Heart attitudes towards God
This week's study is on Job 1:1-5:
Job was a very successful man. He had a great family, a great retirement plan, great health, and a great reputation. He was so successful that his sons could basically spend their days partying and enjoying themselves. That would probably put him in the top one percent of people today in terms of wealth. Imagine being so successful! You could have anything you wanted. The only thing Job had to worry about was his spiritual health, and that of his family.
Most people, when they worry about their kids, seem to worry about things like them being promiscuous, using drugs, getting in accidents, learning bad habits from other people, and so on. But Job worried about them cursing God in their hearts. And cursing God in one's heart, or resisting the natural inclination to do so, is what a good chunk of the book of Job deals with. That was Job's top concern for his kids, and yet it probably doesn't even rate the top ten of sins we worry about.
What is it to curse God in your heart? I've heard it described as contempt, like as in you have written God off, or think he is morally wrong for something he did. When tragedy falls on Job later in the chapter, he's described as being righteous for not accusing God of moral wrongness. (Bonus points to Job for practising what he preaches!)
But why is it so important to not curse God in your heart? If you look at the ten commandments, it's not listed, except for maybe bits of the stuff about idolatry and not taking the Lord's name in vain. I think it has to do with relationships and what contempt does to one. The people in Job's time weren't typically lucky enough to be able to have a relationship with God like we are, but they still related to God as part of their community.
Relationship counsellors say that contempt is the one thing that dooms a relationship. If you have contempt for someone, you won't invest in solving any relationship problems you may have, because you've already written the other person off. No third party perspective is going to make a difference because, other than the possibility of being awarded a point for being right, the outcome has no value to the person who holds contempt for the other. As soon as the chances of "winning" start to disappear, the person who has cursed the other one in their heart will stop going to counselling sessions. And why shouldn't they? They were never in it for the relationship anyway.
We don't just see this with married or romantic relationships, but even with business relationships. If you have contempt for your coworker, are you going to be willing to team up with them, or receive criticism from them, or help them in their goals? If you have contempt for someone who plays for a different political team, are you going to be willing to discuss issues honestly and work towards a common solution? Chances are you'll just make hostile facebook posts and plug your ears instead.
With human relationships, we only stand to lose the other person, or the fruit of our cooperation with them. With God, though, we stand to lose everything. If we hold hostility towards God, we close ourselves off to his blessing, and heartbreakingly antagonise the most powerful being in the universe. Contempt is a selfish, arrogant position, but when applied towards God it can be eternally deadly.
We are in the same danger as Job's children were, because we live in such luxury that it's hard to see where God fits into our lives. We don't rely on God for our health because we have antibiotics and statins and surgery with lasers. We don't rely on God for food because we have so many choices that we throw out enough food every week as people elsewhere would eat. In terms of basic needs, successful people can easily become calloused and wonder "What does God have to offer me that I should listen to him?" They curse God as being some useless busybody trying to meddle in their otherwise perfect lives.
At the same time, when tragedy strikes, people often curse God in their hearts for moral failure. If what happened to Job's kids happened to someone else, they'd probably curse God for it. We've all heard "If God loved us, why did he let X happen?" There's no dialog, just the curse and the accusations of moral failure.
But without the dialog, there's no way for the relationship to go anywhere. There's no way for God to answer his accuser and say "I know it's hard, but in 28 days, 8 hours and 42 minutes, you'll know why that needed to happen." Job suffered, but he kept the dialog alive with God and didn't curse him in his heart. It made the difference that he is remembered for.
If you have cursed God in your heart, he's always ready to reconcile. Reach out to him. Talk about what it is you don't like about him or what he's done, if you have to. An open attitude towards God is the one big change we can make in our lives to keep mutual blessing and good will between us.
There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job. And that man was pure and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil. Seven sons and three daughters were born to him. His possessions included 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 yoke of oxen, and 500 female donkeys; in addition he had a very great household. Thus he was the greatest of all the people in the east.
Now his sons used to go and hold a feast in the house of each one in turn, and they would send and invite their three sisters to eat and to drink with them. When the days of their feasting were finished, Job would send for them and sanctify them; he would get up early in the morning and offer burnt offerings according to the number of them all. For Job thought, “Perhaps my children have sinned and cursed God in their hearts.” This was Job’s customary practice.
Job was a very successful man. He had a great family, a great retirement plan, great health, and a great reputation. He was so successful that his sons could basically spend their days partying and enjoying themselves. That would probably put him in the top one percent of people today in terms of wealth. Imagine being so successful! You could have anything you wanted. The only thing Job had to worry about was his spiritual health, and that of his family.
Most people, when they worry about their kids, seem to worry about things like them being promiscuous, using drugs, getting in accidents, learning bad habits from other people, and so on. But Job worried about them cursing God in their hearts. And cursing God in one's heart, or resisting the natural inclination to do so, is what a good chunk of the book of Job deals with. That was Job's top concern for his kids, and yet it probably doesn't even rate the top ten of sins we worry about.
What is it to curse God in your heart? I've heard it described as contempt, like as in you have written God off, or think he is morally wrong for something he did. When tragedy falls on Job later in the chapter, he's described as being righteous for not accusing God of moral wrongness. (Bonus points to Job for practising what he preaches!)
But why is it so important to not curse God in your heart? If you look at the ten commandments, it's not listed, except for maybe bits of the stuff about idolatry and not taking the Lord's name in vain. I think it has to do with relationships and what contempt does to one. The people in Job's time weren't typically lucky enough to be able to have a relationship with God like we are, but they still related to God as part of their community.
Relationship counsellors say that contempt is the one thing that dooms a relationship. If you have contempt for someone, you won't invest in solving any relationship problems you may have, because you've already written the other person off. No third party perspective is going to make a difference because, other than the possibility of being awarded a point for being right, the outcome has no value to the person who holds contempt for the other. As soon as the chances of "winning" start to disappear, the person who has cursed the other one in their heart will stop going to counselling sessions. And why shouldn't they? They were never in it for the relationship anyway.
We don't just see this with married or romantic relationships, but even with business relationships. If you have contempt for your coworker, are you going to be willing to team up with them, or receive criticism from them, or help them in their goals? If you have contempt for someone who plays for a different political team, are you going to be willing to discuss issues honestly and work towards a common solution? Chances are you'll just make hostile facebook posts and plug your ears instead.
With human relationships, we only stand to lose the other person, or the fruit of our cooperation with them. With God, though, we stand to lose everything. If we hold hostility towards God, we close ourselves off to his blessing, and heartbreakingly antagonise the most powerful being in the universe. Contempt is a selfish, arrogant position, but when applied towards God it can be eternally deadly.
We are in the same danger as Job's children were, because we live in such luxury that it's hard to see where God fits into our lives. We don't rely on God for our health because we have antibiotics and statins and surgery with lasers. We don't rely on God for food because we have so many choices that we throw out enough food every week as people elsewhere would eat. In terms of basic needs, successful people can easily become calloused and wonder "What does God have to offer me that I should listen to him?" They curse God as being some useless busybody trying to meddle in their otherwise perfect lives.
At the same time, when tragedy strikes, people often curse God in their hearts for moral failure. If what happened to Job's kids happened to someone else, they'd probably curse God for it. We've all heard "If God loved us, why did he let X happen?" There's no dialog, just the curse and the accusations of moral failure.
But without the dialog, there's no way for the relationship to go anywhere. There's no way for God to answer his accuser and say "I know it's hard, but in 28 days, 8 hours and 42 minutes, you'll know why that needed to happen." Job suffered, but he kept the dialog alive with God and didn't curse him in his heart. It made the difference that he is remembered for.
If you have cursed God in your heart, he's always ready to reconcile. Reach out to him. Talk about what it is you don't like about him or what he's done, if you have to. An open attitude towards God is the one big change we can make in our lives to keep mutual blessing and good will between us.
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