Argue Your Case
Arguing with God; is that possible or even allowed? Doesn’t God demand the kind of obedience in which there is no room for doubt or questioning? Does He desire blind obedience, or can we dialog along the way? Job confessed that, even if God would kill him, he would trust the Lord. Nevertheless, Job added that he would argue his case before Him. (Job 13:15) To Job, trusting God was non-negotiable, but he did have questions. He established boundaries to his arguing. First, he said that at the end of the day, God had the last word and that he would trust him, no matter what the cost. Secondly, he asked God to not hide His face or remove His hand from him. (v.20-21) There could be arguing, but it would never end in separation or rebellion.
Questions arise when life presents us with a “curve ball” we are not expecting; such as: a terminal illness, a death of a loved-one, being dismissed from our “dream job” or a relationship gone sour. Knowing that God is sovereign and all-powerful, our questions usually rise before Him as an argument of fairness or justice. In the moment of our distress we cry out: “Why did You allow this to happen?” God could have intervened but did not. Why? Is He fair? Is He Good all the time? Without establishing boundaries, as Job did, our questioning can land us in the mine field of unbelief. The boundaries of, “no matter what, I will trust You”, keeps us from being ship-wrecked in the storms of life, yet the “reasoning together” allows us to come into a new level of understanding as to the mysteries of His ways.
In the book of John, chapter 11, we read the account of when Martha and Mary’s brother, Lazarus, become terminally ill. Immediately, they called for Jesus to come and to heal him. They had seen Jesus heal countless, sick people and expected Him to do the same for their brother. Jesus was a close friend of the family and so they knew that, upon hearing of their brother’s sickness, Jesus would come quickly. But Jesus stayed where He was. By the time Jesus finally arrived at their home, Lazarus had been dead for four days. The sisters were devastated. Martha was the first to argue her case: “If You had been her, my brother would not have died.” (John 11:21) Her argument was based on the limitations of her own experience. She had known Jesus as healer and it was healing that she was expecting from Jesus. Martha set the boundaries, when she said: “Even now I know that whatever You ask of God, God will give You.” (v.22) But her limited understanding of God’s ways kept the questions coming. Jesus wanted to broaden these sister’s understanding of Him. He was not only Healer but also the Resurrection and Life.
Death is an enigma. We just don’t understand it. The disciples didn’t understand why Jesus had to die so young. They didn’t understand how the death of their dreams would expose them to God’s vision. They had some invested interest in Jesus’ ministry. His fame was their fame. His early death would ruin it all. Peter, being the bolder of the lot, got right in Jesus’ face and argued his case. To Peter’s surprise and shame, Jesus saw who was really leading the conversation and rebuked Satan to Peter’s face. He then went on to explain the purpose of the coming events. Jesus is not scandalized by our desire to know why. He is not obligated to answer everything to our satisfaction, but he does desire to dialogue with us. There must be a bottom line of trust and a desire to learn, for arguing to be healthy. As in marriage and family life, there are arguments, but the bottom line is love and commitment to each other. These are not negotiable; so it is be with our reasoning together with God.
Scriptures to meditate on:
Job 13:15, 20-23; Is. 1:18-20; 43:26; Zeph. 3:17; John 11:1-44; Mat. 16:21-28