“Dude, God is Smart!”
By David Branker
That was my favorite line from this weekend’s message. Pastor Stovall talked about Job – a man in indescribable pain and mental torment. The Bible tells us that Job was a good man, yet he suffered greatly. He found himself in great confusion, trying to figure out all that was happening to him. After all, at a time when good was supposed to be rewarded and evil punished – why did Job experience such calamity? God himself described Job in verse 1 of this book, as a blameless man with complete integrity.
Pastor reminded us that we were never designed to understand it all, as a matter of fact – we’re incapable of it. We were designed to worship and trust God. I couldn’t resist reading the chapter describing Job’s challenge to God and was struck with God’s response to him. God’s first answer to Job is a series of 64 questions – yes, I counted them. “Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?” “Who determined its dimensions?” “Who laid its cornerstone?” followed by 61 other questions – one after the next. When God asked questions, the implication to Job is that He knew the answers.
God reminded Job that He is good and incredibly creative and powerful. That God is wise enough to bring something redemptive out of our suffering. You see, If God can take chaos and bring such beautiful design, can He not take the trouble and chaos in our lives and bring something beautiful out of it? As Pastor said, He knows the end from the beginning. Dude, God is indeed smart and infinitely wise. He can be trusted.
Regardless of where we find ourselves today, you and I can turn towards Him and place our complete trust in Jesus Christ. That’s why He’s called “Savior.” As the songwriter put it – “My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness.”
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Last weekends message was the perfect “Come Home” message after the Swaziland Mission Trip. We saw amazing breakthroughs, but also a lot of sadness and desperate situations. It could have been easy to get into a defeated attitude. Being in a church that teaches a Biblical perspective on tragedy made it possible to see God and His infinate wisdom. It gave our team the ability to let go of all the unanswerable questions and just love on and serve the children and Mages(mothers). I know God is a loving God who loves the African people. I know He has brought amazing full time missionaries(Go Pastor Mike!) to help make the changes and I know He has a plan to prosper that nation.
Hey Pastor David- it gives me so much comfort and confidence that as a church we do not go out there and say ‘we don’t know why God did this’ when a tragedy strikes… but rather can come out and say ‘God can bring something beautiful out of this..let’s keep holding on to Him.’ This attitude and mindset pours over to our congregants and allows our church to minister to hundreds of incredibly desperate situations weekly, rather than just throwing up our hands and guessing that ‘God must have a plan’. thank you so much.
It is very comforting and encouraging that we go to a church that has the courage to preach what the Word instructs concerning any matter. God’s not so subtle reminder to Job that He is indeed Lord ministered to me as I am sure it did to many. Worship and trust God. What a great recipe for life!!