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Archive for April, 2010

God Answers Job

Posted in Job on April 29, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Job Says:

3“Oh that I knew where I might find Him,
  That I might come to His seat!
4“I would present my case before Him
  And fill my mouth with arguments.  Job 23: 3-4

God Says:

1Then 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!  Job 38: 1-3

Job wanted to argue his case before God and show that God was not justified in turning against Job.  Job was mistaken that God brought calamity in his life and was angry toward Job.  So God finally answers Job. 

In God’s response to Job, God asks Job if He is like God.  God knows that Job’s complaint against Him is wrong.  God is merciful toward Job and does not point out Job’s weaknesses and sins, but instead God points to Himself and justifies who He is.

God is supreme.  There is no one like Him.  He is the Alpha and Omega.  We all live and have our being because of God.  He is just.  God is Holy.  No one can argue against God.  Above all, God is love and full of mercy.  He could have dealt with Job according to Job’s folly.  God could deal with all of us according to our folly.  God chooses to demonstrate His greatness to Job, by reminding Job who He is.  God begins to present Himself before Job in a series of rhetorical questions.  Through these questions God shows us all His sovereignty.

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Job Pleads His Case

Posted in Job, Uncategorized on April 27, 2010| Leave a Comment »

18“Behold now, I have prepared my case;
  I know that I will be vindicated.
19“Who will contend with me?
   For then I would be silent and die.
20“Only two things do not do to me,
   Then I will not hide from Your face:
21Remove Your hand from me,
  And let not the dread of You terrify me.
22“Then call, and I will answer;
  Or let me speak, then reply to me.
23“How many are my iniquities and sins?
  Make known to me my rebellion and my sin. Job 13: 18-23

Job wants to plead his case before God.  Job does not believe that he has done anything wrong that would cause God to punish him.  Job spends the next several chapters justifying himself and accusing God of turning His anger and wrath toward Job.  Job’s friends argue that Job must have sinned and must repent so that God would restore his health and wealth.  They tell Job that God would not punish an innocent man.  They also tell Job that he cannot condemn God and justify himself.  However, Job continues to claim his innocence and requests to argue his case before God.  If Job has done something wrong, then Job wants to hear it from God directly.  Job tells his friends that they are in no position to judge him or point out his sins.

Job is wrong to believe that God is the cause of all his problems.  He is also wrong in thinking that God is angry with him and that he has lost favor with God.  Job is righteous and innocent but not because of what he has done but because of God.  Deep down Job knows he cannot justify himself before God but still he wants to know why God has turned on him.

Have you ever felt this way?  Have you ever felt like God has forsaken you and you wanted to know what you have done to lose favor with God?  Job never lost favor with God.  God did not forsake Job.  After Job’s lament and his friends’ arguments, God finally answers Job.

Next:  God’s response.

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We Need an Arbitrator

Posted in Jesus, Job on April 26, 2010| Leave a Comment »

 29 Since I am already found guilty,
       why should I struggle in vain?

 30 Even if I washed myself with soap
       and my hands with washing soda,

 31 you would plunge me into a slime pit
       so that even my clothes would detest me.

 32 “He is not a man like me that I might answer him,
       that we might confront each other in court.

 33 If only there were someone to arbitrate between us,
       to lay his hand upon us both,

 34 someone to remove God’s rod from me,
       so that his terror would frighten me no more.

 35 Then I would speak up without fear of him,
       but as it now stands with me, I cannot.  Job 9: 29-35 NIV

Job really wanted to confront God about what He had done.  However, Job believed that he had no chance to argue his case before God and plead his innocence.  Job questioned whether or not anyone is innocent before God.  He concluded that God treats the blameless and the wicked all the same – He judges them equally.

Job understood that there really is nothing we can do to cleanse ourselves of sin and stand before God blameless.  There is no work we can complete on our own that would allow us to claim righteousness.  Job knew that none of his righteous acts saved him in the eyes of God.  Job says that we need an arbitrator, someone that is between us and God; as Job states “someone to remove God’s rod from me…”  Job saw the need for a savior.

Job was wrong about God treating us with judgment and wrath, because out of His love for us God sent an arbitrator – Jesus.  Jesus stands between us and God the Father.  It is because of Jesus we can stand before God and argue our case just like Job wanted to do.  We can stand before God and not be afraid because Jesus took our sin and gave us His righteousness.

We are righteous before God because Jesus paid our debt of sin and death.  Even when we sin Jesus still arbitrates our cases before God.  It is in Jesus that we have the confidence that God will forgive us of our sins and return us to our righteous state.

Job is right – without Jesus no one can stand before God and claim his innocence.  We are all guilty and have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.  There is no human act that can justify us.  It is only the shed blood of Jesus that saves us.  Jesus is the only one that can stand between us and God; declare our innocence, and ask God to have mercy upon us.  Praise God for Jesus our Arbitrator.

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God is Just

Posted in Job, Uncategorized on April 24, 2010| 2 Comments »

3“Does God pervert justice?
   Or does the Almighty pervert what is right?
4“If your sons sinned against Him,
  Then He delivered them into the power of their transgression.
5“If you would seek God
   And implore the compassion of the Almighty,
6If you are pure and upright,
   Surely now He would rouse Himself for you
   And restore your righteous estate. Job 8:3-6

When the World Trade Center was attacked on September 11, 2001, some people said that God was judging the United States.  When Katrina happened in New Orleans, some said it was God judging New Orleans.  When the earthquake in Haiti happened some said it was because of the past sins of Haiti and the curse of the nation.  There are some that when tragedy strikes they believe it is God’s way of punishing them for their sin.  Job’s friend Bildad believed that God was punishing Job and his children because of their sins.

When Jesus died on the cross God judged sin then and there.  It is finished.  Jesus paid it all.  God declared Job righteous, therefore, God was not punishing Job for his sins.  God loves us and abounds in mercy and love.  He is not looking to punish us or destroy us because we don’t measure up.  God loves us so much.  He is full of kindness, mercy and grace.  He is not looking down on us waiting to punish our sins; Jesus already endured the punishment of sin.

In times of trouble, God will arouse Himself for us and deliver us.  It is not contingent on whether or not we are right with God.  If we are in need He will meet us where we are at.  God has already delivered us from sin and death through Jesus Christ, so now we can rest in the knowledge that He will deliver us in the days of trouble. 

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Wrong Theology

Posted in Job, Knowing God, Satan on April 22, 2010| Leave a Comment »

 17“Behold, how happy is the man whom God reproves,
    So do not despise the discipline of the Almighty.
 18“For He inflicts pain, and gives relief;
    He wounds, and His hands also heal.  Job 5: 17-19

 3″Does God pervert justice?
    Or does the Almighty pervert what is right?
  4“If your sons sinned against Him,
    Then He delivered them into the power of their transgression.
  5“If you would seek God
    And implore the compassion of the Almighty,
  6 If you are pure and upright,
    Surely now He would rouse Himself for you
    And restore your righteous estate. Job 8:3-6

Job had lost his children, his livelihood and his health.  Since, Job was suffering and sick his friends concluded that it must be a result of sin.  They encouraged Job to return to God and repent.  They thought that God would not punish the innocent, only the wicked get punished.  So Job must have done something wicked and God was correcting him.  This is wrong theology.  God does not punish us to correct us.  Even if Job had sinned God would not have destroyed Job’s life to teach him a lesson.  Too often, we attribute sickness and disease as punishment from God.  God loves us and would not use sickness and disease to  teach us a lesson.  Yes God disciplines us but not at the expense of our lives.

We know that God did see Job as a righteous man so there was no need for Job to get right with God.  Job did not lose his righteous state, he was attacked by Satan.  Satan is responsible for all that has happened to Job.  Satan did this to try and discredit Job and get Job to curse God.

The last thing Job needed from his friends was judgment.  Job was looking for comfort and they did not offer any.  Also, they thought they were defending God by explaining to Job why he was suffering and why his children died – all because of sin.

We should never judge another person’s situation when we do not understand all that is going on.  None of us know why all this happened to Job.  We are never given an explanation as to why God allowed Satan to inflict such pain on Job.  We do know it was not due to Job’s sins, because God said Job was righteous.  So let’s just mourn with those that mourn and stand in faith that God will see them through.  We are not to judge others, but to love and build them up.  This is what friends do.

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Job’s Bitter Complaint

Posted in Job on April 20, 2010| Leave a Comment »

11“Therefore I will not restrain my mouth;
    I will speak in the anguish of my spirit,
    I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.

16“I waste away; I will not live forever
    Leave me alone, for my days are but a breath.
17“What is man that You magnify him,
    And that You are concerned about him,
18That You examine him every morning
   And try him every moment?
19“Will You never turn Your gaze away from me,
    Nor let me alone until I swallow my spittle?
20“Have I sinned? What have I done to You,
   O watcher of men?
   Why have You set me as Your target,
   So that I am a burden to myself?
21“Why then do You not pardon my transgression
    And take away my iniquity?
    For now I will lie down in the dust;
    And You will seek me, but I will not be.” Job 7: 11, 16-21

Job is not aware that Satan has done all these things to him.  Instead Job believes that God is the cause of his calamity and begins to complain and ask God what he has done.  Many times we find ourselves in this situation when the worst happens we question where God is in it all.  We even wonder if God has brought us to this situation.  What Job failed to realize and what we often fail to realize is how God sees us.  We know that God did not bring this calamity upon Job and we know that God believes that Job is a righteous man.  God has nothing bad to say about Job.  Unfortunately, Job begins to believe that God has targeted Job for destruction.

We must remember that we have an enemy who seeks to destroy us just like Job.  That does not mean that God has forsaken us.  God fights our battles for us.  We know in the story of Job that God limited Satan to what he could do to Job.  We also know that God will deliver Job from the hand of the enemy.  God will deliver us from our enemies.

Job also begins to wander what sin he did to cause God to turn on him.  Many times we believe that when we sin God punishes us.  But Jesus died and our sins have been judged and forgiven.  God never uses sickness and disease to punish us for our sins or correct our behavior.  Job was accused by Satan; God brought no accusations against Job.  Matter of fact the bible says Job did not sin.  So sin is not the cause of Job’s troubles but Satan himself is the cause.

So our response should always be to thank God for His loving-kindness and acknowledgement that He will never leave nor forsake us.  He will never turn His gaze from us.  His mercies are new every morning and He takes great delight in us.

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Job’s Fear

Posted in Job on April 15, 2010| Leave a Comment »

    25″For what I fear comes upon me,
         And what I dread befalls me.
    26″I am not at ease, nor am I quiet,
         And I am not at rest, but turmoil comes.” Job 3:25-26

Job lost everything including his family and his good health – the very thing he feared happened.  Is there anything you fear or dread?  God does not play on our fears but Satan does.  God does not give us a spirit of fear but of love.  Job wished he was never born and the tragedy of his life became too much to bear.

We should never fear the worst or dwell on what might happen.  Jesus told us not to worry about tomorrow for tomorrow has enough trouble on its own.  But there are times like Job that the very thing we fear comes upon us.  We know that God wants us to operate in faith but at times fear does grip us.  In situations like this God wants us to cast all our cares upon him, including our fears.  We should never be ashamed to tell God the things we dread in life.  By being honest with God we allow God to reassure us that everything will work out toward our good. 

There are many things in life we do not understand like death, or why bad things happen to good people like Job.  Job tries to make sense of all that has happened and he begins to ponder God in all of this.  We should never be discouraged by the tragic events in life, or be gripped by fear.  God is on our side just as He was on Job’s.  God never left Job, and God will never leave you.  So don’t fear, but be encouraged for the Lord is with you always.

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Silence is Golden

Posted in Job on April 13, 2010| Leave a Comment »

11Now when Job’s three friends heard of all this adversity that had come upon him, they came each one from his own place, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite; and they made an appointment together to come to sympathize with him and comfort him.

 12When they lifted up their eyes at a distance and did not recognize him, they raised their voices and wept. And each of them tore his robe and they threw dust over their heads toward the sky.

 13Then they sat down on the ground with him for seven days and seven nights with no one speaking a word to him, for they saw that his pain was very great.  Job 2: 11-13

Job’s friends set out to comfort Job in his time of need.  They knew that Job was a successful and wealthy man and were surprised by the tragedy that had befallen Job.  They mourned with Job and sat in silence with him for seven days. 

Many times those that are in mourning just need to be comforted.  They do not need to hear why tragedy has struck their life.   Too often as Christians we are quick to give an explanation of why bad things happen, or find the need to defend God.  Many times we make wrong assumptions about someone’s situation or why God allowed for a situation to take place.

The book of Job does not give a reason why Job endured all that he lost.  We know that it was Satan who caused all of this, but we really do not know why God allowed Job to be tested.  We should never assume we know why things happen to people or try to always answer the question why.  Often times all a person in suffering needs are friends that will sit in silence with them and simply be there for them.  This was the most loving act that Job’s friends did.  They said nothing but mourned along with Job.

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Job Holds On

Posted in Job, Satan on April 11, 2010| Leave a Comment »

 8And he took a potsherd to scrape himself while he was sitting among the ashes.

 9Then his wife said to him, “Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die!”

 10But he said to her, “You speak as one of the foolish women speaks.  Shall we indeed accept good from God and not accept adversity?” In all this Job did not sin with his lips.  Job 2:8-10

Job was a great man of wealth and by the hand of Satan he lost his possessions, his children and now his good health.  It would be very easy to say that Job was cursed but Job is still favored by God.  Even Job’s wife told him to just curse God and die.  Job’s response was that we should accept whatever God gives us including adversity.  The bible makes a point that Job did not sin by this statement.  However, we know from the story that Job’s adversity comes from Satan.  Still Job makes a bold statement.

In Job’s mind even though he believes that God is responsible for all that has happened to him, Job refuses to curse God.  He accepts that no matter what happens to him, he will continue to acknowledge God.  Oh what faith Job had! 

Are we the same?  Do we only worship and praise God because of the things God has done for us?  Is our faith contingent on God’s continued protection of what we possess?  If God never gave us another thing, or if we lost everything by Satan’s hand, would we still call upon the name of the Lord?  What is your faith based on?  What is it that you seek after from God?

God proved to Satan that Job was an upright man.  Satan accused Job of only serving God because of what God gave Job.  But in all that Job said and did, he did not sin.  Now comes the most difficult part for Job;  the accusations by his closest friends and the fact that no one comes to Job’s aid.

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Satan Strikes Job

Posted in Job, Satan on April 9, 2010| Leave a Comment »

4Satan answered the LORD and said, “Skin for skin! Yes, all that a man has he will give for his life.

 5″However, put forth Your hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh; he will curse You to Your face.”

 6So the LORD said to Satan, “Behold, he is in your power, only spare his life.”

 7Then Satan went out from the presence of the LORD and smote Job with sore boils from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head.  Job 2:4-7

Sickness and disease is not the will of God.  God does not use sickness and disease to teach us lessons to make us better people.  Satan had already taken everything Job had including his children, but was convinced that if Job himself suffered then Job would curse God.

We can see that Satan had only ill intensions toward Job.  Satan could not stand Job’s relationship with God.  God did limit Satan by stating that Satan could not kill Job.  Even though Job was in Satan’s power, Job’s life was still in God’s hands.  We can be assured that no matter what Satan tries to do to us, no weapon forged against us will prosper.  All that Satan did to Job did not result in Job cursing God.  Instead God was able to demonstrate that Job was a good man.  Job feared God and shunned evil.

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