{"id":26626,"date":"2020-11-18T10:50:18","date_gmt":"2020-11-18T15:50:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/?p=26626"},"modified":"2020-11-18T10:55:56","modified_gmt":"2020-11-18T15:55:56","slug":"worship-wednesday-where-were-you-ghost-ship-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/?p=26626","title":{"rendered":"Worship Wednesday – God’s Purposes Are Not Thwarted – “Where Were You?” – Ghost Ship"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n

\"blog-where-were-you-job-pray-write-grow\"<\/a>Photo Credit: PrayWriteGrow<\/a><\/p>\n

[From the Archives<\/a>]<\/p>\n

Then the Lord<\/span> answered Job out of the whirlwind and said: \u201c<\/span>Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge? <\/span>Dress for action like a man; <\/span>I will question you, and you make it known to me. <\/span><\/span><\/em>Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?\u2026\u201d<\/em> \u2013 Job 38:1-4a<\/a>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

I know that You can do all things, and that no purpose of Yours can be thwarted.<\/em>\u00a0 <\/span>\u2013 Job to God, Job 42:2<\/a><\/p>\n

How can this be?! How could this have happened? No way could this be right. No way could this be God\u2019s plan.<\/p>\n

We are all given to platitudes<\/a>. \u201cIt\u2019s all good.\u201d \u201cIt\u2019s not your fault.\u201d \u201cGod\u2019s still on His throne.\u201d They may be true but they\u2019re not very satisfying.<\/p>\n

When we\u2019re hit by a strange and unsettling reality, we want to call it something else. We want to cry out that it\u2019s not good and it\u2019s got to be someone\u2019s fault\u2026we ache to point our finger at someone\u2026anyone. At times, the blame ascends all the way to Heaven\u2026to God Himself.<\/p>\n

Job, a righteous God-fearer whose story is chronicled in the Bible, found himself in that very situation. He didn\u2019t just wake up one morning to news that he couldn\u2019t stomach; he was singled out for the most devastating personal loss \u2013 the deaths of all his children and his own health ruined. His questioning of the rightness of this unimaginable occurrence was understandable.<\/p>\n

Having friends who offered all sorts of scenarios as to how this could have happened\u2026gave Job no relief.<\/p>\n

Finally, he took his case to God, objecting to how such a thing could happen. In God\u2019s defense of Himself in the matter (Job 38-41<\/a>), He opened Job\u2019s eyes to the wonder and goodness of all that He does.<\/p>\n

God is not put off by our questioning, our fears, our confusion<\/strong>\u2026this God who lovingly asks questions Himself for us to see our own strange thinking about Him\u2026this God who is the answer to every question that\u2019s whispered or shouted from the depths of our beings. Where were you, Child?<\/em> \u2026Where were we?! How gentle He is with our self-righteousness and presumptuousness that we know better than He.<\/strong> We may not understand\u2026but we can be assured that He is working out our good and His glory<\/a> in every page turned in history. We can question, absolutely\u2026but He calls us to continue following Him, even in our questioning\u2026to love Him, to love others\u2026with everything in us.<\/p>\n

On this Sunday, four years ago, we gathered at Movement Church<\/a>, and worshiped together. That Sunday followed the 2016 Presidential election, the outcome of which probably surprised every voter and non-voter in America\u2026either joyfully or sorrowfully.<\/p>\n

This Sunday, like every Sunday, was made for worship. No back clapping, or derision, or condescending opinions of any political ilk. Whatever hopefulness and whatever despair were set aside. Just voices raised in community to the God whose purposes are not thwarted\u2026no matter what.<\/p>\n

Worship<\/a>, with me, through this great lyric Where Were You?<\/em> (by Ghost Ship<\/a>) \u2013 taken straight from the Job narrative<\/a>.<\/p>\n

I said, \u201cGod, I do not understand this world<\/em>
\n everything is dying and broken<\/em>
\n why do I see nothing but suffering<\/em>\"img_0418\"<\/a><\/p>\n

God I\u2019m asking could this be Your plan
\nSin has taken hold of this whole land
\nWill You not say anything else to me?\u201d<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
He said, \u201cWhere were you the day that I measured
\nsunk the banks and stretched the line over
\nall the earth and carved out its corner stone?\"img_0423\"<\/a><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Where were you the day that I spoke and
\ntold the sun to split the night open
\ncaused the morning dark with its light to show<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Who shut in the ocean with stone doors
\nmarked the reach of tides on those new shores
\nhung the day the waves rose and first broke forth<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Have you seen the springs of that great sea
\nwalked the caverns carved in the black deep
\nthrough the gates of darkness there on its floor<\/div>\n
\n

 <\/p>\n

Have you seen the armory I hold
\nsnow and hail are stacked up in silos
\nfor the times of trouble and war and strife<\/p>\n

Can you raise your voice to the storm cloud
\nwould the thunder answer and ring out
\ndoes the lightning ask you where it should strike<\/p>\n

Who has cleft the channels for torrents
\nrain to sprout the desert with forest
\nin the wilderness that my hand has built<\/p>\n

Can you hunt the prey for your lions
\ncan you use the cords of Orion
\nis this whole world bending beneath your will?\u201d<\/p>\n

I spoke of things I did not understand
\nthings too wonderful for me
\nalthough I had no right to ask<\/strong>
\n my God knelt and answered me<\/strong>*<\/p>\n<\/div>\n