SPIRITIUAL
DIARY FOR 10/30/2011 9:19:03 AM
My Worship Time
Focus: “The Logical Arguments”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Job
8:1-22
Message
of the verses: Today’s SD begins the
third chapter in Dr. Wiersbe’s commentary on Job which he has entitled “The Discussion Continues.” In order to understand the direction that he
will take us as we study this section he gives a clue at the beginning of the
chapter. He writes “As the discussion
continues, Bildad presents three logical arguments to prove Job is guilty; and
Job counters with three painful question to help his friends understand how
perplexed and tormented he really is.”
There is also a quote from John Wesley at the beginning of this chapter
which says “You may be as orthodox as the devil, and as wicked.”
Job is looking for comfort from his
friends, but that will not happen, in fact Bildad as much as tells him that he
is full of hot air (8:2). Dr. Wiersbe
writes “Bildad preached a sermon on God’s justice, and this text was taken from
the ‘vision’ of Eliphaz: ‘Shall mortal
man be more just than God’ (4:17). In defending God’s justice, Bildad
presented three logical arguments.”
“The
character of God (Job 8:1-7): “1 Then Bildad the Shuhite answered, 2 “How
long will you say these things, And the words of your mouth be a mighty wind? 3
“Does God pervert justice? Or does the Almighty pervert what is right? 4 “If
your sons sinned against Him, Then He delivered them into the power of their
transgression. 5 “If you would seek God And implore the compassion of the
Almighty, 6 If you are pure and upright, Surely now He would rouse Himself for
you And restore your righteous estate. 7 "Though your beginning was
insignificant, Yet your end will increase greatly.”
In Job’s last talk he spoke of God
doing these things that happened to him, and now Bildad tells Job that this is
as much as blaspheming God as he begins his speech to Job. Bildad asks “does God pervert justice or does the Almighty prevent what is right?”
When you look at God you have to
look at His attributes in order to understand who God is, and most people today
only think of the love of God, while in the case of Bildad he was looking only
at the Justice of God, and both ways are wrong, for we must understand both His
love and His justice. When we look at
the cross we see God’s love, but we also see the justice of God as He takes His
wrath out on the sinless Savior for those who would accept His
forgiveness. In the Old Testament times
people were looking towards the cross and when Christ came and died there sins
were completely forgiven. We in the New
Testament times look back to the cross seeing what Jesus Christ has done for us
there, paying for our sins through His death, and satisfying an angry God so
that we can be forgiven. Then being
raised from the dead to prove that God was satisfied with His sacrifice.
Bildad even went so far in his
speech to say that Job’s children sinned and that is why they were killed, and
this must have been painful for Job to hear.
We saw in Job 8:6-7 that Bildad is
using a ploy of Satan by saying that if you say you have not sinned why then
has God taken everything away from you.
We will see in the future (Job 42:7-13) that Job will be assigned by God
to pray for Bildad, and the rest of Job’s “friends,”
“The wisdom of the past (Job 8:8-10): “8 "Please inquire of past generations,
And consider the things searched out by their fathers. 9 “For we are only of
yesterday and know nothing, Because our days on earth are as a shadow. 10 “Will
they not teach you and tell you, And bring forth words from their minds?”
Bildad is now going to talk about
the past, and the wisdom that we can get from learning about the past, yet just
because one looks at the past does not mean that they will not make the same
mistakes of those in the past, for if they were wrong then they are still wrong
today. Dr. Wiersbe give a quote from
Historian Jeroslav Pelikan who writes, “Tradition is the living faith of the
dead; traditionalism is the dead faith of the living.” These words are true.
We truly can learn from those in the
past, but must be careful not to make the same mistakes of those in the
past. While living in Hawaii for eight
months earlier this year we attended a church where the Pastor gave a message
on the importance of having every age group in the church, and then went on to
tell why all age groups were necessary.
I was waiting to hear what he was going to say about those in the age
group that I am in, (Older people). He
said that we need the older people in the church so that we can learn from the
mistakes that they have made and not make the same mistakes they have already
made. I felt that this was great wisdom
on his part to say this, but there was a younger woman who began to laugh so
loud and for so long that the Pastor had to tell her that this was not a funny
issue, it was truth. There are many in
the Church today that go along with the woman who laughed. There are many young Pastors that have no
desire to have older people in the church where they serve and make it evident
so that the older people are forced to leave.
This is a grave mistake on their part, one that they will have to answer
to when they sit at the Judgment seat of Christ.
In this section we do not see Bildad
quoting from the ancients, for he knew that Job knew what he was talking
about. Bildad makes it clear to Job that
he believed the ancients over his contemporaries.
The
evidence in nature (Job 8:11-22): “11 “Can the papyrus grow up without a
marsh? Can the rushes grow without water? 12 “While it is still green and not
cut down, Yet it withers before any other plant. 13 “So are the paths of all
who forget God; And the hope of the godless will perish, 14 Whose confidence is
fragile, And whose trust a spider’s web. 15 “He trusts in his house, but it
does not stand; He holds fast to it, but it does not endure. 16 “He thrives
before the sun, And his shoots spread out over his garden. 17 “His roots wrap
around a rock pile, He grasps a house of stones. 18 “If he is removed from his
place, Then it will deny him, saying, ’I never saw you.’ 19 “Behold, this is
the joy of His way; And out of the dust others will spring. “20 "Lo, God
will not reject a man of integrity, Nor will He support the evildoers. 21 “He
will yet fill your mouth with laughter And your lips with shouting. 22 “Those
who hate you will be clothed with shame, And the tent of the wicked will be no
longer.’”
To better understand this section
Dr. Wiersbe writes, “In this ‘wisdom poem,’ Bildad may have summarized some of
the sayings of the ancients as he argued from the law of ‘cause and
effect.’ If this law applies in nature,
why not in human life as well.”
If we take the illustration of the
papyrus plant and know that if it does not have water then it will die. In the same way Job was withering and dying,
so there had to be a cause for why this was happening to Job, and it must have
been that Job sinned to cause this to happen to him.
Bildad moves to a spider’s web and
asks if you lean on it will you not fall.
In the same way Job was leaning on his life that he had not sinned to
cause all of this trouble, and according to Bildad he will fall.
The last example is from the garden,
and if you pull up a plant, no matter how luxuriant it may be it will
eventually die. Job’s root system has
something wrong with it and because of that he will soon die, according to Bildad. Bildad was saying that God had pulled up Job,
like a plant because it was faulty and now he would die.
Spiritual
meaning for my life today: When the
pilgrims were leaving for the New World John Robinson said to them this
important truth that I want to learn and make it my spiritual meaning for
today’s SD: “The Lord has more truth yet
to break forth out of His Holy Word.” I
believe that he was saying to them that through their adventure they were going
to learn new truths from God’s Word. As
I go through life I want to learn new Truth’s from God’s Word too.
My Steps of Faith for Today:
1. Continue to learn from the Word
of God each day.
2. Continue to learn contentment.
10/30/2011
10:22:18 AM
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