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