11/4/2011 9:17:40 AM
SPIRITUAL DIARY
My Worship Time Focus: Job’s Three Affirmations
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Job 12-14
Message of the verses: In this section of Job we will see that Job will answer the three accusations that Zophar had said to Job. He will begin in chapter twelve with the second accusation that Job had no knowledge of God, and also speaks to the fact that he has wisdom and understanding in chapter twelve. Job then moves to the first accusation that Zophar gave, that he was a guilty sinner, and Job continues to affirm his integrity in Job 13. Zophar had told Job that there would be hope if he would only confess his sins to the Lord, but in chapter fourteen Job believes that there is little hope.
We will now look at the greatness of God from Job twelve: “1 ¶ Then Job responded, 2 "Truly then you are the people, And with you wisdom will die! 3 "But I have intelligence as well as you; I am not inferior to you. And who does not know such things as these? 4 "I am a joke to my friends, The one who called on God and He answered him; The just and blameless man is a joke. 5 "He who is at ease holds calamity in contempt, As prepared for those whose feet slip.
“6 ¶ "The tents of the destroyers prosper, And those who provoke God are secure, Whom God brings into their power. 7 "But now ask the beasts, and let them teach you; And the birds of the heavens, and let them tell you. 8 "Or speak to the earth, and let it teach you; And let the fish of the sea declare to you. 9 "Who among all these does not know That the hand of the LORD has done this, 10 In whose hand is the life of every living thing, And the breath of all mankind? 11 "Does not the ear test words, As the palate tastes its food?
“ 12 ¶ "Wisdom is with aged men, With long life is understanding. 13 "With Him are wisdom and might; To Him belong counsel and understanding. 14 "Behold, He tears down, and it cannot be rebuilt; He imprisons a man, and there can be no release. 15 "Behold, He restrains the waters, and they dry up; And He sends them out, and they inundate the earth. 16 "With Him are strength and sound wisdom, The misled and the misleader belong to Him. 17 "He makes counselors walk barefoot And makes fools of judges. 18 "He loosens the bond of kings And binds their loins with a girdle. 19 "He makes priests walk barefoot And overthrows the secure ones. 20 "He deprives the trusted ones of speech And takes away the discernment of the elders. 21 "He pours contempt on nobles And loosens the belt of the strong. 22 "He reveals mysteries from the darkness And brings the deep darkness into light. 23 "He makes the nations great, then destroys them; He enlarges the nations, then leads them away. 24 "He deprives of intelligence the chiefs of the earth’s people And makes them wander in a pathless waste. 25 "They grope in darkness with no light, And He makes them stagger like a drunken man.”
There are two verses that truly speak to my heart that are found in chapter twelve of Job. The first one is verse one when even though Job is in pain and has suffered great loss there is still a bit of humor that comes from his lips, humor that is true, for the three friends of Job thought that they knew everything. Verse twelve is a great verse for the younger generation; for when you are young you think you know everything, especially the young generation that is in America at this time. They don’t need the older generation, for they only get in their way of progress. This generation, for the most part, gets their wisdom from their cell phones and from their laptops, so there is no need for the wisdom from the older generation who has been through the tough times, made mistakes, and can tell them of these things.
In the first part of this section Job rebukes his friends for being so unfeeling toward him and turning him into a laughingstock. He only felt that he was upright, which is exactly the way that God had described Job. Job is saying to these people that because they are at ease, not having any problems, that God is punishing Job, but Job asks why God was not punishing the robbers and other people who provoke God.
In chapter eleven (7-9z) Zophar had claimed that wisdom was not accessible to man, yet Job illustrates through the animals that they know that God had created everything. Animals have less of a hard time obeying the Lord than we do. My favorite character in the OT is Balaam’s donkey. Now some make think that is strange, but the reason that I like her, and yes it was a female donkey, is because she was available to be used of the Lord. When God wanted her to talk to Balaam she did and did not argue about it, but just did what she was told, for she was available to be used of God. Man is not that way for much of the time, but that is what I desire to be available to do what my Lord wants me to do.
We can see from verses twelve through twenty-five that Job is describing the wisdom and the power of God. We can see in these verses that God is sovereign and will do what he desires to do with nature and with people alike.
Job’s argument in all of this is that all kinds of people experience difficulties in life because God can do what He pleases. God is not a respecter of persons and surely is not impressed with people’s ranks, something we on earth seem to be far too much of.
This section is a great section about the sovereignty of God, and in verses 23-25 Job describes how God is sovereign over the nations. Daniel 2:20-22 and Acts 17:24-28 also speak of this.
Spiritual meaning for my life today: We will take up more of this last main point from Dr. Wiersbe’s commentary on Job in the next SD, as each of the sub-points under this main point take up a whole chapter of Job.
The sovereignty of God is a great subject that is covered throughout the Scriptures and one that is worth studying all by itself. I have studied it from different books and it is now a great part of my life. God is God and He can do as He wishes. There have been some crazy questions about God that do not deserve an answer, but the fact remains that God can do what He wants to do within His character. God cannot sin. Whatever God does will bring glory to Him, and all of God’s attributes bring glory to Him. Too many people today put God in a box saying that God has to do this or that, but He will do what He wants when He wants to do it. The best way to understand this is to continue to read your Bible each and every day, and not just read it but study it.
My Steps of Faith for Today:
1. Continue to trust the Lord through the challenges that I am going through at this time.
2. Continue to learn contentment.
3. Give myself to the Lord for this day and be available to do what He wants me to do.
4. Put on the Spiritual armor.
5. Trust in the Lord and do not lean on my understanding.
6. Psalm 139: 23 “ Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me and know my anxious thoughts; 24 And see if there be any hurtful way in me, And lead me in the everlasting way.”
11/4/2011 10:18:28 AM
No comments:
Post a Comment