May 25, 2007

Reading through the Bible this year: http://www.emailbiblestudy.com/Schedule.htm

Good Evening Brothers and Sisters,

Job 42:1-6 (NLT)  Job Responds to the Lord

42 Then Job replied to the Lord:

²      “I know that you can do anything,

and no one can stop you.

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.”^[1]

When considering Job's response to God, here are a few things to think about.  It is the conclusion of a book that describes a battle of the mind of a righteous man between good and when bad things happen to good people.  The book of Job precedes any other book of the Bible; therefore, the law was not in place when it was written.  God purposely selected Job for trial because he was a righteous man.  Job was very purposeful in offering sacrifice to God in order to appease God and make amends for sin in his and his children's lives.  Job never gave up on God.  Job was allowed to draw God on the carpet in questions which resembled a court of law for the purpose of justifying God's action against Job.  Then he was finally rebuked by God for his questions.  The point of all of this is that Job never stopped believing in God. 

At one point in time I agreed wholly with the Bible Knowledge Commentary in that Job was shown his sin of pride and repented from it.  I do not feel that this is an accurate picture of what went on in light of the background.  Look carefully at the text and consider that first Job recognized that he was supremely inferior to God. That doesn't spell pride, it goes deeper than that.  My family is strong, traditional Roman Catholics, and  this has given me some insight into this passage.  They pray to Mary and the saints, follow strict rules, and jump through hoops in order to gain favor with God.  In essence, they consider the saints and Mary to be greater than God because they influence God to do things that favor them.  God to them is a supreme being, one who must be placated by offerings and pleadings by other supreme beings.  The role of man is to set the stage as much as possible so that God must act in certain ways.  Although they will not admit it, the real purpose for the "requests" that they make to the saints and Mary is to manipulate God.  The true essence of God to them is a disconnected being that is out of reach by the mortal man.

Job is not displaying pride here, because his repentance does not fit the bill for pride.  Job does not say that he was haughty in his own eyes, or was thinking himself better than he actually was.  Job is stating that now his relationship with God is very different than it was previously.  Job actually was able to experience God with his own eyes, instead of hearing about God, now Job experienced God first hand.  The difference in relationship is not that Job had to offer sacrifices, jump through hoops and do all the right things to please God.  The difference is that Job actually met God.  Religion tries to appease God by building a case in which He will show favor on the penitent believer.  Relationship builds a relationship on actual interaction between two individuals.  This is where we stand today. 

What matters now is exactly what mattered during Job's day.  What matters is that our sins are forgiven and we stand in a good relationship with God.  Today it is much easier because as Christians, Jesus died for us, was buried, and rose from the dead so that we could have life in Him.  That life is based on relationship, not on religion.  I am going to close here, all comments are welcomed.

Father, as we consider Your word today, open our eyes so that we can understand and apply the word to our lives.

In Him,

Joe Turner

May 27, 2007

Reading through the Bible this year: http://www.emailbiblestudy.com/Schedule.htm

Good Evening Brothers and Sisters,

Job 42:7-17 (NLT) 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. 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.” ⁹ So 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. 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.^[1]

Today we are wrapping up the book of Job.  The conclusions of the long study are very simple compared to the detailed arguments that we have looked at over the past few months. 

Verses 7-8:  Job's friends had been counseling him from the common wisdom that was based on worldly attitudes.  God directed the rebuke to Eliphaz possibly because he was the eldest of the three and stood as an authority over them.  In all of their counsel and accusations, they missed the mark on finding the reason that Job was going through his trouble.  God was angry with Job's friends because their counsel did not point toward Him.  The counsel that they gave was not godly counsel.  Can you imagine what God is saying about people today who are tickling ears and teaching worldly philosophies instead of God's message to the hurting world?  God ordered them to ask Job to offer sacrifices for them.  Imagine how humiliating it must have been.  There are a couple of lessons in this, first it is God validating that Job is His servant, and second it sets Job up as an authority designated by God over them.  Perhaps they would do well to learn from Job about relationship with God versus the religion that had drawn them astray.

Verses 10-17: One question that keeps raising in my mind in regard to these verses is where Job's extended family, brothers, sisters, and former friends were at when Job was going through his trouble?  I have watched and found it interesting how that people will soon avoid those with terminal situations or extended illnesses.  It's not so much a matter that people do not want to help.  The reason for their avoidance is because in many cases they feel powerless to help or be of any aid.  Yet once again, Job stands as an authority over them.  He stands as a mentor in place to show the goodness of God.  I am positive that Job was not silent regarding the lessons that God had taught him about relationship instead of religion.

One of the things that is often pointed out by many is that Job ended up with twice as much as he did before. His new daughters were placed into the will with an equal share as his new sons.  It is also interesting that these daughters were named, where the other children were not named.  Perhaps God was sending an early message as to the way that He views all people equally.  The book of Job is thought to have been one of the earliest books of the Bible, so from the start, God desired relationship with all people equally. 

Job recovered from his illnesses in order to demonstrate the life of a faithful man.  He stands as an encouragement to all who are going through suffering.  I would encourage you, if you are going through suffering, to follow his example.  If there is sin in your life, come clean with God and confess your sin.  Next, build the relationship with God and place your focus on that area exclusively because that is what God truly desires.  If he heals you, you will certainly stand ready to help others through similar situations and will bask in a deeper walk with Him.  If on the other hand, you never recover and die early, others will learn of God through your life and the misery that you are going through will have purpose.  What do I know?  Perhaps you can say it better than I can, write in with your thoughts.

Father, as we consider Your word, speak to each of our hearts and draw us to a close relationship with you.

In Him,

Joe Turner.