[The Shepherd’s Echo is a reposting of a previously published TheShepherdsPen.]
S-O-L-A-T-I-N-G: the act of transforming a gelatinous substance into one of a liquefied, soluble state. How Cool! Two triple-word scores, one double-letter score and 50 bonus points for using all seven tiles – BINGO. 131 Points! I was King of the Scrabble board. No way was my opponent (my iPhone) going to touch me, as I was now some 150 points ahead. The game was all but over.
Next thing I knew there I was, staring at a herd of cows in a corral. And they were all challenging me, speaking to me, “Mooo.” I remember thinking, “There is no way you guys could beat me in Scrabble…I am King of the Board.” How could you beat me with only one word? They kept trying to persuade me but they could come up with nothing better than “moo,” a mere 6 points. I did hear one offer up, “MmooO!,” but even with the right place to play it, and a triple-word score value the best she would have merited is 27 points, “Ha!, a far cry from 131 points.” Make your best moooove, cow.
Who does she think she is dealing with? I was intellectually superior, hygienically advanced, identifiably a logophile and I have opposing thumbs! When you think about it, she couldn’t have even placed the tiles adequately on the game board. And that word “Moo” has to play out sooner or later, right? I mean, there are only 2-M’s and 8-O’s in “the bag” – so eventually she would run out of usable letters. “Moooo” just twice and she’s meat. I owned her. No way would she horn in on my territory!
The above scenario is indeed ludicrous, (true but ludicrous) and I am not really even for a moment suggesting that cow, or any other cow for that matter had an acrimonious objective in her brain. But when you think of it don’t we at times take the hypothetical position of that theoretical cow when it comes to questioning God? Don’t we at times think, or at least act like, we have a better way of doing things? Don’t we at times think our miniscule minds are able to “take on the King of the World”? We brag that we have great intellect and opposing thumbs and yet, we forget to recognize that God gave us our intellect, and our opposing thumbs!
One such individual who forgot who gave him opposing thumbs was Job. He spends the better part of five chapters (27-31) asserting his righteousness and integrity, thus, calling into question the justifiability of the actions that have been committed against him, essentially contesting that he didn’t like the way that God was handling the circumstances of his life. In actuality, calling God out in 31:35 when he demands, “Let the Almighty answer me!” His friend Elihu tries to set him straight in the next 6 chapters saying that Job speaks without knowledge and His words are without wisdom (Job 34:35).
Finally, God asks, “Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?” (Job 38:2), and proceeds to proclaim everything over which He is sovereign. The Earth. The universe. The animal kingdom. Everything! Job finally “gets it” and says, “I put my hand over my mouth” (Job 40:4), perhaps the smartest thing he said and did in his life.
Though we may not completely understand Him, we should dare not challenge Him to run the universe His way. Isaiah 55:8-9 declares, “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,” declares the LORD. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts.” So when it comes down to it, we are not so intellectually inclined as to understand the mind of God.
We don’t really stand a chance against the Creator and Ruler of all. Better for us to realize who is on the throne of all creation and let Him do things His way…He has the plan, He has the power. It’s His board. He is the real King. The “game” was really over before it began.
S-O-V-E-R-E-I-G-N: possessing supreme or ultimate power. Infinite points!
God’s Rules. God Rules!!
