Good morning…
As you can tell, I think we do well to age gently into the passage of time. When we relax, reflect, and renew our mind, we will find God’s deeper meaning connecting our daily dots.
Now ask the animals, and let them teach you [that God does not deal with His creatures according to their character]; And ask the birds of the air, and let them tell you; Or speak to the earth [with its many forms of life], and it will teach you; And let the fish of the sea declare [this truth] to you.
Who among all these does not recognize [in all these things that good and evil are randomly scattered throughout nature and human life] that the hand of the Lord has done this, in whose hand is the life of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind?
Does the ear not put words to the test, just as the palate tastes its food [distinguishing between the desirable and the undesirable]? With the aged [you say] is wisdom, and with long life is understanding. But [only] with Him are [perfect] wisdom and might; He [alone] has [true] counsel and understanding (Job 12:7-13, AMP).
As I listen to the words of the fish, earth, and birds, these four truths hold true:
- God does not deal with His creatures according to their character. Ultimately, this is a really good thing. If our character determined God’s treatment of us, then we would be stuck trying, striving to be perfectly good to earn the favor of God Almighty. Would this not be like the tail wagging the dog?
- For better or for worse the truth is this: Good and evil are randomly scattered throughout nature and human life. Random. We do not like that word. Good and evil randomly scattered? We hate that concept. Life being out of our control can drive us nuts, until we surrender all.
- The hand of the Lord has done this (randomly scattering good and evil into our everyday lives) and the same hand of God gives the life of every living thing and the breath of all mankind. How do we make peace with this two-faced hand?
- But [only] with Him are [perfect] wisdom and might; He [alone] has [true] counsel and understanding. Only with God can we test our daily dots, both the desirable and the undesirable ones, and connect them into a higher, eternal design.
Isn’t this true for both me and you? Our character does not determine the dissonant dots dropped into our daily lives. A random mixture of good and evil is scattered throughout our days, our weeks, our years. Only with God are we given perfect wisdom and might, true counsel and understanding as we age into life’s random dots.
…Sue…
