God Asks, "Can You Explain My Creation" (Part One)

12/4/2011 8:44:53 AM

SPIRITUAL DIARY

My Worship Time                                                      Focus:  Can you explain my creation

Bible Reading & Meditation                                      Reference:  Job 38:1-38

            Message of the verses:  At the end of Elihu’s speech we saw that he was speaking about storms and there is a possibility that there may have been a storm that was on the way, for in that part of the world one can see a storm that is coming off in the distance.  Now as we look at the first verses in Job chapter thirty-eight we see that God is speaking to Job out of the storm.  All of this of course is only speculation, but it could have been the way that it happened.

            It would be nice to have God speak to us out of the sunshine and not out of the storm, however when we look at different places in Scripture we will see that God did speak out of storms.  In Exodus 19:16-19 we see that God speaks to the new nation of Israel out of a storm from Mt. Sinai.  This is also described in Hebrews 12:18.  In 1Kings 19:8-11 we see God speaking to Elijah out of a storm, and this can also be seen in the book of Ezekiel chapters one and two.  When believers are going through “storms” in their lives they are probably in a better frame of mind to want to listen to the Lord than when everything is going well in their lives.  Having prosperity and having things going good in your life is not a time when we desire to listen to the Lord.  I once heard Billy Graham speak to the people in a large city in Canada telling them that living when things were going right was the hardest time to stay close to the Lord. 

            I have been writing what Paul wrote in Philippians 4:11b on almost every SD stating that it was my desire to learn contentment, and yet when one looks at the life of Paul from the book of Acts and how he has described things that happened to him he did not always have things go right with him and probably the opposite of that would be a fair way of describing how things went in his life, and yet he could write that he had learned contentment.  There were a lot of storms in the life of the Apostle Paul and we can see near the end of the book of Acts that while Paul was being sent to Rome that there was a great storm going on while he was on the boat with many other prisoners, a storm so bad that many had given up hope of life, and God spoke to Paul through an angel telling him that all would survive the storm and they did.  This is just one of the examples of the storms that came into Paul’s life that taught him contentment.

            “I had a million questions to ask God; but when I met Him, they all fled my mind; and it didn’t seem to matter.”  (Christopher Morley)

            In today’s SD we will begin to look at the last five chapters in the book of Job through the help of Dr. Warren Wiersbe’s commentary “Be Patient.”  He entitles this final chapter in his book “The Final Examination.”  I wish to quote a paragraph from the beginning or introduction to this chapter:  “God’s address to Job centered on His works in nature and consisted on seventy-seven questions interspersed with divine commentary relating to the questions.  The whole purpose of this interrogation was to make Job realize his own inadequacy and inability to meet God as an equal and defend his cause.”

            He goes on to write:  “Then summon me, and I will answer,” Job had challenged God, ‘or let me speak, and You reply’ (Job 13:22 NIV).  God had not responded to Job’s challenge.

            “God’s address can be summarized in three questions:

1.       ‘Can you explain My creation?’(Job 38:1-38)

2.        ‘Can you oversee My creation?’ (Job 38:39-39:30) Job’s first response (40:1-5)

3.       Can you subdue My creation?’ (Job 40:6-41:34) Job’s second response Job 42:1-6

12/4/2011 5:22:06 PM

            In the first two chapters of Job and also in Job 12:9 we have seen that the word translated for God is Jehovah the name speaks of His self existence and is also used in Exodus 33:3 and following, but now that we come to the last five chapters of Job we see this being used of God again. 

           

“Can You Explain My Creation” (Job 38:1-38)

            Let us begin with the first three verses of this section:  “1 ¶  Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind and said, 2  "Who is this that darkens counsel By words without knowledge? 3  "Now gird up your loins like a man, And I will ask you, and you instruct Me!”  (NASB)

            “1 ¶  Then the LORD answered Job from the whirlwind: 2  “Who is this that questions my wisdom  with such ignorant words? 3  Brace yourself like a man,  because I have some questions for you,  and you must answer them.”  (NLT)

            The Living Bible paraphrases verse two like this:  “Why are you using your ignorance to deny My providence?”  We see that God is not questing Job’s integrity or sincerity; He only wants to question Job’s ability to explain the ways of God in the world.  We will see in Job 42:7 that Job had spoken truth about God but Job’s speeches had lacked humility.  Job really thought that he knew God but he did not realize how much that he did not know about God.  Dr. Wiersbe writes: “Knowledge of our own ignorance is the first step toward true wisdom.”  God tells Job in verse three that he better brace himself like a man because it was God’s turn to question Job.

            “God begins with the creation of the earth”(Job 38:4-7):  “4 ¶  “Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?  Tell me, if you know so much. 5  Who determined its dimensions  and stretched out the surveying line? 6  What supports its foundations,  and who laid its cornerstone 7  as the morning stars sang together  and all the angels shouted for joy?”  (NASB)

            “4 ¶  “Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?  Tell me, if you know so much. 5  Who determined its dimensions  and stretched out the surveying line? 6  What supports its foundations,  and who laid its cornerstone 7  as the morning stars sang together  and all the angels shouted for joy?’”  (NLT)

            I think that this question should be put to all the evolutionist out there in the world for they are trying to figure out how the earth was created so that they do not have to have a Creator to answer to.

            We see in these verses the Master Builder who plans what He was going to do as a careful builder would today when building a building, for he would survey the site, then mark off the dimensions, he would pour the footer, lay the cornerstone, and finally erect the structure.  Job was not there when all of this happened, nor were there anyone else there, for only God was there along with the angels as seen in verse seven.

            “Let us consider the seas”(Job 38:8:11): “8  "Or who enclosed the sea with doors When, bursting forth, it went out from the womb; 9  When I made a cloud its garment And thick darkness its swaddling band, 10  And I placed boundaries on it And set a bolt and doors, 11  And I said, ’Thus far you shall come, but no farther; And here shall your proud waves stop’?”  (NASB)

            “8  “Who kept the sea inside its boundaries  as it burst from the womb, 9  and as I clothed it with clouds  and wrapped it in thick darkness? 10  For I locked it behind barred gates,  limiting its shores. 11  I said, ’This far and no farther will you come.  Here your proud waves must stop!’”

            God now speaks of when He caused the seas to come together in the place where He wanted them to go and stop where He wanted them to stop.  We are talking about day two of creation when God separated the waters that were made the first day, as the whole earth was water at that time. “2Pe 3:5  For when they maintain this, it escapes their notice that by the word of God the heavens existed long ago and the earth was formed out of water and by water.”  In day two of creation it was as if the Lord cut the waters with a knife and part of them went upward towards the heavens and part of them stayed upon the earth and then it was upon day three that God separated the waters from the dry land and this is what we see in these verses. “9 ¶  Then God said, "Let the waters below the heavens be gathered into one place, and let the dry land appear"; and it was so. 10  God called the dry land earth, and the gathering of the waters He called seas; and God saw that it was good.”  (Genesis 1:9-10)  We see the word “gathered” in verse nine of Genesis one and when the OT was translated into the Greek language, which is called the Septuagint, the Greek word that is used for gathered is the word “synagogue.” I thought that this was interesting because that word synagogue means a gathering place, and that is what the Lord did with the seas, He gathered them into the place where He wanted them and the rest was dry land.

            “God Now Speaks of the sun” (Job 38:12-15):  “12 ¶  "Have you ever in your life commanded the morning, And caused the dawn to know its place, 13  That it might take hold of the ends of the earth, And the wicked be shaken out of it? 14  "It is changed like clay under the seal; And they stand forth like a garment. 15  "From the wicked their light is withheld, And the uplifted arm is broken.” (NASB)

“12 ¶  “Have you ever commanded the morning to appear  and caused the dawn to rise in the east? 13  Have you made daylight spread to the ends of the earth,  to bring an end to the night’s wickedness? 14  As the light approaches,  the earth takes shape like clay pressed beneath a seal;  it is robed in brilliant colors. 15  The light disturbs the wicked  and stops the arm that is raised in violence.”  (NLT)

When we go back to the book of Genesis and chapter one we will see that God created light on the first day and that He created the things that would give off light on the fourth day.  This had always been a bit confusing to me that light was created on the first day and the sun, moon, planets, and the stars were created on the fourth day.  Light was something that did not exist before in God’s creation, but we see in the Scriptures that God is light and if anyone who is human would look at God they would die because of His light.  What God created on the fourth day was the things that would give off this light and when you look at Genesis 1 it reads as if it were an afterthought, although it wasn’t.  What I am speaking of is the creation of the stars that seemed to be like an afterthought, but they too were all planed out.  “14 ¶  Then God said, "Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night, and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years; 15  and let them be for lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth"; and it was so. 16  God made the two great lights, the greater light to govern the day, and the lesser light to govern the night; He made the stars also. 17  God placed them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth, 18  and to govern the day and the night, and to separate the light from the darkness; and God saw that it was good. 19  There was evening and there was morning, a fourth day.”  Notice that after each creation day God would say the name of the day, in this case “forth day” and would also say that this was “evening and there was morning.”  He is saying that each day was a normal solar day of twenty-four hours.  The Hebrew word for day is “yome” and when that word is used with a number like in all of the days of creation it means twenty-four hours.  The word is also used to say things like “The day of the Lord” and this would mean a longer period of time, but not when it was used to describe creation, for it always used the number.  Lord at Genesis 1:5 “5 God called the light day, and the darkness He called night. And there was evening and there was morning, one day.

Again we must remember the spiritual aspect of “light” for Jesus said that He was the light of the world, and in John 8:12 we read “Then Jesus again spoke to them, saying, "I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life.’”

With that I will end this SD and pick up the rest of the first main point in the next SD.  I have been looking forward to get to this part of the book of Job and so I wish to take my time going through it, trying not to miss any of the important things that God is saying to Job.

           

Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I realize that Job was not sinless, but from the first and second chapters of Job it shows his great integrity, but as in all sinners born of the seed of Adam there were things that were not right as discussed in earlier SD’s.  Job did not know God as well as he thought he did and known of us will know God like we should or could know him.  The Apostle Paul penned these words not too far from the time that he would depart this earth:  “8  More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ, 9 and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith, 10  that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death.”  (Philippians 3:8-10)

Paul was probably the most spiritual man to ever walk this earth other than Jesus Christ our Lord, and yet towards the end of his life he still had a desire to know God.

Stay in the Word my friends, Stay in the Word.

                       

                        My Steps of Faith for Today:

1.      Continue to learn to know God by staying in His Word.

2.      Be humble about what God is teaching me willing to share it with whoever God desires me to share it with.

3.      Continue to learn contentment.

12/4/2011 6:43:37 PM

           

           

           

"God Is Great" Part-2

12/3/2011 6:51:03 PM

SPIRITUAL DIARY

My Worship Time                                                                  Focus:  God is great PT-2

Bible reading & Meditation                                                   Reference:  Job 36:26-37:24

            Message of the verses:  Today’s SD is being done a little bit late because of a very early appointment that I had today.  We will try and cover the last sub-point from Dr. Wiersbe’s outline from chapter twelve of his commentary on Job, “Be Patient.”  He entitles this sub-point “God’s mighty power in nature.”  It will cover the verses that are mentioned above.

            Dr. Wiersbe writes the following as he begins this section:  “Behold, God is great, and we know Him not.’”  (Job 36:26)  This is the theme of the last part of Elihu’s speech; and he illustrated it with the works of God in nature, specifically, God’s control of His world during the seasons of the year.”

            “Autumn (36:27-35:7):  “27  "For He draws up the drops of water, They distill rain from the mist, 28  Which the clouds pour down, They drip upon man abundantly. 29  "Can anyone understand the spreading of the clouds, The thundering of His pavilion? 30  "Behold, He spreads His lightning about Him, And He covers the depths of the sea. 31  "For by these He judges peoples; He gives food in abundance. 32  "He covers His hands with the lightning, And commands it to strike the mark. 33  "Its noise declares His presence; The cattle also, concerning what is coming up.

    “1 ¶  "At this also my heart trembles, And leaps from its place. 2  "Listen closely to the thunder of His voice, And the rumbling that goes out from His mouth. 3  "Under the whole heaven He lets it loose, And His lightning to the ends of the earth. 4  "After it, a voice roars; He thunders with His majestic voice, And He does not restrain the lightnings when His voice is heard. 5  "God thunders with His voice wondrously, Doing great things which we cannot comprehend.’”  (NASB)

            “27  He draws up the water vapor  and then distills it into rain. 28  The rain pours down from the clouds,  and everyone benefits. 29  Who can understand the spreading of the clouds  and the thunder that rolls forth from heaven? 30  See how he spreads the lightning around him  and how it lights up the depths of the sea. 31  By these mighty acts he nourishes the people,  giving them food in abundance. 32  He fills his hands with lightning bolts  and hurls each at its target. 33  The thunder announces his presence;  the storm announces his indignant anger.

    “1 ¶  “My heart pounds as I think of this.  It trembles within me. 2  Listen carefully to the thunder of God’s voice  as it rolls from his mouth. 3  It rolls across the heavens, and his lightning flashes in every direction. 4  Then comes the roaring of the thunder-  the tremendous voice of his majesty.  He does not restrain it when he speaks. 5  God’s voice is glorious in the thunder.  We can’t even imagine the greatness of his power.’”  (NLT)

            It is very interesting that Elihu knew the water cycle and how it worked.  Evaporation, then comes condensation or as the NLT puts it distilling, and then comes precipitation.  The need for electricity is added in the lightning as it helps get the system to work, and of course the thunder comes along too.  Dr. Wiersbe points out that in the East where Elihu lived the summers were dry and then in the autumn comes the rain and the storms.  Elihu has the mind of a scientist but writes like a poet.

            “Winter (Job 37:6-10):  “6 ¶  "For to the snow He says, ’Fall on the earth,’ And to the downpour and the rain, ’Be strong.’ 7  "He seals the hand of every man, That all men may know His work. 8  "Then the beast goes into its lair And remains in its den. 9  "Out of the south comes the storm, And out of the north the cold. 10  "From the breath of God ice is made, And the expanse of the waters is frozen.’”  (NASB)

            6 ¶  “He directs the snow to fall on the earth  and tells the rain to pour down. 7  Then everyone stops working  so they can watch his power. 8  The wild animals take cover  and stay inside their dens. 9  The stormy wind comes from its chamber,  and the driving winds bring the cold. 10  God’s breath sends the ice,  freezing wide expanses of water.’”  (NLT)

            As in the last section Elihu is saying that God is in these weather patterns and seasons by actually putting God in them, for instance look at verse ten of chapter 37, “From the breath of God ice is made.” 

            The song writer Isaac Watts sure agreed with Elihu when he penned the stanzas to this hymn:  “I sing the goodness of the Lord That filed the earth with food; He formed the creatures with His word, And then pronounced them good.

            “There’s not a plant or flower below But makes Thy glories known; And clouds arise and tempests blow By order of Thy throne.”

            “Spring (Job 37:11-13)”:  11  "Also with moisture He loads the thick cloud; He disperses the cloud of His lightning. 12  "It changes direction, turning around by His guidance, That it may do whatever He commands it On the face of the inhabited earth. 13  "Whether for correction, or for His world, Or for lovingkindness, He causes it to happen.’”  (NASB)

            “11  He loads the clouds with moisture,  and they flash with his lightning. 12  The clouds churn about at his direction.  They do whatever he commands throughout the earth. 13  He makes these things happen either to punish people  or to show his unfailing love.’”  (NLT)

            The winter snows and cold weather are over and now the spring rains begin.  Elihu knew how important the wind was in the weather patterns throughout the world.  Jesus spoke of how unpredictable of the wind in John 3:8:  “"The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit.’”  Psalm 148:8 gives more insight into the wind and Who controls it, “Fire and hail, snow and clouds; Stormy wind, fulfilling His word.”  We can see that God is in complete control of the weather.

            “Summer”  (Job 37:14-18):  “14 ¶  "Listen to this, O Job, Stand and consider the wonders of God. 15  "Do you know how God establishes them, And makes the lightning of His cloud to shine? 16  "Do you know about the layers of the thick clouds, The wonders of one perfect in knowledge, 17  You whose garments are hot, When the land is still because of the south wind? 18  "Can you, with Him, spread out the skies, Strong as a molten mirror?’
  (NASB)

            “14 ¶  “Pay attention to this, Job.  Stop and consider the wonderful miracles of God! 15  Do you know how God controls the storm  and causes the lightning to flash from his clouds? 16  Do you understand how he moves the clouds  with wonderful perfection and skill? 17  When you are sweltering in your clothes  and the south wind dies down and everything is still, 18  he makes the skies reflect the heat like a bronze mirror.  Can you do that?’”  (NLT)

            Elihu is not telling Job about how hot the summer is and where the winds come from in the summer and how hot everyone is during this time of the year.  However Elihu was trying to tell Job things about God, things he sensed that Job did not know about God, and now he will make his final thrust as Dr. Wiersbe writes, “If you can’t explain to us the everyday things of nature, then how will you every prepare a court case to defend yourself before God?”  Now let’s look at verse 20:  “Do you think I’m dumb enough to challenge God? Wouldn’t that just be asking for trouble?”  (Message)

            Job 36:21-22:  “21 ¶  We cannot look at the sun,  for it shines brightly in the sky  when the wind clears away the clouds. 22  So also, golden splendor comes from the mountain of God.  He is clothed in dazzling splendor.”  Elihu is speaking of the bright sunshine the “golden splendor” and the “awesome Majesty” of God.  Elihu is saying how do you expect to look at God when you can’t even look at the sun. 

            Dr. Wiersbe writes “Elihu’s closing words remind us that, even though we can’t fully understand God, we know that He is great and just and does not afflict men to no purpose.  What should our personal response be?  ‘Therefore fear Him!’  Job had come to the same conclusion after pondering the works of God in the world (Job 28:24-28)

            “Job will now get what he’d been asking for: a personal meeting with God.  Was he ready?  Are we ready?”

            At the end of some of the chapters in Dr. Wiersbe’s commentary on Job he writes what he calls and “INTERLUDE” and I want to quote this Interlude at this time:  “With all his verbosity and lack of humility, Elihu did say some good things that Job needed to hear.  Elihu’s use of rhetorical questions in Job 37:14-18 prepared Job for the series of questions Jehovah would ask him in Job 38-41.  Unlike the three friends, Elihu assessed Job’s problem accurately: Job’s actions may have been right—he was not the sinner his three friends described him to be—but his attitude was wrong.  He was not the ‘saint’ Job saw himself to be.  Job was slowly moving toward a defiant, self-righteous attitude that was not at all healthy.  It was this ‘know-it-all attitude that God exposed and destroyed when He appeared to Job and questioned him.

            “So, even though God said nothing about Elihu, the man did have a helpful ministry to Job.  Unfortunately, Job wouldn’t accept it.”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I believe that after we see Job in the closing chapters of this book we will see a different Job, a Job who will be humble and not self-righteous.  Being self-righteous is not a good thing for after all we brought nothing into this world and we will take nothing out of this world, for all we have has been given to us by the Lord and one day we will give an account of how we acted as His steward.

My Steps of Faith for Today:

1.      Pride is what caused Satan to fall and therefore humility is what is needed.

2.      Continue to learn contentment, for in doing this humility be there too.

12/3/2011 7:53:45 PM

Elihu says "God is Great" Part-1

12/2/2011 8:02:45 AM

SPIRITUAL DIARY

My Worship Time                                                                  Focus:  God is Great PT-1

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                  Reference:  Job 36-37

            Message of the verses:  In Today’s SD we begin the last two chapters in Job before the Lord will speak.  As mentioned before Dr. Wiersbe, in his commentary has broken up this twelfth chapter of his commentary “Be Patient” into two main points with different sub-points under those main points. 

            In chapters 36-37 of Job we see statements from Elihu showing the greatness of God.  In 36:5 we read “Behold, God is mighty,” and in verse twenty we read “Behold, God exalteth by power.  We read in verse 26 “Behold, God is great,” and so we see that Elihu magnifies the greatness of God in His merciful purposes for man in chapter 36 verses 1-25 and then in His mighty power in nature in verses 36:26-27:13.  Then in verses 14-24 of chapter 37 Elihu makes one more plea for Job to fear the Lord and to repent.  I would say by Job not doing this because it did not need to be done that God had won his “bet” with Satan.  I would suppose at this point in time that Satan was very upset because I believe that Satan felt that this would not be a great problem to get Job to reject the Lord because of what had happened to him.

            God’s merciful purpose for man (Job 36:1-25):  “1 ¶  Then Elihu continued and said, 2  "Wait for me a little, and I will show you That there is yet more to be said in God’s behalf. 3  "I will fetch my knowledge from afar, And I will ascribe righteousness to my Maker. 4  "For truly my words are not false; One who is perfect in knowledge is with you.

    “5 ¶  "Behold, God is mighty but does not despise any; He is mighty in strength of understanding. 6  "He does not keep the wicked alive, But gives justice to the afflicted. 7  "He does not withdraw His eyes from the righteous; But with kings on the throne He has seated them forever, and they are exalted. 8  "And if they are bound in fetters, And are caught in the cords of affliction, 9  Then He declares to them their work And their transgressions, that they have magnified themselves. 10  "He opens their ear to instruction, And commands that they return from evil. 11  "If they hear and serve Him, They will end their days in prosperity And their years in pleasures. 12  "But if they do not hear, they shall perish by the sword And they will die without knowledge. 13  "But the godless in heart lay up anger; They do not cry for help when He binds them. 14  "They die in youth, And their life perishes among the cult prostitutes.

    “15 ¶  "He delivers the afflicted in their affliction, And opens their ear in time of oppression. 16  "Then indeed, He enticed you from the mouth of distress, Instead of it, a broad place with no constraint; And that which was set on your table was full of fatness. 17  "But you were full of judgment on the wicked; Judgment and justice take hold of you. 18  "Beware that wrath does not entice you to scoffing; And do not let the greatness of the ransom turn you aside. 19  "Will your riches keep you from distress, Or all the forces of your strength? 20  "Do not long for the night, When people vanish in their place. 21  "Be careful, do not turn to evil, For you have preferred this to affliction. 22  "Behold, God is exalted in His power; Who is a teacher like Him? 23  "Who has appointed Him His way, And who has said, ’You have done wrong’?

    “24 ¶  "Remember that you should exalt His work, Of which men have sung. 25  "All men have seen it; Man beholds from afar.’”  (NASB)

            “1 ¶  Elihu continued speaking: 2  “Let me go on, and I will show you the truth.  For I have not finished defending God! 3  I will present profound arguments  for the righteousness of my Creator. 4  I am telling you nothing but the truth,  for I am a man of great knowledge.

    “5 ¶  “God is mighty, but he does not despise anyone!  He is mighty in both power and understanding. 6  He does not let the wicked live  but gives justice to the afflicted. 7  He never takes his eyes off the innocent,  but he sets them on thrones with kings  and exalts them forever. 8  If they are bound in chains  and caught up in a web of trouble, 9  he shows them the reason.  He shows them their sins of pride. 10  He gets their attention  and commands that they turn from evil. 11  “If they listen and obey God,  they will be blessed with prosperity throughout their lives.  All their years will be pleasant. 12  But if they refuse to listen to him,  they will be killed by the sword  and die from lack of understanding. 13  For the godless are full of resentment.  Even when he punishes them, they refuse to cry out to him for help. 14  They die when they are young,  after wasting their lives in immoral living.

    “15 ¶  But by means of their suffering, he rescues those who suffer.  For he gets their attention through adversity. 16  “God is leading you away from danger, Job,  to a place free from distress.  He is setting your table with the best food. 17  But you are obsessed with whether the godless will be judged.  Don’t worry, judgment and justice will be upheld. 18  But watch out, or you may be seduced by wealth.  Don’t let yourself be bribed into sin. 19  Could all your wealth  or all your mighty efforts  keep you from distress? 20  Do not long for the cover of night,  for that is when people will be destroyed. 21  Be on guard! Turn back from evil,  for God sent this suffering  to keep you from a life of evil. 22  “Look, God is all-powerful.  Who is a teacher like him? 23  No one can tell him what to do,  or say to him, ’You have done wrong.’

    “24 ¶  Instead, glorify his mighty works,  singing songs of praise. 25  Everyone has seen these things,  though only from a distance. 26  “Look, God is greater than we can understand.  His years cannot be counted.’”   (NLT)

            I have outlined some of the verses or parts of the verses because for the most part I do not agree with them.  The first highlighted portion speaks of the health and wealth Gospel, which of course is not true.  The second highlighted portion could well be true, but I believe that it would be up to God on when to do such things.  The last highlighted section is not true for we can read in the first chapter why all of these awful things happened to Job.  This is an example of what I was writing about in the last SD when I wrote that when you eat fish and come to a bone you get rid of the bone and keep on eating fish.  Well I believe that these are examples of “bones.”

            It is possible that his listeners were getting restless by this time, and I for one would not blame them, even thought we see some truth from Elihu we also see that he is proud of what he thinks that he knows, even cocky and that would cause his listeners to become restless.  He says in verse three that he is getting his information right from God, or from the heavens.  Pretty bold statement if you ask me.  No humility in Elihu from the sounds of some of the things he is speaking.

            In verses 1-4 we see his introduction and then in verses 5-15 we look at his “Explanation.”

            I want to look at verse five and six for a moment:  “God is mighty, but he does not despise anyone!  He is mighty in both power and understanding. 6  He does not let the wicked live  but gives justice to the afflicted.”  (NASB)  I wish to explain why I said what I said about the highlighted portions above and it will go along with what is in these verses as well.  When we look at what will eventually be what happens to the wicked and to those who are true believers in Jesus Christ we shall see that the wicked will be punished and that the true believers will be greatly rewarded and live in a city where the streets are pure gold as the later chapters of the book of Revelations explain, but while both the righteous and the wicked are here on earth it does not always mean that the righteous will live great lives, and the wicked will always be punished right away for their wickedness.  Job is a great example of what I am saying for he was a righteousness man as the Lord said of him in the first two chapters.

            Let us go back to the statement about being a true believer in Jesus Christ and ask the question how does this happen to a person.  I think that this is a good time to speak about it, for in fact, this is the most important question that a person will be faced with in all of their lives for the answer to that question will determine where a person will spend eternity.  The Bible teaches that all are sinners “Ro 3:23  for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”  Why does Paul make such a statement like this?  Well this goes back to when Adam and Eve fell into sin in the Garden of Eden.  All people on this earth are descendants of Adam and Eve and so when God made the statement that when you eat of the tree of knowledge and evil you will surely die He was saying that spiritual death would happened right away and physical death would eventually come to all people.  Adam and Eve were spiritually dead when they ate of the fruit and so all of their descendants are born spiritually dead.  As soon as this happened we read in Genesis 3:15 these wonderful words, “And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise him on the heel.’”  This is God speaking to the “serpent” or “Satan” and telling him that one day there would come from the “seed” of woman a Savior who would eventually bruise the head of Satan, and Satan would bruise the heel of Him.  Of course this happened on the cross where even though Jesus Christ died, three days later He was raised from the dead and by His death He defeated the power of Satan and one day He will put him into the lake of fire forever.

            You may say that this is a great story but how does it have anything to do with me?  Well the answer is that because we are all born spiritually dead and because Jesus Christ died for all of our sins what we need to do is to confess (agree with) our sins to God, that we are a sinner, that we sin and then by faith, believe that what Jesus Christ did on the cross was for you and as the Scriptures says you will be born again and have new life in Jesus Christ.  If you believe this is true and wish to do this and still have more questions please write to me at rabbitsix@hotmail.com and I will be glad to talk to you about all of this.

            Meanwhile back to Job 36:5-15.  Job may have though, and we get this idea from the speeches he made, that God was ignoring him, but this was not true for Elihu says in verse seven that God does not take His eyes off the righteousness and in 1Peter 3:12 we can see this too.  “For the eyes of the LORD are on the righteous, And His ears are open to their prayers; But the face of the LORD is against those who do evil.’”  (NKJV)

            The Lord will discipline those that are his as we spoke of before that this is found in Hebrews chapter twelve.  This is true, but there are times when things like what happened to Job will happen to us, and we will suffer.  Jesus Christ suffered for us and many times in the book of Acts and also we read of it in the epistles that believers will suffer for the cause of Christ and even will die for the cause of Christ.  The book of Revelations is full of stories how this will come about in a period of time that is called “The Tribulation.” 

            Elihu writes in verses 16-25 that Job needs to make a decision and in this section we see the “application.” 

            Dr. Wiersbe writes:  “Elihu saw several dangers ahead for Job and tried to warn him.  The first was that Job might look for some ‘shortcut’ for getting out of trouble and thereby miss the message God had for him.  Job might agree to let somebody ‘buy his way out,’ but no amount of money could do that (Job 36:18-19). The Wall Street Journal said it best:  ‘Money is an article which may be used as a universal passport to everywhere except heaven, and as a universal provider for everything except happiness.’”

            There was a second danger mentioned in verse twenty and that is that Job might want to take his own life.  “The night’ and darkness’ are images of death and Job often expressed a longing to die.”  Job did express his desire to die in the past, but he was a man of faith and therefore would not do something like that.

            In verse twenty-one we see a third danger mentioned by Elihu and that is that Job may want to turn to a life of crime.  I am sure that this has happened to many people who have done this in fact Dr. Wiersbe writes “In my own pastoral ministry, I have counseled people who were so bitter against God that they abandoned their professions of faith and went back into the world.”

            In verses 22-25 we see some good advice from Elihu, “22  "Do you have any idea how powerful God is? Have you ever heard of a teacher like him? 23  Has anyone ever had to tell him what to do, or correct him, saying, ‘You did that all wrong!’?  24 Remember, then, to praise his workmanship, which is so often celebrated in song. 25  Everybody sees it; nobody is too far away to see it.”  (Message)

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  One of the things that I desire to do is to keep my perspective right when it comes to money, for money is something that we all need to bring glory to God with.  We are His stewards and so everything we have is His, for He made it all.  I must remember to praise the Giver of the gifts and not the gifts that the Giver has given to me.

My Steps of Faith for Today:

1.      Romans 12:1-2.

2.      Proverbs 3:5-6.

3.      Luke 22:40b, 46b.

4.      Philippians 4:11b.

5.      Ephesians 6:10-18.

12/2/2011 9:35:28 AM      

Elihu says "There is no profit in obeying God."

12/1/2011 8:06:52 AM

SPIRITUAL DIARY

My Worship Time                                                     Focus:  There is no profit in obeying God

Bible Reading & Meditation                                      Reference:  Job 34:7-9; 35:1-16

            Message of the verses:  “7  "What man is like Job, Who drinks up derision like water, 8  Who goes in company with the workers of iniquity, And walks with wicked men? 9  "For he has said, ’It profits a man nothing When he is pleased with God.’”

            “1 ¶  Then Elihu continued and said, 2  "Do you think this is according to justice? Do you say, ’My righteousness is more than God’s’? 3  "For you say, ’What advantage will it be to You? What profit will I have, more than if I had sinned?’ 4  "I will answer you, And your friends with you. 5  "Look at the heavens and see; And behold the clouds-they are higher than you. 6  "If you have sinned, what do you accomplish against Him? And if your transgressions are many, what do you do to Him? 7  "If you are righteous, what do you give to Him, Or what does He receive from your hand? 8  "Your wickedness is for a man like yourself, And your righteousness is for a son of man.

    “9 ¶  "Because of the multitude of oppressions they cry out; They cry for help because of the arm of the mighty. 10  "But no one says, ’Where is God my Maker, Who gives songs in the night, 11  Who teaches us more than the beasts of the earth And makes us wiser than the birds of the heavens?’ 12  "There they cry out, but He does not answer Because of the pride of evil men. 13  "Surely God will not listen to an empty cry, Nor will the Almighty regard it.

    “14 ¶  "How much less when you say you do not behold Him, The case is before Him, and you must wait for Him! 15  "And now, because He has not visited in His anger, Nor has He acknowledged transgression well, 16  So Job opens his mouth emptily; He multiplies words without knowledge.’”  (NASB)

            “7  “Tell me, has there ever been a man like Job,  with his thirst for irreverent talk? 8  He chooses evil people as companions.  He spends his time with wicked men. 9  He has even said, ’Why waste time  trying to please God?’”

            “1 ¶ Then Elihu said: 2  “Do you think it is right for you to claim,  ’I am righteous before God’? 3 For you also ask, ’What’s in it for me?  What’s the use of living a righteous life?’ 4  “I will answer you  and all your friends, too. 5  Look up into the sky,  and see the clouds high above you. 6 If you sin, how does that affect God?  Even if you sin again and again, what effect will it have on him? 7 If you are good, is this some great gift to him?  What could you possibly give him? 8 No, your sins affect only people like yourself, and your good deeds also affect only humans.

    “9 ¶ “People cry out when they are oppressed.  They groan beneath the power of the mighty. 10 Yet they don’t ask, ’Where is God my Creator,  the one who gives songs in the night? 11 Where is the one who makes us smarter than the animals and wiser than the birds of the sky?’ 12 And when they cry out, God does not answer because of their pride. 13 But it is wrong to say God doesn’t listen, to say the Almighty isn’t concerned.

    “14 You say you can’t see him, but he will bring justice if you will only wait. 15 You say he does not respond to sinners with anger and is not greatly concerned about wickedness. 16 But you are talking nonsense, Job.  You have spoken like a fool.’”  (NLT)

            We will begin with a quote from Dr. Wiersbe:  “Again, Elihu tries to throw Job’s own words back in his face: ‘I am innocent’ (10:7; 12:4; 27:6), and ‘What have I gained by obeying God’ (9:29-31); 21:15) Job did make the first statement but the second is not an accurate quotation of his words.  Job never did bargain with God as Satan said he would (1:9, 21; 2:9-10).  Eliphaz had discussed this topic (Job 22) and had come to the conclusion that neither man’s piety nor his iniquity could make any difference to the character of God.  But Elihu felt it was important to deal with the theme again.”

            I would like to say that Satan has always dealt in half truths, which in affect are lies.  He began in the garden when tempting Eve with half truths and has never stopped.  I have to believe that Satan was doing everything he could to “win this bet” with God, and therefore I believe that Satan was using Elihu’s half truths to get Job to admit to something that he never did or said.

            In verses 35:5-7 Elihu is saying in affect that what we do here on earth does not affect God because He is so far away from the earth, yet he misses an attribute of God, omnipresence.

            In verses 8-16 Elihu asked Job and his friends to consider human society.  He is saying that are sins or our good works affecting people around us, but they do not affect God.  Genesis 6:6 shows that God grieves over man’s sins and Psalm 37:23 shows that He delights in the faith and obedience of man, so Elihu is wrong in what he is saying.

            We have to look at the character of God, for He is holy and does not change, and this is made plain in the Scriptures “Mal 3:6  ‘For I, the LORD, do not change; therefore you, O sons of Jacob, are not consumed.’”  This is just one example from the Scriptures of the unchangeableness of God. 

            We know that God cares for the birds (Job 35:11; Matt. 6:25-24); but men who are made in the image of God will not cry out to God until they are in trouble (Job 35:9).  Men forget God until they have a lot of troubles and this is why Job’s prayers are not being answered (v14).  This is all according to Elihu.

            Another quote from Dr. Wiersbe:  “But even if God doesn’t relieve the burden, He can give the trusting sufferer ‘songs in the night’ (v. 10; Ps. 42:8; 77:6).  ‘Any man can sing in the day,’ said Charles Spurgeon.  ‘It is easy to sing when we can read the notes by daylight; but he is the skillful singer who can sing when there is not a ray of light by which to read.’  The Lord gave ‘songs in the night’ to Jesus before He went to the cross (Matt. 26:30) and to Paul and Silas in the prison in Philippi (Acts 16:25).  If God doesn’t see fit to remove our burdens, He always gives strength to bear them—and a son to sing while doing it!”

            Even though Elihu dismisses Job’s complaint that he could not see God, that was not the important thing to remember, for God could see Job and that is what he should remember.  (See 35:14)  We see in verse 16 that Job’s situation won’t change by his empty talk and many words, so the only thing that Job can do is to wait and to trust (v14).

            “God is gracious (job 33), and God is just (36-37), and Elihu thought that Job needed to recognize how great God is.”  Lord willing we will look at that subject next.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I am reminded of what a former Pastor that I had, in fact he was the first Pastor that I had after I became saved in 1974.  We began going to the church he pastured in 1978 and he went to be with the Lord earlier this year.  He would say that when you are reading a book that was not the Bible that it was like eating fish, he went on to say that when you eat fish and came to a bone you had to throw out the bone and keep eating fish.  Well I think that some of what Job’s friends were saying, and what Elihu was saying, and even what Job said occasionally were bones and it is kind of hard to tell the difference with some help from some of the commentators.

My Steps of Faith for Today:

1.      Continue to trust the Lord to guide me and that the Holy Spirit will be my teacher as I read and study His Word.

2.      Continue to strive to learn contentment.

12/1/2011 9:03:22 AM