Appalachian Disciple

Today in church we sang two different songs with the sentiment that Jesus is “never going to let us down.” Every time we sing a song with that phrase, I remember singing it in a service 10+ years ago, when my 3 year-old son tugged at my sleeve during the worship to ask, “Mom, will you ever let me down?” In those few moments while he stared at me with somber brown eyes, the earnest question hanging in the air, I had two immediate thoughts: 1. I’m surprised he understands that phrase, and 2. He’ll never understand the nuance required to honestly answer this question. While I was thinking this, he followed up with, “You know, like, if we were at the edge of a volcano, would you let me down into it?” his voice tinged with a little fear now and need for reassurance.

Ah, so he didn’t quite understand the phrase after all, I thought.  But because he clarified, I could look him square in the face and say without any hesitation, “No, honey, I will never, ever let you down.” And so he went on through the song set, standing on the chair, happy and satisfied. I think of this every time now, because applying the phrase, “never let me down,” to Jesus depends a lot on how you understand “never let me down.”

I recently finished reading Job, twice (because last year’s Bible reading plan finished with it, and this year’s began with it), so I have Job on the brain. Did Job feel let down by God? I think yes, absolutely. While Job “did not sin or charge God with wrong,” (1:22) he still thought it would have been better if he’d died at birth (2:11-19).  Job is described twice by God as “a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil,” (1:8, 2:3) but he lost all his children, his wealth, his servants, his property, his health, his esteem in the community and the respect of everyone close to him right down to his wife.  Even the younger generation is lecturing him by the end. And he wanted to know — why?

It occurred to me the second time through how important this book of the Bible is to Judeo-Christian history. Obviously, the prevailing thought of his time was that the kind of calamities that befell Job only came as punishment for sin, to try to turn sinners from their unrighteous ways.  “You’ve let God down, Job,” his friends basically insist, “and He’s chastising you.” Job’s reply could well have been, “No, He’s let me down, but I’m still going to honor Him.” Were it not for the Book of Job, what would keep us from ascribing to a view not essentially different from karma confined to one life?

In Job’s case, though, we have someone who doesn’t just claim for himself to have lived right, we have the witness of God that he did, in fact, live right, and for all the right motivations. And while we get a peek into the backstory of why all this happened to him, it’s not indicated that Job himself ever knew. He wanted a face-to-face with God, to “lay my case before Him and fill my mouth with arguments.  I would know what He would answer me and understand what He would say to me. Would He contend with me in the greatness of His power? No; he would pay attention to me. There an upright man could argue with Him, and I would be acquitted forever by my judge.” (23:4-7)

Yep, that’s the kind of thing we think we’ll do in God’s presence. What does Job actually do when he gets his encounter with God? He admits, “I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know…I had heard of You, by the hearing of the ear, but now my eyes see You; therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes.” (42:3,5,6)

So did God let Job down? Ultimately, no. He tested him severely, such that Job was sure “my eye will never again see good.” (7:7) Yet, how wrong he was about that, since God later restored Job’s earthly fortunes and relationships, even ten more children, and he lived to see his great-grands!  More than that, Job has been at total peace with God for thousands of years now, while we’ve all been understanding the role of our enemy in suffering a good bit better because of what he endured.  It came out in the end, as they say.

 But let’s not forget that there was an intensely painful period when Job had to feel let down, even though he wasn’t ultimately. This matters for us, because when unfair, unexplained losses come, when tragedy is multiplied in our lives, when we give it our very best for years but it all seems for naught, when our bodies turn on us, and so-called friends just “break [us] in pieces with words,” (19:2), can we still sing, “You’re never gonna let me down”? And if we do, what do we mean by that?

Enter Jesus, and “the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” (2 Cor. 4:4b) Because of Him, I can look you square in the face, believer, and say without qualification that there’s a boiling, fiery hell of wrath and deserved judgment — like a volcano of vengeance, if you will — and you will never be let down into it!  For my son, the likelihood of ever standing on the edge of volcanic doom was far-fetched.  But for us who have transgressed a holy God and cannot make it right on our own, this looming retribution is sure and certain without Christ.  “..He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)  And not just that, but we are “born again to a living hope through the resurrection of the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” (1 Peter 1:3b-5) So in this most magnificent of ways, we will never be let down! For believers, all the questions of eternal, spiritual significance have been settled forever in our favor.

But what about here?  It seems that in some ways, mileage varies — there is that person who seems to sail through life with very little in the way of tragedy ever touching them, then that other who experiences hit after hit after hit.  Truly this is beyond my understanding, just as Job had to admit.  Still, these things I know: the very presence of God is with me by the indwelling Holy Spirit. I am known, right down to the hairs on my head. I am upheld and interceded for, helped by angels, deeply loved.  The Word feeds me, and its truth defends me against my accuser. The throne of grace is open to me all hours of the day and night. God is doing a thing, and nothing is going to thwart Him. That thing is our sanctification, and no two roads to it are the same. Along the way are promises kept and gifts given — Lord, open my eyes to not miss them! He will not let me down by letting up; this thing will be seen through to the end, “a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.”