Is Your God Too Small?

Enlarging our vision in the face of life's struggles

David Potter

• Editorial: BRF
• Año: 2021
• ISBN:
  9780857468154
• Categoría: Theology & Religion
• Categoría: Biblical Studies

Job struggled, as we do, with huge questions – his own and the world's. He and his friends looked for an answer in the past, but discovered that the answer lay elsewhere – in God himself, and in the divine presence in his life.'Not only does David Potter grasp the content and meaning of the book of Job in an accessible way, but he also has the art of cracking open ideas and application that made me sit back and ponder.'
Mike Parsons, Commissioning Editor, BRF

The Bible Reading Fellowship

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The Bible Reading Fellowship (BRF) is a Registered Charity (233280)

Mobi ISBN 978 0 85746 634 1

ePub ISBN 978 0 85746 815 4

First published 2018

All rights reserved

Text © David C. Potter 2018

This edition © The Bible Reading Fellowship 2018

Cover image © Thinkstock

The author asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work

Acknowledgements

Unless otherwise acknowledged, scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, New International Version (Anglicised edition) copyright © 1979, 1984, 2011 by Biblica. Used by permission of Hodder & Stoughton Publishers, a Hachette UK company. All rights reserved. ‘NIV’ is a registered trademark of Biblica. UK trademark number 1448790.

Extracts from the Authorised Version of the Bible (The King James Bible), the rights in which are vested in the Crown, are reproduced by permission of the Crown’s Patentee, Cambridge University Press.

Scripture quotations from The Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright © 1946, 1952, 1971 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations taken from the Holy Bible, English Standard Version, published by HarperCollins Publishers, © 2001 Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Every effort has been made to trace and contact copyright owners for material used in this resource. We apologise for any inadvertent omissions or errors, and would ask those concerned to contact us so that full acknowledgement can be made in the future.

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

To Madeleine

We have walked a long way together. With you and through you I have learnt so much of grace and love, of faith and perseverance, and of beauty.

Foreword

It was a kind gift to a young student of theology: Your God Is Too Small by J.B. Phillips, published in 1957. Somehow, I never got around to reading it. The book remained on my shelves for decades, still unread, until at some stage it was lent or lost, given or sold. Yet there are few books that have had a more long-term influence on my spiritual and theological development. The title remained with me as a constant challenge to my faith, doubts and fears. ‘Your God is too small’ was the phrase that came to mind when, after years of evasion, I finally got around to studying the book of Job.

‘Have you considered my servant Job?’ was God’s question to Satan. It could well be God’s challenge to us too. Some books of the Bible seem just too obscure, too long and too demanding for the pace of life in the 21st century. The book of Job is one of them. It is a story so different that we ignore it rather than struggle with its rhetoric. For years, that was what I had done and only now do I realise how much I have been missing that could have helped me through the unavoidable struggles and challenges of living as a Christian in the modern era.

For some years, I have found the IVP series, ‘The Bible Speaks Today’, very helpful in my daily Bible readings. Using The Message of Job by David Atkinson from the series, I steadily worked my way through the book with a growing sense of excitement and wonder. When I reached the end, I started again, this time also using the Tyndale Commentary on Job by Francis Andersen and referring occasionally to other, but less helpful, commentaries I have.

How to use this book

The place to start is with the book of Job itself. Take time to read it through. Use a modern translation; the New International Version is as good as you will find. This will give you a feel for the book. Don’t worry at this stage if you find it hard to follow. It will also be helpful to read the relevant Bible passage as you come to the section which considers it.

Next, read the Introduction which follows (starting on p. 9). It provides some background to the book of Job. The meat of this book is divided into sections following the content of Job. You will find that each section covers a number of chapters of Job, which are introduced to help you understand their content better. You will find some issues are dealt with separately by way of additional information, some are developed in a more devotional style and, at the end of each section, there are questions to help you ‘earth’ what you have read. Why not open a journal and write your response to these questions?

Be sure to ask for the help of the Holy Spirit as you read. After all, he inspired the writer of the book of Job so is well placed to inspire you through it!

Introduction

Why? It was probably the first question we ever asked and we may well be asking it still as our lives come to an end. The young child is overwhelmed with discovery and demands urgent explanations for the world that fills its small horizons. The car starts – why? The sun, as we say, ‘goes in’ – why? Steam rises from the kettle spout – why? On and on, the questions are endless. Or it comes in response to a command: ‘Don’t step into the road!’ – why? ‘Don’t run!’ – why? Or, a few years later but with a different tone of voice, ‘Don’t stay out late tonight!’ – why not? ‘Don’t answer back!’ – why not?

But when we reach adulthood, the question assumes a darker shading. We want answers to bigger mysteries that stalk the path of every thinking person, and the greatest mystery seems to be human suffering. We need to understand. We pound the door of heaven for explanations which will address the seeming injustices of pain and tragedy, ea...