I don’t know if I’ll be able to land this plane or not, but I just had a thought about the implications of a typical class of posts on NextDoor. We joined shortly after it started thinking it would be a good way to keep in touch with our neighbors. It could be, I guess, but it’s not used for that. It’s most useful function is helping folks reunite with their lost pets – I helped a neighbor find a runaway cat through NextDoor. Very helpful.
The main use of NextDoor seems to be to complain about whatever is being built. Most recently, folks found out there’s a Dairy Queen going in just north of our nearby KFC. Here are some of the early comments:
The railroad tracks may go through the West side, but the East side [where the Dairy Queen will be] can now claim the dubious distinction of being on the wrong side of the tracks.
I thought my boyfriend was the only one who cared!!!! It will bring him relief that someone else does not want a Dairy Queen “Treat” in Monument 😂😂
Through years of reading posts on NextDoor, it doesn’t matter if it’s a proposed drug rehab facility, a new car wash, or, in this case, a Dairy Queen, a bunch of people will be against it. And they’ll make their position known early and often. It’s really the outrage that I’ve written about before.
It has just occurred to me that the problem is not that people tend to be against something new, but that they think that their opinion about something they can do nothing about matters.
Do Americans have an unhealthy need to control things? Or the misguided perception that we can have things the way we want them?
What if we said, “Oh, a Dairy Queen is going in on Jackson Creek Blvd. That’s interesting,” rather than “A Dairy Queen is going in. Am I for that or against it?” Permits have been approved. Construction is about to begin. I might as well have an opinion about the suitability of the sun rising in the east.
Believers need to be leading the way in contentment…
Do all things without grumbling or disputing, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world… (Philippians 2.14, 15, ESV)
…and in not worrying about things outside our control…
LORD, my heart is not haughty, Nor my eyes lofty. Neither do I concern myself with great matters, Nor with things too profound for me. (Psalm 131.1, NKJV)
…and in not defaulting to outrage:
Understand this, my dear brothers and sisters: You must all be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry. Human anger does not produce the righteousness God desires. (James 1.19, 20, NLT)
When things aren’t going well, how do you react? How do you talk to yourself? We have some practical instruction in Psalms 42 and 43. Yesterday, we looked at the opening of Psalm 42:
As the deer pants for the water brooks, So pants my soul for You, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God? (Psalm 42.1, 2, NKJV)
Why was his soul thirsting for God? Because he felt like he was in the desert!
My tears have been my food day and night, While they continually say to me, “Where is your God?” When I remember these things, I pour out my soul within me. For I used to go with the multitude; I went with them to the house of God, With the voice of joy and praise, With a multitude that kept a pilgrim feast…I will say to God my Rock, “Why have You forgotten me? Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?” As with a breaking of my bones, My enemies reproach me, While they say to me all day long, “Where is your God?” (Psalm 42.3, 4, 9, 10, NKJV)
The feeling of abandonment continues into Psalm 43:
Vindicate me, O God, And plead my cause against an ungodly nation; Oh, deliver me from the deceitful and unjust man! For You are the God of my strength; Why do You cast me off? Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy? (Psalm 43.1, 2, NKJV)
What’s the solution? It’s right there in Psalms 42 and 43, appearing three times:
Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God; For I shall yet praise Him, The help of my countenance and my God.
Our reading plan started Psalms, Book 2 (42 – 72) last Monday. I know I’m a bit behind here, but I wanted to share with you the song inspired by Psalm 42’s opening:
As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, my God. (Psalm 42.1, NIV)
Here’s a lovely rendition:
And here are the lyrics so you can follow along:
Verse 1
As the deer panteth for the water
So my soul longeth after Thee
You alone are my heart’s desire
And I long to worship Thee.
Refrain
You alone are my Strength, my Shield
To You alone may my spirit yield
You alone are my heart’s desire
And I long to worship Thee.
Verse 2
You’re my Friend and You are my Brother
Even though You are a King.
I love You more than any other
So much more than anything.
Refrain
Verse 3
I want You more than gold or silver
Only You can satisfy.
You alone are the real joy-giver
And the apple of my eye.
Refrain
I was going to jump into Psalm 42 today since our reading plan just finished Job and is back into the psalms. However, this is too good not to share. It connects with yesterday’s A Good Ending to the book of Job. It connects also with Easter, which we all celebrated just over a week ago. The ultimate Good Ending…
This is, in fact, how Navalny concludes the memoir, which one of his political allies called his gospel.
Are you a disciple of the religion whose founder sacrificed himself for others, paying the price for their sins? Do you believe in the immortality of the soul and the rest of that cool stuff? If you can honestly answer yes, what is there left for you to worry about? – Alexei Navalny
Amen.
Death is swallowed up in victory. (1 Corinthians 15.54, ESV)
We need to close Job out before we transition in our reading plan back to the Psalms, Book 2, beginning with Psalm 42. Job 42 opens with Job repenting:
Then Job answered the LORD and said: “I know that You can do everything, And that no purpose of Yours can be withheld from You. You asked, ‘Who is this who hides counsel without knowledge?’ Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, Things too wonderful for me, which I did not know. Listen, please, and let me speak; You said, ‘I will question you, and you shall answer Me.’ “I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear, But now my eye sees You. Therefore I abhor myself, And repent in dust and ashes.” (Job 42.1 – 6, NKJV)
Job repents of challenging God, but God holds his friends responsible for their Santa Claus Theology:
And so it was, after the LORD had spoken these words to Job, that the LORD said to Eliphaz the Temanite, “My wrath is aroused against you and your two friends, for you have not spoken of Me what is right, as My servant Job has. Now therefore, take for yourselves seven bulls and seven rams, go to My servant Job, and offer up for yourselves a burnt offering; and My servant Job shall pray for you. For I will accept him, lest I deal with you according to your folly; because you have not spoken of Me what is right, as My servant Job has.” (Job 42.7, 8, NKJV)
Then after Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar offer their sacrifices, Job prayed for his friends…
So Eliphaz the Temanite and Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite went and did as the LORD commanded them; for the LORD had accepted Job. And the LORD restored Job’s losses when he prayed for his friends. Indeed the LORD gave Job twice as much as he had before. (Job 42.9, 10, NKJV)
It’s probably non-trivial that Job prayed for his friends. He probably could have been tempted to secretly wish they would experience what he had experienced!
But it’s part of his identity as a “Job 31 man” that he didn’t do that:
If I have rejoiced at the destruction of him who hated me, or lifted myself up when evil found him (Indeed I have not allowed my mouth to sin by asking for a curse on his soul)… (Job 31.29, 30, NKJV)
The story ends:
Now the LORD blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning; for he had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, one thousand yoke of oxen, and one thousand female donkeys. He also had seven sons and three daughters…In all the land were found no women so beautiful as the daughters of Job; and their father gave them an inheritance among their brothers. After this Job lived one hundred and forty years, and saw his children and grandchildren for four generations. So Job died, old and full of days. (Job 42.12 – 17, NKJV)
I’ve been distracted twice by “leviathan.” First, when I was reading in Job 26:
By His Spirit He adorned the heavens; His hand pierced the fleeing serpent. Indeed these are the mere edges of His ways, And how small a whisper we hear of Him! But the thunder of His power who can understand? (Job 26.13, 14, NKJV)
“His hand pierced the fleeing serpent.” NKJV in Logos Bible software links to Isaiah 27.1, equally obscure:
In that day the LORD with his hard and great and strong sword will punish Leviathan the fleeing serpent, Leviathan the twisting serpent, and he will slay the dragon that is in the sea. (Isaiah 27.1, NKJV)
There are four verses containing “Leviathan:” (Job 41.1, Psalm 74.14, 104.26, and Isaiah 27.1) NKJV note says “A large sea creature of unknown identity.” “Unknown identity” doesn’t stop people from trying to figure it out, especially when an entire chapter of Job is given to it. Hence my second day of distraction when I got to Job 41 in my reading. It opens:
Can you draw out Leviathan with a hook, Or snare his tongue with a line which you lower? Can you put a reed through his nose, Or pierce his jaw with a hook? (Job 41.1, 2, NKJV)
God is making the point that Job can’t control Leviathan, but God made Leviathan. Leviathan seems to be a fire-breathing dragon!
His sneezings flash forth light, And his eyes are like the eyelids of the morning. Out of his mouth go burning lights; Sparks of fire shoot out. Smoke goes out of his nostrils, As from a boiling pot and burning rushes. His breath kindles coals, And a flame goes out of his mouth. (Job 41.18 – 21, NKJV)
In the Hebrew Bible, in the Book of Psalms, Psalm 74, Psalm 74:13–14, the sea-dragon Leviathan, is slain by Yahweh, god of the kingdoms of Israel and Judah, as part of the creation of the world.[35][36] Isaiah describes Leviathan as a tanin (תנין), which is translated as “sea monster”, “serpent”, or “dragon”.[37] In Isaiah 27:1, Yahweh’s destruction of Leviathan is foretold as part of his impending overhaul of the universal order:[38][39]
In that day the LORD will take His sharp, great, and mighty sword, and bring judgment on Leviathan the fleeing serpent — Leviathan the coiling serpent — and He will slay the dragon of the sea.[40]
Job 41:1–34 contains a detailed description of Leviathan, who is described as being so powerful that only Yahweh can overcome it.[41] Job 41:19–21 states that Leviathan exhales fire and smoke, making its identification as a mythical dragon clearly apparent.[41] In some parts of the Old Testament, Leviathan is historicized as a symbol for the nations that stand against Yahweh.
See how easy it is to be distracted? Here’s what’s clear:
Satan is referred to as a dragon:
And a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. She was pregnant and was crying out in birth pains and the agony of giving birth. And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads seven diadems. His tail swept down a third of the stars of heaven and cast them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she bore her child he might devour it…Now war arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon. And the dragon and his angels fought back, but he was defeated, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him…Then the dragon became furious with the woman and went off to make war on the rest of her offspring, on those who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus. And he stood on the sand of the sea. (portions of Revelation 12.1 – 17)
Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding in his hand the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain. And he seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, and threw him into the pit, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he might not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were ended. After that he must be released for a little while. (Revelation 20.1 – 3, NKJV)
Here’s something else that’s clear:
The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law. (Deuteronomy 29.29, ESV)
Jesus was clear also on what commandments we should focus on:
Jesus answered,
“The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’
The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’
There is no other commandment greater than these.” (Mark 12.29 – 31, ESV)
Have fun thinking about dragons, but don’t forget to love God, love your neighbor, and be on guard against our enemy, the real dragon.
Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. (Ephesians 6.10, 11, ESV)
As we come to the end of Job, God speaks in chapters 38 – 41. I just noticed something in the opening:
Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said… (Job 38.1, NKJV)
It was a literal storm that Elihu was talking about in Job 37!
From the chamber of the south comes the whirlwind, And cold from the scattering winds of the north. By the breath of God ice is given, And the broad waters are frozen. Also with moisture He saturates the thick clouds; He scatters His bright clouds. And they swirl about, being turned by His guidance, That they may do whatever He commands them On the face of the whole earth. He causes it to come, Whether for correction, Or for His land, Or for mercy. (Job 37.9 – 13, NKJV)
The remainder of chapter 38 is God asserting his control over the earth, the oceans, the stars – “I was there when they were created, I control these things, do you?”
Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding. Who determined its measurements? Surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it? To what were its foundations fastened? Or who laid its cornerstone, When the morning stars sang together, And all the sons of God shouted for joy? “Or who shut in the sea with doors, When it burst forth and issued from the womb; When I made the clouds its garment, And thick darkness its swaddling band; When I fixed My limit for it, And set bars and doors; When I said, ‘”This far you may come, but no farther, And here your proud waves must stop!”(Job 38.4 – 11, NKJV)
It wouldn’t hurt to remind ourselves every now and then to consider our size and power relative to God!
Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand and marked off the heavens with a span, enclosed the dust of the earth in a measure and weighed the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance?…Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket, and are accounted as the dust on the scales; behold, he takes up the coastlands like fine dust. Lebanon would not suffice for fuel, nor are its beasts enough for a burnt offering. All the nations are as nothing before him, they are accounted by him as less than nothing and emptiness. To whom then will you liken God, or what likeness compare with him? (Isaiah 40.12, 15 – 18, ESV)
As we approach the end of the words of Job’s friends, we come to the inevitable conclusion: God is hard to figure out! Elihu, for example, gets it wrong about Job with his Santa Claus Theology:
Indeed He would have brought you out of dire distress, Into a broad place where there is no restraint; And what is set on your table would be full of richness. But you are filled with the judgment due the wicked; Judgment and justice take hold of you. Because there is wrath, beware lest He take you away with one blow; For a large ransom would not help you avoid it. (Job 36.16 – 18, NKJV)
Then Elihu turns right around and speaks truth about God’s power:
Remember to magnify His work, Of which men have sung. Everyone has seen it; Man looks on it from afar. “Behold, God is great, and we do not know Him; Nor can the number of His years be discovered. For He draws up drops of water, Which distill as rain from the mist, Which the clouds drop down And pour abundantly on man. Indeed, can anyone understand the spreading of clouds, The thunder from His canopy? (Job 36.24 – 29, NKJV)
We can be thankful for “revelation knowledge.” God reveals himself not only through creation but also through his word:
The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork…The law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple… (Psalm 19.1, 7, ESV)
And, finally, God has revealed himself through Jesus:
God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds; who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high. (Hebrews 1.1 – 3, NKJV)
And the depth of human misunderstanding of God is demonstrated by Holy Week: they killed Jesus.
Even his disciples couldn’t understand Jesus:
They went on from there and passed through Galilee. And he did not want anyone to know, for he was teaching his disciples, saying to them, “The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him. And when he is killed, after three days he will rise.” But they did not understand the saying, and were afraid to ask him. (Mark 9.30 – 32, ESV)
I say again, God is hard to figure out!
For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55.8, 9, ESV)
What do you do when you can’t work in your chosen field? We looked at one positive response to that situation yesterday. What if you’re a pastor?
I shared a story in my first book Join the Adventure! in which I suggested a simple action plan that I’ve blogged about before.
Be there
Pay attention
Do what you can
Tell the truth
My grandson told me once that he liked the action steps except the first one: “GrandBob, the first point is stupid! Everyone is where they are.” To which I responded, “No, sadly, they’re not.” Here’s what I wrote in Join the Adventure!
Some people often want to be somewhere else. I was talking with a young man who was on part-time staff at a church, and who held down a full-time job in the computer industry. He really wanted to be in “full-time ministry” completely oblivious to the fact that his “there” for at least 40 hours a week was at his job, around people who would never come to his church since most of them lived in another town 45 minutes away!
By contrast, I knew a pastor who was in his second or third year of no church job. In the meantime, to put bread on the table, he was working in a call center for a national insurance company. Guess who the de facto chaplain for the people in that call center was? To whom did they go for counsel or prayer? That pastor! A man who was “there,” where God had him at the time, not thinking of a church where he’d rather be. – Page 18, emphasis added
Jesus paid attention:
As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. (John 9.1, NIV)
As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him. (Matthew 9.9, NIV)
I close with the well-known Halverson Benediction:
You go nowhere by accident. Wherever you go, God is sending you. Wherever you are, God has put you there. God has a purpose in your being there. Christ lives in you and has something he wants to do through you where you are. Believe this and go in the grace and love and power of Jesus Christ. – Richard Halverson, former chaplain of the US Senate
My friend Robyn Griffith is between jobs as a pharmaceutical R&D specialist. She posted a nice essay on LinkedIn in early April in which she bemoaned the lack of opportunities in the pharmaceutical industry but closed by saying she’s gone back to being a waitress, which she did in high school and college. I don’t think she needs the money. She writes:
So, I got tired of sitting in front of my computer all day long, applying to jobs with no luck, and began working in the same type of position where I very first started. The age of 15, I worked at McDonald’s (still have my first paystub). I really appreciated the flexibility in hours, as a cheerleader, figure skater, class representative and singer & piano player at church. I worked there until my senior year when I began to waitress, which I did all the way through college (loved Red Robin!).
I love her attitude:
The longer I am there, the more it brings me back to my happy and fulfilling “blue collar” days.
Working hard, wiping tables, greeting customers, smiling and helping these young new leaders understand what positive outcomes hard work brings. It brings me joy. I take pride to my daily shifts and I love seeing others smile and have a great time playing ‘Angry Birds’! I still really desire returning to my passion of bringing new treatment to patients and seeing the positive outcomes and solutions that it brings to millions of people. Until then, I will greet you with a smile and recommend my favorite TopGolf games to play!
This story reminds me of another, which I’ll share tomorrow.
Do everything without grumbling or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, “children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation.” Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky… (Philippians 2.14, 15, NIV)