Alfred Lord Tennyson noticed a flower growing in a little chink or cranny between two rocks in the wall. He pulled up the entire plant, root and all, and held it in his hand. He stood for a moment, probably sniffed to enjoy its fragrance, and continued looking. His thoughts went far beyond this one little flower he had uprooted. His thoughts went all the way to God. But maybe that isn’t such a long distance from a little flower to the God who made the flowers.
He wrote a short poem about that flower. Only six lines:
Flower in the crannied wall,
I pluck you out of the crannies,
I hold you here, root and all, in my hand,
Little flower—but if I could understand
What you are, root and all, all in all,
I should know what God and man is (Tennyson).
That little flower turned his thoughts to deeper things regarding God and man. And those two words, God and man, can refer to everything in heaven and on earth.
Tennyson traveled some bumpy roads regarding religious faith. A death impacted Tennyson throughout his adult life. Arthur Henry Hallam was Tennyson’s closest friend in college and also a fellow poet. Hallam died at age twenty-two while a student at Cambridge in 1833. Hallam was engaged to marry Tennyson’s sister. The death of this dear friend overwhelmed Tennyson with grief.
In his grief, he wrote a book-length poem in memory of Hallam. In Memoriam, A. H. H. He worked on this for seventeen years. The memorial poem shows Tennyson’s difficulty with anchoring his faith firmly, but it also contains many signs of Christian faith.He also wrote a short poem reflecting his grief over Hallam:
Break, break, break, / On thy cold grey stones, O Sea!
And I would that my tongue could utter/ The thoughts that arise in me.
O well for the fisherman's boy,/ That he shouts with his sister at play!
O well for the sailor lad,/ That he sings in his boat on the bay!
And the stately ships go on/ To their haven under the hill;
But O for the touch of a vanish'd hand,/ And the sound of a voice that is still!
Break, break, break,/At the foot of thy crags, O Sea!
But the tender grace of a day that is dead/Will never come back to me (Tennyson).
Tennyson’s struggle calls to mind the biblical book of Job and his many traumas. We looked at Job last week, and I didn’t plan to do two lessons. But conversations with some of our regular listeners made me feel a second look at Job might be helpful.
Job’s ten adult children died when a tornado destroyed the house where they all were gathered. He lost eleven-thousand head of livestock to thieves and in a fire. And he lost his health.
Three so-called friends come, supposedly to share his grief. Instead, they judge him, insisting his suffering is payment for sin. But the first verse of the book says he was blameless and upright, one who feared God, and turned away from evil.
The book of Job is a debate -- Job on one side and the three friends on the other. Today, we look at chapter 23 as Job desperately desires to find answers to why all this is happening to him.
In verses 2-5, it’s as though Job wants to bring God into court
[2] "Today also my complaint is bitter, his hand is heavy in spite of my groaning.
[3] Oh, that I knew where I might find him, that I might come even to his seat!
[4] I would lay my case before him and fill my mouth with arguments.
[5] I would learn what he would answer me, and understand what he would say to me.
Job can’t find God, but it’s as though God is hiding and watching:
[8] "Behold, I go forward, but he is not there; and backward, but I cannot perceive him;
[9] on the left hand I seek him, but I cannot behold him; I turn to the right hand, but I cannot see him.
[10] But he knows the way that I take;
Then Job speaks again of his faithfulness to God. He has not sinned as his friends insist:
when he has tried me, I shall come forth as gold.
[11] My foot has held fast to his steps; I have kept his way and have not turned aside.
[12] I have not departed from the commandment of his lips; I have treasured in my bosom the words of his mouth.
Perhaps akin to Alfred Lord Tennyson, Job feels there is more to what he is suffering than meets the eye. If he understood the smallest bit of God’s creation, he might understand what God and man is. But Job cannot find God. Thus his cry,
[3] Oh, that I knew where I might find him, that I might come even to his seat!
We may feel like characters in the Broadway musical drama Into the Woods. Stephen Sondheim made a mishmash of fairy tales, lumping Cinderella, Red Riding Hood, Rapunzel, Sleeping Beauty, and Jack and the Beanstalk into one story. As troubles mount up, they all go Into the Woods, hoping to find solutions. Instead, a truly giant Giant frightens them out of their wits. They grope, they try to cope, but feel no hope.
[3] Oh, that I knew where I might find him, that I might come even to his seat!
[4] I would lay my case before him and fill my mouth with arguments.
You need to hear two laments near the end of Job’s speeches. In chapter 28, he points to human ability to seek out valuable things hidden in the rocks and streams.
[9] "Man puts his hand to the flinty rock, and overturns mountains by the roots.
[10] He cuts out channels in the rocks, and his eye sees every precious thing.
[11] He binds up the streams so that they do not trickle, and the thing that is hid he brings forth to light.
On the other hand, Job says it is impossible to find true wisdom and understanding:
[12] "But where shall wisdom be found? And where is the place of understanding?
[13] Man does not know the way to it, and it is not found in the land of the living.
[14] The deep says, `It is not in me,' and the sea says, `It is not with me.'
[15] It cannot be gotten for gold, and silver cannot be weighed as its price.
[16] It cannot be valued in the gold of Ophir, in precious onyx or sapphire.
[17] Gold and glass cannot equal it, nor can it be exchanged for jewels of fine gold.
In the next chapter (29), Job thinks back to better days when it seemed God cared for him, a time when Job was able to help the poor and afflicted, before he himself was poor and afflicted:
There was a time when people called him blessed:
[12] because I delivered the poor who cried, and the fatherless who had none to help him.
[13] The blessing of him who was about to perish came upon me, and I caused the widow's heart to sing for joy. . . .
[15] I was eyes to the blind, and feet to the lame.
[16] I was a father to the poor, and I searched out the cause of him whom I did not know. . . .
[21] "Men listened to me, and waited, and kept silence for my counsel.
In short, he is not now and has never been the great sinner Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar make him out to be. So he wants to lay out his complain before God:
[3] Oh, that I knew where I might find him, that I might come even to his seat!
Then, God comes on the scene. But Job doesn’t get to lay his case before God. God does most of the talking. God asks most of the questions. Gird up your loins like a man, I will question you, and you shall declare to me (38:3).
Questions about the creation of the world:
"Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?” (38:4)God asks, Did you have control of the sea or the clouds? (38:8-9)
Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?
Or who shut in the sea with doors, when it burst forth from the womb; when I made clouds its garment?
Have you commanded the morning since your days began, and caused the dawn to know its place? (38:12)
God asks questions Job what control Job has over light and darkness, rain and snow and hail (38:19-28).
Then the Lord questions whether Job has control over wild animals and birds (38:39-41):
Can you hunt the prey for the lion, or satisfy the appetite of the young lions, when they crouch in their dens, or lie in wait in their covert? Who provides for the raven its prey, when its young ones cry to God, and wander about for lack of food?
Do you give the horse his might? (39:19)
Is it by your wisdom that the hawk soars, and spreads his wings toward the south? Is it at your command that the eagle mounts up and makes his nest on high? (39:26-27)
Behold, I am of small account; what shall I answer thee? I lay my hand on my mouth. I have spoken once, and I will not answer; twice, but I will proceed no further. (40:4-5)
But God isn’t through questioning Job:
Will you even put me in the wrong? Will you condemn me that you may be justified? Have you an arm like God, and can you thunder with a voice like his? (40:7-9)
The rest of God’s questions are about wild creatures of the sea. Can Job tame them like a rodeo cowboy bringing wild bulls into subjection? Short answer: No (40:15-41:34).
Now we hear Job’s final speech:
Then Job answered the LORD: "I know that thou canst do all things, and that no purpose of thine can be thwarted. `Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?' Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know. . . . I had heard of thee by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees thee; therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes." (42:1-6)
Any time we are made aware that we are in the very presence of God, we are humbled as we see ourselves as we are. We realize we are not in the position to make demands of God.
God is not angry with Job. Instead, He is angry with Job’s accusers. Verse 7:
After the LORD had spoken these words to Job, the LORD said to Eli'phaz the Te'manite: "My wrath [or anger] is kindled against you and against your two friends; for you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has.
God orders the men to sacrifice seven bulls and seven rams as a burnt offering for themselves. They also are told to ask Job to pray for them. That is a huge offering, suggesting a huge sin. Ordinarily, one bullock would be an acceptable sacrifice. So fourteen male animals -- seven bulls and seven rams -- points to a huge offense in the eyes of God (Watts et al 150).
The book of Job concludes with Job’s fortunes restored. He has twice as many head of livestock and has a new family of seven sons and three daughters.
So what can we take away from this story of Job?
One thing important to learn: Be slow to judge another person. You can’t know another person’s heart, his or her motives. Job’s friends are so sure they have the answer to his suffering: In a word: SIN! In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus speaks to this in at least two ways. Chapter 7:
"Judge not, that you be not judged. [2] For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and the measure you give will be the measure you get. [3] Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? [4] Or how can you say to your brother, `Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when there is the log in your own eye? [5] You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye” (Matthew 7:1-5).
When hurricanes blow through an area, it’s not unusual for self-important preachers on TV to say the devastation is God’s judgment on this group or that. Some people may be saying that about the tens of thousands of people in the Philippines and other parts of Southeast Asia who have died or had their homes and everything of value wiped out in the tornadoes. Those men who think they know the mind of God need to read another part of the Sermon on the Mount. In chapter 5, Jesus speaks directly to judgments about the weather:
for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust (Matthew 5:45).
A second take-away, Job was not the sinner his so-called friends said he was. Or to state that differently, Job’s great suffering was not punishment from God. We are told in the very first verse of the book: This is a truth we need to remember when sickness, financial difficulty, or other problems pile up on us. Listen again to the opening verse: There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was blameless and upright, one who feared God, and turned away from evil.
And yet. And yet. And yet, God lets these things happen in his life. This is a truth we need to remember when sickness, financial difficulty, or other problems pile up on us. God permits bad things to happen to godly people, but God does not send bad things our way.
I’ve probably used this example a dozen times, but if you are a parent or grandparent, you’ve seen things happen to those youngsters. A kid learning to ride a bicycle probably is going to fall. She may hurt herself. But if she learns to ride for herself, you cannot always be at her side to keep her from falling. On a much larger scale, as God’s children, our Heavenly Father lets us take our spills.
A third thing from Job: God did not punish Job for asking hard questions of God and saying harsh things about God. You’ve heard someone say something irreverent and then look up toward the sky, as if expecting a divine bolt of lightning to strike him down. That is usually done as a joke, but many people think that IS the way God does business. You say, “Oh, I can’t question God.” Job does, and God does not punish Job for asking. He doesn’t get his questions answered. At least, not to his satisfaction. But God doesn’t zap him. When something goes terribly wrong in our lives, it would be strange if we did NOT ask questions.
In the fourth place: Job received tangible reward for his faithfulness: More children and more livestock. But we have no guarantee God will reward us materially or financially if we live for Him. Thousands, even millions of people without jobs, without health care, are honest, earnest Christians. So it’s wrong to say, if we live near the Lord, we can expect tangible benefits. We hear preachers on TV declare that God will prosper you financially if you live close to Him, especially if you send them some of your money. That same sort of thinking might say, “If you’re out of a job and the bills pile up, you aren’t living right.” But think a moment: You’ve known people who were deeply devoted to the Lord who were struggling from paycheck to paycheck or who have no paycheck at all. How does this “prosperity theology” apply to them?
Years ago, in a church where I was a member, people were giving testimonies during a financial stewardship emphasis. Paul’s story went something like this: “Before Marge and I started tithing, we had trouble meeting our obligations, bills would stack up.” I thought, “Oh, no. Please don’t say what I think you’re going to say.” But Paul surprised me when he said, “Then we started tithing, and since then, we still have trouble meeting our obligations, bills still stack up.”
And a Fifth and Final Thing: At the end of the book, we still have no explanation of why Job suffered as he did. We get no answer to why bad things happen to good people. But we see a godly man who perseveres even though he does not understand. Jesus addresses that in Luke 13. Some terrible things happened. One was slaughter by government officials. The other was an accident. People were assuming these people who died were particularly sinful. But listen to this account:
[1]There were some present at that very time who told him of the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. [2] And he answered them, "Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered thus? [3] I tell you, No; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish. [4] Or those eighteen upon whom the tower in Silo'am fell and killed them, do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who dwelt in Jerusalem? [5] I tell you, No; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish."
I once spent a week in South Georgia as camp pastor for the Baptist boys group, Royal Ambassadors. The camp was right on the edge of the marshes. I enjoyed the opportunity to preach each day and get to know some of the campers. But, frankly, I saw little beauty in the marshes.
Sidney Lanier saw things differently. In the eighteen-hundreds, Lanier wrote about his native Georgia, including “The Marshes of Glynn.” With the poet’s eye, he called the marshland on the Georgia coast “the heavenly woods and glades.” There in that watery environment, Lanier was particularly taken by water birds who made their nests on that rather shaky foundation -- or lack of firm foundation. He saw a parable for life in an unsteady environment. He described a bird this way:
Behold I will build me a nest on the greatness of God:
I will fly in the greatness of God as the marsh-hen flies
In the freedom that fills all the space 'twixt the marsh and the skies:
By so many roots as the marsh-grass sends in the sod
I will heartily lay me a-hold on the greatness of God (Lanier).
Now we conclude this week’s Baraca Radio Sunday School Class from Anderson’s First Baptist Church. If you with Job are seeking answers to difficult questions, you may find strength and comfort in these promises:
God’s love that will never let you go.
God’s grace that is greater than all your sin.
God’s peace that passes all understanding.
These are yours through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
I WISH I KNEW . . .
Job 23
Baraca Radio Sunday School Class
First Baptist Church, Anderson, South Carolina
November 10, 2013
Lawrence Webb
David B. Burrell, Deconstructing Theodicy. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Brazos Press, 2008.
Alfred Lord Tennyson, “Flower in the Crannied Wall,” All Poetry. http://allpoetry.com/poem/8473291-Flower-in-the-Crannied-Wall-by-Alfred_Lord_Tennyson
John D. W. Watts in collaboration with John Joseph Owens and Marvin E. Tate, Jr., “Job,” The Broadman Bible Commentary, Volume 4. Nashville, Tenn.: Broadman Press, 1971.
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