“Who is this that obscures my plans with words without knowledge?”

 “Who is this that obscures my plans with words without knowledge?” (Job 38:2)

To obscure something is to make it dark or unknown.  In other words, God is suggesting His plans were bright and evident but became confused, dimmed, and darkened through Job’s speech.    

So how did Job obscure God’s plans?   Job had spoken with scorn that he was innocent and God denied him justice, therefor, there is no profit in trying to please God. (Job 34:5,9)   Elihu suggested that his response to God in this manner was rebellion and scorn. (Job 34:37)  He suggests that Job should have responded, “I am guilty but will offend no more.  Teach me what I cannot see; if I have done wrong, I will not do so again.”  (Job 34:31-32)

The sin was to condemn God while justifying himself.  Ever see this in an argument?  The person feels they are right, so this means the other person is wrong.  This is usually a judgement around intentions.  Our intentions are good and their intentions were not.  We certainly could not have any blind spots and see everything clearly so they did us wrong.  Ever think that we could resolve it as easily as asking the other person where our blind spots are?  In the same way that we can do this with people, Job was discrediting God as if God was a sinful man and he was right.  Talk about an argument that is hard to win. 

Fortunately, this argument was resolved with Job repenting and changing the way that he saw things.   He realized that he had been shortsighted.  However, most that accuse God hold onto their resentments.   They blame God for what is wrong in their lives and use it as an excuse to walk in opposition to Him rather than alignment with God.  For how can two walk together unless they be agreed?  (Amos 3:3)

In the last days, as evil and suffering increase, these kinds of accusations of blaming God increase substantially.   Revelations 16:10-11 says, “And the fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and its kingdom was plunged into darkness, and men began to gnaw their tongues in anguish and curse the God of heaven for their pains and sores; yet they did not repent of their deeds.”

Their blame for their pain and anguish, plunged them into darkness.  I had a friend like this.  For whatever reason, she scorned God and refused to turn to Him—even as she was dying.   She wanted nothing to do with the gospel and cut me out of her life when I tried to share it with her before she went home.   After she died, as I was waking from my sleep, I felt I could hear this groan of emptiness and anguish from the ground.   It deeply pained my heart for her. 

For myself, I would love to say that I always have a faith filled response to difficulty in my life.  But that is not true.  There have been times that I have resented the difficulty.   When my boys have struggled in ways that I felt God spoke to me a different picture, at times, rather than still standing in faith and trust for that picture, I have struggled with feeling let down by my circumstances and betrayed by Him.   And my ungodly response of a failure to trust created a wedge that hindered my walk and led to complacency. 

Another thing that will rise in the last days is scoffing.   It says in 2 Peter 3:3-4, “First of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires. They will say, ‘Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.’”

Emotions will be on the rise because of the things happening as well as the things that people speak of fear rather than faith.   It says in Luke 21:26 that because of the signs, shaking and distress that people will be fainting with fear and with foreboding of what is coming on the world.”

It is not only from the outside but also from the inside.  As difficulty arises, what is inside of people is spilled out on those around them.  It says in 2 Timothy 3:1-4, “For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people.”

This picture of the lovers of self, arrogant, and heartless people is an example of the Pharisees and Scribes from the time that Jesus came.  The Pharisees and Scribes represented religion but lacked the heart of God.    The Pharisees and Scribes sat and judged Jesus for healing people.   It was the wrong day, the wrong way, and wrong location for the healing to happen.   They even went as far as saying that He was healing people by the power of demons.

Heartless people for sure!  If you have ever been in the situation to needing healing from God and having it change your life, you can see the incredible value of a life changed.   Things shift in your favor in such a way that your whole life is turned around.   The woman with the issue of blood experienced this as she touched the hem of His garment. 

More than anything, this cold hard-heartedness towards those who lack makes me angry.  It makes me so angry that I weep when I even think about it.  Someone who ‘has,’ becomes an obstruction in the way of the ‘have nots’ with their arrogant beliefs and control and ruins it for them.  They destroy someone’s life by their worldly superiority and judgement failing to make room for possibility for those who lack. These bullies obscure God’s plans with their words and lack of knowledge and will reap from this in their unbelief.

By their continual scoffing and scorn, by their rational judgement, when people looked to them as religious leaders, they quenched the Spirit of God.  They caused people to doubt and be skeptical.  Rather than receive possibility, they shut it down as they followed this “rational mind agenda.“  Like kids in the bathroom pretending to be cool, they shun what they don’t understand, some even mocking it.    

“We need the fear of the Lord” sings in the background. 

In Matthew 15:38, it says that Jesus could not do many miracles because of their unbelief.  In His hometown they especially refused to believe.  And when they refused to receive healing, God was not going to override their will.  They had to be willing and open to receive.  Eventually, these religious leaders turned the people against Jesus to even crucify the one who healed them.     

“It is only by the Spirit” sings in the background.

In God’s kindness, He gives us free will.  And by this free will, He gives us incredible power.  Because of this, I can’t ask why He allows it.   He allows people to not only influence His power for themselves but for others around them.  He allows them to quench, oppose and blaspheme the Spirit. 

In his book, Quenching the Spirit, William DeArteaga discusses a great healing revival that came to the American church that flowered but was eventually destroyed by a spirit of Pharisaism.   He notes that while it had some rough edges, it was definitely a powerful move of God.  Yet it began to be opposed by mainline churches.  He writes, “Healing was declared to be heretical and cultish, and the accomplishments of the revival hidden for a century.”[1]

During this movement, the mainline churches cut themselves off and slid into deeper levels of apostasy in the form of liberalism and demythologizing (discrediting the miracles of Jesus and the apostles).  [2]   Interesting how this liberalism [not speaking of the political party but embracing of unbiblical principles] here, embracing the unbiblical, is turned to look righteous, while true power is disregarded as wrong, emotionalism, and hype.  The anti-judgers and embracers, includers of all, are actually judgers of the Holy Spirit and embracing the demonic while quenching the Spirit.    

In this movement, they looked at the rough edges of the revival and stoned those who were part of it with their judgments and accusations, they influenced thousands away from God’s work to a more practical theology that could be controlled by man. They pulled at any fray end and held it up as proof that everything was wrong and fake.  They took the voice of the accuser against God and made his purposes obscure and dark.

When I think about the unforgivable sin that Jesus speaks about in Matthew 12:30-32, I have to wonder if this scenario that happens during revival is what He is speaking about as being inexcusable.  He says, “He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters. Therefore I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. Whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the one to come.…”

Let’s face it, as Jesus called these folks snakes and a brood of vipers, He asked, “How will you escape the sentence of hell?”    To step in and use your influence to criticize or hinder the work of the Spirit that shuts people out from His power and goodness is the ultimate sin.   It is literally, unforgivable to do such a thing.     To blaspheme is to speak slanderous or injurious speech against the Holy Spirit and His work.

Buckley was one such vocal voice of the church who stepped up to stone God’s movement with his arguments against it.   DeArteaga writes about him, “Buckley’s books and articles proved most effective in turning the tide against the Faith-Cure movement.   From our perspective, we can see that his arguments were deeply flawed, but given the theological assumptions of the nineteenth century, they were impressive.  Any minister who was suspicious [or jealous] of the healing movement could cite Buckley and rehearse his arguments to the curious Christians in his congregation.  Even the careful reader who noticed Buckley admitted occasional valid healing would dismiss the whole issue as capricious and dangerous to sound theology.” [3]

One of the counter elements at play was also the counter impacts of revival to the church and regular ministries.  The ministries that were faithful in day-to-day discipleship consistently over the years, were suddenly being encroached upon by this powerful movement.  The movement was taking people and resources away from this operation so there was a sense of competition and resentment.  The congregations probably thought, 'Who are these people proclaiming a movement and drawing people away?  They will just be there briefly, moving on and leaving us with the mess.'   

Assumptions of intentions can run deep.  The local congregation leaders felt threatened by the encroachment into their territory and revenue source.  They justified opposing the movement in their hearts by making accusations about these people being fake and full of hype.  The people from the movement saw the congregation leaders as a hard-hearted brood of vipers who were trying to manage and control people, detouring them from God's powerful movement to keep their bottom line.  As a result, they did not go out of their way to work with the congregations but moved around them.  Accusations probably flared on both sides. 

And Buckley probably did not set out to purposely blaspheme the Holy Spirit.  Yet, over time, his heart may have became hard towards the movement of God.  He probably started out small with quenching the Spirit moving here and there and his probably grew into hard-heartedness.  As his arrogance grew, so did his ridicule for that which was outside his rational realm of control.  And from his hard-heartedness, he no longer felt mercy for others who needed healing.

Yet, Buckley had an element of truth to his arguments. There was a group pushing for risky faith healing that needed some correction.  But rather than focus on the correction needed to the movement, he sought to shut it down completely.  Religion took over from the head.  He grew in skill and expertise of his theology because it gave him power.  Ultimately, he used it to destroy the works of God without flinching.  Like Saul who persecuted Jesus, he probably felt he was serving the church and the people, protecting them in his zeal.  

Ultimately, he disregarded the truth and concluded that all healing was mental suggestion and psychosomatic and completely opposed any healing taking place.  According to DeArteaga, like a lawyer, strong points of the opposition were ignored and its faults were stressed.  DeArteaga writes, “he judged the entire movement by its extremes and avoided looking at its overall effect.”[4]

Since Buckley was not only a theologian, but a historian of American revivals, he wrote numerous articles and had great influence in the direction of the church.   To his own and other’s dismay, he proved effective in turning the tide against the movement of God.  His and his colleague's assaults took apart the movement. [5]

Ever seen conflict destroy good things?   Each person has reasons and assumptions that they feel justified in moving forward in destroying something.  They do not seek first to fully understand but to be understood.  In their process of being heard and acknowledged, the conflict uproots all that is good about it.   Perhaps the best solution in this case was if the revival flowed through the church directly if they would have permitted it.   Then there is space for discipleship as people come in to know the Lord and long-term support.  

There is one time that I am certain I quenched the Spirit to an extent.  My closest friend and pastor, she had stepped out in faith for healing of cancer.  She was bold in her beliefs and when healing didn’t manifest as she anticipated, she went home to the Lord.   For some time after, I had an oppositional fear of faith healing.  I even became a bit contentious with a pastor who came to my church later calling people to step out in faith for their healing. I judged it as risky.  Fortunately, my influence was minimal. 

It wasn’t until later, my closest friend at that time had cancer and made some choices toward trusting God that I could fully come to grips with my feelings around it.  My friends chose the path that gave them the best quality of life and trusted God’s leadership.  While they did not live as long as I had hoped for them in either case, it was not a mistake to trust the Lord and lean into this.  What is a mistake is to stop trusting the Lord.  

We need to trust in the Lord with all our heart and lean not on our own understanding.   Sometimes this will take us in directions that are countercultural and create discord.  It may even cause accusations of our intentions.   I think about Abraham sending away Haggar with a small baby.   He just sent them off to fend for themselves.  How cruel and uncaring this can seem.  But then again, so can being willing to offer his son Isaac on the altar.   But Abraham set out to follow God, not the opinions of man that change and fluctuate at every tide. 

Lord Jesus, You give us so much power.  Power to imagine, to initiate, to establish, and then to even quench Your work.   Help us to use it correctly.  Help us to work with Your Spirit to advance Your Kingdom's work. 

1-5.  DeArteaga, William.  Quenching the Spirit: Discover the REAL Spirit Behind the Charismatic Controversy.  Creation House, Lake Mary, FL.  1996.