Emotional Wreckage
“He has walled up my way so that I cannot pass, and He has put darkness on my paths.” Job 19:8 NASB
Walled Up – The great difference between a believer and a non-believer is perspective. The non-believer’s worldview is filled with help-myself actions. The prayers of non-believers are really attempts to get some divine entity to provide aid. These prayers may be quite a bit more sophisticated than the futile cries of the prophets of Ba’al, but they are no less motivated. Regardless of theological persuasion, people who try to bend God’s ear to their desires would never appreciate Job.
Job has a believer’s point of view. God is in charge, no matter what. We might not understand what He is doing, especially when it doesn’t fit what we want Him to do, but that doesn’t mean He has failed to meet our needs. God is good. That implies He determines what is good. Sometimes that makes it appear as if He stands in opposition to us. Steve Brown once told me that he doesn’t doubt God’s sovereignty at all, but he has a few issues with God’s benevolence. I am pretty sure that unless you have struggled with this dilemma, you haven’t yet embraced the full nature of faith. Ultimately faith is not about what I think God is doing or even what He reveals to me about what He is doing. Ultimately faith is about trusting who He is – and being content with the outcome.
Of course, contentment doesn’t come easily. Contentment is the result of struggle, not passive acceptance. This means faith is exhibited by interaction with God, even if that interaction is argument, frustration, complaint or demands. The perspective of the believer is that God is in the mix – entirely. The non-believer simply acts as if God is in the mix occasionally, whenever He is needed. In other words, the believer’s world is filled with God issues. The non-believer’s world is filled with personal issues. The believer struggles with the world because he knows God is active in everything. The non-believer struggles with the world because he thinks God isn’t active in everything.
Job knows God has walled him up. Not circumstances. Not fate. Not sin. Not mistakes. All those are simply rationalizations or diversions. The issue is God. That is always the issue. God interferes in the life of a believer. His interference isn’t always pleasant or benevolent, but it is always purposeful.
If God is interfering with you, you are in good company. If you think you need to ask for God’s interference, you probably haven’t engaged Him as you should. Take a lesson from Job. Emotional wreckage is a sign of divine involvement. Gadar (to close up, to wall off) is God therapy in action. Lie back on the couch and let Him go to work.
Topical Index: gadar, wall up, Job 19:8
“God interferes in the life of a believer. His interference isn’t always pleasant or benevolent, but it is always purposeful.”
From “God Speaking” by Mandisa
Who knows how He’ll get a hold of us
Get our attention to prove He is enough
He’ll do and He’ll use
Whatever He wants to
To tell us, “I love you”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wn7sn6RjoY0 5 minute video with lyrics
Wow, so, so true. I’ve struggled with this a lot – He can, but will He? Our lives in the last few years have been full of LOTS of interference of the less-than-pleasant nature, but the stubborn streak has been broken and we’re excited to see Him do things (hopefully, different and new things!). 🙂
The following quote has always spoken to me. It is from ‘Waiting for God’ by Simone Weil.
“We know then that joy is the sweetness of contact with the love of God, that affliction is the wound of this same contact when it is painful, and that only the contact matters, not the manner of it.”
G-d is Sovereign. Of this we are sure. Dear family and friends, He not only made us- and the ground we walk on, but the air we breathe, the food we eat, etc. He is our Maker. “In the beginning, G-d.” G-d our Creator. May I add these two together? G-d our Sovereign Creator. Who flung the stars into space? G-d did. Who made the grasshopper hop? G-d did. “It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves..”- I am not, the “self-made” man. Everything I am, have, hope to be, is found in Him. He is “my” (yes, read personal) G-d. Dear friends, the LORD (ADONAI) is “my” (good) Shepherd. For fifty seven incredible years he has given life and breath unto me.
Now I would like for you to hear this and see this- maybe for the first time, and if not, then “taste it again, for the first time”- “the LORD (your G-d) is good.” How do I know this? How may I “rest assured” G-d really (really..) is good? (and yes, amen and amen) “All the time, AND to everyone. G-d is good.
First off, He is not like me. I am made in His image (this is true) but also, I being a descendant of Adam, I am frail and fallible, just as my great,great, not-so-great grandpa Adam.
But (praise His name) G-d intervened. No, He did not “interfere”- (what gall!..) Interfere, my eyeball!- Heaven forbid! We are His by right of creation. He made us. (yes, did you see it?-that was a period) You, dear friend, and I are made in His image. We are His people and the sheep of His pasture. (Hallelu Yah).
But not only are we His by right of Creation, we (also) are His by right of Calvary. Remember?- We have been bought with a price. Redeemed. Yes, “owned.” I am under new ownership and new management! lol! G-d has my full permission (does He need my permission?-lol!) to accomplish in me His good pleasure. – And what His good pleasure? To conform (a word of heat and pressure) us into the image of the Son. Whew! – Is it hot in here? lol!
This is a process. It is the process of pruning (ouch!) and sanctification ( a good ten-cent Bible word). Holiness, “both” imputed and imparted. – The heat is on folks!- He shall sit as a refiner’s fire! But, remember, G-d is a wonderful cook. He (and only He) knows “how hot” and “how long.” Time and temperature- both under His watchful eye. What a mighty G-d we serve!.
Once we “catch on” to the process- we are more fully able to co-operate with His program. We become (step by step) more willing for our Father to accomplish in us, that which pleases Him. Our desires are being changed. Once I leaped into sin and loved it, now I lapse into sin and loathe it. I hate (yes, I used the “hate” word) sin. Sin is what nailed my Savior to the Tree. I want to be like my Father. Holy. I want to be a clean vessel, “meet” (fit) for the Master’s use. If I asked Him, would He do this? Would this be His will for me? Is this also His will (what pleases Him) for you?
Let us give unto G-d our “amen.” (Let it be) Let us also give unto our ADONAI the glory due His name. He is worthy. “He doeth all things well. Amen. (It is so!)
Skip,
Really excellent insight as to the difference between the believer who runs on faith, and the non-believer who evidences a false obedience. The heart and mind of the believer is genuinely humble and submitted to YHVH. The heart and mind of the unbeliever is still focused on himself, even though he might recognize that there remains a powerful entity who can provide aid.
I see the great difference between the Hebraic and Greek mind. The Hebraic mind is “about trusting who He is – and being content with the outcome.” the Greek mind is “filled with personal issues.”
The emotional wreckage may be because our perspective needs to mature. God’s therapy is a process of change.
This really hit home for me. Two years ago I lost my job of 22 years and went through a tremendous crisis of faith over it. I battled fear for months and even felt a palpable darkness try to overtake my life. At the time I thought my faith was an inch deep and thought that I lacked trust. I kept thinking I lacked faith because I was fearful and facing so much uncertainty. When times are good, it’s easy to say trust in the L-rd. However, when you face something traumatic things can look very different. Yes, it still is a struggle, but it took me to my spiritual knees and that is a good thing. Baruch HaShem!