Tag: Your Data May be Off - Job 3-5

Job 5:27

Behold, this we have searched out; it is true.

Hear, and know it for your good.”

Tag: Could Your Data Be Wrong? 

The first one to respond to Job’s situation and Job’s complaint is Eliphaz.   Job has just spoken out of his pain.  He has told his three friends he wished he was dead ... that he would have died at child-birth, rather than suffer these unspeakable harms.   Eliphaz is going to enlighten Job, however.  In the above verse we see his concluding statement.  All that he has said to Job has been “searched out.”   Yet, notice these comments throughout Eliphaz’s words to Job.  Note the sources for his “searching” out:

Job 4:8

As I have seen, those who plow iniquity

and sow trouble reap the same.

Job 4:12-13

“Now a word was brought to me stealthily;

my ear received the whisper of it.

Amid thoughts from visions of the night,

when deep sleep falls on men,

Job 4:15-16

A spirit glided past my face;

the hair of my flesh stood up.

It stood still,

but I could not discern its appearance.

A form was before my eyes;

there was silence, then I heard a voice:

Eliphaz uses his own observations and his own visions for the basis of his comments to Job.  Even though he, too, suffers from a corrupt and sinful mind, he believes that his own visions and his own dreams should be Job’s marching orders.   Notice what God says about Eliphaz’s words at the end of the book of Job:

Job 42:7

After the Lord had spoken these words to Job, the Lord said to Eliphaz the Temanite: “My anger burns against you and against your two friends, for you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has.

We need to be careful to use our own words and our own observations and our own experiences when we counsel others.  God is not pleased.  We need to make sure that God’s Word is the final authority for our counsel to others.  

Tag: God turns Groaning to Joy - Psalm 3-5

Psalms 5:1-2

Give ear to my words, O Lord;

consider my groaning.

Give attention to the sound of my cry,

my King and my God,

for to you do I pray.

Tag:  God Turns Groaning to Joy

David is the author of this Psalm.  As it opens it is obvious something is happening in David’s life that is causing him to “groan” and “cry” out to God.  Pain is inevitable in the believers life - James 1:2-3!   God did not promise us a life free from groaning and/or pain.   God did promise us a place to go with our groaning.   David sees that God is the resource for his pain and suffering.  We have no idea what his struggle is all about, but we do know WHO he turns to.  He doesn’t turn to family, friend, or fortune to cure his ills.  He turns to the most powerful source possible: His God.  He is not embarrassed to tell God he hurts.  He is not concerned that God will reject him.  It should be noted that David asks God to protect him from those who afflict him.  After acknowledging that God does, indeed, here his cry, David recognizes God sovereign rule and steadfast love.  Nothing changes in David’s circumstances in this short prayer to God.  The prayer is simply by a man who recognizes and confirms to God that he knows God is God and he is not.   In verse eight he doesn’t ask God to change his circumstances, but to guide him through those circumstances:

Psalms 5:8

Lead me, O Lord, in your righteousness

because of my enemies;

make your way straight before me.

He does ask that God take the words of those who are hurting him and turn their corruption back on to them.   But, there is no indication that something changes in his situation.   However, note how the psalm ends:

Psalms 5:11

But let all who take refuge in you rejoice;

let them ever sing for joy,

and spread your protection over them,

that those who love your name may exult in you.

Even though David started the prayer/song out with “groaning,” he concludes with a vision of joy and a posture of worship.   Again, nothing has changed in his surroundings.   Yet, the inside of his heart and mind changed.  He has gone from groaning to joy and exulting God in worship, despite his troubles.  This is the walk of faith for all believers.   God can turn our groaning to rejoicing when we choose to follow Him in faith and recognize His steadfast love in the midst of our struggles.   God is always God, despite the clouds in our day.   We are to recognize that fact an acknowledge that He is able to take the pain in our hearts and turn it into praise and worship.  Joy is the midst of suffering is the believers end:

James 1:2-3

Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.

Tag: Leadership Needs Follower-ship - Joshua 6-10

Joshua 6:10

But Joshua commanded the people, “You shall not shout or make your voice heard, neither shall any word go out of your mouth, until the day I tell you to shout. Then you shall shout.”

Tag:  Leadership Needs Follower-ship

You can’t have leadership without follower-ship.   Every leader needs others to follow them.   Without anyone following you have no leadership.  You are simply out in front by yourself.   Note what one king, Solomon, said about the need for followers when you are a leader:

Proverbs 14:28

In a multitude of people is the glory of a king,

but without people a prince is ruined.

Followers make the leader.   In the above passage we see that Joshua, a new leader, was given followers who would follow hm.  But, this was not because of his great glory.   It wasn’t Joshua’s charisma that caused others to follow.  Nor was it the importance of the mission.  Joshua’s skills, personality, and the mission would be contributing factors.   However, true follower-ship, willing to follow a leader, can only really happen if God causes them to follow.  Note what King David said about his own leadership:

Psalms 144:1-2

Blessed be the Lord, my rock,

who trains my hands for war,

and my fingers for battle;

he is my steadfast love and my fortress,

my stronghold and my deliverer,

my shield and he in whom I take refuge,

who subdues peoples under me.

God "subdued" the people under Joshua so that there was no revolt to His plan through him.  This plan to attack Jericho would not make sense in anyone’s logic.  Walking around a fortified city seven times and then shouting, is not a war-plan taught at any war college.   Yet, the people were “subdued” under Joshua’s leadership.  Follower-ship that submits to leadership is first and foremost subdued by God’s sovereignty- not by the skill of the leader or the passion for the mission.  

Tag: God is Sovereign Over Who Enters The Ark - Genesis 4-7

Genesis 7:16

And those that entered, male and female of all flesh, went in as God had commanded him. And the Lord shut him in.

Tag:  God is Sovereign Over Who Enters the Ark

When we read the story of Noah and The Ark, we sometimes forget that this is a story of judgment on mankind.  We get caught up in the “ark” portion we allow the “wrath” portion to go to the back of our minds.  God is judging mankind for their sins and failure to repent.  He is destroying everything on the earth. When  Noah and his family  entered The Ark, God is said to have shut the door. This is not because of the size of the door, but rather the authority of Who determines who is saved and who is destroyed.  God sent a message to Noah to build The Ark and to save his family.  So Noah obeyed and built The Ark.  Peter tells us that Noah also preached to those around him:

2 Peter 2:5

if he did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a herald of righteousness, with seven others, when he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly;

God is in charge with this operation.  God designed it and God carried it out.  Man had only to be obedient to God’s commands.  It was that simple.  God was responsible for everything else.  Once Noah and his family obeyed by building The Ark and entering The Ark, God would shit them in.  They would be safe and secure.  By shutting them in, God shut the rest of mankind out.  That seems unkind and unloving.  But, remember it probably took Noah 50-75 years to build The Ark.  that is 50-75 years of God being patient and waiting for man to repent.  They heard Noah preach.  They watched Noah build.  They felt the beginning rain (perhaps for a week before the door was shut).  Yet, man did not turn to God.  Noah could build. Noah could preach. Noah could stock the shelves with food. Noah could count the animals.  But, Noah could not keep the door open.  God was sovereign over His plan and He choose to shut the door.  Today God offers Christ to all.   But men refuse to accept God’s salvation from judgment. God is sovereign - but man has a responsibility to respond by faith. 

Here is one commentator’s thoughts:

15-16 Repeats v 9, but more fully. "Of all flesh in … life": cf. 6:17; 7:22. Note the threefold repetition of "come in," "enter". A great stream of male and female creatures enters the ark invisibly controlled. These last two clauses, "as God had commanded him … the Lord shut him in," point to the divine director behind the operation.

Gilgamesh (11:93) mentions that Utnapishtim shut the door. Genesis, by ascribing this action to the Lord, reiterates that Noah was saved by divine grace, not by his wisdom or heroic efforts.

Tag: Judging Others Deserves Judgment - Romans 1-2

Romans 2:1 (God's Righteous Judgment)

Therefore you have no excuse, O man, every one of you who judges. For in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, practice the very same things.

Tag:  Judging others, in itself, is enough to warrant judgement.  

The book of Romans was a letter to the church at Rome. In the church at Rome there were mostly Jewish converts to the Gospel.  In their “Jewishness” they had often thought themselves “special” to God.  They indeed were special (chapters 8-11 talk, specifically, about this special, chooses position by God).   Yet, in their position of being “special” in God’s eyes, they thought that would exempt them from judgement by God.  Note what MacArthur points out in his commentary on this passage:

“They were firmly convinced that God would judge and condemn pagan Gentiles because of their idolatry and immorality but that no Jew would ever experience such condemnation. They loved to repeat such sayings as, “God loves Israel alone of all the nations,” and “God will judge the Gentiles with one measure and the Jews with another.” Some taught that Abraham sat outside the gates of hell in order to prevent even the most wicked Jew from entering. In his Dialogue with Trypho, the second-century Christian Justin Martyr reports his Jewish opponent as saying, “They who are the seed of Abraham according to the flesh shall in any case, even if they be sinners and unbelieving and disobedient towards God, share in the eternal kingdom.”

Paul, immediately, in this letter, points out their own judgment.  In chapter one Paul outlines a variety of sins.  To those sins, any respecting Jew, would yell out a hearty, “AMEN ... Preach it Paul.”   Yet, Paul, without respect of person, points out their own sin of Judging others.   His point will be that since they do the same things (any failure of keeping the WHOLE Law will be a failure to keep the Law), they, too, are subject to judgment.  In fact, he states, that their “passing judgment” on someone else is contrary to thee Law and therefore breaks the Law, inviting judgment.   When we, sinful humans, judge others about their sin, we open ourselves up to judgement, since the Law demands we DON’T judge others.   Paul is NOT messing around with sin.  As a Jew he knew the value of being a Jew.  But, he also knew about the dangers of sin and judging others for their sin.   Judging others puts us in the need of our own judgment.  Do not judge, least you be judged.  

Matthew 7:1-2 (Judging Others)

“Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you.

Tag: Royality Deserves Worship - Matthew 1-2

Matthew 2:11

And going into the house they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh.

Tag:  Royalty Deserves Worship

The above passage is taken from the account of the three wise men visiting Jesus at the time of His birth.   Upon arriving they worshipped Jesus.  Some would lead you to believe that “in addition” to worshiping Jesus they gave Him these three gifts ... as though the gift giving was a separate act of worship.   It would be best to read the verse as one act of worship.   The three wise men show up and worship by falling down and presenting to Him gifts.   True worship includes giving to God what we have, no matter how expensive or necessary.  We are not told how many wise men or why the wise men had the gifts.  Since there were three gifts it is supposed there were three wise men.  We might not assume it was limited to three.  In regard to the gifts, they certainly needed their own wealth to travel.  They did see the start and thought to be a king, so it is reasonable to think, as wise men, they were not going to show up without gifts.   But, once they did show up, they recognized that Jesus was the King of the Universe and the Savior of the World.   They presented gifts worthy of a King.  The gifts would later, probably, be used to finance Mary and Joseph’s next trip to Egypt.  The types of gifts (Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh) were worthy of a king.  The gold is said to represent Jesus’ Royalty; the frankincense represents his Diety; the myrrh for his Humanity.  The wise men worshipped Jesus through their presents, their kneeling and their giving.   

Tag: When Leadership Lacks Community Suffers - Isaiah 1-6

Isaiah 3:1-7 (Judgment on Judah and Jerusalem ... the Loss of Leadership)::

For behold, the Lord God of hosts

is taking away from Jerusalem and from Judah

support and supply,

all support of bread,

and all support of water;

the mighty man and the soldier,

the judge and the prophet,

the diviner and the elder,

the captain of fifty

and the man of rank,

the counselor and the skillful magician

and the expert in charms.

And I will make boys their princes,

and infants shall rule over them.

And the people will oppress one another,

every one his fellow

and every one his neighbor;

the youth will be insolent to the elder,

and the despised to the honorable.

For a man will take hold of his brother

in the house of his father, saying:

“You have a cloak;

you shall be our leader,

and this heap of ruins

shall be under your rule”;

in that day he will speak out, saying:

“I will not be a healer;

in my house there is neither bread nor cloak;

you shall not make me

leader of the people.”

Tag: When Leadership Lacks Community Suffers

The nation of Israel is in a time of judgement under God’s discipline.  As God looks down on the corruption of men he sees the impact of sin.  In the above passage that impact of this sin is the lack of quality leadership (politician; military; business; family; religious) in the community.   The lack of leadership is so poor that even in incompetent do now want to lead - note the last lines - even those have material goods (a cloak ... signifying social status), won’t lead.   Leadership is a great indication of the quality of an organization, a family, and/or a country.   When there is poor leadership the community suffers.  This is God’s message to the nation.  The leaders were already accused by God of leading the people away from His justice:

Isaiah 1:23

Your princes are rebels

and companions of thieves.

Everyone loves a bribe

and runs after gifts.

They do not bring justice to the fatherless,

and the widow's cause does not come to them.

Godly leadership is an indication of a Godly nation, community or family.  Without it, the nation, community or family falls.