The Mindfulness of God
Have you ever had someone say to you, "Just leave me alone!"
My youngest has said that to me, more than once, as I am trying to help him do something that he wants to do on his own. There's your parable.
Job says something similar to God. As a reminder, Job lost his entirely livelihood and family, minus his nagging wife that has counseled him to commit suicide (Job 2:9).
In Job 7, we have Job coming close to fulfilling his wife's wishes. He's arguably at his lowest point of his life. We hear his prayer of complaint in verses 13-19:
When I say, ‘My bed will comfort me,
my couch will ease my complaint,’
then you scare me with dreams
and terrify me with visions,
so that I would choose strangling
and death rather than my bones.
I loathe my life; I would not live forever.
Leave me alone, for my days are a breath.
What is man, that you make so much of him,
and that you set your heart on him,
visit him every morning
and test him every moment?
How long will you not look away from me,
nor leave me alone till I swallow my spit?
Notice the part of Job's complaint that asks, "What is man, that you make so much of him, and that you set your heart on him, visit him every morning and test him every moment?"
If we stripped this verse of its context, you may be tempted to hang it on your wall or stitch it into a pillow case! But it's clear this is a complaint from Job that God is paying him so much attention that he is tired of it!
What is man? God's punching bag.
"Just leave me alone!"
Later in the book, one of Job's friends, Bildad, gives Job his two cents into the matter (Job 25:1-6). Unhelpfully, Bildad says:
“Dominion and fear are with God;
he makes peace in his high heaven.
Is there any number to his armies?
Upon whom does his light not arise?
How then can man be in the right before God?
How can he who is born of woman be pure?
Behold, even the moon is not bright,
and the stars are not pure in his eyes;
how much less man, who is a maggot,
and the son of man, who is a worm!”
Bildad's view of humanity is that there is no hope for humanity in the eyes of God. If the moon and stars don't stand a chance, how much less of a chance do we have? Our standing before God is utterly hopeless, and we should simply give up. There is zero value or care God gives to His image.
What is man? A grotesque worm.
David has a different answer, rooted in Genesis 1-2. He writes in Psalm 8:3-6:
When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,
what is man that you are mindful of him,
and the son of man that you care for him?
Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings
and crowned him with glory and honor.
You have given him dominion over the works of your hands;
you have put all things under his feet...
Can you spot the differences in David's outlook from Job's and Bildad's? Bildad looked to the moon and stars and saw hopelessness. David sees majesty. Bildad's comparison of us to the moon and stars was to showcase our curse of unrighteousness. David was reminded of our blessing of glory and honor.
Job sees God's attention on man as a vexing thing. David sees it as splendid. David knew hardship (see most of the other Psalms). But despair should be understood in the light of God's relationship to man. This relationship is one of crowning for dominion and blessing, not primarily of cursing.
What is man? God's Image that He is mindfully taking care of in ways we will never understand.
My youngest has said that to me, more than once, as I am trying to help him do something that he wants to do on his own. There's your parable.
Job says something similar to God. As a reminder, Job lost his entirely livelihood and family, minus his nagging wife that has counseled him to commit suicide (Job 2:9).
In Job 7, we have Job coming close to fulfilling his wife's wishes. He's arguably at his lowest point of his life. We hear his prayer of complaint in verses 13-19:
When I say, ‘My bed will comfort me,
my couch will ease my complaint,’
then you scare me with dreams
and terrify me with visions,
so that I would choose strangling
and death rather than my bones.
I loathe my life; I would not live forever.
Leave me alone, for my days are a breath.
What is man, that you make so much of him,
and that you set your heart on him,
visit him every morning
and test him every moment?
How long will you not look away from me,
nor leave me alone till I swallow my spit?
Notice the part of Job's complaint that asks, "What is man, that you make so much of him, and that you set your heart on him, visit him every morning and test him every moment?"
If we stripped this verse of its context, you may be tempted to hang it on your wall or stitch it into a pillow case! But it's clear this is a complaint from Job that God is paying him so much attention that he is tired of it!
What is man? God's punching bag.
"Just leave me alone!"
Later in the book, one of Job's friends, Bildad, gives Job his two cents into the matter (Job 25:1-6). Unhelpfully, Bildad says:
“Dominion and fear are with God;
he makes peace in his high heaven.
Is there any number to his armies?
Upon whom does his light not arise?
How then can man be in the right before God?
How can he who is born of woman be pure?
Behold, even the moon is not bright,
and the stars are not pure in his eyes;
how much less man, who is a maggot,
and the son of man, who is a worm!”
Bildad's view of humanity is that there is no hope for humanity in the eyes of God. If the moon and stars don't stand a chance, how much less of a chance do we have? Our standing before God is utterly hopeless, and we should simply give up. There is zero value or care God gives to His image.
What is man? A grotesque worm.
David has a different answer, rooted in Genesis 1-2. He writes in Psalm 8:3-6:
When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,
what is man that you are mindful of him,
and the son of man that you care for him?
Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings
and crowned him with glory and honor.
You have given him dominion over the works of your hands;
you have put all things under his feet...
Can you spot the differences in David's outlook from Job's and Bildad's? Bildad looked to the moon and stars and saw hopelessness. David sees majesty. Bildad's comparison of us to the moon and stars was to showcase our curse of unrighteousness. David was reminded of our blessing of glory and honor.
Job sees God's attention on man as a vexing thing. David sees it as splendid. David knew hardship (see most of the other Psalms). But despair should be understood in the light of God's relationship to man. This relationship is one of crowning for dominion and blessing, not primarily of cursing.
What is man? God's Image that He is mindfully taking care of in ways we will never understand.
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