Day 153: Job 37, 38 and 39

Who is this that darkens my counsel with words without knowledge? (Job 38:2)

How often do we… let me start over. How often do I presume to speak for God? This is a danger to which pastors are especially prone. In today’s world, the closest thing to the Thus saith the Lord of the Old Testament prophets is the Sunday morning message preached from pulpits all over the world.

We attend school to ensure we are interpreting the Scriptures correctly, and speak with confidence that we are representing God accurately. Yet at the same time, we must be careful to leave our dogmatism at home, for we are human and our understanding of God’s word and God’s ways are dynamic (at least it should be), shifting over time as we grow deeper in knowledge and deeper in relationship with our Creator.

When Jesus said, It is written… (Matthew 4:4), he left it at that. But on other occasions he said, You have heard that it was said . . . , but I tell you… (5:21,22). He spoke with an innate authority (which we will never have), refuting the law’s popular interpretation, yet never refuting Scripture itself.

Rather than darkening God’s counsel by presuming to speak for him with words without knowledge, we must be careful rather to let the voice of God speak for itself through a correct and responsible interpretation of the scriptural text.

Do you speak for God, or do you allow God to speak for himself?