He commands the fish to deposit Jonah on dry land (Jonah 2:10).
He makes a vine grow to give shade to Jonah (Jonah 4:6).
He causes a worm to chew the vine and kill it (Jonah 4:7).
Furthermore, God’s sovereignty allows him to show mercy towards the people of Nineveh and not destroy them as he had originally planned.
However, God does not exercise control over Jonah, allowing him to do what he wants, when he chooses,and how pleases. Jonah has free will—and God does not interfere with that even though Jonah’s choices cause him a lot of grief.
God gives Jonah the freedom to mess up—or to do what is right. That’s God’s sovereignty at work. That’s how God rolls.
Learn more about all twelve of the Bible’s Minor Prophets in Peter’s new book, Dear Theophilus, Minor Prophets: 40 Prophetic Teachings about Unfaithfulness, Punishment, and Hope
Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices. Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.
The words of Job’s friend Eliphaz fail to comfort him. Instead they stir up anger. With a friend who speaks like Eliphaz I’d be angry too. In Job’s reply to his so-called friend, he professes what he has done to align himself with God. He claims his practices prove his devotion to his Lord.
Job Follows God
Job says that he follows closely
behind God. It’s as if he walks in God’s shadow, placing each step in the
footprint of his Lord. With intention he trails after God, focusing on staying right
behind him.
Job Resists Distractions
Job follows God with unswerving
dedication. He keeps his eyes fixed on God, walking in his path. Job does not
look to his left or to his right. He tunes out worldly distractions so he can
remain steadfast in keeping aligned with God, going everywhere that God goes.
Job Obeys God’s Commands
Next Job says that he keeps the
commands of God. He listens to what God says and follows his words with unswerving
commitment. It’s as if Job pauses in expectation for God to speak. Then he immediately
obeys him, doing everything he says to do.
Job Treasures God’s Words
Job ends his testimony saying that he values God’s words more than food. Though we might think this refers to the written Word of God, the Bible, it does not. Job likely lives in a time before the Scriptures existed. This means Job treasures the spoken words of God.
Job would rather feed his soul by
listening to God then feed his body by eating food. For Job to hear God speak,
Job must remain in close relationship with him.
Job is a man who carefully follows God
with singular focus, obeying him and valuing everything he says. It’s an example
of godly devotion we will do well to follow.
You’d think that for Job’s
dedication, God would bless him and keep him from discomfort. Yet for this time
in Job’s life, he is in much distress and God’s blessings are absent in his
life. Though a positive and pleasant outcome await Job, it’s far removed from
his present life.
This is a hard reality to accept
and to comprehend. Yet there are two things we must remember. First, God is
Sovereign and can do whatever he wants.
We must accept this truth even if we don’t like it.
Second, there is nothing we can do
to earn God’s favor. He loves us regardless of what we do or don’t do. In the
end, we, like Job, will see God’s blessing and reward. Until then we should
follow Job’s example of devotion to our Lord.
Discover more in Peter’s new book Dear Theophilus Job: 40 Insights About Moving from Despair to Deliverance. In it, we compare the text of Job to a modern screenplay.
Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices. Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.
Job’s life has crumbled. His wife turned on him. And his friends don’t help. After listening to their back-and-forth dialogue that accomplishes nothing, God interjects. At last he speaks.
At one point God says, “Will the one who contends with the Almighty correct him?” (Job 40:2). In this rhetorical question, two thoughts stand out. The first is the idea of contending with God, and the second is correcting him.
Though we could view God’s question as implying that he doesn’t want us to contend with him, I don’t think this is what he means.
One understanding of the word contend is to debate. Another is struggle. When it comes to God, these are strong words. It seems foolish for us to debate God, to struggle with him. God is sovereign. And we are far less than sovereign. Who are we to question him?
Yet I can’t think of any place in the Bible where God punishes his people for contending with him when they do so with respect. I can’t find a single verse that commands us not to question God or debate his ways.
In fact, I think God enjoys it when we ask questions—serious, soul-wrenching questions, just like Job.
For in asking questions, we seek him. And that’s what he wants.
Correct God
However, there’s a right way to contend with God and a wrong way. The wrong way is when we think we know better than him, when we try to correct him and tell him he made a mistake.
When we do this, we forget God is sovereign, and we try to elevate ourselves over him. This is foolish. And it separates us from God. This isn’t what he wants from us.
The Bible says, be angry and sin not (Ephesians 4:26). In parallel fashion, we can also say, contend with God and don’t correct him. That gives us the balance we need. God enjoys our sincere questions, but we must never forget he is our sovereign Creator and we are the created.
Discover more in Peter’s new book Dear Theophilus Job: 40 Insights About Moving from Despair to Deliverance. In it, we compare the text of Job to a modern screenplay.
Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices. Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.
God is sovereign; it is one of his characteristics. To be sovereign means to have supreme rank, power, and authority.
The word sovereign appears hundreds of times in the Bible (mostly in the Old Testament) and is usually used as a title for God or in addressing him, as in “Sovereign Lord.”
Many people object to the idea that God is sovereign; it offends them or causes fear. That may be because of a tendency to see sovereignty from a human perspective.
They assume that God’s sovereignty allows him to be malevolent. That is, he is just waiting for us to mess up and then he will do us harm—or give us grief just because he can. But that is not his nature.
God is good and just. His sovereignty actually allows him to be benevolent. He wants to do good to us, to offer us good things we don’t deserve (grace) and to withhold punishment that we do deserve (mercy).
God’s sovereignty allows for benevolence; his love prohibits malevolence.
Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices. Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.
The Bible contains many word pictures that help us to understand better our relationship with God.I have eight of them that I will share in the coming days.Note that each offers but a partial picture into God’s character and none is all-encompassing, but they are highly illustrative.Here is the first:
God is a potter and we are the clay.
He molds us and makes us into whatever he wishes, sometimes into elegant vessels and others into common utensils. From this, we can see God portrayed as being in control, creative, a craftsman, a workman, and sovereign.
God’s sovereignty, is something that is not too popular in today’s world.
Correspondingly, we, as clay, are moldable, subject to his will and pleasure; we have no real will of our own.
Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices. Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.
