722.) Job 42

"Job's Sacrifice," by William Blake, 1805 (Morgan Library, New York)

Job 42 (New Living Translation)

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 Responds to the Lord

¹Then Job replied to the Lord:

² “I know that you can do anything,
and no one can stop you.

This wonderful statement from Job was obviously connected to the impressive display of the power and might of God over creation; but it was also connected to the comfort that the sense of the presence of God brought to Job.  God indeed could do everything, including bring comfort and assurance to Job, even when Job still did not understanding the origin or meaning of his crisis.

And that no purpose of Yours can be withheld from You:  The God who can master Behemoth and Leviathan (Job 40 and 41) can also accomplish every purpose in Job’s life, including the mysterious meaning behind the twists and turns.

–David Guzik

³ You asked, ‘Who is this that questions my wisdom with such ignorance?’
It is I—and I was talking about things I knew nothing about,
things far too wonderful for me.
⁴ You said, ‘Listen and I will speak!
I have some questions for you,
and you must answer them.’
⁵ I had only heard about you before,
but now I have seen you with my own eyes.
⁶ I take back everything I said,
and I sit in dust and ashes to show my repentance.”

What did Job have to repent of? In his sermon, Job Among the Ashes, Charles Spurgeon suggested several things:

• Job repented of the terrible curse he had pronounced upon the day of his birth.
• Job repented of his desire to die.
• Job repented of his complaints against and challenges to God.
• Job repented of his despair.
• Job repented that his statements had been a “darkening of wisdom by words without knowledge”; that he spoke beyond his knowledge and ability to know.

And God’s confidence in Job is entirely vindicated!

_________________________

"Mother and Child" by Mary Cassatt, 1890

Psalm 131 (English Standard Version)

O LORD, my heart is not lifted up;
my eyes are not raised too high;
I do not occupy myself with things
too great and too marvelous for me.
But I have calmed and quieted my soul,
like a weaned child with its mother;
like a weaned child is my soul within me.

O Israel, hope in the LORD
from this time forth and forevermore.

_________________________

Conclusion: The Lord Blesses Job

⁷ After the Lord had finished speaking to Job, he said to Eliphaz the Temanite: “I am angry with you and your two friends, for you have not spoken accurately about me, as my servant Job has.

The NIV has this as:  “I am angry with you and your two friends, because you have not spoken the truth about me, as my servant Job has.”  Yet we know that Job has said some things about God that are not true.  So what is the point?

I think God is saying that although Job’s words may not have been truth, his heart towards God always was.  He was a man of fidelity and integrity in his being.  Job is in a true relationship with God, heart and soul, world without end, Amen.  The friends have spoken about God, while Job speaks to God.  God doesn’t answer Job’s questions as much as God reveals himself to Job — as Truth, as Love.  “Now I have seen you with my own eyes,”  Job says, and this is enough.  This is the answer to everything.  This is the answer that fills the God-shaped vacuum in our hearts.  This is GOD.

_____

He had seen the great glory so shot through with sheer, fierce light and life and gladness, had heard the great voice raised in song so full of terror and wildness and beauty, that from that moment on, nothing else mattered.  All possible questions melted like mist, and all possible explanations withered like grass, and all the bad times of his life together with all the good times were so caught up into the fathomless life of this God, who had bent down to speak with him though by comparison he was no more than a fleck of dust on the head of a pin in the lapel of a dancing flea, that all he could say was, “I had heard of thee by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees thee; therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes.”

–Frederick Buechner, Peculiar Treasures

_________________________

⁸ So take seven bulls and seven rams and go to my servant Job and offer a burnt offering for yourselves. My servant Job will pray for you, and I will accept his prayer on your behalf. I will not treat you as you deserve, for you have not spoken accurately about me, as my servant Job has.” ⁹So Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite did as the Lord commanded them, and the Lord accepted Job’s prayer. ¹⁰ When Job prayed for his friends, the Lord restored his fortunes. In fact, the Lord gave him twice as much as before! ¹¹ Then all his brothers, sisters, and former friends came and feasted with him in his home.

Job was once an outcast even from his own family (as described in Job 19:13-17). Now these relationships were restored.

And they consoled him and comforted him because of all the trials the Lord had brought against him. And each of them brought him a gift of money and a gold ring.

¹² So the Lord blessed Job in the second half of his life even more than in the beginning. For now he had 14,000 sheep, 6,000 camels, 1,000 teams of oxen, and 1,000 female donkeys. ¹³ He also gave Job seven more sons and three more daughters. ¹⁴ He named his first daughter Jemimah, the second Keziah, and the third Keren-happuch. ¹⁵ In all the land no women were as lovely as the daughters of Job. And their father put them into his will along with their brothers.

¹⁶ Job lived 140 years after that, living to see four generations of his children and grandchildren. ¹⁷ Then he died, an old man who had lived a long, full life.

“The greatest, the most important purposes were accomplished by this trial. Job became a much better man than he ever was before; the dispensations of God’s providence were illustrated and justified; Satan’s devices unmasked; patience crowned and rewarded; and the church of God greatly enriched by having bequeathed to it the vast treasury of divine truth which is found in the Book of Job.”
– Adam Clarke

“In this great Book there is no solution of problems. There is a great revelation. It is that God may call men into fellowship with Himself through suffering; and that the strength of the human soul is ever that of the knowledge of God.”
–G. Campbell Morgan

 “We are not all like Job, but we all have Job’s God. Though we have neither risen to Job’s wealth, nor will, probably, ever sink to Job’s poverty, yet there is the same God above us if we be high, and the same God with his everlasting arms beneath us if we be brought low; and what the Lord did for Job he will do for us, not precisely in the same form, but in the same spirit, and with like design.”
– Charles Haddon Spurgeon

_________________________

Music:

“You Never Let Go” is a song of such confidence in God!  And the book of Job shows us how magnificent and beyond our understanding our God is!  We can trust such a One!

_________________________

New Living Translation (NLT)   Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Images courtesy of:

Blake.  http://www.artbible.net/1T/Job_a_Job_blessed/images/19%20BLAKE%20JOB%20S%20SACRIFICE.jpg

repentance.   http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_UUpL1wE3yP8/TGl_n44wvsI/AAAAAAAAD8Y/o5z2-WF939Q/s1600/Repentance.jpg

Cassatt.  http://hoocher.com/Mary_Cassatt/Mother_And_Child_ca_1890.jpg

God-shaped hole.  http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_drsACX1RqfU/TE4p3R6bHiI/AAAAAAAAFDA/YFujk6rQ4l8/s1600/The+God+Shaped+Hole.jpg

The problem of suffering.   http://www.photosforsouls.com/Job_-_suffering.jpg

721.) Job 40

"Behemoth and Leviathan" by William Blake, 1805 (Morgan Library, New York)

Job 40 (New Living Translation)

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!)

¹ Then the Lord said to Job,

² “Do you still want to argue with the Almighty?
You are God’s critic, but do you have the answers?”

Job Responds to the Lord

³Then Job replied to the Lord,

⁴ “I am nothing—how could I ever find the answers?
I will cover my mouth with my hand.
⁵ I have said too much already.
I have nothing more to say.”

What a difference in tone here!  Before, Job was full of questions, demanding answers!  Now God is with him, and Job sees he does not have the ability to judge God or even to question his actions.  Job says, “You are God and I am not.”

_________________________

Music:

“Trading My Sorrows”  by the irrepressible Darryl Evans.  I love the line “Yes, Lord, Yes, Lord, Yes, Yes, Lord!”  Bet Job would sing along with this song!

_________________________

The Lord Challenges Job Again

⁶Then the Lord answered Job from the whirlwind:

⁷ “Brace yourself like a man,
because I have some questions for you,
and you must answer them.

⁸ “Will you discredit my justice
and condemn me just to prove you are right?

How often do I presume to judge my circumstances — and God! — so as to put myself in the right?  O Lord, forgive.

Job 40:8 (English Standard Version)

Will you even put me in the wrong?
   Will you condemn me that you may be in the right?

We might say that Job fell into the trap of thinking that because he couldn’t figure God out, that perhaps God wasn’t fair. Yet in this larger section of God’s revelation of Himself to Job, God has demonstrated that there are many things that Job doesn’t know, and therefore he was not a fit judge of God’s ways.

–David Guzik

⁹ Are you as strong as God?
Can you thunder with a voice like his?
¹⁰ All right, put on your glory and splendor,
your honor and majesty.
¹¹ Give vent to your anger.
Let it overflow against the proud.
¹² Humiliate the proud with a glance;
walk on the wicked where they stand.
¹³ Bury them in the dust.
Imprison them in the world of the dead.
¹⁴ Then even I would praise you,
for your own strength would save you.

¹⁵ “Take a look at Behemoth,
which I made, just as I made you.

Several of the commentaries I have read suggest that the behemoth might be a hippopotamus.  So let’s go with that!  The great African hippopotamus, pictured above, stands about 5 feet tall at the shoulder and may weigh up to 4 tons.  It has been clocked running 19 mph over short distances.  The hippopotamus is one of the most aggressive animals in the world even though it eats only grasses.

_________________________

It eats grass like an ox.
¹⁶ See its powerful loins
and the muscles of its belly.
¹⁷ Its tail is as strong as a cedar.
The sinews of its thighs are knit tightly together.
¹⁸ Its bones are tubes of bronze.
Its limbs are bars of iron.
¹⁹ It is a prime example of God’s handiwork,
and only its Creator can threaten it.
²⁰ The mountains offer it their best food,
where all the wild animals play.
²¹ It lies under the lotus plants,
hidden by the reeds in the marsh.

Behold the hippopotamus!
We laugh at how he looks to us,
And yet in moments dank and grim,
I wonder how we look to him.

Peace, peace, thou hippopotamus!
We really look all right to us,
As you no doubt delight the eye
Of other hippopotami.

–Ogden Nash

_________________________
²² The lotus plants give it shade
among the willows beside the stream.
²³ It is not disturbed by the raging river,
not concerned when the swelling Jordan rushes around it.
²⁴ No one can catch it off guard
or put a ring in its nose and lead it away.

_________________________

New Living Translation (NLT)   Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Images courtesy of:

Blake.  http://www.1artclub.com/uploads/08-0182.jpg

hippopotamus.   http://accessscience.com/loadBinary.aspx?aID=4405&filename=319000FG0010.gif

hippopotamus eating its salad.  http://www.itsnature.org/Ground/images/article-pics/hippo3.jpg

720.) Job 38

"The Lord answering Job out of a whirlwind," by William Blake, 1805 (Morgan Library, New York)

Job 38 (New Living Translation)

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 Lord Challenges Job

¹Then 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.

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?

the Milky Way galaxy

Genesis 1:1 (New International Version)

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

_________________________

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!’

the Atlantic Ocean at Cocoa Beach, Florida

Genesis 1:9-10 (New International Version)

And God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear.” And it was so.  God called the dry ground “land,” and the gathered waters he called “seas.” And God saw that it was good.

_________________________

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.

sunrise over New York City

Genesis 1:14-18 (New International Version)

And God said, “Let there be lights in the vault of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark sacred times, and days and years,  and let them be lights in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth.” And it was so.  God made two great lights—the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night.  God set them in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth,  to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good.

________________________

¹⁶ “Have you explored the springs from which the seas come?
Have you explored their depths?
¹⁷ Do you know where the gates of death are located?
Have you seen the gates of utter gloom?
¹⁸ Do you realize the extent of the earth?
Tell me about it if you know!

¹⁹ “Where does light come from,
and where does darkness go?
²⁰ Can you take each to its home?
Do you know how to get there?
²¹ But of course you know all this!
For you were born before it was all created,
and you are so very experienced!

Genesis 1:3-4 (New International Version)

And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.  God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness.

_________________________

²² “Have you visited the storehouses of the snow
or seen the storehouses of hail?
²³ (I have reserved them as weapons for the time of trouble,
for the day of battle and war.)
²⁴ Where is the path to the source of light?
Where is the home of the east wind?

²⁵ “Who created a channel for the torrents of rain?
Who laid out the path for the lightning?
²⁶ Who makes the rain fall on barren land,
in a desert where no one lives?
²⁷ Who sends rain to satisfy the parched ground
and make the tender grass spring up?

Genesis 1:11-12 (New International Version)

Then God said, “Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.” And it was so.  The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.

_________________________

²⁸ “Does the rain have a father?
Who gives birth to the dew?
²⁹ Who is the mother of the ice?
Who gives birth to the frost from the heavens?
³⁰ For the water turns to ice as hard as rock,
and the surface of the water freezes.

³¹ “Can you direct the movement of the stars—
binding the cluster of the Pleiades
or loosening the cords of Orion?
³² Can you direct the sequence of the seasons
or guide the Bear with her cubs across the heavens?

the Pleiades

Genesis 1:16 (New International Version)

God also made the stars.

_________________________
³³ Do you know the laws of the universe?
Can you use them to regulate the earth?

³⁴ “Can you shout to the clouds
and make it rain?
³⁵ Can you make lightning appear
and cause it to strike as you direct?
³⁶ Who gives intuition to the heart
and instinct to the mind?
³⁷ Who is wise enough to count all the clouds?
Who can tilt the water jars of heaven
³⁸ when the parched ground is dry
and the soil has hardened into clods?

³⁹ “Can you stalk prey for a lioness
and satisfy the young lions’ appetites
⁴⁰ as they lie in their dens
or crouch in the thicket?

Genesis 1:24-25 (New International Version)

And God said, “Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: the livestock, the creatures that move along the ground, and the wild animals, each according to its kind.” And it was so.  God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.

_________________________

⁴¹ Who provides food for the ravens
when their young cry out to God
and wander about in hunger?

raven and chicks at Yellowstone National Park

Genesis 1:20-21 (New International Version)

And God said, “Let birds fly above the earth across the vault of the sky.”  So God created every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.

_________________________

Music:

Steve Green and “Creation Sings.”

Creation sings the Father’s song
He calls the sun to wake the dawn
And run the course of day
‘Til evening falls in crimson rays
His fingerprints in flakes of snow
His breath upon this spinning globe
He charts the eagle’s flight
Commands the new born baby’s cry

Hallelujah, let all creation stand and sing
Hallelujah, fill the earth with songs of worship
Tell the wonders of creations’ King

Creation gazed upon His face
The ageless One in times’ embrace
Unveiled the Father’s plan
Of reconciling God and man
A second Adam walked the earth
Whose blameless life would break the curse
Whose death would set us free
To live with Him eternally

Creation longs for His return
When Christ shall reign upon the earth
The bitter wars that rage
Are birth pains of a coming age
When he renews the land and sky
All heav’n will sing and earth reply
With one resplendent theme
The glory of our God and King

Fill the earth with songs of worship
Tell the wonders of creation’s King

_________________________

New Living Translation (NLT)   Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Images courtesy of:

Blake.   http://en.wahooart.com/A55A04/w.nsf/OPRA/BRUE-8EWSDW/$File/WILLIAM-BLAKE-THE-LORD-ANSWERING-JOB-OUT-OF-THE-WHIRLWIND.JPG

Milky Way.  http://static.ddmcdn.com/gif/milky-way-galaxy-400×360.jpg

Cocoa Beach.  http://www.myplanetflorida.com/cocoa_beach.jpg

sunrise.  http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_1vYYpDTtUVg/TSAK6nT_nuI/AAAAAAAAAFg/2ryDy-38klA/s1600/_41625134_nicoatridge_nysunr.jpg

candles.   http://carolinemccain.files.wordpress.com/2011/12/light-dark-for-change-ability-tip-19.jpg

prairie grass.  http://www.grahamenvironmental.com/images/prairie_grass.jpg

lioness and cubs.  http://www.crownandandrews.com/HTMLFiles/14111_big.jpg

raven.  http://www.andrewmerwinphoto.com/birds/raven&chicks.jpg

719.) Job 33

"Elihu teaches Job" by William Blake, 1805 (Morgan Library, New York)

Job 33 (New Living Translation)

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!)

Elihu Presents His Case against Job

Job’s three friends have been insisting that Job is suffering because of some past sins.  Now a new speaker comes, a young man, and introduces a new viewpoint.  He does believe, with the others, that suffering is always related to sin; he says in 34:10-11 —

Listen to me, you who have understanding.
      Everyone knows that God doesn’t sin!
      The Almighty can do no wrong.
He repays people according to their deeds.
      He treats people as they deserve.

But Elihu also says that suffering has another purpose:  to correct and restore us, and keep us on the right path.

¹ “Listen to my words, Job;
pay attention to what I have to say.
² Now that I have begun to speak,
let me continue.
³ I speak with all sincerity;
I speak the truth.
⁴ For the Spirit of God has made me,
and the breath of the Almighty gives me life.
⁵ Answer me, if you can;
make your case and take your stand.
⁶ Look, you and I both belong to God.
I, too, was formed from clay.
⁷ So you don’t need to be afraid of me.
I won’t come down hard on you.

So it is clear from just these few lines that Elihu is wordy, he repeats himself, he is conceited.  One commentator has said, “Now he joins in with a combination of deference and cocksureness that captures the pose of youth that sees a little, but sees it clearly.”

_________________________

⁸ “You have spoken in my hearing,
and I have heard your very words.
⁹ You said, ‘I am pure; I am without sin;
I am innocent; I have no guilt.
¹⁰ God is picking a quarrel with me,
and he considers me his enemy.
¹¹ He puts my feet in the stocks
and watches my every move.’

This means that young Elihu had not heard Job carefully.  Job certainly knew that he was a sinner in a general sense and could not be considered righteous compared to God.

• Therefore my words have been rash (Job 6:3)

• Why then do You not pardon my transgression, and take away my iniquity? (Job 7:21)

• How can a man be righteous before God? (Job 9:2)

• I know that You will not hold me innocent (Job 9:28)

• For You write bitter things against me, and make me inherit the iniquities of my youth (Job 13:26)

• Though I were righteous, my own mouth would condemn me; though I were blameless, it would prove me perverse (Job 19:2)

–David Guzik

_________________________

¹² “But you are wrong, and I will show you why.
For God is greater than any human being.
¹³ So why are you bringing a charge against him?
Why say he does not respond to people’s complaints?
¹⁴ For God speaks again and again,
though people do not recognize it.
¹⁵ He speaks in dreams, in visions of the night,
when deep sleep falls on people
as they lie in their beds.
¹⁶ He whispers in their ears
and terrifies them with warnings.
¹⁷ He makes them turn from doing wrong;
he keeps them from pride.
¹⁸ He protects them from the grave,
from crossing over the river of death.

¹⁹ “Or God disciplines people with pain on their sickbeds,
with ceaseless aching in their bones.
²⁰ They lose their appetite
for even the most delicious food.
²¹ Their flesh wastes away,
and their bones stick out.
²² They are at death’s door;
the angels of death wait for them.

²³ “But if an angel from heaven appears—
a special messenger to intercede for a person
and declare that he is upright—
²⁴ he will be gracious and say,
‘Rescue him from the grave,
for I have found a ransom for his life.’

Mark 10:45 (English Standard Version)

“For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

_________________________

²⁵ Then his body will become as healthy as a child’s,
firm and youthful again.
²⁶ When he prays to God,
he will be accepted.
And God will receive him with joy
and restore him to good standing.
²⁷ He will declare to his friends,
‘I sinned and twisted the truth,
but it was not worth it.
²⁸ God rescued me from the grave,
and now my life is filled with light.’

So, according to Elihu, suffering is the Lord’s way of correcting and healing those whom he is saving.  Suffering is helpful when we turn to God for patience and understanding, or when we learn a deeper dependence on God, or when we become more gentle towards others in their difficulties, thereby showing God’s light to the world.

_________________________

²⁹ “Yes, God does these things
again and again for people.
³⁰ He rescues them from the grave
so they may enjoy the light of life.

Psalm 56:13 (English Standard Version)

For you have delivered my soul from death,
   yes, my feet from falling,
that I may walk before God
    in the light of life.

³¹ Mark this well, Job. Listen to me,
for I have more to say.
³² But if you have anything to say, go ahead.
Speak, for I am anxious to see you justified.
³³ But if not, then listen to me.
Keep silent and I will teach you wisdom!”

_________________________

Music:

“Your Precious Blood Has Ransomed Me” — Allen Froese.

_________________________

New Living Translation (NLT)   Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Images courtesy of:

Blake.  http://davidanthonyporter.typepad.com/.a/6a00e55043abd08834012876ca9e0c970c-pi

big deal.  http://www.lmnotees.com/store/images/products/guys_90_M4.jpg

I am a sinner.   http://rlv.zcache.com/sinner_saint_tee_tshirt-p235686692349703037zvxce_400.jpg

cross on black.  http://www.saintpatschurch.org/images/web/cross-dark-background.jpg

Romans 8:28.   http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_tHPCHQwXRpQ/SKJS3CFFkgI/AAAAAAAAAhs/18v_ySBwfNc/s400/Romans8v28.jpg

718.) Job 23

"Job," by Leon Bonnat, 1880

Job 23 (New Living Translation)

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 Eighth Speech: A Response to Eliphaz

¹Then Job spoke again:

² “My complaint today is still a bitter one,
and I try hard not to groan aloud.
³ If only I knew where to find God,
I would go to his court.
⁴ I would lay out my case
and present my arguments.
⁵ Then I would listen to his reply
and understand what he says to me.
⁶ Would he use his great power to argue with me?
No, he would give me a fair hearing.
⁷ Honest people can reason with him,
so I would be forever acquitted by my judge.
⁸ I go east, but he is not there.
I go west, but I cannot find him.
⁹ I do not see him in the north, for he is hidden.
I look to the south, but he is concealed.

An old Puritan writer quaintly observed, in commenting on this, ‘Job, you have gone forward and backward, and you have looked to the left and you have looked to the right. Why don’t you try looking up?’

¹⁰ “But he knows where I am going.
And when he tests me, I will come out as pure as gold.

from Whispers of His Power,
by Amy Carmichael

Eliphaz had heaped up words twice already and Job must have been very weary of him.  Eliphaz takes it for granted that Job has left God and therefore is suffering, and will continue to suffer till he returns to Him.  But how can one return who hasn’t gone away?  Job’s greatest griefs came when he was very near his God.  His children were feasting, and at such times it was his custom to rise up early to pray for them.  Thus did Job continually (Job 1:5).

So all through Eliphaz’s beautiful talk runs a thread of untruth.  He did not speak the thing that was right.  He wounded Job by his cruel misunderstanding of the whole perplexing set of circumstances.

It is good to see how Job turns from the misunderstanding of man to the perfect understanding of God.  He cannot see Him or find Him, but — glorious “but” — He knoweth the way that I take.  And in the end Job did come forth as gold.

_________________________

Music:

This song, “Refiner’s Fire,” by Brian Doerksen, invites the Lord to do whatever it takes so that we, like Job, shall come forth like gold.

_________________________
¹¹ For I have stayed on God’s paths;
I have followed his ways and not turned aside.
¹² I have not departed from his commands,
but have treasured his words more than daily food.

In the previous chapter, Eliphaz tried to condemn Job by listing some secret sins that Job may have committed.  Job insists here that the Lord understands his heart and his ways.  Can we ever be sure that we are entirely free from sin?  God’s standard of holiness is far beyond our reach.  But — glorious “but” — Christ on the cross did all that was was required to forgive all our sins!

Romans 5:1 (New International Version)

Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Romans 8:1-2 (New International Version)

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,  because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death.

And when our thoughts and emotions cause us to doubt the truth of this, we have God’s kind assurance that we can be confident in his promises and in his goodness towards us.

1 John 3:19-20 (New International Version)

This is how we know that we belong to the truth and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence:  If our hearts condemn us, we know that God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything.  

_________________________

¹³ But once he has made his decision, who can change his mind?
Whatever he wants to do, he does.
¹⁴ So he will do to me whatever he has planned.
He controls my destiny.
¹⁵ No wonder I am so terrified in his presence.
When I think of it, terror grips me.
¹⁶ God has made me sick at heart;
the Almighty has terrified me.
¹⁷ Darkness is all around me;
thick, impenetrable darkness is everywhere.

John 1:4-5 (New International Version)

In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind.  The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

_________________________

Simple Secrets of the Kingdom
Study 16 — The Church, the New People of God

The church is made up of those who are called out of darkness into the light of Christ. People who have been saved by grace want others to share this power for imperfect people. This fellowship of forgiven sinners is a community built on the foundation of the promises of God.   And this is not a perfect community of people but instead a group of imperfect people who live under grace, trusting the power of the Lord Jesus to work in them.  Click here for AUDIO or VIDEO.

_________________________

New Living Translation (NLT)   Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Images courtesy of:

Bonnat.  http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ZoBU_40yxL4/S8SnX4EGTTI/AAAAAAAAAE0/EdhveFv5Kbo/s1600/Job.jpg

He knows the way I take.  http://www.worldofthebible.com/images/hk-purple-lg.jpg

Nahum 1:7.   http://oneyearbibleimages.com/nahum_god.jpg

cross in the light.   http://inspiretomorrow.files.wordpress.com/2010/12/cross-light.jpg

717.) Job 19

"Job and His Friends," by Ilya Yefimovich-Repin, 1869

Job 19 (New Living Translation)

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.

_________________________

New Living Translation (NLT)   Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Images courtesy of:

Repin.   http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_QVtPk6brgO4/TESiiahh-gI/AAAAAAAABVI/Eb2GlvgMeK0/s1600/Job%2520by%2520Repin.jpg

logs.   http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_WAsZai723Yk/TTS30wWNCNI/AAAAAAAAAlM/E-Fv5EV1wQc/s1600/Logging.jpg

tent.  http://www.clipartpal.com/_thumbs/pd/buildings/blue_festive_tent.png

smile.  http://www.apnimarzi.com/wp-content/uploads/BestMethodsofTeethWhiteningForYourBeauti_DD26/j04096551.jpg

Jesus.  http://www.prlog.org/11425991-faceofjesus.jpg

716.) Job 10

"Job," by Jan (the Elder) Lievens, 1631 (National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa)

Job 10 (New Living Translation)

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.

_________________________

New Living Translation (NLT)   Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Images courtesy of:

Lievens.  http://popartmachine.com/artwork/NGC-NGC_.4093/0/Jan-%28the-Elder%29-Lievens-Job-1631-painting-artwork-print.jpg

pity party.  http://s2.hubimg.com/u/4593989_f496.jpg

first man Adam and perfect man Christ.  http://heavenlytours.us/images/creating_adam.jpg

newborn baby.  http://www.newbornbabyzone.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/newborn-baby-needs.jpg

question marks.  http://www.freeimagesarchive.com/data/media/34/10_question-mark.jpg

715.) Job 9

Job -- pen, ink, and wash, by Chuck Berk, 2011.

Job 9 (New Living Translation)

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.

So Job begins to describe the powerful God he is up against:

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.

_________________________

New Living Translation (NLT)   Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Images courtesy of:

Berk.  http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-nWTExPIUKF0/TY6hil_IR1I/AAAAAAAABeM/C5y0GcoThdM/s1600/Job_98.jpg

Jesus walks on water.  http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_v-jkdc-LjSM/S_c2aIj3_lI/AAAAAAAAAMY/4ZsUuuziHng/s1600/jesus-nazareth-120.jpg

star of Bethlehem.   http://images.hellokids.com/_uploads/_tiny_galerie/20091250/star-of-bethlehem-wallpaper-source_bff.jpg

Jesus heals Jairus’ daughter.   http://christ-pictures-images.blogspot.com/2010/05/jesus-heals-jairus-daughter-coloring.html

not fair.  http://www.kathyhoward.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/its-not-fair.jpg

snow.   http://shoulderingmycross.files.wordpress.com/2011/02/shuksan-03-04-84-91.jpg

Jesus.  http://www.jehova.net/prayer/jesus-mediator.jpg

714.) Job 4 and 5

"Job is rebuked by his friends," by William Blake, 1805 (Morgan Library, New York)

Job 4 (New Living Translation)

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)

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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.

_________________________

New Living Translation (NLT)

Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Images courtesy of:

Blake.   http://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/b/blake/william/job/jobc10.jpg

“as sparks fly upward.”  http://williambradford.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/sparksinfire.jpg

“Create in me a clean heart”   http://rlv.zcache.com/create_in_me_a_clean_heart_poster-r9bc68f2058984b4e90a69963af9be999_wvq_400.jpg

713.) Job 3

"Job Praying" by Marc Chagall, 1960.

Job 3 (New Living Translation)

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!”

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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.

_________________________

New Living Translation (NLT)   Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Images courtesy of:

Chagall.  http://www.marcchagallprints.com/view_art.php?art_id=1481&min=0&max=10000000&portrait=&original=&sub=&sort_by=&sold=

birthday cake.  http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-XoR_sAgtZQk/TtMeeK-E2WI/AAAAAAAAAOg/6JEE6q8d9LA/s320/Cake%2BCandles-birthday-cake-with-candles.jpg

Leviathan.  http://www.fybertech.com/4thread/tg_1319933/1205338766443.jpg

Taj Mahal.  http://wallpapers.free-review.net/63__Taj_Mahal%2C_Agra%2C_India.htm

Choose life.  http://www.odessaapartments-ukraine.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/ChooseLifeLogo_colour.jpg