I defended God the other day. Not because I thought I could, but because I knew that I should. I wasn't pretending to have all of the answers to the questions, or even the right verses in the defending moments. The conversation was not a debate, because the one I was with has a faith-walking life as well. At times, I felt like Elihu in conversation with Job as he said, "I am full of words, yet the spirit within me constrains me". There was so much I wanted to say, but the Spirit of God quieted my heart as I listened to the one whose questions came from a place where love hurts for the one asking him the questions.
In the Book of Job, Elihu went on to ask Job this question, "Why do you complain against Him that He does not give an account of all His doings?" Elihu tells Job that God IS speaking,...in dreams and in visions. That He opens the ears of men, speaks so that man would be kept from his pride, and even keeps back his soul from the pit, and his life from passing over into Sheol.
Once Job's 3 friends, and now Elihu, exhausted all of their words, the LORD spoke...38 chapters into the book of 42. God finally spoke, and He answered the questioning Job out of a whirlwind, and asked, "Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?"
Does God answer all of OUR questions in His discourse of 4 chapters? The specific ones we have today? Several would say no. But it was enough for Job, as he would respond with these words, "I know that You can do all things, and that no purpose of Yours can be thwarted...I have heard of you by the hearing of the ear; but now my eye sees you; therefore I retract, and I repent in dust and ashes".
Job had heard and seen the living God. The Potter had spoken to the clay. Glory had passed by the one who was hidden in the cleft of a rock. Like Samuel, Job had sought the One he had chosen to serve, as he would agree with the prophet's words of, "Speak, LORD, for Your servant is listening". Presence had made Himself known to man once again, because all of these men went to the Source for the answers to their questions. All of them were seeking a relationship with the One who could answer their questions of that day, as well as the questions of their tomorrow's.
What makes you rise up in defense? I've always told my students, "You will defend the one you love". This is why I must defend the God who made me, Who pursued me, and Who loved me so much that He died to defend me; a sinner who was nothing more than His enemy.
I love what Gerhard Tersteegan said: "A comprehended God is no God at all". I love that my God cannot be comprehended by my finite mind. I even love that I don't understand all of His ways, just as He tells me in Isaiah 55 that I can't, because they will always be higher than my own.
I know that some would say that He doesn't need defending; that He can handle His own defense. But Jesus said, "Everyone who confesses Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father who is in heaven" (Matthew 10:32). I want my name spoken in heaven each time I am called to give an account for the hope that is within me (1 Peter 2:15). I want the Father to know that I was not ashamed; that I did not shrink back.
So I will speak, because He is my God. I will defend, because He is my Savior. I will open my mouth in defense, because He is my delight. I will defend Him as long as I have breath, because I love Him with all of mine.
