Saying It Isn't So Doesn't Mean It Isn't So

“People cry out when they are oppressed. They groan beneath the power of the mighty. Yet they don’t ask, ‘Where is God my Creator, the one who gives songs in the night? Where is the one who makes us smarter than the animals and wiser than the birds of the sky?’ And when they cry out, God does not answer because of their pride. [Job 35.9-12] 

When trouble comes, what do we do?

We turn to idols. Saying it isn't so doesn't mean it isn't so.

Some (but not all) of the idols we run to are debt, insurance, medicine and technology. In classic Biblical idol fashion, these are products laced with man's proud ingenuity: reason and accomplishment.

When we have "covered ourselves" with idols, even if we do cry out to God (whether at first, or at last), our pride in holding onto those idols prevents God from answering.

Remember Job's first response?

Job stood up and tore his robe in grief. Then he shaved his head and fell to the ground to worship. He said, “I came naked from my mother’s womb, and I will be naked when I leave. The LORD gave me what I had, and the LORD has taken it away. Praise the name of the LORD!” In all of this, Job did not sin by blaming God. [Job 1.20-22]

It was only after another wave of trouble that Job eventually revealed his causative pride in human reasoning (an idol in itself). Job's every attempt to reason in the midst of his oppression (troubles) was eventually rebuked harshly by God. So, it didn't make any difference whatsoever that, at first, Job "hailed God's praises" because deep within himself, human pride was on standby. Instead of standing his ground on what he said in Job 1.20-22 because that was the only attitude of his heart, Job instead was eventually compelled in pride to resort to his argumentative "reason" revealing another idolatrous attitude in his heart. Job really thought that he could persuade God that he was unjustly afflicted - cursed without reason.

When people today consider debt, insurance, medicine and technology as remediation for troubles in their lives, whether before or after they address God about the need, they hold in their hearts, as Job held "reasoning" in his heart, reserved a place for idols (of which today, debt, insurance, medicine and technology are flagships).

People may piously cry out at first, ‘Where is God my Creator, the one who gives songs in the night? Where is the one who makes us smarter than the animals and wiser than the birds of the sky?’  (“I came naked from my mother’s womb, and I will be naked when I leave. The LORD gave me what I had, and the LORD has taken it away. Praise the name of the LORD!”) but deep in their hearts they have reserved their idols to fall back on. (Of course they would never call them idols, but mask their idol-identity by saying they are gifts from God.) Just like Job held back his proud human reasoning, they hold back their proud human accomplishment ...for a while. Like Job revealed about himself, people today do not understand that troubles are not just something to be overcome, but as Elihu pointed out, they are indicators of a spiritual problem to be corrected:

But by means of their suffering, he rescues those who suffer. For he gets their attention through adversity. [Job 36.15]

Adversity is a call to repentance. How a human responds to adversity reveals either their total submission to God, or their proud idolatrous relationship with human reason and/or accomplishment. The latter is described in the subject passage above: And when they cry out, God does not answer because of their pride.

Job's complete restoration came only after he humbly broke all ties with his proud human reasoning ...after a severe rebuke from God. Jesus Christ requires no less from His followers:

If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow me. [Matthew 16.24 (also, Mark 8.34 & Luke 9.23)]

Jesus' words are nonetheless a severe rebuke to everyone holding onto man's way: his accomplishments and reason - idols and pride. And, Jesus' words are nonetheless a severe rebuke to everyone intent on avoiding death. In summary, Jesus' words are a call to repentance, turning away from man's life-enhancing idols and turning to Him alone.

No matter how religious we may think it sounds to say "I trust God alone!" the underlying desires and pride of our heart reveal the truth of our idolatry. Oh, we are quick to retort that "God uses debt, insurance, medicine, technology" and a plethora of other man-made, human-reason solutions, but our resort to these things has already revealed our idolatry - regardless what our words say.

The proof that what is said here is accurate is found in genuine restoration. Job was genuinely restored. The Church today however is not seeing God's genuine indisputable restoration but instead unrepentantly offering up excuses for their idols and calling it "God." The complicated depth of this problem is foretold in the brutal length of the book of Job, but the solution is one and the same: turn only to God (God With Us - Jesus) unincumbered with the proud idolatry of anything to do with man's reason and accomplishments.

Yes, we turn to idols and the solutions we get are not "restoration from God" but instead only the best our idols can provide (and, usually that at an oppressively high price - a further  curse in itself!).

Father, You indeed know my heart. It is I who does not know my own heart that is full of pride and idolatry. It is I who proudly defends my impatient idolatry with complicated religious mumbo-jumbo, unwilling to just stop the excuses and repent. It is I who must re-interpret Jesus' demand to give up my own way, take up my cross, and follow Him to mean something more reasonable to my day and culture. It is I who needs to interpret my circumstances for what the Bible says they mean instead of what the world says they mean... Forgive me for pride. Show me all that I need to repent of. Be glorified in my life! So be it.