Sketched VII Day 14 Journey Of An M: Digging Deeper
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
Share What You’ve Learned!
Pray Together!
Join us in the GT Facebook Community!
Our Current Study Theme!
This is Sketched VII Week Three!
Don’t miss out on the discussion!
Sign up to receive every GT Journey Study!
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!
Download this week’s verse and make it your phone’s lockscreen!
Tap and hold on your mobile device to save.