One of my trusted advisers has suggested that I offer an abbreviated study on Job.  So we will be looking at only 13 chapters of Job, instead of the full 42.  It seems to me a merciful thing to do for you, my readers!  (You are, of course, welcome to read the whole book on your own!)

Job’s Sixth Speech: A Response to Bildad

¹Then 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.
⁵ You think you’re better than I am,
using my humiliation as evidence of my sin.

Matthew 7:1-5 (English Standard Version)

“Judge not, that you be not judged.  For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you.  Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?  Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye?  You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.”

_________________________

⁶ But it is God who has wronged me,
capturing me in his net.

⁷ “I cry out, ‘Help!’ but no one answers me.
I protest, but there is no justice.
⁸ God has blocked my way so I cannot move.
He has plunged my path into darkness.
⁹ He has stripped me of my honor
and removed the crown from my head.
¹⁰ He has demolished me on every side, and I am finished.
He has uprooted my hope like a fallen tree.
¹¹ His fury burns against me;
he counts me as an enemy.
¹² His troops advance.
They build up roads to attack me.
They camp all around my tent.

In Job 19:8-12, Job recounts the reverse progression of an ancient siege and conquering of a city; yet the irony was that Job was not like a mighty city, but only like a humble tent.

 We can see the reverse progress starting at Job 19:8:

• Captivity (I cannot pass; and He has set darkness in my paths).
• Dethronement (taken the crown from my head)
• Being like a wall torn down (He breaks me down on every side)
• Being like an uprooted tree (my hope He has uprooted like a tree)
• Having a siege set against him (build up their road against me)
• Being surrounded (they encamp all around my tent)

–David Guzik

_________________________

¹³ “My relatives stay far away,
and my friends have turned against me.
¹⁴ My family is gone,
and my close friends have forgotten me.
¹⁵ My servants and maids consider me a stranger.
I am like a foreigner to them.
¹⁶ When I call my servant, he doesn’t come;
I have to plead with him!
¹⁷ My breath is repulsive to my wife.
I am rejected by my own family.

If it were not enough that he has lost so much, now even the friends and family remaining to him are distancing themselves from him.  This rejection is even a heavier burden to bear!  As the little poem goes:

Sticks and stones are hard on bones.
Aimed with cruel art,
Words can sting like anything.
But silence breaks the heart.

¹⁸ Even young children despise me.
When I stand to speak, they turn their backs on me.
¹⁹ My close friends detest me.
Those I loved have turned against me.
²⁰ I have been reduced to skin and bones
and have escaped death by the skin of my teeth.

The expression by (or with) the skin of one’s teeth, which means ‘by an extremely narrow margin; just barely; scarcely’ is an example of a literal translation of a phrase in another language. It’s also another example of a Biblical expression gaining currency in mainstream usage.

The Biblical source of this phrase is the following passage, where Job is complaining about how illness has ravaged his body: “My bone cleaveth to my skin and to my flesh, and I am escaped with the skin of my teeth” (Job xix.20, in the King James Version). The point here is that Job is so sick that there’s nothing left to his body. The passage is rendered differently in other translations; the Douay Bible, for example, which is an English translation of the Vulgate (St. Jerome’s fourth-century Latin translation), gives: “My bone hath cleaved to my skin, and nothing but lips are left about my teeth.”

The phrase, which first appears in English in a mid-sixteenth-century translation of the Bible, does not appear to become common until the nineteenth century. At this point by the skin of one’s teeth is the usual form, as if the teeth actually have skin that is so fine you can barely tell. (An interesting parallel is the nineteenth-century Americanism fine as frog’s hair, meaning ‘very fine’, based on a similar assumption.)

–randomhouse.com

_________________________

²¹ “Have mercy on me, my friends, have mercy,
for the hand of God has struck me.
²² Must you also persecute me, like God does?
Haven’t you chewed me up enough?

²³ “Oh, that my words could be recorded.
Oh, that they could be inscribed on a monument,
²⁴ carved with an iron chisel and filled with lead,
engraved forever in the rock.

²⁵ “But as for me, I know that my Redeemer lives,
and he will stand upon the earth at last.
²⁶ And after my body has decayed,
yet in my body I will see God!
²⁷ I will see him for myself.
Yes, I will see him with my own eyes.
I am overwhelmed at the thought!

from Whispers of His Power,
by Amy Carmichael

Job 19:26-27 — In my flesh shall I see God:  whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another.

I shall see God for myself, and not another; not a stranger is the KJV margin.  I shall not have to learn to know and love Him, for it will be the God who has led me all my life long — and not another.

No stranger’s face will meet us on the day we die.  We shall be awakened by the vision of His face — only His.

A little girl was slowly dying in her home in India.  A Christian doctor who was called to see her told her of our Lord Jesus.  After a little while she began to understand and love Him.  One day she said:  “I don’t know anyone in heaven.  I shall feel very shy there.”

“But you know our Lord Jesus,” said the doctor.  “You won’t be shy with Him.”  She was comforted.  Soon after that she saw Him — not another, not a stranger, but the Lord who loved her and gave Himself for her.

_________________________

Music:

“I Know that My Redeemer Liveth”  from Messiah, by George Frederich Handel, 1741.  It is performed here at King’s College Chapel, conducted by Stephen Cleobury with the King’s College Choir, Cambridge & Academy of Ancient Music, Ailish Tynan, soloist.

_________________________

²⁸ “How dare you go on persecuting me,
saying, ‘It’s his own fault’?
²⁹ You should fear punishment yourselves,
for your attitude deserves punishment.
Then you will know that there is indeed a judgment.”

_________________________

Simple Secrets of the Kingdom
Study 15 — Suffering and Glory

Usually we try to avoid suffering, but in Romans 8 we find that God uses our sufferings as an opportunity for His power to be glorified in our disappointments.  He works it together for our good.  In addition — and this is an awesome thought! — we are being prayed for by the Trinity.  The Spirit, the Father and the Son are all interceding for us.  Click here for AUDIO or VIDEO.

_________________________

One of my trusted advisers has suggested that I offer an abbreviated study on Job.  So we will be looking at only 13 chapters of Job, instead of the full 42.  It seems to me a merciful thing to do for you, my readers!  (You are, of course, welcome to read the whole book on your own!)

Job Frames His Plea to God

¹ “I am disgusted with my life.
Let me complain freely.
My bitter soul must complain.

Pity Party. 

A way of experiencing grief, in which you spend your time feeling sorry for yourself and whining endlessly about how crappy your life is.
Pity Parties can be just for one or for many people, such as your friends, who will try to comfort you or just be there for you while you keep asking yourself what did you do to deserve whatever it is that made you so sad in the first place.
Pity Parties require the proper outfit, which is usually pajamas because you don’t get all dressed up during those feeling-sorry-for-myself moments. Also you should have no make up on or just what remains from the night before; hair undone as well.
They also involve tissues — and comfort food such as ice cream, chocolate, potato chips, cookies, cake, and candy. Low fat food is banned.

–urbandictionary.com

² I will say to God, ‘Don’t simply condemn me—
tell me the charge you are bringing against me.
³ What do you gain by oppressing me?
Why do you reject me, the work of your own hands,
while smiling on the schemes of the wicked?
⁴ Are your eyes like those of a human?
Do you see things only as people see them?
⁵ Is your lifetime only as long as ours?
Is your life so short
⁶ that you must quickly probe for my guilt
and search for my sin?
⁷ Although you know I am not guilty,
no one can rescue me from your hands.

⁸ “‘You formed me with your hands; you made me,
yet now you completely destroy me.
⁹ Remember that you made me from dust—
will you turn me back to dust so soon?

Genesis 2:7 (New International Version)

Then the LORD God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.

_________________________

¹⁰ You guided my conception
and formed me in the womb.
¹¹ You clothed me with skin and flesh,
and you knit my bones and sinews together.
¹² You gave me life and showed me your unfailing love.
My life was preserved by your care.

Psalm 139:14 (New International Version)

I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
   your works are wonderful,
   I know that full well.

_________________________

¹³ “‘Yet your real motive—
your true intent—
¹⁴ was to watch me, and if I sinned,
you would not forgive my guilt.
¹⁵ If I am guilty, too bad for me;
and even if I’m innocent, I can’t hold my head high,
because I am filled with shame and misery.
¹⁶ And if I hold my head high, you hunt me like a lion
and display your awesome power against me.
¹⁷ Again and again you witness against me.
You pour out your growing anger on me
and bring fresh armies against me.

Job is searching for an answer to his suffering, an answer to the question of why bad things happen to good people.  His answer:  if it isn’t my fault, it must be God’s fault.  He claims God is out to get him.  If that is the case, then, what is the point of living?  What is life all about?

_________________________

¹⁸ “‘Why, then, did you deliver me from my mother’s womb?
Why didn’t you let me die at birth?
¹⁹ It would be as though I had never existed,
going directly from the womb to the grave.
²⁰ I have only a few days left, so leave me alone,
that I may have a moment of comfort
²¹ before I leave—never to return—
for the land of darkness and utter gloom.
²² It is a land as dark as midnight,
a land of gloom and confusion,
where even the light is dark as midnight.’”

_________________________

Music:

A modern-day rendering of the same question:  Why do we live?  “Alfie”  by Burt Bacharach and Hal David, and sung by Dionne Warwick.

What’s it all about, Alfie?
Is it just for the moment we live?
What’s it all about when you sort it out, Alfie?
Are we meant to take more than we give
or are we meant to be kind?
And if only fools are kind, Alfie,
then I guess it’s wise to be cruel.
And if life belongs only to the strong, Alfie,
what will you lend on an old golden rule?
As sure as I believe there’s a heaven above, Alfie,
I know there’s something much more,
something even non-believers can believe in.
I believe in love, Alfie.
Without true love we just exist, Alfie.
Until you find the love you’ve missed you’re nothing, Alfie.
When you walk let your heart lead the way
and you’ll find love any day, Alfie, Alfie.

_________________________

One of my trusted advisers has suggested that I offer an abbreviated study on Job.  So we will be looking at only 13 chapters of Job, instead of the full 42.  It seems to me a merciful thing to do for you, my readers!  (You are, of course, welcome to read the whole book on your own!)

Job’s Third Speech: A Response to Bildad

¹Then Job spoke again:

² “Yes, I know all this is true in principle.
But how can a person be declared innocent in God’s sight?
³ If someone wanted to take God to court,
would it be possible to answer him even once in a thousand times?
⁴ For God is so wise and so mighty.
Who has ever challenged him successfully?

Romans 3:19-20 (New Century Version)

We know that the law’s commands are for those who have the law. This stops all excuses and brings the whole world under God’s judgment, because no one can be made right with God by following the law. The law only shows us our sin.

⁵ “Without warning, he moves the mountains,
overturning them in his anger.
⁶ He shakes the earth from its place,
and its foundations tremble.
⁷ If he commands it, the sun won’t rise
and the stars won’t shine.
⁸ He alone has spread out the heavens
and marches on the waves of the sea.

⁹ He made all the stars—the Bear and Orion,
the Pleiades and the constellations of the southern sky.

¹⁰ He does great things too marvelous to understand.
He performs countless miracles.

¹¹ “Yet when he comes near, I cannot see him.
When he moves by, I do not see him go.
¹² If he snatches someone in death, who can stop him?
Who dares to ask, ‘What are you doing?’
¹³ And God does not restrain his anger.
Even the monsters of the sea are crushed beneath his feet.

There are many thoughts in this passage that connect with Jesus.

• We read that God treads on the waves of the sea; Jesus walks on the water.
• We read that God made the Bear, Orion, and the Pleiades, and star was made to announce the birth of Jesus.
• We read that God does great things past finding out, yes wonders without number and Jesus did uncountable miracles and great things.
• We read that God moves past, and I do not perceive Him, and Jesus could pass through an angry crowd as if He were invisible (John 8:59).
• We read that no one can say to God, “What are You doing?” and in the life of Jesus it would come to pass that no one dared ask Him any more questions (Mark 12:34).
• We read that God will not withdraw His anger, so we are not surprised that sometimes Jesus showed anger.
• We read it is said of God, the allies of the proud lie prostrate beneath him, and so also evil spirits fell prostrate at the feet of Jesus (Mark 3:11).

“What wonderful irony there is in seeing Job set out to describe the immortal and invisible God, and in the process paint a stunningly accurate portrayal of the earthly Jesus!” (Mason)

–David Guzik

¹⁴ “So who am I, that I should try to answer God
or even reason with him?
¹⁵ Even if I were right, I would have no defense.
I could only plead for mercy.
¹⁶ And even if I summoned him and he responded,
I’m not sure he would listen to me.
¹⁷ For he attacks me with a storm
and repeatedly wounds me without cause.
¹⁸ He will not let me catch my breath,
but fills me instead with bitter sorrows.
¹⁹ If it’s a question of strength, he’s the strong one.
If it’s a matter of justice, who dares to summon him to court?
²⁰ Though I am innocent, my own mouth would pronounce me guilty.
Though I am blameless, it would prove me wicked.

Why does a good God let bad things happen to good people?  Eliphaz had one explanation:  Job is not good.  We know that isn’t right because in chapter 1 both the author and God affirm Job as a good man.  So here in chapter 9 Job is flirting with a different opinion — that God is not so good because he is not fair, overwhelming mere mortals, sending punishment on both the righteous and the wicked.  But the resurrection of Jesus Christ proves irrevocably that power and goodness are united forever.  As the old saying goes:  God is good, all the time.  All the time, God is good.

_________________________

²¹ “I am innocent,
but it makes no difference to me—
I despise my life.
²² Innocent or wicked, it is all the same to God.
That’s why I say, ‘He destroys both the blameless and the wicked.’
²³ When a plague sweeps through,
he laughs at the death of the innocent.
²⁴ The whole earth is in the hands of the wicked,
and God blinds the eyes of the judges.
If he’s not the one who does it, who is?

²⁵ “My life passes more swiftly than a runner.
It flees away without a glimpse of happiness.
²⁶ It disappears like a swift papyrus boat,
like an eagle swooping down on its prey.
²⁷ If I decided to forget my complaints,
to put away my sad face and be cheerful,
²⁸ I would still dread all the pain,
for I know you will not find me innocent, O God.
²⁹ Whatever happens, I will be found guilty.
So what’s the use of trying?
³⁰ Even if I were to wash myself with soap
and clean my hands with lye,
³¹ you would plunge me into a muddy ditch,
and my own filthy clothing would hate me.

Psalm 51:7 (New International Version)

Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean;
wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.

_________________________

³² “God is not a mortal like me,
so I cannot argue with him or take him to trial.
³³ If only there were a mediator between us,
someone who could bring us together.

If only!

1 Timothy 2:5-6 (New Living Translation)

For there is only one God and one Mediator who can reconcile God and humanity—the man Christ Jesus.  He gave his life to purchase freedom for everyone.

_________________________

³⁴ The mediator could make God stop beating me,
and I would no longer live in terror of his punishment.
³⁵ Then I could speak to him without fear,
but I cannot do that in my own strength.”

_________________________

Music:

Such lovely pictures of Jesus in this Old Testament chapter!  “You are my all-in-all,”  sung here by Nicole Nordeman.  I hear it anew in the context of Job and his struggles.

_________________________

Simple Secrets of the Kingdom
Study 14 — No Condemnation for Those in Christ

One of the greatest chapters in the Bible begins with a powerful promise that because you are in Christ, you are not condemned.  This is the work of the Holy Spirit who sets us free from captivity to the law of sin and death. Once our lives were controlled by the pull of that force field but not any longer.   But thanks to God, our mind can now be set on the work of the Spirit and not on the Flesh.  True freedom!  Click here for AUDIO or VIDEO.

_________________________

One of my trusted advisers has suggested that I offer an abbreviated study on Job.  So we will be looking at only 13 chapters of Job, instead of the full 42.  It seems to me a merciful thing to do for you, my readers!  (You are, of course, welcome to read the whole book on your own!)

Eliphaz’s First Response to Job

¹Then Eliphaz the Temanite replied to Job:

Eliphaz came from Teman, a town south of the Dead Sea famous for its wise men.  In  this speech, he traces back all affliction to sin, through the natural operation of cause and effect.  Eliphaz speaks again in chapter 15, with a clear depiction of the punishment of the wicked.  Finally, in chapter 22, Eliphaz insists that Job has sinned and points out to him the path of restoration.

² “Will you be patient and let me say a word?
For who could keep from speaking out?

³ “In the past you have encouraged many people;
you have strengthened those who were weak.
⁴ Your words have supported those who were falling;
you encouraged those with shaky knees.
⁵ But now when trouble strikes, you lose heart.
You are terrified when it touches you.
⁶ Doesn’t your reverence for God give you confidence?
Doesn’t your life of integrity give you hope?

⁷ “Stop and think! Do the innocent die?
When have the upright been destroyed?

1)   Elphaz, for all his wisdom, bases his reasoning on this false assumption:  that a good and innocent person never suffers.

⁸ My experience shows that those who plant trouble
and cultivate evil will harvest the same.

2)   Why do bad things happen to good people?  Eliphaz says, They don’t.  He thinks Job must be a bad person. He thinks  Job’s trouble is his own fault.  This is his second false assumption:  that those who suffer are being punished for their past sins.

⁹ A breath from God destroys them.
They vanish in a blast of his anger.
¹⁰ The lion roars and the wildcat snarls,
but the teeth of strong lions will be broken.
¹¹ The fierce lion will starve for lack of prey,
and the cubs of the lioness will be scattered.

¹² “This truth was given to me in secret,
as though whispered in my ear.
¹³ It came to me in a disturbing vision at night,
when people are in a deep sleep.

Eliphaz claims to have received this revelation through a hair-raising dream:

¹⁴ Fear gripped me,
and my bones trembled.
¹⁵ A spirit swept past my face,
and my hair stood on end.
¹⁶ The spirit stopped, but I couldn’t see its shape.
There was a form before my eyes.
In the silence I heard a voice say,
¹⁷ ‘Can a mortal be innocent before God?
Can anyone be pure before the Creator?’

¹⁸ “If God does not trust his own angels
and has charged his messengers with foolishness,
¹⁹ how much less will he trust people made of clay!
They are made of dust, crushed as easily as a moth.
²⁰ They are alive in the morning but dead by evening,
gone forever without a trace.
²¹ Their tent-cords are pulled and the tent collapses,
and they die in ignorance.

Job 5

Eliphaz’s Response Continues

¹ “Cry for help, but will anyone answer you?
Which of the angels will help you?
² Surely resentment destroys the fool,
and jealousy kills the simple.
³ I have seen that fools may be successful for the moment,
but then comes sudden disaster.
⁴ Their children are abandoned far from help;
they are crushed in court with no one to defend them.
⁵ The hungry devour their harvest,
even when it is guarded by brambles.
The thirsty pant after their wealth.
⁶ But evil does not spring from the soil,
and trouble does not sprout from the earth.
⁷ People are born for trouble
as readily as sparks fly up from a fire.

As the Sparks Fly Upward

The little babe I held upon my knee
Had not yet banished from his sleeping eyes
The dreams of some lost world from which he came,
Nor missed some angel-choirèd paradise.
Strange little soul that claimed me not his own
By glance or smile, but with no seeing gaze
Looked to me who, all timid, dared to call
This wonder mine, and held it in amaze.
I prayed, ‘When comes the light of consciousness
Of things that be to hold him so he seek
To know what place life now had set him in,
And at whose mercy left, so young and weak,
‘Let it be mine, the face he first shall see
Bent on him, full of welcome and of joy,
So that his smile, on thus beholding love,
The pain of coming tears shall half destroy.
‘Or if some day he looks to learn, and I
Am not beside, oh! let it be the sun
Or some fair thing shall greet his seeing eyes,
So he shall find life good and well begun.’
Beside the fire I held him close, and sang
Some sweet child ditty, bidding him to sleep,
And broke the log to make it flame and glow;
Then in his eyes I saw a wonder creep.
Now peeped the soul from out his startled gaze.
‘Look first on me,’ I cried, ‘my little child!’
But from my kiss he held his face away,
And as the sparks flew up he saw and smiled.

 – Dora Sigerson Shorter, Irish poet (1866-1918)

_________________________

⁸ “If I were you, I would go to God
and present my case to him.

3)   Here is the third false assumption Eliphaz bases his argument on:  that Job, because he was suffering, must have done something wrong in God’s eyes.  Job must repent.

⁹ He does great things too marvelous to understand.
He performs countless miracles.
¹⁰ He gives rain for the earth
and water for the fields.
¹¹ He gives prosperity to the poor
and protects those who suffer.
¹² He frustrates the plans of schemers
so the work of their hands will not succeed.
¹³ He traps the wise in their own cleverness
so their cunning schemes are thwarted.
¹⁴ They find it is dark in the daytime,
and they grope at noon as if it were night.
¹⁵ He rescues the poor from the cutting words of the strong,
and rescues them from the clutches of the powerful.
¹⁶ And so at last the poor have hope,
and the snapping jaws of the wicked are shut.

¹⁷ “But consider the joy of those corrected by God!
Do not despise the discipline of the Almighty when you sin.

Eliphaz reminds Job that God will graciously restore those who repent of their sins and turn to him.  This, of course, is absolutely true.

_________________________

¹⁸ For though he wounds, he also bandages.
He strikes, but his hands also heal.
¹⁹ From six disasters he will rescue you;
even in the seventh, he will keep you from evil.
²⁰ He will save you from death in time of famine,
from the power of the sword in time of war.
²¹ You will be safe from slander
and have no fear when destruction comes.
²² You will laugh at destruction and famine;
wild animals will not terrify you.
²³ You will be at peace with the stones of the field,
and its wild animals will be at peace with you.
²⁴ You will know that your home is safe.
When you survey your possessions, nothing will be missing.
²⁵ You will have many children;
your descendants will be as plentiful as grass!

Ouch!  Eliphaz, this seems cruel, given that Job has just lost his ten children.

²⁶ You will go to the grave at a ripe old age,
like a sheaf of grain harvested at the proper time!

Psalm 91:9-10 (New Living Translation)

If you make the Lord your refuge,
      if you make the Most High your shelter,
no evil will conquer you;
      no plague will come near your home.

²⁷ “We have studied life and found all this to be true.
Listen to my counsel, and apply it to yourself.”

_________________________

Music:

For all his misunderstandings, Eliphaz knew that God disciplines us when we do wrong for the sake of bringing us back to the right, and that God kindly restores us.  And we know, because of Christ and his gift to us on the cross, that God does this through LOVE that is marvelous and wonderful.  “I Stand Amazed”  sung by Christ Tomlin.

_________________________

Simple Secrets of the kingdom
Study 13 — The Battle inside Yourself

Since God is at work in us, why do we not change completely over time?  The reason is that the “old and unimproved” self is enslaved to ungodly habits, and keeps fighting with the “new and improved” person who is inside us.  The battle for a life of fruitful living in Jesus continues until we die.  In today’s study, Paul draws the battle zone between the old me, the flesh, and the new me, the inmost self. The daily solution to the battle is to get help from the only one who can strengthen our inmost self, Jesus Christ.  Click here for AUDIO or VIDEO.

_________________________

One of my trusted advisers has suggested that I offer an abbreviated study on Job.  So we will be looking at only 13 chapters of Job, instead of the full 42.  It seems to me a merciful thing to do for you, my readers!  (You are, of course, welcome to read the whole book on your own!)

Job’s First Speech

¹ At last Job spoke, and he cursed the day of his birth. ²He said:

³ “Let the day of my birth be erased,
and the night I was conceived.
⁴ Let that day be turned to darkness.
Let it be lost even to God on high,
and let no light shine on it.
⁵ Let the darkness and utter gloom claim that day for its own.
Let a black cloud overshadow it,
and let the darkness terrify it.

Birthdays are times of joy and celebration, yet Job wants the day of his birth — even the day of his conception! — to be blotted out in darkness.  God once said, “Let there be light.”  Job counters with, “Let there be darkness.”

_________________________
⁶ Let that night be blotted off the calendar,
never again to be counted among the days of the year,
never again to appear among the months.
⁷ Let that night be childless.
Let it have no joy.
⁸ Let those who are experts at cursing—
whose cursing could rouse Leviathan—
curse that day.

In ancient days certain people could be hired to pronounce curses. 

Leviathan — a mythical sea monster or dragon that terrorized fishermen and sailors.

Psalm 104:26 (New International Version)

There the ships go to and fro,
   and Leviathan, which you formed to frolic there.

_________________________

⁹ Let its morning stars remain dark.
Let it hope for light, but in vain;
may it never see the morning light.
¹⁰ Curse that day for failing to shut my mother’s womb,
for letting me be born to see all this trouble.

Job says it would be better not to be born, than to live when separated from God by his trouble.

There is a very deliberate and intricate interweaving of emotions, pain, hyperbole, and figurative language in this chapter which has to do with the nature of Hebrew poetry.  The repetitive cadence is like a hammer hitting one on the head over and over. The repetitive images produce a more pronounced indentation of pain.  The reader “feels” Job’s pain and is left with an indelible mental and emotional mark, just as a physical impact leaves a bruise or scar.

¹¹ “Why wasn’t I born dead?
Why didn’t I die as I came from the womb?
¹² Why was I laid on my mother’s lap?
Why did she nurse me at her breasts?
¹³ Had I died at birth, I would now be at peace.
I would be asleep and at rest.
¹⁴ I would rest with the world’s kings and prime ministers,
whose great buildings now lie in ruins.
¹⁵ I would rest with princes, rich in gold,
whose palaces were filled with silver.

One of the world’s most famous tombs, the Taj Mahal  is a white marble mausoleum located in Agra, India.  It was built by Mughal emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his third wife, Memtaz Mahal. The Taj Mahal is widely recognized as “the jewel of Muslim art in India and one of the universally admired masterpieces of the world’s heritage.”

_________________________
¹⁶ Why wasn’t I buried like a stillborn child,
like a baby who never lives to see the light?
¹⁷ For in death the wicked cause no trouble,
and the weary are at rest.
¹⁸ Even captives are at ease in death,
with no guards to curse them.
¹⁹ Rich and poor are both there,
and the slave is free from his master.

²⁰ “Oh, why give light to those in misery,
and life to those who are bitter?
²¹ They long for death, and it won’t come.
They search for death more eagerly than for hidden treasure.

My former mother-in-law told me, after her husband had died, that she woke up each morning disappointed that she had not died in her sleep.  Every day was a burden, filled with her muffled calls welcoming death.  It was so sad to see her like that, especially when she refused any comfort from the Scriptures or conversation about the Lord.  She lived the last years of her life in such emptiness.  I contrast this with my father, who opens and closes each day now, at age 96, as he has for decades:  “This is the day the Lord has made.  We will rejoice and be glad in it!”

_________________________
²² They’re filled with joy when they finally die,
and rejoice when they find the grave.
²³ Why is life given to those with no future,
those God has surrounded with difficulties?
²⁴ I cannot eat for sighing;
my groans pour out like water.
²⁵ What I always feared has happened to me.
What I dreaded has come true.
²⁶ I have no peace, no quietness.
I have no rest; only trouble comes.”

_________________________

Music:

“There is a place of quiet rest near to the heart of God” – a good reminder for us all!

Cleland B. McAfee was at Park Coll­ege, Park­ville, Mis­souri, for al­most 20 years as the chair of Christ­ian Phil­o­so­phy and col­lege chap­lain and choir di­rect­or.  One day in 1901, to his shock and horror, he received the news that diphtheria had just claimed the lives of his two beloved nieces. To comfort his own soul and the hearts of the suffering family, Cleland wrote this hymn. On the day of the double funeral, the Park College choir sang the hymn for the first time outside the quarantined house of his brother.  Cleland McAfee accomplished many good things in his lifetime, but he is remembered most for writing a simple message in the form of a song that reminds us that when bad things happen to good people, the best place to be is Near to the Heart of God.

There is a place of quiet rest,
Near to the heart of God.
A place where sin cannot molest,
Near to the heart of God.

Refrain

O Jesus, blest Redeemer,
Sent from the heart of God,
Hold us who wait before Thee
Near to the heart of God.

There is a place of comfort sweet,
Near to the heart of God.
A place where we our Savior meet,
Near to the heart of God.

Refrain

There is a place of full release,
Near to the heart of God.
A place where all is joy and peace,
Near to the heart of God.

_________________________

One of my trusted advisers has suggested that I offer an abbreviated study on Job.  So we will be looking at only 13 chapters of Job, instead of the full 42.  It seems to me a merciful thing to do for you, my readers!  (You are, of course, welcome to read the whole book on your own!)

Job’s Second Test

¹ One day the members of the heavenly court came again to present themselves before the Lord, and the Accuser, Satan, came with them.

Revelation 12:10-12 (New Century Version)

Then I heard a loud voice in heaven saying:
    “The salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God
       and the authority of his Christ have now come.

   The accuser of our brothers and sisters,
       who accused them day and night before our God,
       has been thrown down.
And our brothers and sisters defeated him
       by the blood of the Lamb’s death
       and by the message they preached.
    They did not love their lives so much
       that they were afraid of death.
So rejoice, you heavens
       and all who live there!
    But it will be terrible for the earth and the sea,
       because the devil has come down to you!
    He is filled with anger,
       because he knows he does not have much time.”

²“Where have you come from?” the Lord asked Satan.   Satan answered the Lord, “I have been patrolling the earth, watching everything that’s going on.”

³ Then the Lord asked Satan, “Have you noticed my servant Job?

God says, “Have you seen my friend Job?”  I love this line!  I hope God can use it about me!  “Have you seen her?  I know I can count on her.  Throw her whatever problems you want, she will turn to me in faith believing.  She will not deny my name or give up on my goodness.  She will not be swayed by present circumstances, for she has placed her trust in me.  She believes my word and she claims my promises with her whole heart, with her very life.”

He is the finest man in all the earth. He is blameless—a man of complete integrity. He fears God and stays away from evil. And he has maintained his integrity, even though you urged me to harm him without cause.”

⁴ Satan replied to the Lord, “Skin for skin! A man will give up everything he has to save his life. ⁵ But reach out and take away his health, and he will surely curse you to your face!”

⁶ “All right, do with him as you please,” the Lord said to Satan. “But spare his life.” ⁷ So Satan left the Lord’s presence, and he struck Job with terrible boils from head to foot.

⁸ Job scraped his skin with a piece of broken pottery as he sat among the ashes. ⁹ His wife said to him, “Are you still trying to maintain your integrity? Curse God and die.”

But let us not be too hard on Job’s wife.  She has just lost all ten of her children, too, and her wealth.  It would be hard for her to see her husband suffer like this.  It isn’t difficult to understand why she has lost hope.

_________________________

¹⁰ But Job replied, “You talk like a foolish woman. Should we accept only good things from the hand of God and never anything bad?” So in all this, Job said nothing wrong.

Job’s Three Friends Share His Anguish

One of my trusted advisers has suggested that I offer an abbreviated study on Job.  So we will be looking at only 13 chapters of Job, instead of the full 42.  It seems to me a merciful thing to do for you, my readers!  (You are, of course, welcome to read the whole book on your own!)

The author, date, and place of the Book of Job are all uncertain.  But it is widely recognized that Job is one of the greatest books ever written — a masterpiece, a classic.  It is terrifying and beautiful, tender and powerful.  It addresses life’s deepest problem, the problem of evil, of suffering, of injustice in a world supposedly ruled by a good, compassionate, just God.  Perhaps we can go into it recalling of a portion of C. S. Lewis’ The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe: 

In chapter eight, as Mr. Beaver is trying to describe what Aslan is like, Susan jumps in to ask, “Is he—quite safe?”

We might ask the same question about Christ, and the answer we would like to hear might be something like, “Of course, coming to Christ will be perfectly safe.”

“Who said anything about safe?”  Mr. Beaver replies.  “Course he isn’t safe.  But he’s good.”

Four chapters later when the group finally meets Aslan, Lewis’s narrator tells us, “But as for Aslan himself, the Beavers and the children didn’t know what to do or say when they saw him.  People who have not been in Narnia sometimes think that a thing cannot be good and terrible at the same time.”

Lewis provides this image of Aslan, who is both good and terrible at the same time, for Christians who may have an image of God that is out of balance.  Some may have a conception of a God who is only terrible, a God who is only fear-inspiring.  They need to be reminded that God is also good and compassionate.  Others may have an image of a God who is only safe and huggable.  Lewis would remind them that the God of the universe is not just a larger version of their favorite grandparent.

Let us ask God to use this study of Job to give us a clearer vision of who God truly is — our Creator, Redeemer, and Counselor, who is neither “safe” nor “tame,” but always, always, wise and good.

Prologue

¹ There once was a man named Job who lived in the land of Uz. He was blameless—a man of complete integrity. He feared God and stayed away from evil. ² He had seven sons and three daughters. ³He owned 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 teams of oxen, and 500 female donkeys. He also had many servants. He was, in fact, the richest person in that entire area. ⁴ Job’s sons would take turns preparing feasts in their homes, and they would also invite their three sisters to celebrate with them. ⁵ When these celebrations ended—sometimes after several days—Job would purify his children. He would get up early in the morning and offer a burnt offering for each of them. For Job said to himself, “Perhaps my children have sinned and have cursed God in their hearts.” This was Job’s regular practice.

“What a beautiful example is furnished by Job to Christian parents! When your girls are going among strangers, and your boys into the great ways of the world, and you are unable to impose your will upon them, as in the days of childhood, you can yet pray for them, casting over them the shield of intercession, with strong cryings and tears. They are beyond your reach; but by faith you can move the arm of God on their behalf.”
– F. B. Meyer

_________________________

Job’s First Test

⁶ One day the members of the heavenly court came to present themselves before the Lord, and the Accuser, Satan, came with them. ⁷“Where have you come from?” the Lord asked Satan.   Satan answered the Lord, “I have been patrolling the earth, watching everything that’s going on.”

1 Peter 5:8 (New Living Translation)

Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.

_________________________

⁸ Then the Lord asked Satan, “Have you noticed my servant Job? He is the finest man in all the earth. He is blameless—a man of complete integrity. He fears God and stays away from evil.”

⁹ Satan replied to the Lord, “Yes, but Job has good reason to fear God. ¹⁰ You have always put a wall of protection around him and his home and his property. You have made him prosper in everything he does. Look how rich he is! ¹¹ But reach out and take away everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face!”

¹² “All right, you may test him,” the Lord said to Satan. “Do whatever you want with everything he possesses, but don’t harm him physically.” So Satan left the Lord’s presence.

¹³ One day when Job’s sons and daughters were feasting at the oldest brother’s house, ¹⁴ a messenger arrived at Job’s home with this news: “Your oxen were plowing, with the donkeys feeding beside them, ¹⁵ when the Sabeans raided us. They stole all the animals and killed all the farmhands. I am the only one who escaped to tell you.”

¹⁶ While he was still speaking, another messenger arrived with this news: “The fire of God has fallen from heaven and burned up your sheep and all the shepherds. I am the only one who escaped to tell you.”

¹⁷ While he was still speaking, a third messenger arrived with this news: “Three bands of Chaldean raiders have stolen your camels and killed your servants. I am the only one who escaped to tell you.”

¹⁸ While he was still speaking, another messenger arrived with this news: “Your sons and daughters were feasting in their oldest brother’s home. ¹⁹ Suddenly, a powerful wind swept in from the wilderness and hit the house on all sides. The house collapsed, and all your children are dead. I am the only one who escaped to tell you.”

²⁰ Job stood up and tore his robe in grief. Then he shaved his head and fell to the ground to worship. ²¹ He said,

“I came naked from my mother’s womb,
and I will be naked when I leave.
The Lord gave me what I had,
and the Lord has taken it away.
Praise the name of the Lord!”

²² In all of this, Job did not sin by blaming God.

standing strong in a desperate situation

In this first round of spiritual warfare Satan was singularly unsuccessful in shaking Job from his standing in faith. Job successfully battled against spiritual attack and fulfilled the exhortation that would come many hundreds of years later from the Apostle Paul: that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand (Ephesians 6:13).  Job made his stand –

• against fear and did not give into panic.
• against make-believe pretending and appropriately mourned.
• against pride and humbled himself before God.
• against self and decided to worship God.
• against a time-bound mindset and chose to think in terms of eternity.
• against unbelief and did not give into vain questionings of God.
• against despair and saw the hand of God even in catastrophe.
• against anger and did not blame God.

– David Guzik

_________________________

Music:

“The LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.”

Matt Redman’s song, “Blessed Be Your Name.”

_________________________

A prayer of David.

¹ Bend down, O Lord, and hear my prayer;

. . . and then David gives his reasons why he is counting on God to answer:

answer me, for I need your help.

–because of my great need,

² Protect me, for I am devoted to you.
Save me, for I serve you and trust you.
You are my God.

–because I am connected to you,

³ Be merciful to me, O Lord,
for I am calling on you constantly.
⁴ Give me happiness, O Lord,
for I give myself to you.

–because I continue to cry to you,

⁵ O Lord, you are so good, so ready to forgive,
so full of unfailing love for all who ask for your help.

–because you are a gracious God,

⁶ Listen closely to my prayer, O Lord;
hear my urgent cry.
⁷ I will call to you whenever I’m in trouble,
and you will answer me.

–because you, God, are utterly dependable.

⁸ No pagan god is like you, O Lord.
None can do what you do!
⁹ All the nations you made
will come and bow before you, Lord;
they will praise your holy name.
¹⁰ For you are great and perform wonderful deeds.
You alone are God.

from This Day with the Master,
by Dennis F. Kinlaw

A TRUE PERSPECTIVE

Among the gods there is none like you, O Lord.  — Psalm 86:8

Most of us turn to prayer in order to solve a problem.  Our troubles become the motivating force behind our prayers.  If we were the people we ought to be, we would pray whether we had problems or not.  One of the beautiful things about God and about human life is that he does not leave us long without problems.  He sees to it that we have difficulties, and he works at ordering our situation so we are not trouble free.  This helps us to stay in relation to him.

(from Rebecca:  There’s a thought you don’t often hear taught!  Do you agree with Kinlaw?  God is of course the giver of every good gift; can troubles and difficulties be good gifts?  Do you have examples of such from your own life?  Would you like to share them with us?  “Reply” below!)

In Psalm 86 David prays to God in great distress because his very life is in danger.  The reader senses David’s panic and desperation in verses 1-7, and then there is a psychological shift in verse 8.  All of a sudden David’s eyes turn away from his problem and become fixed on God himself.  When David enters into the presence of God, he forgets the men who are hunting for him.

When a person spends enough time in the presence of God, problems begin to fade into the background and God’s greatness begins to loom large.  This psalm is a classic picture of the way the most serious and intense problems melt away in the presence of Almighty God, before whom they seem insignificant.  As David faces God, he gets the true perspective on reality.  His problems diminish and God’s glory increases.

_________________________

¹¹ Teach me your ways, O Lord,
that I may live according to your truth!
Grant me purity of heart,
so that I may honor you.
¹² With all my heart I will praise you, O Lord my God.
I will give glory to your name forever,
¹³ for your love for me is very great.
You have rescued me from the depths of death.

¹⁴ O God, insolent people rise up against me;
a violent gang is trying to kill me.
You mean nothing to them.
¹⁵ But you, O Lord,

“What a contrast! We get away from the hectorings and blusterings of proud but puny men to the glory and goodness of the Lord.”

– Charles Haddon Spurgeon

are a God of compassion and mercy,
slow to get angry
and filled with unfailing love and faithfulness.
¹⁶ Look down and have mercy on me.
Give your strength to your servant;
save me, the son of your servant.
¹⁷ Send me a sign of your favor.
Then those who hate me will be put to shame,
for you, O Lord, help and comfort me.

_________________________

Psalm 87 (New Living Translation)

A song. A psalm of the descendants of Korah.

¹ On the holy mountain
stands the city founded by the Lord.
² He loves the city of Jerusalem
more than any other city in Israel.
³ O city of God,
what glorious things are said of you!
Interlude

_________________________

Music:

The music for the hymn “Glorious Things of Thee Are Spoken” was written by Franz Joseph Haydn, the words by John Newton.  The music does not begin until 19 seconds in, so be patient!

_________________________

⁴ I will count Egypt and Babylon among those who know me—
also Philistia and Tyre, and even distant Ethiopia.
They have all become citizens of Jerusalem!
⁵ Regarding Jerusalem it will be said,
“Everyone enjoys the rights of citizenship there.”
And the Most High will personally bless this city.
⁶ When the Lord registers the nations, he will say,
“They have all become citizens of Jerusalem.”
Interlude

⁷ The people will play flutes and sing,
“The source of my life springs from Jerusalem!”

_________________________

Simple Secrets of the Kingdom
Study 12 — Keeping on Being a Christian

Coming to know Christ as our Lord changes us from living by our power to living by the power of God.  This is described in Paul’s letters as a change from “under law” to “under grace.”  In order to remain under grace we must renew our minds, which happens only as we turn to the Lord daily.  Today’s lesson  helps us understand how this can happen for us. Click here for AUDIO or VIDEO.

_________________________

¹ You, LORD, showed favor to your land;
you restored the fortunes of Jacob.
² You forgave the iniquity of your people
and covered all their sins.
³ You set aside all your wrath
and turned from your fierce anger.

⁴ Restore us again, God our Savior,
and put away your displeasure toward us.
⁵ Will you be angry with us forever?
Will you prolong your anger through all generations?
⁶ Will you not revive us again,
that your people may rejoice in you?
⁷ Show us your unfailing love, LORD,
and grant us your salvation.

.

⁸ I will listen to what God the LORD says;
he promises peace to his people, his faithful servants—
but let them not turn to folly.

Thank you, Lord, for giving me peace that does not depend on circumstances but on your eternally true promises.

⁹ Surely his salvation is near those who fear him,
that his glory may dwell in our land.

¹⁰ Love and faithfulness meet together;
righteousness and peace kiss each other.
¹¹ Faithfulness springs forth from the earth,
and righteousness looks down from heaven.

Thank you, Jesus, for showing us in real life what love and faithfulness and righteousness truly are.

¹² The LORD will indeed give what is good,
and our land will yield its harvest.
.

¹³ Righteousness goes before him
and prepares the way for his steps.

John 1:14 (New American Standard Bible)

And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.

Thank you, Lord, that you walked on earth to save us from our sins and to reconcile us to God and one another.

_________________________

Music:

Yesterday I saw people out with their baskets in a “u-pick-it” strawberry field here in Florida.  And I know that when I lived in the Midwest, this time of year was good seed catalog time!  So as I think of the Lord blessing our land and giving us a harvest, as in the verses and pictures above, perhaps this song need not be confined to autumn months!

_________________________

Simple Secrets of the Kingdom
Study 11 – Daily a New Creation

Every person needs to live under God’s grace in Jesus. To do this requires a transfer from living under the law. Only under grace are we free to yield control of our behavior to God. Under law sin still controls. People who live under the law are not free because sin still rules them. Under grace, God is in control. This study helps you to see whether you are living under law or under grace.  Click here for AUDIO or VIDEO.

_________________________