What Job Knew
One way to study the Bible is by marking the keywords of a book. Take a keyword and follow it through to see how it is used in the text. In the book of Job, "know" is such a word. It is used often, 87 times, in fact. However, what is most interesting in the book is how it is used.
When tragedy strikes, a conversation begins between Job and his friends in which what they "know" (or think they know) is very much at the forefront. Job will argue that he doesn't know why this is happening because he has done no wrong. His three friends contend that they know Job must have committed some great sin. All the evidence they think they need to see is in Job's circumstances.
Job answers that indeed he does not know what he has done. Still, he does know one crucial fact; that God is in control (see 19:25; 31:6, et al.).
After several rounds, a fourth friend (Elihu) stands up. He has heard enough. He rebukes these four old men for running their mouth and not doing what is right (32:6-7). This young man just knows he has it all figured out (32:10, 17; 33:3; 36:4, et al.).
Then God speaks. Rather than answer Job or his friends, God challenges them. If they know so much, let them give some knowledge to the Lord God (38:2-5, 12, 18, 21, 33; 39:1-2; 40:6). In 40:1-6, Job answers the Lord. He says, "I know nothing but You. You teach me."
So, from the book of Job, what can we know?
That we do not know why any particular person is suffering.
That we can make suffering worse for someone when we presume to know.
That the only thing we need to know when it comes to suffering is the One in control.
I may not know what tomorrow may bring. I may never know why I endure certain things. All I need to know is the Lord God. He knows all, is all-powerful, and cares for each of us.
A Smashing Business
Doug Miller reports:
At a business park just outside the loop in northwest Houston, a laid off energy worker named Shawn Baker has launched a strange business encouraging people to take out their frustrations on household furniture.
Tantrums LLC invites frustrated Houstonians to demolish rooms full of stuff with sledgehammers and other implements of destruction.
“You can rent a room, either ten minutes or fifteen, and destroy the contents of the room,” Baker explained. “Whatever I put in there, you can destroy it, either with golf clubs, baseball bats, lead pipes, sledgehammers and whatever else I can think of that I’m going to bring up here.”
Customers choose their instrument of destruction and walk into a room equipped with various pieces of furniture – from dishes to desks to television sets to household appliances – then they start smashing everything in sight to smithereens. Baker dreamed up the idea for her business after attending a concert where they were smashing old furniture.
“They pulled their trucks in behind the bar and started unloading all this stuff,” she recalled. “They were just beating the crap out of it! And I looked at my husband and I said, ‘That’s it. That’s it, right there.’”
So she searched for a site, overcame suspicious landlords, gathered up a bunch of old furniture and opened for business in December. On Friday she booked three customers, two of whom were women.
Indeed, she said, stay-at-home mothers have been some of her most interesting visitors.
“For ten minutes, it’s $35,” she said. “And for fifteen minutes, it’s $50. If you need more than that, you probably need professional help.”
Although smashing furniture may serve to vent what’s pent up inside you, there is a more constructive alternative. Rather than stuffing your anxieties until they come bursting out, learn to turn them over to God. Remember that God exercises sovereign control over your life and so nothing can happen to you without divine purpose. Seek to understand that purpose, while at the same time turning what's beyond your control over to God.
“Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:6-7).
Do You Believe In the Law of the Pendulum?
In college I was asked to prepare a lesson to teach my speech class. We were to be graded on our creativity and ability to drive home a point in a memorable way. The title of my talk was, "The Law of the Pendulum." I spent 20 minutes carefully teaching the physical principle that governs a swinging pendulum. The law of the pendulum is: A pendulum can never return to a point higher than the point from which it was released. Because of friction and gravity, when the pendulum returns, it will fall short of its original release point. Each time it swings it makes less and less of an arc, until finally it is at rest. This point of rest is called the state of equilibrium, where all forces acting on the pendulum are equal.
I attached a 3-foot string to a child's toy top and secured it to the top of the blackboard with a thumbtack. I pulled the top to one side and made a mark on the blackboard where I let it go. Each time it swung back I made a new mark. It took less than a minute for the top to complete its swinging and come to rest. When I finished the demonstration, the markings on the blackboard proved my thesis.
I then asked how many people in the room BELIEVED the law of the pendulum was true. All of my classmates raised their hands, so did the teacher. He started to walk to the front of the room thinking the class was over. In reality it had just begun. Hanging from the steel ceiling beams in the middle of the room was a large, crude but functional pendulum (250 pounds of metal weights tied to four strands of 500-pound test parachute cord). I invited the instructor to climb up on a table and sit in a chair with the back of his head against a cement wall. Then I brought the 250 pounds of metal up to his nose. Holding the huge pendulum just a fraction of an inch from his face, I once again explained the law of the pendulum he had applauded only moments before, "If the law of the pendulum is true, then when I release this mass of metal, it will swing across the room and return short of the release point. Your nose will be in no danger."
After that final restatement of this law, I looked him in the eye and asked, "Sir, do you believe this law is true?" There was a long pause. Huge beads of sweat formed on his upper lip and then weakly he nodded and whispered, "Yes." I released the pendulum. It made a swishing sound as it arced across the room. At the far end of its swing, it paused momentarily and started back. I never saw a man move so fast in my life. He literally dived from the table.
[Ken Davis is sought-after speakers and author who has appeared on television and stages around the world. His daily radio program, LIGHTEN UP!, is broadcast on over 1,800 stations worldwide.]
Deftly stepping around the still-swinging pendulum, I asked the class, "Does he believe in the law of the pendulum?" The students unanimously answered, "NO!"
Sometimes the trials and tribulations of this life will come at you like a swinging pendulum. As the Law of the Pendulum tested the "faith" of that professor, so life will test your faith in Christ. Do you you really believe in His great love for you and His faithfulness to see you through life's greatest challenges?
"And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God's love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow--not even the powers of hell can separate us from God's love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below--indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 8:38-39, NLT).
"We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed. We are perplexed, but not driven to despair. We are hunted down, but never abandoned by God. We get knocked down, but we are not destroyed" (2 Corinthians 4:8-9, NLT).