Monday, June 27, 2016

Job 5:17-27 - Understanding God's Discipline

Job 5:17-27
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.
19 “From six troubles He will deliver you,
Even in seven evil will not touch you.
20 “In famine He will redeem you from death,
And in war from the power of the sword.
21 “You will be hidden from the scourge of the tongue,
And you will not be afraid of violence when it comes.
22 “You will laugh at violence and famine,
And you will not be afraid of wild beasts.
23 “For you will be in league with the stones of the field,
And the beasts of the field will be at peace with you.
24 “You will know that your tent is secure,
For you will visit your abode and fear no loss.
25 “You will know also that your descendants will be many,
And your offspring as the grass of the earth.
26 “You will come to the grave in full vigor,
Like the stacking of grain in its season.
27 “Behold this; we have investigated it, and so it is.
Hear it, and know for yourself.”


Message: Understanding God's Discipline

Time: The time of Job is unclear and commonly debated. Often the language of the book can give clues. It seems to be that Job had a lifespan of close to 200 years as Job 42:16 says he lived 140 years after the events in the book.

What the Lord is Saying:

From the Bible, wisdom involves knowing truth and then rightly applying that knowledge (from TableTalk). And truth is key here as a word for it also means that what you are seeking to know is the truth. There are many religions in this world that have their origin not on truth and not on truth from the Bible. And for those people what is often a tragedy is their application, albeit good has a non-truth origin. This has been one of the key tragedies of life. People spend much of life in application mode but rooted in the wrong place. 

But, back to the idea from TableTalk, once you know truth, one must rightly apply the truth in life. To me, it also interesting how many people side with the truth of the Bible and will quote verses and yet apply them in situations that are outside the context of the verse. But there isn't always necessarily a 1:1 ratio in regards to truth. The same truth may be applied differently, depending on the situation.

In the passage today, Job is on the aftermath of experiencing heartbreak, having lost his possessions and the people in his life and even his own health and dignity. He still praises God and still believes that God is over him, but he also begins to wonder why he was even born. God will be God no matter what. 

Job's friends enter and we start off with Eliphaz. In chapter 4, Eliphaz presented the idea that bad outcomes are because of good sowing. Life may have this appearance at times, but it is not always the case. In fact, I think many people see the complete injustice of there being a God with they see bad outcomes from good people, thinking that God is only allowed to be the God we want or think he should be. 

Here in chapter 5 is another instance of misapplication.

Verse 17 and 18 speak the truth that the Lord's discipline is something we can accept. Discipline reminds us we are God's children.

Now, just a note here, the issue with Job was he was being disciplined despite the presentation that he hadn't done anything wrong, per se, to have that discipline. I don't think any of us struggle with being disciplined when it is direct result of sin; the issue here is discipline that doesn't have to do with sin.

The word here in verse 17 is “correcteth” (יכח yâkach ) meaning to argue, convince, reprove, punish, and to judge. Does God sometimes ordain pain in our lives? Does God discipline people or correct them, not because they have done something wrong, but just because? I believe he does. Jesus was scourged for our sins and yet he did nothing wrong. Some people in life get a lot of good things just because.

God shows his love for us in that while we are sinners he dies for us. God overwhelms us with good despite the fact that we have been bad. We freely accept this, but not the reverse, receiving bad when we haven't done anything to merit it.

Promise: When the Lord disciplines us, it could be the result of sin, but it may be also to show us that he is sufficient. 

Wednesday, June 15, 2016

Jesus Calling: June 15

When you approach Me in stillness and in trust, you are strengthened. You need a buffer zone of silence around you in order to focus on things that are unseen. Since I am invisible, you must not let your senses dominate your thinking. The curse of this age is over-stimulation of the senses, which blocks out awareness of the unseen world.
     The tangible world still reflects My Glory, to those who have eyes that see and ears that hear. Spending time alone with Me is the best way to develop seeing eyes and hearing ears. The goal is to be aware of unseen things even as you live out your life in the visible world. 

2 Corinthians 4:18
English Standard Version

as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.

Isaiah 6:3
English Standard Version

And one called to another and said:
“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts;
the whole earth is full of his glory!”

Psalm 130:5
English Standard Version

I wait for the Lord, my soul does wait,
And in His word do I hope.

My Prayer
Lord, help me to not focus on temporary things, but to have an eternal focus. Train me Lord each day in your ways so that I reflect you. I want to wait for You. Forgive me for my impatience and wanting everything right now. I get trained too often in this world for immediate gratification. Sometimes I don't know how to wait. My day ends up being a success based upon how I feel or see my world that day. Lord, I need to lean on you and see what you see in people and life. Strengthen me so that every day is expressing that the whole earth is full of your glory. 

Note: The devotion and scriptures are from author Sarah Young. If you haven't already, please purchase the book and support the author. 

Also, bookmark https://bibletags.blogspot.com/2019/06/jesus-calling-366-days.html to have an easy link to the entire year of these entries.

Monday, June 13, 2016

Job 4:7-11 - The Response of Eliphaz

Job 4:7-11
“Remember now, who ever perished being innocent?
Or where were the upright destroyed?
“According to what I have seen, those who plow iniquity
And those who sow trouble harvest it.
“By the breath of God they perish,
And by the blast of His anger they come to an end.
10 “The roaring of the lion and the voice of the fierce lion,
And the teeth of the young lions are broken.
11 “The lion perishes for lack of prey,
And the whelps of the lioness are scattered.

Message: The Response of Eliphaz

Time: The time of Job is unclear and commonly debated. Often the language of the book can give clues. It seems to be that Job had a lifespan of close to 200 years as Job 42:16 says he lived 140 years after the events in the book.

What the Lord is Saying:

Review
Chapter 1 and 2 opened up this book with the proclamation of a great man - Job - Job; and that man was blameless, upright, fearing God and turning away from evil. And then enter in Satan and the sons of God (angels) roaming on the earth and they came before God. This is interesting for it should remind us that there is a another world going on beyond what we can see. Ephesians 6:12 says, "For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places."

I still am not sure I know and understand this. I still do not comprehend this unseen world that is going on. Naturally, I suppose, it is a challenge, because it is unseen. But Satan and the sons of God (angel) are all about this unseen world. They are roaming the earth. 

In this instance in Job, God says, "Have you considered my servant Job?" 

Overview
In the commentaries I've read about the three friends of Job that show up, it mentions that there words have some truth to them, but they also do harm. In my first reading of Chapter 4, there are some interesting phrases but overall I'm left with the feeling that Eliphaz is saying to Job that it is odd how Job has been a life long encouragement to others when they experience trials, but now based upon Chapter 3 his outcry is one of anger in his birth and wishing he had never been born. Verse 6 states, "Is not your fear of God your confidence, and the integrity of your ways your hope?"

So perhaps through verse 6 Eliphaz words are fitting and okay.  

But in verse 7 Eliphaz switches to words that say basically a person's actions in life result in their outcome. In verse 7, the innocent do not perish nor are the upright destroyed. So those who live squeaky clean lives do not perish or are destroyed. While those that live bad lives perish; "those who sow trouble harvest it." And yet chapters 1 and 2 show that Job's loss of possessions and family and his own health was the result of Satan's hand. So at times, we cannot say that the loss we experience is the result of a bad life led. Eliphaz is wrong to set up this karma like situation in life. Karma is, by definition, the sum of a person's actions in this and previous states of existence, viewed as deciding their fate in future existences. 

I remember being at an LDS service, that I agreed to go to after missionaries came to our church, where several people stood up in their pulpit and offered this idea, that our actions decide our fate. I get confused by this because Galatians does talk about reaping what you sow, but I don't think we can say that those who are righteous will never experience malady for this is what happened to Job who lived an upright life and yet he experienced difficult situations. So, I guess the LDS person could be right but not in a formulaic manner. In all these situations we must trust God for the outcome. It is true, sometimes it will seem unfair to us. We will want to see the 1:1 correlation. And yet what Eliphaz expresses is man's honest reflection sometimes based upon what he sees. In our eyes, there is a correlation between works and outcomes.

Eliphaz concludes his talk, in the verses following verse 12 speaking of a vision that he received. Verses 12-16 simply talk about the process of receiving the vision and then in 17-21 is the vision and the central idea of this vision is realizing the proper place of man before God. Mankind cannot be just before God. Man and God are different. Man is not pure, especially before God. 

But then Eliphaz goes on. I think what's missing in this chapter is the relationship God has with man. Man and God are viewed as completely distinct, that they each carry on their lives separate from one another. Their is no bridge whereas in Chapters 1 and 2, Job a blameless and upright man still received calamity and God remained in community with Job. So Eliphaz wasn't seeing the entire picture. Despite what our eyes see at any one moment, community is possible between God and man. Despite what we see and naturally conclude, God does find value in man whatever his circumstances. His grace is not looking for good people, but God's grace is given irregardless of man's condition and life lived. This is what Eliphaz misses. Yes, man and God are separate in their natures, but God is still with man.

Promise: Tabletalk states here -- the presence of sin means that sometimes people suffer the effects of the fall in ways that are unrelated to their specific, personal sin. While our suffering may be due to a specific sin, this is not always the case, and we should not assume that our pain automatically means that God is displeased with us. Always, God is there to rescue man.

Friday, June 10, 2016

Job 3 - Job's First Lament

Job 3
Afterward Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth.  And Job said,
“Let the day perish on which I was to be born, and the night which said, ‘A boy is conceived.’ May that day be darkness; let not God above care for it, nor light shine on it. Let darkness and black gloom claim it; let a cloud settle on it; let the blackness of the day terrify it.
“As for that night, let darkness seize it; let it not rejoice among the days of the year; let it not come into the number of the months. Behold, let that night be barren; let no joyful shout enter it. Let those curse it who curse the day, who are prepared to rouse Leviathan. Let the stars of its twilight be darkened; let it wait for light but have none, and let it not see the breaking dawn; because it did not shut the opening of my mother’s womb, or hide trouble from my eyes.
“Why did I not die at birth, come forth from the womb and expire? Why did the knees receive me,
and why the breasts, that I should suck? For now I would have lain down and been quiet; I would have slept then, I would have been at rest, with kings and with counselors of the earth, who rebuilt ruins for themselves; or with princes who had gold, who were filling their houses with silver.
“Or like a miscarriage which is discarded, I would not be, as infants that never saw light.
“There the wicked cease from raging, and there the weary are at rest. The prisoners are at ease together; they do not hear the voice of the taskmaster. The small and the great are there, and the slave is free from his master. 
Why is light given to him who suffers, and life to the bitter of soul, 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?
“Why is light given to a man whose way is hidden, and whom God has hedged in? 
“For my groaning comes at the sight of my food, and my cries pour out like water.
“For what I fear comes upon me, and what I dread befalls me. I am not at ease, nor am I quiet, and I am not at rest, but turmoil comes.”

Message: Job's First Lament

Time: The time of Job is unclear and commonly debated. Often the language of the book can give clues. It seems to be that Job had a lifespan of close to 200 years as Job 42:16 says he lived 140 years after the events in the book.

What the Lord is Saying: 


After blessing the Lord and after stating that we need to accept the bad as well as the good, Job now turns inward and stares at himself. His 3 friends had just come and shown up. They were Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar. They had sat with him for 7 days without a saying a word for they saw the great pain he was in. We can have a right perspective on things, but it doesn't that it takes the hurt that we have. And chapter 3 seems to be an anthem of that pain and hurt that Job is experiencing. 

Job looks at his birth and sees it as a bad day, after all. He asks for no rejoicing on that day or the night of his birth. He speaks with a lot of feeling of misery and hurt. Yet, in all these words spoken in this lament in Chapter 3, the name of God is not cursed. He is not pointing his finger at God, but simply sunk in thought of despair. But, their still could be an inference of cursing God in his speech for his angered that he even has lived a day. He is almost saying that having lost everything why did he ever have anything at all. 

Promise: From Table talk, By definition, all that God does is good, so we cannot charge Him even implicitly with wrongdoing. Sometimes, it is better not to ask the Lord the question, “Why?” but instead only to ask Him to help us endure our suffering faithfully. God can handle our questions, but we must never ask them arrogantly.

Wednesday, June 8, 2016

Job 2 - Job's Trials Intensify

Job 2
Again there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them to present himself before the Lord. The Lord said to Satan, “Where have you come from?” Then Satan answered the Lord and said, “From roaming about on the earth and walking around on it.” The 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.” Satan answered the Lord and said, “Skin for skin! Yes, all that a man has he will give for his life. However, put forth Your hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh; he will curse You to Your face.” So the Lord said to Satan, “Behold, he is in your power, only spare his life.”
Then 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. And he took a potsherd to scrape himself while he was sitting among the ashes.
Then his wife said to him, “Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die!” 10 But 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.
11 Now when Job’s three friends heard of all this adversity that had come upon him, they came each one from his own place, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite; and they made an appointment together to come to sympathize with him and comfort him. 12 When they lifted up their eyes at a distance and did not recognize him, they raised their voices and wept. And each of them tore his robe and they threw dust over their heads toward the sky. 13 Then they sat down on the ground with him for seven days and seven nights with no one speaking a word to him, for they saw that his pain was very great.


Message: Job's Trials Intensify

Time: The time of Job is unclear and commonly debated. Often the language of the book can give clues. It seems to be that Job had a lifespan of close to 200 years as Job 42:16 says he lived 140 years after the events in the book.

What the Lord is Saying:

You would think the last chapter's events were enough, losing your children and all your possessions, but now once again, Satan is roaming around and the Lord trusts his children. The big line in this passage is "Shall we indeed accept good from God and not accept adversity." This verse is a great reminder and one that I just don't think we really comprehend. I was thinking about this yesterday as I was praying for my kids and adversities I see them going through. I know Megan is dealing with a thorn in the flesh in her life, but I am thankful that she is wanting to follow God all her days. 

I also read through and receive prayer request after prayer request and every request is really "get me out of the tough life and get me into the good life." It is obviously normal to request this in life because there is always something we feel like we need in order to make better. As I read through the Psalms the overriding message is for a clean heart, to be free from the grip of enemies in our lives, and to live a life of obedience with God our father. God is more concerned about our heart than our wallet. 

Even with Job here is the reality that all of his comforts and possessions and even his health can be taken away, but he still has his relationship with God. His strength is still in the Lord. My friend always reminds me of this. I've watched him go through bad cancer this past year and through it all he remains committed to God. 

Job had integrity. He was whole and undivided. His allegiance was to God. He had strong moral principles. Those attributes didn't change despite his circumstances. 

I need to work on this in my life. There is just a general desire to think that everything in life should be good and adversities should be minimized.

Promise: Suffering is a part of life and we need to use that time to think about what God is teaching us.

Wednesday, June 1, 2016

Ecclesiastes 5:18-20 - Enjoyment in our Toil

Ecclesiastes 5:18-20
18 Here is what I have seen to be good and fitting: to eat, to drink and enjoy oneself in all one’s labor in which he toils under the sun during the few years of his life which God has given him; for this is his reward. 19 Furthermore, as for every man to whom God has given riches and wealth, He has also empowered him to eat from them and to receive his reward and rejoice in his labor; this is the gift of God. 20 For he will not often consider the years of his life, because God keeps him occupied with the gladness of his heart.

Message: Enjoyment in our toil

TimeSolomon's authorship is not stated. Solomon's reign as king of Israel lasted from around 970 B.C. to around 930 B.C. The Book of Ecclesiastes was likely written towards the end of his reign, approximately 935 B.C

What the Lord is Saying:

There are two thoughts in these verses

Work is Good
Here is a noble idea -- work is a reward in itself. As you work, as you toil, there is enjoyment. This is one thing that I think our TV culture has gotten right. My wife like the Chicago series of shows on right now -- Chicago Fire, Chicago PD and Chicago Med. I especially enjoy Chicago Med, the last in the series. Granted, this is TV and the shows are make believe and present the best of the best, but they also get it right by showing that working is good for us. There is great enjoyment and satisfaction in doing a good job. As we work, as we toil, there is enjoyment. I need to thank God more for the job he has given me. 

Wealth is Good
I think I understand these verses, in fact, I think this is a verse than many people understand too much. As I read and understand scripture and the role of ministry we are to have in our life, I do think it is important to have a verse like this that reminds us that we do have a right to have enjoyment in the midst of our toil. But, I also think us Americans have shifted to the other extreme of enjoyment. We are eating too much, drinking too much and spending our days just sitting and enjoying. And yet we are not living just a few years of life anymore, but many ears and spending many of these years in this enjoyment. 

Conclusion
But, this verse should also be an anthem to all of those outside of the faith that look into Christianity and think that it is a faith of drudgery and duty. On the contrary, God commands us to enjoy ourselves through these words from Solomon. Life is meant to have enjoyment. I need to remember this, for I think I struggle sometimes taking it easy, but maybe not. Maybe I just take it easy in other ways that to others may look like work. 

Promise: Enjoy the work that you have and the experiences it brings to your life and then enjoy the result of your labor. But do not focus too much on either one.