Job CLIV

 There is no end to human hypocrisy and the vanity of opinion. They are bottomless pits, and just when you think they can’t go any lower, they surprise you in the most unpleasant fashion. Natural wisdom, no matter how well-crafted, has cracks and fissures that become evident the moment pressure is applied to it. Philosophy for its own sake is oftentimes disjointed and at odds with itself, seeming to contradict one initial premise with another, deceiving people into thinking themselves wise, when any wisdom that does not originate from God and which doesn’t have Him at its core is a hollow husk of presupposition made up to seem like more than it is.

People can have an intellectual response to God just as they can have an emotional response to Him. They can acknowledge His existence, yet their hearts will continue to remain cold and unyielding until He becomes both a need and a desire, something one cannot live without.

God cannot be one among many for which our hearts pine, but the singular treasure we seek, everything else falling by the wayside and becoming ever more irrelevant the more we get to know Him. He is an existential need, like oxygen, food, and water, for the human soul. God is not a hobby; He is not something we relegate to the sidelines, the attic, or the shed until we have need of Him or a mere acquaintance, someone we know in passing rather than a heavenly Father.

Most people treat God like a life mechanic, the same way they treat a car mechanic, paying Him no heed and thinking nothing of Him until their life starts falling apart, and there’s nothing they can do to stop the freefall. That is not the sort of relationship God is after. That is not the sort of relationship that will grow you and mature you spiritually because, by definition, it’s not a genuine relationship.

In His grace and love, God has given man the opportunity to know Him, fellowship with Him, worship Him, and grow in Him. This relationship has the power to transform us, to bring us peace, comfort, and hope. That we would squander this greatest of gifts for the fleeting things of this earth only goes to show that we do not understand the value and worth of a relationship with Him.

When our priorities are rightly aligned, and God is first in all things, we will have peace even in the midst of chaos, we will have comfort even in the midst of pain, and we will have hope even in the midst of the storm. It’s when we shift our focus from Him and from following Him in humble obedience to trying to do on our own only what He can do that our progress is impeded and our walk needlessly burdened. But when we align our priorities with God, we can rest assured that He is with us, guiding us through every trial. It is not God’s duty to align Himself with man. It is not God’s duty to be in harmony with me. It is my duty, as well as the duty of every person, to align oneself with God and be in harmony with Him.

This begins with acknowledging that we are not the captains of our ship, the masters of our destiny, or whatever clichéd trope people tend to use nowadays. We are servants of God and, therefore, must remain under His authority in obedience and faithfulness, whether the road is easy or hard.  

Even in his torment, Job’s priorities were properly aligned: God first! In all things, God first. His presence, His voice, His guidance, His comfort, His strength, His will. There was nothing Job was willing to trade the presence of God for, whether restoration of his health or his wealth because he understood the fleeting nature of man and the waning appeal of the material.

Job 13:23-28, “How many are my iniquities and sins? Make me know my transgression and my sin. Why do You hide Your face, and regard me as Your enemy? Will you frighten a leaf driven to and fro? And will you pursue dry stubble? For You write bitter things against me, and make me inherit the iniquities of my youth. You put my feet in stocks, and watch closely all my paths. You set a limit for the soles of my feet. Man decays like a rotting thing, like a garment that is moth-eaten.”

Job’s anguish is palpable, not so much the physical pain but the idea that God chose to hide His face from Him and regard him as His enemy. The notion that Job not feeling the presence of God weighed more heavily on him than all the loss he suffered, and all the torment he’d endured is revelatory and humbling.

Countless souls are walking about today, beating their chests and declaring that they belong to God, but whether the presence of God is felt in their lives or it’s no longer there makes no difference and has no impact as far as their disposition is concerned.

If we groan and weep at the loss of material things with greater fervor and intensity than we do when we do not feel the presence of God, it says more about our spiritual condition than anything we could declare with our lips. That alone reveals our perspective regarding the importance of His presence, the value we place on intimacy with Him, and how existential we view our fellowship with Him to be.

How one reacts to something reveals their inner heart. It’s in those moments when something is snatched away or goes awry that the well-crafted masks so many wear slip off, and the true intent of their heart is made clear.

Job’s singular desire was to know the presence of God afresh. It’s the one thing he’d concluded he couldn’t live without, eclipsing everything else in his life. There’s a reason God considered Job to be a man apart, unique in his generation, upright and blameless. It’s because he put God first above all else, desiring only fellowship with Him.

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr.     

Posted on 31 March 2025 | 11:27 am