapphira dropping dead. God gave Jonah a second chance. We wonder why God didn’t let the giant fish just digest Jonah. It’s hard for us to understand the justice and mercy of God.
Consider God’s choosing of the apostles. They were good men, but leaders? Who do fishermen lead? What public speaking experiences did they ever do? How were they to stand toe-to-toe with the elite intellectuals of their day? They were not book men, they were fishermen. As you travel with these twelve through the Gospels, we see too many times that they simply were not getting what Jesus was saying. Multiple times Jesus questioned their faith. They said the wrong things too many times. Jesus never brought up others to replace these twelve. He never had a backup team. The future of the kingdom was in their hands. And, again, what a short bridge we find from those apostles to us. The kingdom today is in our hands. Misrepresent it, abuse it, destroy it, let it be idle, refuse to do what we ought to do and the kingdom stagnates and suffers. We are God’s hands, feet and eyes today. God gives the increase as we plant and water the sown seed. Yet if we no longer sow the seed, and we allow our Gospel light to become extinguished and we blend in with the world, the effectiveness of God’s kingdom withers. But, when we are busy putting God first in our lives and our living to the word and are letting our light shine, through us God gives great and incredible growth. People listen. People learn. People come. People are made into disciples. It’s God’s work but it happens through our hands. We are His tools. What an amazing thing that we can be part of changing someone’s eternal destiny. Generations of families can be changed because someone became a follower of Jesus and influenced the rest of his family. This is incredible.
Consider God’s eternal home, Heaven. God has a place for us with Him. God wants us to be with Him. It’s not for a short visit. It’s not a weekend get-a-way. It’s not a quick walk through to see the fine things in God’s Heaven. No, Heaven becomes our home. His home will be our home. Holy. Perfect. Glorious. Without anything wrong. And God welcomes us to this place. Where I am, there you may be. He’s been to our world. It wasn’t much to see. He saw disease. He saw abuse. He saw evil. He saw the worst that we have to offer. He saw the love of His mother, Mary. He saw the kindness of Martha and Mary. He saw the friendship of the apostles. But those lovely moments were always interrupted by reminders of the brokenness of this world. Sin, evil and wrong always had a way of showing up. They still do. He has been to our world. Now, we will be invited to His world. How different that world will be from here. No sun. No death. No pain. No worry. No fear. No evil. No Satan. And it won’t be for just a short visit. That’s the end of the line for us. That’s where this journey takes us. It is amazing that the holy God would do that for us.
Consider the avenue of prayer. We can talk to God Himself. Any time. Any where. No one knows us better than God does. No one loves us more than God does. He is never too busy for us. He is never too good for us. He is never tied up with someone else and we have to wait our turn. He never sends someone else to represent Him. You and I cannot pick up the phone and talk to the President. Won’t happen. There are so many channels and so many people we would have to work our way through. A parent can’t just pick up the phone and call the school principal. The first to answer the phone would be the school secretary. Then, based upon the urgency of the call and the schedule of the principal, we may or may not get through. Prayer doesn’t work that way. There is no one to take God’s calls for Him. You talk directly to God. Anywhere. Anytime. Even when you have messed up and you are wanting mercy. Even when others have no words for you, God is there. Lying in a hospital bed, waiting for surgery, you can talk to God. Sitting in a funeral home, waiting for the funeral to begin, you can talk to God. Sitting in traffic, you can talk to God. When you are upset, you can talk to God. When you don’t understand, you can talk to God. There is never a place and never a time which you cannot pray. The student can pray in school, even though public prayer is no longer allowed. You can pray in a stadium full of fans. You can pray at a concert. You can pray from your bed. You can pray with a smile on your face or with tears in your eyes. He is never out of touch. He is never at a place where He cannot be reached. You are never alone, you are never truly on your own, when you have God.
Zophar was on to something when he said, “who can discover the depths of God.” There is no ceiling to limit God. There is no end to God. Amazing! Wonderful! Powerful! Holy! And, with all of that, He is interested in you.
Roger