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The God Who is Approachable [Job 9]
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Job 9
1Then Job answered,
2"In truth I know that this is so;
But how can a man be in the right before God?
3"If one wished to dispute with Him,
He could not answer Him once in a thousand times.
20"Though I am righteous, my mouth will condemn me;
Though I am guiltless, He will declare me guilty.
21"I am guiltless;
I do not take notice of myself;
I despise my life.
22"It is all one; therefore I say,
'He destroys the guiltless and the wicked.'
23"If the scourge kills suddenly,
He mocks the despair of the innocent.
24"The earth is given into the hand of the wicked;
He covers the faces of its judges.
If it is not He, then who is it?
32"For He is not a man as I am that I may answer Him,
That we may go to court together.
33"There is no umpire between us,
Who may lay his hand upon us both.
34"Let Him remove His rod from me,
And let not dread of Him terrify me.
35"Then I would speak and not fear Him;
But I am not like that in myself.
Job was quite a man. Even though he was surrounded by condemning friends and an unsympathetic wife, Job began to take his eyes of his pain and began to ponder God asking himself questions and recounting what he knew about the Sovereign Creator. Some of what he said was really good, too. Unfortunately, as he answers his own questions about God, he also came to some inaccurate conclusions in verses 20-24 by trying to figure out who God was on his own through his particular situation. Instead of asking himself about the character of God, he could have asked God to reveal Himself to him. However, if his friends and wife had been doing a good job of comforting and encouraging him, they would have prayed with him for answers and helped him to connect with God in his pain. God designed us to get through these things together and we need to be surrounded with people who will take us to God when we are suffering. We are not supposed to figure it all out on our own. And I commend Job for doing pretty well in chapter 9 in spite of the lousy company!
I love verses 32-35 as the way to end this chapter because Job concluded that he could use an umpire between him and God to work all this suffering stuff out properly. What he really was recognizing was his need for Jesus even though there was no way for him to put a name on his umpire at that point in history.
Thank You ,God, that you can be seen in creation and that is one way we can know You. I praise You for godly providing godly people who can point us to talk to the true God and that we have the Bible to guide us now. And most of all, we praise You for our umpire, Jesus Christ, the best umpire ever. |
Beth Warlick, 3/10/2010 |
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God and Comfort [Job 8]
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Job 8
3"Does God pervert justice?
Or does the Almighty pervert what is right?
4"If your sons sinned against Him,
Then He delivered them into the power of their transgression.
5"If you would seek God
And implore the compassion of the Almighty,
6If you are pure and upright,
Surely now He would rouse Himself for you
And restore your righteous estate.
7"Though your beginning was insignificant,
Yet your end will increase greatly.
Just consider what Bildad said to Job as he sat in the ditch covered with sores and mourning the deaths of his sons and daughters. He said, "If your sons sinned against Him, then He delivered them into the power of their transgression." Think about how that one sentence tore open Job's already wounded heart. Even if it was the truth, it was not the time nor place to say such a thing, but it wasn't even true! How easily we can spill out words of so called wisdom that is just our opinion mixed with a bit of truth. The truth is that God does not pervert justice and that God is the Almighty and compassionate. However, He does not fit into a nice neat formula that if we do this, He will do that every time. God's ways are not our ways. It is impossible to know exactly what He is doing in another person's life much less in our own life.
After reading Bildad's words I realized that they weren't just words to a suffering person, they were weapons causing more injury. It makes me wonder about how we can be people who speak healing words of comfort to those who are in pain around us. When I am not in pain, it is really hard to imagine what the person who is in pain is feeling and to be empathetic with them, especially if the pain is long term. God has shown me through reading this chapter today that ministering to a hurting person is not something I can do well apart from God and knowing Him well. Having a correct opinion of God is not just important when dealing with suffering people, it is critical.
We praise You, God, that You have made it clear that knowing You well is mandatory to living well in this hurting world. Cause us to remember daily spend time getting to know You and to run to You for truth and wisdom in comforting the hurting people in our lives.
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Beth Warlick, 3/9/2010 6 |
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Know the True God in Your Tests (Job 7)
Monday, March 8, 2010
Job 7
20"Have I sinned? What have I done to You,
O watcher of men?
Why have You set me as Your target,
So that I am a burden to myself?
21"Why then do You not pardon my transgression
And take away my iniquity?
For now I will lie down in the dust;
And You will seek me, but I will not be."
Job had two strikes against him as he sat in his extreme emotional and physical pain. First, he had some misunderstandings about God and how God works. Second, he lacked the comfort and godly counsel of people that could have provided encouragement in his situation. So Job was stuck in his self-pity and focus on death.
There is something I have learned that could have helped Job's friends in encouraging him. If they had been able to identify specific sins that they had witnessed, then they could have respectfully rebuked him, hopefully with much love. However, even in the face of no evidence of sin, they condemned him because of his situation. They assumed that he must have sinned for him to be in this much torment. This was their sin... condemning without cause.
All testing comes from God so that we will become like Jesus, the goal of our faith (Romans 8:28-29). Some testing comes into our lives to expose our sin patterns so that we may exchange them for God's character to grow in us. In addition, some testing comes so that we may be a witness in this dark world (for the sake of righteousness 1 Peter 3:14) as we go through the testing in a godly fashion. We now have access to the entire Word of God, unlike Job, and can much more easily place ourselves in a good position for going through our tests by spending time in the Word getting to know the God of the Bible and by surrounding ourselves with others who are doing the same. God designed us to go through these tests together and there are ways to go through them with the comfort and peace that Job lacked.
Thank You that You have made Yourself knowable through the Word and prayer and through encouragements of the saints. Cause us to position ourselves well for the tests that will come to grow us.
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Beth Warlick, 3/8/2010 6 |
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Oh to be Comforted with Truth [Job 6]
Saturday, March 6, 2010
1Then Job answered,
2"Oh that my grief were actually weighed
And laid in the balances together with my calamity!
3"For then it would be heavier than the sand of the seas;
Therefore my words have been rash.
4"For the arrows of the Almighty are within me,
Their poison my spirit drinks;
The terrors of God are arrayed against me.
8"Oh that my request might come to pass,
And that God would grant my longing!
9"Would that God were willing to crush me,
That He would loose His hand and cut me off!
10"But it is still my consolation,
And I rejoice in unsparing pain,
That I have not denied the words of the Holy One.
Job responded to Eliphaz in the midst of his grief and great pain, acknowledging that maybe his words were rash. He knew that the arrows that had pierced him were from the Almighty but he was a little stunned that Eliphaz was so insistent that God was repaying him for evil. He was starting to think that death may be the only thing that would bring him comfort from his unrelenting pain. "Oh that my request might come to pass, and that God would grant my longing! Would that God were willing to crush me, that He would loose His hand and cut me off!” He was not sure he could physically endure much more, so he thought it would be nice to die while he was still able to get comfort from knowing that He had not given in. "But it is still my consolation, and I rejoice in unsparing pain, that I have not denied the words of the Holy One.”
He then admonished his friends with these words, "For the despairing man there should be kindness from his friend; so that he does not forsake the fear of the Almighty” (v.14). He couldn't remember anything he had done to wrong them and he wondered why they thought he was lying. He longed to have friends that would continue to encourage him to not loose faith in a faithful and loving God, but because of what they believed about God they couldn't come to any other conclusion. It would have missed up there theology to concede that Job was suffering as a righteous man.
Lord, we praise you that You are the Holy One. You are the Almighty God who loves us. You are there offering us Your encouragement and comfort even when “friends” are not. Thank You that Your character is true from generation to generation.
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Verna McCrillis, 3/6/2010 6 |
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Is It All About Man's Deeds? [Job 5]
Friday,March 5, 2010
6"For affliction does not come from the dust,
Nor does trouble sprout from the ground,
7For man is born for trouble,
As sparks fly upward.
8"But as for me, I would seek God,
And I would place my cause before God;
9Who does great and unsearchable things,
Wonders without number.
10"He gives rain on the earth
And sends water on the fields,
11So that He sets on high those who are lowly,
And those who mourn are lifted to safety.
12"He frustrates the plotting of the shrewd,
So that their hands cannot attain success.
13"He captures the wise by their own shrewdness,
And the advice of the cunning is quickly thwarted.
14"By day they meet with darkness,
And grope at noon as in the night.
15"But He saves from the sword of their mouth,
And the poor from the hand of the mighty.
16"So the helpless has hope,
And unrighteousness must shut its mouth.
17"Behold, how happy is the man whom God reproves,
So do not despise the discipline of the Almighty.
18"For He inflicts pain, and gives relief;
He wounds, and His hands also heal.
Poor Eliphaz. He has a little bit right about God's character but his conclusions are very myopic and man-centered. The conclusion he draws when he sees God as One "who does great and unsearchable things, wonders without number," is that all those great works are only in response to what man does and they are all revolved around man. He notes that God "gives rain on the earth and sends water on the fields," but he concludes that it is in response to man. If man has entered a covenant of "I will be good," then God will send rain. In essence he is saying, if you keep your covenant to be a good person God will reward you with a full and vigorous life right up til your death. He also thinks that when God disciplines you should accept it in order to get back into God's good graces. He so wrongly puts God in a box. God is so much bigger and broader and considers all of His creation as He chooses how to work.
What is he missing? The fullness of God and the scope of His attention. I confess that I already looked at God's answers in chapters 40-42. You may want to skip ahead and read them too so that you can keep perspective. God is working in and through everything and even though His love is focused on man, how He is working includes all of creation. The truth is that God is working and willing according to His good pleasure (Phil 2:13) and you cannot predict how He will work. Therefore, you cannot conclude that if someone is suffering, it is because they have sinned, as Eliphaz did. Once again, this is the world's wisdom not the truth about God.
We praise You Father that we can look at the stars in the sky and know that You know them all by name. It is Your great power that keeps them in place. You are also at work in our individual lives and are exercising your great power to cause us to be holy. You are able to use whatever You choose and You choose according to what brings you good pleasure. |
Verna McCrillis, 3/5/2010 6 |
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First Example of Worldly Wisdom [Job 4]
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Eliphaz: Innocent Do Not Suffer
1Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered,
2"If one ventures a word with you, will you become impatient?
But who can refrain from speaking?
3"Behold you have admonished many,
And you have strengthened weak hands.
4"Your words have helped the tottering to stand,
And you have strengthened feeble knees.
5"But now it has come to you, and you are impatient;
It touches you, and you are dismayed.
6"Is not your fear of God your confidence,
And the integrity of your ways your hope?
7"Remember now, who ever perished being innocent?
Or where were the upright destroyed?
8"According to what I have seen, those who plow iniquity
And those who sow trouble harvest it.
9"By the breath of God they perish,
And by the blast of His anger they come to an end.
17'Can mankind be just before God?
Can a man be pure before his Maker?
Job' three friends came to comfort him. They graciously waited for him to speak before they gave their wisdom. As we look at the back and forth debate between Job and his friends, we need to know that God later tells Eliphaz that he and his two friends did not speak the truth about God, as His servant Job did. (Job 42:7) So we will need to carefully weed through the friends words as we look for the true character of God.
This first rebuttal is a common one: You are suffering because you deserve to suffer for something you have done wrong. I find myself with similar thoughts, wondering what someone (including myself) has done that is causing God to get his attention. This is actually worldly wisdom. God's truth says a man is righteous because of his faith and that even the righteous have been called to suffer. (Hebrews 11:1-2 and 1 Peter 4:12-19)
We praise You, Father, that Christ left us an example of how to suffer - He entrusted Himself to You. You are the faithful Creator and You are calling us, nudging us to entrust ourselves to You. Cause us to follow in Christ's steps by responding in trust in You and Your character.
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Verna McCrillis, 3/4/2010 6 |
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A Natural Response [Job 3]
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
1Afterward Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth.
20"Why is light given to him who suffers,
And life to the bitter of soul,
21Who long for death, but there is none,
And dig for it more than for hidden treasures,
22Who rejoice greatly,
And exult when they find the grave?
23"Why is light given to a man whose way is hidden,
And whom God has hedged in?
24"For my groaning comes at the sight of my food,
And my cries pour out like water.
25"For what I fear comes upon me,
And what I dread befalls me.
26"I am not at ease, nor am I quiet,
And I am not at rest, but turmoil comes."
“If only I had never been born.” When we are in a lot of pain, both physically and emotionally, this thought is a natural reaction. Job is also asking why. "Why is light given to him who suffers, and life to the bitter of soul?”
Can you imagine how much pain Job was in? He was trying to do some soul searching but all he could feel was self-pity. He even had glimpses of wishing that he were dead. "Who long for death, but there is none, and dig for it more than for hidden treasures, who rejoice greatly,and exult when they find the grave?"
Haven’t you had these thoughts? What has God ministered to your heart when you are in the midst of feeling sorry for yourself? What would you say if you were the friend sitting by Job’s bed? Later in the story God Himself challenges Job’s thinking with the truth. We will come back to each of Job’s questions to see how God answered him. But for now we need to recognize that this is a natural response to great pain and suffering. God did let Job ponder through these questions – there is room to do that. Job will come back around to the truth that God choose him and formed him while he was in his mother’s womb for a very specific purpose. (Jeremiah 1:5-6)
Lord, we praise You that our story is Your story. You have chosen us and formed us for a specific reason. Thank You that You let pain bring up those inner fears that we are not even aware are prowling under the surface. And you answer them at just the right time with your truth – “Yes, my daughter/son, You are very valuable to Me. I do have a reason for you to be alive.” |
Verna McCrillis, 3/3/2010 6 |
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God Took Full Responsibility [Job 2]
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
3The LORD said to Satan, "Have you considered My servant Job? For there is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man fearing God and turning away from evil. And he still holds fast his integrity, although you incited Me against him to ruin him without cause.4Satan answered the LORD and said, "Skin for skin! Yes, all that a man has he will give for his life. 5"However, put forth Your hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh; he will curse You to Your face."
6So the LORD said to Satan, "Behold, he is in your power, only spare his life." 7Then Satan went out from the presence of the LORD and smote Job with sore boils from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head. 8And he took a potsherd to scrape himself while he was sitting among the ashes.
9Then his wife said to him, "Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die!"
10But he said to her, "You speak as one of the foolish women speaks. Shall we indeed accept good from God and not accept adversity?" In all this Job did not sin with his lips.
“And he still holds fast his integrity, although you incited Me against him to ruin him without cause." I find these words that God spoke very intriguing. Always in the past when I thought of Job’s story my version went like this: Satan went to God and taunted Him to consider taking down His protection so that Satan could do awful things to him and prove that Job would curse God if he wasn’t being blessed. My version is a little scary because if Satan can coerce God to let him hurt Job, why couldn’t he also do that to me? I had a lot of fear of Satan’s power because of my version of this story. And consequently I mistrusted God’s goodness and His protection.
Now I see that God is the One who is in complete control of Job’s story. He said it was He who ruined Job without cause. He took responsibility for what happened to Job. Job, on the other hand, did not attribute the things happening to him to anyone other than God. When his wife wanted him to quit holding onto his integrity and curse God, “he said to her, ‘You speak as one of the foolish women speaks. Shall we indeed accept good from God and not accept adversity?’ In all this Job did not sin with his lips.” I think he realized that he didn’t deserve all the blessings God had poured out on him and he wasn’t taking them for granted.
Where do you stand with this story? Does it mess with your theology? Does it make you wonder about God’s goodness and Satan’s power? Was God only good when good things were happening to Job? Does Satan have the power to mess with your life? What do you really believe? Can you hang in with all the misery and debate about this for 35 more chapters before we hear God’s answer?
As we move into this story, I am thankful for what I learned from Joseph’s story. I am thankful for the truths I learned about God at work in his life and how he used really hard stuff to draw Joseph to Himself. I am thankful for both Job and Joseph’s example of faith in a good God who purposed things in His love. I want to have that kind of faith. I want to still praise God in the midst of hard circumstances. I want to be a person who really knows her God.
We praise You Father for things about Your character that we don’t yet understand. We praise You that You have the understanding we need. We praise You that You knew how Job would fare even before you brought those things into his life. In Your love and according to Your good pleasure, You are at work in our lives. Cause us to receive everything as it comes from Your heart of love.
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Verna McCrillis, 3/2/2010 6 |
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Who’s Idea Was It? [Job 1]
Monday, March 1, 2010
6Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came among them. 7The LORD said to Satan, "From where do you come?" Then Satan answered the LORD and said, "From roaming about on the earth and walking around on it." 8The LORD said to Satan, "Have you considered My servant Job? For there is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, fearing God and turning away from evil."
9Then Satan answered the LORD, "Does Job fear God for nothing? 10"Have You not made a hedge about him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. 11"But put forth Your hand now and touch all that he has; he will surely curse You to Your face."
12Then the LORD said to Satan, "Behold, all that he has is in your power, only do not put forth your hand on him." So Satan departed from the presence of the LORD.
There was a man who was blameless and upright, who feared God and turned away from evil. This man Job must have been a rare sight, a one-of-a-kind. God said there was “no one like him on the earth,” What a documentary on the life of a good man.
So why did God bring Satan’s attention to Job? Why didn’t He just let this good man keep marching through life being righteous? At the end of the book of Job when God speaks we will find out that answer. In the meantime there are two things that seem important. The first one is that Satan did not pick Job, God did. The second one is that Satan acknowledged that God was sovereign and that he could do nothing unless God permitted him to do it. “Then Satan answered the LORD, ‘Does Job fear God for nothing? Have You not made a hedge about him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. But put forth Your hand now and touch all that he has; he will surely curse You to Your face.’" Satan did not have power to do anything to Job unless God gave it to him.
God did give Satan a limited power. “Then the LORD said to Satan, ‘Behold, all that he has is in your power, only do not put forth your hand on him.’" God even helped to devastate all of Job’s possessions. He sent fire from heaven and a storm, all in one day, to work in conjunction with the Sabeans and the Chaldeans that attacked. But what a response Job gave, "Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I shall return there. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away. Blessed be the name of the LORD."
We praise You, Father, that You are Sovereign God. You have all power and are in complete control of all that happens. Your enemy, Satan, even has to bend to Your control. He can only do what You permit him to do. We praise You that, even though we don’t understand it, You are completely motivated by Your love; You do everything because of Your great love for us.
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Verna McCrillis, 3/1/2010 6 |
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The Sweetness of Forgiveness [Genesis 50]
Saturday, February 27, 2010
14After he had buried his father, Joseph returned to Egypt, he and his brothers, and all who had gone up with him to bury his father.
15When Joseph's brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, "What if Joseph bears a grudge against us and pays us back in full for all the wrong which we did to him!" 16So they sent a message to Joseph, saying, "Your father charged before he died, saying, 17'Thus you shall say to Joseph, "Please forgive, I beg you, the transgression of your brothers and their sin, for they did you wrong."' And now, please forgive the transgression of the servants of the God of your father." And Joseph wept when they spoke to him.
18Then his brothers also came and fell down before him and said, "Behold, we are your servants." 19But Joseph said to them, "Do not be afraid, for am I in God's place? 20"As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to preserve many people alive. 21"So therefore, do not be afraid; I will provide for you and your little ones." So he comforted them and spoke kindly to them.
After Israel (Jacob) died Joseph's brothers were afraid that he would now take the chance, that they thought he surely had been waiting for, to pay them back for their awful deeds. They just couldn't believe that he had truly forgiven them. They begged for forgiveness again and even sent a charge from their dead father that Joseph must forgive. Joseph wept when he saw that they had not received his forgiveness and that they still had not released (forgiven) themselves for their cruelty. But for Joseph that forgiveness had happened long ago. He had seen God's hand in all that had happened and knew that God had "meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to preserve many people alive," even if they had evil intentions.
I am so encouraged by Joseph's faith. There is someone in my life that I offended about ten years ago. Persuaded by a friend, I had participated in playing a childish prank on him. I did confess my wrong to him and asked his forgiveness but I have suspected that he still holds it against me. This morning I realized that I am doing what Joseph's brothers did: I am carrying the offense in me. Every time I think he is being stand-offish or annoyed I assume it is still over the old offense, when in fact I am currently doing things that do annoy him. It occurred to me that my friend has never once mentioned my past offense, not even joking about it. How do I know that he didn't forgive me? But the bigger question is, has God forgiven me? Is this what Christ died for? If He remembers my sins no more, why am I still bringing it back up? (Hebrews 8:12)
What if my fear is true? What if this person just tolerates me and is never really going to forgive me? What if, no matter how kind I am, he still is disgruntled with me? That is exactly what Joseph forgave his brothers for in the later part of his life. His brothers were still presuming him to be the bratty little brother who lorded over them and tattled on them, the very thing that incited them to harm him in the first place. Because of Joesph's faith in God being the one who determined this course for him and His understanding of God's bigger picture, he not only let go of his own offense but he also let go of his brother's offense of still acting our of their own fear. Wow! And then he graciously continued to show that love and forgiveness with actions as well as forgiveness. "'So therefore, do not be afraid; I will provide for you and your little ones' So he comforted them and spoke kindly to them."
As I am considering my own story, one sentence sticks out - "Do not be afraid, for am I in God's place?" I have been trying to act in God's place by not believing that He has forgiven me and that somehow I still need to do something to keep this person from disliking me. I have missed the sweetness of forgiveness in this relationship. What I need to do now is ask God to cause me to believe His forgiveness for all the times I have offended this brother in Christ. Jesus paid well for this sin and I can not pay for it. Thank You, Jesus. Cause me to forgive this dear brother that has a hard time with me and probably fears what I will do next. Fill me with Your compassion, forgiveness, love and gratitude for him. Cause me to trust You to take what I intended as evil and use it for good in both of our lives.
Lord, we praise You for Your forgiveness and Your work in our lives. You are amazingly able to take what others intend for evil and make it work for good. Cause us to receive these truths in our own hearts as we deal with our own offenses and the offenses of others. |
Verna McCrillis, 2/27/2010 |
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