Job's Trials

11/12/2011 9:00:42 AM

SPIRITUAL DIARY

My Worship Time                                                                  Focus:  The Trials of Life

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                  Reference:  Job 19:1-29

            Message of the verses:  This section is going to be a very long one so it looks like I will have to work on it for more than one day.

            In the last SD we saw Bildad describing death, and the terrors of death, and now in this section we will see Job describe the trials of life, his life.  He is saying that he does not have to die to experience trials, for he was experiencing them at this time in his life, yet his friends do not truly understand it, nor seem to care.

            In his commentary on this long section Dr. Wiersbe breaks it up using four sub-points to this main point “The trials of Life.”  We will look at this chapter of Job through these four sub-points.

            Insults (Job 19:1-4):  “1 ¶  Then Job responded, 2  "How long will you torment me And crush me with words? 3  "These ten times you have insulted me; You are not ashamed to wrong me. 4  "Even if I have truly erred, My error lodges with me.”

            “1 ¶  Then Job spoke again: 2  “How long will you torture me?  How long will you try to crush me with your words? 3  You have already insulted me ten times.  You should be ashamed of treating me so badly. 4  Even if I have sinned,  that is my concern, not yours.”  (NLT)

            Sometimes it is easier to understand a passage by looking at another version of the Bible and that is why I also put the NLT here.  The NASB uses the word error in verse four, while the NLT uses the word sin in verse four.  Looking at the Strongs Concordance it says of the word translated erred “to go astray.”  Dr. Wiersbe says the word means “an unintentional sin.” 

            Job is upset with his friends for they have insulted him “ten times” and he is feed up with it.  He is saying that they are not ashamed that they have been wronging him.  Then he goes on to say even if I have sinned that is between God and me.  I have to keep going back to a thought from an earlier SD to help explain why these men continue to insult Job, and why they are so intent on finding out Job’s sin that caused this trouble for him.  If Job had not sinned and all of these troubles came to him then the same kind of trouble could come upon these men too, and they did not like the prospect of that happening.

            Illustrations (Job 19:5-12):  “5  "If indeed you vaunt yourselves against me And prove my disgrace to me, 6  Know then that God has wronged me And has closed His net around me. 7  "Behold, I cry, ’Violence!’ but I get no answer; I shout for help, but there is no justice.

    “8 ¶  "He has walled up my way so that I cannot pass, And He has put darkness on my paths. 9  "He has stripped my honor from me And removed the crown from my head. 10  "He breaks me down on every side, and I am gone; And He has uprooted my hope like a tree. 11  "He has also kindled His anger against me And considered me as His enemy. 12  "His troops come together, And build up their way against me And camp around my tent.”

            We remember from yesterday SD that Bildad gave four pictures of the terror of death and now Job will give seven pictures of the trials of life in this short section of Scripture.

1.       Job felt trapped like an animal (verse 6).  Job is saying that God has not only wronged him, but He has closed a net around him to catch him.  Job is not saying that God has trapped him in His net because he had sinned, because Job does not believe that he sinned.  Job does not understand why God has done this, but it was not because of sin.  Now we need to realize that Job does not believe that he is blameless before God, for he knows that he is a sinner, but Job does not believe that he committed any intentional sin to have all of these troubles come upon him.

2.       Job felt like a criminal in court (Job 19:7). When a person is arrested in the United States the charges against him are given to him so he knows what he is charged with.  Job feels that God has arrested him, but he does not know what the charges are and this is upsetting to him, and I suppose that it would be upsetting to anyone.  However when trials come our way we should be content that God has a plan for using these trials in our life to draw us closer to Him, but that does not take away the pain that we are going through because of the trials.  We can see that Job did have the right attitude about these trials in that he knew that they came upon him without him sinning and causing them to come upon him.

3.       Job felt like that he was a traveler who was fenced in (Job 19:8).  In the first chapter of Job we see Satan accusing God of having put a fence around Job and his family in order to keep evil away from him and keep him living in comfort.  Now Job sees himself fenced in on a one way street where there is darkness and he does not know where to go.  Dr. Wiersbe writes “At times God permits His children to experience darkness on a dead-end street where they don’t know which way to turn.  When this happens, wait for the Lord to give you light in His own time.  Don’t try to manufacture your own light or to borrow light from others.  Follow the wise counsel of Isaiah, ‘Who among you fears the Lord?  Who obeys the voice of His Servant?  Who walks in darkness and has no light?  Let him trust in the name of the Lord and rely upon his God’ (Isa. 50:10, NKJV).”  Oswald Chambers writes on this subject of light and darkness the following:  “Oh, the unspeakable benediction of the ‘treasures of darkness!’  It is not the days of sunshine and splendor and liberty and light that leave their lasting and indelible effect upon the soul, but those nights of the Spirit in which, shadowed by God’s hand, hidden in the dark cleft of some rock in a weary land, He lets the splendors of the outskirts of Himself pass before our gaze.” 

4.       Job’s suffering left him feeling like a king who has been dethroned (Job 19:9). We not see Job who was the greatest man in the East as a broken man whose honor and prestige have been taken away from him and now he is in the darkness.

5.       The fifth picture Job describes is that of a structure that has been destroyed (Job 19:10).  It is hard to determine exactly what Job may have been thinking about here but perhaps he was thinking about all of the things that he once had that are now gone, have been taken away from him in a moment of time, and now he is left sitting on a ash heap with the company of three miserable friends.

6.       This sixth picture also comes from verse ten and it is of a tree that has been uprooted.  In Job 14:7 Job used the picture of a tree as being of hope, but now he uses it hopelessness of lost hope.  In Job 14 he was speaking of a tree that was cut down, but here it is a tree that has been uprooted and without a root system there is no hope for the tree.

7.       This final word picture comes from Job 19:11-12 and it is of a city that has been besieged.  We see from Job 13:24 that Job believes that God has declared war upon Job and was treating him like His enemy.  Job does not understand why God was besieging his tent when He could have destroyed him instantly.  This way was more painful to Job.  Job was a man in great pain with people around him that were making it worse and not better, so there were times when Jobs words are greatly affected by the pain and suffering that he is experiencing.

Spiritual meaning for my life today:  As I go through the study of the book of Job I am

beginning to feel tremendous pain that Job was suffering through.  There are far too many times in my life when I do not feel the pain others are going through and that is why I am thankful for the study of this book and the things that God is teaching me through this study.

My Steps of Faith for Today:

1.      To hear words with my heart and not my ears.

2.      To continue to learn contentment.

3.      Ephesians 6:10-18.

4.      Romans 12:1-2.

5.      Proverbs 3:5-6.

6.      Psalm 139:23-24.

7.      1Cor. 10:13.

8.      Luke 22:40b; 46b.

11/12/2011 10:31:37 AM

Bildad Speaks of Death

11/11/2011 10:01:59 AM

SPIRITUAL DIARY

My Worship Time                                                                  Focus:  The Terrors of Death

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                  Reference:  Job 18:1-21

            Message of the verses:  Today’s SD begins a new chapter in “Be Patient” and Dr. Wiersbe entitles this chapter “Will The Real Enemy Please Stand Up?”  The first main section is from the eighteenth chapter of Job and it is a speech from Bildad, his second speech to Job.  I want to quote from the end of the last chapter in Dr. Wiersbe’s commentary, “If only the next speaker would have expressed compassion to this hurting man!  But Bildad is all primed to frighten Job out of his wits with the most vivid pictures of death found anywhere in Scripture.”  So this is what we have to look forward in today’s SD.  Joseph Baylor writes “Death is the great adventure, beside which moon landings and space trips pale into insignificance.” 

            “1 ¶  Then Bildad the Shuhite responded, 2  "How long will you hunt for words? Show understanding and then we can talk. 3  "Why are we regarded as beasts, As stupid in your eyes? 4  "O you who tear yourself in your anger-For your sake is the earth to be abandoned, Or the rock to be moved from its place?”  (Job 18:1-4 NASB) 

            Bildad begins his speech with some familiar words of his “How long.”  He is wondering how long Job will stick to his story that he had not sinned to cause all of these things to come upon him, and yet all of Job’s friends keep sticking to their stories about Job and telling him that God is just and God punishes the wicked and blesses the righteous, and since Job was suffering he must be wicked, and of course they keep saying that if Job would only turn from his sins that God again would bless him.

            A light put on Job (Job 18:5-6):  “5 ¶  "Indeed, the light of the wicked goes out, And the flame of his fire gives no light. 6  "The light in his tent is darkened, And his lamp goes out above him.”  Proverbs 20:27 says, “The spirit of man is the lamp of the LORD, Searching all the innermost parts of his being.”  Dr. Wiersbe adds “and God can blow out that lamp whenever He pleases.”  The Bible teaches that light is associated life and darkness is associated with death.  Bildad is associating the flickering light of a tent lamp or a fire as it goes out.  He is speaking about death in order to frighten Job, but Job is a believer and therefore he should not uses these tactics on a believer, and Job was hurting and so Bildad should have been teaching the truth in love, something none of Job’s friends have learned.

            A traveler trapped (Job 18:7-10):  “7  "His vigorous stride is shortened, And his own scheme brings him down. 8  "For he is thrown into the net by his own feet, And he steps on the webbing. 9  "A snare seizes him by the heel, And a trap snaps shut on him. 10  "A noose for him is hidden in the ground, And a trap for him on the path.” 

            Bildad continues his story to Job telling him that since the lamp and fire are not out that this man runs from his tent only to find death on the road.

            Dr. Wiersbe gives definitions of six different words that Bildad uses to describe the dangers that people face when they run from death:

1.        A net—spread across the path to catch him.

2.       A snare—branches covering a deep pit

3.       A trap—a ‘gin’ (snare) with a noose that springs when touched; he is caught by the heel.

4.       A robber—another pitfall

5.       A snare—a noose hidden on the ground

6.       A trap—any device that catches prey

I realize that these devices are used to catch animals, but Bildad is using them to bring

fear into Job’s life so that he will confess his sins.  It doesn’t matter where this traveler goes if death is to get him it will.

            A criminal pursued (Job 18:11-15):  “11 ¶  "All around terrors frighten him, And harry him at every step. 12  "His strength is famished, And calamity is ready at his side. 13  "His skin is devoured by disease, The firstborn of death devours his limbs. 14  "He is torn from the security of his tent, And they march him before the king of terrors. 15  "There dwells in his tent nothing of his; Brimstone is scattered on his habitation.”

            In verse fourteen we see the words “king of terrors,” and this refers to death.  No matter what this frightened criminal does death will catch him and take him. Bildad is saying that Job is the frightened criminal.

            A tree rooted up (Job 18:16-21):  “"His roots are dried below, And his branch is cut off above. 17  "Memory of him perishes from the earth, And he has no name abroad. 18  "He is driven from light into darkness, And chased from the inhabited world. 19  "He has no offspring or posterity among his people, Nor any survivor where he sojourned. 20  "Those in the west are appalled at his fate, And those in the east are seized with horror. 21  "Surely such are the dwellings of the wicked, And this is the place of him who does not know God.’”

            Job used this illustration of a tree when speaking of the resurrection in Job 14:7-11, but Bildad does not agree with it so he uses the tree illustration as death, a slow death where the roots become diseased and slowly the tree dies.  This could be referring to Job’s family as they had all died before with the exception of his wife.  This to me is another low blow by Job’s “friends.”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  The Bible has much to say about death; from the beginning of the Bible to the end it is filled with what death is all about.  The death of a believer is much different than the death of an unbeliever.  Jesus spoke about hell more than love as we learn from the Gospels.  Death of the wicked is something to fear, but the death of a believer is going home to the Father (John 14:1-6).  It is like falling asleep on earth and then waking up in heaven (Acts 7:60). 

            There was a woman from Texas who when she was very young helped to kill some people.  She was the daughter of a prostitute and had no proper upbringing and so she turned to being a prostitute at an early age and a person who was on drugs, which she was when she helped to kill her victims.

            She went to prison and was convicted of murder and sentenced to death.  There had not been a woman executed in Texas since the civil war.  While in prison she accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as her personal Savior and her life was completely changed.  I have a friend who was a friend of Karla Faye Tucker and he received a letter from her right before she was executed many years after being convicted.  He tells me that when they were taking her to the place where she was to be executed that the warden broke down and Karla ministered to her, along with the guards that were taking her there.  My friend talked to the man who was in charge of the execution, who had seen many convicts die, and he said that Karla looked to him like a little girl getting ready to go to bed and being tucked in by her father.  It was very moving to him to see her die, not like the others that he had witnessed. 

            It is different with non believers and that is why I, along with other believers need to be ready at all times to tell the story, the old, old story of Jesus and His love to those that the Lord brings into our path.

My Steps of Faith for Today:

1.      Peter writes that we as believers are to be ready to tell others of the hope that we have in us, may the Lord bring someone into my path this very day.

2.      Continue to learn contentment.

3.      Ephesians 6:10-18.

4.      1Cor. 10:13.

5.      Luke 22:40b & 46b.

11/11/2011 11:05:20 AM

Job Pleas for Death

11/10/2011 8:49:38 AM

SPIRITUAL DIARY

My Worship Time                                                                  Focus:  A Plea for Death

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                  Reference:  Job 17:1-16

            Message of the verses:  “1 ¶  "My spirit is broken, my days are extinguished, The grave is ready for me. 2  "Surely mockers are with me, And my eye gazes on their provocation. 3  "Lay down, now, a pledge for me with Yourself; Who is there that will be my guarantor? 4  "For You have kept their heart from understanding, Therefore You will not exalt them. 5  "He who informs against friends for a share of the spoil, The eyes of his children also will languish. 6  "But He has made me a byword of the people, And I am one at whom men spit. 7  "My eye has also grown dim because of grief, And all my members are as a shadow. 8  "The upright will be appalled at this, And the innocent will stir up himself against the godless. 9  "Nevertheless the righteous will hold to his way, And he who has clean hands will grow stronger and stronger.

    10 ¶  "But come again all of you now, For I do not find a wise man among you. 11  "My days are past, my plans are torn apart, Even the wishes of my heart. 12  "They make night into day, saying, ’The light is near,’ in the presence of darkness. 13  "If I look for Sheol as my home, I make my bed in the darkness; 14  If I call to the pit, ’You are my father’; To the worm, ’my mother and my sister’; 15  Where now is my hope? And who regards my hope? 16  "Will it go down with me to Sheol? Shall we together go down into the dust?’”

            In order to understand this plea of death that Job is talking about here we have to understand Job’s feelings at this time in his life.  We must remember that Job is the object of a contest between God and Satan, but Job does not know that or ever will know that in his earthly life.  The contest is where or not people serve the Lord just because their lives are good, but when their lives are not good do they continue to serve the Lord.  I want to go to one of the famous parables that Jesus taught and is found in more than one of the Gospels, in fact I believe that it is the first parable that is found in Matthew’s account, and we find it in the thirteenth chapter of Matthew.  Jesus had just been performing many miracles of healing people and of casting out demons when the “religious” leaders of Israel said of his miracles that they were done in the power of Satan.  You will find this in the other Gospels also, and after this is said of Jesus He begins to teach in parables because of the hardness of their hearts and because of this speaking against the Holy Spirit.  “10  And the disciples came and said to Him, "Why do You speak to them in parables?" 11  Jesus answered them, "To you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been granted.”  Now listen to what this first parable is about, the parable of the Sower. "Behold, the sower went out to sow; 4  and as he sowed, some seeds fell beside the road, and the birds came and ate them up. 5  "Others fell on the rocky places, where they did not have much soil; and immediately they sprang up, because they had no depth of soil. 6  "But when the sun had risen, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away. 7  "Others fell among the thorns, and the thorns came up and choked them out. 8  "And others fell on the good soil and *yielded a crop, some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty.”  This is the parable, now I want to focus in on the seed that fell among the bushes or thrones and see what Jesus had to say about that seed:  “22  "And the one on whom seed was sown among the thorns, this is the man who hears the word, and the worry of the world and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.”  Now we must remember that there is only one seed that has been sown in this parable that we can consider as a true believer, and that is the soil that is sown in the good soil, for that is the only one that produces fruit, and all true believers produce fruit.  As we look at the seed that was sown in the thorns we see what Satan tells Job about how Job would react when troubles come, yet Job was part of the seed that was sown in the good soil and even though many troubles have come upon him he did not turn away from God like the seed that was among the thorns.

            Job was hurting so badly that he lost all desire to live.  Dr Wiersbe writes the following to help explain this:  “When I was a young Pastor, I heard an experienced saint say, ‘I have lived long enough to be thankful for unanswered prayer.’  At the time, I was shocked by the statement; but now that I have lived a few more years myself, I know what she was talking about.  In the darkness of despair and the prison of pain, we often say things that we later regret; but God understands all about it and lovingly turns a deaf ear to our words but a tender eye to our wounds.”  If Job’s friends could have only done the same for Job then he would have been comforted and could have been better able to endure this difficulty. 

            Dr. Wiersbe writes these words also as he quotes John Henry Jowett, ‘God does not comfort us to make us comfortable, but to make us comforters.’  “God comfort is never given; it is always loaned.  God expects us to share it with others.”

            It was many years ago while attending “Moody’s Founders Week” in Chicago that I heard a speaker talking about how he had learned something from his father that was new to him.  I have racked my brain to try and remember the speaker’s name, but have not come up with it.  The man’s father had told him that when he was going through some difficult times that God had left him on his own and the son had a hard time understand that.  Job was going through this same experience, for at this point God was not speaking to him at all.  Now I know the verse in Hebrews that says “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”  I am not saying that I understand this fully, yet there are times when God’s presence is not with us when we are going through troubles and we have to continue to trust the Lord at that time of our life because we know that it is because of His love for us that He chooses to do this.  This is why Job wanted to die and why he said the things that he said in this section, yet God had something better for him.  I remember this speaker talking about this so many years ago, I have never forgotten it, and yet I am not sure that I understand totally what his father was relating to him, but I believe that Job would have understood it.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  In a Bible study setting a few years back the teacher, who was on DVD, was talking about the difference between men and women.  One of the differences was that men do not listen well, and men like to fix things right away.  I fit into that fixing things right away category.  The speaker said that when women began to tell their husbands things that a lot of the time they are not looking for a fix, but are looking for a listening ear.  I fail at this far too much, and yet this study on Job is helping me out, and by the power of the Holy Spirit I will change this and be a better listener, listing with my heart more than my ears.

My Steps of Faith for Today:

1.      Be a better listener, and not try to fix everything unless asked to do so.

2.      Continue to learn contentment.

11/10/2011 10:21:22 AM  

A Plea for Smypathy and Justice by Job

11/9/2011 10:04:00 AM

SPIRITUAL DIARY

My Worship Time                                                                        Focus:  A plea for sympathy

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                         Reference:  Job 16:1-14

            Message of the verses:  We are not going to move into the second main point in Dr. Wiersbe’s outline, which he entitles “Job: Three Requests.”  Under this second main point we will see three requests that Job will make of his friends.  The first one is “A plea for sympathy,” and next is “A plea for justice,” and the third is “A plea for death.”  I will see how far I get in today’s SD.

            “1 ¶  Then Job answered, 2  "I have heard many such things; Sorry comforters are you all. 3  "Is there no limit to windy words? Or what plagues you that you answer? 4  "I too could speak like you, If I were in your place. I could compose words against you And shake my head at you. 5  "I could strengthen you with my mouth, And the solace of my lips could lessen your pain.

    6 ¶  "If I speak, my pain is not lessened, And if I hold back, what has left me? 7  "But now He has exhausted me; You have laid waste all my company. 8  "You have shriveled me up, It has become a witness; And my leanness rises up against me, It testifies to my face. 9  "His anger has torn me and hunted me down, He has gnashed at me with His teeth; My adversary glares at me. 10  "They have gaped at me with their mouth, They have slapped me on the cheek with contempt; They have massed themselves against me. 11  "God hands me over to ruffians And tosses me into the hands of the wicked. 12  "I was at ease, but He shattered me, And He has grasped me by the neck and shaken me to pieces; He has also set me up as His target. 13  "His arrows surround me. Without mercy He splits my kidneys open; He pours out my gall on the ground. 14  "He breaks through me with breach after breach; He runs at me like a warrior.”

            I want to begin this section with a quote from John Henry Jowett “God does not comfort us to make us comfortable, but to make us comforters.”  This is exactly what Job is learning with the unsympathetic friends that he is with.  Dr. Wiersbe writes “Sometimes we have to experience misunderstanding from unsympathetic friends in order to learn how to minister to others.  This was a new experience for Job, and he was trying to make the most of it.” 

            I think that we should look at a section of Scripture from 2Corinthians to see what the Apostle Paul has to say about this.  “3 ¶  Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, 4  who comforts us in all our affliction so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.”  (2Cor. 1:3-4) 

            Job calls his friends “sorry comforters” in verse two.  He had called them earlier in 6:15 “Deceitful brooks and in 13:4 he called them “worthless physicians.” 

            Job tells his friends what he was receiving from God in verses seven through fourteen, and although this was in part true, that is not the point of Job’s story.  However even if this is not true in Job’s eyes, this was not the time for his friends to jump all over him, for this could have been straightened out at a later date when Job was feeling better.  At this point all his friends had to do was to listen to Job, listen with their hearts and not with their ears so much.

            “A Plea for Justice:”  (Job 16:15-22)  “15  "I have sewed sackcloth over my skin And thrust my horn in the dust. 16  "My face is flushed from weeping, And deep darkness is on my eyelids,

    17 ¶  Although there is no violence in my hands, And my prayer is pure. 18  "O earth, do not cover my blood, And let there be no resting place for my cry. 19  "Even now, behold, my witness is in heaven, And my advocate is on high. 20  "My friends are my scoffers; My eye weeps to God. 21  "O that a man might plead with God As a man with his neighbor! 22  "For when a few years are past, I shall go the way of no return.”

            We have seen in the past that Job’s desire is to have a trial before God, and in this section he again mentions his need for an advocate.  He friends surely were not an advocate for him for they all believed that he sinned and that is what caused all the troubles that he is having. 

            We can surely see some of the pain that Job is going through from reading this section, for he speaks of sackcloth and he speaks of how much he has cried.  No matter where he was talking or listening he was in great pain.  Even though his desire was to die, he did not want to die before he was vindicated before the Lord, and his friends.  In verse eighteen he speaks of not having the earth cover his blood.  Dr. Wiersbe writes “The ancients believed that the blood of innocent victims cried out to God for justice (Gen. 4:8-15) and the spirits of the dead were restless until the corpses were properly buried (Isa. 26:21).

            I have mentioned before that we as believers today have an Advocate, The Lord Jesus Christ “Therefore He is able also to save forever those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.” (Heb. 7:25)  “1 ¶  My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; 2  and He Himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world.”  (1John 2:1-2)  Don’t be afraid of the word propitiation, for this goes back to the cross of Christ, and it means that God was satisfied with His sacrifice.  In the Greek world the word means “scarification of an angry god.”  God who surely is angry with sin was satisfied with Christ’s payment for our sins.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I will have to admit that being a comforter I have a lot to learn, and I am learning how not to be a comforter by reading what Job’s friends are saying to him.  I am learning a bit about being a comforter by reading the commentary from Dr. Wiersbe, and also from the Apostle Paul.  My prayer is that I will listen with my heart, and not listen with my ears so much.

My Steps of Faith for Today:

1.      Be a better comforter.

2.      Continue to learn contentment.

11/9/2011 10:46:38 AM   

Eliphas: God Judges the Wicked

11/8/2011 9:32:20 AM

SPIRITUAL DIARY

My Worship Time                                                                  Focus:  God judges the wicked

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                  Reference:  Job 15:17-35

            Message of the verses:  “17 ¶  "I will tell you, listen to me; And what I have seen I will also declare; 18  What wise men have told, And have not concealed from their fathers, 19  To whom alone the land was given, And no alien passed among them. 20  "The wicked man writhes in pain all his days, And numbered are the years stored up for the ruthless. 21  "Sounds of terror are in his ears; While at peace the destroyer comes upon him. 22  "He does not believe that he will return from darkness, And he is destined for the sword. 23  "He wanders about for food, saying, ’Where is it?’ He knows that a day of darkness is at hand. 24  "Distress and anguish terrify him, They overpower him like a king ready for the attack, 25  Because he has stretched out his hand against God And conducts himself arrogantly against the Almighty. 26  "He rushes headlong at Him With his massive shield. 27  "For he has covered his face with his fat And made his thighs heavy with flesh. 28  "He has lived in desolate cities, In houses no one would inhabit, Which are destined to become ruins. 29  "He will not become rich, nor will his wealth endure; And his grain will not bend down to the ground. 30  "He will not escape from darkness; The flame will wither his shoots, And by the breath of His mouth he will go away. 31  "Let him not trust in emptiness, deceiving himself; For emptiness will be his reward. 32  "It will be accomplished before his time, And his palm branch will not be green. 33  "He will drop off his unripe grape like the vine, And will cast off his flower like the olive tree. 34  "For the company of the godless is barren, And fire consumes the tents of the corrupt. 35  "They conceive mischief and bring forth iniquity, And their mind prepares deception.’”

            In the speech that Eliphaz made to Job the first time back in chapter five his spoke of the blessing of God (Job 5:17-26), but now he speaks of the judgments of God.  Eliphaz gets his “wisdom” from the ancients and this is what is called tradition, and tradition is not always right for all we have to do is look at the NT to find out what Jesus said about the traditions of the Pharisees. 

            When to take a look at how Eliphaz describes a wicked man in these verses you find out that he is talking about Job.  Again we can see that these men are ruthless in their attacks on Job, and forgot all about giving sympathy to Job, which is what he needs at this time.  It would have been better for them to just sit and listen to Job talk, for that would have made him feel better, but these men are adding insults to Job’s injuries.

            34  The godless are fruitless—a barren crew; a life built on bribes goes up in smoke. 35  They have sex with sin and give birth to evil. Their lives are wombs for breeding deceit."  This is Job 15:34-35 as found in the “Message”, and it give on a better idea of the great insult that Eliphaz is giving to Job, for he is telling Job that it was because of his sin that all of the things that came upon him happened, and not only that but that Job had sit around and hatched this plan of sin and it caused the death of his family along with the physical pain that Job was in at this time.

            Eliphaz, along with the other two are calling Job a hypocrite, but Job denies this accusation and argued that neither God nor his friends could prove it true.

            Eliphaz’s idea about the wicked always being judged while on this earth is not true, for there are wicked men who never seem to be judged while on this earth, and there are godly men who never seem to get anything but suffering and pain.  However the wicked will eventually receive judgment and the righteousness will be rewarded in the next life.  25  ‘"’\But Abraham said, ’Child, remember that during your life you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus bad things; but now he is being comforted here, and you are in agony.’”  This verse comes from the sixteenth chapter of Luke and it sums up what I have written above.

            In the book of Matthew chapter six and verses two, five, and sixteen Jesus says that “they have their reward.”  Dr. Wiersbe writes “The greatest judgment God could send to the wicked in this life would be to let them have their own way…. The only heaven the godless will know is the enjoyment they have on earth in this life, and God is willing for them to have it.  The only suffering the godly will experience is in this life, for in heaven there will be no pain or tears.  Furthermore, the suffering that God’s people experience now is working for them and will one day lead to glory (1Peter 1:6-8; 5:10; 2Cor. 4:16-18; Romans 8:18).  Eliphaz and his friends had the situation all confused.”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  Peter writes that a believer can suffer from doing wrong, such as breaking the law of the land.  Believers can also suffer from doing right and this is the kind of suffering that brings glory to God, for our example is the Lord Jesus Christ.  If a believe is to suffer it is best to suffer for doing right.

My Steps of Faith for Today:

1.       Give myself to the Lord for worship and for service this day and trust that the Lord will see me through any troubles that come my way that they will bring honor and  glory to Him.

2.      Continue to learn contentment.

11/8/2011 10:14:15 AM

Job Lacks Wisdom

11/7/2011 9:32:09 AM

SPIRITUAL DIARY

My Worship Time                                                               Focus:  Eliphaz: Two Warnings

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                Reference:  Job 15

            Message of the verses:  Today’s SD begins a new chapter in Dr. Wiersbe’s commentary on Job, “Be Patient.”  He entitles this chapter, which covers chapters 15-17, “Discussion Turns Into Dispute.”  We will find in these three chapters of Job that Job’s three friends, starting with Eliphaz in this chapter, want to attack Job even more than the first time they spoke to him.  Job will speak to Eliphaz in chapters 16-17 in order to answer the things that Eliphaz speaks to him about in this chapter.

            Why is it that Job’s three friends want to discredit Job, telling him that he has sinned, and that is the cause of all of his troubles?  The answer could be that if Job was correct in his thinking that he had not sinned to cause all of this trouble, that the same thing could happen to them and so it is important that they make sure that it was because of some secret sin that Job committed against the Lord that caused all this trouble.

            The quote that I am about to write is from an unknown source but it surely goes along with Job’s three friends.  The quote is about theologians “a blind man in a dark room searching for a black cat that isn’t there.”  Dr. Wiersbe writes the following:  “But a true theologian walks in the light of God’s revelation in His Word, in history, and in creation; and he humbly accepts the truth, no matter what the cost.”  Job’s friends were not true theologians, for they only saw things from one side, if you sin you will have bad things happen to you, if you life a righteous life things will go good for you.  This kind of sounds like the Pharisees to me.

            Dr. Wiersbe quotes Eric Hoffer, who was a longshoreman-philosopher who said, “We are least open to precise knowledge concerning the things we are most vehement about.” 

            Job lacks wisdom (Job 15:1-16).  “1 ¶  Then Eliphaz the Temanite responded, 2  "Should a wise man answer with windy knowledge And fill himself with the east wind? 3  "Should he argue with useless talk, Or with words which are not profitable? 4  "Indeed, you do away with reverence And hinder meditation before God. 5  "For your guilt teaches your mouth, And you choose the language of the crafty. 6  "Your own mouth condemns you, and not I; And your own lips testify against you. 7  "Were you the first man to be born, Or were you brought forth before the hills? 8  "Do you hear the secret counsel of God, And limit wisdom to yourself? 9  "What do you know that we do not know? What do you understand that we do not? 10  "Both the gray-haired and the aged are among us, Older than your father. 11  "Are the consolations of God too small for you, Even the word spoken gently with you? 12  "Why does your heart carry you away? And why do your eyes flash, 13  That you should turn your spirit against God And allow such words to go out of your mouth? 14  "What is man, that he should be pure, Or he who is born of a woman, that he should be righteous? 15  "Behold, He puts no trust in His holy ones, And the heavens are not pure in His sight; 16  How much less one who is detestable and corrupt, Man, who drinks iniquity like water!”

            In this section Eliphaz gives two warnings, and the first one is in the verses above, that is Job lacks wisdom.  Eliphaz is really not saying anything more that he had said in his last speech to Job, that is that man is a sinner and God must punish sinners (Job 5:17-19), however there is nothing comforting that is said to Job in this section. 

            How is it that Eliphaz comes to this conclusion that Job lacks wisdom?  Well for one thing he listened to Jobs words (vv.1-6) and all he found in them were hot air, nothing but wind.  Job’s words came from a belly full of hot air, and not from any source of true wisdom.  Eliphaz could not attack Job’s arguments so he attacked his words as being hot air.

            I think that it is important for me to quote a paragraph from Warren Wiersbe’s commentary from this section:  “Eliphaz not only heard Job’s words, but he saw where those words led (Job 15:4).  ‘But you even undermine piety and hinder devotion to God (v. 4, NIV).  If everybody believed as Job believed—that God does not always punish the wicked and reward the godly—then what motive would people have for obeying God?  Religion would not be worth it!  But this is the devil’s theology, the very thing that God was using Job to refute!  If people serve God only for what they get out of it, then they are not serving God at all, they are only serving themselves by making God their servant.  Their ‘religion’ is only a pious system for promoting selfishness and not for glorifying God.”  In my opinion this quote is precisely the main reason that the book of Job is so important for believers to read and to understand.

            As a believer in Jesus Christ living in the twenty-first century what is my motive for serving God?  Is it because I fear Him and so if I don’t I will be punished for my disobedience?  When God called Israel out of Egypt and gave them His Law at Mt. Sinai they were still children and therefore that is how God treated them, however when the next generation came along and they were about to go into the promised land Moses gave them a higher motive for obeying God.  Let’s look at a few verses from the book of Deuteronomy to see this higher motive:  “4 ¶  "Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD is one! 5  "You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.”  This is from Der. 6:4-5 and is one of the most important set of verses in all of Scripture to a Jew it’s the Shema.”  7  "The LORD did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any of the peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples.”  (Der. 7:7)  “  12 ¶  "Now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require from you, but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all His ways and love Him, and to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, 13  and to keep the LORD’S commandments and His statutes which I am commanding you today for your good? 14  "Behold, to the LORD your God belong heaven and the highest heavens, the earth and all that is in it. 15  "Yet on your fathers did the LORD set His affection to love them, and He chose their descendants after them, even you above all peoples, as it is this day. 16  "So circumcise your heart, and stiffen your neck no longer.”  (Deu. 10:12-16)  Now that we are beginning to understand that it is all about love, God’s love for us and in turn our love for God, and because of our love for God we will obey the Lord’s commandments.  Two NT verses:  “8  Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law. 9  For this, "YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT ADULTERY, YOU SHALL NOT MURDER, YOU SHALL NOT STEAL, YOU SHALL NOT COVET," and if there is any other commandment, it is summed up in this saying, "YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF." 10  Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.”  (Romans 13:8-10)  John 14:15 was said by the Lord Jesus Christ to His disciple’s right before He was to go to the cross:  “"If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.”  In all these verses we can see that Job’s friends got it wrong.

            Eliphaz is telling Job that he has a wicked heart in verse 5-6 and also that because of his youth that he lacked wisdom in verses 7-10.  Eliphaz then turns to sarcasm, which is another proof that he did not have anything intelligent to say. 

            Eliphaz not turns to say something similar in verses 14-16 that he already said in Job 4:17-19, and that is if heaven is not even pure before God, not even the angels that live in heaven,  how then can a man who lives on this earth, born with a sinful nature be pure before God.  Job is no exception to this either.  In the next SD we will look at the second warning that Eliphaz has for Job, and that is “God judges the wicked.” 

            However I don’t want to leave this question unanswered that Eliphaz brings up.  The NT testament teaches us that once a person is “born again” that he receives the righteousness of Jesus Christ “2Co 5:21 For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.” (KJV) When I look at this verse I seem to always think that this is not a fair exchange, but this is love. As far as heaven not being pure I will give my own answer to that question and so you must understand it is only my opinion.  Satan fell while in heaven and took one third of the angels with him.  Those angels were then thrown down to the earth.  This is written about in the twelfth chapter of Revelations.  Now we see in the book of Job that Satan has access to come into heaven and speak to God, so in my opinion this is how heaven has been defiled and this, in my opinion, is why at the end of the kingdom age that lasts one thousand years that the heavens and the earth are “uncreated” and then we have a place called the New Jerusalem and this is where God will dwell.  I believe that heaven will be destroyed because Satan had access to it.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I have read over and over about the love of God, how God loves me and demonstrated this love for me by sending Christ to die on the cross for me.  I believe it in my heart, but there are times when I have a hard time living like it in this body of mine.

My Steps of Faith for Today:

1.      Remember the truth of 2Cor. 5:21.

2.      Remember the truth of Philippians 4:11b.

3.      Remember the truth of 1John 4:18.

11/7/2011 11:17:50 AM