“Will the one who contends with the Almighty correct him? Let him who accuses God answer him!”
~ Job 40:2
Hi James and Ellen,
Have you ever argued with your dad and/or ma? Have you ever argued with a teacher? Have you ever argued with a friend? If you have ever argued with your dad and/or ma, teacher and/or friend, have you ever felt like you won the argument that you had with your dad and/or ma, teacher and/or friend? How do you feel after you know that you have won an argument? Your grandpaa at times feels like he has lost an argument even though he thinks that he has won the argument. Do you think that it is good to argue? Have you ever tried to argue with God? Ask your dad if he has ever argued with God. Do you think that any guy, gal or kid can win an argument with God? Job argued with God. Job 40 is God’s response to Job arguing with Him. Verse 2 says, “‘Will the one who contends with the Almighty correct him? Let him who accuses God answer him!”’ Job by now knew that he was not going to win his case against God. Job by now knew that he was unworthy to argue with God as to why God had him suffer what he was suffering. Why do you think that a guy, gal or kid would want to get into an argument with another guy, gal or kid – or even with God? When your grandpaa has argued with your grandmaa – which you probably were thinking that has never happened, it has been because your grandpaa wants to justify something that he has said or done and to do that, your grandpaa tries to discredit what your grandmaa is trying to get across to him. It is normal for a guy, gal or kid to disagree with what another guy, gal or kid has said or done and to want to verbally express his or her disagreement with that guy, gal or kid. What just possibly may become more important though to the guy, gal or kid who disagrees with another guy or gal or kid for what that guy, gal or kid has said or done is to have to prove the guy, gal or kid who he or she disagrees with that he or she is correct versus communicating a caring desire to have the guy, gal or kid open-mindedly rethink or reframe constructively what he or she has said or done.
God wanted Job to understand how absolutely useless it was for a guy like him to even think about arguing with Him. God asked Job if Job’s arm was just as long as His arm, if Job’s voice thundered like His voice, if Job was dressed as gloriously and as splendidly as He was dressed and if Job was wearing the same honor and majesty that He was wearing. God also asked Job if he thought that it was right to use angry fury and wrath to humble or bring low proud guys, gals and kids, to utterly crush wicked guys, gals and kids right where they were standing and to bury together in the dust guys, gals and kids who oppose him. Job got an earful from God as to the need to just accept what He is doing – as God is constantly having to contend with guys, gals and kids who really do think that they know more than what He knows, who really do think that they are able to order their life destinies and who really do think that they can save themselves from . . . no one seems to really know who this guy Job was, where Job lived and when Job went through the horrendous life calamities that he was going through – when about the only thing that Job did not lose was his life and wife. Job’s life and Job’s unwavering faithfulness to and Job’s undying faith in God was the wager for a high stake, heavenly battle between a fallen angel – who was Lucifer and is now known as Satan, and God. God in the end used a behemoth – which was doing its thing nearby and which your grandpaa thinks may have been a hippopotamus, as an example to affirm to Job Who He is and how He controls everything. Whatever this monster animal was, it ate grass, was extremely powerful, had a thick tail, was no threat to other animals, spent most of its time in rivers among lotus plants and reeds, was not something that was captured and a nose ring put in its nose and was not affected at all by the Jordan River’s flood stages. God implied to Job that Job would not be able to control a beast like a behemoth or leviathan that He used to exemplify His ability to control all things no matter how big and scary that a beast might be.
Your grandpaa has become an expert at arguing with God. Your grandpaa tends to argue with God in the context of why God is allowing or has allowed something to happen in your grandpaa’s life or why God is having your grandpaa do things that he does not want to do and/or why God has your grandpaa living where your grandpaa does not want to live. Your grandpaa is hardwired to always see differently than what other guys, gals or kids are seeing. Your grandpaa has gotten himself in trouble with other guys, gals or kids – and even with God, because your grandpaa will come up with another idea to do something which . . . when your grandpaa one day was confronted by Ralph Buckman – who was also a missionary on the Bolivia South America Mission field missionary team, to stop always being critical of everything, what Ralph Buckman said really made your grandpaa feel awful but it also made your grandpaa realize how often that it was when your grandpaa thought that he was correct and how vital it is now for your grandpaa to accept, affirm and approve other guys, gals and kids. Your grandpaa also knows that because God has hardwired him per an inventory called “Strength Finders” – which identifies the top five strengths of a guy or gal, that he innately will always see the big picture as ‘maximizer, will always have another idea about something as ‘ideation’, will always come up with a doable plan as ‘strategic‘, will always take advantage of what resources are available as ‘arranger’ and will always want to have the guys and gals who he is responsible for in their sweet spots as ‘individualization’. Your grandpaa’s primary motivational gift is administration while his secondary motivational gift is prophet/perceiver – which has your grandpaa invariably seeing everything as being black or white which . . .
Job 40 (608)