Who is this that
darkens my counsel with words without knowledge? (NIV 1984, 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.
TODAY’S MEDITATION
Do you speak for God, or do
you allow God to speak for himself? Who’s better at it?
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