SPIRITUAL
DIARY FOR 11/3/2011 9:42:24 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
“Zophar’s
Three Accusations”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Job
11:1-20
Message
of the verses: “1 Then Zophar the Naamathite answered, 2 “Shall a multitude of words
go unanswered, And a talkative man be acquitted? 3 “Shall your boasts silence
men? And shall you scoff and none rebuke? 4 “For you have said, ’My teaching is
pure, And I am innocent in your eyes.’ 5 “But would that God might speak, And
open His lips against you, 6 And show you the secrets of wisdom! For sound
wisdom has two sides. Know then that God forgets a part of your iniquity.
“7 "Can you discover the depths of
God? Can you discover the limits of the Almighty? 8 “They are high as the
heavens, what can you do? Deeper than Sheol, what can you know? 9 “Its measure
is longer than the earth And broader than the sea. 10 “If He passes by or shuts
up, Or calls an assembly, who can restrain Him? 11 “For He knows false men, And
He sees iniquity without investigating. 12 “An idiot will become intelligent
When the foal of a wild donkey is born a man.
“13 "If you would direct your heart
right And spread out your hand to Him, 14
If iniquity is in your hand, put it far away, And do not let wickedness
dwell in your tents; 15 "Then,
indeed, you could lift up your face without moral defect, And you would be
steadfast and not fear. 16 “For you would forget your trouble, As waters that have
passed by, you would remember it. 17 “Your life would be brighter than noonday;
Darkness would be like the morning. 18 “Then you would trust, because there is
hope; And you would look around and rest securely. 19 “You would lie down and
none would disturb you, And many would entreat your favor. 20 “But the eyes of
the wicked will fail, And there will be no escape for them; And their hope is
to breathe their last.’”
We begin today looking at the fourth
chapter of Dr. Wiersbe’s Commentary on Job which he entitles “An Angry
“Younger” Man” and it will cover chapters eleven through fourteen of Job. Zophar is probably the youngest of the three
men who came to see Job, and that is why he spoke last. His words to Job are short, but full of
anger, and this was not the time or the place to be angry with Job. Job was in great pain, and sitting on an ash
heap, so sympathy would have been better.
In his introduction to this chapter
Dr. Wiersbe writes, “Zophar makes three accusations against Job: Job is guilty of sin (Job 11:1-4); Job is
ignorant of God (vv. 5-12); and Job is stubborn in his refusal to repent (vv.
13-20). In his reply, Job answers all
three accusations: He affirms God’s
greatness (Job 12) and his own innocence (Job 13), but he has no hope, so why
should he repent? (Job 14)
Here is a verse that all three of
Job “friends” could have used that would have helped Job out “Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep
with those who weep.” (Romans 12:15)
“Job
is guilty!” (Job 11:1-4) Zophar starts out his speech to Job the
same way that Bildad did, saying that Job was a windbag. These three friend of Job were focusing on
the words that Job was speaking, and not the feelings that were behind the
words. Dr. Wiersbe quotes an old Chinese
proverb which says “Through conversing face to face, their hearts have a
thousand miles between them.” Sidney J.
Harris writes “Information is giving out; communication is getting through.”
One can get the impression that
Job is saying that he is completely innocent, even sinless, but this was not
true, and I don’t think that Job thought it was true either, however because of
the things his friends said to him and the pain that he was in, these things
could have caused his thinking to be wrong.
Job
is ignorant of God (Job 11:5-12) Zophar says to Job in verse five “But would that God might speak, And open
His lips against you,” and Job 38:1 says “Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind and said.” Zophar got his wish as well as Job, but I am
not sure that they truly got what they wished for. I think of Isaiah in his book when he was
somehow transported to the throne room of God.
Isaiah was a believer but once he was in that throne room he could only
say, “"Woe is me, for I am ruined!
Because I am a man of unclean lips, And I live among a people of unclean lips;
For my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.’” As a believer Isaiah had his sinned forgiven,
for salvation in the OT was putting your faith in the Messiah who would come
and pay for your sins, while in the NT we look back at what Jesus Christ has
accomplished on the cross for us, and put our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ to
forgive us of our sins. The point of
this Isaiah passage is that even though he was a believer he still felt dirty
and unclean before God, and that is how Job would feel when God began to talk
to him.
When God began to speak to Job
from the whirlwind He rebuked Job’s friends, but not Job.
In verses 5-12 Zophar was hinting
that he knew the great and vast wisdom of God, and thought that he could teach
it to Job. Job did not want to hear this
from Zophar.
In verse six Zophar tells Job that
God forgets a part of your iniquity, but that is not true, for when a person
has been born into the family of God through the new birth God forgets all of
their sins. It seems that Zophar in
saying this could be saying that God could punish you more, not a good thing to
say to a man who has lost all of his family, wealth, and health.
“Zophar closed this accusation by
quoting a proverb (11:12). It’s not easy
to ascertain its meaning. The proverb
may be saying that no matter how stupid a man is when he is born, even as dumb as
a wild donkey, there is still hope for him to become intelligent. Or the proverb might be saying just the
opposite, as in the NIV: ‘But a witless man cannot more become wise
than a wild donkey’s colt can be born a man.’ The NASB agrees ‘An idiot will become intelligent when the foal of a wild donkey is
born a man.’ In view of Zophar’s
anger and insulting language, it is likely that the NIV and NASB translations
are correct.”
Job
is stubborn and should repent (Job 11:13-20). Zophar tells Job in verse eighteen that there
is hope, but that hope had to come the way that Zophar explained it to him, and
this was the same way that Satan told God that the only reason that Job was
worshiping God was because of all of his wealth and health. Yes Satan has a mouth piece speaking to Job
through these three friends of Job.
Dr. Wiersbe writes “Job did not
have a ‘commercial faith’ that made bargains with God. He had a confident faith that said, ‘Though He slay me, yet will I trust in
Him’ (13:15). That doesn’t sound
like a man looking for an easy way out of difficulties. ‘Job did not understand
the Lord’s reasons,’ said C. H. Spurgeon, ‘but he continued to confide in His
goodness.’ That is faith!”
Spiritual
meaning for my life today: That is
the kind of faith that I need and want, for things do not always go well, and
there are times when I am tested and things go wrong, and I need to have that
Job like faith. There is much to be
learned from the book of Job and I am so happy to be able to learn some of
these great truths that are found in this book.
My Steps of Faith for Today:
1. Romans 12:1-2.
2. Ephesians 6:10-18.
3. Proverbs 3:5-6.
4. Philippians 4:11b.
11/3/2011
10:59:43 AM
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