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by Kevin Pauley
Who is this who obscures My counsel with ignorant words? Get ready to answer Me like a man; when I question you, you will inform Me. Where were you when I established the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding. Who fixed its dimensions? Certainly you know! Who stretched a measuring line across it? - Job 38:2-5 HCSB
A great surgeon once allowed a shoemaker to observe him at work. The shoemaker watched with no small measure of trepidation as the master surgeon skillfully sliced into his patient’s body. Oddly enough, it seemed to the shoemaker that the surgeon was cutting into healthy skin and muscle!
“What is he doing?” the shoemaker muttered. “I only cut off dried up and damaged leather. He seems to be cutting into healthy flesh! I think this doctor’s reputation is ill founded. He’s not very good at his job!”
What does a shoemaker know of a surgeons’ craft? What do we know of God’s? We often question His ways. “Surely that’s no way to run the universe!” we whisper to ourselves. The wicked are flourishing and the godly are getting crushed![1] What are you doing God?”
Listen – though the wicked sprout like grass and flourish for a while, like grass they are soon mown down.[2] Don’t get agitated about life’s injustices. Don’t envy those who do wrong. Soon enough they will wither away.
We tend to focus on this world’s goods but they soon rust.[3] We lean on human relationships that often fail.[4] Trust Hashem. If we take delight in the Lord, He will give us our hearts’ desires. He will act and our righteousness will, at some point shine like the dawn and our just acts like the noonday.
I once asked a mechanic what was wrong with my car. After listening to five minutes of terms I couldn’t define and mechanical principles that were apparently derived from rocket science, I was just as clueless as when I’d first requested clarification. Don’t question what you couldn’t understand anyway.
Just keep trusting the Lord and doing what is good. Take possession of the life and circumstances God has assigned to you and do the best that you can with it. Be silent before the Lord and wait expectantly for “the rest of the story.” Don’t get angry and rage about seeming injustice. It will only do you harm.
Evil doers will get their comeuppances. What goes around comes around.[5] Wait a little while and they will be no more. If, for some strange reason, you decide to go looking for them you will not find them. Just imitate the Lord. When the wicked scheme and threaten the Lord just laughs at him because Yahweh sees that the wicked one’s day is coming.[6]
Kevin Pauley is a pastor and writer. He lives in Illinois with his wife, Lynn, their five children and two dogs. His internet address is Berea.
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