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Job versus the Proverbs

27 Mar

The biblical books of Proverbs and Job appear to be polar opposites. The former presents practical wisdom for living the best life possible, and the latter is a story of the best life gone bad. The one offers success formulas that are supposed to work, and the other says, “I’ve done all of those things and my life is still a wreck.” The books of Proverbs and Job are so opposed to one another that it can almost be difficult to see them in the same Bible.

In fact there are really only two things that these books have in common: God and you.

The same God who promises to honor right living in the Proverbs is the God who rescued and restored Job at the end of his calamity. And you and I will live through each of these books as well.

Fortunately, the majority of our lives will be spent in the book of Proverbs. In fact about 9/10ths of our life will probably be simple, manageable, and quietly rewarding based on how well we follow the principles of Scripture. The book of Proverbs addresses these 9/10ths.

What Job addresses is the 1/10th, the unexpected and unexplained. We will all be touched by the unexpected and unexplained; however, even though we might live through some Job “seasons” very few of us will have an entire Job “life.” Not even Job did—many scholars believe that his crisis lasted about nine months before the Lord intervened and started rebuilding and restoring him.

Don’t be afraid of the 1/10th. Calamity isn’t lurking around the corner. God is faithful, and He will take care of you. And even if you do touch on some Job-like moments, you too, will eventually be able to say with Job, “I know that my Redeemer lives.”

One of my favorite teachers in Bible school (a woman in her eighties), said, “When God showed up, my deepest valleys became my highest mountaintops.”

I hope your life is mostly mountaintops. But when it’s not, I hope you, too, can find Him in the valleys. He’ll be looking for you.

Bitter herbs

24 Feb

Well my daughters have officially reached a milestone in their march toward adolescence. They’ve said goodbye to tasty, bubble gum flavored amoxicillin, and started taking their medicine the adult way–by swallowing big, nasty pills. 

Do you remember the trauma of trying to swallow your first pill? You had to get it far enough back that it wouldn’t swirl around in your mouth causing you to taste it, but you didn’t want it so far back that it gagged you. In the early days of grown up pill swallowing it usually took several attempts, and the pill’s dye had melted on our fingers and was making us nauseous before we could finally choke it down. 

And that was the good pills. What about the bitter ones that life seems to force on us? How have you done swallowing those? 

There’s a fascinating Scripture in Exodus 12:8 where God tells His people to eat the Passover lamb (symbolic of Jesus) “with bitter herbs.” In that Old Testament practice, there is a New Testament truth that is crucial for us today. The only way we can handle life’s bitter herbs is by reaching for the lamb each time they touch our lips.

At the end of our life we will all be able to say, “I’ve swallowed some nasty pills in my day–I’ve eaten the bitter herbs.” But I hope we can go on to say, “But I’ve also eaten the Lamb–and that has made all the difference.” 

Your funeral script

15 Feb
Winston Churchill in Downing Street giving his...
Image via Wikipedia

While traveling through Europe the summer after my high school graduation I made an interesting observation about many of the ancient cathedrals–their walls were often adorned with the likenesses of human skulls. Although a Pirates of the Caribbean skull-laden decor is the last look I would want in my own church, I think the architects of those early sanctuaries were on to something: when we live our lives from the grave looking back we live lives of greater significance and impact. 

There’s no question that a recognition of our mortality can inspire a determination to live our remaining days well. And personally I find that to be one of the sobering blessings of being a pastor. Whenever I’m preparing thoughts to share with the friends and family members of departed loved ones, I find myself wondering what people will say about me. And inevitably I am reminded of Winston Churchill’s famous statement: “I am not afraid of what history will say about me, for I intend to write it.”

I want to do the same–I want my life to be a living script that my loved ones can recite at my memorial service.

Ecclesiastes 7:2 says, “Death is the destiny of every man; and the living should take it to heart.” Let’s take those ancient words to heart, and then go out and live, laugh, and love in a way that honors God and serves the world around us. 


Living with dysfunction

22 Sep
Raising of Lazarus. Jesus calls out Lazarus fr...

Image via Wikipedia

“Take away the stone.”

“But, Lord, by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days.”

“Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?”

So they took away the stone, and Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!”

And the dead man came out. And Jesus said, “Take off the grave clothes and let him go.”

I think this story from John 11 hits close to home for each of us because we all have at least some area of hurt, grief, or dysfunction in our lives. And although we hate the dysfunction, we often feel that it’s easier to keep it buried than to risk exposing it to Jesus. We fear the smell of it, and we fear the possibility that after exposing it nothing will actually change. But Jesus doesn’t see things the way we do. Where we see death—and think it should remain hidden and locked away—He sees potential life, and commands us to roll the stone away. Would you be willing to roll back your protective boulders and see if Lazarus might still have some life left in him? Would you take the risk to expose your greatest burden to the Lord, and, if appropriate, to a friend who will guard your back, and help you strip away your grave clothes? Life is waiting on the other side.

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