Job 8-11
As you read Job, here are a couple thoughts to consider:
First, what kind of man was Job? Imagine, he didn't have the Holy Spirit within him and he didn't have a Bible; yet even when God allows this to happen to him, with his friends brutally accusing him, Job holds on to his knowledge of God and it saves him. He was definitely "one of a kind" on the earth.
Second, is it OK for God to use Job like this? Remember the death of Stephen and all those people Paul locked up and voted to kill? Was it OK for God to do that? Is it OK for God to use you like that too, and take away all you have? Does God somehow become unjust and unfair?
Job 8
V. 3 Bildad the Shuhite (shoe-height) was one of those short men of the Bible.
The topic of justice is where Job and his friends run off course. They all had the view that things, such as what Job was experiencing, came as the result of sin and God's justice. One thing to think through for yourself is if it was unjust or "wrong" for God to do what He did to Job. What "rights" do we really have?
V. 4 Notice this jab at what happened to Job's kids.
Job 9
V. 2 Job uses the words of Eliphaz's vision about a man being righteous in the sight of God. Job wants to know how you might appeal God's "judgment." He was now assuming that was what had happened.
What is so interesting in all of what Job says, is that he is only inches from the truth. He understands God's wisdom in creation. When God speaks to Job in the last chapters, He will use much of what Job says here to correct Job. Job doesn't understand that "bad things" do not mean he sinned. Job doesn't understand that in His wisdom, love and purpose, God can bring hardship into our lives without being unfair and unjust.
In reading this I got a twinge of what Paul says in Romans 9:20: "But who are you, a man, to answer back to God?" I'd bet that Paul knew these verses in Job.
Vs. 19-22 This is where Job steps out of bounds. He accuses God of destroying the blameless and the wicked in judgment. Job is right in that he was blameless. He was wrong in assuming God had judged Him. Although Job didn't see the bigger picture we saw at the beginning, it still was a matter of trust. Understanding that God could not pervert justice would have led him to silence, trusting God, knowing he had not been judged by God, but not knowing why this had happened to him. In a sense, the fact that his friends were judging him and accusing Job of sin, nudged Job in this direction. Job hadn't cursed God, but now he was showing the limits of his understanding and trust of God. Job was accusing God of injustice.
V. 23 These are hard words against God. Remember that Job had lost all of his children at one time. He is still mourning.
Job 10
V. 2 Here Job's understanding of God runs aground. God wasn't contending against him.
Vs. 12-13 This is like accusing God of having always been waiting for Job to slip.
What is interesting is that even though Job had a limited understanding of God's goodness and justice, he held it so tightly that, even in this tragedy, it really kept Job out of trouble. Somehow he never doubted his innocence and God's character. He just couldn't put it together. Could we have done any better even though we know more than Job did and we have the Spirit?
Job 11
Vs. 1-12 Zophar gets nasty with Job. In fact, all of his friends will get meaner and meaner as they desperately try to "save" him.
Vs. 13-20 This is another version of "turn to God and He will turn to you," except that Job hadn't turned away from God.
1 Corinthians 15:1-28
Vs. 1-11 There is a lot of great stuff in these verses. Enjoy.
Notice the "tension" of Paul's working: it was God's grace, but he worked hard. The Spirit wrote these words saying that Paul worked harder than, literally, "all" of them. Yet, it was the grace of God working in Paul. There is a reason why most of Acts is about God's work through Paul, but it's God's working, not Paul's. Paul understood that God drove him.
In 2 Corinthians we'll see more clearly that Paul was being put down by others in Corinth as a 2nd rate apostle.
The point in this section is the final verse, "whether then it was I or THEY. So WE preach, and so you believed."
Vs. 12-19 As I suggested earlier in the letter, Paul wrote with emotion and I think there is some emotion here. And, the logic is very tight. If you have some time, try reading this chapter out loud a few times. This is a great portion of Scripture.
Vs. 20-28 Notice that there is no mention of Satan here. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. Paul will talk about death's defeat one more time in this passage. One interesting note is that when Jesus talks about the church, He says, "the gates of Hades will not prevail against it." The gates of Hades were looked at as the entrance to death, not the office building of the bad angels. The gates of Hades were like the "broad gate" to destruction, or like an open mouth ready to devour those who had died. Obviously it preaches better if those gates are the military headquarters of the enemy, but in the resurrection, "Death is swallowed up in victory." What to do? Preach both.
Among the people we are trying to reach in the harvest, the fear of death reigns. The promise in Christ is life.
Hebrews 2:15 and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong bondage.
Psalm 38
V. 2, 5, 10-11 Doesn't this sound like Job?
Reading this you can see that what Job's friends were saying was biblical, but horribly misapplied to Job.
Since we are not Job, we need psalms like this to encourage us to confess our sin and trust God for His forgiveness and love. The video below isn't this psalm, but it is in the spirit of all the psalms we're reading.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Dg55eP4zw8
Proverbs 21:28-29
Vs. 28 I guess this not only means that false witnesses die with their lies and that truth endures, but it also speaks of the legacy of these two men in the lives of others.
Vs. 29 Again, the idea here is truth. The upright doesn't need to do stuff or live in a way where he has to pretend that things are other than they are.
If you’re reading along and don’t have a One Year Bible, click on this link Every Day in the Word. If that doesn't work, go to http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/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 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.
No comments:
Post a Comment