Job 28-30
At this
point in Job the temptation is to go, "Whatever!" or "Oh, be
quiet." But let's not be like his friends. There is still some fun to be
had. As you go through these chapters, do some exercise. "You mean like do
25 pushups and 25 squats after each chapter?" Good thought. No, Bible
study exercise. Underline words that are repeated and look for organization in
the arguments. These chapters work out well for that.
Job 28
First,
read the chapter through and see if you can figure out where Job is going. Look
for key verses where Job takes his "search" one step further.
If you've
done that, or just want a shortcut, then read these verses one after the next
and you'll understand the organization. Verses 1, 12, 20, 23, 28. Wasn't that
fun? That's what you begin to notice if you read your Bible year after year.
Vs. 1-11
Man can do all of this in finding wealth and commanding the earth's resources.
Vs. 12-13
But man can't find wisdom. Not only that, man (including you and me) doesn't
realize how important wisdom is, and at this point, neither does Job.
Vs. 14-19
Wisdom isn't found in wealth.
Vs. 20-22
Not only is it hidden from the living, but also from death and those who are
dead. Interestingly enough, man's great adversary in the Bible is not Satan,
but death. In 1 Corinthians 15:26, Paul and the Spirit say the last enemy to be
put to death is death. Death, in a sense, will also swallow Satan. But as big
and powerful as death is, there is no wisdom to be found there.
Vs. 23-28
Job says that wisdom is found with God and it begins with the fear of the Lord. This is all very interesting, since God will
say this to Job. God will not justify one inch of what happened to Job or tell
him why He allowed it. All God will do is say that His wisdom, as Job says, is
not to be questioned. Added to this, of course, is that Job knew of God's love
and righteousness. Job will say later, in light of God's wisdom, he should have
just kept quiet. Of course, too, if Job wrote Job, then God let him in on the
conversations with Satan that began the adventures. That information would have
helped Job broaden his understanding of God and of what is happening on earth.
Job 29
Job is not
only mourning the good ol' days, but he is also recounting, honestly, that he
was really a very cool guy and a helper of many. The word to guide you here is
probably I. Follow it and you'll follow Job through his photo album.
Vs. 1-6
Who wouldn't miss those days? Job was only months removed, but he has suffered
losses that none of us could imagine. Notice that the real focus here was Job's
relationship with God. Even in Jesus' suffering, the hardest part was enduring
His Father's wrath, becoming sin for us.
Vs. 7-17
Job was loved not just because the wisdom of God was in him, but because he was
a man of action, protecting the poor, the widows, the blind, the lame and the
needy. Job was a man of God.
Vs. 18-20
I guess we would all hope for this. This was Job's expectation of how the story
would end.
Vs. 21-25
Since the wisdom and grace of God were on Job, he was sort of like Solomon,
only utterly righteous before the Lord. His word was sought after and God made
him like that.
In all of
what we read here, it seems a little self-promoting. I think that Job was
pushed to this by his enemies, just as Paul will be pushed, in 2 Corinthians,
to blow his horn a little. On the other hand, Paul was given a thorn in the
flesh, a messenger of Satan, to keep him humble. I think that this humbling
process was also a part of what was happening to Job. Job hadn't sinned, but I
think that God knew that without a lesson in humility, Job would have fallen.
Tomorrow Elihu will begin talking and he will suggest this.
Job 30
Now look
for now.
Vs. 1-8
Not everyone appreciated Job's godliness. Now that Job was suffering, the
rabble roused themselves to howl at him. Of course, we can also see God's
wisdom in this. We saw in Esther that for the short time, when the enemies of
the Jews thought they could kill the defenseless Jews, they stepped out in
their arrogance and showed the world who they were. That was a wise way for God
to smoke them out and get them to voice their hate and pride. The same thing
had happened here.
Vs. 9-15
Apparently these people were made bold to spit and do all sorts of stuff
because God humbled Job.
Vs. 16-19
This is how Job felt. He felt poured out; because, in his mind, God had cast
him in the mire.
Vs. 20-23
This change will be pretty obvious to you because Job starts saying you.
Job is wrong here, but we know more about the behind-the-scenes story than Job
does.
Vs. 24-31
Job now seems to be summing up the past three chapters, lamenting how life has
totally crashed in on him. Here he is crying for help in the same way that
those he had helped had cried for help, and wonder of wonders, no help came.
There was no Job to help Job. God Himself allowed Job's mean friends to assault
him. God Himself held Job's help back. Why? So we would have this book and have
to struggle with God's use of our lives in light of the plan of redemption
going on, on our planet.
If you
were in a discipleship group, you'd be discussing what you found in these
chapters.
I know it
is hard to be patient with Job's entire lament, but there is something for us
in this as disciples. There is deep suffering on this planet, and there is
suffering as we follow Christ. We're reading of Paul's suffering, and in his
responses to the Corinthians, we see that there was a reason for the season of
darkness he experienced. What proves our spiritual maturity and understanding
of God more clearly than when we follow Him through "pitch black"
life and still embrace the love of Christ and the wisdom of God? Anyone can
follow or sound spiritual when everything is great and you're on your way to
Applebee's. For most people on this planet, life resembles Job more than it
does Applebee's. How do you really tell someone to hang on in the storm, unless
you've hung on in the storm? How do you learn how to hang on in the storm,
unless you go through the storm and love and trust Christ, and make Him totally
enough. And it really helps to read Job and Psalms.
2 Corinthians 2:12-17
This is a
very short reading today, but very important for a few reasons.
Vs. 12-13
This is Paul completing the story of his inner conflict with this situation in
Corinth. He has a father's heart for this church and is unable to find rest.
Two things
are interesting here. First, God didn't give Paul rest. Paul couldn't settle
his own heart even though he was a very spiritual guy. That's good to know and
makes me feel better when I can't find rest. Second, there was a door for
ministry opened to him, but Paul still couldn't rest. What kind of minister was
Paul to let his inner conflict ruin his chance to have an impact on these
people? He was normal and his unrest was inspired by the Spirit.
Vs. 14-17
Now this is Paul explaining what he learned in all of that unrest and
conflicting feelings. This is also how Paul dealt with walking away from an
open door. We would not have these verses, if he had not followed the Lord
through this storm in his life. Actually, this entire description of what Paul
learned will continue from here to 7:5, where Paul will begin talking again
about meeting Titus. To me this is amazing. Paul is telling us firsthand what
he learned in the storm, making sense of the problem in Corinth, the unrest in
Asia and the unrest in his own heart. This is not a rabbit trail, but a
divinely planned explanation of what it means to have a servant's heart and
mind in the harvest. This is what God engineered in Paul through his distress.
V. 14
There was turmoil and not knowing what to do, but what Paul learned was that
even in this confusion of heart, God leads. That's pretty cool.
Vs. 14-16
And what about that open door that Paul had to leave? Even for that brief
moment, he saw how Christ used him in the harvest. Although his mind was not at
peace, in Christ, the presence of Paul & Co. and their sincerity still
attracted some and repelled others. God still used them, but involuntarily.
Paul was amazed. With few words and in deep personal unrest, God attracted some
to them and caused others to react with repulsion. They were ready to be used,
but God didn't need their sufficiency. The Father Himself was drawing and
repelling. He was the sufficient one. Paul learned that it didn't all ride on
him. He could allow himself to be weak and trust the Father for the harvest.
(By the way, Paul came back to Troas later.)
V. 17 This
confirmed the truth for Paul against all the accusations (peddlers of God's Word). Note that there is a connection of words
here with those in 1:12. The power came from God and was proven by their
sincerity and their simple message, as they followed Christ in the harvest.
Fruit was borne. Their ministry and its fruit were not based on their cunning,
their market research, wisdom or strength. They loved Christ, followed Him in
the harvest, and God did the rest.
Can God
really use us when we're confused and broken? Do we have an appearance to keep
up? In a moment, God humbled Paul more than he was already humbled. Paul was
already broken, but God made the crack bigger and more fragrance came out. So
now Paul himself was amazed and praising God. That's pretty cool.
Psalm 42
So, this
is the second time this year you've read Psalm 42. Does it have any different
sense for you now, since we're reading Job and 2 Corinthians? In a way, it
seems to me that all of the emotions of waiting, hope and suffering roll
together through all these books. In a way, it intensifies the message of hope
and deliverance.
Vs. 1-2 It
is interesting to me that all those who love the Lord cry out for Him the same
way. Job longed for God's presence. Moses prayed to see God's face, and David
focused his life on wanting to dwell in the Lord's sanctuary.
V. 3 This
is probably David writing this, but it was put to music by the sons of Korah.
David had been anointed when he was about twelve. So in those years running
from Saul, where was God? Later God made a promise to David, but then his own
son sought to kill him. How solid was that promise? Where was God?
In Job's
case, this wasn't just the mocking of those in the community who knew Job, but
his friends stood there accusing him and pointing to God's silence and Job's
suffering as proof of his wrong.
V. 4 It
isn't that we live in the past; it is that we strengthen our hearts in the Word
and stand on the testimony of God's faithfulness as revealed in the Word.
V. 5
Ultimately we need to have our stability in the Lord. Faith that is dependent
on others, or a church or props, will wither in the presence of persecution and
hard times. David, Job, and Paul all hoped in God.
Vs. 6-8
Something about that storm sweeping over the land struck David with God's power
and wisdom. And then David connected it to God's steadfast love that had accompanied him during all the hard years.
That same power that commanded the might of nature commanded the love that had
protected David.
Vs. 9-10
Notice the mention of bones. Then
check out Job 30:17 and 30. In my Bible they are all on opposite pages, so I
can circle each one and connect them with a line. It is interesting that in suffering,
God's silence seems like a wound, and adversaries (Job's friends) intensify the
pain.
V. 11 As
our spirit is alive because of the truth of God, knowing and loving Him, we
command our souls to wait and hope. Even Job was certain that his Redeemer lived.
We know so much more than Job did.
Proverbs 22:7
Is this
saying to stay out of debt or not to get poor? Humanly speaking, I guess this
is true, but it is good to know that the Lord is Lord of them all. To me,
working in the harvest as disciples makes being rich on earth very irrelevant.
And every disciple is a slave to the Lord of all.
If you’re reading along and don’t have a One Year
Bible, click on this link http://www.esvbible.org/devotions/every-day-in-the-word/. If that doesn't
work, go to http://www.esvbible.org/devotions/
and click on “Every
Day in the Word.”
I'm writing these comments to and for those who are
following a One Year Bible and interested in growing deeper as a disciple,
following Jesus in the harvest. My hope is to see the growth of a discipleship
culture in the church. Groups of 3-4 disciples, meeting weekly, encouraging
each other to follow Christ and work to reach out and make disciples who make
disciples. The Bible itself is the most universal manual we have and key to our
growth and service in Christ. Nothing keeps us more focused on why we are here
or what we are to be doing. My comments are only meant to provide some
explanation of the events or to show the flow of God's plan of redemption. My
comments are in no way exhaustive, but are designed to keep us focused on
Christ and our role in His harvest. My hope is that the people in these groups
will grow in Christ and be willing, after a year, to find 3 others to meet with
and encourage in their growth as disciples, disciples making disciples in the
harvest.
If you would like a complete description of this model
of being and making disciples you can find it in my book: Simply
Disciples*Making Disciples. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B011WJIDQA?*Version*=1&*entries*=0
If you would like a more descriptive commentary that is
still readable and concise, I'd recommend the Bible Knowledge Commentary. It's
keyed to the NIV, so the result is the commentators are constantly telling you
what the Greek or Hebrew is. That never hurts.
I am not endorsing any particular One Year Bible; in
fact, I read something you don't, die revidierte Lutherbibel 1984.
Anyone reading along with us is welcome to do so and is
encouraged to take their own notes and make their own observations. If the
comments made do not agree with your particular tradition or understanding,
that's OK. Nothing I've written is meant to criticize any point of view, but
only to express the truth of what God has written to us, as I understand it.
Send comments or feedback to dgkachikis@gmail.com.
If you would like documents containing an entire month
of the Reading Notes, go to https://sites.google.com/site/dlkachikis/reading-notes. You can download
these to use on your computer or to print.
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