Yahal--The Hopeful Expectation of Job

First of all, I would apologize for the extremely long gap in between posts. I had some big papers/assignments due and then the Holidays the week after. I'm sure all of you know how busy life can get. This week let's talk about trust/faith, and my post will be somewhat general. I think it best to get a wide array of perspectives here, for it is something that most have gone through. Our brother Ryan voiced some struggles with being prescribed the remedy phrases of "Just trust in God, and everything will be better," and/or "Let go and let God." There would be very few to disagree with those words of wisdom.

However, trust and having faith in God is an easy thing for an objective, third-party to prescribe. It is not quite so easy to be on the other side, though. Everything seems to be up in the air, and nothing ever seems to actualize. I mean, ya, I hear the prescription, "Let go and let God," or "Just trust in God, and everything will be better." I know that is what I am supposed to do, but what does it mean? How do I really do...that?

My first response would be to take a look at the Biblical character Job. To those unaware of his story, it goes something like this. Job was "blameless and upright; he feared God and shunned evil" (Job 1.1). "He was the greatest man among all the people of the East," (1.3). Job was a man of God and was wealthy in both money and family; that's how Job rolled. Satan, however, thought that Job is only blameless because God has blessed him so richly. It was Satan's priority then to take everything away from Job (flocks, servants, health, and family) to get him to turn away from his faith and curse God. Yet, Job, one of the best examples we can aspire to, had faith in God. In spite of his current and horrific afflictions (Satan had given him sores from the soles of his feet to the top of his head that were so bad they actually disfigured him to a point of being unrecognizable--that would flat out hurt), we come to a tucked away gem, in chapter 13.15, Job says to his friends:

"Though he slay me, yet will I hope in Him..."

The Hebrew word translated as hope is "yahal." In some translations it is interpreted "trust." It carries with it a sense of hopeful expectation rooted in God. It is hard for us today to sometimes imagine trusting God in periods of uncertainty or silence. Yet, Job was...well...Job. I think 13.15 cuts through any preconception and says all that needs to be said. "Though he slay me, yet will I hope in Him..."

I think or hope that Job can inform us when we ponder on trust/faith. Just because we "trust in God" doesn't mean that "everything will be better" immediately. Our trust/faith in God doesn't evoke some sort of positive or magical product in the ways we think that it should. Job throughout the book wants out of the wretchedness of his situation; yet he still says, "Though he slay me, I will hope in Him..." In my opinion, that is what it means to "let go and let God." We get to a level where we will still trust in God, even when everything violently rips us away. We separate ourselves from circumstances and outcomes, in order to be at peace with where we currently are. [To be clear, I am not advocating some sort of Christianized Stoicism either.]

Secondly, I would say that things aren't as black and white as we would often like them to be. Like our brother Ryan, I too will be searching for a ministry assignment and home come May (Lydia I know you can do it!). I have no clear vision or answer as to what or where I am to go. It seems, in my experience, that if one is sensitive to the leading of the Spirit, the decision will become evident in time. I would encourage everyone not to underestimate the spiritual discipline of prayer. It is no exaggeration for me to say that I have prayed for the last two years to have the sensitivity to the Spirit in order to know where I am to go when it comes time to accept a position of ministry. This decision has scared me ever since my second year at Olivet. I still have no clear vision two years after praying that first prayer, but still I will trust. I don't think there is any one-line phrase-remedies for deciphering God's leading in major choices (where to go to school, who to date, what ministry position to accept, or etc.).

I do believe, however, that God will make it evident. I can't say when that will be. Yet, the book of Job shows us that God will do so. He has done so in my own life. Even though the time is coming when a decision will need to be made that affects not only myself but my beautiful bride, still "I will hope in Him." I cannot give the answer as to how to make decisions or how to trust/have faith. Those are questions I think that need to be answered on one's own. It isn't as comforting to hear there isn't an absolute sure way (like some sort of quadratic equation), but you will sure know the answer when it is there. It is like when I was asked how did I know when I was truly in love; I just knew. When you know, you just know. It is no one particular thing; yet, it was a bunch of particular things. I know that this was not an intellectually superior logical apology of trust/faith and making decisions. At the same time, it does a disservice to the beauty of our faith when we reduce it to simply reason and logic. There is certainly an important place for intellectual reason and logic (of which no one appreciates more than I), but our faith cannot be defined or bounded solely by it.

This has been written on the fly. Help me out.

If the Lord tarries, let's have some conversation!

Come Quickly Lord. Come.

Greetings all,

How is everyone? By the grace of God, I am fine. I hope that all of you have made an effort to appreciate the Bride of Christ since last week. It is a glorious institution that He gave so much for. As the songwriter says, "Tis a glorious Church, without spot or wrinkle; Washed in the blood of the Lamb."

Have any of you heard the prayer "maranatha?" It is Greek for "Come, Lord." It was common for the early Church to pray this prayer. The same can be said for much of the Church of history. But, when is the last time you have honestly prayed, "Come quickly Lord. Come." Have you ever heard someone else pray that prayer? Maybe these two questions deserve an introductory question: When is the last time you even heard (a sermon) about the Second Coming? Albeit, tradition (via the lectionary) has placed the second coming in the Advent season (so hopefully you will hear a sermon in the weeks of December leading up to Christmas). But, for such a big deal, do we really only talk about it only once a year?

We are being fed eschatology whether we realize it or not. The secular world calls it the "end of the world" which can be seen in the upcoming blockbuster 2012 featuring John Cusack. This Friday millions will flock to the flick. The date of the "end of the world" comes from the end of a time cycle of an ancient Incan/Mayan calendar. If the argument even needed bolstered, the famous French astrologer Nostradamus has been thought to predicted the same time for the end of the world. I'm sold. Aren't you? Well, some Christians are anyway.

I think so much effort is spent in trying to decipher both world and cosmological events as "signs of the times." And yet is the end not the same? Holywood may portray it a certain way--which conveniently is a way that profits hundreds of millions of dollars; for Christians, it still comes down to Jesus' return to the earth. The Lord Himself encouraged us to live in a state of expectancy for it will come like a thief in the night (Matt. 24:43)/or no one knows but the Father (of the day or hour--Matt. 24:36). If I can't take my Lord seriously at His word, then newspaper clippings (and ancient Incan/Myan calendars along with the French astrologer Nostradamus' prophecies) pasted next to other Bible verses isn't going to change much of anything for me.

Put all the speculation regarding the Second Coming aside, do we, both individually and as a church, really want the Lord to come back? Can we honestly pray, "come quickly Lord?" It is easy for me to say yes on the front end, for that is what I am supposed to say as a good Christian. Yet, am I saying it with life? Uh, ouch I just burned myself, well that was a rhetorical question...Cough...ya rhetorical.

Living expecting and hoping for the Second Coming does not warrant an escapist life--withdrawing from the world. Nor does it necessarily encourage us to forsake goals of education, careers, etc. to enter a life of monkery. Living in expectation of the second coming doesn't reduce this life; rather, it elevates it. It makes it more meaningful. I encourage you, as I am myself, to pray the prayer of maranatha everyday for forty days. Maybe it will open our eyes to where we are truly storing our treasures--in the things of heaven or of earth. I think that our faith is based on this eschatological hope. The return of Christ seems to drive...well, it all. Salvation, sanctification, holiness and all the other theological jargon becomes just jargon, if we do not believe that Christ is coming back. I hope to live ready for His coming, newspaper articles aside. I hope to live as my Lord encouraged me to live: always ready and always hoping.

The scholar Anthony Hoekema writes, "Our expectation of the Lord's return, therefore, should be a constant incentive to live for Christ and for his kingdom, and to seek the things that are above, not the things that are on the earth. But the best way to seek the things above is to be busy for the Lord here and now."

Grace and Peace to you until the return of the Lord Jesus Christ.