“I will show you; hear me, and what I have seen I will declare…” Job 15:17-18
It happened to me so it must be true. A casual statement and belief that exists abundantly in our world every day. A belief that if said situation took place in one’s life, it must garner some reason and therefore it must contain some grains of Godly truth…or does it? Because it happened in God’s world does it automatically mean that it contains the pure truth of God? And even if it does contain the pure truth of God, does that mean that the recipient was able to glean the pure truth out of the situation? All significant reasons for great caution to be used as we attempt to reason in the truth of God using our various life experiences to counsel others, explain God, and place sense upon situations.
Just as hockey players swapping blows on the rink, we see Job and his friends continue in their mental pugil match. We’ve made it through the first period of play with each friend being allowed to speak and Job being able to rebut. Now we head into the second period of three to be played. Job’s friends, being obtuse to the first two chapters of the book in which they speak, continue to callously accuse Job of hiding some secret sin from God that is earning him his treatment. The idea that God has issued him a stiff fine that he refuses to pay and thus is receiving harsh punishment as a result. And in Eliphaz’s second discourse he rests his argument upon tradition. He now bases his accusations on his own brand of truth…his own personal experience. And in that line of logic starts a rabbit trail that leads not to God, but in the opposite direction.
The truth of God lies in one place only, within the very Words of God which lie upon the very pages of scripture. You see, what we really have between man and God is a translation problem. God’s Word in its untouched form is prefect. But as soon as man’s sin laced logic encounters it, it becomes tainted. Man has the ability to corrupt the simplest truth with his inherited sin nature. So what to do? Daily, attempt to honor, revere, and keep God’s Word in the Holy form in which it appears. Approach it with humility, respect, and awe. Encounter it as it lies, only taking what it offers. Do not apply your human logic and do not attempt to add or subtract to it by sprinkling it with personal thoughts or experiences. Simply allow the Holy Spirit to speak it into your heart. As a wise man once said, when you read God’s Word, only read the black. And in reading only the pure Words of God and not letting your personal experiences color the meaning, you will be absorbing the truth, not altering it. And in this way, you can allow the truth to first be supplanted in your heart so that when called for, you can relay it to the people that God places in your path that are needing His Words, not yours. Today, don’t relay any other version of the truth of God into the world around you…relay only pure truth…His truth…His Words.
“Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the Word of truth.” 2 Timothy 2:15
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