ALPHA MAAMA (A.M.)

 TU’APULELULU ME 28, 2026

JOB 8-10; Isaiah 55:6-9

Few things are more spiritually dangerous than allowing yourself to think you're smarter than God, even for a moment.

‘Oku si’isi’i ke ‘i ai ha me’a ‘e fakatu’utamaki ange ka ko ho’o fakangofua ho’o fakakaukau ke ke pehee ‘oku ke poto ange ‘i he ‘Otua, neongo ko ha ki’i fo’i kemo pe.

It might be hard for you to admit, but sometimes you are tempted to think you are smarter than God. Anytime you step over God's moral boundaries, you are acting as though you're smarter than God. Anytime you question his revealed wisdom, you are telling yourself you're smarter than God. Anytime you get mad at him for what he has brought into your life, you are acting as though you know more and know better. Anytime you try to take your life into your own hands and do what pleases yourself rather than what he says is best, you are acting as though you have greater wisdom than he. It is important to always remember that God, in his infinite glory, is the ultimate source of everything that is wise, good, and true. He may confuse you, he may confound you, and he may disturb you, but he is never in error, and what he says and does is never wrong. God knows everything. It is the height of spiritual delusion to think that we could ever mount wise arguments against him and what he has done.

Job, dealing with the confounding nature of his suffering, understands these truths about God.

Truly I know that it is so:

But how can a man be in the right before God?

If one wished to contend with him, 

one could not answer him once in a thousand times.

He is wise in heart and mighty in strength

-who has hardened himself against him, and succeeded?-

he who removes mountains, and they know it not,

when he overturns them in his anger,

who shakes the earth out of its place,

and its pillars tremble;

who commands the sun, and it does not rise;

who seals up the stars;

who alone stretched out the heavens

and trampled the waves of the sea;

who made the Bear and Orion,

the Pleiades and the chambers of the south;

who does great things beyond searching out,

and marvelous things beyond number.

Behold, he passes by me, and I see him not;

he moves on, but I do not perceive him.

Behold, he snatches away; who can turn him back?

Who will say to him, "What are you doing?" (Job 9:2-12)

As Job stands before the glorious glory of the wisdom and power of God, he is deeply aware that, although his suffering is confusing and confounding, he cannot call God into question. Like Job, we all must rest in God's wisdom, goodness, and power, even though we can't always understand what God is doing or why he is doing it. It is wonderful that he is a God of wisdom and power as well as grace. When your understanding fails, cry out for grace not just to endure but to rest in God's rule, knowing that he is wise in ways you and I never will be.