Only God Can Be God

How many of you have ever thought you could do a better job than your boss?

How many of you have ever thought you could coach a football team better than the actual coach?

How many of you have ever thought you could do a better job running the country than our politicians are doing?

How many of you have ever thought you could pastor…never-mind—I’m not going to go there!

Let’s face it, its pretty easy to sit back, watch someone else do something, and play the critic.

I think its pretty common to do some “Monday morning quarterbacking”…to be someone who criticizes and talks about how he or she would have done something better or differently.

Yet, that is exactly what Job began to do as he endured a life-altering storm.

Let me invite you to find chapter 40 in the book of Job. Today is the 8th message in the series, Storm Warning: Lessons from the Life of Job.

There is a principle that has guided us throughout our study of this book—the purpose of storms is not to destroy our view of God, but to deepen in our trust in God.

But something happened to Job through this experience and this man who had such unshakable trust in God, started to think wrongly about God.

To be clear, Job never turned against God like Satan said he would.

Job never cursed God like his wife advised him to do.

But Job’s circumstances and his physical and emotional suffering started to take a toll on Job, spiritually.

I’m certain there are many people—if not every person in this room who know what it’s like to be completely overwhelmed physically and emotionally and before you know it, you start to slide spiritually. If you’ve been in that place—or if you’re in that place now, you can relate to what Job was experiencing.

Yes, Job had wisdom and he knew (intellectually) that God was with him and that God knew what was happening, and that God will accomplish everything that He determined for Job.

But he felt forsaken. He felt alone. He felt as though he was being treated unjustly.

You know, Job couldn’t help but remember how good things once were. Job had a magnificent life. Job had the kind of life most people can only dream about.

Job reminisced about his life in chapter 30. He talked about the time when God watched over him—when God’s friendship rested on his tent.

He talked about when his children were still with him and when he enjoyed his wealth.

He talked about his status in the community and all he did to help the poor, the orphans and the widows.

He talked about being a champion for justice and how he looked forward to enjoying the rest of his days.

But then everything changed (Chapter 30). He went from being respected and admired to being mocked.

He went from enjoyed the presence and protection of God to being oppressed by God (or so he thought).

Job believed that he was ruined—when he hoped for good, evil came; when he looked for light, darkness came.

Job could not rest because constant suffering confronted him. Job was as miserable as a person could be and there was no end in sight for his misery.

And to make it worse, Job had no clue why he was being abandoned and oppressed by God.

Logic says there must be a reason—but in chapter 31 Job came to the conclusion that he had not done anything to justify the level of suffering he was enduring.

How frustrating must that have been? You can almost feel Job’s frustration as you read his words in chapter 31.

Job 31:3–4 ESV

3 Is not calamity for the unrighteous, and disaster for the workers of iniquity? 4 Does not he see my ways and number all my steps?

Job 31:3 ESV

3 Is not calamity for the unrighteous, and disaster for the workers of iniquity?

Then Job plays the if, then game.

Job 31:

If I am a dishonest man, then I should be judged for my dishonesty.

If I have stepped out of line morally, then all my crops should be uprooted.

Job continues to name sins and admits that if he is guilty of those sins, then he would willingly accept judgment from God.

Finally Job reached a conclusion—he needed an audience with God.

Job 31:35 ESV

35 Oh, that I had one to hear me! (Here is my signature! Let the Almighty answer me!) Oh, that I had the indictment written by my adversary!

Job wanted desperately to understand. Job wanted nothing more than to prove that he was righteous before God and all this suffering was not deserved.

Of course, his friends we completely convinced that Job was guilty of doing something—they were convinced he was getting exactly what he deserved.

In fact, one man—Elihu, who to this point kept his mouth shut, decided to chime in.

He tore into the other three men for not coming up with an answer other than, Job is guilty of something.

Then he tore into Job for justifying himself when everyone knew that he brought all this suffering on himself.

After he was done talking about God’s justice (if you weren’t guilty, this wouldn’t have happened to you), he condemned Job.

What happened next was exactly what Job had asked for—and I’m not sure if Elihu was done talking, or if God had enough and just cut him off. Maybe Elihu continued bloviating while God talked directly to Job.

But beginning in chapter 38, Jehovah broke his silence to Job.

When you read God’s two lengthy speeches (the longest in the bible) there are a few things that might surprise you.

God does not condemn Job.

God does not apologize to Job for anything that has happened.

God does not justify why He’s allowed Job to suffer.

God does not offer an explanation to Job.

God doesn’t offer one word of sympathy to Job.

God doesn’t answer the question of suffering in the world.

God doesn’t explain Satan’s accusation or direct involvement in Job’s losses.

God does not explain why bad things happen to good people and why good things happen to bad people.

Job God Speaks to Job through Creation

What God is about to do over the course of two speeches is ask Job seventy-seven questions—all about creation.

Before we go any further, I want you to understand what God does not do:

• He does not condemn Job.

• He does not apologize for anything that has happened.

• He does not justify His allowances.

• He does not offer an explanation for Job to consider.

• He does not offer one word of sympathy to this grieving man.

• He does not answer the question of suffering in the world.

• He does not explain Satan’s accusation or direct involvement in Job’s losses.

• He does not explain why bad things happen to good people and why good things happen to bad people.

• He does not provide an explanation—God just points to creation

God does not provide any explanation, He just asks 27 questions about creation.

“God’s questions to Job covered cosmology, oceanography, meteorology, astronomy, and zoology.

God asked Job about the depths of the ocean, the measurement of the earth, the origin of and division of light, and the hydrological cycles and atmospheric elements of snow, hail, wind, rain, dew, ice, and frost.

God questioned Job about the constellations of Orion and the Pleiades and their movements.

He asked Job to explain the ways of animals like the lion, horse, raven, deer, wild donkey, ostrich, hawk, and eagle.” [1]

In other words, God asked:

Do you understand what I understand?

Do you have power like my power?

Have you been where I’ve been?

Can you do what I can do?

It’s almost as if God was saying, “Job, you’ve been talking a lot and you’ve questioned what I do, why I do it, and the manner by which I accomplish it, and you think I’m unjust—but you are not God.”

And that brings us to our text today:

Job 40:1–14 ESV

1 And the Lord said to Job: 2 “Shall a faultfinder contend with the Almighty? He who argues with God, let him answer it.” 3 Then Job answered the Lord and said: 4 “Behold, I am of small account; what shall I answer you? I lay my hand on my mouth. 5 I have spoken once, and I will not answer; twice, but I will proceed no further.” 6 Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind and said: 7 “Dress for action like a man; I will question you, and you make it known to me. 8 Will you even put me in the wrong? Will you condemn me that you may be in the right? 9 Have you an arm like God, and can you thunder with a voice like his? 10 “Adorn yourself with majesty and dignity; clothe yourself with glory and splendor. 11 Pour out the overflowings of your anger, and look on everyone who is proud and abase him. 12 Look on everyone who is proud and bring him low and tread down the wicked where they stand. 13 Hide them all in the dust together; bind their faces in the world below. 14 Then will I also acknowledge to you that your own right hand can save you.

Let me tell you what God’s words taught Job that day and what God’s words should teach us today:

Only God can be God.

Yes, its easy for us to sit back and think about what we would do differently if we were God. Its easy to think about those who suffer and blame God for the presence of suffering in the world.

It’s easy to look at our own losses and blame God for being unloving, unkind, and unconcerned.

But every time we are tempted to play the critic when it comes to God and His work in the world and in our lives, we should stop and think about what God said to Job.

We should stop and remember that only God can be God and when we try to be God, we fail miserably!

Let’s look at what God said to Job and then lets pay close attention to Job’s reaction.

God called out Job because of his attitude and his actions. (vs. 2)

Notice what God calls Job—a faultfinder.

Have you ever known someone who is always critical of other people’s motives?

You could do something extremely nice for that kind of person, but they will be critical of why you showed such kindness.

We could label that person a faultfinder—someone who is critical of the motives of others.

God slapped that label on Job—he called him a faultfinder.

Why?

Because Job thought God was motivated by a lack of justness. In other words, Job was convinced that he didn’t deserve to suffer, but God unjustly caused him to suffer.

Because Job was a faultfinder, he contended, he quarreled with or he disagreed with God.

As a result, he argued with God—he reproved God—he admonished God—he made his disapproval with God known.

Don’t miss how God referred to himself in verse 2— “the Almighty”.

Will a faultfinder really dispute or quarrel with the all-powerful, all-sufficient, transcendent, sovereign Creator and King of all creation?

Are you really going to argue with THAT God?

When you put it that way, it seems a little crazy, doesn’t it?

So, why do we criticize God? Why do we dispute God? Why do we argue with God? Because we don’t have the right view of ourselves and the right view of God.

Listen, when we do not have the right view of ourselves and the right view of God, we will—when the pressure is on—begin to believe wrong things about God.

When we believe wrong things about God, we will assign motives to God and we will take a wrong position toward God.

As a result, the storm we find ourselves in will begin to destroy our view of God instead of deepening our trust in God.

If God wanted Job to trust him more, why didn’t God just come out and tell Job what happened? Why didn’t God tell Job about Satan’s challenge? Why didn’t God make everything crystal clear.

Do you think for a moment Job would have understood why God did what He did even if God told him the whole story?

Do you understand why God did what He did? We get to see inside the throne room of heaven and read the conversation between God and Satan. We also get to see how the story ends.

But can I tell you a little secret—I still can’t wrap my mind around the events of this story.

I accept it as truth because God’s Word is truth. I believe it happened and I believe it happened just as God determined it to happen. I believe God’s purposes were right because the Scripture declares that God is holy and incapable of making a mistake.

But I don’t know why it had to happen this way and I don’t know why Job had to suffer so greatly and so long.

Knowing what I know about this story, I still have a hard time understanding it. Now, think about how much more difficult it would have been for Job to understand it, or be comforted by God’s explanation?

Here is the good thing about God—God always knows what we need. He didn’t give Job the answer Job was looking for, but He did give Job the answer that he needed.

Why?

Because the only thing that could have brought comfort to Job’s hurting heart was a sense of God’s greatness and power—Job really needed to know that God was entirely in control.

So, God called out Job because of his attitude and his actions.

Job responded with humility, trust, and surrender. (vs. 3-5)

After being confronted with a bunch of questions that Job could not answer, Job realized that, compared to God’s greatness and power, Job was insignificant.

This doesn’t mean that God got Job to think less of himself, it does mean that God got Job to think rightly about himself.

The word literally means “light in weight” in comparison to a word that is often used to describe God, “worthy” or “heavy” or “honorable”

Job realized that he didn’t know what God knew. Job didn’t have the power God has. Job hadn’t been where God had been. Job couldn’t do what God could do.

Job realized that he was a limited man in the presence of an unlimited God—and he humbled himself.

This is a very different posture than Job assumed back in chapter 31 when he demanded an audience with God.

When he humbled himself before God, he was able to trust God.

Did God need Job to answer His questions? No!

God already knew the answers and he wanted Job to trust Him. By acknowledging that he had no answers, the door was opened for quiet trust to replace troubling resistance.

I like what Chuck Swindoll wrote: “When we are broken and brought to the end of ourselves, it is not for the purpose of gaining more answers to spout off to others. It’s to help us acknowledge that the Lord is God, and His plans and reasons are deeper and higher and broader than we can comprehend. Therefore, we are relieved from having to give answers or defend them.”[2]

When Job humbled himself, he was able to trust God, and then he could finally submit to God.

Job said, “I’ve opened my mouth once…and that was more than enough, too much actually...I’ll stop talking and just surrender to you.”

Do you see the progression in Job’s response?

Humility leads to trust which leads to surrender.

When I’m humble enough to understand that I cannot control all things and I don’t know all things, that is when I will trust in God and when I trust God, I will submit to Him.

When I submit to God, I will find the rest that my soul needs in the storm.

You see, only God can be God.

Job had to be brought to the place where he learned that life-changing truth.

Like Job, you and I also need that understanding if we are going to grow through the storms of life.

[1] Stephen Davey, Job, ed. Lalanne Barber, Wisdom Commentary Series (Apex, NC: Charity House Publishers, 2014), 247.

[2] Swindoll, Charles R.. Great Lives: Job (Great Lives from God's Word) (p. 277). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition.