Can a man be profitable to God?

 

Job 22:1-11

 

March 23, 2019

 

 

 

“Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said: “Can a man be profitable to God? Surely he who is wise is profitable to himself.  Is it any pleasure to the Almighty if you are in the right, or is it gain to him if you make your ways blameless?   Is it for your fear of him that he reproves you and enters into judgment with you?  Is not your evil abundant? There is no end to your iniquities.  For you have exacted pledges of your brothers for nothing and stripped the naked of their clothing.  You have given no water to the weary to drink, and you have withheld bread from the hungry.  The man with power possessed the land, and the favored man lived in it. You have sent widows away empty, and the arms of the fatherless were crushed.  Therefore, snares are all around you, and sudden terror overwhelms you, or darkness so that you cannot see, and a flood of water covers you.”

Eliphaz the Temanite has moved from implying to being both the prosecutor, judge, and jury, and Job is one evil dude.  How hold on a moment, do you not see something very wrong with his statement about Job?  Has he not become a trial of one person?  Where are the witnesses, in Job 21:29, Job asks have you never consulted those who travel the roads?  What about this in Job’s defense; verse 27, “I know your thoughts very well, the schemes you would wrong me with.”  I wonder if these three saw themselves as all-knowing, had they moved into the role of God?

 

Now if I may, allow this very unqualified, not retired, but between Job’s for 13 years to call a witness.  I’m going to only call one, and my witness will be all the defense Job requires.  First, what is the requirement of a witness in a trial?  “To qualify to be a witness a person must possess witness capacity and have personal knowledge of facts relevant to the case, be able to understand the obligation, to tell the truth, and take the oath or affirm that he or she will testify truthfully.”  Not one witness was called, yet Job asks for them to do so.  But I’ve found a witness that meets all the requirements of a witness, you will find Job’s defense in Job chapter 1:8, “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?”

 

I rest my defense on this one witness, as recorded in the word of God, and let me remind the jury; “For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.  And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.” Hebrews 4:12-13

 

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice

 

Will any teach God knowledge,

 

Job 21: 17-26

 

March 22, 2020

 

 

“How often is it that the lamp of the wicked is put out?  That their calamity comes upon them?  That God distributes pains in his anger?  That they are like straw before the wind and like chaff that the storm carries away?  You say, ‘God stores up their iniquity for their children.’  Let him pay it out to them, that they may know it.  Let their own eyes see their destruction and let them drink of the wrath of the Almighty.   For what do they care for their houses after them, when the number of their months is cut off?  Will any teach God knowledge, seeing that he judges those who are on high?  One dies in his full vigor, being wholly at ease and secure, his pails full of milk and the marrow of his bones moist.  Another dies in bitterness of soul, never having tasted of prosperity.  They lie down alike in the dust, and the worms cover them.”

 

As one who earns his income in sales, it was important to not only be able to answer the questions about your product but also your competitors.  Never tell the customer anything but the facts to the best of your knowledge and if you error as soon as you know the difference make sure and inform your customer.  I was wrong, I was in error in my statement to you, and I misinformed you, those seem to be words that do not come easy for a person who is concerned about how he is perceived.  Channel One the deceptive channel always tells you; what he does not know will not hurt him, and he will lose respect and trust in what you say if you tell him.  As I have stated many times, Channel One is from the pit and it always leads us in the wrong direction.

 

That’s what Job’s three friends have done, and it has come back to haunt them in that Job keeps addressing their inaccuracies.  Verse 17, Job’s rhetorical question on the lamp of the wicked, and it seems that the lamp stood for a happy life and Job made sure that Bildad’s statement on the wicked does not hold water, in that many seem to live a very long life.  It seemed to Job in his own suffering that the wicked got a pass often in this life, but that is not consistent with what Scripture tells us.

 

Once more, I will be generous with Job in a time of deep emotional stress and physical pain, Job does not think it is fair to allow the punishment that belongs to the wicked man to be passed on to their children. 

 

Job asks, can anyone teach God?  Job’s friends had said no one is pure or especially wise before God.  Yet they came across as if they might be the only exception to that rule.  Job only knew what he had observed in life and so the worldview of his friends made no sense to him.  Job had not witnessed how a man’s goodness or wickedness had anything to do with life’s fortunes.

 

But in Galatians 6:7&8, “Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he has sown. The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.”

 

From the Back Porch,

 

Bob Rice

 

Job is asking his friend to stop and Look at Him

 

 

 

Job 21: 1-16

 

March 21, 2020

 

 

“Then Job answered and said: “Keep listening to my words and let this be your comfort. Bear with me, and I will speak, and after I have spoken, mock on.  As for me, is my complaint against man?  Why should I not be impatient?  Look at me and be appalled and lay your hand over your mouth.  When I remember, I am dismayed, and shuddering seizes my flesh.  Why do the wicked live, reach old age, and grow mighty in power? Their offspring are established in their presence, and their descendants before their eyes.  Their houses are safe from fear, and no rod of God is upon them. Their bull breeds without fail; their cow calves and does not miscarry.  They send out their little boys like a flock, and their children dance. They sing to the tambourine and the lyre and rejoice to the sound of the pipe.  They spend their days in prosperity, and in peace, they go down to Sheol. They say to God, ‘Depart from us!  We do not desire the knowledge of your ways. What is the Almighty, that we should serve him?  And what profit do we get if we pray to him?’  Behold, is not their prosperity in their hand?  The counsel of the wicked is far from me.”

 

Eliphaz had implied earlier that the three were there offering consolation, but Job’s not buying that line, he is sure they are mocking him.  Often, we see Job using rhetorical questions to make a point as he is doing in verse 4.  He’s not referring to the wicked man, but about how God has dealt with him.

 

In verses five and six Job is asking, have you three really looked at me, be quiet for a time, and just look at what has taken place since you last saw me.  Job states that when he gives thought to his condition it brings fear to him.  So many lessons for each of us that follow Jesus to take away from this.  

 

Beginning in verse seven, Job is telling the three that all that they have said about the wicked is in error.  They do not live a short life, for he knows as we have witnessed they often grow old and powerful.  In fact, Job has witnessed that and so much more, their children are happy and become well-established.  Job has witnessed that all seems to go well with them and that they even go to the grave in peace, I might not agree with Job's last point on the grave.

 

But he is on point about their attitude about where they get wealth and power and the world is in agreement.  They assume they are self-made men and they will not acknowledge that all they have has come from God.

 

In fact, we see them all through our nation and often end up in the Congress of our government.  Evil and the wicked are looking to their father the devil for direction.  You reread verses 14-15, “They say to God, ‘Depart from us!  We do not desire the knowledge of your ways. What is the Almighty, that we should serve him?  And what profit do we get if we pray to him?” 

 

In verse 16, Job shares the wicked are 100% wrong for all that man has is a blessing from God.  Prosperity is never our own doing, and Job wants them and us to understand.  He tells the three that I am not wicked, and I understand that both blessings and curses come from the same God.

 

From the Back Porch,

 

Bob Rice

God our Creator

 

 

God our Creator

 

The person who believes they have an understanding of the fullness of God is a person you should run from.

 

Often, I said when asking about my Lord, I’ve said He is Big, yet, big does not come close to explaining God.  Isaiah 55:8-9 gives us a glance at how our Creator and the created are different: “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord.  As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

 

I ask my Computer for a word or words that would describe the unexplainable

 

• Inscrutable: Something that is impossible to understand
• Unaccountable: Something that cannot be explained
• Mysterious: Something that is strange or difficult to understand
• Incomprehensible: Something that is impossible to understand

 

Our God is all of that and more.

Commentary from the sermon “The Attributes of God” by Alistair Begg:

“In earlier generations amongst God’s people, they would have found it very possible to answer the question ‘What is God like?’ For that question was … the fourth question … in the Westminster (Scottish) Catechism. … Your, reply would have been ‘God is a Spirit, infinite, eternal, and unchangeable, in His being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth.’ That would have been your answer. … Charles Hodge, the great theologian, said of that definition in the catechism that he reckoned it was ‘probably the best definition of God ever penned by man."

As we try to define God, maybe it would be wise to look at Romans 9:20-21, “But who are you, O man, to answer back to God?  Will what is molded say to its molder, ‘Why have you made me like this?’  Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honored use and another for dishonorable use?”

In the book of Deuteronomy chapter 32:39, “See now that I, even I, am he and there is no god beside me; I kill and I make alive; I wound and I heal; and there is none that can deliver out of my hand.”  I have always found such peace in looking at what God has revealed about His attributes.  These are some of them; He is just, (Hebrews 10:30-31); He is good, (Matthew 19:17); He is holy, (Revelation15: 4); He is righteous, (Psalm 119:137); He is sovereign, (Isaiah 46:9-10); He is everywhere, (Ezekiel 48:35); He is all-knowing, (Hebrews 4:13); He is unchanging, (James 1:17); He is truth, (Isaiah 65:16); He is merciful, (Ephesians 2:4); He is jealous, (Exodus 34:14); He is love, (I John 4:8); He is eternal, (Isaiah 48:12); He is a provider, (Genesis 22:14) He is a healer, (Exodus 15:26).

 

I believe God is!  If God is, then He does not need me, or anyone, to defend his character.  I find such peace in His sovereignty.  The Scriptures state in Isaiah 46:9-10 the following; “remember the former things of old; for I am God, and there is no other; I am God and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose.”

 

In closing this paper, shall we look at Psalm 139:16-18, “Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.  How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!  How vast is the sum of them!  If I would count them, they are more than the sand.”

 

From the Back Porch,

 

Bob Rice

It a Culture we Live in

 

Job 20:20-29

 

March 20, 2020

 

“Because he knew no contentment in his belly, he will not let anything in which he delights escape him.  There was nothing left after he had eaten; therefore, his prosperity will not endure.  In the fullness of his sufficiency, he will be in distress; the hand of everyone in misery will come against him.  To fill his belly to the full, God will send his burning anger against him and rain it upon him into his body.  He will flee from an iron weapon; a bronze arrow will strike him through.  It is drawn forth and comes out of his body; the glittering point comes out of his gallbladder; terrors come upon him.   Utter darkness is laid up for his treasures; a fire not fanned will devour him; what is left in his tent will be consumed. The heavens will reveal his iniquity, and the earth will rise up against him.  The possessions of his house will be carried away, dragged off in the day of God's wrath.  This is the wicked man's portion from God, the heritage decreed for him by God.”

 

Shall we not talk anymore about Zophar at this time and give thought to what is being said, does it not sound like our culture in many areas?  As a society are we in the good old USA guilty of many of these things?  Do we as people not have an appetite that is never satisfied?  People do not seem to understand the word “like” No, they love everything, they even love a god they have made in their own image, who does what they want.  Have they not missed the mark, for that is not the God of the Bible, and that god will never be able to give them life now and eternally.  I do believe that Zophar is on point when he states verse 21. The one who chases after stuff Is like the person who chases after the wind.  King Solomon gives us this insight in  Ecclesiastes 1:14, “I have seen all the things that are done under the sun; all of them are meaningless, a chasing after the wind.”

 

Now back to Zophar’s use of words, for in verses 24-25, he refers to the many weapons of God and how the arrow from the bow of bronze would go through the evil person and its point would be of steel and pierce the liver of the wicked person and when they tried to remove it their internal organs would come out, and bring about a deserved death.  In that Job had referred to God’s arrows unleashed against him, Zophar might have hinted Job was getting his judgment. 

 

My takeaway comes from Romans 12:9-21,  ^“Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good.   Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor.   Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord.   Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.  Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality.

Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them.   Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.   Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty but associate with the lowly.  Never be wise in your own sight.   Repay no one evil for evil but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all.  If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.  Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.”  To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap, burning coals on his head.”   Do not be overcome by evil but overcome evil with good.”  

The time is now for you to die to yourself, and to begin to ask Jesus to do it all through you.  As that great teacher so stated; “You can’t, He never said you could, but He can, and He promised He would.”

 

From the Back Porch,

 

Bob Rice

Zophar never tell Job he is Evil

                                                                        Job 20:12-19

 

March 19, 2020

 

 

“Though evil is sweet in his mouth, though he hides it under his tongue, though he is loath to let it go and holds it in his mouth, yet his food is turned in his stomach; it is the venom of cobras within him.  He swallows down riches and vomits them up again; God casts them out of his belly.  He will suck the poison of cobras; the tongue of a viper will kill him.  He will not look upon the rivers, the streams flowing with honey and curds.  He will give back the fruit of his toil and will not swallow it down; from the profit of his trading,
he will get no enjoyment.  For he has crushed and abandoned the poor; he has seized a house that he did not build.”

 

Zophar, it seems never comes out and tells Job you are evil, but you do not bring up evil to a person in Job’s condition unless you are trying to make a point.  Yes, all three of Job’s friends believe that he has earned his wealth by taking advantage of others and that now his sins are finding him out.  They keep reminding Job that his ill-gotten wealth is like a man playing with a viper, it is going to bite you.

 

Honey symbolizes many things but most of all the abundance of the best of things in life.  Zophar and his three friends are managing themselves, if they had been in Job’s place that is what they would have done.  Watch out for people who manage themselves, I worked for a man in sales who always was sure we were cheating on our expenses, and the reason was he did when he was in sales, and I have no doubt still did.  So, Zophar assumes Job had taken advantage of the under resource by stealing the little that they had and taking advantage of others.  In fact, he believed Job was getting homes that he did not earn.  Have you wondered why these three men travel so far to be Job’s accuser?

 

 

From the Back Porch,

 

Bob Rice

Zophar replied

 

Job 20:1-11

 

March 18, 2020

 

 

“Then Zophar the Naamathite replied: “My troubled thoughts prompt me to answer because I am greatly disturbed.  I hear a rebuke that dishonors me, and my understanding inspires me to reply. “Surely you know how it has been from of old, ever since mankind was placed on the earth, that the mirth of the wicked is brief, the joy of the godless lasts but a moment. Though the pride of the godless person reaches to the heavens and his head touches the clouds, he will perish forever, like his own dung; those who have seen him will say, ‘Where is he?’ Like a dream he flies away, no more to be found, banished like a vision of the night.  The eye that saw him will not see him again; his place will look on him no more.  His children must make amends to the poor; his own hands must give back his wealth.  The youthful vigor that fills his bones will lie with him in the dust.”

 

These three friends, it is a shame there is not a school one could attend on what a friend is and how to pick a friend.  As I read this over and over, I see three men who believe they are more knowledgeable and wiser than Job.  I also see them listening to each other and saying Job is not taking my counsel, it is your turn to try straightening that boy out.

 

Zophar has unsettling thoughts, and so do I about men and women who act like two-year-olds in our Congress of the United States of America, but that’s another subject for another time, shall we stay on the subject matter.  Zophar is upset with Job, he believes Job has not shown him and his three friends the respect they deserve.

 

You and I have witnessed both the wicked, those who believe they are self-made people who have beaten the system and have no need of God or man, they are gone and take not one thing to the grave.  We also watch as Job’s friends the person who looked to God for directions and worshiped God and loved the things God loves, also go to the grave with nothing

 

It seems to me Job’s three friends were a member of the church or if you’re sick or bad things have happened to you, you're wicked.  It is this attitude; we three are so tight with God and maybe we can get you out of this mess you are in if you will give up on being so honorable and put your trust in what we have to tell you!  Be very careful of that so-called church, it is from the pit of hell.

 

From the Back Porch,

 

Bob Rice