Tuesday, March 5, 2019

#658 Gold





Then Job answered and said:

2 “Today also my complaint is bitter;
my hand is heavy on account of my groaning.
3 Oh, that I knew where I might find him,
that I might come even to his seat!
4 I would lay my case before him
and fill my mouth with arguments.
5 I would know what he would answer me
and understand what he would say to me.
6 Would he contend with me in the greatness of his power?
No; he would pay attention to me.
7 There an upright man could argue with him,
and I would be acquitted forever by my judge.

8 “Behold, I go forward, but he is not there,
and backward, but I do not perceive him;
9 on the left hand when he is working, I do not behold him;
he turns to the right hand, but I do not see him.
10 But he knows the way that I take;
when he has tried me, I shall come out as gold.
11 My foot has held fast to his steps;
I have kept his way and have not turned aside.
12 I have not departed from the commandment of his lips;
I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my portion of food.
13 But he is unchangeable,[b] and who can turn him back?
What he desires, that he does.
14 For he will complete what he appoints for me,
and many such things are in his mind.
15 Therefore I am terrified at his presence;
when I consider, I am in dread of him.
16 God has made my heart faint;
the Almighty has terrified me;
17 yet I am not silenced because of the darkness,
nor because thick darkness covers my face. Job 23 ESV


Job is a man of God, this is the most sacred relationship, his bitterness, not the sores anymore, but the loss of communion with God. It is more crushing to feel left, forgotten, to not be able to make your case before the One Who could see that you are telling the truth. These other physicians have treated you for cancer when you don't have cancer. They cannot hear, there is still no comfort, so you cry Abba, but whimpering and low, where has He gone?

“In Job’s uttermost extremity he cried after the Lord. The longing desire of an afflicted child of God is once more to see his Father’s face. His first prayer is not, ‘Oh that I might be healed of the disease which now festers in every part of my body!’ nor even, ‘Oh that I might see my children restored from the jaws of the grave, and my property once more brought from the hand of the spoiler!’ but the first and uppermost cry is, ‘Oh that I knew where I might find HIM — who is my God! that I might come even to his seat!’” (Spurgeon)

He has not stopped looking for God in all this, and this is wise, for we are so much in our own eyes that we refuse to seek even though we are promised to find, to knock and have the door opened. We are not given a time frame for this search, nor told how many times to knock, but we are told to repent and believe. This is the heat of day that withers most away, but Job seems to be on the rise, to hold his case as good, his hope has not completely fallen away. He says, when He hath tried me I will come forth as gold. That is more than a small hope, why, because Job has had a relationship with God, he knows that God is still aware of Him, that God is sovereign, and this will be over. He must hold fast, and make way for the apostle when he writes that all things work together for the good, he must love God, not for all the things that He let Job tend for Him, but for Who He is. This is refining fire, proofing, the scales, what faith is there that would be considered so great or remarkable, yet untested? Hold on dearest Job, God is honoring you where men would only see dishonor. Jesus said, even as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of man be lifted up. Faith without works is dead.

Job is confident that his feet have followed after God, he has tried to put his sandal within those footprints as best he could, even in the dark, so he is ever hopeful, yet knowing that God cannot be moved by any man, he is in awe. It is a fearful thing, the thought of facing someone that you want to see, yet cannot begin to fathom. It is all the more precious being able to read this and every other Word that God has given us, faith comes by such hearing, hearing the Word of God. 


32For the pagans strive after all these things, and your Heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you. 34Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Today has enough trouble of its own.…Matthew 6: 32-34










#657 That Same Mouth






Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said:

2 “Can a man be profitable to God?
Surely he who is wise is profitable to himself.
3 Is it any pleasure to the Almighty if you are in the right,
or is it gain to him if you make your ways blameless?
4 Is it for your fear of him that he reproves you
and enters into judgment with you?
5 Is not your evil abundant?
There is no end to your iniquities.
6 For you have exacted pledges of your brothers for nothing
and stripped the naked of their clothing.
7 You have given no water to the weary to drink,
and you have withheld bread from the hungry.
8 The man with power possessed the land,
and the favored man lived in it.
9 You have sent widows away empty,
and the arms of the fatherless were crushed.
10 Therefore snares are all around you,
and sudden terror overwhelms you,
11 or darkness, so that you cannot see,
and a flood of water covers you.

12 “Is not God high in the heavens?
See the highest stars, how lofty they are!
13 But you say, ‘What does God know?
Can he judge through the deep darkness?
14 Thick clouds veil him, so that he does not see,
and he walks on the vault of heaven.’
15 Will you keep to the old way
that wicked men have trod?
16 They were snatched away before their time;
their foundation was washed away.
17 They said to God, ‘Depart from us,’
and ‘What can the Almighty do to us?’
18 Yet he filled their houses with good things—
but the counsel of the wicked is far from me.
19 The righteous see it and are glad;
the innocent one mocks at them,
20 saying, ‘Surely our adversaries are cut off,
and what they left the fire has consumed.’

21 “Agree with God, and be at peace;
thereby good will come to you.
22 Receive instruction from his mouth,
and lay up his words in your heart.
23 If you return to the Almighty you will be built up;
if you remove injustice far from your tents,
24 if you lay gold in the dust,
and gold of Ophir among the stones of the torrent-bed,
25 then the Almighty will be your gold
and your precious silver.
26 For then you will delight yourself in the Almighty
and lift up your face to God.
27 You will make your prayer to him, and he will hear you,
and you will pay your vows.
28 You will decide on a matter, and it will be established for you,
and light will shine on your ways.
29 For when they are humbled you say, ‘It is because of pride’;[c]
but he saves the lowly.
30 He delivers even the one who is not innocent,
who will be delivered through the cleanness of your hands.” Job 22 ESV


Eliphaz ask a good question, but maybe ask yourself, or do not be so quick to run with this as an application here. Who is profitable to God? Who does God need?

“Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been His counselor?” 35“Who has first given to God, that God should repay him?” 36For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever! Amen.…Romans 11: 34-36

So, and I agree, God does not need me to behave righteously, it is the least that I can do, and as the law is for the lawless it is also the wisest for me to do. Even the most heathen among us, myself when I asked God to look elsewhere, that this was my life somehow, please have nothing to do with me, even I enjoyed the peace of the saints who did right around me. I benefited from the lives of those who loved me just because I was made in God's image, though I held Him in great disdain. There are those all around who have benefited from God's laws, like thou shalt not kill, and the adaptation and enforcement of such laws, even by those most liberal of governments, has influenced good. But consider from Him (the Father), through Him (the Son) and to Him (the Holy Spirit) are all things. We come into being by the Creator through His Word and come back to Him by the enabling of His Spirit. Existence is from Him, forgiveness is through Him and salvation is by Him. What does Eliphaz miss here? It's true, God does not need men to be, for He is "I Am", and He is infinite so what He is by attributes, Holy, Just, Loving, these He is also infinitely. Eliphaz points out that Job can do nothing good that God would owe him for. I agree thus far, but then he goes on to accuse Job specifically of crimes that he feels would invoke God's wrath. In verse 6, he accuses Job of basically enslaving his own family, leaving them naked and afflicted. 

12If he is a poor man, you must not go to sleep with the security in your possession; 13be sure to return it to him by sunset, so that he may sleep in his own cloak and bless you, and this will be credited to you as righteousness before the LORD your God. 14Do not oppress a hired hand who is poor and needy, whether he is a brother or a foreigner residing in one of your towns.…Deuteronomy 24:12-14

Before Moses penned these things down, the patriarchs had these words close to their bosom. He says God is not impressed with Job's supposed righteousness on the one hand, but then works hard at demonstrating that this is because of your unrighteousness, and then he throws a hundred darts, hoping that one will stick. You did not give water to the thirsty, you withheld food from the hungry. You took from those who had and gave to those you favored. You abused your power, and blessed those who did not earn it by other than kissing up to you. Look at the fatherless and the widow, how you left them empty handed. Whatever was in your power to do good, you chose to keep to yourself, at the calamity of others. "A flood of water covers you," you are basically as those in the days of Noah, but even worse, because you know the example of this, and yet still fortify yourself against my sound judgment. Of course it is beautifully written and well put, and all those things would be horrible to be accused of, which as a Christian, you will be accused, but search yourself, make sure it is not true of your life, Job's actions showed this to be a lie, for God called him, "blameless." 

But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? 1 John 3:17

He goes on in wonderful verse that we should all consider, do you think God cannot see you? Men may love darkness, as they cling to evil, but do you really think that there is any place to go where you may escape the eye of God? He ask Job to look again at the old way, the flood of Noah's time, those who were not in the ark were swept away. They told God to depart from them, they enjoyed all the things that life had here, their houses were full, but He was the provider of life itself, it all belonged to Him. What was left of them, who rebelled in that time, were they not consumed, and here I think he refers him to Sodom and Gomorrah. He seems to attempt at holding a very firm causation, yet acknowledging Job cannot impress God either. I wonder that this does not in some way comfort him, like the Pharisees cleaning the outside of the cup. I am not guilty of smoking crack, have not laid waste any widow's houses today, I own no slaves, well at least none that are my brothers or sisters, and gave the orphan a shilling or whatever they used back then. It would be too scary to acknowledge Job as a good man that this calamity has fallen on, especially if I remember him right, was maybe a better man than me. Ah, these are the good old days though, for if we look to the example of Christ, that God looks at the heart, then there is hardly anything that I could not be accused of, though I may comfort myself directly, would I not be guilty then indirectly? If all have sinned and what God has called sin is, then don't my very thoughts condemn me? Forget about your friends or your earthly accusers, God is infinitely Holy and Just. 

For whatever hypocrisy we may find in Eliphaz, his last words are good in a universal sense, and God can make even Balaam say what is good, or a donkey stop a fool in his tracks. Lord, I do agree with You, I want to know Your words as I think Job did too. I don't want my house to be found in hypocrisy, so forgive us our sins and lead us away from them, let us see it as in affront to You and let our affections be ever to You. Let me put Your word above gold, and let me see that it is not this world's riches, but rather Your grace that is everything to me. Let the things of this world grow strangely dim, since my treasure is laid up with You. May we be so blessed in my family as to always be humble before You, for You give grace to the lowly. To thine be the Glory, the Honor and the Praise, Amen.









#656 Cataracts







Then Job answered and said:


2 “Keep listening to my words,
and let this be your comfort.
3 Bear with me, and I will speak,
and after I have spoken, mock on.
4 As for me, is my complaint against man?
Why should I not be impatient?
5 Look at me and be appalled,
and lay your hand over your mouth.
6 When I remember, I am dismayed,
and shuddering seizes my flesh.
7 Why do the wicked live,
reach old age, and grow mighty in power?
8 Their offspring are established in their presence,
and their descendants before their eyes.
9 Their houses are safe from fear,
and no rod of God is upon them.
10 Their bull breeds without fail;
their cow calves and does not miscarry.
11 They send out their little boys like a flock,
and their children dance.
12 They sing to the tambourine and the lyre
and rejoice to the sound of the pipe.
13 They spend their days in prosperity,
and in peace they go down to Sheol.
14 They say to God, ‘Depart from us!
We do not desire the knowledge of your ways.
15 What is the Almighty, that we should serve him?
And what profit do we get if we pray to him?’
16 Behold, is not their prosperity in their hand?
The counsel of the wicked is far from me.


17 “How often is it that the lamp of the wicked is put out?
That their calamity comes upon them?
That God distributes pains in his anger?
18 That they are like straw before the wind,
and like chaff that the storm carries away?
19 You say, ‘God stores up their iniquity for their children.’
Let him pay it out to them, that they may know it.
20 Let their own eyes see their destruction,
and let them drink of the wrath of the Almighty.
21 For what do they care for their houses after them,
when the number of their months is cut off?
22 Will any teach God knowledge,
seeing that he judges those who are on high?
23 One dies in his full vigor,
being wholly at ease and secure,
24 his pails full of milk
and the marrow of his bones moist.
25 Another dies in bitterness of soul,
never having tasted of prosperity.
26 They lie down alike in the dust,
and the worms cover them.


27 “Behold, I know your thoughts
and your schemes to wrong me.
28 For you say, ‘Where is the house of the prince?
Where is the tent in which the wicked lived?’
29 Have you not asked those who travel the roads,
and do you not accept their testimony
30 that the evil man is spared in the day of calamity,
that he is rescued in the day of wrath?
31 Who declares his way to his face,
and who repays him for what he has done?
32 When he is carried to the grave,
watch is kept over his tomb.
33 The clods of the valley are sweet to him;
all mankind follows after him,
and those who go before him are innumerable.
34 How then will you comfort me with empty nothings?
There is nothing left of your answers but falsehood.” Job 21 ESV


Job's tone seems to have changed from despair to resolve, he will now demonstrate that he has listened to them and listened well. They have stated over and over their doctrine of prosperity, and have judged Job by these sophomoric attempts to connect the outside calamity to his inward person. He understands also that they will probably continue to mock him, but his argument is not with them so much as it is with God. They are the accusers, the challengers, but Job will break down all of their points. They act as if God is in this box that they open and peer into with ease, that He is so simply figured out. In order to hold their assumptions about God, they are ignoring that:
1. The wicked do often prosper and it is a question asked often.

Are You not from everlasting, O LORD, my God, my Holy One? We will not die. O LORD, You have appointed them to execute judgment; O Rock, You have established them for correction. 13Your eyes are too pure to look on evil, and You cannot tolerate wrongdoing. So why do You tolerate the faithless? Why are You silent while the wicked swallow up those more righteous than themselves? 14You have made men like the fish of the sea, like sea creatures with no ruler.…Habakkuk 1:12-14

2. The wicked often reach old age and some have come to power and ruled for a long time. We can see this in our own time, where men rule, then their son and grandson, all for the love of power more than for people, wanting, demanding to be adored rather than adoring truth. They swallow up the poor, they destroy men more honorable than themselves. Here is the sad thing of human nature, men see the unkindness towards others, but are easily flattered when that same wicked man shows them a different side. "He was nice to me," they say. It shows the ideal of their heart is not truth, the fairness that they proclaim, justice, but that their souls are easily purchased away from the ideas of right and wrong, that the sufferer must deserve the suffering and the abuser is in the right. Job's friends seem more and more greedy and envious all the time. 

These are the things you must do: Speak truth to one another, render true and sound decisions in your gates, 17do not plot evil in your hearts against your neighbor, and do not love perjury, for I hate all these things,” declares the LORD. Zechariah 8: 16-17

3. Some of the wicked not only die in old age, but peacefully and are shown great honor in death, in the memories of other men. Job wonders why this is, why isn't the judgment of God more swift? It is much better to admit this, that I don't understand, rather than toss upon the spiritual and eternal your desired religion, an idol that acts upon your knowledge and whim. God will answer Job soon enough, and blessed are those that seek rather than those that suppose. King Hezekiah sought Godly advice, and he laid out the letter of his enemy before the Lord, "Look God, we must say, look, I don't understand, I am outnumbered and only You can deliver me. This is beyond my resources, yet I know You allow all things that happen and are Sovereign in all things."  


4. Job knows how they will answer, as if the proof is in their pudding, but he has also come to realize that he can't convince them. He wonders too, why don't you act more quickly God, but they say, "look, God does, where is your tent and children, Job?" In going on with them, in continuing this, he becomes a witness to them. He cannot be the Holy Spirit to them though, only a humbled voice, trying to find reason and finding that it is not with men, but with God. Lord, I must ask, please give me wisdom, but also patience. Let us love in spirit and in truth. 

The men who were holding Jesus began to mock Him and beat Him. 64They blindfolded Him and kept demanding, “Prophesy! Who hit You?” 65And they said many other blasphemous things against Him.…Luke 22: 63-65













Monday, March 4, 2019

#655 They All Thought They Were Saying Something





Then Zophar the Naamathite answered and said:


2 “Therefore my thoughts answer me,
because of my haste within me.
3 I hear censure that insults me,
and out of my understanding a spirit answers me.
4 Do you not know this from of old,
since man was placed on earth,
5 that the exulting of the wicked is short,
and the joy of the godless but for a moment?
6 Though his height mount up to the heavens,
and his head reach to the clouds,
7 he will perish forever like his own dung;
those who have seen him will say, ‘Where is he?’
8 He will fly away like a dream and not be found;
he will be chased away like a vision of the night.
9 The eye that saw him will see him no more,
nor will his place any more behold him.
10 His children will seek the favor of the poor,
and his hands will give back his wealth.
11 His bones are full of his youthful vigor,
but it will lie down with him in the dust.


12 “Though evil is sweet in his mouth,
though he hides it under his tongue,
13 though he is loath to let it go
and holds it in his mouth,
14 yet his food is turned in his stomach;
it is the venom of cobras within him.
15 He swallows down riches and vomits them up again;
God casts them out of his belly.
16 He will suck the poison of cobras;
the tongue of a viper will kill him.
17 He will not look upon the rivers,
the streams flowing with honey and curds.
18 He will give back the fruit of his toil
and will not swallow it down;
from the profit of his trading
he will get no enjoyment.
19 For he has crushed and abandoned the poor;
he has seized a house that he did not build.


20 “Because he knew no contentment in his belly,
he will not let anything in which he delights escape him.
21 There was nothing left after he had eaten;
therefore his prosperity will not endure.
22 In the fullness of his sufficiency he will be in distress;
the hand of everyone in misery will come against him.
23 To fill his belly to the full,
God will send his burning anger against him
and rain it upon him into his body.
24 He will flee from an iron weapon;
a bronze arrow will strike him through.
25 It is drawn forth and comes out of his body;
the glittering point comes out of his gallbladder;
terrors come upon him.
26 Utter darkness is laid up for his treasures;
a fire not fanned will devour him;
what is left in his tent will be consumed.
27 The heavens will reveal his iniquity,
and the earth will rise up against him.
28 The possessions of his house will be carried away,
dragged off in the day of God's wrath.
29 This is the wicked man's portion from God,
the heritage decreed for him by God.” Job 20 ESV


Zophar has heard Job speak and is offended, but assures us that his answer won't be from his hurt, but rather in the spirit of understanding. Then as pretty as it is, it is still the same premise as before. Job has been convicted by a jury here of his peers and the evidence is his present poor circumstances under the scope of a traditional interpretation of such as his just reward. He presents his case that this is an old story, we have seen the wicked come into power before, but their end is not good. I agree with him, it is better to be humble and poor here, then wicked and rich. Job has not been brought low for his wickedness, but it is not in the realm of Zophar's ideology to venture that all these things may be working to the good of one who loves God. Did Christ go straight to a throne, or did He not first crush all this line of thinking, when God place His eternally begotten inside of the womb of a young girl? He took on the form of sinful man, as Adam and Eve put on the skins of animals. He, Who knew no sin, became sin for us. If it is mercy that you seek then you may see this, if it is riches in the finite, the pleasures of a season, or the applause of men, then you may be offended by all of this.

What could put you here Job? Well let's see, you have probably stolen the lunch of the poor man and it was sweet going down, but now it is sour in your belly. You obviously took what didn't belong to you and that is how you became rich, you enjoyed your season, but now it is time to pay for your crimes against humanity.

Job is again a straw man before so many true sayings that are not here applicable. Zophar has little in the way of compassion, but it becomes even sadder, that all he knows of God's blessing seems to be bound only to this time, the material, the breadth of a man's life here. Gold is the only measure of God's blessing, health is owed to the righteous, and if Job enjoyed it, it was a deception, that this is your only reward. It is cruel because it speaks lightly of the things that happened to Job as well, your friend looking down his nose at the loss of your children. Where are the facts of what you say, Zophar? Who has Job mistreated, stolen from, taken advantage of? We need apply everything we say to ourselves first, remove that moat from our own eyes, before we go after that splinter in our friend's. Don't hate them, hate their hypocrisy so much so that you will not tolerate it in yourself.















#654 Abandoned






Then Job answered and said:


2 “How long will you torment me
and break me in pieces with words?
3 These ten times you have cast reproach upon me;
are you not ashamed to wrong me?
4 And even if it be true that I have erred,
my error remains with myself.
5 If indeed you magnify yourselves against me
and make my disgrace an argument against me,
6 know then that God has put me in the wrong
and closed his net about me.
7 Behold, I cry out, ‘Violence!’ but I am not answered;
I call for help, but there is no justice.
8 He has walled up my way, so that I cannot pass,
and he has set darkness upon my paths.
9 He has stripped from me my glory
and taken the crown from my head.
10 He breaks me down on every side, and I am gone,
and my hope has he pulled up like a tree.
11 He has kindled his wrath against me
and counts me as his adversary.
12 His troops come on together;
they have cast up their siege ramp[a] against me
and encamp around my tent.


13 “He has put my brothers far from me,
and those who knew me are wholly estranged from me.
14 My relatives have failed me,
my close friends have forgotten me.
15 The guests in my house and my maidservants count me as a stranger;
I have become a foreigner in their eyes.
16 I call to my servant, but he gives me no answer;
I must plead with him with my mouth for mercy.
17 My breath is strange to my wife,
and I am a stench to the children of my own mother.
18 Even young children despise me;
when I rise they talk against me.
19 All my intimate friends abhor me,
and those whom I loved have turned against me.
20 My bones stick to my skin and to my flesh,
and I have escaped by the skin of my teeth.
21 Have mercy on me, have mercy on me, O you my friends,
for the hand of God has touched me!
22 Why do you, like God, pursue me?
Why are you not satisfied with my flesh?


23 “Oh that my words were written!
Oh that they were inscribed in a book!
24 Oh that with an iron pen and lead
they were engraved in the rock forever!
25 For I know that my Redeemer lives,
and at the last he will stand upon the earth.[b]
26 And after my skin has been thus destroyed,
yet in[c] my flesh I shall see God,
27 whom I shall see for myself,
and my eyes shall behold, and not another.
My heart faints within me!
28 If you say, ‘How we will pursue him!’
and, ‘The root of the matter is found in him,’[d]
29 be afraid of the sword,
for wrath brings the punishment of the sword,
that you may know there is a judgment.” Job 19 ESV


Words are the worse sort of weapons at times, a punch to the face or a kick in the gut would be much kinder than the harshness of someone you thought to be a brother and a friend. 10 times, and he wonders that they have no shame, that they still accuse. Even if it is true that there is some great sin here, then Job owns that alone, they are free to be his comforters, but continue to throw darts instead. If they want to continue to say it is Job's great sin, against his opposing argument, then take care, for if this plague is against me then know it is from God. I think they see it as from God as well given their own arguments, but they are certain that it is God's justice, and Job must warn them, that if this is justice for the life I have led, then where does that leave you?


18 There is one whose rash words are like sword thrusts,
but the tongue of the wise brings healing. Proverbs 12:18

Verses 8 through 12 are a city siege in reverse, and he sees God as against him and yet also God as the only One Who can help him. Those who were close to him like his family and present company, would now rather denounce him, disown him, and not answer him. Like Christ there was no beauty to be desired here, so it was easier to be ashamed of him, to hide from him for fear of association. They go on but the cock has not yet crowed here. It is depressing to know how you really stand with men, what little darkness it takes to scare away most, what little laughter and reproach will bind most of the rest, but Job knows somehow, he knows this and it seems quite prophetically, "my Redeemer lives." The word used is (goel), his defender, champion, avenger. You do not know my heart, but my Redeemer does, and be sure He has seen me, knows that I have asked for understanding, for help. He will come and I will see Him. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow, He is with me. He realized his need for an advocate in earlier chapters, but this is a far off, the One Who will pay his debt as a kinsman redeemer, but who will also avenge his suffering. 
















Sunday, March 3, 2019

#653 Dark Reasoning






“How long will you hunt for words?
Consider, and then we will speak.
3 Why are we counted as cattle?
Why are we stupid in your sight?
4 You who tear yourself in your anger,
shall the earth be forsaken for you,
or the rock be removed out of its place?


5 “Indeed, the light of the wicked is put out,
and the flame of his fire does not shine.
6 The light is dark in his tent,
and his lamp above him is put out.
7 His strong steps are shortened,
and his own schemes throw him down.
8 For he is cast into a net by his own feet,
and he walks on its mesh.
9 A trap seizes him by the heel;
a snare lays hold of him.
10 A rope is hidden for him in the ground,
a trap for him in the path.
11 Terrors frighten him on every side,
and chase him at his heels.
12 His strength is famished,
and calamity is ready for his stumbling.
13 It consumes the parts of his skin;
the firstborn of death consumes his limbs.
14 He is torn from the tent in which he trusted
and is brought to the king of terrors.
15 In his tent dwells that which is none of his;
sulfur is scattered over his habitation.
16 His roots dry up beneath,
and his branches wither above.
17 His memory perishes from the earth,
and he has no name in the street.
18 He is thrust from light into darkness,
and driven out of the world.
19 He has no posterity or progeny among his people,
and no survivor where he used to live.
20 They of the west are appalled at his day,
and horror seizes them of the east.
21 Surely such are the dwellings of the unrighteous,
such is the place of him who knows not God.” Job 18 ESV


It is pretty useless to answer pride with pride, but even worse to answer despair with pride, to trade insult for insult. You cannot cast off the title of bully in such conversations. Bildad is accusing Job of pride, but clearly defends his own ego here. He basically thinks that Job still needs to repent, and his inability or unwillingness to do so or see the necessity of is arrogance. In the minds of his friends, Job is disrespecting what they think is sound advice. Job is asking for things outside the natural order they believe, it is because he is wicked that he cannot see. He is in darkness. It is his own fault, he has chosen this, devised it by acting wickedly. This is your karma they say, they unbind themselves by the separation of self righteousness, and rightly so they measure, for we still have our houses, children and cattle. We are good men, and things are the proof. Everything that is happening to you happens to the unrighteous, this is justice. Once they admit the hand of God then they must concede also a perfect and just right. They see the hand, but it is in response to Job's actions, this is the only acceptable and reasonable explanation in their minds. 


So Pilate questioned Him, “Are You the King of the Jews?” “You have said so,” Jesus replied. 3And the chief priests began to accuse Him of many things. 4Then Pilate questioned Him again, “Do You not answer? Look how many charges they are bringing against You!”…Mark 15: 3-4










Saturday, March 2, 2019

#652 Up




“My spirit is broken; my days are extinct;
the graveyard is ready for me.
2 Surely there are mockers about me,
and my eye dwells on their provocation.


3 “Lay down a pledge for me with you;
who is there who will put up security for me?
4 Since you have closed their hearts to understanding,
therefore you will not let them triumph.
5 He who informs against his friends to get a share of their property—
the eyes of his children will fail.


6 “He has made me a byword of the peoples,
and I am one before whom men spit.
7 My eye has grown dim from vexation,
and all my members are like a shadow.
8 The upright are appalled at this,
and the innocent stirs himself up against the godless.
9 Yet the righteous holds to his way,
and he who has clean hands grows stronger and stronger.
10 But you, come on again, all of you,
and I shall not find a wise man among you.
11 My days are past; my plans are broken off,
the desires of my heart.
12 They make night into day:
‘The light,’ they say, ‘is near to the darkness.’[a]
13 If I hope for Sheol as my house,
if I make my bed in darkness,
14 if I say to the pit, ‘You are my father,’
and to the worm, ‘My mother,’ or ‘My sister,’
15 where then is my hope?
Who will see my hope?
16 Will it go down to the bars of Sheol?
Shall we descend together into the dust?” Job 17


Blessed are the poor in spirit, for I am at my end, where else can I look? My friends will only mock me, there is no comfort there. He is crying out to God for a treaty, a covenant of peace between himself and heaven, but asking God to supply the security for his side as well. His friends cannot help because God does not open their hearts to see, and Job recognizes something profound in this, that they shall not prevail. They continue in their slander.

Job describes himself as a byword, and this would be true even now, none would ever seek such humiliation, but rather we ask that God not have such conversations about us. It is an interesting theater, and Job plays the part of one who would be mocked and spit on later, He would be the security for Job. 

He then reminds himself of the righteous, he steadies himself to maintain clean hands, to hold on to his integrity. We should know the truths of scripture, the promises of God, faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. Job is up and down with the pangs of affliction, but there is a glimmer here, that he sees himself the winner, as overcoming, if he can just hold on. Their are righteous men who find this appalling. We find our truest friends at the lowest point of our humility. Continue in the truth, hold fast to God, for He has the only answers, sees all things. It is a hard road here, but there is so much to learn from the man who became a byword, the story that God used to teach angels. 



Therefore, having been justified by faith, [a]we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and [b]we exult in hope of the glory of God. 3 And not only this, but [c]we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; 4 and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope; 5 and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us. Romans 5: 1-5












Friday, March 1, 2019

#651 Will You Represent Me That I May Be Represented By You






Then Job answered and said:


2 “I have heard many such things;
miserable comforters are you all.
3 Shall windy words have an end?
Or what provokes you that you answer?
4 I also could speak as you do,
if you were in my place;
I could join words together against you
and shake my head at you.
5 I could strengthen you with my mouth,
and the solace of my lips would assuage your pain.


6 “If I speak, my pain is not assuaged,
and if I forbear, how much of it leaves me?
7 Surely now God has worn me out;
he has made desolate all my company.
8 And he has shriveled me up,
which is a witness against me,
and my leanness has risen up against me;
it testifies to my face.
9 He has torn me in his wrath and hated me;
he has gnashed his teeth at me;
my adversary sharpens his eyes against me.
10 Men have gaped at me with their mouth;
they have struck me insolently on the cheek;
they mass themselves together against me.
11 God gives me up to the ungodly
and casts me into the hands of the wicked.
12 I was at ease, and he broke me apart;
he seized me by the neck and dashed me to pieces;
he set me up as his target;
13 his archers surround me.
He slashes open my kidneys and does not spare;
he pours out my gall on the ground.
14 He breaks me with breach upon breach;
he runs upon me like a warrior.
15 I have sewed sackcloth upon my skin
and have laid my strength in the dust.
16 My face is red with weeping,
and on my eyelids is deep darkness,
17 although there is no violence in my hands,
and my prayer is pure.


18 “O earth, cover not my blood,
and let my cry find no resting place.
19 Even now, behold, my witness is in heaven,
and he who testifies for me is on high.
20 My friends scorn me;
my eye pours out tears to God,
21 that he would argue the case of a man with God,
as a son of man does with his neighbor.
22 For when a few years have come
I shall go the way from which I shall not return. Job 16 ESV


Yes, what goes up must come down, so it must be my fault, I sat under this apple tree. You are miserable comforters, I could do the same thing to you if the roles were reversed, we could make everything about this, swap sayings of the ancients, I know the same things you know. Why can't Job just vent, why can't they admit even the possibility of not comprehending this situation? This is the locust, the frogs, mosquitos and hail, all the words that come with no mercy. It is the insult upon the injury.

Job could say the same things to his friends if they were found in this same way, but I do not believe after this that he would. If pain doesn't teach us empathy then we are of all people lost not to a lack of self esteem, but to it's over indulgence.



You win God, for though we know there to be another adversary, yet even so it is to God's purpose. I am worn out, there is nothing left. When he speaks of God making his company desolate, I think it isn't the loss of family or servants, but rather the empty vessels of mercy that cast so many pearls of wisdom before him. Look at these scars, the wounds are deep both in my flesh and my soul, a battle that I could not win has been fought. My "friends" see it as the testimony against my integrity, but I am at a loss, there is no violence committed on my part, but look at my injuries. This takes the mind down trails through Psalm 22 and Isaiah 53. Christ suffered the insult from His own people, they would not accept that His suffering could be to God's greater good. Job's contention that he is without blame here goes without consideration, he must be guilty of great treason against the God of the universe, as Christ must be as well to become the object of God's wrath. When he says his gall is poured on the ground, this would resound of the poetry that speaks to the end. His face is red as Christ tears were blood in the garden, for he is also at the point of breaking. His prayer has remained pure though, he is still faithful to God, though he does not agree with his friends assessment of his situation, though You slay me, I will still praise You, for You are God, and he has wanted to be the friend of God.

I need an advocate, someone to stand before God knowing of me what these men do not know. I need God to take up my case, for these that talk as though they represent Him, are only pretending. Even the most well meaning among us is too blind, for if they could see my heart they would know that I did not wish, set out, or do to become the enemy of God. I have loved God, and so I hope, like Abel, that my blood will not disappear unnoticed, but that it will cry out. Life is not long enough for me to figure it out, what I thought I knew not long ago has become bitter now in my ears. 
                                                         

For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus,
6 who gave himself as a ransom for all people. This has now been witnessed to at the proper time. 1 Timothy 2: 5-6