Ignorance and apathy are common to mankind

 

Job 12:13-29

 

“With God are wisdom and might; he has counsel and understanding.  If he tears down, none can rebuild; if he shuts a man in, none can open.  If he withholds the waters, they dry up; if he sends them out, they overwhelm the land.  With him are strength and sound wisdom; the deceived and the deceiver are his.  He leads counselors away stripped, and judges he makes fools.  He loses the bonds of kings and binds a waistcloth on their hips. He leads priests away stripped and overthrows the mighty.  He deprives of speech those who are trusted and takes away the discernment of the elders.  He pours contempt on princes and loosens the belt of the strong.  He uncovers the deeps out of darkness and brings deep darkness to light.
 He makes nations great, and he destroys them; he enlarges nations and leads them away.  He takes away understanding from the chiefs of the people of the earth and makes them wander in a trackless waste. They grope in the dark without light, and he makes them stagger like a drunken man.”

 

Ignorance and apathy are common to mankind and often stupidly is the reason, in most cases, something can be done for the stupid if they are willing to drop apathy and do something about the area they are ignorant about.  My counsel is going to the only one that is all-knowing, has true wisdom, and that is the Creator of everything that has been made.  God is omniscient and omnipotent, has all knowledge, and all strength. 

 

As seen from the beginning of mankind we observe ignorance leading to foolishness in man’s desire to be a god or look to a god that is neither omniscient nor omnipotent.  If you are willing to look at Romans 1:18-25, you will have a better understanding of how ignorance and apathy lead to stupidity.  As one who is a follower of Christ we would be wise to often go back to Isaiah 55:8-9, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.  For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

 

Many of us who have a few years behind us often forget God is in charge of the political situation and all the world leaders will try to have their way but God, that’s just the way it is, but God!  He alone is sovereign and is working all things for the good of those who love Him.  If you have any doubt, go to Romans 8:28, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to His purpose.”

 

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice

 

Have you paid attention to the Birds

 

Job 12:7-12

 

“But ask the beasts, and they will teach you;  the birds of the heavens and they will tell you, or the bushes of the earth and they will teach you, and the fish of the sea will declare to you.  Who among all these does not know that the hand of the Lord has done this?  In his hand is the life of every living thing and the breath of all mankind.  Does not the ear test words as the palate tastes food?  Wisdom is with the aged and understanding in length of days.”

 

Job is making clear that all things even the birds and the animals understand that they are in the hand of an all-mighty God.  In fact, he goes even farther and states all things have that understanding.

 

Do not forget this is taking place before the cross, but in this case, it also applies to you and me.  In the book of Jeremiah 8:7,  “Even the stork in the sky knows her appointed seasons, and the dove, the swift and the thrush observe the time of their migration. But my people do not know the requirements of the LORD.

 Even the stork in the sky knows her appointed seasons, and the dove, the swift, and the thrush observe the time of their migration. But my people do not know the requirements of the LORD.”

The New Testament give us insight into how we can learn from the birds of the air? “Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap they have no storeroom or barn, yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds!”  (Luke 12:24)  In the Psalms 104:21, “The lions roar for their prey and seek their food from God.”  Now look at Proverbs 6:6-8,  “Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider its ways and be wise!  It has no commander, no overseer or ruler,  yet it stores its provisions in summer and gathers its food at harvest.”

Often and I do mean very often we put trust in ourselves and do not learn from Scripture or nature.  In the Book of Romans 1:18-23, makes it clear that we are without excuse for it is clear to us in the creation.

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice

 

Court Docs Reveal

 

How often has a nation honored a dope addicted?  Drug his body all over a country having full media coverage for a full month as if he was a president or great humanitarian, but he was not, he was a criminal and a bad man. The media made him look like a choir boy.  But this is the truth, 

Medical Examiner Concluded George Floyd Likely Died Of Fentanyl Overdose, Court Docs Reveal​.

 

If you're one that was taken in by what you saw on a videotape and rushed to judgment, or got caught up in the Black Lives Matter inc. an evil Marxist group that is well funded by corporations you buy their products, shame on you. ​

 

I'm not even talking about the well-funded Marxist or the paid community organizer that is destroying most democrat run cities.  

 

​No, I am addressing this to people who are law-abiding, who are putting signs in their yards, "Black life’s matter" or defund the police, have you lost your minds?​

 

Bob Rice

 

PS Since the Media made him, do you believe they will now tell you the truth?  

 

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What If Job knew what was taking palace in heaven?

 Job 12:1-6

 

Then Job answered and said: “No doubt you are the people, and wisdom will die with you.  But I have understanding as well as you; I am not inferior to you.  Who does not know such things as these?  I am a laughingstock to my friends;  I, who called to God and he answered me,  a just and blameless man, am a laughingstock.  In the thought of one who is at ease, there is contempt for misfortune; it is ready for those whose feet slip.  The tents of robbers are at peace, and those who provoke God are secure, who bring their god in their hand.”

Sarcasm when talking to someone that has all the answers may be the best reply, that is the approach Job has taken, with his three friends.  Verse one, “Then Job answered  and said: “No doubt you are the people, and wisdom will die with you.”  But in verse two we see Job following up with a large dose of truth for the three friends.  “But I have understanding as well as you; I am not inferior to you.  Who does not know such things as these?”  Did you notice Job has moved from sarcasm to confrontation?  

 

He reminds his friends that he also has been exposed to the same traditional wisdom as they have, that his body may be under attack, but his mind is still working.  Unlike his three friends, he weighs the information before coming to a judgment.

 

Verses five and six, “In the thought of one who is at ease there is contempt for misfortune; it is ready for those whose feet slip.  The tents of robbers are at peace, and those who provoke God are secure, who bring their god in their hand.”  Job cannot wrap his mind around why a man of integrity is being tested as he is, and the wicked are living lives of comfort and peace.

I keep wondering if Job knew what was taking place in heaven between God and the devil, would it be easier to deal with?  If you were the person God was talking about, when He said to the devil, “have you seen Job, no one on earth is like him.”  How would you have acted, prideful, arrogant, or humble and meek?

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice

 

What is the measure of a friend?

 Job 11:13-20

 

“If you prepare your heart, you will stretch out your hands toward him.  If iniquity is in your hand, put it far away, and let not injustice dwell in your tents.  Surely then you will lift up your face without blemish; you will be secure and will not fear.  You will forget your misery; you will remember it as waters that have passed away. And your life will be brighter than the noonday; its darkness will be like the morning.  And you will feel secure because there is hope; you will look around and take your rest in security. You will lie down, and none will make you afraid; many will court your favor.  But the eyes of the wicked will fail; all way of escape will be lost to them, and their hope is to breathe their last.”

 

What is the measure of a friend?  It is someone who knows your shortcomings and is honest with you and will be there for you in your time of sadness and sorrow and also is your biggest cheerleader.  These three so-called friends began doing it correctly, about 95% of being a friend is showing up, but these first two so-called friends moved to be Job’s accusers as if they were without sin and Job was a person who had welcomed injustice into his home.

 

This was solution Zophar, all Job needs to do is to confess his sins, one wonders if Zophar wants Job to confess to him and his buddies, or God?  Then clean up your act and you will be restored to your neighbors and God.  These first two friends have gone to a very dangerous place, in that they act as if they are speaking for God.  My council is to run from such people!

 

You may want to reread verses 15-19, be careful of a person who makes promises that only God can make.  What a contrast to the verses above, going from a repentant sinner to an unrepentant and wicked sinner.

 

From the Back Porch,

 

Bob Rice

 

An Accuser not a Friend

 

Job 11:1-12

 

“Then Zophar the Naamathite answered and said: “Should a multitude of words go unanswered, and a man full of talk be judged, right?  Should your babble silence men,
 and when you mock, shall no one shame you?  For you say, ‘My doctrine is pure, and I am clean in God's^[a] eyes.’  But oh, that God would speak and open his lips to you, and that he would tell you the secrets of wisdom! For he is manifold in understanding. Know then that God exacts of you less than your guilt deserves.  “Can you find out the deep things of God? Can you find out the limit of the Almighty?  It is higher than heaven—what can you do?  Deeper than Sheol—what can you know?  Its measure is longer than the earth and broader than the sea.  If he passes through and imprisons and summons the court, who can turn him back?  For he knows worthless men; when he sees iniquity, will he not consider it?  But a stupid man will get understanding when a wild donkey's colt is born a man!”

Do you recall Bildad the first to be more of an accuser than a friend?  It seems that his friend Zophar has taken the role of the prosecuting attorney.  He begins by calling Job a talker, has no mercy in his speech, and often twists what Job has stated.  It seems that he only finds fault in what Job has said and no longer can see Job as a friend but as a sinner getting all that is coming to Him. 

 

Job never claimed that he had not sinned, or that he was pure before God, his only claim was that he is blameless.  One would be wise to recall God’s words to the devil.  Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered My servant Job?  No one else on earth is like him, a man of perfect integrity.”

 

As followers of Christ, we are on this side of the cross and God the Father through the premise of our trust in the blood of Jesus Christ.  Because of God’s grace and the faith, he has given us to believe that Christ’s bloodshed on the Cross has covered all sin, for all that have bowed a knee to Jesus.  Job never claimed to understand all the ways of God, once more Zophar taking liberty with Job’s words.

 

 Zophar is taking the role of being God’s defense attorney, a very dangerous place, for God never appointed Him or you to that role.  In fact, I’ve yet to find in Scripture God defending Himself, when ask by Moses who should I say sent me, God said tell them “I Am” sent me.  In Romans 1:18-25, makes it very clear that men are without excuse when they reject God.

 

I worked with a young salesman in my early days at 3M  and Joe would often say the hardest thing to overcome in sales is ignorance and apathy and is that not true also as one who is a follower of Christ?

 

From the Back Porch, 

 

Bob Rice

Are you asking God questions or Just making statement?

  

February 15, 2014

 

Job 10:1-17

 

“I loathe my life; I will give free utterance to my complaint; I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.   I will say to God, Do not condemn me; let me know why you contend against me.   Does it seem good to you to oppress, to despise the work of your hands
and favor the designs of the wicked?   Have you eyes of flesh?  Do you see as man sees?  Are your days as the days of man, or your years as a man's years, that you seek out my iniquity and search for my sin,  although you know that I am not guilty, and there is none to deliver out of your hand?  Your hands fashioned and made me, and now you have destroyed me altogether.  Remember that you have made me like clay; and will you return me to the dust?  Did you not pour me out like milk and curdle me like cheese?  You clothed me with skin and flesh and knit me together with bones and sinews.  You have granted me life and steadfast love, and your care has preserved my spirit.  Yet these things you hid in your heart; I know that this was your purpose.  If I sin, you watch me and do not acquit me of my iniquity.  If I am guilty, woe to me!  If I am in the right, I cannot lift up my head, for I am filled with disgrace and look on my affliction.
 And were my head lifted up, you would hunt me like a lion and again work wonders against me.  You renew your witnesses against me and increase your vexation toward me; you bring fresh troops against me.”

 

Most of these seventeen verses are rhetorical in nature, Job is asking not to get an answer but to make a statement.  If you have been listening, Job has already given the answer to the questions he is asking.  Job wonders why God would be treating a righteous man in this way and not the wicked?  Job also knows that God knows he is not guilty, but wonders why he is being treated in this manner, is it because God has the power to do as He wishes?  (That’s Job’s thinking not mine.)

 

Now never forget that Job is sitting in the garbage with maggots eating on the boils that are all over his body, ask this question, what would I be doing by now?  Knowing the answer to all the question does not stop one’s mind from wondering, why has He not killed me?

 

At this time Job has lost all self-worth and would not look his friends in the eye, he just kept his head to the ground, he had no clue that he was but a pond in a power struggle of God and the devil.  He is wondering is God stacking the deck against me, is he dealing with me as a righteous judge?

 

From the Back Porch,

 

Bob Rice