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Job

Follow Day 1 Trust Through Tears

January 4, 2021 by Erin O'Neal Leave a Comment

Read His Words Before Ours!

Job 1-2
Job 42
John 9:1-7
Romans 8:26-39
Romans 9:14-24

Follow, Day 1

Conventional wisdom says following God is easy when life is going well. We can trust Him when our circumstances seem to confirm God is good.

But what happens when life doesn’t go as we expect?
What happens to our faith in God when our circumstances seem to push back on our idea of the “goodness” of God?
Can we still trust Him?
Can we still follow God in the midst of suffering?

Job and his friends wrestled together with these questions (sometimes well, and sometimes poorly) throughout the Biblical book of Job. Job’s experience can be difficult for us to read; I find myself asking uncomfortable questions.

Why did God allow all of these terrible attacks against Job?
Why did Job lose everything after he had lived a blameless and upright life?
Didn’t Job deserve better treatment from God?

Job and his friends asked these same questions. Job maintained he was innocent of any wrongdoing, while his friends insisted he must have sinned to deserve the suffering to which he was subjected.

While I am often too afraid or embarrassed to ask these questions, Job was not. He asked and asked why he was suffering. He asked his friends to help him see his wrongdoing, but they could not.

Finally, Job was so discouraged by his circumstances that he began questioning God directly.
“I will say to God, ‘Do not declare me guilty! Let me know why you prosecute me. Is it good for you to oppress, to reject the work of your hands and favor the plans of the wicked?”
(Job 10:2-3)

Overwhelmed by his suffering despite his innocence, Job began to question God’s character. He was honest before God about his struggles, and sought to find answers. He never denied God, but he did question His plans.

When life beats us down, and we wonder where God is, it can be tempting to think we have done something wrong to deserve this hardship. We might consider suffering as a “sign” we have gotten off-track, just as Job’s friends believed his suffering to be a punishment for secret sin.

But this is not how God has revealed Himself. In fact, centuries later, Jesus and His disciples have a conversation about this very idea! The disciples see a man born blind and assume his condition is a direct result of someone’s sin. Jesus corrects their thinking, explaining, “This came about so that God’s works might be displayed in him.” (John 9:3) Jesus reveals the man’s blindness was not a punishment for sin, but a tool God was using to declare His glory.

This is where we can get uncomfortable again.
We ask those troubling questions.

Is God unjust?
Does He inflict pain just because He can?

Of course not! Paul addresses these questions in Romans 9.
“What should we say then? Is there injustice with God? Absolutely not! For He tells Moses, I will show mercy to whom I will show mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. So then it does not depend on human will or effort but on God who shows mercy.” (Romans 9:14-16)

When Job questioned the purposes and wisdom of God, God Himself came down to speak to him. The Lord answered Job, but with more questions. He revealed to Job his own limitations and ignorance.

God asked Job, “Would you really challenge my justice? Would you declare me guilty to justify yourself?” (Job 40:8) He asked Job to explain the whole of the universe, from the stars of the sky, to weather patterns, to the behavior of the animals. God did this, not to be cruel or harsh, but to remind Job of the vastness of His knowledge and power.

We have a limited view of the world. We only see, know, and understand a sliver of His plans, but the Lord knows all. He purposes all things for the good of those who love Him (Romans 8:28), and we can count on this truth.

So, when life is confusing, and doesn’t seem to be going our way, we have a choice. We can choose to question God and wonder if He cares about us. Or we can choose to follow the Lord, trusting His ways are good, even when we can’t see how.

As wise followers of the Lord, we can maintain our devotion to Him even when life seems unfair. God’s vast wisdom is far superior to our own plans.

In the end of the story, Job repented of his self-righteous questioning. Job did not suffer perfectly, but he continued in his faithful pursuit of God’s character, even in his brokenness and despair. Job knew how to follow, because he knew the character of God.

Finally, God not only forgave Job, but also restored to him his fortunes, wealth, and position in his community. While we are not guaranteed a “happy ending” in this life, if we faithfully serve the Lord, we can trust we will receive our reward of eternal life with the Father.

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Posted in: Broken, Character, Faith, Faithfulness, Follow, God, Good, Love, Overwhelmed, Purpose, Pursue, Reveal, Suffering, Trust, Wisdom Tagged: Answered, eternal, goodness, His Glory, honest, Job, questions, reward, tears

Sketched VII Day 14 Journey Of An M: Digging Deeper

March 26, 2020 by Shannon Vicker Leave a Comment

Digging Deeper Days

Finding the original intent of Scripture and making good application to our everyday lives as we become equipped to correctly handle the Word of Truth!

Yesterday’s Journey Study connects with today’s!
Check out Journey Of An M!

The Questions

1) What does God do 2 or 3 times to a person?

2) What Pit is being referred to?

3) What wisdom is going to be taught?

Job 33:29-33

29 God certainly does all these things
two or three times to a person
30 in order to turn him back from the Pit,
so he may shine with the light of life.
31 Pay attention, Job, and listen to me.
Be quiet, and I will speak.
32 But if you have something to say, answer me;
speak, for I would like to justify you.
33 If not, then listen to me;
be quiet, and I will teach you wisdom.

Original Intent

1) What does God do 2 or 3 times to a person?
To discover this answer, we must look back at Job 33:14 and the following dialogue between Elihu and Job. In verse 14, Elihu tells us God speaks over and over again using different methods for us to hear from Him. God is intent on being heard and letting us know Him! If we keep reading, we see God speaking through dreams or visions, afflictions, and through a messenger. Elihu is reminding Job that God is going to speak; He is neither mute nor indifferent.

2) What Pit is being referred to?
If we look to the cross reference for this verse referring the “Pit” in Psalm 56:13, the Pit makes more sense. When studying the Bible, it’s critically important to remember that all of Scripture is tied together and telling one story; we must study it as a whole! Here in the Psalm, David is discussing being rescued from death. It is a turning away from death and towards the light of life, or truth, found only in God. Elihu is claiming he wants Job to hear truth and help Job understand why his circumstances are what they are. He wants to see Job understand the why, while also leading him back to truth of God’s character.

3) What wisdom is going to be taught?
In order to understand wisdom, we must first ask who is speaking in this section of Job. If we look to the beginning of this speech, we see in the heading the speaker is a man named Elihu, one of Job’s friends. Job 32:6 reveals Elihu is a young man, younger than the friends of Job who had already spoken. We can assume Elihu was present for what Job’s friends have all said, but has remained silent up until now. He is now going to share his thoughts on Job’s circumstance with his friend. Expositor’s Bible Commentary says, “he has been present during the whole of the colloquies, and that, having patiently waited his time, he expresses the judgment he has slowly formed on arguments to which he has given close attention.” Expositor’s also says, “Elihu appears to represent the new “wisdom” which came to Hebrew thinkers in the period of the exile.” The wisdom he is getting ready to speak is his own opinion on Job’s circumstance.

Everyday Application

1) What does God do 2 or 3 times to a person?
Elihu reminds Job that not only does God speak, but He does so in different ways. This truth is also a reminder to us. While God speaking doesn’t look the same to us as it did in Job’s day, it doesn’t mean God doesn’t speak. His voice is still alive and well for us to hear. However, we now have access to something Job didn’t, the living Word of God, found in Scripture. The question is, are we listening? Are we opening His Word to hear from Him or are we waiting for a sign in the sky or a message from another source?

2) What Pit is being referred to?
Matthew Henry, biblical theologian, says, “If God did not take more care of us than we do of ourselves, we should be miserable; we would destroy ourselves, but he would have us saved, and devises means, by his grace, to undo that by which we were undoing ourselves.” He desires to save us from the Pit and once redeemed desires to use us as lights for His glory. Without His grace, we would be completely lost and without hope. This is the Pit, eternal separation from God. Our flesh does not have the power to overcome worldly desires on its own, but God doesn’t ask us to do this because He knows it’s an utterly impossible task. Instead, He has already provided the means for salvation providing us a way back to Him. Will you and I accept it?

3) What wisdom is going to be taught?
Just like in Job where we needed to first examine who was speaking to Job. We must also do the same in our lives. Sometimes people will come to us with “wisdom” or opinion they believe we need to hear. However, if the wisdom being spoken is not spoken out of the overflow of a relationship with God and spoken from the perspective of biblical truth, it isn’t actually wisdom at all. The wisdom being spoken to Job wasn’t based in truth and therefore it wasn’t wisdom. The same is going to happen in our lives. When we know if the words being spoken are grounded in God’s truth we can then evaluate if they are words that are actually pouring wisdom into our lives. When they are providing true wisdom, we need to listen carefully to determine what God is trying to reveal to us. When they are not grounded in truth, there likely not life-giving truth behind those words and it is likely not wisdom we should be listening to.

What do YOU think?! Share Here!
Missing the connection to our other Journey Study?
Catch up with Journey Of An M!

Digging Deeper is for Everyone!

1) Take this passage (or any other passage).
2) Read it, and the verses around it,
several times
3) Write down your questions
as you think of them.
4) Ask specific culture related questions and be ready to dig around for your answers. Google them, use www.studylight.org, or look them up in a study Bible and read the footnotes (click on the little letters next to a word and it will show you
other related verses!). (www.esvbible.org)
5) Check your applications with other trusted Christians that you are in community with and embrace the fullness of God
in your everyday!

Digging Deeper Community

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This is Sketched VII Week Three!
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Why Dig Deeper?

Finding the original meaning is a huge deal when we study Scripture and can make all the difference in our understanding as we apply God’s truths to our everyday lives.

In our modern-day relationships, we want people to understand our original intention as we communicate; how much more so between God and humanity?!

Here’s a little bit more on why we take Digging Deeper so seriously.

Study Tools

We love getting help while we study and www.studylight.org is one of many excellent resources, providing the original Hebrew (Old Testament) or Greek (New Testament) with an English translation.

Want to know more about a specific word in a verse? Click on “Strong’s Interlinear Bible” then click the word you’d like to study. Discover “origin”, “definition” and hear the original pronunciation – That Is Awesome!

Want more background? Click “Study Tools”, then pick a few commentaries to read their scholarly approach, keeping in mind that just because a commentary says it, doesn’t mean it’s true. (just like the internet :-))

Memorize It!

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Posted in: Digging Deeper, God, Salvation, Scripture, Sketched, Truth, Wisdom Tagged: alive, God Speaks, God's Voice, Job, Living Word of God, pit, Taught

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