Proof The Bible Is True

 Job 40:6-14, “Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said: ‘Now prepare yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer Me: ‘Would you indeed annul My judgment? Would you condemn Me that you may be justified? Have you an arm like God? Or can you thunder with a voice like His? Then adorn yourself with majesty and splendor, and array yourself with glory and beauty. Disperse the rage of your wrath; look on everyone who is proud, and humble him. Look on everyone who is proud, and bring him low; tread down the wicked in their place. Hide them in the dust together, bind their faces in hidden darkness. Then I will confess to you that your own right hand can save you.’”

To a hypersensitive, perpetually offended, endlessly emotive generation insisting they’re the victim in every story, God’s words seem less than conciliatory. To some among the aforementioned generation, His words seem downright mean, because as is the case with every self-important naïve who insists that they could do everything better, they’ll rattle off a hundred things they would have done differently, or said differently, all beginning with the famous last words, “If it was me in that situation.”

If it was me in that situation, I would have picked Job up and held him close, and told him how great he was doing. If it were me in that situation, I would have praised Job’s steadfastness. If it were me in that situation, I would have never agreed to Job’s being so sifted by the devil. The thing is, it wasn’t you, it wasn’t me, and our ways are not His ways; our thoughts are not His thoughts, and rather than demand that God align His ways with ours, we must endeavor to align our ways with His.

God was not addressing a child; He was addressing a man. God was not addressing someone who crumbled under the weight of the first trial he’d ever had to endure, but one who walked through the valley and came out the other side with the scars to show for it. Modern-day preachers may coddle and excuse the sheep of His pastures as though any sort of correction were akin to being flogged in the public square, but God chastens those He loves and will not omit or ignore shortcomings for the sake of sparing our feelings.

It’s not out of cruelty, malice, or callousness that God corrects and chastens us, but out of love and a desire to see us grow in righteousness, holiness, and purity of heart. God knows what the end product must look like, and He will not accept an inferior iteration to avoid hurt feelings.

Correction is part of the process; it is part of the walk, and it confirms that God sees us as His own, sons and daughters whom He desires to see walking in the fullness of all that He has for them.   

Hebrews 12:7-11, “If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom a father does not chasten? But if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons. Furthermore, we have had human fathers who corrected us, and we paid them respect. Shall we not much more readily be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live? For they indeed for a few days chastened us as seemed best to them, but He for our profit, that we may be partakers of His holiness. Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.”

Absence of correction is not a demonstration of love; it is proof of indifference. Whether in a spiritual sense, or as it relates to one’s children, if love is the driving force, if love is what motivates, you will do your utmost to correct and chasten them whenever you see them doing something that will ultimately lead to either their destruction or a life absent joy, peace, and purpose.

We are where we are as a society because men have redefined indifference to mean love, and no matter how far-fetched a child’s ideas, they are validated and celebrated rather than corrected and challenged. I love my babies enough to let them destroy themselves utterly, mutilate their bodies in irreversible ways, and ensure that they have no future other than a lifelong cycle of pain and regret! Can that really be called love? You can call it many things, but love isn’t one of them.

That’s just one example, but there are plenty we can point to. The tragedy of it is that by the time the parents realize that permissiveness isn’t truly love, it’s far too late to do anything about it but mourn over what could have been had they done their duty and chastened their children, corrected them, and trained them up in the way they should go.

The Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind and instructed him to prepare himself like a man. We’re going to have a conversation, you and I; I will question you, and you will answer me. Job wasn’t given the option to curl up in a corner and pretend as though he had not heard the voice of God, he wasn’t given the option to throw a tantrum and insist that he would only entertain God’s request if He spoke in a kinder tone, God answered out of the whirlwind and said, this is how it’s going to be, now man up, prepare yourself like a man, and let’s hash this out.

If the Lord tarries, perhaps one day we will look back on the last forty years and begin to acknowledge the damage that was done to the household of faith by those who, pretending to be shepherds, turned out to be nothing more than soothsayers, speaking lies and distorting the Word of life for fear of being deemed unkind or unloving. Perhaps, one day, we will acknowledge that turning a blind eye to sin, rebellion, and the twisting of the gospel was not the act of love they claimed it was, but something far more nefarious, destructive, and deadly.  

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr. 

 Job 40:1-6, “Moreover the Lord answered Job, and said: ‘Shall the one who contends with the Almighty correct Him? He who rebukes God, let him answer it.’ Then Job answered the Lord and said: ‘Behold, I am vile; what shall I answer You? I lay my hand over my mouth. Once I have spoken, but I will not answer; yes, twice, but I will proceed no further.’”

How does a man that God described as blameless and upright react upon hearing the voice of God addressing him personally? Whether it’s Job or Isaiah, when contrasted with the holiness of God, one saw himself as vile; the other insisted he was a man of unclean lips, a man undone by the presence of the One he served.

Even though both men had served God faithfully for years, even though their hearts were pure in the sight of God, and He saw them as true servants, the moment God made His presence known, they saw themselves in the light of His righteousness and couldn’t help but conclude that there was no comparison.

There was no familiarity; nobody in the Bible attempted to high-five God, braid His beard, sit on His throne, or challenge Him to a game of backgammon. The holiness and omnipotence of God demanded the humbling of one’s very being, because they understood who was addressing them, whose voice they had heard, and faithful as they were, blameless and upright as they were, the magnitude of God’s holiness brought them low.

One of the reasons I am ever skeptical of individuals who claim to have wandered the halls of heaven and shared a rainbow sherbet with God is the utter lack of holy reverence, holy fear, and holy awe. Are you telling me there was no reaction similar to Job or Isaiah as you stood before the Almighty? You got to look into His eyes while Moses had to turn his back, for as God said, “no man shall see Me and live?”

What you are inferring is that you exceed the uprightness of Job, Isaiah, and Moses put together, and that you are the singular exception in the history of mankind given that God went back on His own word and allowed you to not only see Him face to face, but sit on His lap, toy with His beard, and have a familiarity with Him that none other claimed to have.

If that’s the claim you’re making, just come out and say it. Don’t be coy; don’t allow others to draw that conclusion based on your insinuations, then when called on the carpet for the claims you made, obfuscate and act demure, insisting that you never said those things yourself; people just assumed them.

You’re attempting to play games with a God who doesn’t. You’re attempting to elevate your status by claiming things you’ve never experienced, speaking words God has never spoken, and appropriating authority that was never yours to appropriate.

Perhaps the best course of action would be to imitate Job, lay your hand over your mouth, and be silent. It is a profound thing to consider and contemplate: the one man that God deemed blameless and upright in his generation saw himself as vile in the light of God’s presence, His voice, and His holiness.

It’s only on extremely rare occasions that men see themselves as less rather than more of what they truly are. Whether it’s more faithful, wise, knowledgeable, or righteous, men usually round up rather than round down. The see themselves in a more positive light than objectively deserved, then in what soon becomes an endless loop of self-aggrandizement, they use that positive assessment of themselves to elevate their status in their own minds, excusing behaviors otherwise looked down upon and condemned by the Word, because if God deemed it so bad they wouldn’t see themselves as being so righteous, take one step further away from truth and light, and the cycle begins anew again.

Was Job truly vile? Had Elihu and Job’s three friends been right all along? Was his love for God just a pretense? Was he putting on airs for the sake of saving face? In light of how God viewed him, and being told that Job never sinned with his lips, it’s unlikely, but that’s how he saw himself in the moment when God addressed him. That’s how he viewed all that he had done, because it wasn’t man striving for God any longer, but God striving with man.

God had thrown down the gauntlet, addressed Job specifically, and the only response Job had to hand was to say, “Behold, I am vile; what shall I answer you?” Then immediately he laid his hand over his mouth.

Those who fault God, who insist that He has treated them unfairly, that He fell short of righteous judgment regarding some issue or another, would have the wind knocked out of their sail in an instant if God were to turn their gaze upon them and ask that they substantiate their claims.

Feelings and facts are distinctly different and separate from each other. They are not interchangeable, nor can you claim something is fact when it is a feeling. Conversely, you cannot accuse someone of being emotional, or reacting based on feelings when facts have been presented to them, and they are unwilling to contend with the matter with objective intellectual honesty.

Job knew two things at this point: first, that God had addressed him personally, and second, in light of His holiness, the only thing he could say was, “Behold, I am vile; what shall I answer You?”

In the end, Job was just a man. Blameless and upright he might have been, diligently fearing the Lord and shunning evil, but he was flesh and bone, sinew and blood, now having the God of the universe addressing him, with the light of God’s holiness making any measure of it Job may have achieved seem vile in comparison.

No man can stand before God in his own righteousness. No man can insist that by their merit, their labors, their adherence to a particular set of practices, they have no need of the atoning, redemptive blood of Jesus to wash them and make them clean. All fall short of the glory of God, and though he was singularly blameless and upright in his generation, so did Job. Now all he could do was humble himself in the sight of the Lord, with sincerity of heart and purpose, understanding that God owed him no answers, but in His love He would nevertheless provide them.    

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr. 

 Job 39:26-30, “Does the hawk fly by your wisdom, and spread its wings toward the south? Does the eagle mount up at your command, and make its nest on high? On the rock it dwells and resides, on the crag of the rock and the stronghold. From there it spies out the prey; its eyes observe from afar. Its young ones suck up blood; and where the slain are, there it is.”

Were God addressing any one of a multitude of self-appointed modern-day prophets, by now they would have attempted to interrupt him at least a dozen times, shoehorning their opinions, attempting to highlight their own perceived wisdom, or even contradicting He who is eternal, Almighty, creator of all that is, without beginning or end.

Self-importance is a disease that is spreading like an out-of-control brushfire within the household of faith, and the damage it has wrought is unquantifiable. It doesn’t matter that those who suffer from this malady are proven wrong time and time again. Whenever the current topic du jour runs its course, and they realize they’re out of runway, they pivot to another just as irrelevant, tertiary, and pointless as the one before.

Oddly enough, they never get around to talking about Jesus, the existential need of Him, the sacrifice He made upon the cross, or that no man can come to the Father but by Him. Up until a couple of weeks ago, the alien disclosure was the thing everyone was talking about, not realizing it was a way of marketing a movie that ended up bombing at the box office anyway, but you couldn’t go anywhere without hearing the anxiety in people’s voices when discussing what it was they were ready to reveal to the world.

The hubristic among the godless even went so far as to gleefully insist that what they’ve got cooking would destroy the faith of countless Christians, put an end to Christianity itself, and upturn the world and what it considered the norm. That only goes to show how little they understand of faith. What was meant to be a bonfire was less than a fizzle, and since the silence must be filled with something, anything, no matter how inane or ridiculous, they jumped onto the next bandwagon, the next thing, that new and fresh take on an old idea that has been around for centuries.

Meanwhile, God is still on the throne; He is still in control, and He looks upon the machinations of men not with dread or a sense of foreboding, but with mockery and derision.

Psalm 2:1-4, “Why do the nations rage, and the people plot a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and against His Anointed, saying, ‘Let us break their bonds in pieces and cast away Their cords from us.’ He who sits in the heavens shall laugh; the Lord shall hold them in derision.’”

If I had a dollar for every time someone insisted that they would drive a death nail into the heart of Christianity, I’d have a lot of dollars. The only instance I can think of where I would have more dollars still is if I had a dollar for every time someone predicted the date of the rapture that came and went only to be replaced by another date in the not-so-distant future.

Men have always plotted and schemed to find ways of casting away the existence of God, because while He remains, they cannot replace Him. Technology has gotten better, but the root of their desire remains the same: to be like God. From the onset, when there were only two walking in the garden, and no other human existed on the face of the earth, that was the offer, the temptation, the lure, enticement, and appeal: the day you eat of it you will be like God!

God only said you shouldn’t eat of the tree because He doesn’t want the competition. It’s selfish of Him to withhold the knowledge of good and evil, blessing and calamity from you, isn’t it? All it takes is one act of disobedience, one act of rebellion, for you to be on equal footing with Him, then you won’t have to submit to His will, you won’t have to submit to His purpose, you won’t have to submit to His sovereignty; you can do as you will, and He won’t be able to do a thing about it.

People can think themselves little gods until the One True God steps in and makes His voice heard above the roar of the thundering waves. He doesn’t have to shout; He doesn’t have to ball up His fists and get red in the face, because His whisper holds the authority of infinite power, and it’s no hard thing for Him to prove to the stiff-necked and proud that they are not what they claim to be.

Humble yourself in the sight of the Lord. That’s the first rule of living a life of peace, joy, and fulfillment. Notice that I did not say abundance and prosperity, because those rarely bring you peace, joy, or fulfillment. More often than not, the more men have, the more they want, endlessly churning themselves into a lather on the hamster wheel until their heart gives out and they fall off, only to be replaced by another who’s fallen into the snare of believing that this is where joy is found.

Men demand respect, reverence, and awe; they demand that you defer to their wisdom or the way they see things, but God deserves and is worthy of these things by the nature of who He is and all that He has done.

God’s not asking for something He does not deserve or isn’t owed. From commanding the morning and causing the dawn to know its place, to dividing a channel for the overflowing water, to causing the tender grass to grow, to binding the cluster of the Pleiades, or loosening the belt of Orion, to the ostrich, the horse, the hawk, and man himself, God spoke all into being, and governs them by His mighty hand.

He is worthy! He is worthy of all praise, all honor, all glory, and worship. He is worthy of our obedience, faithfulness, and service. When one is worthy, it means they merit the recognition assigned to them; they have earned it, and not simply implied that they have. He is worthy and none other, no matter how many might claim otherwise.     

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr. 

 Job 39:19-25, “Have you given the horse strength? Have you clothed his neck with thunder? Can you frighten him like a locust? His majestic snorting strikes terror. He paws in the valley and rejoices in his strength; he gallops into the clash of arms. He mocks at fear and is not frightened; nor does he turn back from the sword. The quiver rattles against him, the glittering spear and javelin. He devours the distance with fierceness and rage; nor does he come to a halt because the trumpet has sounded. At the blast of the trumpet he says, ‘Aha!’ He smells the battle from afar, the thunder of captains and shouting.”

I am not given to equestrian endeavors. I like being on things that can’t buck me off if they get a mind to, like a comfy couch or the beat-up chair in the corner of our den from where I do most of my writing. Even so, it is undeniable that horses are beautiful beasts, majestic creatures, and that’s before realizing how many different breeds there are, and how much they differ in both temperament, size, and purpose.

God did not pick the horse at random when speaking of the nuance of His creation. There is a purpose in it, as there is a purpose in all God says and does, even if we fail to see it or glean the underlying lesson in what He is attempting to convey.

Even someone as admittedly ignorant as myself when it comes to horses in general knows enough to know that, unlike the stork or the ostrich, there are countless variations and breeds of horses. You’ve got Arabians, Appaloosas, Clydesdales, Mustangs, Andalusians, Holsteiners, Palfreys, thoroughbreds, Coursers, and destriers, just to name a few, each with its specific temperament and size.

In the olden days, a good war horse could mean the difference between life and death, victory or defeat, because if the horse is skittish, reticent, or unwilling to go where its rider is guiding it, it will end up either running away from the battle or in the midst of a mêlée the rider never intended to be in.

God drills down and focuses on what one might readily call a warhorse. He focuses on the warhorse’s attributes, different from other breeds and types, attempting to highlight the finite, granular detail in the difference between them and other breeds like Shetland ponies or miniature horses.

I have a friend who, for some unexplained reason, decided having a miniature pony was a good decision. I’ve never seen a more skittish animal in my life. It would jump at its own shadow, and if ever a squirrel decided to square up to him, he would run into the barn as if his tail was on fire. Had someone decided to ride the tiny trotter into battle, they would have been laughed off the battlefield, because the first lesson we must learn from this discourse into what makes for a good warhorse is to pick the right tool for the job, whether that’s a screwdriver, a socket wrench, a saw, a hammer, or the right type of horse.

It doesn’t matter how expensive your socket wrench set was if what you need at that moment is to hammer in a nail. Likewise, a miniature pony might be fun to look at and let the neighbor kids ride once in a while, but it wasn’t bred for war, no matter how fearsome you try to make it look.

The second lesson that, for some, is hard learned is that more often than not, we learn to appreciate the true value of something only once it's gone and no longer within reach. In his famous last words, Richard III cried aloud, “A horse, a horse, my kingdom for a horse!” only after he’d been knocked off his destrier was he forced to fight on foot.

Just because you’ve had the freedom to worship, fellowship, gather, and openly declare your faith for as long as you can remember doesn’t guarantee it will always be this way. Just because you could get a free Bible upon request from most churches, and in a pinch request one from the Gideons, it doesn’t guarantee it will always be as readily accessible. Value the things you take for granted before they are gone, and redeem the time you have in availing yourself of them with the enthusiasm that comes with knowing what they are truly worth.

The warriors of old had an unbreakable bond with their mounts because they understood their value. They cared for their horses, made sure they were well shod, well fed, well groomed, and cared for, because they understood that at some point they would need to depend on their mounts to press on when others would not, mock at fear, and not turn back from the sword.

History tells us that men of unequaled bravery whose lives were spent in war and on the battlefield wept openly when their horses were felled, because to them their warhorse was more than an animal used in service of a purpose, but a companion and friend.

That a warhorse gallops into the clash of arms, that he does not come to a halt because the trumpet has sounded, or that he is not frightened nor turns back from the sword is not a happy accident. There are no such things as happy accidents. God makes it clear that this fierceness and fearlessness were ingrained in their nature from creation, and like all things, it was done purposefully and for a purpose.

Again, the question begs to be asked and answered: if God took such painstaking details into account when it comes to the horse, what makes you think for one second He doesn’t have your situation well in hand? If He meticulously designed and crafted a horse for battle, making it different in temperament and disposition from the placid, timid horses that just want a carrot, what makes you think He is less engaged or aware of your need or pain?

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr.  

 Job 39:13-18, “The wings of the ostrich wave proudly, but are her wings and pinions like the kindly stork’s? For she leaves her eggs on the ground, and warms them in the dust; she forgets that a foot may crush them, or that a wild beast may break them. She treats her young harshly, as though they were not hers; her labor is in vain, without concern, because God deprived her of wisdom, and did not endow her with understanding. When she lifts herself on high, she scorns the horse and its rider.”

If you ever run across a Swiss timepiece, an Italian suit, or a German car, your rightful expectation is that they are impeccably crafted, made of the best materials, and as such highly sought after and coveted. When you drill down even further, you have the premier specialists in a general field that are sought after even more, especially when it comes to art, whether watercolor, oil paints, acrylics, or everything in between.

One’s reaction is different if they chance upon a long-lost Picasso than if they discovered a Roberto original, even though they were of the same generation, applied themselves, and put brush to canvas. Who’s Roberto? Exactly! No clue. I’m sure there was a guy named Roberto in the 1900s who tried just as hard as Pablo Picasso to create masterpieces on canvas, but while one succeeded, the other is long forgotten, with little to no value placed on his creations.

Who the artist is matters more than anything. There have been hand-etched pencil drawings on napkins that fetched more than all of the imaginary Roberto’s works put together, just because a specific artist signed them.

Everything we behold with our eyes and can touch with our fingers, whether the grass, the trees, or the ostrich, was created by the Master Craftsman, the Master Artist, and His signature is on it all, including mankind.

Granted, I wouldn’t go around trying to pet an ostrich; they tend to spit at people, but countless other animals lend themselves to being petted, if you are so inclined.

It’s not subtle. It’s not vague. God did not hide His fingerprints, nor was He working from the shadows. There is no uncertainty as to who created all that exists, because the Word makes it clear that it was God. Even the little things we can’t notice, the things that are not readily perceived, like the difference between how an ostrich and a stork flap their wings, were meticulously taken into account.

What we have in this monologue, which spans two chapters in the book of Job, is nothing less than the Artist explaining His work, His intention behind it, and the subtle brushstrokes that would have gone unnoticed by a cursory or superficial glance. We can either take God at His word and see creation through His eyes, as He explains it, or take the word of self-appointed critics who had no hand in creating the masterpiece that is the world that surrounds us, as they try to blunder their way through attempting to convince us that it was all serendipity, a happy accident that brought everything together and knitted it perfectly.

If you’ve ever seen a critic try to explain a work of art, then later chance upon an interview with the artist explaining his motivation and what his art means, you’ve likely concluded that critics are full of hot air, unanimously self-important and self-aggrandizing, and most often less intelligent than they think themselves to be.

While the critic can go on for an hour explaining how the painting of a man sitting in a rowboat adrift on a lake has profound undercurrents of desperation, and speaks to the soul’s endless search for meaning, when asked what the piece means to him, the artist will likely say that he was walking by a lake one day, saw a man sitting in a boat, and thought it would make for a good painting.

Perhaps there is no deeper meaning as to why the ostrich and the stork flap their wings differently than that God spoke them both into existence, and saw that it was good.

Yes, there are mysteries; there are things worthy of contemplation and deep reflection, but not all things are mysteries. Why we tend to focus on the non-essentials and take the words of men regarding God over God’s words regarding Himself as viable and true is one of those issues that warrants consideration and contemplation.

God doesn’t stutter, nor does He attempt to shroud ignorance in a multitude of words. He is clear, direct, and has made His will known in His Word. No man living or dead can honestly say they don’t know what God wants of them after they’ve read His Word. They cannot plead ignorance or cast the blame at God’s feet for not being clear and forthright enough about His expectations of those who are His.

Micah 6:8, “He has shown you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?”

Ephesians 4:20-24, “But you have not so learned Christ, if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus: that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.”

Romans 12:1-2, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”

That’s all well and good, but Aunt Midge insists I have to burn incense, stand on one foot, and repeat a secret prayer only she is privy to in order to be pleasing in the sight of the Lord. It seems as though God made the way straight and clear, but what if that is a red herring to deceive those unwilling to listen to Aunt Midge?

Stop overcomplicating your walk because someone insists you should. Worship God in spirit and in truth, put off the old man, present your body a living sacrifice, and know what it is to be transformed by the renewing of your mind, walking humbly with your God, and feeling His presence in your life. He has shown you, O man, what is good; you just have to be willing to see it and follow through with action.

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr.  

 Job 39:5-12, “Who set the wild donkey free? Who loosed the bonds of the onager, whose home I have made in the wilderness, and the barren land his dwelling? He scorns the tumult of the city; he does not heed the shouts of the driver. The range of the mountains is his pasture, and he searches after every green thing. Will the wild ox be willing to serve you? Will he bed by your manger? Can you bind the wild ox in the furrow with ropes? Or will he plow the valleys behind you? Will you trust him because his strength is great? Or will you leave your labor to him? Will you trust him to bring home your grain, and gather it to your threshing floor?”

There is one God. There is one King on the throne, and all the rest are pretenders to it. Men might aspire to the title of little gods, but once we get a glimpse into what God can do, what He has done, who He is, the detail that went into the creation of something as insignificant as the wild donkey, or the wild ox, we soon realize that though they might claim to be deities, they fall short of the definition, and vastly so.

Even so, self-delusion is a powerful aphrodisiac, and there have been those throughout history who insisted that they could readily replace the God of the universe, and in their hubris insisted they could do a better job of it. When pressed on the issue and asked what they would have done differently, it’s always some vague, opaque thing about healing the world, or making men live in brotherhood, not understanding the underlying implications of either.

As far as the world goes, God created a perfect world, harmonious and wondrous. It’s not God who systematically went on a rampage to destroy His wondrous creation; it was man. It’s akin to my wife baking a cake, perfect in every way, then having one of the neighbor kids come by and crush it into an oddly shaped amalgam of frosting, unrecognizable in its current form from what it was intended to be, then blaming my wife for making such an unappetizing dessert. What she made was glorious, and she is not to blame for its destruction because it wasn’t her hands that crushed it and mangled it, but the hands of another.

As far as the brotherhood of man is concerned, if free will does not exist, then all we would end up being are automatons, robots in flesh suits going about doing the bidding of another without agency or choice. Compulsion isn’t love. Love is not compulsory. We choose to love. We choose to submit. We choose to worship. We choose to honor. We choose to obey. God’s desire is that we choose Him and reciprocate the love He has shown, rather than force us into fealty like some medieval overlord who sacked a neighboring village and now rules over the peasants with an iron fist.

Yes, God reveals Himself; God entreats; God beckons; God calls, but we must heed the call, answer His entreaties, and choose to humble ourselves at the foot of the cross and follow after Him.

When Joshua stood before the people and declared, “Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve”, it means they had a choice! As for him and his house, the choice had already been made. They would serve the Lord in sincerity and truth.

You can’t serve two masters; you must choose one. The choice is yours, as are the consequences. I can’t drag you into heaven; I can’t browbeat you into serving God in sincerity and truth; I can’t force you to take your walk seriously and circumspectly, putting away the things you know are hindering your spiritual growth. All I can do is tell you what the Book says, and reaffirm the truth that there are no exemptions or carveouts for anyone. I’m not special, and neither are you. What God demands of the least He demands of the greatest.

Whosoever means whosoever. God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him would not perish but have everlasting life. Belief isn’t something that can be projected onto another, nor is it something that can be forced upon someone. It is inherent and inborn to the individual and something they must come to discover and acquire.

You can tell me you were teleported to heaven and played hopscotch with the Almighty until you’re blue in the face; you may even believe it, but I don’t. See how that works? I believe that Jesus is the only begotten Son of God, the only means by which man might be reconciled to the Father, that He lived, died, and rose again and ascended into heaven, not because someone told me I should believe it, but because to the deepest recesses of my soul, to the marrow of my bones, I do.

The reality of Jesus must be experienced on a personal and intimate level. It can’t be a second- or third-hand retelling of how another was saved and born again, but something you must experience for yourself. What good does it do a blind man if someone tells them they’ve seen a Monet in person? They have no frame of reference; they don’t know what a Monet is, and the most vivid description of one won’t come close to the reality of seeing it.

I once was blind, but now I see. I once was lost, but now am found. I once had no hope, but now He is my hope. I once had no purpose, but now He is my purpose. All these are true, but fall short of describing what it is to be born again, to be transformed, to be made new, and to be reconciled to God.

Another aspect that stood out in God’s description of His attributes is that none of them have anything to do with destruction or chaos. Every one is about order, creation, and the painstaking detail that went into speaking the world we take for granted into being. There is a reason Jesus said He is the light of the world, and not the darkness thereof.

John 8:12, “Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, ‘I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.’”

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr.  

 Job 39:1-4, “Do you know the time when the wild mountain goats bear young? Or can you mark when the deer gives birth? Can you number the months that they fulfill? Or do you know the time when they bear young? They bow down, they bring forth their young, they deliver their offspring. Their young ones are healthy, they grow strong with grain; they depart and do not return to them.”

We tend not to notice when everything is going right. We turn on the faucet, and there’s running water; we flip a switch, and the lights come on; we turn a key, and the car starts; and for the most part it occurs so regularly that we take it for granted. Then something goes awry, and instead of running water there’s a gurgling sound, like the rumbling of one’s stomach too long without food, instead of light, darkness remains even though we’ve flicked the switch on and off three or four times to make sure, and instead of the rumbling of an engine, there’s the dreaded chirp or chime informing us we’re not going anywhere for the foreseeable future.

Man downplays the complexity of God’s creation because it is so finely tuned, a billion, billion moving pieces all working in perfect synchronicity, that there’s never a glitch, there’s never something that goes awry, and we come to assume that it’s no great feat.

God picks a couple of His creations at random and compels Job to ponder all the detail that went into something as common as when the mountain goats bear their young, or when the deer gives birth. To us, absent pondering on the subject for longer than it takes to read the verse, it may seem like no great thing, yet when you drill down and realize there is a specified and distinct timetable for when these things must occur if the offspring have a chance at survival, that one month earlier or later would mean the eradication of the entire species, the vast web of necessary events to occur at specific times, is something our frail minds can’t readily grasp.

Some years ago I saw an art display where someone had built a miniature scale of the Vatican out of toothpicks. All told, it was about six feet wide, four feet deep, and a good five feet in height. The tag on the front said it took over 800 hours to build, and included some horrendous amount of toothpicks, well into the tens of thousands. One could either roll their eyes, shrug their shoulders, and move on, or take a breath to contemplate the dedication, the attention to detail, and the effort it took to put it all together.

Compared to God’s creation, that art exhibit is akin to stacking three building blocks atop each other. Not at all impressive, or worthy of mention, because what it takes to keep various organisms, animals, birds of the air, fish of the sea, plant life, trees, ecosystems, and all the other countless things going, viable, and alive, is unfathomable.

Just because God makes it look easy, it doesn’t mean that it is.

If you happen to have children, you know that consistency is key. It has become my wife’s de facto motto, and she keeps to the rigid schedule of a specific bedtime, among other things. Although you can’t make children sleep longer than they need, even if they wake up, they can’t get out of bed until seven, no matter how much they might want to. By the time they come downstairs, breakfast is started, if not ready, and their list of chores is already up on the fridge, held in place by a happy face magnet.

Sure, there’s grumbling from time to time; they are kids after all, and being the sassier of the two, the young one rolls her eyes and whispers some variation of I wonder if prison is this bad to her sister when they see that they have to fold clothes, vacuum, do dishes, or whatever else is on the list for that day. Even so, they do what they’re supposed to, and once the chores get done, then they have free time, which usually consists of playing their instruments, drawing, painting, or making copious amounts of bracelets for no one in particular.

Then the day came that Mom had to go away on business for a couple of days, and Dad was left in charge. I’ll be the first to admit that I’m not as strict as my wife. Perhaps it’s because I’m a girl dad, or because the puppy eyes still have an effect on me, but I tend to let things slide a bit more than my wife ever would, and wouldn’t you know it, the girls caught on to that particular weakness since they were in diapers.

The first night my wife was away, they asked if they could stay up late to read, and since I saw no harm in it, I said yes. Since they’d gotten to bed a couple of hours past their bedtime, they woke up a couple of hours later than they normally would have, fully expecting to have a hot and ready breakfast waiting for them. They were both hungry, and after asking what was for breakfast, I offered them buttered toast and warm milk.

“But mom makes us omelets and smoothies, pancakes and waffles in the morning,” the little one chimed in, disappointed by my meager offering, to which I answered, “That’s why you should appreciate mom more for everything she does for you, because all I’ve got is toast and milk.”

We ended up settling on hard-boiled eggs and sliced cheese, but the point remains valid: there is a myriad of things we take for granted on any given day, from our health to the roof over our heads, to the birds chirping in the trees and the sun shining on our faces. The unregenerate, those without knowledge or understanding of God, assume all these things are naturally occurring, something they’re entitled to, without sparing a thought to the reality that there is an unseen hand keeping it all together, making it work, and maintaining it. As those who are His, who belong to Him, who know Him as Lord, King, Master, and Father, His praise should be on our lips every day, grateful and thankful for all that He is and all that He does.  

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr. 

 Job 38:31-41, “Can you bind the cluster of the Pleiades, or loose the belt of Orion? Can you bring out Mazzaroth in its season? Or can you guide the Great Bear with its cubs? Do you know the ordinances of the heavens? Can you set their dominion over the earth? Can you lift up your voice to the clouds, that an abundance of water may cover you? Can you send out lightnings, that they may go, and say to you, ‘Here we are!’? Who has put wisdom in the mind? Or who has given understanding to the heart? Who can number the clouds by wisdom? Or who can pour out the bottles of heaven, when the dust hardens in clumps, and the clods cling together? Can you hunt the prey for the lion, or satisfy the appetite of the young lions, when they crouch in their dens, or lurk in their lairs to lie in wait? Who provides food for the raven, when its young ones cry to God, and wander about for lack of food?”

Given that you live in 2026 with access to vast quantities of information at your fingertips, you may not be as amazed and astounded at the mention of the Pleiades cluster, Orion’s belt, Ursa Major, also known as the Great Bear, Ursa Minor, or the Little Bear, or as God called it the Great Bear’s cubs. However, when taking into account that these words were spoken before we had telescopes, planetariums, or branches of science dedicated to the study of the cosmos, even before the time of Moses and the patriarchs, and these named constellations are still referred to today by the same name, you’ll soon realize how mind-boggling the mention of these constellations is.

God even speaks of things that science has confirmed, but that went by another name altogether, such as bringing Mazzaroth out in its season. Literally translated, Mazzaroth means a garland of crowns, and it has been proffered that bringing Mazzaroth out in its season refers to the twelve constellations of the Zodiac, a theory supported by the first chapter of Genesis wherein God said, “let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night, and let them be for signs and seasons and for days and years.”

God was not vague about what He spoke into being, nor had He forgotten any of the intricate details that went into His creation, whether referring to the cosmos or closer to home, at least as mankind is concerned. He begins with a panoramic view of the stars and constellations, zooms in to the ordinances of the heavens and earth itself, then zooms in even further to man himself, asking who has put wisdom in the mind, or given understanding to the heart? All these things God has done, and it is indisputable.

When David asked, “What is man that You are mindful of him, and the son of man that You visit him?”, it was within the context and with the full awareness of all that God had created, who He is, and how far His power extends.

God doesn’t have blind spots. He has not forgotten about you, just as He had not forgotten about Job. He has every detail well in hand, and He multi-tasks like none other. He wasn’t trying to belittle Job, or insist he was ignorant of all that He had done, for Job had known God for long enough to understand the power, majesty, and all-encompassing sovereignty He possesses.

You are not less precious than the lions who hunt for prey, or the cubs who seek to satisfy their appetite, but exponentially more so, because it was not for the lion or the ravens that God sent His only begotten Son, but for you and I.

If He is aware of and provides for the birds of the air or the beasts of the field, does He not have you well in hand? Is He not aware of your prayers, of your supplications? God knows your hurt, He knows your pain, He knows your joy, your sorrow, your loss, and everything else in between. He knows the betrayal you’ve suffered at the hands of those you once considered friends, as well as the comfort you received from those you once thought indifferent to your plight. He knows all things, and for all things there is a well-defined purpose. You may not see it, I may not see it, but we nevertheless trust that God does, and He will lead us to green pastures.

It’s never easy being in the thick of it. Anyone who says testing isn’t arduous, draining, and exhaustive has never truly been tested. Even so, once the season of testing passes, once we hear the voice of God anew, and He confirms what we’ve always known, that He’s been there all along, not afar off, or indifferent, but engaged and present, we conclude as Paul once did that the suffering of this present time is not worthy to be compared with the glory that is revealed in us.

The contemporary church has been fed the lie that coming to Jesus means you’ll nevermore shed another tear, feel pain, loss, or sadness for so long, that it’s convinced itself it’s true. Even though Jesus Himself said that we should count the cost of following after Him, understanding that it will include being hated for His name’s sake, despised by the world, and treated with scorn, we have so ignored His words that when it does occur, it surprises us and shocks us as though it was never meant to be this way.

Our expectation of the way things ought to be must be in harmony with what the Word of God says we should expect so that we are not shaken, disheartened, or discombobulated. In the world you will have tribulation. It’s a certainty, and Jesus presented it as such, but He did go on to say something that those possessing wisdom and understanding have clung to throughout the centuries: But be of good cheer, I have overcome the world!

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr.  

 Job 38:19-30, “Where is the way of the dwelling light? And darkness, where is its place, that you may take it to its territory, that you may know the paths to its home? Do you know it, because you were born then, or because the number of your days is great? Have you entered the treasury of snow, or have you seen the treasury of hail, which I have reserved for the time of trouble, for the day of battle and war? By what way is light diffused, or the east wind scattered over the earth? Who has divided a channel for the overflowing water, or a path for the thunderbolt, to cause it to rain on a land where there is no one, a wilderness in which there is no man; to testify the desolate waste, and cause to spring for the growth of tender grass? Has the rain a father? Or who has begotten the drops of dew? From whose womb comes the ice? And the frost of heaven, who gives it birth? The waters harden like stone, and the surface of the deep is frozen.”

There are individuals roaming about today who believe they are perfectly within their rights to argue, question, disagree, debate with, and go toe-to-toe with God on a variety of topics He has already made clear where He stands in His word. I have come to believe that such individuals do not fully understand who they are dealing with, whom they are attempting to debate and disagree with, for if they did, if they understood that they’re trying to get smart with the One who divided a channel for the overflowing waters and a path for the thunderbolt, they would be more reticent to do so.

The angels, the elders, the living creatures all bow down, fall on their faces, cry out holy, holy, holy, but man regularly decides to square up to God and insist that He change for their sake rather than they for His sake, because it would be easier for them in the long run. Anyone who chooses the way of rebellion isn’t fooling anyone but themselves, especially not God, who refuses to deal with you as with a toddler, because you aren’t one.

False shepherds have infantilized the sheep to the point that they remain in a perpetual state of spiritual lethargy, because one who is barely alive, barely animated, is far easier to control and manipulate than one who stands in the fullness of the power of the Holy Spirit, fully armored and ready for battle.

What’s worse is that some get resentful when another’s zeal exposes their own apathy. Rather than encourage the sheep to press in, seek out, grow, and mature, they grow combative and begin a campaign of undermining them and ever so slowly shun them as though they were the problem.

If you’ve found a church with a shepherd that insists it is your duty and obligation to study the Word, to spend time in prayer, to build up your most holy faith, to press in, and desire more of God with each passing day, be thankful. No, he’s not giving you homework to add something new to your already burgeoning workload; he is genuinely interested in your spiritual well-being.

But isn’t he paid to feed me? No, he’s not. His duty is to rightly divide the Word and present it to you. It’s your job to feed yourself. It’s your obligation to take the truth of God’s Word and allow it to nourish you, take root in your heart, and transform you.

If an adult enjoys the act of spoon-feeding another adult, it’s not because they’re being gracious and charitable; it’s because they like the implied control that being in charge of what another consumes, and how much of it they consume, brings them. There are no gatekeepers to the Word of God. At any time during any given day, you can pick up your Bible, sit down somewhere quiet, and begin to consume it for yourself.

Yes, there is a place for pastors, teachers, evangelists, and preachers, but their duty isn’t to baby you into the kingdom; it’s to provide the necessary tools to make you a warrior for the kingdom.

The more God reveals His attributes to Job, the more in awe of Him we should be. Whether His omnipotence, sovereignty, or power, upon reading the things God says about Himself, we cannot remain indifferent or unchanged.

God is not a one-hit wonder. He didn’t chance upon a hum-worthy tune in the 90s and has since been living off the royalties. Man may be the crowning jewel of God’s creation, the only created being to be made in His image and after His likeness, but the rest of creation is no less than staggering in both size and scope once we begin to line item all the things He references.

God speaks of things only He would know, such as the treasury of snow and hail, which to someone living in the desert would have been as mysterious and unfathomable as autonomous self-driving vehicles to someone living in the 16oos.

Given the region Job lived in, it is unlikely he’d ever seen snow for himself. You don’t get a lot of blizzards in the desert. Sandstorms? Sure, there are plenty of those, but as far as snow is concerned, that would have been as impossible to fathom for Job as rain had been to Noah.

Sometimes God says things the mind of man cannot perceive or understand. That does not make it any less true, real, or viable. Just because I’ve never seen something or grasped how it could possibly function does not invalidate it or mean that it cannot exist.

Through it all, Job never attempted to interrupt. He never raised his hand and asked what snow was, or what the springs of the seas were, or how the water can harden like stone and the surface of the deep freeze. He sat and listened, in awe of the God he served, relieved and refreshed that He was speaking to him once more.

Yes, God is a good Father, but that’s not all He is. If we reduce Him down to that one attribute, great and noble as that one thing might be, we will never see Him in all His majesty and grandeur. There is thought and intent put into the smallest detail, including a path for the thunderbolt. Yes, to you and me it may seem random, but God says it isn’t. Even something as commonplace as a thunderbolt has a predetermined path, one that God took into account and willed for His own purpose. That is the God we serve. If you are in awe of Him, it is a well-deserved awe.         

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr. 

 Job 38:12-18, “Have you commanded the morning since your days began, and caused the dawn to know its place, that it might take hold of the ends of the earth, and the wicked be shaken out of it? It takes on form like clay under a seal, and stands out like a garment. From the wicked their light is withheld, and the upraised arm is broken. Have you entered the springs of the sea? Or have you walked in search of the depths? Have the gates of death been revealed to you? Or have you seen the doors of the shadow of death? Have you comprehended the breadth of the earth? Tell Me, if you know all this.”

Had there been any pride left in Job, had his ego still had a say in the decision-making process or sway over his actions, with every question God posed, they would have shrunk a little more. Some men think highly of themselves. Whether deservedly or otherwise, the arrogance on display in certain situations is jarring, and you can quickly surmise that how they view themselves and what they believe their influence to be far exceeds the reality of their station.

If your self-worth derives from having the biggest house in Louisiana, so much so that you have to boast about it on national television while grinning that Cheshire cat grin, you may be great in your own eyes, but a minnow in a shark tank when it comes to wielding true power beyond your regional ecosystem.

God wasn’t boasting as He asked Job His series of questions. He wasn’t trying to impress Job or his friends because there was no need or purpose in doing so. He wasn’t even trying to establish dominance, because that went without saying. He was stating facts in the form of questions, not to prove Himself, but rather to reveal Himself in the fullness of who He is.

If you go to a specialist and he introduces himself as a cardio thoracic surgeon, he isn’t boasting; he is informing you of why he is qualified to crack your chest open and fiddle around with your beating heart. Your response shouldn’t be, “Good for you, I bet your mom’s really proud,” because it was not his intention to impress you or make you feel inferior, but to make you understand that he had the knowledge, qualifications, and ability to perform a complicated procedure that you may require. Unless one is wholly unaware of the specialties in the medical field, one would likely be less at ease if the man had introduced himself as a proctologist and then gone on to explain what open-heart surgery entails.   

This is who I am: I commanded the morning since days began, and caused the dawn to know its place that it may take hold of the ends of the earth. I have entered the springs of the sea and walked in search of the depths. I have seen the doors of the shadow of death, and comprehended the breadth of the earth. These are just some of My qualifications, not exhaustive or complete by any means, but we’re just getting started.

The only word in the English lexicon that comes close to describing God in all His wonder is majesty, and even that seems paltry and insufficient when considering this chapter in the book of Job.

Perhaps the only chapter in the entirety of the Bible that surpasses Job in describing the sheer awe, majesty, and grandeur of the God we serve is the fourth chapter of Revelation. While in Job we see God detailing His attributes, in Revelation we bear witness to how John saw and perceived the throne room of heaven, as well as He who sat upon the throne, and it is no less than humbling.

How can we not fall on our faces before such a One? How can we not be humbled into the dust as we read of the twenty-four elders falling down before Him, worshipping Him who lives forever and ever, and casting their crowns before the throne?

Whenever anyone tries to project an image of God as some lowly, lonely, grandfatherly type endlessly toying with His beard, having nothing to do but whittle away the hours, so desperate for a little company that He randomly teleports people to heaven just to have someone to talk to, reacquaint yourself with the fourth chapter of Revelation and see how utterly absurd those claims are in comparison to the reality taking place in heaven.

God isn’t lonely; He isn’t isolated; He isn’t desperate for company of any kind because He is tired of hearing the echo of His footsteps in the empty halls of heaven. Contrary to some modern-day teaching, God didn’t send Jesus because He grew bored with the four living creatures of the twenty-four elders who cry, “You are worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power,” but because He loved His creation and wanted to see it reconciled to Him. It is love that guided God’s decision, not loneliness.

God wasn’t trying to make Job feel small, just like someone who tells you they can bench four plates on each side isn’t trying to make you feel small for barely pushing the bar off the rack. God is who He is and will not diminish His attributes, power, or authority because declaring who He is would make someone feel inferior. You will never be God, and neither will I. This is a well-established truth that some have tried to circumvent, and in their quest to elevate themselves, given that they cannot ascend or attain godhood, they make it their life’s mission to diminish, minimize, and shrink the attributes and sovereignty of God.

If I stand before one of the pyramids at Giza, shrug my shoulders, and insist I’m not at all impressed by either their size or structure, it does not diminish the pyramid itself in any way. The problem lies with me for not acknowledging its ingenuity, size, or scope. The same goes for God. Just because some men insist He is less than what He is, it does not diminish Him in any form or fashion.

He commands the morning, and causes the dawn to know its place. He spoke every living thing into existence by the power of His word. All things exist and were created by His will, but sure, Aunt Mildred, you sat on His throne and even beat Him at a game of rock, paper, scissors. Perhaps He was distracted in the moment, for surely the God who knows the end from the beginning would have seen you would play rock to His scissors.      

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr. 

 Job 38:4-11, “Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding. Who determined its measurements? Surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it? To what were its foundations fastened? Or who laid its cornerstone, when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy? Or who shut the sea with doors, when it burst forth and issued from the womb; when I made the clouds its garment, and thick darkness its swaddling band; when I fixed My limit for it, and set bars and doors; when I said, ‘This far you may come, but no farther, and here your proud waves must stop!’”

It takes an almost limitless amount of intellectual dishonesty, coupled with a dangerously myopic view of everything that surrounds us, to conclude that everything was a happy accident, serendipity at its finest, working in perfect synchronicity and interdependence by happenstance or luck.

Sometimes we need to be reminded just how complex the world that surrounds us is, all the wonders it holds, and all the finite little things that have to work together perfectly, with no slippage or deterioration, for us to continue to exist. We’ve become used to all that surrounds us to the point that we take it for granted, refusing to acknowledge the One that put it all together and keeps it from falling apart, spinning out of control, or getting too close to the sun to the point that we all become crispy critters.

It’s like getting on an airplane and never considering the man-hours that went into making all the parts, putting them together, and making sure that the engines don’t give out halfway over the Atlantic. That’s all fine and dandy, but where are my complimentary bag of peanuts and my free can of soda?

It’s mind-boggling to consider that God, our Father, and the One who created all that our senses perceive as reality, couldn’t have an off day, couldn’t get it almost right, but had to get it perfect, one hundred percent of the time, without fail, just so we could enjoy a sunrise without having our retina burned away, or to be able to inhale and exhale without passing out, or looking like a fish out of water gasping for breath when none is to be had.

A few years back, there was a former president who went viral for saying that no matter how successful your business, no matter how much sweat equity you put into it, no matter how much you sacrificed, or how many sleepless nights you had to endure, in the end, you didn’t build that! Those who sit on the sidelines and watch the world go by agreed wholeheartedly, cheering him on for putting the boss men in their place, but those who, by sheer tenacity and work ethic, built something out of nothing were taken aback and voiced their objections to the blanket statement that they hadn’t done a thing, they hadn’t built anything, and somehow it came together for them as if by magic.

Men can say God didn’t build that until they’re blue in the face, but as long as God declares that He did, from the very foundations of the earth, then the claims of men are just that, the rantings of bitter souls unwilling to humble themselves and acknowledge His mighty works.

God begins to ask Job a series of questions that are rhetorical in nature. By that I mean God already knows the answers to the questions He is asking, but just so there’s no misunderstanding as to who built it, who laid earth’s cornerstone, or who shut the sea with doors when it burst forth and issued from the womb, God proffers a multitude of questions which are individually worthy of contemplation if one is ever inclined to get a glimpse of the vastness of the majesty and omnipotence of the God we serve.

Psalm 19:1-2, “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows His handiwork. Day unto day utters speech, and night unto night reveals knowledge.”

Men refuse to acknowledge God not because His handiwork is difficult to perceive, but because in their wicked hearts they resent Him for who He is, and harbor the desire to be as little gods in their own right. If God exists, if the heavens declare His glory and the firmament shows His handiwork, then they can never claim godhood for themselves, and that’s something their hubris cannot allow.

No matter how altruistic some of these men might sound, in the end it’s all about defiance and rebellion. We can do a better job than the One who laid the foundations of the earth. We know better. So send some rockets into space to cover the atmosphere in dust, cut down all the forests, seed some clouds, attempt to do what only God can, and that way we can pretend to be gods ourselves. Once we become gods, then we answer to no one but ourselves, and do as we will without the nagging reminder that one day we too will stand before the judgment throne.

Men can pretend God doesn’t exist, but they are not doing so because they believe it to be so. They do it as a coping mechanism to drown out their conscience, and that ever-present reality that one day lived is one day closer to the grave, no matter how much they would want it to be otherwise.

The need to dismiss the reality of God is so great that they have to contrive existential crises which they can later claim to have a fix for so they can validate their hubris.

The oceans are rising; the oceans are rising! That’s the claim we’ve been hearing for thirty years now, and those who do not believe that God said, this far you may come, but no farther, and here you proud waves must stop, fell for it to the point of selling their beachfront homes and moving inland.

If the oceans do rise, it is by His will, and there is nothing man can do to stop it. If the oceans recede, it is likewise by His will, and once again, there is nothing man can do to stop it. God is in control and has been since before He laid the foundations of the earth.      

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr.  

 Job 38:1-3, “Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said: ‘Who is this who darkens counsel by words without knowledge? Now prepare yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer Me.”

You’ve undoubtedly said too much when God has to step in. There is a great divide between how Elihu saw himself and the words he spoke, and how God perceived them. While Elihu unashamedly declared that his lips uttered pure knowledge, God’s assessment was that the darkened counsel was by words without knowledge. Wise in his own eyes he might have been, but that didn’t make it true.

As someone who’s already seen a movie you’re watching, and they can’t help themselves, would say, we’re getting to the good part. Job had suffered the disrespect of his wife and his three friends, had been accused of wickedness he never committed, but Elihu’s bloviating seemed to be the straw that broke the camel’s back, and God stepped in.

Who is this who darkens counsel by words without knowledge? You may have a stronger constitution than I, but if God ever said that about me, I would deflate quicker than a popped balloon. Any haughtiness, pride, or high opinion of his own wisdom Elihu might have had was stripped away in one sentence. This was not a conciliatory question, nor was it formed in such a way that one would conclude that Elihu was partially right. All of his machinations, his attempted self-promotion, and his insistence that he knew better than Job flew out the window the moment God spoke.

Some have posed the question of why God would choose to speak to Job out of the whirlwind when He spoke to Elijah in a still, small voice. Short answer, because God does as He wills, speaks as He wills, and speaks when He wills.

As far as Elijah is concerned, God did not speak to him in the howling winds that broke the rocks in pieces, nor did He speak to him in the earthquake or the fire, but chose to do so in a still, small voice. The big takeaway here is a lesson we should all take to heart: do not assume God spoke until you know God spoke!

If Elijah did not know the voice of God, he could have presumed that the strong wind that tore into the mountains and broke the rocks into pieces was God trying to send him a message, and would have spent the rest of his days trying to decipher what the message was. Then the earthquake, then the fire, and had he not been still and waited for the voice of the Lord, clear and undeniable, by the time the still small voice spoke, he would have been a knot of confusion trying to interpret something which had no deeper meaning than that it was wind, earthquake, and fire.

When God speaks to His servants, it is clear. When men look for the voice of God when He has not spoken, everything from an oddly shaped cloud to a turkey crossing the road holds a deeper meaning, and rather than wait patiently for God to speak, they sprint down rabbit trails, creating an entire narrative around something that had no deeper meaning or spiritual implications.

I saw a squirrel in a tree; what does it mean, I wonder? That a squirrel was in a tree. That’s it. There’s nothing mystical going on; there’s no deeper meaning. You just happened to hear the rustling of leaves, looked up, and saw a squirrel.

We are bondservants of Christ, warriors of the cross, sons and daughters of Almighty God, not simpletons looking for the universe to send us a sign whether we should risk eating the expired can of tuna in the pantry.

When God speaks, you’ll know it whether He chooses to do so in a still small voice or out of the whirlwind, as was the case with Job. The issue at hand is knowing His voice so that when He speaks, you will know it's Him regardless of the manner in which He chooses to do so.

There should be no ambiguity as to whether God spoke or not, or whether or not it was Him. His sheep know His voice, and His voice is unique. There’s a difference between knowing you received a message from the Lord and hoping that you did, thinking that you did, or presuming that you did. Worse still are those who grow impatient, think God is taking too long in speaking, and presume to speak on His behalf, insisting that they know His thoughts and their opinions are just as valid as God’s own words. Not to belabor the point, but Elihu believed he knew the mind of God as well, and look how that turned out.

Few things could top the harsh rebuke of having God single you out and declare that you have darkened counsel by words without knowledge. When God steps in, everything changes. Every well-formulated narrative, every well-constructed theory, they all crumble under the weight of truth. Not some arbitrary truth, not some subjective truth, but the truth that comes from the mouth of God Himself.

After dealing with Elihu in no more than one sentence, God turns His sights on Job and tells him to prepare himself like a man because He has some questions for him, and not answering them is not an option. You shall answer Me! That’s as declarative as it gets, and Job had no option but to do as God commanded. If anything, hearing the voice of God was an unspeakable relief to Job. It is what his heart yearned for throughout the season of silence, and now, finally, God had spoken.

One thing that cannot go unmentioned is that even when God was silent, Job was faithful. Even when God seemed distant and far off, Job held tight to his integrity. Even when all seemed lost, Job clung to the hope that his relationship with God had fostered, to the point of remaining faithful when to human reason his faithfulness was fruitless and pointless.

We’ve all had our dry seasons. We’ve all had those moments when God is silent, and things seem to be spiraling out of control, and that is when the faith that we’ve built up over the years sustains us and gives us the endurance necessary to weather the storm.

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr.  

 Job 37:14-24, “Listen to this, O Job; Stand still and consider the wondrous works of God. Do you know when God dispatches them, and causes the light of His cloud to shine? Do you know how the clouds are balanced, those wondrous works of Him who is perfect in knowledge? Why are your garments hot, when He quiets the earth by the south wind? With Him, have you spread out the skies, strong as a cast metal mirror? Teach us what we should say to Him, for we can prepare nothing because of the darkness. Should He be told that I wish to speak? If a man were to speak, surely he would be swallowed up. Even now men cannot look at the light when it is bright in the skies, when the wind has passed and cleared them. He comes from the north as golden splendor; with God is awesome majesty. As for the Almighty, we cannot find Him; He is excellent in power, in judgment and abundant justice; He does not oppress. Therefore men fear Him; He shows no partiality to any who are wise of heart.”

By the end of his heated and impassioned oratory, one gets the sense that Elihu realized he’d gotten ahead of his skis. He’d assumed, presumed, taken it upon himself to speak on God’s behalf, insisted that pure knowledge flowed from his lips, then wondered as if to himself, Should God be told that I wish to speak? Should I have gotten permission to say what I said, rather than assuming I knew the mind of God and the entirety of his plan for Job?

Even with that small dose of self-awareness, however, Elihu can’t help himself. He couldn’t stop himself from condescending to Job, insisting that Job teach them what they should say to God. It was not an honest request or a sincere desire to know how to approach God, but more akin to, well, if you’re so smart and so spiritual, why don’t you teach us what we should say to the Almighty? If you have all the answers, clue us in.

The problem is that Job never claimed to have all the answers. He was distraught at God’s silence and did not understand why he had been allowed to suffer the misfortunes he’d suffered. Even so, he neither found fault with God nor did he sin with his lips in his suffering. This was not something Job claimed; it is something God said.

It is frightening to see so many superimpose their opinions over God’s will, insisting that they are one and the same. Oftentimes, the opinions differ wildly from what Scripture declares to be the truth, but that doesn’t stop some from insisting that they know better, or that they are on equal footing with the Almighty when it comes to declaring what is pleasing in His sight and what He finds abhorrent. Men might be allowed to ramble on for a season, but in the end, God will have the last word. He will have His say, and He will judge with righteous judgment.

It is true, God shows no partiality to any who are wise of heart, for wisdom in and of itself is not something that God weighs in the scales when declaring a man blameless and upright. God sees the hearts of men, as they are, without artifice or pretense, and it is the heart, its focus, desires, and yearnings that He judges. Has the heart been transformed? Has it been regenerated? Has it been born again and set upon the path of sanctification, or does it remain as it ever was, as the individual in whom the heart beats boasts of his own righteousness?

Lest anyone think I am judging Elihu harshly, go back to when he was first introduced, and see the spirit in which he approached Job and his three friends. Within the span of three verses, we are told no less than three times that the wrath of Elihu was aroused against Job and his three friends, and it persisted throughout his monologue.

Angry people say dumb things. When one’s wrath is stirred, they don’t take the time to consider what they’re saying or whether it's factual and true. The anger dulls their senses, it unbridles the tongue, and they let fly, without a shred of humility, meekness, or self-awareness. Elihu wasn’t powered by Red Bull or caffeine; he was powered by wrath, and for five chapters he did everything he could to convince Job of his guilt, even though Job knew himself to be innocent.

Notwithstanding the oddity that Elihu appears on the scene, as if out of nowhere, spends a considerable amount of time slinging mud, and just as readily disappears and is mentioned no more, his presence was just another opportunity for the enemy to attempt to whittle down Job’s resolve. The enemy isn’t picky about who he uses to achieve his objectives. The ends are all that matter, and the means are a triviality as far as he is concerned.

Some within the leadership of the contemporary church have convinced themselves that God operates in a similar fashion, and as long as the pews are full and the electric bill gets paid, the way they conduct themselves is irrelevant. That in itself is a snare, and one many a soul has fallen into, and we see the aftereffects, the collateral damage, and the destruction such individuals leave in their wake. The Biblical standard is there for a reason. What God requires of His own was established for a purpose, and when men lose sight of this and justify their rebellion by pointing to the size of their church or ministry, it’s only a matter of time before they are exposed for all the world to see, and yet another mark is suffered by the household of faith.

The difference between knowing about God, His attributes, His might, or His perfect knowledge, and knowing God personally and intimately, is that one who knows God obeys Him in all things, while one who knows about God attempts to justify himself based on his own understanding of who God is and what He requires. Elihu knew more than most of his time about the attributes of God, but as far as knowing Him, he admitted to his own ignorance.

Just because someone is loud and brash doesn’t mean they’re right. Just because someone speaks about God, it doesn’t mean they know Him. It’s in the good fruit one produces that you can determine a good tree from a bad one. Everything else is noise. A good tree that produces good fruit will defer to the One in whom it is planted, knowing that the good fruit isn’t of their own making or design, but by His alone. A bad tree that produces bad fruit will never give God the glory rightly His, but attempt to elevate themselves, seeking the praise and honor of men rather than to be well-pleasing in the sight of God.    

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr. 

 Job 37:6-13, “For he says to the snow, ‘Fall on the earth’; likewise to the gentle rain and the heavy rain of His strength. He seals the hand of every man, that all men may know His work. The beasts go into dens, and remain in their lairs. From the chamber of the south comes the whirlwind, and cold from the scattering winds of the north. By the breath of God ice is given, and the broad waters are frozen. Also with moisture He saturates the thick clouds; He scatters His bright clouds. And they swirl about, being turned by His guidance, that they may do whatever He commands them on the face of the whole earth. He causes it to come, whether for correction, or for His land, or for mercy.”

It’s not uncommon for a man to be capable of speaking profound things while seemingly, within the same breath, speaking profoundly untrue things. Every discourse, and everything someone says, must stand on its own merits, individually, and not be influenced by previous oration, always meticulously filtered through the prism of God’s word to determine its veracity.

If one is diligent in searching the Scripture to determine whether what they heard is true, it will save them much heartache, confusion, and bitterness in the long run. It doesn’t matter who the individual is; if what they are saying is contrary to the Word of God, then they are not to be believed, and their message ought not to be allowed to take root in your heart.

For those possessing both time and patience, you can take the teachings of an individual who is demonstrably contrary to what the Word teaches, and trace it back to when they started going sideways and saying things that were no longer profound, but profoundly anti-biblical, to the point that, given enough time, they begin to teach abject heresy. Some of them did start out surefooted and rooted in the Word, only to end up tailoring their sermons to suit the wants of the sheep rather than the needs of the flock. Others didn’t even bother searching out the truth but, from the jump, began teaching fanciful imaginings whose genesis was their own bellies rather than any divine revelation or knowledge.

It’s those who started out on the right path only to swerve off it who pose the greatest danger to the household of faith, especially if those who are receiving and absorbing their teaching are not diligent in studying Scripture for themselves and in making certain that the two are in harmony.

Yes, men can stray from the truth of the gospel, and they do so more often than we would like to admit. If my baseline for whether I believe them is a sermon I heard ten years ago that was grounded in truth, rather than what they are currently teaching compared to the Word of God, it is more likely that I will swallow the bitter poison rather than reject it wholesale.

Elihu wasn’t entirely wrong in what he said. It would have been too obvious had this been the case. There are sparks of insight and glimmers of wisdom in his oratory, but for every true thing he says about God, he injects his own opinions and judgments about Job, using the nuggets of truth as a means of justifying them.

The duty of a servant is to rightly divide the Word and preach the gospel, not to use the gospel as a foil to support his far-flung theories. As far as examples go, there are plenty to be had, but generally speaking, you’ll know something is off when the individual is more adamant about protecting his pet doctrine than about lifting up the name of Jesus. When the entirety of their ministry revolves around a tertiary issue that has no bearing on salvation, insisting that it is, in fact, a salvific issue when the Bible clearly says it isn’t, you’ll know that they’re in the weeds and are attempting to build their own kingdom while pretending to build up God’s kingdom.

You don’t understand, brother. Unless you wear sandals and a linen tunic every day of your life, you cannot see the Kingdom of God. But that’s not what Jesus said! Well, He just didn’t get around to it, but that’s the key to the Kingdom that has been kept hidden from the masses. We’ve even made it convenient for you. You can visit our online store to purchase a tunic and sandals at a competitive price.

Every day, you say? Yes, every day. But I live in Wisconsin, and the winters are brutal. Hard to think I won’t turn into an ice cube in -25-degree weather with heavy winds. Ah, but that’s where faith comes in, my friend. Put on the tunic, strap on the sandals, and brave the snow to prove your faith. But why not just put on a parka and some boots? Because you would be proving yourself unworthy and lacking faith.

Any performative act required by men to prove their faith to men is folly and not Biblical. It’s neither my job nor a Scriptural requirement to jump through hoops to prove my faith to another. My faith is in God, and only He can measure it accurately.

This is, in essence, what Elihu was demanding of Job: prove your faith to me! Prove your innocence to me! Prove that I have judged you wrongly and you are not the wicked man I believe you to be! By what authority do I demand these things? My own, but if it makes you more cooperative, let’s just say I’m speaking on behalf of God. Did He send you? Did He speak to you? Did God give you the leeway to speak on His behalf? Well, no, but it sounds better than saying I’m just a random guy who decided to take a swipe at you.

One thing Elihu was right about, and it is something worth noting: God is sovereign. He causes it to come, whether for correction, or for His land, or for mercy, whatever that thing might be. Couple that with the blessed assurance that we have a good Father, one whose love for us is beyond dispute, and we can be at peace even in the darkest of days and strongest of storms.   

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr. 

 Job 37:1-5, “At this also my heart trembles, and leaps from its place. Hear attentively the thunder of His voice, and the rumbling that comes from His mouth. He sends it forth under the whole heaven, His lightning to the ends of the earth. After it a voice roars; he thunders with His majestic voice, and He does not restrain them when His voice is heard. God thunders marvelously with His voice; He does great things which we cannot comprehend.”

If there is one redeeming quality about Elihu, it’s that he did believe in God. He did not think everything came about accidentally, some serendipitous cosmic alignment that put everything in its place with such precision as to make a Swiss watchmaker blush with shame. If not for his repeated attempts to promote himself and his insistence that he knew the mind of God when he clearly didn’t, he would even be a sympathetic figure to some degree.

At least part of him knew he was full of hot air because he contradicted himself repeatedly when it came to hearing from God or knowing Him on an intimate level that went beyond mere platitudes. Though he claimed to speak on God’s behalf, insisting that he was certain of Job’s guilt, Elihu goes on to say that God does great things which we cannot comprehend. That he would not allow for the possibility that this was just such a case, wherein God was doing something that he could not comprehend, thereby abstaining from giving his opinion, veiled in the pretense that it was God’s judgment rather than his own, confirms that Elihu had a bone to pick with Job, for whatever reason, and this was his opportunity to twist the knife.

Elihu’s entire treatise, however, highlights a deeper issue with which much of today’s church must contend: the realization that there is a difference between knowing about God and knowing God on a personal level.

As James would later state, even the demons believe and tremble. Belief in God isn’t what saves; being born again does. If an individual believes in the existence of God, but does not take the prescribed steps the Bible sets forth for him to be saved, sanctified, and reconciled to God, he has not been transformed or regenerated, but simply holds to an intellectual acknowledgment that there is a Creator; there is a God.

Upon approaching Jesus, Nicodemus acknowledged that he, along with the other Pharisees, knew He was a teacher come from God, for no one could do the signs He did unless God was with Him. They didn’t presume, they didn’t hope, they knew God had sent Him, and rather than thanking him for the compliment and confirming that he was right, Jesus said to him: “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

Believing Jesus was special is not enough. Believing He did signs is not enough. Believing he was a prophet or a wise man is not enough. Believing in the existence of God is not enough. You must be born again! It’s not an option, nor is it a take-it-or-leave-it proposition absent afferent consequence; it is imperative. Unless one is born again, one cannot see the kingdom of God! There’s no wiggle room there; there are no hypotheticals that Jesus alludes to where someone can bypass being born again.

Men today are fond of playing the what-if game, thinking they can stump God or find a nonexistent loophole, wherein they can see the kingdom of God without being born again. Professing to be wise, they become fools in the truest sense of the word, believing wholeheartedly that they can argue, demand, or sneak their way into heaven.

Either Jesus lied, or He didn’t, when He said you must be born again to enter the kingdom of God. If He lied about this, then everything else He said is suspect, because eternity is the greatest of issues one must contend with. If He didn’t lie, then no amount of bloviating or throwing out hypothetical situations will change the reality of what He said.

Shocking as it may seem, once you strip away the hyperbole, presupposition, feelings, emotions, and opinion, it boils down to one simple question: Did Jesus speak the truth when He said that you must be born again to see the kingdom of God?

As for me, the answer is an unequivocal yes, because of who He is, and the lengths to which He went on the cross that man might be reconciled to God. Once we’ve established that, then everything falls into place. Everything in my life must be in service to the singular ideal of denying myself, picking up my cross, and following after Him, for He has bought me, redeemed me, cleansed me, and set me upon the path that I must follow.

The notion that one who is saved and sanctified can remain inactive and unresponsive to the urging of the Holy Spirit to draw ever closer to God is anathema and has no biblical foundation. To be transformed is to be changed. To be born again is to die to your old self. To follow after Jesus is to do away with anything and everything that would inhibit you from doing so or stunt your progress and spiritual growth.

We treat too flippantly the thing for which the Son of God was born, lived, suffered, bled, and died that we might attain. We serve Him when it suits us, pray when there’s nothing else vying for our attention, read Scripture when there’s nothing good on the television, yet still have the temerity to insist that we are soldiers of the cross, fully committed, faithful to the end, and ready to receive our marching orders.

Perhaps God isn’t doing the things He once did among His people not because He can no longer do them, as though He were contractually obligated to stop doing what He’s always done, but because those claiming to be His pay Him lip service while living their lives in a manner unworthy of the gospel of Christ, wherein no glory or honor is brought to His name. It may be a hard pill to swallow, but perhaps the problem isn’t with God; it’s with us.          

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr. 

 Job 36:22-33, “Behold, God is exalted by His power; who teaches like Him? Who has assigned Him His way, or who has said, ‘You have done wrong’? Remember to magnify His work, of which men have sung. Man looks on it from afar. Behold, God is great, and we do not know Him; nor can the number of His years be discovered. For He draws up drops of water, which distill as rain from the mist, which the clouds drop down and pour abundantly on man. Indeed, can anyone understand the spreading clouds, the thunder from His canopy? Look, He scatters His light upon it, and covers the depths of the sea. For by these He judges the peoples; He gives food in abundance. He covers His hands with lightning, and commands it to strike. His thunder declares it, the cattle also, concerning the rising storm.”

Nestled within his multitude of words, Elihu said something that, in modern parlance, seems more like a Freudian slip than anything else. It rings different than all the other things he’s said thus far, and reveals something Elihu would have been reticent to admit had his mouth not gotten ahead of his brain: God is great, and we do not know Him! But you’ve been waxing poetic regarding God for the better part of four chapters. You’ve been talking endlessly about all the wisdom and knowledge that reside in you, flow from your lips, and have nested in your heart, to the point that everything you say is worthy of being chiseled into stone tablets to be preserved for future generations. You’ve been boasting about your knowledge endlessly, yet the one thing man should strive to know above all else, you admitted, you do not know.

It’s never been easier to learn more about the most obscure or niche topics than it is now. Everyone presumes they’re a genius because they have a smartphone and can get answers at the click of a button, without putting forth the effort of diligent searching. What once would have taken endless months in dusty libraries can be accessed within a breath, and for some reason, men equate that to their own wisdom being enriched and heightened.

Given the abundance of evidence on hand, I would submit we haven’t gotten smarter, wiser, or more knowledgeable, but the opposite. We’ve been dumbed down, duped into using technology as a crutch and a safety net, so dependent on it that if the Apple Watch doesn’t beep to remind us to drink water, we’d die of thirst.

I’m old enough to remember the good old days where you’d have to fork out ten bucks for an atlas if you were planning on driving cross country, mapping your journey, figuring out if you were going east or west, when now all you have to do is punch in an address four states away, and the device will not only tell you the best route to take, but an estimated time of arrival. Easier? More convenient? Most assuredly, but now you have people Google-mapping the grocery store they’ve been to a hundred times for fear of getting lost within four blocks.

We’ve taken to asking Siri about spiritual matters that only the Word of God can reveal, and what’s even more concerning is that we would take the word of a gadget over Scripture when it comes to salvific matters. Jesus said He was the way, the truth, and the life, but if you ask Siri how many paths there are to heaven, I’m sure it will list a plethora of them, because a soulless machine can never grasp the profundity of eternity, nor perceive what salvation means.

Some edgy, hyper-modern contemporary churches have even taken to embracing the notion of Artificial Intelligence delivering sermons, believing it to be viable, rather than the nefarious, destructive threat it credibly poses to something as existential as eternity. Yes, AI may use fancier words, better sentence structure, and more engaging story arcs, but what it can never possess is the unction and power of the Holy Spirit that the sons and daughters of God ought to. A machine, no matter how technologically advanced, can never feel the unction of the Holy Spirit or speak the words the hungry soul needs to hear. Likely, what you’ll get is a carefully curated word salad, akin to Elihu’s self-indulgent, bloviating speech, that neither challenges nor exhorts, and does its utmost to cause as little offense as possible.

Elihu inadvertently admitted that he did not know God, and, as any hubristic soul would, he had to include everyone else in his statement. If I don’t know God, then no one else can, so we, as a monolith, do not know Him! I can’t see it; I really can’t. Here I am speaking on God’s behalf, and I don’t know Him, and if someone like me can’t know Him, then no one else can. The probability that someone, anyone, would have a true and abiding relationship with God while I rattle off attributes about Him just doesn’t compute.

Look, I know stuff about God. He is great. He draws up drops of water which distill as rain from the mist. He scatters His light upon the canopy of the clouds and covers the depths of the sea, but as far as knowing Him personally, I don’t, so you can’t either, for we do not know Him! It’s hard to imagine anyone could be more presumptuous than Elihu, but to this day there are people who insist that, because they have not experienced something, it is therefore impossible for anyone else to have experienced it. Prophecy? Revelation? Divine healing? The indwelling of the Holy Spirit? Surely you jest. I’ve experienced none of these things, and I know a lot about God, so if I were not graced with these gifts, anyone who claims to have been graced with them must be lying through their teeth. Circuitous logic at its best, or at its worst, depending on how you view it, but if all else fails, ask Siri or Alexa; I’m sure they’ll have the right of it.     

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr.

 Job 36:13-21, “But the hypocrites in heart store up wrath; they do not cry for help when He binds them. They die in youth, and their life ends among the perverted persons. He delivers the poor in their affliction, and opens their ears in oppression. Indeed He would have brought you out of dire distress, into a broad place where there is no restraint; and what is set on your table would be full of richness. But you are filled with the judgment due the wicked; judgment and justice take hold of you. Because there is wrath, beware lest He take you away with one blow; for a large ransom would not help you avoid it. Will your riches, or all the mighty forces, keep you from distress? Do not desire the night, when people are cut off in their place. Take heed, do not turn to iniquity, for you have chosen this rather than affliction.”

If Job had never cried out for help, Elihu may have had a point. It’s not that Job hadn’t cried out; it’s not that Job hadn’t pleaded with God for an answer, or asked to be shown his wickedness if there was any to be found. It’s that God had remained silent, and this, above all else, eclipsed what he’d been through and was a torment for his soul. It was the absence of God’s presence and voice that Job found most unbearable even though he’d been reduced to scratching at his festering boils with a potsherd.

It’s not that there was any evidence of Job’s guilt that compelled Elihu to conclude that he was filled with judgment due the wicked; Elihu needed Job to be guilty of wickedness to support his conclusion. It was an attempt to justify his judgment despite there being no evidence of wrongdoing because, above all else, Elihu needed to be right.

During the height of the Communist scourge, one of Joseph Stalin’s most infamous henchmen was an individual named Lavrentiy Beria. He served as the head of the secret police for some twelve years, and his famous quote was as chilling as it was succinct: “Show me the man, and I’ll show you the crime.” To him, guilt or innocence were irrelevant, as was the notion of fairness or justice. To him, the rule of law wasn’t something to be equally applied, but rather something to be used as a cudgel, a tool to get his way, and whether a man had done something worthy of punishment or death was irrelevant. As long as that man stood in the way of Stalin’s stated goal, he would find something to pin on him, even make it up out of whole cloth if need be, because his guiding principle was winning at any cost rather than discovering the truth of a thing. You presume the man guilty, then fill in the blanks at your leisure.

Elihu did not start out with a presumption of innocence when it came to Job. He’d already made up his mind. As far as he was concerned, the case had been adjudicated in the court of public opinion, and Job’s guilt was certain. Now all he had to do was backfill the narrative with incriminating tidbits, lean on causation to do the heavy lifting, and insist that he knew the mind of God when it came to Job. And so the entire thing could be wrapped up in a shiny bow, and he would be the man who’d proven what Job’s three friends could not.

This was Elihu’s version of “it is written” that would take place far into the future, as Satan unsuccessfully attempted to tempt Jesus into turning stones into bread, then later to throw Himself from the pinnacle of the temple, by misusing and abusing what was, in fact, written, but not in the spirit in which it was intended.

Jesus already knew who He was. Satan likewise knew who Jesus was, and any attempt at proving it was tantamount to tempting God. If you know who you are in Christ, you have no need to prove it to anyone, especially to someone who demands you do so in bad faith. Oh, you’re saved and redeemed? Prove it! Even if you decide to go through every detail of how Jesus transformed you, how you were born again, how you no longer pursue the things you once did but Him alone, it won’t suffice, it won’t be enough, because those asking for proof aren’t doing it out of a sincere desire to know, but in the hope that you come to doubt your place in God’s Kingdom.

Elihu was not well meaning, he wasn’t well intentioned, he wasn’t trying to get Job to repent of something he’d done, but rather to sow seeds of doubt regarding his relationship with God by repeatedly pointing to those who came before, who had rightly been judged for their wickedness, and insisting that Job was just like them, and he too had committed evil in the sight of God.

The sad reality is that Satan knows Scripture better than most believers, and if he thinks he can use it to sow doubt, he will not hesitate to attempt to pervert the truth of it toward his own ends. There is one surefire way to combat such schemes, and that is to know Scripture for yourself, consume it daily, and allow it to take root in your heart, so that when one of the devil’s minions comes calling insisting that it is written, you can likewise point to it and say, it is also written, and what you have stated as the basis of your argument is invalidated by Scripture itself, not parsed out, mutilated, twisted, and reimagined, but in context as it should be.

All things being equal, any one of us today would have a far easier time rebuffing the claims of Elihu because we have the written Word to fall back on, we have the Bible to which we can go and glean wisdom and understanding, while Job had none of those graces. What Job did have was unwavering faith in the God he served. He knew himself to be innocent of the things being said about him, and that was enough for him to weather the barrage of accusations and insinuations leveled against him.

If the day ever comes, let Scripture defend you if you know yourself to be a son or daughter of the Almighty, walking humbly in the way he has set before you. It’s the only effective defense, and the only surefire way to quench the fiery darts of the wicked one.

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr.  

 Job 36:5-12, “Behold, God is mighty, but despises no one; He is mighty in strength of understanding. He does not preserve the life of the wicked, but gives justice to the oppressed. He does not withdraw His eyes from the righteous; but they are on the throne with kings, for He has seated them forever, and they are exalted. And if they are bound in fetters, held in the cords of affliction, then He tells them their work and their transgressions – that they have acted defiantly. He also opens their ear to instruction, and commands that they turn from iniquity. If they obey and serve Him, they shall spend their days in prosperity, and their years in pleasures. But if they do not obey, they shall perish by the sword, and they shall die without knowledge.”

There is who God is, then there’s what men would like Him to be. There are undeniable attributes that God possesses, clearly defined in His word; then there are attributes that those who refuse to submit to His sovereignty project on Him as a way to excuse their rebellion and disobedience.

It is obvious Elihu wasn’t speaking about God from a position of having known Him personally and intimately, but rather from a position of assigning attributes to God that he would have liked Him to possess. He wasn’t saying anything new. One of Job’s three friends had already brought up the notion of karmic justice, wherein if you do good, only good will be visited upon you, and if you do wicked, evil.

I get the feeling Elihu would have made a spectacular modern-day prosperity preacher since he reduces everything to a give-and-take, tit-for-tat approach of God, not allowing for the possibility of refinement, correction, chastening, or testing.

If you have no worries, then you’re living right. If you’re obeying and serving God, then you’ll spend your days in prosperity and your years in pleasure. If you have trials and tribulations, you’re obviously doing evil, because everyone knows that status, wealth, and opulence are the surefire ways to know if God looks favorably on someone.

For a man who boasted that wisdom flowed from his lips and insisted that he was perfect in knowledge, Elihu said some ignorant things, showcasing his lack of understanding both of God and Job’s situation.

Because they refuse to consider context or weigh what a fragment of a verse says to the overall message of the gospel, some disreputable individuals could take Elihu’s words and make an entire doctrine out of it, not because it was true and in harmony with Scripture, but because his words confirmed their bias and spoke to the desire of their heart.

Look, it’s right there in black and white: you are on the throne with kings, exalted, seated forever, destined to spend your days in prosperity and your years in pleasure. Never mind that these words came from the lips of a man who had no true knowledge or understanding of God, and who proceeded to speak on God’s behalf words God never told him to speak.

Never mind that Jesus Himself said we would be hated for His name’s sake, and that in this world we would have tribulation. Elihu said we’re going to prosper and spend our years in pleasure!

Who said it matters. The context in which they said what they said matters as well. Some things are said with a negative connotation, but because we’re so focused on getting scripture to say what we want it to say rather than submit to what it says, we’ll flip it on its ear and pretend as though God Himself spoke the words that men took upon themselves to speak.

One of the most surreal moments that occurred not long ago was when none other than good ole’ Jesse had his wife on his program, and in an attempt to justify his excess, he went to the 49^th Psalm. The context of the latter part of the psalm has nothing to do with God prospering His own, but rather instruction not to be dismayed when the wicked prosper. Jesse, being Jesse, just took the first few words of the sixteenth verse and ran with it like his hair was on fire until his own wife called him out and pointed to the context, insisting that the verse didn’t say what he thought it said.

Psalm 49:16-20, “Do not be overawed when others grow rich, when the splendor of their houses increases; for they will take nothing with them when they die, their splendor will not descend with them. Though while they live they count themselves blessed – and people praise you when you prosper – they will join those who have gone before them, who will never again see the light of life. People who have wealth but lack understanding are like the beasts that perish.”

When read in context, the meaning of the text is very different than not being overawed when others grow rich, and when the splendor of their houses increases, as though warning against jealousy and envy, which is what Jesse was attempting to convey. What the Psalm conveys is that all the wealth in the world is meaningless if one lacks understanding, because eventually the grave will beckon, as it has to all those who have gone before them, and if they didn’t know God, it would be for naught.

Elihu’s words might be appealing to the flesh, so much so that men would dismiss everything else the Bible says and cling to them as to a piece of driftwood on a roiling sea, but all they’re doing is clinging to the words of a self-important man who neither knew God nor His presence in his life. I’ve heard enough preachers insist on some variation thereof often enough over the years, but when considering what Jesus said to those who would follow Him, what they should expect while they walk the earth, and how the world would treat them, I have no expectation of being exalted or being seated on the throne with kings.

Sure, suffering persecution is far less appealing than sitting on a throne with kings, as is being hated for His name’s sake when the alternative is to be exalted, but between Elihu and Jesus, I believe Jesus, even if my flesh would rather I believed Elihu.

Who said the thing you’re clinging to with greater fervor than you would the Word of God? Touchy subject, I know, but one that must be confronted head-on, because many are coming in His name, speaking demonstrable falsehoods, and the household of faith is lapping it up and asking for seconds without once considering that Jesus said the opposite.         

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr. 

 Job 36:1-4, “Elihu also proceeded and said: ‘Bear with me a little, and I will show you that there are yet words to speak on God’s behalf. I will fetch my knowledge from afar; I will ascribe righteousness to my Maker. For truly my words are not false; One who is perfect in knowledge is with you.”’

If you know what to look for, there is no shortage of red flags when it comes to Elihu’s speech. Once again, the way he frames it does not suggest that God sent him with a message or that God had spoken to him, but that he had taken it upon himself to speak on God’s behalf.

I’m not done, not by a long shot, and you’re going to hear everything I have to say on God’s behalf. On whose authority? By what authority? What permits you to speak on behalf of the Almighty? Could He not speak on His own behalf if He so chose? Surely, He could!

Men going without being sent and speaking on behalf of God, even though God never spoke to them, have become an epidemic in the contemporary church. It was such a common thing that the more astute among us concluded they needed to up the ante if they had any hope of standing out, because when everyone from Uncle Bob to Aunt Lucy takes it upon themselves to speak on behalf of God, it’s just not that special anymore.

And so we have the new breed of interdimensional travelers who teleport to heaven and back on the weekly, hanging out with God and watching old reruns of Little House on the Prairie, being used as a confidant and sounding board as to how God should rule the universe He spoke into being, because, you know, He second-guesses Himself so often, he needs some input from some spiky haired train wreck who discovered that a portapoti is the Star Trek equivalent of a transporter.   

Perhaps people are so hungry for some type of supernatural experience that they’re willing to swallow anything. Perhaps it’s the utter lack of Biblical literacy, but whatever the reason behind the rise of individuals who make greater, grander, and more bombastic claims regarding their own supposed experiences, it will not end well, not for them, and not for those who follow them.

In his second letter to the Corinthians, Paul spoke of knowing a man who fourteen years hence had been caught up to the third heaven. There is a high probability that Paul was speaking of himself, but because he did not want to be seen as special or unique, he claimed it was some other individual. If it’s all about Jesus as some claim, then they’ll make it all about Jesus. If it’s all about themselves while claiming it’s about Jesus, they will be the ones standing in the spotlight, passing themselves off as superior in spirituality as well as experience, because they are the hero of their story, the star of their show, and there’s only room on the stage for one individual.

That Elihu would have the temerity to speak on God’s behalf was the first red flag, shortly followed by the second, which was elevating himself to the point that he deemed himself perfect in knowledge. One who is perfect in knowledge is with you! By whose qualification? By whose standard? By whose plumbline? My own, of course, silly. Who else can ascertain whether I am perfect in knowledge if not I? If anything, you should be grateful that one such as myself is taking the time to speak to you, rather than asking pesky questions like whether or not I have any evidence to back up my claims.

Trust me; I’m not lying; my words are not false. I am perfect in knowledge, and if you don’t see it, that’s on you. Anyone making audacious claims about interacting with the Almighty Himself and braiding His beard follows up their fanciful tale with trust me, I’m not lying; that’s a tell, and you should be aware of it.

What they are doing when they throw out the trust me line is attempting to short-circuit your rational thinking ability and guilt-trip you into thinking you’re too judgmental and unwilling to give the benefit of the doubt. It’s the same mind game confidence men like to play, where they pretend to be hurt and aggrieved when you call them out on their inconsistency.

You’re telling me that if I give you a hundred dollars today, you’ll give me five hundred in a week? But how can that be? What? Don’t you trust me? I’m not lying; my words are not false. And that’s when they have you on the back foot, no longer wondering why, if this individual could turn a hundred dollars into five hundred in a week, they need your hundred dollars, why they’re still driving a rusty Pinto, or why they smell like a cross between boiled head cheese and an outhouse.

Here they are, just trying to help me out, and I’m questioning their integrity. Shame on me.

Then the greed comes into play, and the question is no longer whether this person is lying or how this could possibly be real, but whether he can turn a thousand into five thousand rather than a measly hundred into five. Those playing the long con will even insist that you start out small, just to see that it works, and return in a week with five crisp hundreds, knowing that the next time it won’t be just a hundred bucks, but a thousand, or even ten.

If you don’t believe these are some of the same shenanigans being done in some churches, you’ve been sheltered, and I envy you for it. From the gold dust that never turns out to be real gold to people mysteriously finding fifty dollars in their Bibles after they threw five bucks in the offering plate, these are tricks intended to elicit a specific response.

Elihu was not motivated by justice, charity, love, or compassion. Elihu was motivated by Elihu and how others perceived him. His baseline was that he be seen as one who is perfect in knowledge and would accept nothing less. If that meant dragging Job through the mud and making him out to be a wicked man, so be it. You can’t have an omelet without breaking some eggs, after all, and it wasn’t like Job was long for this world regardless. Funny thing how, even to this day, people justify the most reprobate, vile, and evil things if they have a mind to.         

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr. 

 Be wary of anyone who insists they have the market cornered on wisdom, and if perchance you desire some, the only means to attain it is through them exclusively. If the person, whoever they might be, places themselves as the middle man between you and the Word of God, and tries to convince you that only via their interpretation of the text and not your own diligent study and immersion in Scripture can you attain the wisdom you desire, at best, they have an ulterior motive and do not have your best interest at heart, spiritually speaking.

At worst, they are attempting to appropriate the authority of Christ and present themselves as an alternative messianic figure who must be obeyed, if not outright worshipped, ceaselessly minimizing Jesus while magnifying themselves to the point of seeing themselves on equal footing, if not superior to the Son of God Himself.

Delusion feeds on itself. Hubris is self-perpetuating. If an individual has started on the path of deception, they’re not going to get better, more balanced, or wiser, but descend further into folly, becoming unhinged to the point of saying and doing things contrary to the Word of God, the words of Christ, and dragging those who would follow them further into the deep.

2 Peter 2:1-3, “But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction. And many will follow their destructive ways, because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed. By covetousness they will exploit you with deceptive words; for a long time their judgment has not been idle, and their destruction does not slumber.”

Given that Jesus Himself warned of false teachers and false prophets rising up and deceiving many, the closer we get to the end of all things, the closer we get to His return, the more relevant His warning becomes because it will be in these last days that the enemy will go all out, doing his utmost to deceive, if possible even the elect. These warnings are there for a reason. They are not to be dismissed, ignored, or brushed off, nor are we to underestimate the power such individuals will display, even to the point of performing great signs and wonders. They are to be taken to heart, understood for what they are, so that when we see these things occurring, we will not be shaken, nor made to stumble, as many will.

We know that many will be deceived because that is the word Jesus used. It won’t be a handful, a few, or some negligible number, but many. What is deception? In simple terms, anything that attempts to replace the lordship, sovereignty, uniqueness, and indispensable need for Christ. The Word tells us there is one way, one truth, and one life, all encompassed in the person of Jesus, who was born of a virgin, lived a sinless life, died on a cross hanging between two thieves, rose again on the third day, and ascended to heaven forty days hence.

There is salvation in none other than in Jesus, nor is there any other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. Anyone attempting to add to or take away from this principle, absolute, unequivocal truth, is sowing deception.

People love playing at being the gatekeepers to wisdom. They love insinuating there are alternatives to Jesus, or that something more than humbling ourselves, repenting of our sins, being born again, denying ourselves, taking up our crosses, and following after Him is required. It makes them feel special, spiritually superior, a cut above the rest, which feeds their insatiable pride. Sure, Jesus is all great and good, but you need a little something extra, a little extra spice, the secret to the secret sauce that only I have the recipe to, and if you want the full experience, you have to do this other thing I’m about to share with you in confidence.

Make sure that what you believe is in harmony with the Word of God. If it isn’t, then no matter how much you might want to believe it, no matter how good it makes you feel, no matter how much you might want it to be true, it isn’t, and that’s just a plain fact. The way I feel about the reality of something does not change the reality of the thing. I may feel like I’m in my twenties, but the reality is that I’m well past fifty, and no matter how hard I might try to talk myself into believing I’m twenty, the creaking bones, achy joints, and wrinkly skin say otherwise.

God does not negotiate terms and conditions. Any man who insists they are exempt from the guardrails the Bible sets forth is either lying to themselves or lying to you. There are no backdoors into heaven; there are no secret passages that only a select few are given to know, and if you follow after someone who claims as much, they aren’t leading you to the promised land but to a place of sorrow, grief, resentment, bitterness, and disillusionment.

It doesn’t matter how often this scenario plays out; it seems as though we never learn our lesson. Every time a wolf is proven a wolf, another steps up to fill the vacuum, insisting that though they act as a wolf, growl as a wolf, consume and devour as a wolf, they are not a wolf. And so, the way of truth is blasphemed anew, and a fresh crop of souls gets shipwrecked, because they allowed themselves to believe something that the Word did not confirm or agree with.

What does this have to do with Job, you might ask? Job knew God, and God knew Job. He did not allow external pressures to dictate his relationship with the Almighty, nor did he allow himself to be swayed by his friends and family into abandoning his integrity. If your relationship with God is anchored in truth, it will abide. If the foundation of your spiritual house is built upon the Word of God, it will weather the storm. Men might call you stunted, backward, antiquated, a relic of a bygone era when people were satisfied with serving God, worshipping Him, knowing Him, and being in fellowship with Him because they didn’t know any different.

I mean, people were happy with the radio before television came along, content with AM FM before satellite, shifting into gear and using the steering wheel before autonomous driving, but now that these things exist, they’re more exciting and cutting-edge. All of that may be true, but where we err is in equating the eternal God and Creator of all that is with technological advancement, concluding that if one has changed, the other must as well. God changes not, from age to age, and generation to generation. There is no improving on God because there is no improving on perfection. Likewise, there is nothing that can be added to a genuine, sincere, and consistent relationship with Him that can make it more satisfying.

Those who seek something other than knowing Him and being known by Him never knew Him to begin with, for had they known Him, they would have realized He is sufficient.

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr.  

 Job 35:9-16, “Because of the multitude of oppressions they cry out; they cry out for help because of the arm of the mighty. But no one says, ‘Where is God my Maker, who gives songs in the night, who teaches us more than the beasts of the earth, and makes us wiser than the birds of heaven?’ There they cry out, but He does not answer, because of the pride of evil men. Surely God will not listen to empty talk, nor will the Almighty regard it. Although you say you do not see Him, yet justice is before Him, and you must wait for Him. And now, because He has not punished in His anger, nor taken much notice of folly, therefore Job opens his mouth in vain; he multiplies words without knowledge.”

The only thing more off-putting than condescending, sanctimonious self-importance is when you couple them with an inflated ego that thinks it not only knows everything, but the reason for everything. Sprinkle in the name of God liberally, not because you are deferring to Him in the matter at hand, but using His name as validation of the rightness of your position, and it becomes difficult, if not outright impossible, to see the individual as likable.

My dad was one of the most gracious people I’ve ever known. He would extend the benefit of the doubt and try to see the good in someone even when scraping the bottom of the barrel and finding little, if any, redeeming qualities. Even the man who once commented that an individual trying to pass himself off as a Bible scholar who obviously knew nothing of what Scripture says, at least had straight teeth, had his limits.

That moment came shortly after my dad became pastor of the Messiah church, the church built next to the orphanage so the children would have a place to attend regular services, since there was no such church in that part of the city. Believers still gather, fellowship, and worship to this day, and it has grown over the years, but back then, it was only a couple of hundred people, plus the children and the orphanage staff.

One day, my dad got a call from another pastor in a different region of the country asking if we would host an evangelist from England and let him speak in our church. The pastor, whom my dad knew well enough, vouched for the preacher, and my dad agreed, slotting him to speak at a Sunday morning service.

My dad was informed that the evangelist would be in touch to hammer out the details, and a few days later, true to his word, he called. Anyone who knew my dad can attest that he was a jovial and gregarious man. He was always smiling, always had something nice to say, was always polite to a fault, and never went out of his way to drone on about his bona fides. Not so with this individual. After giving his name and asking if this was the pastor of the church he was to minister at the following month, he proceeded to regale my dad with all the places he’d preached, and once that was done, he went on to itemize his list of demands.

He needed three hotel rooms for himself and his entourage, nothing primitive, preferably something with at least three stars, a car to shuttle them from the hotel to the church and back since they would be arriving by train, and if the church was planning on any sort of post-service meal, there were a handful of dietary restrictions we should make the cooks aware of. By dietary restrictions, he did not mean allergies, but rather trivial things like a fresh fruit plate instead of a fruit salad, individual rolls instead of sliced bread, and so on.

My dad had planned to put him up in a hotel, although finding one with multiple stars in the area is a big ask, so that didn’t bother him overly much. He likewise understood that people have their preferences. Even though one could question why you would insist on being an unnecessary burden on a church body you were supposedly coming to serve by demanding things that were not, culturally speaking, normal fare as far as food goes, that didn’t push him over the edge either; what did it was the man’s insistence on being addressed by his title, rather than his name, if any of the congregants wanted to engage him in conversation.

“If any of the people want to approach me after my talk, please have them address me as Evangelist Rick,” were his exact words. Not brother Rick, but specifically evangelist Rick, as though that carried a greater weight than being called a brother.

That was when my dad’s inscrutable niceness cracked. Although he was never quite as barbed or acidic as yours truly can be, and often is, my dad was no lightweight. In the calmest voice he could muster, in his heavily accented English, my dad said, “Let me stop you there. I get the feeling we lowly folk are not deserving of being graced with your presence, sir. Perhaps you need a bigger venue to prove that you can walk on water. Have a good day.”

As I was reading Elihu’s words to Job, the same smug, condescending, entitled spirit stood out, reminding me of this event. If all one ever does is look down on everyone else, demanding respect without earning it, demanding to be heard even though what they have to say is banal and lacking in insight, it’s not because they are spiritually superior; they just think themselves to be.

It wasn’t Job and Elihu that God looked upon and deemed blameless and upright. There was only one whom God singled out: Job. Yet Elihu, in his hubris, saw himself as more righteous by far than Job, insisting that he knew the mind of God, His purpose, and His reason behind why Job was in the state he was in.

If you have to tear someone down to build yourself up, that tells me everything I need to know both about your character and your level of spiritual maturity.     

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr. 

 Job 35:1-8, “Moreover Elihu answered and said: ‘Do you think this is right? Do you say, ‘my righteousness is more than God’s’? For you say, ‘What advantage will it be to You? What profit shall I have, more than if I had sinned?’ I will answer you, and your companions with you. Look to the heavens and see; and behold the clouds – they are higher than you. If you sin, what do you accomplish against Him? Or, if your transgressions are multiplied, what do you do to Him? If you are righteous, what do you give to Him? Or what does He receive from your hand? Your wickedness affects a man such as you, and your righteousness a son of man.”

The older I get, the fewer the words necessary for me to get my point across in any given situation. Not so with the young. They have the energy and stamina to prattle on, and do it with an almost infectious enthusiasm. I have two daughters, and they are both natural-born storytellers. A point they could have made in less than thirty seconds turns into a fifteen-minute dissertation about how the dog got off its leash, and they had to chase it through the neighborhood, and by the time the story is well and truly over, they’ve also sprinkled in ample excuses for why her harness wasn’t fastened properly.   

Elihu was young, admittedly so, and he had no qualms about speaking his mind, being repetitive for effect, and saying the same thing in a slightly different way, in the hope that he could wear Job down to the point of finally admitting that he had sinned. I have no problem with lengthy conversations as long as they are necessary. Some things need to be discussed for longer than two sentences; others not so much.

Even assuming that Elihu was sincere in his discourse, and he wasn’t looking to elevate himself, stroke his ego, or prove his self-evaluated wisdom, the continued attempt to put words in Job’s mouth, words that he never spoke, simply to come out on top or prove that he was right about his judgment of Job, is wrong, and casts a shadow on the intent with which he addressed him.

Job never said that his righteousness was more than God’s, never even hinted at it, nor did he ever query whether pursuing holiness was a pointless endeavor since there seemed to be no profit in it. Job wasn’t looking to work an angle or gain some profit from being a blameless and upright man; he was compelled to pursue these things by his proximity to God and his desire for God’s presence in His life.

The presence of God molds, the presence of God transforms, the presence of God purifies and sanctifies an individual. If the desire of the individual in question is more of God’s presence in his life, he will naturally gravitate toward the good, the noble, the ideal, and the virtuous. He will shun evil, reject the temptations of the world, and the fear of the Lord that is present in his heart will direct him toward a life of obedience to God’s will.

Your pursuit of God is not based on a speculative transaction wherein you hope to get more than you put in, but a sincere and overarching desire to have an abiding relationship with Him, to know true fellowship with the Almighty, and feel His presence throughout.

That’s the one thing Elihu and Job’s three friends didn’t understand: the one constant in his life, the presence of God, was missing from him. God was silent; His presence seemed a far and distant thing, and that’s the one thing Job couldn’t live without.

If you’ve ever asked someone why they are a believer and their answer was because they didn’t want to go to hell, the foundation upon which their spiritual house is built is not love but fear. It is not out of a pure desire to have fellowship with God, to know Him, worship Him, praise Him, serve Him, and love Him, but to avoid eternal judgment.

When man is motivated by fear, all that he does in the attempt to allay it is done grudgingly, with the smallest task seeming like a burden threatening to crush him beneath its weight. The worship is performative, the declarations of fealty insincere, and if one were to come along and make them a better offer, or assure them that they can avoid eternal judgment without serving God, they would jump at the chance in a heartbeat.

When love for God is the motivation and the driving force, we set about doing the work of the Kingdom joyfully, without grumbling or thinking it beneath us, because whatever it is God would have us do, whether preaching from a pulpit or vacuuming the sanctuary, is deemed an honor and a privilege. Love carries you farther than fear ever will, and those with sincere, abiding, and unflinching love for God can endure when those motivated by something other than love have long given up the fight.

One needs only read the letter to the angel of the church of Ephesus to understand the importance of love as the driving force and motivating factor in their worship and devotion. Unlike the church of Laodicea, the church of Ephesus was hitting the mark in every area save one. They labored, they were patient, they could not bear those who are evil, they tested those who say they were apostles and were not, they persevered, had patience, and labored for His name’s sake without becoming weary, yet there was charge against them that Christ Himself insisted must be remedied lest He come and remove their lampstand from its place: they had left their first love!

They were doing all the right things, commendable and worthy of mention, yet the love that once burned bright was now but a flicker, and the warning they received was dire indeed if they did not take steps to repent and remember from where they had fallen. It wasn’t a slap on the wrist; it wasn’t a timeout; it was a warning that, lest they returned to their first love, their lampstand would be removed from its place. A lampstand holds the lamp that provides the light. Without it, they would be in darkness, lest they repent and return to that glorious, all-consuming first love that left room for nothing else in their hearts.

Boast as he might about his own wisdom, Elihu did not understand the type of love that motivated Job, a love that wasn’t a means to an end, but the end itself. All Job desired was God’s presence, without guile, artifice, or ulterior motive. Because he could not fathom such a love, Elihu believed Job to be a proud, arrogant, and self-righteous man who had rightly been brought low, which couldn’t have been further from the truth.       

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr. 

 Job 34:31-37, “For has anyone said to God, ‘I have borne chastening; I will offend no more; teach me what I do not see; if I have done iniquity, I will do no more’? Should He repay it according to your terms, just because you disavow it? You must choose, and not I; therefore speak what you know. Men of understanding say to me, wise men who listen to me: ‘Job speaks without knowledge, his words are without wisdom. Oh, that Job were tried to the utmost, because his answers are like those of wicked men! For he adds rebellion to his sin; he claps his hands among us, and multiplies his words against God.’”

Look, it’s not just me thinking this way, lest you think I have a bone to pick with you, or anything of the sort. Men of understanding and wise men who listen to me have also approached me and complained about some of the things you’ve said. Some have even gone so far as to say that your answers are like those of wicked men. So why don’t you just get with the program, acknowledge that we were right, submit to our feigned authority, and perhaps the Almighty will have mercy on you? Otherwise, there isn’t much hope save for you to continue to suffer in perpetuity until you go to the grave.

Think of it this way: could all these people be wrong? You have what amounts to an army arrayed against you, from your friends to your wife to men of understanding who know the situation you’re in, and let’s not forget, myself. We’ve all come to the same conclusion; in our own way we’ve all said, basically, the same thing, and for you to continue insisting upon your innocence, for you to say that you’ve done nothing wrong and there is no wickedness to be found in you, just adds rebellion to your sin.

When you juxtapose Elihu’s words with what the Word declares, confirming that in all this Job did not sin with his lips, nor charged God with wrong, you come away with one fundamental understanding of men’s natures that has remained consistent throughout the history of mankind: men hear what they want to hear, and interpret what they hear in such a fashion as to confirm their biases, and undergird their conclusions.

For the most part, men don’t want their minds changed; they do not want to weigh the merits of a differing opinion; they just want to exist in an echo chamber where everyone says exactly what they say, thinks exactly as they think, and any deviation from the monolith of thought in that particular clique is dealt with quickly and viciously.

Likewise, any idea at the core of a group or clique of people, no matter how illogical or outside the realm of possibility, becomes self-perpetuating; not only does it become the one thing that defines and unites them, but also becomes the purity test by which all others who want to enter their sphere are measured.

It’s no longer about declaring the whole counsel of God, but about being in lockstep with a singular tertiary doctrine, and amplifying that one thing above everything else, even above Christ Himself. Paul addressed this readily enough when writing to the Corinthians, after discovering that rancor had arisen within the household of faith because, rather than declaring themselves to be of Jesus, they bickered among themselves, due to some being of Paul and some of Apollos.

1 Corinthians 3:4-9, “For when one says, ‘I am of Paul,’ and another, ‘I am of Apollos,’ are you not carnal? Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers through whom you believed, as the Lord gave to each one? I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase. Now he who plants and he who waters are one, and each one will receive his own reward according to his own labor.”

If a tertiary issue becomes a salvific doctrine and the litmus test by which others determine whether or not someone is saved and sanctified, it is no longer about Jesus, but about the issue which then becomes an idol of sorts which men elevate above what should be its rightful place.

Take your pick; there are plenty to choose from, whether the timing of Christ’s return, referring to Him by His Hebrew name exclusively, insisting that the Pauline epistles were the devil’s way of infiltrating Scripture, the frequency of communion, water baptism and whether one is baptized in the name of Jesus, or the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, the availability of spiritual gifts, and the list goes on.

If any one issue becomes the defining marker of your faith and it’s not the risen Christ, humbling yourself at the foot of the cross and receiving forgiveness, being washed, made clean, reborn and sanctified by Him, through Him, and in Him, it’s idolatry, pure and simple.

We brush off the things the Word tells us we ought to be doing like praying, fasting, studying Scripture, and building up our most holy faith, and instead choose to bicker endlessly, throw mud at each other, and evict others from the Kingdom as though we were the landlords rather than God.

I get that believing we have the authority to declare who enters the Kingdom and who will be left on the outside looking in is an ego boost that few other things can match, but there will come a day when we will be called to account for presuming God’s judgments and our own are interchangeable.

The greatest of all the people of the East had been brought low, and now everyone was piling on. That neither changed who Job was, nor how God viewed him. The words of Elihu did not change God’s opinion of Job, nor did He concur with the assessment of those who approached Elihu in confidence and shared what they thought of the man.

If your relationship with God is grounded in Biblical truth, and the desire of your heart is His presence, then it matters not what men say about you, or how many array themselves against you. If God is on your side, everything’s going to be all right.    

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr. 

 Job 34:21-30, “For His eyes are on the ways of man, and He sees all his steps. There is no darkness nor shadow of death where the workers of iniquity may hide themselves. For He need not further consider a man that he should go before God in judgment. He breaks in pieces mighty men without inquiry, and sets others in their place. Therefore He knows their works; He overthrows them in the night, and they are crushed. He strikes them as wicked men, in the open sight of others, because they turned their back from Him, and would not consider any of His ways, so that they caused the cry of the poor to come to Him; for He hears the cry of the afflicted. When He gives quietness, who then can make trouble? And when He hides His face, who then can see Him, whether it is against a nation or a man alone? – That the hypocrite should not reign, lest the people be ensnared.”

If God’s eyes are on the ways of man and He sees all his steps, it is God and God alone that can determine the rightness of his way, for only God knows all, the things both open and secret, the things done in the shadows and the brightness of the day. It is the logical destination Elihu never arrived at, because he was too busy puffing himself up and insisting that men wiser than he lend him their ears to realize that he was attempting to appropriate God’s authority and pass judgment regarding Job.

Men can couch a lie in the truth often enough, but what they fail to realize is that the lie at the center of the truth in which it is encased pollutes it, and twists it into something other than the truth it began as. Factually, there was nothing wrong about what Elihu said. God’s eyes are indeed on the ways of man; He does see all his steps, and there is no darkness nor shadow of death where the workers of iniquity may hide themselves. All true, save for the presupposition that because Job had been brought low he must have been one such worker of iniquity.   

I have exceedingly more respect for someone who says they don’t know something, whether regarding spiritual matters or otherwise, than one who assumes, presumes, or tries to make out like they know the intricate details of a thing when they are wholly ignorant of it. In an attempt to save face, or keep their pride intact, men will double down on insisting they know something they clearly don’t until their ignorance is so evident as to be undeniable, or they are called out by someone who knows what they’re talking about.

Given that most people don’t like confrontation and they go out of their way to avoid it, the shameless among us who insist upon things that are clearly untrue usually get far before they are rebuffed, called out, or run out of steam.

When there is no pushback, when there is no resistance, they become more emboldened and, as such, become louder, to the point that they begin to believe their lies, passing them off as the truth. I’m sure you can think of a handful of things off the top of your head that are demonstrably false, that have, nevertheless, been passed off as the truth, and because few, if any, stood against them, they are now regarded as unimpeachable truth.

Elihu continues building his narrative, sprinkling in what God does with the wicked and the workers of iniquity, inferring that Job himself must be one such man since that is precisely what God does to them. Because God strikes wicked men, and Job himself had been stricken, then Job must be a wicked man.

Not only does Elihu detail what God does to the wicked, but he also insists he knows why, which is because they turned their back from Him, and would not consider any of His ways, and so Job must have, likewise, done these things since he had been stricken.

Generally speaking, Elihu is not wrong about God’s justice, or that He hears the cry of the afflicted. These are both true and factual statements, yet he applied them to Job, insisting this was the only viable explanation for why Job had lost and endured so much.

Elihu had already gone beyond judging Job, to condemning him for perceived wickedness he had no evidence of, not because he was a warrior for truth, or because justice flowed through his veins, but because he saw an opportunity to elevate himself by demeaning another. Before jumping on any bandwagon and adding to the chorus, perhaps it would be wise to determine why one individual has it out for another, and whether the intent behind their accusation is justice or their own self-aggrandizement.

Guilt or innocence are determined by whether someone actually did what they’ve been accused of doing, and not whether or not you like the way they come off, present themselves, or what denomination they belong to. To deem a man guilty when you know him to be innocent just because you don’t like his attitude or the manner in which he speaks is sinful. It is equally sinful to deem a man sinful when you know him to be guilty just because they’re likable or they belong to your particular clique.

God is not a respecter of persons. He will not judge you by your pedigree, lineage, level of education, or what continent you were born on. What impresses men does not impress God, and what disappoints and frustrates them isn’t what disappoints and frustrates Him. He knows you as you are; He sees beyond projection, façade, or image, to the heart of you, and when He looked upon Job, He saw a blameless and upright man, one who feared the Lord and shunned evil. Can the same be said about you or me? If not, then why not? It is not an impossible feat, after all. Job proved as much.     

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr. 

 Job 34:16-20, “If you have understanding, hear this; listen to the sound of my words: should one who hates justice govern? Will you condemn Him who is most just? Is it fitting to say to a king, ‘You are worthless,’ and to nobles, ‘You are wicked’? Yet He is not partial to princes, nor does He regard the rich more than the poor; for they are all the work of His hands. In a moment they die, in the middle of the night; the people are shaken and pass away; the mighty are taken away without a hand.”

If you cannot convince someone of your position by the soundness of your argument, your next best bet is to wear them down with the multitude of your words. I envy people who can tell the same banal story a thousand times with the same enthusiasm and fervor. Unfortunately, I am not one gifted in this area of oratory, and to the dismay of those who hear me preach, teach, or drone on for the hour or so on the radio program every week, there isn’t much repetition.

In what seems like another life, I was an interpreter for my grandfather. When we traveled, and it was often, those who came to hear him wanted to hear his testimony, and he told it not because he wanted to elevate himself in any way but because it was a springboard to the real message of repentance and holiness unto God lest judgment be visited upon this nation.

I never found that dull or tedious, because it was his testimony, and he was, after all, my grandfather whom I loved and had great fondness for. What I do find dreary and lackluster, however, is when out of the entirety of the Bible, sixty-six books in all, some preachers choose one favorite passage from which they preach the same message to the point that the audience can quote it verbatim, and they never seem to tire of it.

It’s the reason I’m reticent in retelling my grandfather’s testimony: it’s his testimony, and as far as the message for America goes, it’s available for free, on multiple platforms, whether in written form or audio, so for me to retread already tilled soil seems like an ill use of the time I’ve been given.

It would be no hard thing for me to endlessly hopscotch down rabbit trails, and regurgitate my grandfather’s testimony ad nauseam, but to what end? There must be a purpose to what we do beyond endless self-promotion, or the attempt at riding someone else’s coat tails for the sake of clout. The time I spent traveling with my grandfather wasn’t always easy; oftentimes it was brutal, but they are all fond memories because I got to spend a solid decade and change with the man who taught me how to ride a bike, made me my first slingshot, and was a consistent example of servanthood and obedience. There are far worse ways to spend your teenage years, but I am a teenager no longer, and the calling to which I have been called differs from that of my grandfather, perhaps not substantively but in the granular details.

You can tell a lot about a person by the things they say and what they choose to focus on. Elihu was so wrapped up in himself, so eager to prove his mettle and unveil his genius, that he demanded anyone within earshot stop what they were doing and listen to the sound of his words. It is, after all, the only way you will see how wise I am, how brilliant, how compelling, and you will walk away knowing how unique and special I am. By the end of his oratory, they may have walked away thinking him special, but not in the way he would have liked.

There are some nuggets of truth buried in Elihu’s self-honoring, self-promoting speech that deserve to be unearthed and pondered, chief among them the reality that God is not partial to princes, nor does He regard the rich more than the poor. It is men who judge other men based on their appearance, their wealth, their position, or their prominence. None of the things men judge others by are what God judges men by. We are all the work of His hands, fashioned from the same clay, and the only things that set men apart and are noticed by the Almighty are the selfsame things that made Job stand out: being blameless, upright, and fearing the Lord.

Do you belong to Him not just in word but in deed? In modern parlance, are you merely talking the talk, or walking the walk? Is Jesus on the throne of your heart? Is His presence the overarching desire of your heart? These are all questions we can answer for ourselves as individuals, and if the answer is no, then no amount of influence, authority, or prominence will make Him regard you in a better light.

The rigidity with which Elihu viewed God and the implacable, unbending conclusion that there are no exceptions to the rules he established is what made him so myopic. This is the way God must operate, and no other. This is the way God must do things, and no other possibility exists. You, who was once the greatest of all the people of the East, are now a wretch, a pitiable thing covered in boils, and this can only mean one thing: you have sinned, committed wickedness, such wickedness that cannot be expressed given the extent of your troubles. Proof? No, there is no proof. There is no evidence, but your present condition is all the evidence I require.

The failure to understand that God does as He wills, and is not subject to the preconceptions of His creation, is one of the quickest ways to run afoul of God Himself. Creation will never be in a position to dictate what the Creator can and cannot do, and to claim such is to place oneself above His sovereignty.

You can declare and proclaim until you’re blue in the face, and if God does not will it, it’s for naught. When we pray “Your will be done,” it is in all things, not just the ones that benefit or profit us in some form or fashion. Often, God’s will humbles us and brings us low, but even in such instances, His purpose is to draw us ever closer to Him. While Job was honest enough to acknowledge that he did not, as yet, understand God’s purpose in his suffering, Elihu was supremely assured that he did. The only problem is that Elihu was wrong.      

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr.