Be on Guard for the person with all the answer

 

Job 5:1-7

 

“Call now; is there anyone who will answer you?  To which of the holy ones will you turn?   Surely vexation kills the fool, and jealousy slays the simple.   I have seen the fool taking root, but suddenly I cursed his dwelling.  His children are far from safety; they are crushed in the gate, and there is no one to deliver them. The hungry eat his harvest,
and he takes it even out of thorns, and the thirsty pant^[b] after his^[ wealth.  For affliction does not come from the dust, nor does trouble sprout from the ground, but man is born to trouble as the sparks fly upward.”

 

Watch out for the person who always has the answer, Job’s three friends met the requirements of good friends and ministers in that they showed up and cried with Job over the disaster that had come on him.  They did great for seven days and waited for Job to speak, and still they encouraged Job with their words.  They were long winded and seemed to have all the answers.  We have only heard  from Eliphaz up till now and it seems as if he is telling Job, you need a mediator, and maybe he is talking about himself, that’s not clear.

 

He is telling Job that anger is not of any value and will only bring more problems and concerns.  Eliphaz is one hundred percent correct, anger and hate will destroy a person.  It is like drinking poison and expecting the person you are angry with or have hate in your heart for to die.

 

He is also telling Job that trouble and disasters are part of life and Jesus made that very clear, in this world you will have tribulation!

 

From the Back Porch,

 

Bob Rice

 

Dreams & Visions

 Job 4:12-21

 

“Now a word was brought to me stealthily; my ear received the whisper of it.  Amid thoughts from visions of the night, when deep sleep falls on men,
 dread came upon me, and trembling, which made all my bones shake.  A spirit glided past my face; the hair of my flesh stood up.  It stood still, but I could not discern its appearance.  A form was before my eyes; there was silence, then I heard a voice:  ‘Can mortal man be in the right before God?  Can a man be pure before his Maker?   Even in his servants he puts no trust, and his angels he charges with error; how much more those who dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, who are crushed like the moth.   Between morning and evening they are beaten to pieces; they perish forever without anyone regarding it.  Is not their tent-cord plucked up within them, do they not die, and that without wisdom?’

In the time of Job, often they put a lot of trust in dreams and visions, and I am not implying Eliphaz did not have this dream or that the message was or was not from God or an angelic visitation.  It seems that he assumed his experience had provided him with great insight into one of the life’s mysteries.

In verse 17, Eliphaz is not asking can a person be more righteous than God, but can anyone be pure and in right standing with a Holy God?  As we go on to verses 18-21, Eliphaz is pointing out that we have all sinned and we will experience troubles and tragedy and death in this life on planet earth.  Only Godly wisdom will give a person the correct understanding of how to live properly before God.

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice

 

A note of Encouragement

 

Job 4:1-9

 

“Then Eliphaz the Temanite replied: “If someone ventures a word with you, will you be impatient?  But who can keep from speaking?  Think how you have instructed many,
 how you have strengthened feeble hands.  Your words have supported those who stumbled; you have strengthened faltering knees.  But now trouble comes to you, and you are discouraged; it strikes you, and you are dismayed.  Should not your piety be your confidence and your blameless ways your hope?  “Consider now: Who, being innocent, has ever perished?  Where were the upright ever destroyed?  As I have observed, those who plow evil and those who sow trouble reap it.   At the breath of God, they perish; at the blast of his anger they are no more.”

 

Eliphaz, is reminding Job of all the help he has been to many and the instruction he has given that has been very helpful.  His council does have traditional wisdom and truthful observations, he like Job has no understanding of the reason for Job’s condition.  In verse four it seems to be referring to the psychological and not the physical part of suffering.  In the book of Ezekiel 21:6-7, the LORD has instructed His prophet Ezekiel to do the following; “As for you, son of man, groan; with breaking heart and bitter grief, groan before their eyes.  And when they say to you, ‘Why do you groan?’ you shall say, ‘Because of the news that it is coming.  Every heart will melt, and all hands will be feeble; every spirit will faint, and all knees will be weak as water. Behold, it is coming, and it will be fulfilled,’” declares the Lord God.”  

 

As we look at verses six through nine, Eliphaz is trying to encourage Job reminding him that he is a man of integrity, but he seems to imply that his children got what they deserved.  He tells Job the innocent never perish, only those who do evil. 

 

From the Back Porch,

 

Bob Rice

 

 

AFTER SEVEN DAY JOB SPEAKS

Job 3:1-16

 

After seven days sitting with his three friends, the long-awaited sound of Job’s voice is heard, and this man Job and you recall what God has said about him after all his children are dead and his wealth taken from him in one day.  “And the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil?  He still holds fast his integrity, although you incited me against him to destroy him without reason.”  Do you recall Satan’s reply skin for skin?  All that a man has he will give for his life.   And God said, you must spare his life.

 

As we explore these verses of Job speaking be very careful with your judgement of Job.  What we are is a witness to is a superhuman struggle and Job is a mere pawn.  Also remember Job has  also lost his health and any role of leadership and has been ignored by even his servants.

 

Job’s words;  “After this Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth.  Job said: “Let the day perish on which I was born, and the night that said, ‘A man is conceived.’  Let that day be darkness!  May God above not seek it, nor light shine upon it.”  At this point one might come to this conclusion, Job does not understand what is taking place, life as he has known it is gone and yet he has been in right standing with both God and man. 

Job is telling his friend, it would have been better if he had not been born, if only he could have understood the value of his story to the millions that would read it.  Job’s life made a different to many who he touched in his day, and to those who have studied this book.

Shall we end chapter 2 with verses 25-26, “For the thing that I fear comes upon me,
 and what I dread befalls me.  I am not at ease, nor am I quiet; I have no rest, but trouble comes.”  Job is a total mess with his emotions and no doubt is in a deep depression, and he wonders when the next thing will happen?  Now the question all must answer, as a follower of Christ, what would you be doing if this were you?

 

From the Back Porch,

 

Bob Rice

 

 

They Just showed up

Job 2:11-13

 

“Now when Job's three friends heard of all this evil that had come upon him, they came each from his own place, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite. They made an appointment together to come to show him sympathy and comfort him.   And when they saw him from a distance, they did not recognize him. And they raised their voices and wept, and they tore their robes and sprinkled dust on their heads toward heaven.   And they sat with him on the ground seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his suffering was very great.”

 

Ray Still our pastor often reminds us that showing up is 95% of ministry and that is what we are observing with Job’s three friends.  For seven days they show Job sympathy and the Scriptures tell us at a distance they saw Job and did not recognize him.  Do not get hung up with the three men tearing their robes or throwing dust in the air, that was a tradition of that day, and that is not what is important, they wept and waited.  Yes, they did not speak, but were there for seven days waiting on their friend to speak.

 

Many of you have been the witness to a parent or family member having cancer or some other sickness that has disfigured them and know the pain that it caused to both the person and you.  I worked with a very talented salesman in the Houston market and because of his lifestyle he encountered aids.  In the last week of his life I went to visit him in the hospital and like the three friends of Job, I did not recognize my co-worker and knew this might be my last time to share with him about God’s love for him.  I told him that God loved him so much that He had His Son become a man and take his place and mine on a cross and paid for all sin.  That by faith he could ask God to forgive him and enter into a personal relationship with the Father who loved him.  His reply was I went to Houston Baptist College and tried but it did not work, and I do not want to talk about it anymore.  

 

My wife’s dad was raised in a home without a mother, there were four brothers, often men would try to get Raymond to attend church, but he had no interest.  Our daughter at a very young age wrote her granddad a letter telling him about how she had asked Jesus to come into her life and was praying that he would do so.  On his death bed Jan and I once more pleaded with him to not leave this earth without getting thing right with God.  He was in a coma by that time and yet when we began to share how much God loved him, we witnessed fear and maybe even anger, that was not how anyone wants to remember a person they love.

 

From the Back Porch,

 

Bob Rice

 

Job, a pawn in a superhuman struggle.

 

 

January 28, 2020

 

Job 2:7-10

 

“So, Satan went out from the presence of the Lord and struck Job with loathsome sores from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head.   And he took a piece of broken pottery with which to scrape himself while he sat in the ashes.

 Then his wife said to him, “Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die.”   But he said to her, “You speak as one of the foolish women would speak.  Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?”  In all this Job did not sin with his lips.”

We must remember this is the second time we see Satan showing up with the angels of God, and Scripture tells us he also came to present himself to God.  We also must not forget that God is all knowing so when He ask a question, it is not for the reason of knowledge.  Once more God asked Satan, have you considered My servant Job?  Listen to what God said about Job in verse 3b, “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil? He still holds fast his integrity, although you incited me against him to destroy him without reason.”  Remember no one can manipulate God against His will, Job has become a pawn in a superhuman struggle.  

 

Verse four gave Satan come back, “Then Satan answered the Lord and said, “Skin for skin! All that a man has he will give for his life. ⁵ But stretch out your hand and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse you to your face.” ⁶ And the Lord said to Satan, “Behold, he is in your hand; only spare his life.”

 

I will not tell you to put yourself in Job’s place for only a foolish person would do so, but allow me to say, if you lost your family and wealth in one day and then your health, you have no understanding of what you would do. And to make it a bigger test of Job’s integrity, his wife tells him to curse God and die!  Listen to Job’s reply; “You speak as one of the foolish women would speak.  Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?”  In all this Job did not sin with his lips.”

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice

The Prince of Darkness - Satan - Lucifer and the Lord said have you considered my servant Job?

Job 2:1-6

 

Again, there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them to present himself before the Lord.   And the Lord said to Satan, “From where have you come?” Satan answered the Lord and said, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it.”   And the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil? He still holds fast his integrity, although you incited me against him to destroy him without reason.”   Then Satan answered the Lord and said, “Skin for skin! All that a man has he will give for his life.   But stretch out your hand and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse you to your face.”  And the Lord said to Satan, “Behold, he is in your hand; only spare his life.”

 

Lucifer, O Day Star son of Dawn, Prince of Darkness, Beelzebub, Mephistopheles, Lord of the Flies, the Antichrist, Father of Lies, Moloch, angel of light, or simply Satan.  Any way you look at this father of lies, you will see the devil, you must  understand that he has to ask for permission to mess with a person who has by grace and faith entered into the family of God.  Isaiah 14:12-14, we get a picture of his fall and the reason for it.  We have this word from Jesus as he talks with the seventy-two He sent out ahead of Him to every town and place He was about to go.  Pay close attention to what they said to Jesus and His reply in Luke 10:17-20.  “The seventy-two returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name!”   And he said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.    Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you.   Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”  What value is being sent out with authority if you do not understand first, that you have it, and second that your action shows that you are under that authority?  

 

This question came up in our Bible study, how can Satan come into God’s presence in that God does not look on sin.  I’ve come to understand that when it comes to God the Creator of all things, there are absolutes that are unchangeable, such as His character; He is pure, God is a personal Spirit, God is all-powerful, God is ever-present, God knows everything, God is sovereign, God is holy, God is absolute truth, God is righteous, God is just, God is faithful, God is love, God is merciful, God never changes.

 

My pastor said something like this in a sermon, when we say God cannot do such and such outside of the things listed above, such as look on sin, you have crossed over into some dangerous territory because you have elevated yourself to a place of being like God.  I always recall that God’s ways are higher than mine and His thoughts are higher than mine, the thing I’m sure of is that He loves me because His actions have demonstrated that to be true.

 

From the Back Porch,

 

Bob Rice