August 5

Job 37-38; Psalm 88

Elihu is closing his lengthy speech - finally! - with images of the mysteries of the natural world, especially the storms that come upon the earth, and then God - finally! - speaks..."out of the whirlwind." In other words, God not only created, but is active in, the natural wonders that are so far beyond our understanding. This is no deistic God that meets Job (and rules our world), one who sets things in motion and then sits back while they take their more-or-less mechanical course. The Lord is intimately involved with the creation and, therefore, with all human life as well.

The Psalmist knows this too. The lament in Ps. 88 comes from someone who is struggling, ill, and facing imminent death. He knows that God is present, but the Lord has "hidden his face" (vs. 14). Now, you might say that it doesn't much matter that God is present, if the Almighty is going to allow all this suffering. The answer, I suppose, is that at least you can appeal for help (like the Psalmist - and Job! - does) if God is available, whereas a deistic Lord wouldn't even be in the neighborhood.

There is one thread in the Psalmist's plea that I find humorous. In vs. 10, the writer asks, "Do the shades [the dead] rise up to praise you?" These words are similar to the ones in Psalm 30:9: "What profit is there in my death, if I go down to the Pit? Will the dust praise you?" What I hear in these words is a subtle sort of manipulation. A couple days ago, I heard one of our grandchildren say, when he wasn't getting his way, "I might as well go to my room; no one likes me."

It was late afternoon, and he's a child. My wife recalled last evening that, when our children were very young, her mother had said that the most difficult time for children was late afternoon - they're tired from the long day, and they're getting hungry. In any case, his little ploy sounded similar to many maneuvers I've heard from my own children (and I'm sure my parents also heard...from my sister, at least). It's the wise parent who learns to recognize manipulation early on.

Well, Ps. 30 certainly sounds to me like only slightly veiled manipulation. Psalm 88 is more subtle, but I find the comments a bit humorous, because they are so much like what I have done much too often (and you, too perhaps?) not only in the face of serious difficulties, but in rather minor inconveniences. "Help, God." "Please, Lord." "Don't let that happen, God." "If you do this, Lord, I'll...."

Any such bargaining with God is likely to be unsuccessful. After all, God doesn't need anything from us. Not only that, but we don't have much of a bargaining position in the first place. As Job hears right away when the Lord speaks, "Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?" (38:4)

Jim