SPIRITUAL
DIARY FOR 11/30/2011 9:35:58 AM
My Worship Time
Focus: PT-1 “God is Just”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Job
34-35
Message
of the verses: Today we begin the
second to the last chapter in Dr. Wiersbe’s commentary on Job, “Be Patient,” and it will cover chapters
34-37 of Job, which are the last four chapters of Elihu’s speech. There are some very interesting things that
Dr. Wiersbe has written at the beginning of this chapter that I want to begin
with and quote some of them before we get started on this first main
point.
He begins by stating that the word
theology is the “science of God,” and I suppose that I will have to plead
ignorance on that one for I did know that it was the study of God but did not
know that it was the science of God. He
quotes A.W. Tozer from his wonderful book (“The
knowledge of the Holy, Harper & Rod p.11).” “The essence of idolatry is the entertainment
of thoughts about God that are unworthy of Him.” I would like at this time to mention how
wonderful this book by Tozer is and how much of an impact that is has hand on
my life, for this book along with several others including “Knowing God” by J.I.
Packer are books that deal with the attributes of God which is essential in how
to know God. I cannot list all of God’s
attributes, but will give a list of some that I have studied, as I suppose that
the list is different depending on who you read, but I am sure that they all
overlap having many of the one’s that I will list.
I am taking this list from another
book that is written by Tozer entitled “The Attributes of God.” “God is
Infinitude (boundless); God is Immensity (enormity); God is Goodness; God is
justice; God’s Mercy; God’s grace; God’s omnipresence; God’s Immanence
(existing in all parts of the universe); God’s holiness; God’s perfection. Now I will take from the list that is in “The
Knowledge of the Holy:” The wisdom of
God; The love of God; The Sovereignty of God; The faithfulness of God; The
Immutability of God; The eternity of God.
Chip Ingram in his book, which is kind of based on Tozer’s book entitled
“God as He Longs for us to See Him” adds “The faithfulness of God”. So here we have a list of God’s attributes
and as mentioned these are essential if you want to know God. John MacArthur
stated in one of his sermons that I have listened to in the past that all of
God’s attributes were present at the cross and that statement has caused me to
pounder about them. One more statement
about the attributes of God that is exceedingly important and must be
remembered is that all of God’s attributes bring Him glory.
As we look at the rest of the speech
of Elihu it will be good to think about some of these attributes of God, for
Elihu believes that he knows God fairly well, but does he really?
In the last four chapters of Elihu’s
speech he will explain and defend the Justice of God in chapters 34-35 and then
the Greatness of God in chapters 36-37.
We will begin to look at the Justice of God in this SD and probably
conclude this subject in the next SD.
Elihu has promised not to use
flattery, but we will see that he is actually using flattery on himself, for
since he believes he is so wise he can have all of the men listen to him, for
he will continually exhort them to listen to him. In 1 Cor. 8:1b we read “We know that we all possess knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but love
builds up.” The question that we
must ask about Elihu was he growing or was he swelling. When someone tries to explain and defend the
Almighty they must have the humble heart of a worshipper and it must be done in
love for how do we get this knowledge of God if it were not from His Spirit
teach us, so He is the One to receive glory for are learning and teaching.
God
is just (Job 34:5-6, 10-37) (I will include verses 1-4 in this section
too). “1 Then Elihu continued and said, 2 “Hear my words, you wise men, And
listen to me, you who know. 3 “For the ear tests words As the palate tastes food.
4 “Let us choose for ourselves what is right; Let us know among ourselves what
is good. 5 “For Job has said, ’I am righteous, But God has taken away my right;
6 Should I lie concerning my right? My wound is incurable, though I am without
transgression.’” (NASB)
“1
Elihu continued: 2 "So, my fine friends—listen to me, and see what you
think of this. 3 Isn’t it just common sense—as common as the sense of taste— 4
To put our heads together and figure out what’s going on here? 5 “We’ve all heard
Job say, ‘I’m in the right, but God won’t give me a fair trial. 6 When I defend
myself, I’m called a liar to my face. I’ve done nothing wrong, and I get
punished anyway.’” (Message)
11/30/2011
10:28:40 AM
11/30/2011
3:09:28 PM
Job 34:10-37: 10 "Therefore,
listen to me, you men of understanding. Far be it from God to do wickedness,
And from the Almighty to do wrong. 11 “For He pays a man according to his work,
And makes him find it according to his way. 12 “Surely, God will not act
wickedly, And the Almighty will not pervert justice. 13 “Who gave Him authority
over the earth? And who has laid on Him the whole world? 14 "If He should
determine to do so, If He should gather to Himself His spirit and His breath,
15 All flesh would perish together, And man would return to dust.
16 "But
if you have understanding, hear this; Listen to the sound of my words. 17 “Shall
one who hates justice rule? And will you condemn the righteous mighty One, 18 Who
says to a king, ’Worthless one,’ To nobles, ’Wicked ones’; 19 Who shows no
partiality to princes Nor regards the rich above the poor, For they all are the
work of His hands? 20 “In a moment they die, and at midnight People are shaken
and pass away, And the mighty are taken away without a hand. 21 “For His eyes
are upon the ways of a man, And He sees all his steps. 22 “There is no darkness
or deep shadow Where the workers of iniquity may hide themselves. 23 “For He
does not need to consider a man further, That he should go before God in judgment.
24 “He breaks in pieces mighty men without inquiry, And sets others in their
place. 25 “Therefore He knows their works, And He overthrows them in the night,
And they are crushed. 26 “He strikes them like the wicked In a public place, 27
Because they turned aside from following Him, And had no regard for any of His
ways; 28 So that they caused the cry of the poor to come to Him, And that He
might hear the cry of the afflicted- 29 When He keeps quiet, who then can
condemn? And when He hides His face, who then can behold Him, That is, in
regard to both nation and man? - 30 So that godless men would not rule Nor be
snares of the people.
31 "For has anyone said to God, ’I have
borne chastisement; I will not offend anymore; 32 Teach me what I do not see; If I have done
iniquity, I will not do it again’? 33 “Shall He recompense on your terms,
because you have rejected it? For you must choose, and not I; Therefore declare
what you know. 34 “Men of understanding will say to me, And a wise man who hears
me, 35 ’Job speaks without knowledge, And his words are without wisdom. 36 ’Job
ought to be tried to the limit, Because he answers like wicked men. 37 ’For he
adds rebellion to his sin; He claps his hands among us, And multiplies his
words against God.’" NASB
Job
34:10-37 “10 “Listen to me, you who have understanding. Everyone knows that God doesn’t sin! The Almighty can do no wrong. 11 He repays
people according to their deeds. He
treats people as they deserve. 12 Truly, God will not do wrong. The Almighty will not twist justice. 13 Did
someone else put the world in his care?
Who set the whole world in place? 14 If God were to take back his spirit
and withdraw his breath, 15 all life would cease, and humanity would turn again
to dust.
16 “Now
listen to me if you are wise. Pay
attention to what I say. 17 Could God govern if he hated justice? Are you going to condemn the almighty judge? 18
For he says to kings, ’You are wicked,’ and to nobles, ’You are unjust.’ 19 He
doesn’t care how great a person may be, and he pays no more attention to the
rich than to the poor. He made them all.
20 In a moment they die. In the middle
of the night they pass away; the mighty are removed without human hand. 21 “For
God watches how people live; he sees everything they do. 22 No darkness is
thick enough to hide the wicked from his eyes. 23 We don’t set the time when we
will come before God in judgment. 24 He brings the mighty to ruin without
asking anyone, and he sets up others in their place. 25 He knows what they do,
and in the night he overturns and destroys them. 26 He strikes them down
because they are wicked, doing it openly for all to see. 27 For they turned
away from following him. They have no
respect for any of his ways. 28 They cause the poor to cry out, catching God’s
attention. He hears the cries of the
needy. 29 But if he chooses to remain quiet, who can criticize him? When he
hides his face, no one can find him, whether an individual or a nation. 30 He
prevents the godless from ruling so they cannot be a snare to the people.
31 “Why
don’t people say to God, ’I have sinned, but I will sin no more’? 32 Or ’I
don’t know what evil I have done-tell me.
If I have done wrong, I will stop at once’? 33 “Must God tailor his
justice to your demands? But you have
rejected him! The choice is yours, not mine.
Go ahead, share your wisdom with us. 34 After all, bright people will
tell me, and wise people will hear me say, 35 ’Job speaks out of ignorance; his
words lack insight.’ 36 Job, you deserve the maximum penalty for the wicked way
you have talked. 37 For you have added rebellion to your sin; you show no
respect, and you speak many angry words against God.’” NLT
As we remember Job’s speeches we can
see that Job thought that there was injustice with God because of what had
happened to him, and because Job believed that he was not sinning to cause
these things to happen to him he felt that God was not just. Job had said on many different occasions that
he wanted to go to court against God and then he would prove that he was right.
Dr. Wiersbe says that Elihu
presented three arguments to prove that there is no injustice with God and the
first argument is “if God is unjust, then He is not God (verses 34:10-15).
As we look over these six verses we
see Elihu’s argument that God cannot do anything that is unjust or He would not
be God at all. Genesis 18:25 is a verse
that Abraham is speaking and he says, “Shall
not the Judge of all the earth do right?” and we know that the answer to
that question is Yes He will do right.
If God is truly God then He can do
no wrong or else He would not be God.
God is perfect and cannot do anything wrong.
When we began the book of Job we
could see the sovereignty of God from the very first chapter, which shows that
God is in complete control of all of His universe including those who live upon
the earth and even the enemy of man, Satan.
I have been listening to some
sermons from the book of Mark by John MacArthur and in the first chapter of
Mark we see Jesus in complete control over the demons and how frightened they
were of Him. Mark’s Gospel is a fast
moving Gospel and he jumps right into the ministry of Jesus in the very first
chapter, for there are no genealogies in Mark, and there is nothing said about
the birth of Jesus. When we are born we
are in the control of the evil one and are in his domain and so when Jesus came
into the world and began His ministry He had to show that He was in complete
control of Satan and his demons so that He could rescue us from Satan’s domain,
and so it was important to see that Jesus was in complete control of Satan,
which He showed by casting out the demons throughout the first part of Mark’s
Gospel. I believe that this goes along
with what we are learning from the book of Job as we also see the sovereignty
of God there.
Argument number two is “If God were
unjust, there could be no just government on earth” and this covers verses
16-20 of Job chapter 34.
We see in at least two parts of
Scripture that all human government was established by God: Genesis 9:1-7; and then in Romans
13:1-7. Now if mortal man can execute
justice on the earth surely God can see that He is holy and sovereign. We see in the book of Daniel chapter four and
verses 25, 32, and 35 that God dethrones kings and removes the nobles and in
doing so He shows no partiality.
One of the problems in Elihu’s
speech is that he only brought up God’s attribute of justice and forgot other
attributes like His love, grace, and mercy.
This was a mistake on his part by not doing this for in doing this he
left out part of God’s character.
Elihu’s third argument is that “if
God were unjust, then He must not see what is going on in the world,” and this
covers verses 21-30 of Job 34.
One of the attributes we discussed
earlier was God’s omniscient’s meaning He knows everything and He is also
omnipresent, everywhere all of the time.
A human judge does not have these qualities and so must judge a case on
the facts that are brought before him.
However God is not handicapped this way and so there was no reason for
Job to want to go to court with God for He already knows all the facts. We must remember that God never does answer
Job’s questions, but He has many questions for Job that Job cannot answer.
In one of Job’s speeches he
complained that God did not judge sinful men, but Job was judging the Judge and
this was not right. God does not work on the
timetable of man but His own time table.
God waited four hundred years to judge the nations in the Promised Land,
and waited 120 years before he brought the flood upon the earth. God is God and can do as He wants, for we
cannot go against God’s plans, and that is what Job wanted to do.
In verses 31-33 Elihu asks Job the
same thing that his three friends did or tells Job the same thing the three
friends did and that is to confess his sins to God.
It is possible that at the end of
verse 33 that Elihu wanted to get Job to speak about the charges he had brought
up, but Job was silent, and this probably is why Elihu became angry with Job as
can be seen in the remaining verses of chapter thirty-four.
We will look at the next complaint
that Job had brought up which is “There is no profit in obey God” in the next
SD.
Spiritual
meaning for my life today: One has
to be careful to speak about God and who He is and what He can and should
do. It is better to continue to look at
who God is in the Scriptures before giving speeches about Him like Job, Elihu,
and Job’s three friends did. I have
called this blog 2Timothy 2:15 and it says, “Study to show yourself approved to
God, a workman that needs not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of
truth.” This is what I desire to do.
My Steps of Faith for Today:
1.
2Tim. 2:15.
2.
Phil. 4:11b.
3.
Rom. 12:1-2.
4.
Prov. 3:5-6.
5.
Eph. 6:10-18.
11/30/2011
5:46:24 PM
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