Why are you working yourself up like this? Do you want the world redesigned to suit you? Should reality be suspended to accommodate you? Job 18:4 (MSG)
One Sunday night a month, Wendy and I get together with two other families for dinner. The Parkers and the Vande Lunes each have a young son, and I have enjoyed becoming their buddy, observing them, and playing with them. One thing I know for certain is that a two year old definitely wants the world redesigned to suit him at any given moment. The suspension of reality is expected at all times in order to accommodate whatever trivial, momentary desire is being immediately felt.
I believe, as we grow older, we learn to mask that core self-centeredness. We may even do a great job of keeping it at bay. But, It never goes away. It's part of our spiritual DNA. As Bob Dylan sings, "Because [Adam] sinned, I got no choice, it runs in my veins."
Job's friend really asks an apt question. I look at my own thoughts and desires and see how childish I can be. I have the tantrums, though I rarely let others see them. My daily annoyances with others are really just my self-centeredness at work, expecting others to cater to my whims, to live life by my rules, and to make me happy.
Yes, Bildad, I do want the world to revolve around me more often that I care to admit. Inside this old man's body lies the selfish whims of a two-year-old. Guilty as charged.
That's why I need a Savior.
Do you want the world redesigned to suit you?
Should reality be suspended to accommodate you?
Yes and Yes! Bildad could have just as well said, “Job, quit your whining.” Nobody likes a whiner. Yet we go through life thinking we know everything, that the world revolves around us. We forget that God has a plan in spite of troubled times. Today I will think about that.