Learning from Job

Read Job 1 and 2 (in other words, the first two chapters of Job).

The Book of Job gives us a fascinating glimpse “behind the scenes,” into the very courts of God in heavenly places. The Bible treats this, by the way, as an event that really happened, not as allegory or fiction, so we should, too. We are told that God and Satan were having a conversation; the subject of their discussion was a man named Job, who was “blameless, upright, fearing God and turning away from evil.” Job was also very wealthy, and had a wonderful large family. Satan challenges God by claiming that if God allows Satan to destroy Job’s wealth, health, and family, Job will “curse You [God] to Your face.” God gives Satan permission, and Job’s great suffering begins.

In the midst of his tremendous sorrow and pain, Job nevertheless worships God, affirming that “The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away – Blessed be the name of the Lord.” We are further told, “Through all this Job did not sin nor did he blame God.” Even when Job was mocked by his wife (“Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die!”), he stood firm: “Shall we indeed accept good from God and not accept adversity?”

Here is the thing that has always struck me about Job: He never finds out why all that bad stuff happened to him. Oh, he would like to have known – he cries out to God for some sort of answer, although his main concern was about whether there was anything sinful he did that caused it all to happen (he didn’t think there was, and he was apparently right). But, rather than give Job an explanation (“You see, Job, there was a sort of a bet between the devil and Me”), God famously responded to Job, “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?” (38:4).

God ultimately restored wealth and health and family (“replacement children”?) to Job, but (so far as we are told) Job never found out why all this had happened to him. It is natural to want to know why things (good and bad) happen to us. I think it is even appropriate to ask God for insight along those lines. I think sometimes God may tell us why he has let us go through certain things; sometimes we can look back and see how the things we have gone through have helped shape us in positive ways, by God’s grace. But I think we need to be careful not to demand explanations from God, or to think that he owes us an explanation. He is sovereign, and we may not ever know, this side of heaven at least, why God did what He did, or why He let any certain thing happen to us. Just like Job.

~ Dean Doug Cook, Regent University School of Law

Transitivity

The thirteenth chapter of I Corinthians is, of course, famous: The Love Chapter. It is often used at weddings, and it stands as a beautiful description of what love is. “Love is patient, love is kind, etc.” But think of it in a slightly different light. Here are verses four through seven, in the New International Version:

4Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Scripture tells us (I John 4) that God is Love. So we can (my wife, a mathematician, would call this transitivity) substitute “God” in these verses for “love.” Now this passage stands for the proposition that “God is patient, God is kind, etc.” And that gives us an incredible picture of who God is. Note especially verse 5: “God keeps no record of wrongs.” That is good news!

Now, one more wrinkle. We are created in the image of God (Genesis 1:26-27). We look like Him. Or we should. At least, we can. We are told to conform ourselves to the image of Christ. So I believe we have the capacity to be people who reflect the characteristics of God embodied in this passage (otherwise such a command would be cruel).

So now we can read, “I am patient, I am kind. I do not envy, etc.” Or perhaps, “As God fills me and enables me by His Spirit, on an ongoing basis, I am working toward being patient, kind, not arrogant, not easily angered, etc.” I think we can aspire to be I Corinthians 13 people. And by the way, lawyers and others who work in the legal profession need a good dose of this. Make it your prayer, and your aspiration, to be able to substitute your name into the verses in I Corinthians 13:4-7.

~ Dean Doug Cook, Regent University School of Law

Who is God?

Who is God, and what is He like? Some might argue that these are questions that we cannot really ever find answers to. Yet, as Christians, we know we have in the Bible God’s own narrative of his activities, with significant information about his nature and attributes. As with anyone, we should expect that one’s own description of oneself would be perhaps a most revealing indicator – especially for God, who does not lie. In other words, when in the Bible God tells us who He is, we can rely on that.

Moses needed to know who God was, and what He was like. God had told Moses (Exodus 33) to lead the Israelites to the Promised Land. Moses didn’t even want to go unless God was going to come along, and God assured Moses that He would. But Moses needed a personal experience of understanding who this God was. He asked God, “Now show me your glory” (33:18). In response, God passed in front of Moses, while Moses hid in a cleft in the rock, and told Moses exactly who He is and what He is like:

“The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin.” (Exodus 34:6-7)(NIV).

Aren’t we glad that this is what God is like? The very first thing He says about himself is that he is “compassionate” -- he is a loving God! And it is a good thing that He is “slow to anger,” because I think we probably would provoke Him to anger a lot if he weren’t. He is faithful, and forgiveness is His preferred response to our sin.

That is who God is, and what He is like. From his own mouth.

~ Dean Doug Cook, Regent University School of Law

Summertime

Summer can be a great time for lawyers, law students, and law professors. Courts’ dockets slow down, clients go on vacation, and classes are not in session. I spent last week at Boy Scout summer camp with my wife, two of my four children, and assorted teenagers. Without newspapers, TV, computers, or cell phone coverage, I was forced to focus on the basics of life: eating, sleeping, not capsizing my canoe in the rapids. We also spent time each evening in worship and Bible study, focusing on the essentials in our spiritual life.

It is of course possible, in the busy tides of life, to lose our focus. The fourth and fifth chapters of the Book of Revelation can help us get centered again. John describes a scene of heavenly worship, where the twenty-four elders surround the throne in heaven. “Worthy are You, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power,” they say, as they fall down and cast down their crowns (Rev. 4:10-11). On the throne, at the center of their continual worship, is “a Lamb standing, as if slain” (5:6). How incongruous! The focus of all heaven’s worship is a bloody (“as if slain”) baby sheep. He is, of course, the Lord Jesus Christ himself, the Lamb of God, bloody because He sacrificed himself for us. He is at the same time “the Lion that is from the tribe of Judah” (5:5). So our focus and our worship are centered on the Great Paradox Himself, the Lion and the Lamb. Have a great summer.

~ Associate Dean Doug Cook, Regent University School of Law

God Causes All Things to Work Together! (Rom. 8:28)

Romans 8:28 (NAS): And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.

As Christian lawyers, we need to understand the implications of this verse. We do not operate in a closed universe. The things that we do, and that our clients do, and that our clients have done to them, are not the ultimate determiners of what happens. All of those matter, of course. But there is a causal God behind everything, who is orchestrating His plans through us and even, if necessary, in spite of us. The whole of scripture teaches that God is causally active in all things, not just on behalf of those who love him. Romans 8:28 is just one slice of his omnipotent activity.

As a Christian lawyer, I am personally encouraged by this verse. I qualify, as you can, as someone who loves God (albeit imperfectly) and who is called (to the best of my faulty human ability) according to His purpose. So I can therefore go confidently about my days, trusting that He is faithful to His promise to work everything for my good. A couple of things to observe. First, in the Greek, “all things” means, “all things.” God isn’t just making a few things here and there work for my good. He is literally (if this verse is to be believed, and I think it is) making everything in the universe work toward my good. And not only that, all those trillions of things are working together! God makes them cooperate! I cannot usually make more than two or three things in my life cooperate together toward any single end. Yet God makes everything work together for my good, and for yours, and for everybody else who loves him, and is called according to his purpose. What a great God He is!

~ Associate Dean Doug Cook, Regent University School of Law