Who Am I To my God?

Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand
or marked off the heavens with the span of his hand?
Who has gathered the dust of the earth in a measure
or weighed the mountains in a balance
and the hills in the scales?
Who has directed the Spirit of the Lord,
or who gave Him His counsel?
Who did He consult with?
Who gave Him understanding
and taught Him the paths of justice?
Who taught Him knowledge
and showed Him the way of understanding?
(Isaiah 40:12-14 HCSB)

One of the frustrating things about Job is that God never answers Job's challenge as to why Job was suffering.  It is a difficult book in which to find a 'comfortable' answer to the problem of evil and suffering in the world.  God's answer to Job is essentially to ask, 'Who are you to ask me anything?' which is not what we want to hear.  It works for Job though, and he is restored.

Here, in Isaiah's word of encouragement to the Jewish Exiles in Babylon, it sounds somewhat similar to God's response to Job, 'who are you to question God?'  The questions sound silly compared to who God truly is and what He's done.  They are supposed to sound silly.  They bring into sharp relief the faith of the people; the lackluster, thin, weary faith of a people tired of their circumstances.

So, God has measured all the waters in the hollow of His hand.  In the day of Isaiah, the world was thought of as table on legs (pillars) and covered by a dome.  But it was surrounded by water.  Think about it, water came from the sky, so there was water up there.  Water could be found by digging deep enough, so there was water below.  There were streams, rivers, and a sea.  Water was everywhere.  So when God holds the 'waters' in His hands, that's more water than we might first imagine.  It rivals the water we know is on the earth today.  The idea is that the hands of God are big hands.

God has marked off the heavens with the span of His hand.  So that dome over the earth He hammered out in creation, He measures it with the space between His pinky and thumb spread out, a span.   But we know the 'heavens' to be much larger than a dome over the earth.  We've renamed it 'the universe' and it is immeasurably huge.  I don't think the imagery needs adjusting though.  I suspect that using the imagery of the universe being God's 'desk decoration' would fit nicely into the point the writer is trying to make here.

He has measured the mountains, the dust, and hills in scales.  Again, God is unbelievably HUGE!

But who has guided Him?  Who has given His Spirit direction or counsel, increased His understanding, taught Him the ways of justice or knowledge, or understanding?  Obviously, no one.  It's a rhetorical question to draw out the silliness of the people's lack of faith; their irreverent questioning of the unknowable One.  Later on, the poet states that God's understanding cannot be measured for depth. 

But the poet is writing to encourage, to lift up, and lead people out of their focus on their circumstances.  He is leading them to turn their focus on their God, their Maker, the One having created all things, including their enemies.  He is posing these questions much in the same way God posed them to Job, to lead him back into faith.  It's as if to say, "I've got you covered, why would you doubt Me?"

So, I read these questions.  I too look at my circumstances.  My biggest issue is that I don't like one particular aspect of my job.  But it's my wilfulness and not the job that is the problem.  My focus has been on me and what I want.  I'm being selfish.  I have excuses for being selfish.  I have plenty of them.  But then I have to ask these questions.  Suddenly, my selfishness stands in stark contrast to my Master's character.  Had He been selfish, He would have left me lost.  But He redeemed me.

So, having been redeemed by the One whose understanding cannot be measured for depth, why would I then be frustrated by an aspect of the job He provided?  Am I smarter than Him?  Should I have counseled Him, or taught Him the way of understanding, or the paths of justice, or anything?  Duh, of course not!  Even asking the question is silly, but my lack of acceptance of what my Master has provided does exactly that.

What I mean is that when I refuse to accept willingly the circumstances provided by my Master, then I ask those very ridiculous questions.  He led me to this place, provided this job as I went, and has kept me in it as I have worked.  But this past year, I have fought it.  I have railed against one particular aspect of this job and convinced myself that is is not in my character to do it.  What am I thinking?! Seriously?

How can I charge that an aspect of the job given to me by the One having created me and shaped my character, the One constantly changing me, metamorphing me more into the image of His Son, gave me a job that is inconsistent with my character?  Really?  I know more about that than He does?  I know enough about the purpose and direction He is taking me that I know this is the wrong job?  And I know this because there is only one aspect I don't like.  You see how amazingly ridiculous I'm being about my job? 

I will accept my job.  I will take on the spiritual discipline of my job, all it requires, and I will learn to love it, and through it, my Master more deeply.  I will start today, hour by hour, and do the thing I'd rather not do.  I will do it in the afternoon's when I'm tired, the mornings when I'm sharp, the mid-day when I'm ready for something else, and the end of the day when I'm having trouble seeing the point.  I will do it.  I will do it for my Master Who gave it to me; Who blessed me with it, and sees a purpose in it.  I will do it.  To me, that is faith; small and somewhat petty, but faith.

The Wrong Sort of Followers

The brethren immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea, and when they arrived, they went into the synagogue of the Jews.  Now these were more noble-minded than those in Thessalonica, for they received the word with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so.  Therefore many of them believed, along with a number of prominent Greek women and men.  But when the Jews of Thessalonica found out that the word of God had been proclaimed by Paul in Berea also, they came there as well, agitating and stirring up the crowds. (Acts 17:10-13 NASB)

Paul and Silas have survived the Antisemitism of Philippi and it's jail, in fact the jailer was added to the church.  And as they travel on (without Luke for some reason), they come the Thessalonica.  This city is still around today in Macedonia only it's called Thessaloniki.  It's position in the Aegean and prominence on trade routes still make it an important port city in the Mediterranean Sea.  But it's actually in the Macedonian Province of Greece, rather than the country of Macedonia.  Philip of Macedonia and his son, Alexander the Great, were Macedonian (hence Alex the G's dad's name if you hadn't caught that).

Arriving in Thessalonica, they go to the synagogue like normal, and like normal discuss Jesus as the Jewish Messiah for about three weeks without major incident.  Then, when the people accepting this Jewish Messiah are permitted to remain Gentiles, suddenly they're not all having fun.  Thugs from the marketplace are enlisted to help start a riot in the city, and they go to this guy, Jason's, house.  Not finding Paul and Silas, they drag him out into the riot, and back to the market for trial.  The charges are remarkably similar to Philippi, but the treatment is different, Jason and others with him just gave a "pledge" of some sort and are released.  Paul, Silas, and Timothy are sent to Berea, about 50 miles away.

This new city is prominent as well, not as big as Thessalonica, but still good size.  In this synagogue, the Jews are different.  Here they examine the Scriptures for themselves for what Paul is teaching.  Luke says they were more noble and gives two reasons, first, they examine carefully and extensively the Scriptures.  Second, they do so for days.  Many of the prominent people of the city believe, and the Jews don't seem to mind it so much.  But then trouble follows Paul and Silas from Thessalonica.

The Jews there, hearing that Paul and Silas are in Berea, go there and stir up trouble.  There's not a lot of detail, but it's bad enough to inspire the believers to send Paul away (but not Silas and Timothy).  It seems enough to quell the riot that Paul leaves.  So, essentially, it's focused on him.  He has the wrong sort of followers.  He has the good sort too, but this bad sort cause a lot of trouble for him.  It's grounds for some real "soul searching" on his part.

Is Paul wrong to be willing to stir up so much unrest?  Is he doing what he's doing the right way?  Does he have some sort of adversarial attitude that just sets people off or rubs them the wrong way?  People seemed to love Barnabas, Silas, Timothy, but Paul...well, he has his fan club and then he has those following him with clubs.  Why would a group of Jews be so upset with this guy that they travel to cause him trouble?  They're even Jews, like he is.  You'd think they'd get along.  But clearly they don't.  I think there are several reasons, but I'll give the two I think are the most powerful motivators.

Paul senses his call by Jesus, his drive from the Holy Spirit, is to bring the good news of Jesus, the Jewish Messiah, to Gentiles.  This is a huge problem for Jews in the culture of the first century.  Jews at this time are entrenched and embattled to maintain their culture as separate from the Gentiles they live among, while still living among them.  The customs are so different and rigorously separate that this is hard on both the Jews and the Gentiles with whom they interact.  Sometimes the Gentiles responded by joining the Jews in their veneration of God without becoming Jews themselves.  Others responded by ostracizing the Jews leading to various expressions of Antisemitism (like in Philippi).  It was a 'culture' war and the Jews had always been on the defensive with it.  So, understandably, they were real touchy when someone tries to take over their Messiah.  The Messiah is for the Jews!  What would happen to the culture war if this weren't true?  The Jews would be in danger of being assimilated into the cultures around them and lose their heritage, or so it would seem.  That was not an option for a lot of Jews focused on the culture war.

But there is a second reason which I feel affected Jews and Gentiles both.  In Philippi it was some Gentiles who caused the riot.  In all three places, Gentiles are involved in the disturbances.  In some way, there is something about Paul which inspires animosity in people without regard to cultural background.  We probably know people who have this affect on others.  They just rankle most people.  They "don't play well with others."  There are a variety of reason, anger issues, arrogance, rudeness, and so on.  The only reason I don't think these are the issues comes from Paul's writings.  If he had these issues, he would not have been able to write 1 Corinthians 13 with much credibility with the Corinthian church.  In fact, in that letter, he seems to be struggling with credibility from being too gentle in person (which seems odd).  I suspect there something else.  I don't know this for a fact about Paul, nor is there a tremendous amount of "extra biblical" support anywhere, and I have to admit I may be transferring something of myself into this interpretation.  But I suspect that he may have been very frustrating for A-type personalities in much the same way the fictional character, Detective Columbo was portrayed to be.  I don't think Paul stumbled about or seemed distracted, or sort of "out of it", but that he didn't appear to be any sort of "scholar" or worthy debater.  I think he neither looked the part of a "Scribe" nor behaved like one, but he could out-think them most days of the week.  I think the cognizant dissonance between what he looked like and what he was capable of was just too much for certain powerful personalities to handle.  I think of him as essentially a human theological ambush (my hero!).

Now, the last reason is a whole lot of speculation.  Maybe, possibly, but maybe not.  Even if it were a reason, it's possibly not a prominent one (especially not in Philippi where there wasn't much of debate).  I suppose what I gain from it is that people are often judged by outward appearance, but rarely are what they look like.  It's not that people always put up facades, but that we are so complex.  Sometimes the outward appearance isn't "wrong" just not the main plot of our life story.  I find delight in discovering the disconnect between what people look like and who they turn out to be.  People who turn out to be so much more than appearances are so refreshing to me.  People who turn out to be so much less, well, not so much.

So, what do people discover with me?  I think my Master wants me to be much more than I appear.  I suspect that, as treasures of heaven in jars of clay, I am to be plain on outside, but precious on the inside.  People should discover Jesus in me and not so much "me" in me.  I don't think people should discover a "know-it-all" or "closet-litigator", but rather the qualities of my Master within me.  Sometimes those qualities do seem to know all, and sometimes they argue remarkably well.  But those can't be the quality they discover, or it's just more of "me" in me.  Perhaps I can be a walking human theological ambush, but I hope that what jumps out at them in the ambush is the Spirit of the Living God.  After all, the in the King James, He is referred to as the "Holy Ghost"!  Mmmuuuuhhhaahhhaahhhaa!