{"id":6329,"date":"2015-02-13T00:05:13","date_gmt":"2015-02-13T08:05:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/?p=6329"},"modified":"2015-02-12T11:09:29","modified_gmt":"2015-02-12T19:09:29","slug":"ignorance-is-not-bliss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/2015\/02\/13\/ignorance-is-not-bliss\/","title":{"rendered":"Ignorance is not Bliss"},"content":{"rendered":"

Then the LORD said to Job,
\n\u201cWill the faultfinder contend with the Almighty?
\nLet him who reproves God answer it.\u201d
\nThen Job answered the LORD and said,
\n\u201cBehold, I am insignificant; what can I reply to You?
\nI lay my hand on my mouth.
\n\u201cOnce I have spoken, and I will not answer;
\nEven twice, and I will add nothing more.\u201d
\n Then the LORD answered Job out of the storm and said,
\n\u201cNow gird up your loins like a man;
\nI will ask you, and you instruct Me.
\n\u201cWill you really annul My judgment?
\nWill you condemn Me that you may be justified?
\n \u201cOr do you have an arm like God,
\nAnd can you thunder with a voice like His?
\n\u201cAdorn yourself with eminence and dignity,
\nAnd clothe yourself with honor and majesty.
\n\u201cPour out the overflowings of your anger,
\nAnd look on everyone who is proud, and make him low.
\n\u201cLook on everyone who is proud, and humble him,
\nAnd tread down the wicked where they stand.
\n\u201cHide them in the dust together;
\nBind them in the hidden place.
\n\u201cThen I will also confess to you,
\nThat your own right hand can save you. (Job 40:1-14)<\/em>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Ignorance is not bliss. Instead, it\u2019s more like sweeping dirt under a rug. Job\u2019s problem was the problem that all humans have: a limited understanding. A teenager may think she is making good choices based on her life experiences, but the adults in her life can easily point out everything she has missed. Likewise, even the brightest, best educated, most thoroughly equipped individual falls far short of God\u2019s knowledge. Job and his friends thought they knew what was going on. Job\u2019s friends were convinced he was guilty of a major sin, while Job was certain that God\u2019s attack on him was without cause. Job was closer to the truth. In fact, God himself said that his suffering was without cause, but only in the sense that he wasn\u2019t being punished for misbehavior. The explanation for Job\u2019s trials was Satan\u2019s belief that people served God only as a means to an end. Satan and Job\u2019s friends believed good behavior purchased God\u2019s blessing. God\u2019s purpose in what happened to Job was to demonstrate that Satan\u2019s position was mistaken. In fact, a human being could remain faithful to God even if he wasn\u2019t getting anything out of it.<\/p>\n

Just because we don\u2019t understand what is happening to us, doesn\u2019t mean that there isn\u2019t a good reason for it. We have to decide to love God, to trust him, and to follow him, regardless.<\/p>\n

Send to Kindle<\/span><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Then the LORD said to Job, \u201cWill the faultfinder contend with the Almighty? Let him who reproves God answer it.\u201d Then Job answered the LORD and said, \u201cBehold, I am insignificant; what can I reply to You? I lay my … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_s2mail":"yes"},"categories":[18,17,16],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6329"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6329"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6329\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6332,"href":"http:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6329\/revisions\/6332"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6329"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6329"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6329"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}