Tuesday, April 05, 2011

God is God


"The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away;
may the name of the LORD be praised."
In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing.
~ Job 1:21b-22 ~

God is God.

That's what Job is really saying here.

God is God.

And as such, He is entitled to do whatever He deems necessary for His purposes to prevail. Good. Bad. Ugly. Difficult. Unexpected. If we worship God, we worship Him in ALL His work, not only the acts we like.

God is God.

Most of the time I can handle that, just letting God be God, but honestly there are times I don't get how He functions. There's the story of Jephthah in Judges 11 where he vows to the Lord, "If you give the Ammonites into my hands, whatever comes out of the door of my house to meet me when I return in triumph . . . will be the Lord's, and I will sacrifice it as a burnt offering." God gives Jephthah victory, but the first thing out of his house to greet him is his daughter, HIS ONLY CHILD. Jephthah stays true to his vow and kills her. Why would God require that?! Why did one slip up take away Moses's chance to enter the Promised Land? Why would God choose Jacob the deceiver over Esau the eldest?

God is God.

Why does God have mercy on whom He wants to have mercy and harden those He wants to harden? Why does He choose some and not others? Why did He draw me to Himself?

I don't understand. I can't explain it. Is it because I can't fathom the greatness of God? If I truly grasped His immense power would I even pose the questions? Is it my arrogance which doubts His judgment? Do I not see clearly because of His gracious dealing with me, holding back His might? Has His self-control babied me? Has my life been too cushy to recognize His sovereignty?

God is God.

I may not understand it. I may not even like it sometimes. But if I can't accept His authority He's not my God. He's just another person in my life. When I try to explain Him, I put Him on a peer level, not in a position of worship.

God is God. He won't be reduced to anything less, no matter what we think. Our acceptance is irrelevant.

God is God.

Join our host Miriam Pauline at MiPa's Monologue for more impressions of this quote.

5 comments:

Marsha Young said...

Tami - So true. He is who He is, and all our attempts to get Him to conform to our idea of who He is, just puts us in the category of the "teaching a pig to dance" folks.

It wastes the teacher's time and it irritates the pig!

Still praising Him! Marsha

Miriam Pauline said...

I may not understand it. I may not even like it sometimes. But if I can't accept His authority He's not my God. He's just another person in my life.

Oh, yes, my friend, yes! If I want him to be God I have to accept his authority and not make him a peer that I can criticize. This I am adding to my arsenal of trying to keep the last several months in perspective. Thank you!

And, thank you for your friendship during these ups and downs. It means more than you can know.

Karen said...

It is hard to accept or understand sometimes isn't it but God is God, that's all we need to know. The rest comes with trust. Thanks for sharing today.

Cin said...

Delicious words of reminder.

When I try to explain Him, I put Him on a peer level, not in a position of worship.

God is God. He won't be reduced to anything less, no matter what we think. Our acceptance is irrelevant."

Thank you.

Loni said...

Loved your addition on this quote. I can tend to put Him on peer level at times too - Indeed God is God! And He is so good!

Thanks for sharing!