“Be assured that my words are not false;
    one who has perfect knowledge is with you.”
Job 36:4 (NIV)

I remember a college history course in which we were to write a ten-page paper. I don’t even remember the assignment. What I do remember was a young man in the class who immediately and vociferously objected to the large red “F” the professor had written on his paper.

“Dr. Clossman!? How could I have failed?! The assignment was a ten page paper and my paper was 35 pages long?!”

“Yes,” Dr. Clossman answered, “but you wrote 35 pages and didn’t say anything!”

Along my life journey, I’ve occasionally encountered individuals who have an endless supply of words while at the same time possessing the social awareness of a slab of granite. The result is that they will talk non-stop while not being able to pick up on the non-verbal social cues of their listeners that it’s time to stop talking and let someone else have a word. When I encounter individuals like this I often play a game in which I time how many minutes the person will talk non-stop if I just let them go.

I’m kind of feeling that way with young Eli.

Today’s chapter is just the first half of Eli the younger’s fourth and final discourse. He is on a roll, and not in a good way. Neither Job, nor any of the three elders have piped up and so young Eli’s stream of words is going to keep flowing. He starts his final discourse full of bluster. He is God’s chosen representative, and has so much to teach these ignorant old men. He is full of “knowledge from afar” and with his presence “perfect knowledge” has arrived to teach Job truth.

Young Eli then goes on to falsely accuse Job of preferring evil to repentance. But that’s 180 degrees different than God’s estimation of Job as “blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil.” So, young Eli’s knowledge is less than perfect. Though, the young man does say some things that are true. Even the worst players on Jeopardy! get a couple of questions right.

In the quiet this morning, I counted how many verses young Eli has spoken non-stop. When I get through the final half of his fourth discourse next monday, the young man will have spoken 156 verses. Then I counted how many verses God speaks in the subsequent chapters. God says what He has to say in 127 verses.

I end this week with two lessons resonating in my soul:

1. When saying something, make sure I have something to say.
2. Talk less than God.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

“Submit to God and be at peace with him;
    in this way prosperity will come to you.”
Job 22:21 (NIV)

You know the old saying about when we assume: “It makes an ‘ass’ out of ‘u’ and ‘me.’“

With the proliferation of the polarization of political extremes in our culture, I’ve observed that assumptions are rampant across the human spectrum. We assume good things in those we agree with and bad things in those we don’t. We assume those who feed us information don’t have their own agenda. We assume that those in leadership care more about the lives of the people their policies affect than they do their own consolidation of power, wealth, and influence. We assume what others think and believe, and it changes the way we relate with them.

One of the themes that has come into focus for me in this current chapter-a-day trek through the story of Job is the perpetual assumptions being made by both Job and his friends. Job assumes that God is the perpetrator of his suffering. His friends assume that Job has done something to deserve his tragic circumstances and suffering.

In today’s chapter, Job’s friend Eli kicks off the third set of back-and-forth discourses. Eli makes an assumption that those who submit and follow God will prosper. The Hebrew word translated as “prosperity” (tôbâ) indicates a general goodness, well-being, safety, enjoyment, and prosperity. Job’s three amigos hold to this simple assumption.

As the sage of Ecclesiastes observed, “There is nothing new under the sun.”

You will find people around the world today, televangelists in particular, who continue to share these simplistic assumptions. Submit to God (and give a nice donation to their ministry) and you will prosper.

I know many people who have chosen not to believe because of what they assume about God. Like Job, I know those who assume that God has been the perpetrator of their suffering or tragic life circumstances. Likewise, it’s easy to assume things about Jesus because of what others have said or written.

On this chapter-a-day journey, I’ve come to recognize that the assumptions I hear many people make about God aren’t congruent with the God revealed to me across the entire Great Story. Reading their words in context of the whole Great Story, Job and his comrades are all making incorrect assumptions about God, suffering, and prosperity.

In the quiet this morning, I’m compelled to do a little soul-searching about my own assumptions about life, culture, politics, news, others, and God. One of the things that I have always loved in Jesus’ example is the way He didn’t assume things of others as everyone around Him did. His people, even His own disciples, made widely held assumptions about others that allowed them to justify socially dismissing the outcast, the marginalized, the sinful, the suffering, and those who were different. Jesus always saw the individuals in every one of those human categories as lovable, valuable, and capable. If I am truly a disciple of Jesus, I am called to follow that very example.

If I, as a disciple of Jesus, assume that I am justified in doing any different than Jesus did, well, then… you know they say about when we assume.

Note: I’m taking a long Labor Day weekend starting tomorrow. See you back here on Tuesday, September 5. Have a great holiday weekend, my friend!

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

“Teach me, and I will be quiet;
    show me where I have been wrong.”
Job 6:24 (NIV)

Yesterday afternoon, Wendy and I enjoyed an afternoon of chilling out in a pool with friends on a hot Iowa summer afternoon. One of our friends and I have been talking about the biographies we’ve been reading. I’m currently working my way through a prodigious tome about Ulysses S. Grant, our friend just finished a biography of a pop culture celebrity of less historical consequence though probably of greater interest to most people.

One of the things that came out of our conversation was how easy it is to judge people by appearances, or judge them by their circumstances. I see a man drive up in an Aston Martin and get out in a finely tailored suit and there certain assumptions I make about his wealth, status, intelligence, and abilities. Likewise, I see a homeless man on the same street and I immediately make different assumptions about wealth, status, intelligence, and abilities. In either case, I don’t know the person, their circumstances, or what led to those circumstances.

In today’s chapter, Job begins his reply to his friend, Eli. In his effort to comfort and encourage Job in his suffering, Eli insinuated that Job must have done something to incur the wrath of the Almighty. In this case, Eli has made a value judgment based on appearances. In Eli’s world view, a man who lost everything in a single day and then contracted a hideous and painful skin disease had to have done something to warrant his fateful circumstances. It’s the same way I look at a man in a tailored suit driving an Aston Martin and conclude he must be intelligent and capable to have attained such success, and I look at the homeless man and conclude he must be incompetent, addicted, or insane to be homeless.

In the midst of his suffering, the first thing that struck me is his unwillingness to suffer his friend’s prejudice and judgement. He calls Eli out for making the assumption that Job must have a secret sin that God is punishing. He demands that this friend put up or shut up as it pertains to the accusations. Job has lost everything, including his hope (vs. 11), but he refuses to surrender his integrity. He demands that Eli look him in the sunken eyes of his disfigured and sore-ridden face and take back his passive-aggressive accusations:

“But now be so kind as to look at me.
    Would I lie to your face?
Relent, do not be unjust;
    reconsider, for my integrity is at stake.
Is there any wickedness on my lips?
    Can my mouth not discern malice?“

In the quiet this morning, my thoughts drift back to a message I gave last week in which I, once again, shared part of my story. The truth is that I made some really bad decisions earlier in my life which eventually led to the end my first marriage. There are friends from that stretch of my earthly journey who walked away and have never spoken to me since. I suspect that if you were to ask some of them about me today my reputation in their eyes goes no further than those publicly known sins and failures back then. I’m so grateful to God that my story didn’t end there.

I’m also grateful to God that I have no clue what Job-level suffering is actually like. I do, however, know what it’s like for friends to make judgments based on appearances. It’s made me far less apt to apt to judge others based merely on appearances or a few known circumstances. There is always more to the story, both the story of how a person ended up in the present circumstances, the story of the larger contextual circumstances that aren’t readily apparent, and the story of what God might well be doing in using those circumstances in all sorts of redemptive ways.

If I really am a friend, perhaps I should reserve judgment based on limited appearances and instead simply sit down and say, “I’d really like to hear your story.”

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

…being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
Philippians 1:6 (NIV)

A week ago I gave a message among our local gathering of Jesus’ followers. It was part of a series of messages from Paul’s letter to the Philippians thinking about how we think. As part of the message I had Wendy join me on stage to talk through a tense relational moment that the two of us had the previous week. As part of the dissection of the tension between us, we recognized that the two of us think very differently. Neither of us are right or wrong, good or bad, better or worse in our differences. The different ways in which we think have equal strengths and challenges.

Wendy is an external processor. It’s in talking her thoughts and emotions out loud that she best processes what it is she’s thinking and feeling in the moment. As an external processor, she wants to “get it out.”

I am an internal processor. I require time alone to think, journal, and sort out my thoughts and feelings before I can make any sense of them. It is only then that I’m ready to talk things through, express my feelings, and seek some resolution to whatever the issue is.

As an Enneagram Type Eight, Wendy is in the “Anger” triad (along with Nines and Ones). Her internal thoughts, feelings, and needs will often first appear on the surface as flashes anger. In addition, Eights tend to be future oriented, always thinking about what’s on the horizon, what’s directly ahead, and what needs to happen in order for their world to be well-ordered and everyone in their world to experience peace and goodness.

As an Enneagram Type Four, I am in the “Shame” triad (along with Twos and Threes). My internal thoughts, feelings, and needs will often be hidden beneath an internal blanket of shame. In addition, Fours tend to be past oriented, always thinking about what has gone before, what important life lessons can be learned, what context it can provide our present, and the peace and goodness that can come from understanding and embracing it.

In the message, Wendy and I shared together how we’ve had to learn to think about the way each of us think. We’ve learned to do this in the moment even as we’re navigating a rather benign conflict over a prescription that didn’t get picked up at the pharmacy and the issues that it triggered in a bedtime explosion of external anger and internal shame.

Because we think differently in these ways, we often have very different perceptions of everyday life. One example that we’ve learned over time and shared with others is the way we perceive and think about home improvement. Wendy did a great job of helping design our house. She was passionate about having a home that would be bring peace and goodness to our daily lives, our future grandchildren, and our frequent guests. I, on the other hand, am not a great DIY-er or home improvement guy. I am functional with certain maintenance task, but I take little-to-no joy in it. In fact, simply having conversations about DIY home projects will sometimes create acute emotional angst in me, and makes me want to run screaming from the room. Why? In part, it’s because of some painful past experiences and the personal feelings of shame that surround them.

Over the years, Wendy and I have progressed a long way in understanding ourselves and one another. We also share a foundational heart desire to continue growing to become more like Jesus in the way we think, act, and relate to one another and everyone in our circles of influence. This, in turn, motivates us to think about the way we think, dissect our conflicts, and learn how to improve how we relate to one another. I’ve learned that when she has flashes of anger I don’t have to let it trigger my shame or react to her anger as though it is an inherently wicked thing. Wendy has learned to lovingly release me to go process and sort out my thoughts and feelings. The further we get in our journey together, I can say the more oneness we experience; This is not because we have learned to be the same, but because we’ve learned how to dance with our differences in increasingly beautiful ways.

As Paul begins his letter to the disciples of Jesus in the ancient city of Philippi, he reminds them that being a disciple of Jesus is not about perfection, but of progress. Believing in Jesus does not result in immediate transformation into righteousness. Rather, believing in Jesus launches a long-term, top-to-bottom, spiritual DIY renovation project. In other words, for the remainder of this earthly journey I am a Work In Progress (W.I.P.).

As it is a DIY project, I am so grateful to have Wendy as a partner.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

The waters flooded the earth for a hundred and fifty days.
Genesis 7:24 (NIV)

Most of my childhood was spent in or around water. I swam competitively starting at an early age and continued into high school. Our family vacations were at lakes where we would swim, ski, boat, and fish. And of course, my folks retired to a place on the lake which Wendy and I now own and where we retreat multiple times each year. And, going on a cruise is my favorite kind of vacation. Going on a round-the-world cruise is something I would love to do before my earthly journey is finished.

I love water. I love the recreation, joy, and peace that I find in it, on it, and being around it.

And yet I have also experienced water’s destructive power. I have vivid memories of being on the water in dangerous situations. I remember surviving 10 days with out fresh water due to the Great Flood of 1993 shutting down the Des Moines, Iowa Water Works. We have experienced some of the worst flooding on the lake and have witnessed the destruction it unleashes.

The story of Noah’s Ark and the Great Flood is one of the most well-known stories from the Great Story. Many people, however, don’t know that cultures around the world, on every continent, have some version of an ancient flood story. There are some 35 different flood stories documented that bear at least some resemblance to the story of Noah in Genesis. I find that fascinating.

The flood of Genesis was destructive, but it was ultimately about the reordering of creation that I discussed in yesterday’s post. It ends with a covenant and a promise. And the water of Noah’s flood serves double-duty as a metaphor for what would become the sacrament of Baptism. Peter wrote:

You know, even though God waited patiently all the days that Noah built his ship, only a few were saved then, eight to be exact—saved from the water by the water. The waters of baptism do that for you, not by washing away dirt from your skin but by presenting you through Jesus’ resurrection before God with a clear conscience. 1 Peter 3:20-21 (MSG)

When a follower of Jesus is baptized by immersion it is a word picture of being buried (in the water) as Jesus was buried, being raised (out of the water) as Jesus rose from the dead, and having sin washed away by Jesus, the Living Water.

The water in today’s chapter was an agent of divine judgment and is transformed into an agent of divine redemption, and that is a beautiful picture of Great Story itself; God redeems my sinful self through a cleansing flood of Jesus’ grace and forgiveness.

Some mornings as I stand in the shower, I am reminded of Jesus’ cleansing of my life. It’s a good thing not only to have my body washed and ready for the day, but to recognize that my spirit is equally washed and ready.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.