Then Job replied to the Lord:
“I know that you can do all things;
no purpose of yours can be thwarted.
You asked, ‘Who is this that obscures my plans without knowledge?’
Surely I spoke of things I did not understand,
things too wonderful for me to know.
“You said, ‘Listen now, and I will speak;
I will question you,
and you shall answer me.’
My ears had heard of you
but now my eyes have seen you.
Therefore I despise myself
and repent in dust and ashes.”
This week we have discussed different traps that lead us away from God by magnifying our own gratifications. Prosperity, righteousness, suffering, and logic are all different methods of worshiping the self rather than God. These traps have existed under different names since humans began to regard themselves as “selves.” Epicureanism, stoicism, masochism, deism, karma, and many other belief systems are designed to venerate wealth or personal holiness or pain or logic in a vacuum created by the absence of God. Our self-centered understanding of life is doomed to failure, like a donut on a car or a tarp over a hole in the roof. God alone understands the universe because he crafted it with perfect will. We must bring our wealth, our righteousness, suffering, and knowledge to Him for His glory.
Pray: God, I submit everything to you. My life is not my own. My children are not my own. Not even my destiny is my own. I repent the times that I’ve tried to usurp your place. All wisdom and justice belong to you. Help me destroy the idol I’ve constructed of myself. Instead, let me seek to fulfill your will. Amen.
