Come Holy Spirit!
The title of this chapter in the book of Job is “The Lord answers Job.”
I think the title could be “The Lord gives Job a talking-to!”
Now, I know that Job has plenty of reason to question God, and why Job has to suffer as he does.
But in response to Job’s request, God tells Job who God is, and reminds Job of what God has done.
“Where were you, Job, when I created the universe? Where were you when I laid the cornerstones of the world?”
God puts Job in his place.
God is God. Job is not.
Now I am not going to get into the details of the Book of Job – that is another discussion for another time.
Instead, I invite you to consider where you and I perceive ourselves to be in the presence of God.
Do you see God as the All Powerful? Or do you see God as the customer service desk operator who is there to hear our complaints?
Do you need a talking-to every now and then?
I know I do.
Sin, at its core, is when we forget our place in the organizational chart of God’s creation. We want to be just like God. But, that is not how God created us. God is God. You and I are not.
When I was in my final year at seminary, I signed up to take some preaching calls to get some experience, and some money, too! In the middle of January, I received an invitation money, too!
Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind:
2 “Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?
3 Gird up your loins like a man,
I will question you, and you shall declare to me.
4 “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?
Tell me, if you have understanding.
5 Who determined its measurements—surely you know!
Or who stretched the line upon it?
6 On what were its bases sunk,
or who laid its cornerstone
7 when the morning stars sang together
and all the heavenly beings shouted for joy?
8 “Or who shut in the sea with doors
when it burst out from the womb?—
9 when I made the clouds its garment,
and thick darkness its swaddling band,
10 and prescribed bounds for it,
and set bars and doors,
11 and said, ‘Thus far shall you come, and no farther,
In the middle of January, I received an invitation to preach at a church in Wheeling, West Virginia. I was excited about preaching that Sunday, because I had a great sermon to share and I felt it was going to go well. The text was from the Old Testament — the story of Jacob and his dream of the ladder ascending to heaven. I was so excited that this text was assigned for that Sunday, because I had just finished a wonderful book, Where God Meets Man, by Gerhard Forde. It is a great, short book that helped me in my Lutheran theology. In it, Forde states that the idea of the old song, “We are climbing Jacob’s Ladder” is a bad image for us, for it goes against our understanding of God’s relationship to us. We get in TROUBLE when we try to attain God’s position. Instead, God meets us here — at the cross, on the earth, in the relationship of God in the flesh.
So, I was ready to preach my sermon to these people; the old Sunday School song “We are climbing Jacob’s Ladder” isn’t how God meets us. It is not about us reaching the goal, attaining the “goodness” level for God to love us. God, instead, comes down. I was ready to preach against the heresy of that song.
I got to the church early, not knowing what the weather would be, and was able to get familiar with the layout of the pulpit, altar, etc. I was able to practice my sermon as well. But as I stood in the pulpit before an empty church, I could hear the choir practicing their anthem downstairs — “We are climbing Jacob’s Ladder.” At that moment, I realized the sermon before me was not going to fly. I preached away from the pulpit that day, because the manuscript was not going to work!
God is God.
Know that the God who creates is the God who loves and the God who forgives.
Let God be God.
Amen. Come Holy Spirit.
Let us pray: