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job 35-37

5/29/2015

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Reading through chapters 35-37 today finished the final part of Elihu’s speech to Job. Elihu concludes his speeches by exhorting Job to observe the wonders of God and to learn from them the unsearchableness of their creator. He uses a series of questions to humble Job and kindle awe in his soul (37:14).

Can Job explain how God establishes the clouds and causes the lightning to flash forth therefrom? Can he explain the marvelous way in which the clouds are poised in the heavens? Man has no part in causing these wonders, but only passively feels the effect of them. Beneath the sultry summer cloud when no wind is blowing, the clothing of a man gets warm. He is helpless to change the weather. The clear, dry summer skies of the land are compared to “a molten mirror” reflecting the bright rays of the sun upon the earth. Can Job “spread out” such a sky? (37:15–18).

The thought of the strong expanse of heaven stretched out by God suggests to Elihu his unspeakable greatness and unsearchableness. The young man demands that Job identify the words by which such a being can be addressed, if one sought to contend with him. “We cannot order our speech by reason of darkness,” i.e., our ignorance in the presence of the unsearchableness of God. Elihu could not imagine that anyone would wish to enter into God’s presence to strive with him. To do so would be to express a death wish, a wish “to be swallowed up” by disaster (37:19–20).

When the north wind has cleared the clouds from the sky, the light of the sun is too great to look upon. That golden splendor dazzles the beholder. Men cannot look upon the light when it shines in the cloudless heaven, much less look upon the majesty of God, surrounded as he is with awesome glory (37:21–22).

Elihu sums up his teaching regarding the greatness of God. The Lord is unsearchable. He is exalted in power. He will not do violence to justice. He would not unjustly afflict anyone. Elihu pleads with Job to join with mankind everywhere in showing reverence to God. The Lord has no regard for those “who are wise of heart,” i.e., those who are wise in their own eyes. Thus Elihu is calling upon Job to humble himself (37:23–24).

Elihu thus prepared the way for God to speak. Although he brought out aspects of the issue of suffering undeveloped by the three older friends of Job, he did not have total insight into Job’s situation. Only a clear word from heaven can speak adequately to this problem.

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Job 34-35

5/28/2015

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Reading through chapters 34 and 35 today (an off day in the schedule), I noticed two important Biblical truths that Elihu brings up that are repeated by a few of the New Testament authors. First, in 34:14-15, Elihu asserts that if God wanted to and would stop working and holding the earth and all in it together, everything would turn back to dust. Elihu is showing and reminding his listeners of the power of God behind the scenes. The author of Hebrews picks this theme up in the first chapter stating that it is the power of Jesus from God that is sustaining all things and holding together all things on this earth (Hebrews 1:3). This truth is still just an important for us today. Whether it is a hurricane, a beautiful sunset, a normal day working our jobs, or a car accident going to soccer practice, God is holding this all together, even when things seem to be out of control and unpredictable.

Elihu also points out in chapter 35 that “the arrogance of the wicked” is not heard by God (even though He does hear, he chooses not to). Elihu is reminding his listeners that God wants to help and listen to the humble and will not respond when the arrogance and pride of person does not allow them to respond to God correctly. James picks this theme up in his epistle when he quotes Proverbs, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble” (James 4:6; Proverbs 3:34). This truth is still just as important for us today in the church also. God wants to help us and guide us. But when we become arrogant and look only to ourselves, whether in pride or self-humiliation, God will not respond. We need to truly be humble putting our identity in Jesus and serving others for God.


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Job 32-33

5/27/2015

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Enter Elihu. He enters the story now after Job’s other 3 friends cannot pursued Job that he is wrong and have become silent. Elihu has a more accurate understanding of the problem with Job than does Eliphaz, Bidad, and Zophar, because he has a higher conception of God. The God of Eliphaz and the others, though mighty in His works, becomes in their thinking petty and exacting in His relations with mankind. By contrast Elihu’s account of God is noble and true. Elihu falls short in being a true comfort, however, and he charges Job with wickedness and folly. But reading through chapter 33 today and the beginning of Elihu’s speech, I find 2 important truths that Elihu gets right in confronting Job.

1. Age and experience do not always equal maturity in a person. Elihu asserts that thought he is young in age, he can still speak for God and have the Spirit of God place words in his mouth. The Apostle Paul carries this truth over in the New Testament (1 Timothy 4:11-14) and tells the church that a mature believer is one who gives grace and has humility, knowing they have much room to still grow. A mature Christian is one who relies only on the power of the Spirit and one who speaks with grace in the Spirit. A mature Christian is one who realizes they have been forgive much and shown much grace by God, so they in turn give this same grace and forgiveness to others. A mature Christian is one, who in both deed and word, points others to the cross and the glory of God. A mature Christian is one who is not a stumbling block to other people, both in the church and outside as well. So a mature Christian does not equal any age, they can be both young and old. And the same is true for the other side of the coin, an immature Christian can be any age, both young and old.

2. God is speaking today. Elihu asserts in the middle of chapter 33, that God is speaking to people and is not silent. This is very true still today. When you hold the Bible in your hand, you are holding God’s Word and God speaking. All we have to do to know and hear God is open His Word. We do not need special visions or times to hear from God. We can hear from God anytime we want. You want to know God’s will for your life? Open the Bible and read, it is in there. Want to know what to do in a certain or any situation? You do not have to ask, WWJD, you can simply open the Bible and read the Words from God. God is still speaking today and it is right in your hand if you want to know. You want to know what the only authority in life is? Open the Bible and see it first hand from God. God is still speaking today and it is called the Bible.

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Job 29-31

5/26/2015

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Today we finished up Job’s final defense against his friends. Job’s 3 friends start their speeches with Job in chapter 4 and try to convince Job that he is wrong, a sinner who committed a big time sin, and that through their wisdom Job can get right with God. Job defends himself in that he is innocent before God and God is in control and knows what He is doing. I thought it might be helpful today to list each of the friend’s arguments in order and then show Job’s response or defense starting in chapter 4.

4-5 In Eliphaz’s first speech he asks whether man can ever be right before God?
6-7 Job insists that his righteousness stands.

8 Blidad’s first speech shows that God is just and that is why Job is suffering.
9-10 Job agrees that God is just but He is just to both good and bad people and really all humans are unrighteous.

11 Zophar’s first speech calls Job to repent since he has done some serious wrong.
12-14 Job asserts the majesty of God and acknowledges his trust in God, though He slay me.

15 Eliphaz’s second speech asserts that Job’s own mouth condemns him of wrong
16-17 Job knows he has a witness in heaven who can speak on his behalf

18 Bildad states that only the wicked are punished
19 Job knows that his redeemer lives and will vindicate him

20 Zophar again states that only the wicked suffer, God in His justice punishes the wicked
21 Job responses saying that sometimes the wicked prosper and the good suffer

22 Eliphaz throws the claim down that Job is guilty and he must face it
23-24 Job reminds them that God is mysterious and hidden and how can they know Him

25 Bildad finally asks how can man stand before a righteous God then
26-31 Job responds with wisdom reminders, the majesty of God, that God is also a Savior, and that he has fled evil, reminding his friends of the Genesis 3 story.

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Job 18-19

5/22/2015

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Job is a type of Christ. Without getting into too much theological jargon, this simply means that Job foreshadows Jesus and in the story of his life, points to the coming Messiah. One of the things I find most interesting is the fact that God appears intent on demonstrating His power to keep Job faithful to Himself, regardless of what it might cost Job to prove this point to Satan. Remember, the point of creation and more importantly human beings is to glorify God and enjoy Him. Job shows this glory to God in God keeping him faithful in spite of the fact he loses everything. Reading through chapter 19 today we can hear the brokenness in Job and see how much he has lost and the pain he is experiencing.

Read through the first 20 verses again of chapter 19, but this time put the cross of Christ in view rather than Job. Do you see it? Do you hear the suffering servant, the righteous King who gave it all? Job was a sinner. Bildad and his friends assert this much and as a sinner must have done some serious wrong to experience this kind of wrath from God. Job assert he has done no wrong, but he also knows he needs a redeemer to stand before God to plead the case. Jesus, well He never did anything wrong but he experienced everything Job describes in chapter 19. Why? Well because he loves us and wants to reconcile us, broken sinful rebellious people, back to the righteous Judge. Job is pointing to Jesus, see if as you read more in the next week, you can her the echo of a suffering Savior and living Redeemer of mankind.

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Why read the bible?

5/21/2015

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“The Bible isn’t just a potpourri of pithy, wise, or spiritual sayings from which we can pick up a nugget here and a nugget there. Not, it is a grand, sweeping, world-encompassing story that traces the history of God’s dealings with mankind from the very beginning to the very end. If we really want to understand what God is doing and what he would have us to do as his people, we need to have a good grasp of what that story is, what its main themes are, what the problem is, what God’s remedy to the problem is, and what it all looks like when the story ends.”

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Job 15-17

5/20/2015

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I was reading a great article the other day asking the question, could anyone really be Batman? This article pointed out that, yes, with the right amount of money and serious focused training it is possible that a person could be Batman but with a few exceptions. The article pointed out the biggest exception to anyone being Batman is the actually fighting of bad guys. It stated that fighting 10 thugs at once would be impossible because it would overwhelm the cognitive load. Now I do not know what exactly that means but I understand that fact. I as a normal human being can barely focus on 4 children at once, let alone 10 thugs in a fight. This article and statement got me thinking though of Job. Let me explain.

Job has had some serious problems and suffering in his life. He has lost his children, wealth, possessions, and even his health. That is some serious overload to take all at once, but never the less God allows it to happen to Job. Then Job has 3 “friends” show up and “comfort” him by challenging his thinking and life. Job’s friends tell him he is a sinner and must have done some serious sin in order for God to “do” this to him. Then Job’s wife shows up and tells him to curse God and die. Wow, talk about more serious overload on a person. If I was Job, I would have cracked under all this pressure and either gone insane with rage or died of depression and sickness of heart. But Job does not. Job is still steadfast in the fact he is a righteous man. Job still has laser focus on his view of God. And Job has not given up yet on his life or “reaching” his friends. Even in the reading today we read of Bildad and Job’s response and faith in life still.

So the question this is asking then is why is Job not experiencing an overload in his ability to handle the situation? Why has Job not just given up and died? Why is Job still interacting with his friends and focused on God? The answer to these questions are easy but the application is hard. The answer to the questions is, the grace of God. God in His grace has provided Job what He needs to handle this situation. God’s grace has come on Job in such a way that Job can bear the burden. Yes Job is in some serious question time. But by the grace of God, Job is not overwhelmed into a lost state.

We experience the grace of God the same today in our lives. God has given us enough grace to handle any situation that happens to us. We do not have to become angry or hopeless. We can know that God and His grace will carry us through the situation. The question and application then is, are we willing to rest and look to that grace of God for the help we need?

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job 11-14

5/19/2015

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Reading through the first few sets of dialogue between Job and his friends, I have picked an important point up. Just like Nehemiah and Esther, when life became challenging and times became hard, Job kept his eyes on God. Yes, we read today, Job is discouraged and in a serious spiritual mindset. But Job as he echoes in Chapters 12-14, does not take his eyes off of God. As we continue to read through the dialogue between Job and his friends, keep this fact in mind. Job is continuing to look to God and respond to his friends accordingly. Job does not let his friends or the situation sway him, he is founded in his belief of and knowledge about God. Job keeps that focus and it is what allows him to get through the suffering, without ever truly giving up. Yes, Job is asking God a lot of questions, but Job can do that because he is looking to God and knows God is in control.

This same truth is important for us to understand and put into practice in our lives. We must never lose sight of God and always look to Him when the times of suffering, pain, and trouble come. Yes, we can be like Job and ask God why and how. When we know God is in control and we look to Him in those times, our faith is still there and producing sight that will see beyond the earthly problems. So, like Job, it is ok to hurt, grieve, question, ponder, mourn, and even be humanly broken by those times of suffering and pain. But knowing where to keep our eyes focused and continuing to communicate and look to God during those moments will keep our spirit from breaking and will keep our faith in tacked. Ultimately then it gives us the opportunity to rest in those moments of weeping, in the God who cares and loves us all the while allowing us to walk the valley of shadows.

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Job 8-10

5/18/2015

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So, we have turned a corner in the Bible reading. Up to this point in the Bible reading a majority of the reading has been narrative in style. Simply put this means that a story, or group of stories, are telling the point of Scripture. We need to remember what I said way back on January 1st. The plot points of the Bible are; Creation, Fall, Redemption, Consumation. Currently we are in the third plot point and the stories we have been reading through, wether it is Abraham, David, or Nehemiah, have all been about the redemption of God in making a people His own. Moving forward we will continue in this plot point but in a different writing style, poetry. The books of Job through Song of Solomon are all mostly poetry, so we need to consider this different style for a few minutes to help us make sense of what we will be reading now through July. Yes, it is Hebrew poetry, but it still has many of the same traits and devices that our English poetry does. So here are a few key devices to keep in mind and continue to refresh yourself in as the reading takes place over the next 8 weeks.

Alliteration

 The repetition of consonant sounds, especially at the beginning of words.

Climax

 The turning point of the action in the plot of a play or story. The climax represents the point of greatest tension in the work. Watch for this, especially in Job’s speeches. 

Couplet

 A pair of rhymed lines that may or may not constitute a separate stanza in a poem.

Hyperbole

 A figure of speech involving exaggeration. This is hard to pick up from the Hebrew. 

Metaphor

 A comparison between essentially unlike things without an explicitly comparative word such as like or as.

Personification

 The endowment of God, inanimate objects, or abstract concepts with animate or living qualities. 

Rhythm

 The recurrence of accent or stress in lines of verse. This is harder from the Hebrew to English.

Synecdoche

 A figure of speech in which a part is substituted for the whole.  

Tone

 The implied attitude of a speaker toward the subject.

Something to also keep in mind as the reading takes place is who the current speaker is talking to. In the case today of Job, Job responds to his friends, but half way through his response, he shifts focus from his friend to talking to God in front of his friends. So keeping the fact Job is really talking to God is important and helps in understanding the passage a little better.

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Esther 8-10

5/15/2015

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Reading through Esther this week, I highlighted the sovereignty of God, His providence over all that He has created, and His will.  Today I want to spend a few moments talking about the knowledge of God.

Knowledge of God

The knowledge of God can also be called His attribute of omniscience. God’s knowledge can be defined as: God fully knows Himself and all things actual and possible in one simple and eternal act. This means first, that God can never be surprised and caught off guard. God knows everything that will ever happen inside time and even the possibility of things that could happen inside time that do not happen. God knows every single thing we will ever do and when we are faced with a choice, God already knows what we will decide. This does not mean God will make the decision for us, but that He knows what decisions we will make and has based His plan and the fulfillment of it on that decision we make, both good and bad choices. God knows every single sin we have, are, and will ever commit.

God’s perfect knowledge and omniscience also means He has perfect wisdom in that knowledge. This means that God always chooses the best goals and the best means to those goals. And what are those goals? These goals are; the pleasure of Himself, His greatest glory, and our greatest good. That means God’s perfect knowledge of everything with His perfect wisdom leads to those goals, every time, in every single action around us and through us. This is why Romans 8:28 says “our good”, because only God truly knows what is good for us in His perfect knowledge and wisdom.

In the story of Esther, God’s knowledge and wisdom is clearly behind the scenes from the very beginning of the story, with the death of Esther’s parents and her adoption to Mordecai, all the way to the end of the story with the celebration of Purim and the salvation of the people of God. God’s perfect knowledge and wisdom are weaved throughout the story and as we read the thoughts and words of Mordecai, we can tell he sees and knows and most importantly trust in this knowledge and wisdom of God. Do you trust and run your life knowing God’s knowledge is complete, perfect, and in total control?

Here is a fun diagram that helps show God with His knowledge in relation to time.

Picture
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