Once Revered - Now Jeered - Job 29-30

Once Revered - Now Jeered 

Job 29:21 - 30:1 (ESV)
21 “Men listened to me and waited
and kept silence for my counsel.
22 After I spoke they did not speak again,
and my word dropped upon them.
23 They waited for me as for the rain,
and they opened their mouths as for the spring rain.
24 I smiled on them when they had no confidence,
and the light of my face they did not cast down.
25 I chose their way and sat as chief,
and I lived like a king among his troops,
like one who comforts mourners.
1 “But now they laugh at me,
men who are younger than I,
whose fathers I would have disdained
to set with the dogs of my flock.

The only way we can understand the above passage is to remember the very beginning of the book of Job and what God said about Job to start the story:

Job 1:1 (ESV)
Job's Character and Wealth
1 There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job, and that man was blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil.

Job was a man of character and integrity.  God said so.  This is why we can read the above passage and not disdain Job for his boasting.   We need to rejoice in God’s understanding of Job.  Job, however, feels like the victim at this point. He feels as though God has forsaken him. He remembers the days that he was full of success and was revered by others.   Until he wasn’t.   When God allowed Satan to touch Job and his family and his wealth, Job’s status in the community was remarkably changed.  Once revered, he was now jeered.  God had allowed Job to experience a complete turn around in his life.  This was truly a test of his character, but more importantly, his faith.   Note what else he says about his plight:

Job 30:9-10 (ESV)
9 “And now I have become their song;
I am a byword to them.
10 They abhor me; they keep aloof from me;
they do not hesitate to spit at the sight of me.

God can allow tragedy to touch any over our lives.  He can allow us to be brought from riches to rags and back again (as He does with Job).   Our responsibility is to walk in faith no matter what.  Let us be as resolved as Solomon:

Proverbs 30:7-9 (ESV)
7 Two things I ask of you;
deny them not to me before I die:
8 Remove far from me falsehood and lying;
give me neither poverty nor riches;
feed me with the food that is needful for me,
9 lest I be full and deny you
and say, “Who is the LORD?”
or lest I be poor and steal
and profane the name of my God.

Does God Sleep and Forget Us? Psalms 42-44

Does God Sleep and Forget Us?

Psalms 42:3 (ESV)
3 My tears have been my food
day and night,
while they say to me all the day long,
“Where is your God?”

Psalms 42:9-10 (ESV)
9 I say to God, my rock:
“Why have you forgotten me?
Why do I go mourning
because of the oppression of the enemy?”
10 As with a deadly wound in my bones,
my adversaries taunt me,
while they say to me all the day long,
“Where is your God?”

Psalms 44:23 (ESV)
23 Awake! Why are you sleeping, O Lord?
Rouse yourself! Do not reject us forever!

David is in a bad spot.   These verses all tell us that David is in a place of feeling abandoned, forsaken, attacked and alone.  These verses are probably in the context of Saul pursuing him. Or, it could be when his son Absolom tried to overflow his kingdom.   If we were to read only these verses we might be inclined to answer the above question, that, yes, God does sleep and slumber and neglects to care for us.   Yet, we also have this verse, found in Psalms:

Psalms 121:1-4 (ESV)
1 I lift up my eyes to the hills.
From where does my help come?
2 My help comes from the LORD,
who made heaven and earth.
3 He will not let your foot be moved;
he who keeps you will not slumber.
4 Behold, he who keeps Israel
will neither slumber nor sleep.

We do not have a contradiction of Scripture here.  What we have is the reality of feelings in the light of Biblical truth.   David is being pursued.   He “feels” as though God has rejected him and abandoned him.  Yet, just because we feel it does not make it true.  God does not expect us to NOT feel.  We will feel what our bodies feel. On the cross Jesus felt pain and sorrow.   In the garden he prayed that this bitter cup would be removed and he would not have to drink death.   Feelings are part of what we are as God’s created imagers.   Yet, we can’t allow our feelings to capture our doctrine, our truth.    We live in the world where feelings run people’s thoughts, hearts, minds and mouths.  Yet, God wants us to remember His truth.   This is why, along with the above verses, states the following in this song:

Psalms 42:4 (ESV)
4 These things I remember,
as I pour out my soul:
how I would go with the throng
and lead them in procession to the house of God
with glad shouts and songs of praise,
a multitude keeping festival.

Psalms 42:6 (ESV)
6 and my God.
My soul is cast down within me;
therefore I remember you
from the land of Jordan and of Hermon,
from Mount Mizar.

David forced his mind to remember the great things of God and about God and what God has already done for him.   That work in the mind balanced and even cleared the work of the feelings.  Feelings and emotion are real. They are as real as anything else we have in our lives.  But, we ought not to allow them to be the rudder of our lives.   They do not chart our course.   They make the path we are on enjoyable or difficult, but they don’t change the truth that God has not, will not and cannot fall asleep on our problems.   His character will not allow that, even if our feelings want to cause us to think it.   

God Has to Intervene so Peoples Know Him - Exodus 5-8

God Has to Intervene so Peoples Know Him

Exodus 7:5 (ESV)
5 The Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD, when I stretch out my hand against Egypt and bring out the people of Israel from among them.”

After any disaster and/or crushing event, we often hear people ask, “Where was God?”   We seem to hear this when we see something bad happen to us or in the world around us.   The philosopher would say that God is either lacking in power to prevent these bad things to happen to mankind, or, He has power and is just uninterested in intervening.  But, God might have another answer/reason that we see stated in the above verse.   This verse is taken out of the passage where God is telling Moses to go to Pharoah (the leader of the Egyptian world), to release God’s people (Israel).  Pharaoh does not want to let the people go, as he has free slave labor to build his kingdom.   God wants to make a point to Pharaoh and to Egypt.  God wants to let them know just Who He is.   Earlier, Pharaoh had ask:

Exodus 5:2 (ESV)
2 But Pharaoh said, “Who is the LORD, that I should obey his voice and let Israel go? I do not know the LORD, and moreover, I will not let Israel go.”

God is about to show him who He is.  In fact, that is the point of all the miracles.   God is going to show these Egyptians, through the disasters He brings upon their nation, just who God is.   But, the Egyptians are not the only people God is speaking to.  Note:

Exodus 6:2-5 (ESV)
2 God spoke to Moses and said to him, “I am the LORD. 3 I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as God Almighty, but by my name the LORD I did not make myself known to them. 4 I also established my covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan, the land in which they lived as sojourners. 5 Moreover, I have heard the groaning of the people of Israel whom the Egyptians hold as slaves, and I have remembered my covenant.

Not only will Egypt know God through theses disasters, so, too, will the nation of Israel.   God, at times, creates disaster to show His power and His intervention in the lives of mankind.   

Isaiah 45:5-7 (ESV)
5 I am the LORD, and there is no other,
besides me there is no God;
I equip you, though you do not know me,
6 that people may know, from the rising of the sun
and from the west, that there is none besides me;
I am the LORD, and there is no other.
7 I form light and create darkness;
I make well-being and create calamity;
I am the LORD, who does all these things.

Perhaps we would be wise to quit apologizing for God and give Him credit for the disasters.  He uses them to make His name known and to causes mankind do repent and do His will.   

Make a Decision - But Base it on Scripture - 1 Corinthians 11

Make a Decision - But Base it on Scripture

1 Corinthians 11:13 (ESV)
13 Judge for yourselves: is it proper for a wife to pray to God with her head uncovered?

Apparently, in the early church, there was a dispute about a man and a woman’s hair and the covering of their head, while in a church gatherings.   We have to realize, at first, the “church” did not meet like we meet today.   They meet in homes and in smaller groups.  They did not have buildings like we have today.   We are not exactly certain about the problem Paul is addressing.  That makes the interpretation of this section of Scripture.    

Isn't Paul telling right here to make the "judgement for yourself?"   He is not making it mandatory, whatever he is saying in the proceeding passages.  What we do know is the following:

1. Something was happening with dress in the early church that became disruptive to the church and to the pure worship of Christ.   Paul wants to correct that.  

2. Paul, in verses 2-12 gives us arguments to understand that, in his eyes and, more importantly, in God’s eyes, men and women are distinctively different and but mutually the same and co-equal before God. 

3. Paul azures from a theological argument, a natural argument, and philosophical argument that the truth of #2 should be considered when making the decision about dress and entire and appearance.  

4. When it comes down to making the decision, Paul is allowing the church to “judge for yourself.”   Although he begins by commending them for following his teachings  (vs. 2), he allows them to make the decision they need to make for their body of believers.   

However, Paul uses three compelling arguments to state his case that women, in the church, have different roles and thereby should be dressed appropriately to reflect those roles.  His arguments are:

1. God created a hierarchy:  1 Corinthians 11:3 (ESV) 3 But I want you to understand that the head of every man is Christ, the head of a wife is her husband, and the head of Christ is God.

2. God’s order of creation: 1 Corinthians 11:7-9 (ESV) 7 For a man ought not to cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God, but woman is the glory of man. 8 For man was not made from woman, but woman from man. 9 Neither was man created for woman, but woman for man.

3. God’s way of procreation:  1 Corinthians 11:11-12 (ESV). 11 Nevertheless, in the Lord woman is not independent of man nor man of woman; 12 for as woman was made from man, so man is now born of woman. And all things are from God.

Paul does not get into social norms, unless we understand this verse to be speaking about how men dressed and groomed in those days:

1 Corinthians 11:14-15 (ESV)
14 Does not nature itself teach you that if a man wears long hair it is a disgrace for him, 15 but if a woman has long hair, it is her glory? For her hair is given to her for a covering.

Paul is first and foremost driven by arguments from Scripture and sound doctrine.   He wants them to make their own decision about this.  But, he wants them to follow strong, Biblical doctrine and teaching.   We are free to make decisions in our church about the “grey” areas of life.  But, we are not free to use our own logic to do so.  We are bond by the principles of Scripture.  Decide what we want, but don’t violate Scripture in the process.   

The Gain of the World Brings NO Profit - Mark 7-8

The Gain of the World Brings NO Profit

Mark 8:35-37 (ESV)
35 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel's will save it. 36 For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? 37 For what can a man give in return for his soul?

We spend a lot of energy in this world “gathering.”   We engage much of our time and expend much of our energy accumulating.   We tend to value those who have more and, mostly, tend to think less of those who have little.   Somehow we are fooled into believing that the more we have the better people we are.   We would do well to read more of Solomon’s life experiment in the book of Ecclesiastes.  Here the riches man on the planet discovered and stated the following:

Ecclesiastes 2:11 (ESV)
11 Then I considered all that my hands had done and the toil I had expended in doing it, and behold, all was vanity and a striving after wind, and there was nothing to be gained under the sun.

Jesus, in a conversation with his disciples, lays out the futility of riches and the world’s offerings.   It should be noted that Jesus is NOT telling them the world should be shunned or avoided or ridiculed.   We are in the world and Jesus died for those in the world.   We are to go into the world and teach the Gospel.  What Jesus is telling us concerns our loyal to it, our passion for it, and our worship of it.   Remember, the disciples had left all to follow Jesus.   Jesus is not condemning them.  Jesus is telling them as they move forward to build the church and navigate the world, to be careful and not allow the enticements of the world to trap us and fool us.  The world offers a peace that can be very deceptive.  It is a false peace that does not reconcile us to God. Jesus came to reconcile us to God by resolving the wrath between God and man and to provide a peace only the Spirit can provide.   Don’t be fooled by the world.  It can’t add profit to your life.   It is only a credit on your account, not a debit.  

God Fights for Us!! - Jeremiah 7-11

God Fights for Us!!

Jeremiah 11:18-23 (ESV)
18 The LORD made it known to me and I knew;
then you showed me their deeds.
19 But I was like a gentle lamb
led to the slaughter.
I did not know it was against me
they devised schemes, saying,
“Let us destroy the tree with its fruit,
let us cut him off from the land of the living,
that his name be remembered no more.”
20 But, O LORD of hosts, who judges righteously,
who tests the heart and the mind,
let me see your vengeance upon them,
for to you have I committed my cause.

21 Therefore thus says the LORD concerning the men of Anathoth, who seek your life, and say, “Do not prophesy in the name of the LORD, or you will die by our hand”— 22 therefore thus says the LORD of hosts: “Behold, I will punish them. The young men shall die by the sword, their sons and their daughters shall die by famine, 23 and none of them shall be left. For I will bring disaster upon the men of Anathoth, the year of their punishment.”

In the above passage, we read about a plot to kill Jeremiah by the priest of Anathoth.   Jeremiah actually comes from the town of Anathoth:

Jeremiah 1:1 (ESV)
1 The words of Jeremiah, the son of Hilkiah, one of the priests who were in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin,

Jeremiah’s message to the nation of Israel and to their political and spiritual leadership was one of doom and gloom.  Jeremiah was communicating God’s displeasure, especially with the priest:

Jeremiah 7:1-3 (ESV)
Evil in the Land
1 The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD: 2 “Stand in the gate of the LORD'S house, and proclaim there this word, and say, Hear the word of the LORD, all you men of Judah who enter these gates to worship the LORD. 3 Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Amend your ways and your deeds, and I will let you dwell in this place.

God is warning the priest to repent and He will allow them to continue to serve in their capacity.  If not, He will remove them.  Their response?   The above passage tells us their response.   They plotted evil against Jeremiah.  An evil, that according to verse 19, would, “.. cut him off from the land of the living.”  

God, instead, cuts them off.  Note in verse 23 that God states, “For I will bring disaster upon the men of Anathoth ... !”    God sees those who plot against His messengers and makes sure we are aware of it.  God avenges us.   We are not take matters into our own hands.  Note:

Romans 12:17-19 (ESV)
17 Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. 18 If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. 19 Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.”

We don’t have to worry about these dangers in life if we are walking in God’s plan and God’s promises. It is He who fights for us:

Exodus 14:14 (ESV)
14 The LORD will fight for you, and you have only to be silent.”

The Wicked Lose! - Job 27-28

The Wicked Lose!

Job 27:13-17 (ESV)
13 “This is the portion of a wicked man with God,
and the heritage that oppressors receive from the Almighty:
14 If his children are multiplied, it is for the sword,
and his descendants have not enough bread.
15 Those who survive him the pestilence buries,
and his widows do not weep.
16 Though he heap up silver like dust,
and pile up clothing like clay,
17 he may pile it up, but the righteous will wear it,
and the innocent will divide the silver.

Late in the 1990s there was a popular sticker to put on your the bumper of your car, especially a fast, fancy car.  It read:

THE ONE WHO DIES WITH THE MOST TOYS, WINS!!

That was the philosophy back then.  It is now.  And, apparently it was in Job’s day.   In these two chapters of Job, the wounded and broken man is still responding to his three “friends.”  They have disparaged him and diminished him and damned him, believing that his situation of distress was all caused by his hidden wickedness.  They are wrong, because Job was innocent.  Which is what he claims in the beginning of chapter 27.    But, as he begins to unfold his argument he points out (almost in agreement with them) that the wicked will lose everyone in the end.  Though they heap up possessions like piling clay upon clay, they will not be around to enjoy them.   The person who wins in the end is the one who understands the value of wisdom and where it comes from.  To close out these two chapters, note what Job states after talking about the emptiness of the wicked man’s pursuits as compared to the value of gaining God’s wisdom:

Job 28:23-28 (ESV)
23 “God understands the way to it,
and he knows its place.
24 For he looks to the ends of the earth
and sees everything under the heavens.
25 When he gave to the wind its weight
and apportioned the waters by measure,
26 when he made a decree for the rain
and a way for the lightning of the thunder,
27 then he saw it and declared it;
he established it, and searched it out.
28 And he said to man,
‘Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom,
and to turn away from evil is understanding.’”

There is no comparison.  The wicked lose out in the end.   All the toys in the world could not measure up to a thimble of God’s wisdom.   Gain wisdom, lose the toys.