6 characteristics of crisis

For the thing that I fear comes upon me, and what I dread befalls me. I am not at ease, nor am I quiet; I have no rest, but trouble comes.
Job 3:25-26

This is the description of a soul in crisis. Job is expressing the extent of his personal suffering and at least for the moment his pitying friends are listening to him. He pours out his feelings. There are six ways he describes his internal suffering.

1) FEAR. Job is afraid. The things that he has feared most are now his reality. He has lost wealth. He has lost his family. He has lost his health. He really has nothing left in life except his very life and breath.

2) LACK OF CONTROL. Job uses language ("comes upon", "befalls") that indicates the sudden and inescapable circumstances he now lives with daily. And the suffering came without warning. He is helpless to stop the feelings after the events, just as he could not prevent them from happening either. It is all out of his control. That is one of the worst aspects of suffering for us. It must be endured and we can't stop it.

3) UNSETTLED. Job could not be at ease in his suffering. There was really nothing that would suddenly make it all better. His circumstances were monumentally painful. No magic words of comfort could ever change that. No medicine would restore his joy.

4) DISQUIETED. Job's thoughts were filled with his crisis night and day. He could not escape its ever present reality. He could not be quiet about it. He had to converse over it, to mourn, to speak it, and to talk it out. It could not be ignored.

5) RESTLESS. Sleep was impossible and the crisis was compounded by lack of rest. But this is a common complication in suffering. It magnifies the feelings and drags the crisis on minute by sleepless minute.

6) TROUBLED. This was the dominant thought about everything. The story reads in such a way that bad news kept falling by the hour. It was a steady flow of heartbreaking trouble that eventually flooded his life and has at this point in the story started to drown his soul so that he despaired of life, cursing the day of his birth.

Crisis tests the human spirit, and what we see in Job, we'd see in our own hearts when trouble comes. The human drama is captured in scripture for our comfort and instruction. It's hard to look at, but necessary for us to know so that we know that God knows our troubles.

the bad stuff

Then his wife said to him, "Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die." But he said to her, "You speak as one of the foolish women would speak. Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?" In all this Job did not sin with his lips.
Job 2:9-10

This is, in my opinion, the low point in Job's experience. He has lost all his children, all of his possessions and wealth, and now his own health. Pain of every sort has fallen heavy upon him. And in his affliction his own wife's despair urges him to give up his only source of hope -- his faith in God. Yet even in this deepest darkness and emotional torture, he refuses to yield his integrity or faith.

Job's message to his wife is insightful and firm. To curse God would be foolish. It would deny all of the reasons for why things had been so good in the past. And to turn to this spiritual dark place, directing his anger at God, would be a sin and a sign of a weak faith. The reality that Job accepts is that God is in both the blessings and the losses. It would be very inconsistent to only trust God in the good times. Job would accept the good stuff and the bad stuff as consistent with the rule of God in his life.

Job was one of the wealthiest men of his culture. Yet he refused to make material prosperity the barometer of God's faithfulness. He was no prosperity theologian. He did not need "feel good" smiling TV preachers coiffed in smug, wealthy idealism to encourage him. He was willing to trust God's faithfulness in the bad times. He directly attributed the hard times and the good times to God's gracious will.

A robust faith is proven through the difficult storms of life. Job is a guide, showing us how to navigate through them. He is an example of the faithfulness of God in our losses. He shows us how strong faith can grieve and suffer in a noble way that glorifies the God Who makes both sunshine and storm necessary experiences for all of us. Only a God Who is equally faithful and vital in the good stuff AND the bad stuff is worthy of my worship.

Job of Uz

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.
Job 1:1

This short character sketch sets the scene for the book of Job and the epic poetry detailing the chronic suffering of a worshiper of God. And from the very onset of the story we see that Job did everything right. He was a man who was everything anyone could have been in his day.

God's analysis of him as a forthright man of integrity is fourfold. He was first of all blameless in his reputation. He was squeaky clean. Nobody had a problem with Him, including God. There was not some deep character flaw or shady dealing from his past. There were no skeletons locked in his closets.

The second word used of him is "upright". That meant that righteousness described his actions. He obeyed God and it showed in the things that Job did. He could stand tall and live well because he did what was right as a matter of lifestyle. He did not seek ways to cheat others or do things quick and easy. He was above board, clear, and clean in how he conducted his life.

The reason these two character qualities marked him was that he was a man who feared God. He did these things not out of personal pride, but out of his love and respect for God. He had great and honest relationships with people because of his first relationship obeying God. Pleasing God was his first motivation. All else ranked under this.

His life resulted in pleasing God because these things naturally inclined him to turn away from sin. You cannot simultaneously love and obey God and then turn to evil. By prioritizing the worship, love, and obedience of God in his heart, it was clear to Job how to avoid sin's allure. And that is what made him a man whom God delighted in and that God saw as righteous. Integrity always starts with God.

prophecy as motivation

In the fifth month, on the tenth day of the month-that was the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon-Nebuzaradan the captain of the bodyguard, who served the king of Babylon, entered Jerusalem. And he burned the house of the LORD, and the king's house and all the houses of Jerusalem; every great house he burned down. And all the army of the Chaldeans, who were with the captain of the guard, broke down all the walls around Jerusalem.
Jeremiah 52:12-14

Everything that the LORD had decreed by the mouths of His prophets concerning the fall of Jerusalem and the captivity of Judah came to pass. Jeremiah faithfully records the historical details of Babylon's siege of Jerusalem and the ensuing deportation of her citizens to Babylon. God's Word was faithful, even as God's people were not. The rubble that remained was a silent charred witness to the power of God in covenant with His people.

It is fitting for Jeremiah to end with this historical reminder. It is the capstone of the prophet's faithful proclamation of the warnings and admonishments God had given him to speak to Judah. He did so faithfully, living through the cycle of destruction to see God's activity in judgment confirmed. And the Jews survived in a remnant that God had promised to return to their homeland.

The Word of God is clear and true in its details, warnings, and promises. And fulfilled prophecy serves as a vivid reality to take God's Word seriously. It is proof of His work among humanity. It is how we see Him and know Him. And it calls us to follow and fear Him, not out of worry over the fires of judgment, but out of awe of His faithfulness to what He says He will do.

The End of Idols

Every man is stupid and without knowledge; every goldsmith is put to shame by his idols, for his images are false, and there is no breath in them. They are worthless, a work of delusion; at the time of their punishment they shall perish.
Jeremiah 51:17-18

Idol worship is the preoccupation of ignorant people. And my heart can easily be one of those stupid idol worshippers. Yet the end result of idolatry is always disappoint and ruin. It can go no other way, for God judges the heart. He knows what people worship. He knows what I really worship. And He will rip away the appeal of idols to show us our delusional worship disorders and our utter need of only Him.

Our idols ultimately shame us. And the sad thing is that often we use the good gifts of God to build the idols that eventually perish and punish us. God gives us talent and ability and instead of using it for His glory, we lust after fame. The Lord blesses us with resources that provide for our families and help us promote His kingdom and His righteousness, and we horde our income to spend it on self, worshipping glittering trinkets until materialism fails to satisfy us.

Our world preaches to us that self-satisfaction is the measure of fulfillment, so we end up worshipping our own bodies, pleasures, and lifestyles only to find mortality, burnout, and dissatisfaction at the end of the pursuit. Our idols all bring these punishments to us. And sometimes the consequences are irreversible.

Why are we put to shame by the things and ideals that our hearts worship? The simple answer is... because they are not true. They lie to us. The idols lie. The people who promote contemporary idolatry lie to us. And they do so elegantly with all the existing media and means. Satan deceived Eve with a lie aimed at selfish grandiosity... an ego idol... and it worked spectacularly. Why would he stop now? That first lie echoes in every idol we are tempted to follow away from God.

Idols do not give life. "There is no breathe in them." They ultimately are death-bringers. And God has decreed that those who follow idols will perish in punishment. These words were written about pagan Babylon, but they applied equally to the captive Jews who suffered in Babylon due to hundreds of years of generational idolatry.

When we see the end of idolatry in the pages of scripture we are warned to guard our own hearts. Idols often start as good gifts and resources that our hearts corrupt. Our prayer should be, "Lord, save me from making anything You give me into an idol that draws my heart away from You."

real repentance... real change.

In those days and in that time, declares the LORD, the people of Israel and the people of Judah shall come together, weeping as they come, and they shall seek the LORD their God. They shall ask the way to Zion, with faces turned toward it, saying, 'Come, let us join ourselves to the LORD in an everlasting covenant that will never be forgotten.'
Jeremiah 50:4-5

Even as Judah was in the earliest days of the Babylonian captivity, God spoke promises through His prophet Jeremiah that the remnant would return to the land of Israel. The way God would bring this about would be through judgment on Babylon itself. When Babylon fell as an empire, the stage would be set for the return of the Jews to their homeland.

And the beautiful thing about the return was that the Jews would return a changed people. The text here gives several evidences of changed hearts. They would first of all unite together to return to their homeland. That unity had been missing among the Jews for many generations. Unity was a sign of a changed nation.

Secondly, they would display strong emotion at the return. They would journey back to Israel weeping tears of joy and sorrow as they went. A third change would be in their hearts toward God. They would actively seek God as a nation. They would no more be torn by their idolatrous urges. The nation would wholeheartedly seek the LORD.

A fourth change would come in the "destination". They would not stop until they reached Zion and the ruins of the temple. They would seek out the place of God's worship and make it the focus of their return. The final mark of change would be shown in their willingness to once again enter into covenant with God. Their love for God would manifest itself in obedience to the Law. And they would apply themselves to live as people of the covenant.

Real repentance brings about real change. It is a change in heart and attitude as well as a change in lifestyle. And it keeps as its center the desire to know and love God and follow His commands.

Who can stand?

Behold, like a lion coming up from the jungle of the Jordan against a perennial pasture, I will suddenly make him run away from her. And I will appoint over her whomever I choose. For who is like me? Who will summon me? What shepherd can stand before me?
Jeremiah 49:19

Standing against the purposes of God has about as much of a chance of success as surviving against a charging lion! You will not be standing after the attack. God's power attends His purposes. And He will work His will among men. It is an inescapable reality.

The context of this metaphor is judgment upon Edom. The last few chapters of Jeremiah detail God's judgments against the historic enemies of Israel and Judah. He outlines in oracles the unstoppable justice of God against the foes of the Jews. And in all these prophecies there is an overwhelming sense of God's sovereign control. The nations cannot stand against Him. He will do as He pleases with kings and armies.

The tendency might have been for the Edomites to delight in the destruction of Jerusalem. But Nebuchadnezzar would extend Babylon's power across the Middle East. And the Edomites would not be free to scoff at Jerusalem for long. They too would suffer justice at the hands of the Chaldean army. The roaring of the lion would sweep through the hillsides and desert rocks until not a shepherd nomad of the Edomites would escape. All would know the loss that God had decreed.

It does no good to rage against a sovereign God. The world is His creation. Mankind is His kingdom. And He is moving all of world history to come to the knowledge of Him. Biblical prophecy calls us to believe us. Past prophecies have come to fruition, compelling us to believe with holy fear. And future prophecies point the same direction. Who is like God? Who can stand before Him?