There was a time when Job, an otherwise righteous man, complained about God’s treatment of him. Job had experienced terrible suffering and he blamed God.  His complaints went on for a period of time, when God eventually responded that Job was speaking “words without knowledge.” (Job 38:2) However sympathetic God was to Job’s suffering, the criticism showed that Job didn’t know what he was talking about.

God asked Job. “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?” (verse 4) Then the Creator of the Universe described the physical requirements for “building” something from nothing.  We don’t often think of God as a carpenter who built the world.  Maybe that is why Jesus worked as a carpenter when he was on earth.

It is not that God expected Job to possess the wisdom to know what it took to construct the universe.  Job wasn’t there—he didn’t have the years of experience.  Job had not existed for billions of years.  God did not expect from Job what Job couldn’t know.

God seems rather to have expected that Job would appreciate the magnificence of creation.  All he had to do was look at it.  Think about the miracle of life.  After all, Job had seen ten children born from the bosom of his wife.

We’re witnessing a similar ignorance in America today as college students express their disapproval of the Founding Fathers.  Many surveys have revealed an astounding lack of understanding for the miracle of creating a free country.  This isn’t Egypt and we don’t have slaves building pyramids. This is the only country to send sons to war to free people from slavery.  More Americans died in the Civil War than all of her other wars combined.

College students, sometimes in graduate school, are appallingly ignorant of history.  A recent campus survey asked students such questions as, “What does the 4th of July celebrate?”—“What war did America fight to gain independence?”—“What year did America become independent?”—“From what country did America gain independence?”

Many college students could not answer ANY of these questions correctly.  Some said July 4th celebrates a war fought in the 20th Century.  Others thought the Civil War was the war for national independence.

It is unconscionable to be the recipients of such undeserved blessings without “knowing” the history of the country.

God expected Job to recognize that it took greater wisdom than he possessed to create life.  After all, God gave Job a brain with which to reason.  He could see the sun, moon and stars.  Could Job have made those things.  Job was blessed by God.  Was it too much to believe that the same God that planned the universe would see him through the trials of life?

Job’s sin was not that he didn’t understand—it was that lacking knowledge, he still set himself up as a judge of the Creator.

Americans have a right to expect that citizens appreciate the wisdom it took to build a country unique on the earth.

The Bible records rare circumstances when God laughs at man. It always occurs when fools reject the structure God established in preference for chaos. Is it possible that God is actually laughing at America—maybe even laughing at Christian churches?

Surveys have shown that a large number of people who claim to be Christian don’t even know who Moses was.  They’ve never heard of Noah and they have an abysmal ignorance of Abraham, Joseph or Elijah.  Even professors of Theology at religious universities reject the Bible as history.

The Prophet Hosea quoted God as saying, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge,” (Hosea 4:6).  If the truth of God isn’t taught at church, where will our children learn it?  Hosea went on to say, “My people ask counsel from their wooden idols,” (verse 12) meaning they sought answers from sources that were as dumb as a piece of wood.  The modern equivalent is the term, “dumb as a rock.”  Today we go to college to find knowledge about the history of our country.  College professors may be comparable to the wooden statues used by ancient Israel.

Maybe God is saying, “If you don’t want to study the history of Abraham, Jacob and Moses, I’ll give teachers to your children that don’t appreciate Washington, Jefferson and Harrison.”

Until next time,

Jim O’Brien