Readings for today: Job 25-28
I have known people like Bildad. People who believe human beings are worms. Maggots. Vile, wretched creatures unworthy of God’s attention. Unfortunately, there are theological traditions in the Christian faith that promote such beliefs. In their zeal to underscore the vast chasm that exists between human beings and God, they lift up verses like the one from Job 25 today. “How can a human be justified before God? How can one born of woman be pure? If even the moon does not shine and the stars are not pure in his sight, how much less a human, who is a maggot, a son of man, who is a worm!” (Job 25:4-6 CSB) On some level, they are right but they are also only telling half the story. And half a truth is no truth at all. Yes, when compared to God, we are impure. We are unrighteous. We are unholy. This is why it is impossible to justify ourselves before Him. At the same time, we’ve been made a little lower than the angels. God loved us so much, He gave His only Son for us. God predestined us in love before the foundations of the world to be His children. Adopted into His family. Given all the rights and privileges therein. This is the beauty and the glory of the gospel. God sees our sin. He sees it all. There is nothing hidden from Him. Nothing to justify us in His sight. So He does for us what we cannot. He justifies us through His Son. He clothes us in His own righteousness. He sanctifies us by His own Spirit.
The gospel is the wisdom of God. It is the foolishness of God that confounds the wise. It is the weakness of God that overcomes the strong. It is the death of God that offers eternal life to the world. This is why it is impossible for us to find such wisdom on our own. It is antithetical to our nature. It cuts against the grain of our human experience. It requires us to find our self-worth in self-denial. It requires us to base our self-esteem on serving others. It requires us to give in order to receive. To love rather than seek to be loved. It crosses all boundaries. It breaks down all barriers. It tears down all the dividing walls of hostility that separate us from God and from one another. The history of humanity is a history of violence and suffering and pain. Much of it self-inflicted. As a species, we are naturally greedy and jealous and violent and angry and selfish. This maps out in how we choose to spend our time and energy and resources and who we choose to spend it with. It’s why tribalism is so rampant across the globe. But God offers us a different way. A narrow way. A way that leads to true joy, true peace, true love, and true fulfillment. This is the way Job is seeking amidst all he has suffered. Listen to his words again as things are starting to become more clear to him. “He said to humankind, “The fear of the Lord that is wisdom. And to turn from evil is understanding.” (Job 28:28 CSB)
How are you living in the fear of the Lord today? How are you walking in the way of Jesus today? Are you living according to divine wisdom or your own wisdom? Are you living empowered by divine strength or your own strength? Are you seeking to turn from evil and sin in your life or are you trusting what feels good and seems good to you? The only way to discover your true worth is to find it in Christ.
Readings for tomorrow: Job 29-32