ONE OF THE BEAUTIES of Scripture is that, from one verse to the next, its subject matter may range from cosmological truth to personal tragedy. The entire Book of Job is a case in point. And within that book there is a verse that seems to contain both extremes in the confines of only six…
Author: Curtis L. Mattson
When Good Advice is Bad for You
WHAT HAPPENS WHEN a friend’s advice is actually the devil talking? Maybe what a friend says sounds right, but (1) it either doesn’t fit you, (2) it doesn’t fit the circumstances, (3) it comes from bad theology, and/or (4) it comes from bad motives. After Job loses everything, his friend Eliphaz leads off the barrage of…
Playing Peek-a-boo with God?
A GOD WHO HIDES—several Old Testament writers use the term. And obviously it is a great theme in Job as well (13:24). The writers of the Psalms, the prophet Isaiah … it is the common experience of God’s people ever since the Garden of Eden, where we hid ourselves from God. At the risk of…
Not In Our Stars but In Our Selves
IN A RECENT SERMON, I was reminded of a verse that I’ve always felt was very helpful but very “under-preached.” That is, I don’t recall ever hearing a minister of the word speak directly on what it addresses. But to me, it’s one of those verses that clears up so many things, especially when it…
Shut Up and Listen
IN LIGHT OF RECENT societal unrest over continuing racial injustice, I am moving up the calendar on this post entitled “Shut Up and Listen” (or, more politely, “Listening is Better than Speaking”). And it will be an abbreviated one. Judging someone as guilty is a major theme in the Book of Job and continues to…
A Pretty Nurse is Selling Poppies from a Tray
TO QUOTE THE BEATLES’ enigmatic lyric about the young lady selling flowers from a shelter in the middle of the roundabout, “though she feels as if she’s in a play, she is anyway” (Penny Lane, Lennon-McCartney, 1967). Sometimes we also forget we are in a play. But, to quote another, somewhat earlier British poet, each…
Was Job the Father of the Year?
SO, WHAT WAS JOB LIKE as a father? Would he have been voted the “Father of the Year?” Well, considering his children were all killed in the first chapter of the book, and his wife—after her less-than-encouraging “Curse God and die” advice—is strangely silent throughout, we have very little to go on. What We Do…
What is Evil and Where Does it Come From?
THESE TWO BIG QUESTIONS need to be tackled. (1) First of all, what is evil? (2) Secondly, where does it come from (or what causes it)? This post will discuss the second question first. Evil—or more precisely, the results of evil—are like the shock waves from a bomb blast. (I was going to say are…
So Many Questions, So Little Time
THE SUBJECTS COVERED in the book of Job—possibly the oldest book in the Bible—range from the intimate to the expansive, from human emotion to celestial cosmology, from the psychological effects of physical pain to the question of delayed justice and retribution. As you read it, you will notice that themes tend to repeat throughout, with…