“WHY?” Fourth Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 7) June 21, 2015 Bethel Evangelical Lutheran Church Glenshaw, Pennsylvania
TEXT: The Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind and said: “Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge? Dress for action like a man; I will question you, and you make it known to Me.”
Job 38:1-3 (ESV)
Why do bad things happen to good people, while bad people seem to live a life of ease? This question has haunted humanity almost since its beginning. The question is still being asked today, and no matter how you want to phrase it, the questioner always seems to be pointing the finger at God. Sometimes the question involves the noblest and most important of concerns, while at other times it is asked out of pure selfishness.
Questioning God’s “fairness” is nothing new. Job asked the same question. We often think of Job as the ultimate example of patience, gracefully bearing his hardships without so much as a word of protest. But in the thirtieth chapter of the book that bears his name we hear him complain to God: “I cry to You for help and You do not answer me; I stand, and You only look at me. You have turned cruel to me; with the might of Your hand You persecute me. You lift me up on the wind; You make me ride on it, and You toss me about in the roar of the storm. . . . When I hoped for good, evil came, and when I waited for light, darkness came” (Job 30:20-22; 26). This morning’s Old Testament Reading is God’s answer to Job’s complaints. That answer is one of both Law and Gospel--both bad news and Good News. The bad news is that as creatures of God we have no right to ask those kinds of questions. The Good News is that as the redeemed children of God in Jesus Christ, we have no need to ask them.
As creatures of the almighty God, we are His property--“His workmanship” (Ephesians 2:10), as the Scriptures describe us. As such, we rest totally in His hand. Certainly the Creator has every right to do as He pleases with His own creation--His own property. It would be foolish for your automobile to argue with you over what gear you put it in or for your television to object to the channel that you tuned it to. These things are foolish because your automobile and your television are your property, designed to function according to your wishes and at your command. You owe them nothing. You don’t need to justify the things that you cause them to do or how you choose to use them. It is even more ridiculous for the creatures of God to dispute with Him over how He deals with what He has created for His own use and glory.
It becomes even clearer that we have no right to ask God accusing questions about our lot in life when we consider the fact that the great majority of our misfortunes are of our own making. We cast aside with indifference or even contempt the laws that God has given us for our own good, and then we get upset at the God who has given them when things don’t work out quite the way that we would like. For example, God commands that for our own good we should have no other gods. But we reject His command and pursue our gods of greed and pleasure and convenience. Then when we’re in a jam we blame God for not being there for us, even though it is we who have rejected Him. God commands that for our own good we respect His gift of life. But we cheapen life by the way that we treat ourselves and others. Then we blame God for a society that has no respect for life or for anyone who possesses it. God commands that for our own good His gift of sexuality is to find its expression only within the lifelong union of one man and one woman in marriage (which He instituted for its use) but we don’t want to hear that. “Wake up!” we protest. “This is the twenty-first century!” And when we find our society plagued with disease, broken relationships, and a general betrayal of trust as a result of our lack of discipline, once again we blame God. I could continue this list all day, but I think you get the point. God didn’t create our problems; He created a perfect world for us to enjoy. But because we refuse to enjoy it according to His will, we have ruined it. And now we point the finger accusingly at the One who created it perfectly in the first place.
The Good News is that as redeemed sinners we have no reason to lack confidence in the gracious God who is in control of all things. We often complain that God is not “fair.” As strange as it may sound, it’s true: God is not “fair.” You see, “fair” is a concept that we have invented. It’s something that we use to get our own way. People in authority are constantly being accused of “unfairness” by those who don’t get their way. God is just and merciful, but He is not “fair” as we define “fairness.” And I, for one, am glad that He’s not! If God were “fair,” we would all be bound for hell with no hope--doomed to an eternity separated from Him and His grace because of our sin. If you want to see what Scripture itself says about the “unfairness” of God, all you have to do is look at what Paul says to the Corinthians, where we read: “God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21 NIV). Is it “fair” that the sinless Son of God should bear the agonies of the cross so that sinners like us can enjoy the blessings of forgiveness? Of course it’s not. God’s acceptance of us in spite of our sin is not rooted in what we call “fairness,” but rather in His grace and mercy and love.
That grace of God with which He has redeemed us in Christ and accepted us as His own is still with us today. We may have some difficulty believing that as we look around at the events that often surround us. We may find ourselves wondering why terrible misfortunes befall even the people who trust in Christ and confess His name in word and deed. What we have to remember here is that God provides us with what we need, not necessarily everything that we think we need. Our heavenly Father knows what we really need and provides it, regardless of what we may think we need. And sometimes it takes something tragic from a human perspective to enable our heavenly Father to give us what we really need. Sometimes He has to break our heart before we will be receptive to the comfort that He has to offer us. But whatever He allows to happen in our lives is motivated by His love--the same love that moved Him to become human and go to the cross to make atonement for our sin. He who has so much invested in us promises that He will continue to deal with us with mercy and grace for our own benefit, whether we think it’s “fair” or not.
This has been a difficult message to prepare and to proclaim, because none of us (myself included) want to hear this. What we want to hear is that everything is always going to happen just the way that we would like it to--that things will always go our way--that everything will turn out to be “fair” as we see it. I can’t tell you any of that. I can’t tell you that in this life every good deed will be rewarded and every illness will be cured and every wrong will be righted. What I can tell you is that God loves you and is working for your ultimate good. He has proven it by sending His Son to restore us as His children. And by the power of His Holy Spirit He blesses us and will continue to bless us with the strength that we need to face the trials of life gracefully, knowing that even when we fail in this, He is there to forgive, to restore, and to save.
Amen.
May the Lord bless your hearing of His Word, using it to accomplish in you those things for which He gave it. May you be enriched and strengthened in faith that you may leave here today to go out into our world armed with the whole armor of God, prepared to be able ambassadors of your Savior Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful, and He will do it. Amen.