"Three False Accusations" (Job 22:1-30)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 11/16/2011 8:21:10 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                      Focus: “Three False Accusations”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                         Reference:  Job 22:1-30

 

            Message of the verses:  With this SD we begin a new chapter of the book of Job, and it also begins a new chapter from Dr. Wiersbe’s commentary on Job, “Be Patient.”  He entitles chapter eight “Order in the Court,” and it will cover chapters twenty-two through chapter twenty-four.  In today’s SD we begin with the next speech of Eliphaz and he will have three false accusations to go against Job.  These conversations are getting more heated as we will soon see.  I can’t help but believe that the enemy of our souls had great influence on these three friends of Job because the steaks were very high for Satan, yet when one looks at it through the eyes of the Lord and through His character and attribute one will realize that God would win this “contest” with Satan, and it will be because of Job’s integrity that Satan will lose.  Job did not worship the Lord for what he got from the Lord, but he worshiped the Lord because he loved the Lord and desired to serve him in the good times as well as the bad times.

 

            Job is a sinner (Job 22:1-11):  “1 Then Eliphaz the Temanite responded, 2 "Can a vigorous man be of use to God, Or a wise man be useful to himself? 3 “Is there any pleasure to the Almighty if you are righteous, Or profit if you make your ways perfect? 4 “Is it because of your reverence that He reproves you, That He enters into judgment against you?

             5 "Is not your wickedness great, And your iniquities without end? 6 “For you have taken pledges of your brothers without cause, And stripped men naked. 7 “To the weary you have given no water to drink, And from the hungry you have withheld bread. 8 “But the earth belongs to the mighty man, And the honorable man dwells in it. 9 “You have sent widows away empty, And the strength of the orphans has been crushed. 10 “Therefore snares surround you, And sudden dread terrifies you, 11 Or darkness, so that you cannot see, And an abundance of water covers you.”  (NASB)

            “1 Once again Eliphaz the Temanite took up his theme: 2 "Are any of us strong enough to give God a hand, or smart enough to give him advice? 3 So what if you were righteous—would God Almighty even notice? Even if you gave a perfect performance, do you think he’d applaud? 4 Do you think it’s because he cares about your purity that he’s disciplining you, putting you on the spot?

            5 Hardly! It’s because you’re a first-class moral failure, because there’s no end to your sins. 6 When people came to you for help, you took the shirts off their backs, exploited their helplessness. 7 You wouldn’t so much as give a drink to the thirsty, or food, not even a scrap, to the hungry. 8 And there you sat, strong and honored by everyone, surrounded by immense wealth! 9 You turned poor widows away from your door; heartless, you crushed orphans. 10 Now you’re the one trapped in terror, paralyzed by fear. Suddenly the tables have turned! 11 How do you like living in the dark, sightless, up to your neck in flood waters?” (Message)

 

            I wish at this time to give a quote from Matthew Henry that appears at the very beginning of the chapter in Dr. Wiersbe’s commentary, “The God of Israel, the Savior, is sometimes a God that hides Himself, but never a God that absents Himself; sometimes in the dark, but never at a distance.”  I am sure that if you would read this quote to Job at this time in his life he would have said “Amen!”

           

            The first question that I wish to ask is how did Eliphaz know all of these things about Job?  Was he just making them up?  Did he get the answers to these charges from some of Job’s neighbors?  This whole thing reminds me of the political scene that is now going on in the US where one party slings mud at another even though they know that their facts are not true but do not care because it will get people to begin to think that they are true.  Eliphaz is doing this to Job, but Job is not buying it.

           

            Eliphaz is accusing Job of having too much pride in verses one through three.  He is saying that Job is acting like his character is important to God and Eliphaz is saying that it is not at all important to God.  However it is important to God for that is the premise of this whole “contest” between God and Satan.

           

            In verse six Eliphaz accuses Job of covetousness.  He says that Job is a greedy man.  Covetousness is what the tenth commandment is all about for it says that a person is not to covet, covet a man’s house or donkey, or wife.  To covet something you have to do it in your heart and when you do this you break that law.  Job was not doing what Eliphaz accused him of doing.

           

            Job is accused by Eliphaz of a lack of mercy and compassion in verse seven through nine.  If this were true of Job one could probably see why the Lord was not answering his prayers, but it was not true.

 

            Job is hiding his sins (Job 22:12-20):  “12 “Is not God in the height of heaven? Look also at the distant stars, how high they are! 13 “You say, ’What does God know? Can He judge through the thick darkness? 14 ’Clouds are a hiding place for Him, so that He cannot see; And He walks on the vault of heaven.’

            15 "Will you keep to the ancient path Which wicked men have trod, 16 Who were snatched away before their time, Whose foundations were washed away by a river? 17 “They said to God, ’Depart from us!’ And ’What can the Almighty do to them?’ 18 “Yet He filled their houses with good things; But the counsel of the wicked is far from me. 19 “The righteous see and are glad, And the innocent mock them, 20 Saying, ’Truly our adversaries are cut off, And their abundance the fire has consumed.’”  (NASB)

 

            “12 “You agree, don’t you, that God is in charge? He runs the universe—just look at the stars! 13 Yet you dare raise questions: ‘What does God know? From that distance and darkness, how can he judge? 14 He roams the heavens wrapped in clouds, so how can he see us?’

            15 "Are you going to persist in that tired old line that wicked men and women have always used? 16 Where did it get them? They died young, flash floods sweeping them off to their doom. 17 They told God, ‘Get lost! What good is God Almighty to us?’ 18 And yet it was God who gave them everything they had. It’s beyond me how they can carry on like this! 19 “Good people see bad people crash, and call for a celebration. Relieved, they crow, 20 ‘At last! Our enemies—wiped out. Everything they had and stood for is up in smoke!’”  (Message)

 

            Eliphaz is actually saying that Job is a hypocrite, something that has been hinted at earlier in the speeches of Job’s “friends.”  Dr. Wiersbe write of hypocrites:  “A hypocrite is not a person who fails to reach his desired spiritual goals, because all of us fail in one way or another.  A hypocrite is a person who doesn’t even try to reach any goals, but he makes people think that he has.  His profession and his practice never meet.  The Puritan preacher Stephen Charnock said, ‘It is a sad thing to be Christians at a supper, heathens in our shops, and devils in our closets.’”

           

            A hypocrite does not believe that God can see them and so they can act and do as they wish, but according to verse twelve God sees all.  This is a true statement, but accusing Job of being a hypocrite is not.  Again we see truth in what Job’s accusers are stating, but their accusations that go against Job are not true.  In verse twelve Eliphaz wants Job to look up and then in verses 15-18 he wants him to look back.  He want him to remember what has happened to sinners in the past.  I like what Dr. Wiersbe writes about this:  “Poor Job!  No matter which way he turned or how he tried to reason with his accusers, he was wasting his time and energy.  First they said that God blesses the righteous and punishes the wicked, and now Eliphaz claims that God blesses the hypocrite and fills his house with good things!—It has been well said that the highest reward for a faithful life is not what you get for it but what you become by it.  Bishop Brooke Westcott said ‘Great occasions do not make heroes or cowards; they simply unveil them to the eyes of men.  Silently and imperceptibly, as we wake or sleep, we grow strong or we grow weak, and at last some crisis shows what we have become.’”

 

            Job must repent of his sins (Job 22:21-30):  “21 "Yield now and be at peace with Him; Thereby good will come to you. 22 “Please receive instruction from His mouth And establish His words in your heart. 23 "If you return to the Almighty, you will be restored; If you remove unrighteousness far from your tent, 24 And place your gold in the dust, And the gold of Ophir among the stones of the brooks, 25 Then the Almighty will be your gold And choice silver to you. 26 “For then you will delight in the Almighty And lift up your face to God. 27 “You will pray to Him, and He will hear you; And you will pay your vows. 28 “You will also decree a thing, and it will be established for you; And light will shine on your ways. 29 “When you are cast down, you will speak with confidence, And the humble person He will save. 30 “He will deliver one who is not innocent, And he will be delivered through the cleanness of your hands.’”  (NASB)

 

            “21 "Give in to God, come to terms with him and everything will turn out just fine. 22 Let him tell you what to do; take his words to heart. 23 Come back to God Almighty and he’ll rebuild your life. Clean house of everything evil. 24 Relax your grip on your money and abandon your gold-plated luxury. 25 God Almighty will be your treasure, more wealth than you can imagine. 26 “You’ll take delight in God, the Mighty One, and look to him joyfully, boldly. 27 You’ll pray to him and he’ll listen; he’ll help you do what you’ve promised. 28 You’ll decide what you want and it will happen; your life will be bathed in light. 29 To those who feel low you’ll say, ‘Chin up! Be brave!’ and God will save them. 30 Yes, even the guilty will escape, escape through God’s grace in your life.’”  (Message)

 

            The only commentary on this section that I will give is from the pen of Dr. Wiersbe for I surely could not say it any better: “Eliphaz says some excellent things in this appeal, but he says them to the wrong man.  When we get to the end of the book we will discover that it is Eliphaz and his two friends who are out of fellowship with God.  They will need Job to intercede for them so they can be restored (42:7-10)

            “If you were Job how would  you respond to this appeal?”  (Good question)

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  As I look back as some of the speeches that Job’s “friends” gave to him I find a lot of truth in them just as Dr. Wiersbe points out from this last section, but it is given to the wrong man at the wrong time.  When people are hurting they need a listening ear and not a threatening tongue like Job’s three friends were giving to him.  This is one of the great things that I can take away from this book, and by God’s grace and the aid of the Holy Spirit put into practice in order to help others who are in need of help.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:

 

1.      Have a listening ear that listens from the heart and not have a threatening tongue that will hurt people worse than they are already hurting.

2.      Continue to learn contentment.

3.      Romans 12:1-2.

4.      Ephesians 6:10-18.

5.      Proverbs 3:5-6.

11/16/2011 9:33:53 AM

 

"The Actual End of a Wicked Man" (Job 21:1-34)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 11/15/2011 8:48:56 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                      Focus:  “The Actual End of a Wicked Man”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                         Reference:  Job 21:1-34

 

            Message of the verses:  We will take this chapter one sub-section at a time in order to understand how Job will refute what Zophar had just said to him.  When Job gets done with his speech he will have refuted all the things that Zophar had said to him and tear them to bits.

 

            I want to first look at the beginning six verses of chapter twenty-one.  “1 Then Job answered, 2 "Listen carefully to my speech, And let this be your way of consolation. 3 “Bear with me that I may speak; Then after I have spoken, you may mock. 4 “As for me, is my complaint to man? And why should I not be impatient? 5 “Look at me, and be astonished, And put your hand over your mouth. 6 “Even when I remember, I am disturbed, And horror takes hold of my flesh.”  In order to understand better what Job is saying her I wish to use the Message at this point, for it seems to be very clear as to what Job is saying here:  “1 Job replied: 2 "Now listen to me carefully, please listen, at least do me the favor of listening. 3 Put up with me while I have my say—then you can mock me later to your heart’s content. 4 “It’s not you I’m complaining to—it’s God. Is it any wonder I’m getting fed up with his silence? 5 Take a good look at me. Aren’t you appalled by what’s happened? No! Don’t say anything. I can do without your comments. 6 When I look back, I go into shock, my body is racked with spasms.”

           

            Job does not have any complaints with men, but his complaint lies with God, and all he wishes from these men is silence, but thus far they have not given that to him, and in the future they will not give it to him.

 

            The life of the wicked may be long (Job 21:7-16):  “7 "Why do the wicked still live, Continue on, also become very powerful? 8 “Their descendants are established with them in their sight, And their offspring before their eyes, 9 Their houses are safe from fear, And the rod of God is not on them. 10 “His ox mates without fail; His cow calves and does not abort. 11 “They send forth their little ones like the flock, And their children skip about. 12 “They sing to the timbrel and harp And rejoice at the sound of the flute. 13 “They spend their days in prosperity, And suddenly they go down to Sheol. 14 “They say to God, ’Depart from us! We do not even desire the knowledge of Your ways. 15 ’Who is the Almighty, that we should serve Him, And what would we gain if we entreat Him?’ 16 “Behold, their prosperity is not in their hand; The counsel of the wicked is far from me.”

 

            Job is refuting what Zophar had said earlier about how the wicked lived, for in these verses we see how they live, and I might add live without God or for the most part without the thought of God in their lives.  Job speaks of all the good things that the wicked have, and how their children prosper, and their animals mate without having any troubles.  Job even says that these wicked men die without suffering, unlike what Job is going through.  The children of the wicked prosper, unlike Job’s who died at an early age.

            In his commentary on this section Dr. Wiersbe points out that many believers today want this kind of a life style, a life style like the rich and famous, and in doing this they fall away from the Lord and do not depend upon Him, whom they should be depending on.  It is sad to see how young married couples who are believers care more about the riches of this life than the good things of the Lord.

 

            The wicked do not often experience calamity?  (Job 21:17-21):  “17 “Still, how often does it happen that the wicked fail, or disaster strikes, or they get their just deserts? 18 How often are they blown away by bad luck? Not very often. 19 You might say, ‘God is saving up the punishment for their children.’ I say, ‘Give it to them right now so they’ll know what they’ve done!’ 20 They deserve to experience the effects of their evil, feel the full force of God’s wrath firsthand. 21 What do they care what happens to their families after they’re safely tucked away in the grave?”  (Message)

            “17 “How often is the lamp of the wicked put out, Or does their calamity fall on them? Does God apportion destruction in His anger? 18 “Are they as straw before the wind, And like chaff which the storm carries away? 19 “You say, ’God stores away a man’s iniquity for his sons.’ Let God repay him so that he may know it. 20 “Let his own eyes see his decay, And let him drink of the wrath of the Almighty. 21 “For what does he care for his household after him, When the number of his months is cut off?”  (NASB)

 

            In Job 18:5 Bildad says "Indeed, the light of the wicked goes out, And the flame of his fire gives no light.”  This is not what Job is saying in this section. 

           

            Both Zophar and Eliphaz were saying that God would punish the children of the wicked instead of the wicked and in saying this they were pointing to Job who lost his children, but Job asks “What kind of judgment is that?”  Besides that Job was also suffering, not only from losing his children, but because of his health too.  I don’t know about everyone who reads Job and studies it, but it seems to me that for the most part I have forgotten about the loss of Job’s children, and that is to my shame, for even though Job was suffering greatly from the illness that Satan has given to him, he must be greatly suffering from the loss of his five children too.

           

            We find in Jeremiah 31:29-30 and also Ezekiel 18:1ff that God does not punish the children for the parent’s sins or the parents for the children’s sins, which is what Job’s friends are claiming.  Deuteronomy 24:16 states:  ‘"Fathers shall not be put to death for their sons, nor shall sons be put to death for their fathers; everyone shall be put to death for his own sin.’”  This was a very cruel thing that Job’s friends were saying to him.

           

            Job refutes Zophar’s statement that claimed that the pleasure of the wicked were temporary because God’s judgment suddenly fell upon them, but Job asked, “How often have you seen that happen.”  Zophar had also said that the life of the wicked is short, but Job says that the wicked live a long life.

 

            The wicked die just like other people (Job21:22-34):  “22 “But who are we to tell God how to run his affairs? He’s dealing with matters that are way over our heads. 23 Some people die in the prime of life, with everything going for them— 24 fat and sassy. 25 Others die bitter and bereft, never getting a taste of happiness. 26 They’re laid out side by side in the cemetery, where the worms can’t tell one from the other.

    “27 "I’m not deceived. I know what you’re up to, the plans you’re cooking up to bring me down. 28 Naively you claim that the castles of tyrants fall to pieces, that the achievements of the wicked collapse. 29 Have you ever asked world travelers how they see it? Have you not listened to their stories 30 Of evil men and women who got off scot-free, who never had to pay for their wickedness? 31 Did anyone ever confront them with their crimes? Did they ever have to face the music? 32 Not likely—they’re given fancy funerals with all the trimmings, 33 Gently lowered into expensive graves, with everyone telling lies about how wonderful they were. 34  "So how do you expect me to get any comfort from your nonsense? Your so-called comfort is a tissue of lies.’”  (Message)

 

            “22 “Can anyone teach God knowledge, In that He judges those on high? 23 "One dies in his full strength, Being wholly at ease and satisfied; 24  His sides are filled out with fat, And the marrow of his bones is moist, 25 While another dies with a bitter soul, Never even tasting anything good. 26 “Together they lie down in the dust, And worms cover them.

    27 "Behold, I know your thoughts, And the plans by which you would wrong me. 28 “For you say, ’Where is the house of the nobleman, And where is the tent, the dwelling places of the wicked?’ 29 “Have you not asked wayfaring men, And do you not recognize their witness? 30 “For the wicked is reserved for the day of calamity; They will be led forth at the day of fury. 31 “Who will confront him with his actions, And who will repay him for what he has done? 32 “While he is carried to the grave, Men will keep watch over his tomb. 33 “The clods of the valley will gently cover him; Moreover, all men will follow after him, While countless ones go before him. 34 “How then will you vainly comfort me, For your answers remain full of falsehood?’” (NASB)

 

            I like the way that verse twenty-two is stated in the Message.  Job is saying that man does not have any right to interfere with what God is doing, for God is God and will do as He wishes.  God will latter ask Job this question and Job will have no answer for God.

           

            Job is saying that some people die when they are young and healthy and some suffer for a long time, and when they get to the grave and are laid out beside each other one will not be able to tell the difference between them.

           

            In verse thirty-one Job asks the question to his friends if they had ever asked the wicked about what was going to happen to them.  This is a good question for all believers to pounder, for that is one of the reasons that we are here on this earth to tell others about the saving grace that is offered to these people.

           

            As we look at verse thirty-four we will see that Job does not have any confidence in the answers that his friends were going to give him, for he says that they are full of falsehoods.

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I would suppose that verse twenty-two is the verse that sticks out in my mind this morning as it goes along with one of my favorite verses in all of the Scriptures, and that is Deuteronomy 29:29.  I will quote this verse in both the NASB and also the Message “"The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our sons forever, that we may observe all the words of this law.’”  ‘GOD, our God, will take care of the hidden things but the revealed things are our business. It’s up to us and our children to attend to all the terms in this Revelation.’”

           

            As a believer I do not have all of the answers, and there are many things that I will never be able to answer as this verse shows me so it is my job to obey the things that have been written in God’s Word, and not to try and understand the things that are what the verse calls “secret things.” 

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:

 

1.      Listen with my heart and not just with my ears.

2.      Continue to learn contentment.

 

11/15/2011 10:02:32 AM

rabbitsix@hotmail.com

  

           

           

"The Awful Fate of the Wicked" (Job 20:1-29)

 

SPIRITIUAL DIARY FOR 11/14/2011 8:28:44 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                           Focus:  “The Awful Fate of the Wicked”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                         Reference:  Job 20:1-29

 

            Message of the verses:  Today’s SD begins the 20^th chapter of the book of Job and the 7^th chapter of “Be Patient” the commentary on Job by Warren Wiersbe.  We will be moving back to hear Zophar again, but he really has nothing new to say, as he continues to say what the other two have said that Job is a sinner and needs to repent of his sin and get right with God.  Zophar realizes that he has nothing new to say but he is so upset with what Job had just said that he feels that he has to comment again.  There are three sub-points under this first main point and I will see how far I can go in this SD with these sub-points.  In these three sub-points Zophar will make three affirmations to prove that the fate of the wicked is indeed terrible: their life is brief, their pleasure is temporary, and their death is painful.

 

            Their life is brief (Job 20:1-11):  “1Then Zophar the Naamathite answered, 2 “Therefore my disquieting thoughts make me respond, Even because of my inward agitation. 3 “I listened to the reproof which insults me, And the spirit of my understanding makes me answer. 4 “Do you know this from of old, From the establishment of man on earth, 5 That the triumphing of the wicked is short, And the joy of the godless momentary? 6 “Though his loftiness reaches the heavens, And his head touches the clouds, 7 He perishes forever like his refuse; Those who have seen him will say, ’Where is he?’ 8 “He flies away like a dream, and they cannot find him; Even like a vision of the night he is chased away. 9 “The eye which saw him sees him no longer, And his place no longer beholds him. “10 "His sons favor the poor, And his hands give back his wealth. 11 “His bones are full of his youthful vigor, But it lies down with him in the dust.”

 

            Zophar is giving information to Job that is not true, at least when one reads the account of the flood we learn that God gave the people 120 years to repent before He destroyed the earth by the flood.  Later on he gave the Canaanite nations four hundred years before they were destroyed, so it is unclear where Zophar got his information to support what he is saying in verse four.

           

            I have heard it said before that the wicked actually live longer because this earth is the only heaven that they will see, for the Scriptures says in different parts that the wicked do live longer (Psalms 37; 73; Jer. 12:1-4). 

           

            In verses six and seven Zophar is saying that the wicked rise then he will fall rapidly and will go down the drain like refuge goes down the drain and people will wonder where he went to.  Now only will he disappear, but his wealth along with him will also disappear, for his children will now live in poverty.  He will die at a very young age. (Verses 8-11)

           

            Dr. Wiersbe writes “Zophar and his two friends were certain that Job was a hypocrite, that his pious life was only a veneer to cover his secret sins.  In his second speech, Eliphaz will even name some of the sins that Job committed!  (22:5-9) But God does not always judge hypocrites and other sinners immediately, and the death of a young person is no evidence that he or she was a hypocrite.”

           

            This kind of talk angers me, for Eliphaz was putting God in a box, stating what God had to do and not do therefore not understanding who God is, for God can do anything He wants to do, and do it at any time He wants to do it.  We have talked about this before that all of the attributes of God will bring Him glory from His love to His justice and all of the other attributes too, so what Eliphaz is saying is not true at all.

           

            Their pleasure is temporary (Job 20:12-19):  “12 "Though evil is sweet in his mouth And he hides it under his tongue, 13 Though he desires it and will not let it go, But holds it in his mouth, 14 Yet his food in his stomach is changed To the venom of cobras within him. 15 "He swallows riches, But will vomit them up; God will expel them from his belly. 16 "He sucks the poison of cobras; The viper’s tongue slays him. 17 “He does not look at the streams, The rivers flowing with honey and curds. 18 “He returns what he has attained And cannot swallow it; As to the riches of his trading, He cannot even enjoy them. 19 “For he has oppressed and forsaken the poor; He has seized a house which he has not built. 20 “Because he knew no quiet within him, He does not retain anything he desires.”

 

            I believe that what Eliphaz is saying in this section is true, but it is not true as far as Job is concerned.  Eliphaz is saying that Job was a sinful person who loves his sinfulness so much that he cannot give it up, and that is certainly not true.

           

            Eliphaz is saying of the wicked that their sin is like a person enjoying good food and so he continues to chew it and does not want to swallow it, but when he finally does it becomes poison in his system.  We read in the book of Hebrews that Moses did not want to continue to serve the Egyptians because what he would be doing there would be sinful and so Hebrews 11:25 states “choosing rather to endure ill-treatment with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin.”  This verse is saying that sin brings pleasure, and people who love this pleasure continue to do more of it, but the more they do it the more they continue to want to do it because it takes more sin all of the time to continue to bring more pleasure to them and this is what Eliphaz is stating in this section.

 

            The death is painful (Job 20:20-29):  “20 “Because he knew no quiet within him, He does not retain anything he desires. 21 “Nothing remains for him to devour, Therefore his prosperity does not endure. 22 “In the fullness of his plenty he will be cramped; The hand of everyone who suffers will come against him. 23 "When he fills his belly, God will send His fierce anger on him And will rain it on him while he is eating. 24 “He may flee from the iron weapon, But the bronze bow will pierce him. 25 “It is drawn forth and comes out of his back, Even the glittering point from his gall. Terrors come upon him, 26 Complete darkness is held in reserve for his treasures, And unfanned fire will devour him; It will consume the survivor in his tent. 27 “The heavens will reveal his iniquity, And the earth will rise up against him. 28 “The increase of his house will depart; His possessions will flow away in the day of His anger. 29 “This is the wicked man’s portion from God, Even the heritage decreed to him by God.’”

 

            Dr. Wiersbe suggests reading the 49^th Psalm along with this section of Scripture and after reading it I can understand why he suggests it.  Not even a man who is very rich can stop death when it comes. Like the 49^th Psalm we see that the wicked will experience distress and misery and also God’s burning anger.  When it is time for him to die God will come upon him with not only a sword, but arrows too, and will stop his life.  This speech sounds like Bildad speech in Job 18. 

            Again these things can be true of a wicked man, but Eliphaz was saying them to Job, and Job was not a wicked man, for we learned that in the first chapter of Job by what God said about him.

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  What I wish to remember from this section is not to put God in a box, and demand that He do what I want Him to do like Eliphaz and his two friends were doing.  God has an overall plan for planet earth and the people on it, and He has a plan for my life which at the end of it He will reward me and other believers for what they have done while in the body.  This is called the Judgment or Bema Seat of Christ and is spoken of in the books of Romans, and First and Second Corinthians.  God has given me and all other believers spiritual gifts (Romans 12; 1Cor. 12; Eph. 4; and 1Pe. 4) and it is how I use these gifts and talents in the power of the Holy Spirit that will determine what rewards that I will receive from the Lord.   In the end all believes will be able to cast these crowns at the feet of Jesus for after all it is only because of Him that we will be able to earn them in the first place.

           

            Earning these rewards is motivation to continue to serve the Lord.  We read in the 15^th chapter of John about the Vine and the branches.  Jesus is the Vine and the believers are the branches that produce fruit.  Our job according to this section is to remain in the vine, and if we remain in the vine then the Lord will produce the fruit through us and we will then receive rewards for the fruit that is produced through us.

 

My Steps of faith for today:

 

1.     Remain in the vine:  ‘"I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.’” (John 15:5)

2.     Continue to learn contentment.  (Phil. 4:11b)

3.     Put on the whole armor of God.  (Eph. 6:10-18)

4.     1Cor. 10:13.

5.     Proverbs 3:5-6.

6.     Luke 22:40b; 46b.

7.     Romans 12:1-2.

8.     Psalm 139:23-24.

 

 

11/14/2011 9:43:15 AM

           

           

PT-2 "The Trials of Life" (Job 19:13-29)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 11/13/2011 8:26:27 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                                Focus:  “The Trials of Life”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                       Reference:  Job 19:13-29

 

            Message of the verses:  In today’s SD I will try to finish the last two sub-sections that are under the main section “The Trials of Life.”

 

            Isolation (Job 19:13-22):  “13 “He has removed my brothers far from me, And my acquaintances are completely estranged from me. 14 “My relatives have failed, And my intimate friends have forgotten me. 15 “Those who live in my house and my maids consider me a stranger. I am a foreigner in their sight. 16 “I call to my servant, but he does not answer; I have to implore him with my mouth. 17 “My breath is offensive to my wife, And I am loathsome to my own brothers. 18 “Even young children despise me; I rise up and they speak against me. 19 “All my associates abhor me, And those I love have turned against me. 20 “My bone clings to my skin and my flesh, And I have escaped only by the skin of my teeth. 21 “Pity me, pity me, O you my friends, For the hand of God has struck me. 22 “Why do you persecute me as God does, And are not satisfied with my flesh?”

 

            I did not realize that the phrase “by the skin of my teeth” came from the book of Job, but here it is in verse twenty.  The meaning of it is not really known, but one thing we can know about this statement is that Job felt that he was very near to death. 

           

            In the first part of this section Job speaks of how those in his family, his servants, and others he knows keep their distance from him because of the way that he looks, and also because he is not the rich man that he used to be.  They also believe that he was a great sinner and so why would one want to be around a person like that who now live on the garbage pile.  Job was actually being treated like a leper.

           

            When the Lord Jesus Christ came to earth He had compassion for the down and out, the publicans and sinners, the prostitutes, and He even died between two criminals.  Isaiah 53:3 says, “He was despised and forsaken of men, A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; And like one from whom men hide their face He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.”

           

            Job closes this section by talking to his “friends” and wondering why they have turned against him like they have, when they should have been the ones who gave him comfort.

 

            Insight (Job 19:23-29):  “23 "Oh that my words were written! Oh that they were inscribed in a book! 24 “That with an iron stylus and lead They were engraved in the rock forever! 25 “As for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, And at the last He will take His stand on the earth. 26 “Even after my skin is destroyed, Yet from my flesh I shall see God; 27 Whom I myself shall behold, And whom my eyes will see and not another. My heart faints within me! 28 “If you say, ’How shall we persecute him?’ And ’What pretext for a case against him can we find?’ 29 “Then be afraid of the sword for yourselves, For wrath brings the punishment of the sword, So that you may know there is judgment.’”

 

            We read in Job 18:17 Bildad said “The remembrance of him (a wicked man) shall perish from the earth,” but Job is saying at the beginning of this section that he wanted his words recorded in a book.  Job wanted this because he thought that he was going to die before the Lord would vindicate him, and so he wanted people to remember how he suffered, and also what he said.

           

            Job goes from the debts of despair to great heights of faith in a very short time, and as Dr. Wiersbe points out this is very normal for a person who is in a lot of pain.  The sky will be dark with storm clouds and then the sun will break through and there will be a glimmer of hope.  Not only is this true of someone who is in great pain and is suffering, but it is true of most people, including believers.  There was a man who has been described as the greatest English speaking Pastor of his day, John Henry Jowett and this is what he said about the ups and downs of the Christian life:  “I wish you wouldn’t think I am such a saint.  You seem to imagine that I have not ups and downs, but just a level and lofty stretch of spiritual attainment with unbroken joy and equanimity.  By no means!  I am often perfectly wretched, and everything appears most murky.”  (John Henry Jowett, by Arthur Porrit, p. 290)

           

            In Job’s wonderful statement of faith in verse twenty-five he uses the word redeemer and this word in the Hebrew is the “kinsmen redeemer.”  Now this word is seen very plainly in the book of Ruth, when Boaz becomes the kinsmen redeemer for Ruth, and pictures what the Lord Jesus Christ will do for His people. 

           

            Dr. Wiersbe writes, “Of course, this kinsman redeemer is Jesus Christ.  He took upon Himself a human nature so that He might reveal God to us, experience all that we experience, die for our sins, and then return to heaven to represent us before the Father.  He is willing to save and able to save.  One day He shall stand upon the earth and exercise judgment; and He will vindicate His own people.”  This is what Job was talking about and the reason that it was such a great statement of faith is because at the time when Job lived this was really not revealed like it was later on.  Job spoke of wanting an umpire and now in this statement of faith he speaks of having one.  In the book of John and chapter eleven we see that the sister of Lazarus says to the Lord Jesus Christ that she knows that her brother would live again at the resurrection of the dead.  Jesus told her “I am the resurrection.”  The point I am making here is that she knew that there would be a resurrection because of the book of Job. 

           

            In verses 28-29 we see Job giving a warning to his friends, and that warning is that they too would stand before God’s throne of judgment, and so they had better be ready.  These men were speaking against Job saying that he was a sinner, and yet they were sinners too.  Jesus spoke of this when He was talking about a man with a log in his eye trying to take the speck out of another man’s eye, but first he had to get the log out of his own eye to take the speck out of the other man’s eye.  Dr. Wiersbe quotes Abraham Lincoln who said “He has a right to criticize who has a heart to help.”  Then Dr. Wiersbe adds “Do you qualify?”

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  Dr. Wiersbe speaks of only helping others who are what would be considered our friends and not helping the down and out like the Lord Jesus did while on this earth.  In order to do this in a proper way one would have to be a listener from one’s heart and not be like Job’s friends who only told Job what his problems were.  One would have to be a good listener to be of help to the down and out.  One would have to be filled with the Spirit to be good at that.  One would have to have great faith to do that.  One would have to be full of compassion to do that.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:

 

1.     Do what I have written about.

2.     Continue to learn contentment.

3.     Luke 22:40b, 46b.

4.     Ephesians 6:10-18.

5.     Romans 12:1-2.

6.     Proverbs 3:5-6.

7.     Psalm 139:23-24.

11/13/2011 9:26:24 AM    

PT-1 "The Trials of Life" (Job 19:1-12)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 11/12/2011 9:00:42 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                                Focus:  “The Trials of Life”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                         Reference:  Job 19:1-29

 

            Message of the verses:  This section is going to be a very long one so it looks like I will have to work on it for more than one day.

            In the last SD we saw Bildad describing death, and the terrors of death, and now in this section we will see Job describe the trials of life, his life.  He is saying that he does not have to die to experience trials, for he was experiencing them at this time in his life, yet his friends do not truly understand it, nor seem to care.

            In his commentary on this long section Dr. Wiersbe breaks it up using four sub-points to this main point “The trials of Life.”  We will look at this chapter of Job through these four sub-points.

 

            Insults (Job 19:1-4):  “1 Then Job responded, 2 “How long will you torment me And crush me with words? 3 “These ten times you have insulted me; You are not ashamed to wrong me. 4 “Even if I have truly erred, My error lodges with me.”

            “1 Then Job spoke again: 2  “How long will you torture me?  How long will you try to crush me with your words? 3 You have already insulted me ten times.  You should be ashamed of treating me so badly. 4 Even if I have sinned, that is my concern, not yours.”  (NLT)

           

            Sometimes it is easier to understand a passage by looking at another version of the Bible and that is why I also put the NLT here.  The NASB uses the word error in verse four, while the NLT uses the word sin in verse four.  Looking at the Strongs Concordance it says of the word translated erred “to go astray.”  Dr. Wiersbe says the word means “an unintentional sin.” 

           

            Job is upset with his friends for they have insulted him “ten times” and he is feed up with it.  He is saying that they are not ashamed that they have been wronging him.  Then he goes on to say even if I have sinned that is between God and me.  I have to keep going back to a thought from an earlier SD to help explain why these men continue to insult Job, and why they are so intent on finding out Job’s sin that caused this trouble for him.  If Job had not sinned and all of these troubles came to him then the same kind of trouble could come upon these men too, and they did not like the prospect of that happening.

 

            Illustrations (Job 19:5-12):  “5 "If indeed you vaunt yourselves against me And prove my disgrace to me, 6  Know then that God has wronged me And has closed His net around me. 7 “Behold, I cry, ’Violence!’ but I get no answer; I shout for help, but there is no justice.

    “8 "He has walled up my way so that I cannot pass, And He has put darkness on my paths. 9 “He has stripped my honor from me And removed the crown from my head. 10 “He breaks me down on every side, and I am gone; And He has uprooted my hope like a tree. 11 “He has also kindled His anger against me And considered me as His enemy. 12 “His troops come together, And build up their way against me And camp around my tent.”

            We remember from yesterday SD that Bildad gave four pictures of the terror of death and now Job will give seven pictures of the trials of life in this short section of Scripture.

1.     Job felt trapped like an animal (verse 6).  Job is saying that God has not only wronged him, but He has closed a net around him to catch him.  Job is not saying that God has trapped him in His net because he had sinned, because Job does not believe that he sinned.  Job does not understand why God has done this, but it was not because of sin.  Now we need to realize that Job does not believe that he is blameless before God, for he knows that he is a sinner, but Job does not believe that he committed any intentional sin to have all of these troubles come upon him.

2.     Job felt like a criminal in court (Job 19:7). When a person is arrested in the United States the charges against him are given to him so he knows what he is charged with.  Job feels that God has arrested him, but he does not know what the charges are and this is upsetting to him, and I suppose that it would be upsetting to anyone.  However when trials come our way we should be content that God has a plan for using these trials in our life to draw us closer to Him, but that does not take away the pain that we are going through because of the trials.  We can see that Job did have the right attitude about these trials in that he knew that they came upon him without him sinning and causing them to come upon him.

3.     Job felt like that he was a traveler who was fenced in (Job 19:8).  In the first chapter of Job we see Satan accusing God of having put a fence around Job and his family in order to keep evil away from him and keep him living in comfort.  Now Job sees himself fenced in on a one way street where there is darkness and he does not know where to go.  Dr. Wiersbe writes “At times God permits His children to experience darkness on a dead-end street where they don’t know which way to turn.  When this happens, wait for the Lord to give you light in His own time.  Don’t try to manufacture your own light or to borrow light from others.  Follow the wise counsel of Isaiah, ‘Who among you fears the Lord?  Who obeys the voice of His Servant?  Who walks in darkness and has no light?  Let him trust in the name of the Lord and rely upon his God’ (Isa. 50:10, NKJV).”  Oswald Chambers writes on this subject of light and darkness the following:  “Oh, the unspeakable benediction of the ‘treasures of darkness!’  It is not the days of sunshine and splendor and liberty and light that leave their lasting and indelible effect upon the soul, but those nights of the Spirit in which, shadowed by God’s hand, hidden in the dark cleft of some rock in a weary land, He lets the splendors of the outskirts of Himself pass before our gaze.” 

4.     Job’s suffering left him feeling like a king who has been dethroned (Job 19:9). We not see Job who was the greatest man in the East as a broken man whose honor and prestige have been taken away from him and now he is in the darkness.

5.     The fifth picture Job describes is that of a structure that has been destroyed (Job 19:10).  It is hard to determine exactly what Job may have been thinking about here but perhaps he was thinking about all of the things that he once had that are now gone, have been taken away from him in a moment of time, and now he is left sitting on a ash heap with the company of three miserable friends.

6.     This sixth picture also comes from verse ten and it is of a tree that has been uprooted.  In Job 14:7 Job used the picture of a tree as being of hope, but now he uses it as hopelessness of lost hope.  In Job 14 he was speaking of a tree that was cut down, but here it is a tree that has been uprooted and without a root system there is no hope for the tree.

7.     This final word picture comes from Job 19:11-12 and it is of a city that has been besieged.  We see from Job 13:24 that Job believes that God has declared war upon Job and was treating him like His enemy.  Job does not understand why God was besieging his tent when He could have destroyed him instantly.  This way was more painful to Job.  Job was a man in great pain with people around him that were making it worse and not better, so there were times when Jobs words are greatly affected by the pain and suffering that he is experiencing.

 

Spiritual meaning for my life today:  As I go through the study of the book of Job I am

beginning to feel tremendous pain that Job was suffering through.  There are far too many times in my life when I do not feel the pain others are going through and that is why I am thankful for the study of this book and the things that God is teaching me through this study.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:

 

1.     To hear words with my heart and not my ears.

2.     To continue to learn contentment.

3.     Ephesians 6:10-18.

4.     Romans 12:1-2.

5.     Proverbs 3:5-6.

6.     Psalm 139:23-24.

7.     1Cor. 10:13.

8.     Luke 22:40b; 46b.

 

11/12/2011 10:31:37 AM