No, You're Not Fine

“Will he delight himself in the Almighty? will he always call upon God?” (Job 27:10 AV)

 Job is speaking here of the hypocrite.  His friends suggest that Job was one.  Yet, the proof that he isn’t a hypocrite would not call on God and cry in his bitterness to God if he lost everything.  In other words, a hypocrites relationship with God does not change even though life is adverse.  When we think of hypocrisy in terms of one’s relationship with God we usually think the opposite.  We think of a hypocrite going to the LORD only when he or she needs Him the most.  Yet this is not always true.  When we need Him the most, we are often at the point of repentance.  Or, we are in sire straights and cry out by faith for His intervention.  The hypocrite will remain consistent.  He or she will not change regardless of his or her situation.  If they do not regularly converse with God, hardship probably will not change that.  They give the impression they are close to God.  Yet, circumstances produce no change.  There is no depth there.  There is no connection.  This was Job’s point.  His friends accused him of hypocrisy because they believed he was tormented in the spirit even though they thought he was normally at ease in his sin.  To them, this made Job a hypocrite.  Just the opposite is true.

Have you ever met someone whose normal response to adversity is, “I’m fine”?  it doesn’t matter what has happened.  They will simply say, “I’m fine”.  “I’m fine, I’m fine”.  No, you’re not fine!  Pride is usually the problem.  Those who will not internalize their issues and cry out for help are too proud to do so.  It is one thing to tell other people that you are fine when you are not.  There may be reasons for doing so.  It is quite another to tell God that you are fine when you are not.  Others may tire of your complaints.  They may not know how to fix your issue.  They may not understand what it is like to go through your type of trial.  They may have too many trials of their own.  Continuously bringing it up to others may make you feel worse and not better.  So, we keep it in and never tell another.  God is different.  He can take as big a burden as you can bring.  He understands it all.  After all, He is the one who caused or allowed it to begin with.  To tell God you’re fine when you are not, or worse, never go to Him when you are not fine, is hypocrisy.  To pretend you are something when you are not that something is the very definition of hypocrisy.

Job’s friends thought he was a ‘convenient saint’.  That is, he went to God only when it was convenient.  They thought his cries to God were a manifestation of hypocrisy.  They thought only a hypocrite goes to God when he needs Him the most.  Not so!  When the Holy Spirit convicted me of my sin and doom, I did not remain quiet.  I cried out.  When I was convicted of the horribleness of the sins of my youth, I sat at the bedside sobbing like a baby seeking a holy God’s forgiveness.  When my wife lay in a hospital bed and wanted nothing to do with me, I came home a cried in agony because I thought I had lost her.  Praise the LORD Job’s friends did not show up at my door that Saturday evening.  They would have called me a hypocrite because I rarely show that depth of emotion when praying to God.  What they didn’t understand was that depth of emotion is just the opposite.  I was not fine.  I was never fine.  When God pushes you to your limit and you are not fine, you are not being hypocritical to let it all out and leave it with God.  You are just the opposite.