Premature Musing

"God understandeth the way thereof, and he knoweth the place thereof.” (Job 28:23 AV)

 

Uttered by Job as a way of rebuke to his friends.  His friends are trying to figure out something whose answer belongs to God alone.  Another utterance by Job that was lost on Job.  Job meant it as a means to stop his friend’s musing.  Their musing had become rather cruel.  Especially the last musing of Eliaphaz.  He has intimated Job was a very wicked person and deserving of what had happened.  He suggested the only thing stopping God from restoring Job’s life was repentance on Job’s part.  It was rather cruel.  Job is running out of patience.  He correctly states that God alone understands the nature of his circumstances, understands the cause of it all, and knows what the objective is by it.  All these answers lie with God.  In short, Job is seeking to stop the musing of his friends because their musings are misguided, self-serving, and in the end, cruel.  The takeaway for us is the same.  Maybe not to the degree spoken here of Job. But the principle is true nonetheless.  We tend to muse at the expense of Godly wisdom.  We tend to try to find answers within ourselves rather than go directly to, and depend on, the Holy Spirit for answers.

I have a friend, bless his heart, who calls me every once in a while with a bible question.  He always starts with, “Help me to understand.”  Then follows the question.  In fact, he only uses that phrase when he is asking a bible question or a question regarding church function or procedure.  Never does he use that phrase if it a golf question.  Which he has rather frequently.  Only when the question regards the sacred does the phrase precede the inquiry.  We then deliberate over the text for a time.  We work through it as he explains his reasoning or confusion.  His thought processes are subjugated to my input.  Not that I have the right answer.  Bible verses, definitions of words, grammar, etc. are all referenced to ascertain an answer.  He does his due diligence to find the answer within what he knows.  But he is so humble he understands he doesn’t know enough.  His humility cries out for help from others who may know a bit more.  In other words, he does not stay within himself when confronted with a situation that demands an answer.  He knows his limitations and reaches out for someone or something outside of himself to share with him what he seeks to know.

We are guilty of being too independent sometimes.  Yes, we do know some bible.  We better know some bible.  We are critical thinkers.  Our brains are wired to ask questions in search of knowledge.  However, we can err quite seriously if we think all the answers lay with us.  We are like that kid who struggles with his school work but will not ask the teacher for help.  He wants to figure it out all by himself.  The problem is, he doesn’t know what he doesn’t know.  When we are faced with a hard situation like Job was, it is vitally important we seek the One who has all the answers.  One wrong choice based upon our own erroneous musing, and we can make the current situation infinitely worse.  Job is right.  The answers, means, and purposed reside with God and He should be the first source we go to.  Not our own minds and experiences!