I NEED A GOD I CAN’T UNDERSTAND
A. Do you think you have God FIGURED OUT?
ILLUSTRATION:
In a heated discussion some years ago over a CONTROVERSIAL ISSUE, this individual arrogantly said, “I know what the TRUTH is on this matter, and God doesn’t ACCEPT anybody who believes DIFFERENTLY.”
Doesn’t it sound like to you that this person is implying that “whatever he LIKES God LIKES, and whatever he DISLIKES God DISLIKES”?
That was pretty much it. How do I know? I was the person who made that REMARK. I genuinely believed that I had ALL the RIGHT ANSWERS to every ISSUE. And if you BELIEVED differently, then you were on your way to HELL.
My problem was, I thought I had God all FIGURED out. I LIMITED Him to my understanding. God BELIEVED what I BELIEVED! He CONDEMNED whom I CONDEMNED!
It wasn’t until I was CHALLENGED by so many godly PREACHERS and Bible TEACHERS that I started taking a more SERIOUS and HONEST look at God’s Word, and soon came face-to-face with the REALIZATION that I was making myself EQUAL with God. I was DECIDING for God "what" and "who" He COULD and COULD NOT accept.
My BLATANT ARROGANCE literally SICKENED me. And to think how many people I’ve CONDEMNED over the years--how many have TURNED away from Christ because of my JUDGMENTAL, ARROGANT ATTITUDE having put God in a BOX and making DECISIONS for Him.
B. What I have learned over the last dozen or so years is that I NEED A GOD I CAN’T UNDERSTAND!
1. Isaiah 40:28- “God’s UNDERSTANDING, no one can
FATHOM.”
COMMENT:
That means that God can do things that I may not AGREE with, or even LIKE. He can ALLOW things to HAPPEN that I will never UNDERSTAND. He can ACCEPT people that I may never ACCEPT. I’ve painfully LEARNED that He’s GOD and I’m not--and aren’t you GLAD?
2. Our study will be taken from the book of Job this morning.
COMMENT:
Job was a man who came to the UNDERSTANDING that He didn’t UNDERSTAND God, and it HUMBLED him. He, along with His FRIENDS(so-called) thought they had God FIGURED out when it came to HUMAN SUFFERING.
His friends said one thing and Job said another. But both discovered that God was much more COMPLEX than what their FINITE MINDS could COMPREHEND.
3. I don’t think our FINITE MINDS, even with all of our SCIENCE and TECHNOLOGY, can do any better, do you?
COMMENT:
We have put God in a BOX for far too long. God is FAR BIGGER than we can ever IMAGINE. He is an AWESOME GOD with AWESOME POWER.
MESSAGE:
I. LET’S TAKE A LOOK AT A MAN WHO THOUGHT HE HAD GOD FIGURED OUT
ILLUSTRATION:
We first find Job with everything going for him. He had everything that a man could possibly want on earth. He was RICH. He had a fine FAMILY. He had FRIENDS. He had his HEALTH. In fact, he even had an ENDORSEMENT from God who said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one like him; his is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil”- Job 1:8. (That’s a pretty good character reference.)
But then all of a sudden things begin to FALL APART. He lost his CHILDREN, his RICHES, and his HEALTH. Then he found out that his FRIENDS weren’t so good after all. They came to bring him COMFORT during
his LOSS and SICKNESS, but ended up pointing an ACCUSING FINGER telling him that God brought all of the CALAMITIES on him because of SIN. Job insisted that he had done nothing WRONG. Yet, he also believed that God brought all of these HARDSHIPS on him but for no JUST reason--and he began WALLOWING in SELF-PITY.
He and his friends ARGUED back and forth until finally Job became so FRUSTRATED that he said he would bring his CASE before Jehovah God. But then he realized what he said, and it SCARED the DAYLIGHTS out of him.
He quickly added that he would be TONGUE-TIED if he stood in the PRESENCE of Almighty God. But God heard him. And then God THUNDERED from the heavens and said, “Who is this who fills his mouth with WORDS
without KNOWLEDGE? Brace yourself and I will QUESTION you, and you shall answer me”- Job 38:2-3.
God then gave Job a POP TEST and asks him a series of QUESTIONS for him to ANSWER since he knew all there was to know about God. God asked Job about 43 questions and he couldn’t answer single one. He asked
questions like: “What holds up the world? Who decided how big the world would be? Who determined where the sea should stop and the land begin? Can you make morning come when you are ready? Can you make thunder and lightening, or cause the wind to blow in any direction? Can you change the stars in the sky or rearrange the constellations?”
For four chapters God asked Job these questions, and Job stands there will his MOUTH wide-open not saying a word. Finally, he answers: “Lord, I know you can do all things; no plan of yours can be thwarted. You asked, ‘Who is it that fills his mouth with words
with KNOWLEDGE?’ Surely I spoke of things I did not UNDERSTAND,things too WONDERFUL for me to KNOW”- Job 42:2-3. Job then REPENTED of his ARROGANCE, and God BLESSED him ABUNDANTLY.
COMMENT:
Job couldn’t answer a single QUESTION, and God knew it. What point was God making? I think God was saying, “Job, I don’t need you SMART. I don’t need you to EXPLAIN Me to the world. I don’t need you to SOLVE the PROBLEMS of LIFE. I don’t even need you to UNDERSTAND Me. All I need from you, Job, is absolute FAITH in Me.” God has never demanded that we UNDERSTAND Him, just to TRUST Him.
II. AREAS WHERE SOME THINK THEY HAVE GOD ALL FIGURED OUT
A. Suffering of the UNGODLY
1. Some believe that if one is faced with SUFFERING, it is only because of SIN in his/her LIFE.
a. This was Job’s friends’ ARGUMENT. Listen to Elephaz- Job 4:7-9 (READ & COMMENT)
b. The disciples of Jesus believed the same- John 9:1-3 (“Man born blind”)
2. I wonder how often we have thought the same thing?
a. We look at someone undergoing a great deal of HARDSHIP and we think, “I wonder what God is trying to tell that person?”
ILLUSTRATION:
We look at a CHURCH undergoing some PROBLEMS that we consider “LIBERAL” or one we consider “LEGALISTIC” and say, “That goes to show you that God doesn’t like the DIRECTION that CHURCH is going.”
I confess to you, when San Francisco was devastated by the EARTH QUAKE in 1989 I thought to myself, “God is sure punishing those HOMOSEXUALS.” When Los Angeles had their earthquake again I thought, “God is wanting HOLLYWOOD to REPENT.”
b. Listen to what Jesus says about those who think they have God FIGURED out when it comes to the SUFFERING of others- Luke 13:1-5(READ and COMMENT)
3. God does not want us to sit in JUDGEMENT SEAT and decide the reason another is facing PROBLEMS is because of sin.
a. If we do, we may find God teaching us a lesson as He did with Job’s FRIENDS- Job 42:7-9(READ and COMMENT).
b. Let’s EXAMINE ourselves, not each other.
B. UNFORGIVENESS of the SINFUL
1. The New Testament is full of examples of those who others thought were not worthy of God’s FORGIVENESS.
a. “The calling of Matthew”- Luke 5:27-31
b. “The sinful woman who anointed Jesus’ feet with
perfume”- Luke 7:36-50
c. “The sinners who gathered around Jesus to hear Him”- Luke 15:1-2
d. “The saving of Zacchaeus the chief of tax-collectors”- Luke 19:1-19
e. “The woman caught in adultery”- John 8:1-11
COMMENT:
In each situation, we find religious leaders who determined that these people were entirely too SINFUL to be saved, and condemned Jesus for ASSOCIATING with them. They just knew that God and anyone who claimed to be of God would have nothing to do with such SINFUL
PEOPLE.
2. Have you felt that some people are UNWORTHY of God’s FORGIVENESS?
ILLUSTRATION:
How about the neighbors whom you’ve had to call the POLICE on because of their WILD DRINKING PARTIES?
How about the GAY ACTIVIST who causes PROBLEMS at the company where you work because of new MANDATES he is pressuring the company to adhere to?
I remember when Jeffery Dalmer, the man who MURDERED 17 people in Minnesota and ate their FLESH and DRANK their BLOOD as a way to CELEBRATE the Lord’s Supper, was much too SINFUL to be FORGIVEN. Even when he
was TAUGHT about Jesus and was BAPTIZED into Christ by a brother in our FELLOWSHIP, some told me that there was no way that God would allow him to go to HEAVEN.
2. There are people whose SINFUL LIFESTYLE upsets us terribly.
COMMENT:
In fact, we HATE their EVIL DEEDS, and rightly so. Jesus commended the Ephesian Christians for “HATING the evil deeds of the Nicolaitans, which He also hated”- Rev. 2:6.
In HATING sin, however, never are we to HATE the SINNER. Nor are we to decide for God who is and is not worthy to be FORGIVEN. That’s God’s DECISION! Our responsibility is to TEACH these people, not JUDGE them. That’s God’s BUSINESS!
III. WHY I NEED A GOD I CAN’T UNDERSTAND
A. To UNDERSTAND God is to make Him my EQUAL.
COMMENT:
When I decide for God who and who not to FORGIVE and who are and are not RIGHT or WRONG. If I decide that I and all who AGREE with me are the only ones God ACCEPTS, I am LOWERING the CREATOR of this UNIVERSE down to my LEVEL making Him my EQUAL. How PRESUMPTUOUS and ARROGANT can I be? Yet, that’s exactly what I do when I make DECISIONS for God.
B. To UNDERSTAND God is to make Him too SMALL.
COMMENT:
I know me pretty well, and I’ve got PROBLEMS and STRUGGLES I cannot possibly HANDLE ALONE. I LEAN on God a lot for STRENGTH and COURAGE during the tough times of my life. And if He is too SMALL then
I’m AFRAID that He couldn’t possibly HOLD UP under the WEIGHT I sometimes place upon Him. I need God to be BIGGER than I. Whenever I am faced with GIANT OBSTACLES that overwhelm me, I want God to be BIG
ENOUGH to HANDLE them.
Paul- “...if God be for us, who can be against us?”- Romans 8:32. Those are COMFORTING words as long as God is BIG ENOUGH to handle my ENEMIES that try to DESTROY me. If I can FIGURE Him out, then so can
my ENEMIES!
C. To UNDERSTAND God is to LIMIT Him.
1. I want my God to be UNLIMITED both in His POWER and GRACE.
a. Paul wrote the Ephesian Christians that “God is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His POWER that is at work within us.”
COMMENT:
Only a God who is UNLIMITED can make such a PROMISE. Job and His friends were placing LIMITS on God. But Job discovered in the end that God was indeed UNLIMITED when He BLESSED him abundantly.
b. Romans 3:21-24 (READ and COMMENT)
COMMENT:
I don’t want to find out on the Day of Judgment that God’s GRACE was INSUFFICIENT to FORGIVE my sins. We all fall short of the “GLORY of God” because of SIN, but through Jesus Christ we are
JUSTIFIED (made right).
COMMENT:
As I’ve said so often, we are not going to make it to heaven by our own GOODNESS, but by God’s GOODNESS. No matter how GOOD you are, there is someone better. No matter how HARD you work in the SERVICE of God, there is someone who works harder. We cannot EARN our SALVATION.
It is given to us FREELY in Jesus. I may not fully UNDERSTAND that, but it’s GOSPEL.
2. Let’s not LIMIT God to our own feeble UNDERSTANDING!
CONCLUSION:
A. There are countless things we do not UNDERSTAND about God.
1. We’re not supposed to. All we need to do it TRUST in Him.
a. Proverbs 3:5-6- “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding;in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.”
b. It’s this TRUSTING FAITH that becomes difficult at times, because we are so conditioned to BELIEVING only what we can SEE and relying only on what we can UNDERSTAND.
COMMENT:
Whatever God says to “DO” I will endeavor to ABIDE by, and what He says “NOT TO DO” I will endeavor to AVOID. I may not always UNDERSTAND why, but that’s where FAITH and TRUST come in.
2. Do you realize after all the questions God asked Job, not a single one of them was the QUESTION Job was asking himself: “Why is God allowing me to SUFFER so?”
COMMENT:
God avoids a logical, point-by-point EXPLANATION as to why Job was SUFFERING. Why, then, the accusing tone? What did God want from Job? Simply an admission of TRUST.
If, we, like Job, are so IGNORANT about the world in which we live, a world we can see and touch...who are we to sit in JUDGMENT of God’s moral GOVERNMENT of the UNIVERSE? Until we are POWERFUL enough to uphold
the WORLD or make a STREAK of LIGHTENING flash across the SKY, we have no grounds to make DECISIONS for God--even when we think we have the RIGHT ANSWERS.
3. Let’s be thankful that we have a God that we can’t UNDERSTAND!
