“God’s Critics”
My ears had heard of you, but now my eyes have seen you. Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes.
-Job 42:5-6 NIV
More often than not I find that mankind is very apt to be critical. Many of us like to call ourselves opinionated, we like to say that we are just up front, or we say that we just speak our minds. But the truth of the matter is, we are (a lot of times) critical people. Some people just enjoy letting you know just how they feel about something. There are some people who can’t go a day without criticizing something or someone. They are critical of one another. They are critical of the church. They are critical of the government. They are critical of the restaurants that they dine at. They are critical of the movies they see. They are critical of the athletic teams that they call themselves supporting. It is just in the human nature to have an opinion about what we see. Somebody right now doesn’t like what someone else has on and they are critiquing what you should have done with your wardrobe. Somebody is critiquing this sermon as we speak. There is someone in here today that you have poured your heart out to and even though they said that they are just here to support you; if you pull it out of them they have a load of suggestions for you in your current situation. People are critical. I am willing to admit that there have been times in my life that I have been critical of people, places, things, situations, ideas, politics, and government. As people we always have something to say. And in some ways that is a blessing. It is a blessing to be able to think for your self. It is a blessing to be able to speak freely with boldness and grace. But that blessing is abused on occasion when we are tempted to be critical of God. I will confess that I have been there. I have sometimes been critical of God. I have found myself determining the dunamis power of God by my own dysfunction and disarray. I have found myself saying if God is so good why is the world in such chaos. Is there anybody in here today who can lay down your pride for on minute in front of your holy and sanctified friends and admit that you have been critical of God? When God sends rain for three or four days in a row we begin to think that we can do God’s job say He needs to release some sunshine. When God gives us a week or so of nothing but sunshine we start criticizing God again saying we need God to send some rain.
Brothers and sisters, we come to church. We pay our tithe and offering. We render to God our gifts and talents. And then next thing we know, we are still struggling. And it is at that point we begin to have suggestions about what God could be doing in our lives to make things a little better. And I believe that is why we can identify so well with Job, because Job was blameless and upright, and one who feared the Lord and he shunned evil. He had wealth, he had family, he had health, and a home and all of a sudden everything was snatched from him like a rug from under his feet. Job had begun to suffer bitterly. And Christian comrades, I have always wondered about that old cliché, “the patience of Job” because the more I read the book of Job the more I see how impatient he really was. He could not understand what was going on. He did not like how his life was going. Yet he still had the sense to worship God in the midst of the pain and agony. But Job still gave his friends, wife and God a piece of his mind when his patience ran thin.
When his friends accused him of having some kind of secret sin in his life, Job resented the idea. He said on one occasion, “God has wronged me!” If only I could get to God, I would bring Him to reason. I would plead my case before Him. Job became critical of God. He was frustrated. He was devastated. He felt as though he did not have a friend in heaven or on earth and so he reacted like most of us would; he felt like things could have been governed by the merciful and all-powerful God a little bit better than they were!
But Job finally got a chance to here from God and God asked Job, “Where wast thou Job when I laid the foundations of the earth?” I don’t think Job was actually ready for God’s response to his complaints because you can almost since that God’s question to Job shook up Job’s confidence in his own wisdom. It was at that point in Job’s story you see that all of his complaints stop. Job had to realize what a wise man came to grips with when he said, “Man knows mighty little. And one day he will learn enough of his own ignorance to get down and pray.” And when Job realized at this point of the text where he said, “My ears had heard of you, but now my eyes have seen you. Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes.” Job became sorry that he ever criticized or challenged the wisdom of God. He came to the knowledge of who God is and How God works.
Brother Job I have to ask you why did you say my ears had heard of you, but now my eyes have seen you. Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes. What is it that you were trying to say?
I.
Well Job said to me, “Baldwin many times when we struggle and our lives are starting to turn upside down we tend to think that God has forgotten about us. We began to wonder if God is real. We wonder if God cares. And we even start to wonder if he knows what he is doing. So I said what I said to first make us understand; just because you have heard of God does not mean that you have experienced God! Job makes it clear when he begins the 5th verse by saying my ears had heard of you. The past tense be verb word had let’s us know that before his encounter with God he did not know God like he thought he did. He admits that he had only heard of God. Church have you ever noticed that the people who talk the most trash about you, are the very ones who don’t know you! They just spread what they think they know and don’t know all over town. They start rumors that ruin your good name. They misquote stuff going on in your life because they have heard of you and don’t know you.
Brothers and sisters, that happens to God an awful lot. That is why every church is not running over today. Because that have gotten got misinformation about God from some folk who don’t even know God. Some people have never experienced the power of God and will have the nerve to convince somebody else to doubt the power of God. Then on the other hand we have those who like to make God a magical cosmic bellhop who specializes in giving people big homes and fine cars. And when things don’t go their way that is when they begin to doubt God. But just like he told Isaiah we have got to be reminded that his way are not our ways. And his thoughts are not our thoughts. And as high as the heavens are above the earth so are his ways and his thoughts. When we hear about God we expect to get what we have heard. But when you experience God expectancy grows to hope. And hope grows to faith. And when you have faith you know that even when you step out into unknown territory that God will bring you out. Let me make that live! I heard that God could put food on my table. So I expect him to provide. But maybe when I lose my job I am not so sure that I can expect food to be on my table so then I start hoping. But when God finally puts somebody in my path to buy me some groceries I have then experienced God move in God’s own way on his time table and now I have faith that God will take care of me even when I don’t know where it is going to come from! (I heard but now I know) I heard what he did for grandma. I heard what he did for daddy. But I know what he has done for me. I know he kept me alive when I should have been dead. I know his grace blessed me with some things even when I did not know him. But now that I have humbled myself I recognize who God has been in my life. It was not my skill that brought me through. It was not my savvy that brought me through. It was not my training that brought me through. Everything that happened to me that was good God did it!
II.
So Job admits that maybe he did not know God but had only heard of God. But after he admits only hearing about God, he then acknowledges that he now has seen God. It was difficult to see God while things were going well. When the family was tight and the money was right it was easy to believe that you pulled yourself up by your own bootstraps. Mankind has a tendency to become conceited over our own wisdom and power. We can concentrate so much on what we have accomplished that we easily forget how impotent we really are. We forget that at best we are copyists who borrow wisdom from God. (Let me make that live!) We can make an airplane but we can’t make a bird. We can make a submarine, but we can’t prepare a belly of a great fish to swallow somebody down and prevent all enzymes from dissolving everything within the stomach. We can build a skyscraper but we cannot form a mountain.
But children it is easy to see God when your back is against the wall and you find the strength to come out swinging. When you are sick in your body but somehow you keep right on going. That is when you see God! When you don’t have any money but you just keep right on eating and eating well! That is when you see God! You know that you did not have it. You know that you did not have the power to get it done. So that is when it is easy to see the power of God in your life! Dr. C. T. Walker had it right when he said, “Man’s extremity is God’s opportunity.” Job was finally able to see God when he could no longer depend on what he had. So don’t get discouraged because you can’t see your way out just start looking for God. And I promise that you will find him in the empty places fill the voids in your life. That is why the old saints said he be food when you’re hungry, water when you’re thirsty, and a shelter in the time of the storm!
III.
Job admits that at first he had only heard of God. And now since he has endured some hard times he knows that he has seen God. But as we take it a step further, as Job concludes his epilogue he felt a sense of contrition. For he said, “Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes.” Job felt how unworthy he was, but saw how worthy God was. He saw how worthless he was. But he could stand with the psalmist, and say oh taste and see the Lord is good. When Job was humbled by humility, and when he was finally controlled by contrition there was no room for criticism. There was no room for doubt. For know Job had the certainty that he had somebody that would come to his rescue. And that certainty will keep you praying. That certainty will keep you fasting. That certainty will keep you hoping. That certainty will keep you living. When you have that certainty that God will come to see about you; you will keep on trucking until your change comes.
I can remember a story about a six-year-old little girl and her mother. They say that the two of them were driving in the mountains of California. When all of a sudden the mother lost control of the car and drove off of a small cliff. The mother felt that her vitals were diminishing, so before she died she told that six year old little girl to wait right here until somebody comes. Three days later when the rescue team found her the little girl was waiting right there in the car beside her deceased mother. A few years later they interviewed this little girl and asked how did she last so long? She said I just kept waiting for “the somebody” to show up. The reporter asked did she know who that person was. She said I only knew mommy said they were coming. So I waited for them. And I stopped by to tell somebody who feels like giving up, don’t you give up. Because somebody is coming! Somebody said he’s coming to make the crooked way straight. He is coming to right every wrong. He is coming to turn your life around. Somebody’s coming and his name is Jesus our burden bearer. Jesus is our heavy load sharer. Jesus is our lily of the valley, root of David, and our bright and morning star. Jesus Mary’s baby! Jesus, He’s all right!!!
