Job Defends Himself

 

Dr. Kim Riddlebarger comments on Job 6

Job cannot take anymore. And so in 6:1-7:2, he responds to his friend. Eliphaz’s words do not bring Job comfort. Instead, they bring forth an emotional outbrust and protest from Job against the insinuation that there is some hidden sin in his life which has caused God to punish him. Knowing he has done nothing wrong, Job’s reaction is to cry out in terror because he feels like God has become his enemy. In Job 6:2-4 we hear haunting words from Job. “If only my anguish could be weighed and all my misery be placed on the scales! It would surely outweigh the sand of the seas- no wonder my words have been impetuous. The arrows of the Almighty are in me, my spirit drinks in their poison; God’s terrors are marshaled against me.  The Hebrew text speaks of the armaments of God in a battle array against him. The thought of God bringing an army against Job brings terror to his heart.

In 6:14, Job speaks directly to his counselor. “A despairing man should have the devotion of his friends, even though he forsakes the fear of the Almighty. But my brothers are as undependable as intermittent streams, as the streams that overflow when darkened by thawing ice and swollen with melting snow, but that cease to flow in the dry season, and in the heat vanish from their channels.” Job will not let this go–he will defend himself. As he points out in 6:25 and following, “How painful are honest words! But what do your arguments prove? Do you mean to correct what I say, and treat the words of a despairing man as wind? You would even cast lots for the fatherless and barter away your friend. `But now be so kind as to look at me. Would I lie to your face? Relent, do not be unjust; reconsider, for my integrity is at stake. Is there any wickedness on my lips? Can my mouth not discern malice

 

?”  Job has done nothing wrong. He has not spoken evil, nor done evil. He now tells Eliphaz to relent and back off. Job’s integrity is at stake.

Hump Day QUOTE DAY

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Work Ethic

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Today’s Hump Day Quote Day theme is Work Ethic. You can check out last weeks theme, Teamwork, here. Next weeks quote theme will be Imagination.

Definition of Work Ethic: A set of values based on the moral virtues of hard work and diligence.

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I’ve always loved this old war propaganda poster trying to get women out into the workforce while their men were out on the battlefields. It makes me giggle.

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“The Devil finds work for idle hands.”

- Proverb 1721

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“If a task has once begun. Never leave it till it’s done. Be the labor great or small. Do it well or not at all.”

- Anon.

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“We have too many people who live without working, and we have altogether too many who work without living.”

- Charles R. Brown

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“Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration.”

- Thomas Edison

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“Hard work spotlights the character of people: some turn up their sleeves, some turn up their noses, and some don’t turn up at all.”

- Sam Ewig

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“The object of living is work, experience, happiness. There is joy in work. All that money can do is buy us someone else’s work in exchange for our own. There is no happiness except in the realization that we have accomplished something.”

- Henry Ford

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“Talent is cheaper than table salt. What separates the talented individual from the successful one is a lot of hard work.”

- Stephen King

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Source: Off the Mark

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What do you think? Does good work ethic come naturally to you or is it something you’ve had to struggle with? Do you enjoy your job?

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Rose XO.

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Job’s Counselors

Dr. Kim Riddlebarger preached a sermon series in Job, and here is an excerpt from Job 4-14, “Though He Slay Me”

There is a reason why we use the phrase “Job’s Counselors” when we speak of people whose well-intended words only add insult to injury. Having spent a week in mourning with their friend Job, and having heard his lament in which he curses the day of his birth, Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar now seek to “comfort” their heartbroken friend. But they will utterly fail, as their misguided words only bring pain to Job. As they attempt to show Job the error of his ways, they instead provoke a defiant outburst of protest, the subject of this sermon.

We now turn to an extended dialogue/debate which runs from Job 4-14. In the first of three cycles of speeches we will hear from each of Job’s friends as well as from Job himself. Context is critical. In the prologue (chapters 1-2), we met Job, learned of his great piety as well as the critical fact that underlies what follows. Job’s trial by ordeal has come about because God directed Satan’s attention to Job, a man who was blameless and upright, who feared God and shunned evil. When Satan posed the idea that Job’s piety is self-serving, and that if all of the good things God had given him were taken away, Job will no longer worship God, but curse him, Job’s ordeal began in earnest. But when Job’s possessions are gone and when his children are killed, Job does not curse God. Instead, he praises God. Satan tries again. Only this time Satan wants to attack Job’s health. Take away Job’s health–Satan reasons–and Job will curse God to his face. Now afflicted with a horrible skin disease, still Job does not curse God. Job is an outcast, covered with sores, a miserable wretch, sitting on the town dunghill. He has lost everything. And all the people who saw him surely were thinking, “what sin did Job commit which brought down God’s wrath upon him?”

Having heard of the disaster that had befallen their friend, Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar set out from their homes to comfort their friend. Between the time Job lost everything and the time his three friends arrive, Job’s emotional state deteriorated greatly. He has reached the point where he curses the day of his own birth. In the lament of Job 3, Job repeatedly asks the question “why did all of these horrible things come to pass?” Yet, the trigger which sets Job off is the arrival of his three friends, who, out of their deep respect for Job, sat silently with him throughout a week of mourning. Knowing that his friends must be thinking that he must have committed some secret sin which brought about God’s judgment, Job knows that he has done nothing wrong. This is why Job’s inner turmoil is so great and the story so compelling.

As we turn to the dialogue which follows, we need to be aware that Job’s suffering is viewed from two completely different perspectives. From the fact of his suffering, Job’s friends all infer that Job has committed some great sin. In this, they are completely orthodox in their theology. They know that God is holy and must punish sin. In their minds, Job’s ordeal is evidence that Job is being punished. The conclusion is obvious. Job has sinned. But from Job’s perspective the issue is completely different. Since Job is innocent–despite the opinion of his friends–the fact that he is suffering calls into question God’s justice. How can God be just if he’s punishing the innocent?1 This dilemma explains why Job is not focused on the loss of his possessions and family, nearly as much as he is focused upon the loss of his relationship with God. How can God treat Job like an enemy when Job has done nothing wrong? Job’s lament (Job 3) ends the silence of the period of mourning and provokes the three cycles of speeches from his three friends, to which Job responds. The three opening speeches (cycle one) are the longest and most carefully reasoned. The second cycle of speeches in Job 15-21 are somewhat shorter, while the third cycle of speeches in Job 22-26 are the shortest and most intense. As the debates and speeches become more heated, the four men seem to run out of steam.2 The dialogue begins with Job’s three friends offering him pastoral advice, but the speeches quickly take on the air of a courtroom drama, as though Job were on trial and his friends take on the role of a council of elders who pass judgment on Job. Job refuses to agree with their verdict.3 Yet his friends will not budge from their view that God is holy and must punish all sin. Therefore, Job’s plight is indicative that he has sinned.

To read the rest of the sermon, click here:

November 4 Job 4

November 4

Job 4 (ESV)

Eliphaz Speaks: The Innocent Prosper

4:1 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said:

2 “If one ventures a word with you, will you be impatient?
Yet who can keep from speaking?
3 Behold, you have instructed many,
and you have strengthened the weak hands.
4 Your words have upheld him who was stumbling,
and you have made firm the feeble knees.
5 But now it has come to you, and you are impatient;
it touches you, and you are dismayed.
6 Is not your fear of God [1] your confidence,
and the integrity of your ways your hope?

7 “Remember: who that was innocent ever perished?
Or where were the upright cut off?
8 As I have seen, those who plow iniquity
and sow trouble reap the same.
9 By the breath of God they perish,
and by the blast of his anger they are consumed.
10 The roar of the lion, the voice of the fierce lion,
the teeth of the young lions are broken.
11 The strong lion perishes for lack of prey,
and the cubs of the lioness are scattered.

12 “Now a word was brought to me stealthily;
my ear received the whisper of it.
13 Amid thoughts from visions of the night,
when deep sleep falls on men,
14 dread came upon me, and trembling,
which made all my bones shake.
15 A spirit glided past my face;
the hair of my flesh stood up.
16 It stood still,
but I could not discern its appearance.
A form was before my eyes;
there was silence, then I heard a voice:
17 ‘Can mortal man be in the right before [2] God?
Can a man be pure before his Maker?
18 Even in his servants he puts no trust,
and his angels he charges with error;
19 how much more those who dwell in houses of clay,
whose foundation is in the dust,
who are crushed like the moth.
20 Between morning and evening they are beaten to pieces;
they perish forever without anyone regarding it.
21 Is not their tent-cord plucked up within them,
do they not die, and that without wisdom?’

Computer Genius

I still think it’s difficult to find a job these days but I think the world wide web is always look for people who knows about computers and programming, making games and creating public social network. If you are that type of person, you can always look at the IT job search. I wish it is my thing but I am not smart enough when it comes to computers. I know there are people who are gifted with it and know the stuff immediately. The nice about it is working at home or in an office and maybe at your own time. That is a dream job!

The Absolute Sovereignty of God is our Rock of Refuge in Suffering

John Piper, from Part 1 of a sermon series on Job, “Reverent in Suffering”:

Did you notice that in the two heavenly scenes God handed Job over to Satan’s power? But when Satan had done his work of taking Job’s wealth and family, Job said in 1:21, “The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.”

Job says that it was ultimately the Lord himself who took away his family and wealth. Then the inspired writer of the book makes a comment to avoid a misunderstanding. Lest anyone say that Job should not have attributed Satan’s work to God, he writes (v. 22), “In all this Job did not sin or charge God with wrong.” It is not sin to say that what Satan did, God ultimately did, because God rules Satan.

Similarly in the second heavenly scene God says (2:6) to Satan, “Behold, he is in your power, only spare his life.” Then verse 7 makes it very explicit that “Satan went forth from the presence of the Lord, and afflicted Job with loathsome sores.”

But again in verse 10 Job says, “Shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?” In other words Job again goes all the way up to the sovereignty of God over Satan and says that his sickness is from God. Satan may have been the nearer cause, but ultimately it is from God.

And again the inspired writer warns us not to criticize Job here. He writes at the end of verse 10, “In all this Job did not sin with his lips.” It is not a sin to say that a sickness that Satan causes is “from the Lord.”

Job’s rock of refuge and hope when everything else seemed to be crumbling was the absolute sovereignty of God. Which leads me finally to . . .

Three Personal Implications

1. Let us join with Job and affirm with all our hearts the absolute sovereignty of God.

Let us say with the psalmist (115:3), “Our God is in the heavens; he does whatever he pleases.” Let us say with Daniel (4:35), “He does according to his will in the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand or say to him, ‘What doest thou?’” Let us make the absolute sovereignty of God the rock on which we build our lives and our church.

2. Let your tears flow freely when your calamity comes.

“Job arose, rent his robe, and shaved his head, and fell upon his face” (1:20). The sobs of grief and pain are not the sign of unbelief. Job knows nothing of a flippant, insensitive, superficial “Praise God anyhow” response to suffering. The magnificence of his worship is because it was in grief, not because it replaced grief. Let your tears flow freely when your calamity comes. And let the rest of us weep with those who weep.

3. Trust in the goodness of God, and let him be your treasure and your joy.

Even if God had let Satan take Job’s life, we know what Job would have said. He would have said Psalm 63:3, “The steadfast love of the Lord is better than life.”

When your calamity comes, may the Lord give you the grace to affirm the sovereignty of God, let your tears flow freely, and let God himself be your treasure and your joy. Amen.

November 2 Job 2

November 2 

Job 2 (ESV)

Satan Attacks Job’s Health

2:1 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. 2 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.” 3 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.” 4 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.”

7 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. 8 And he took a piece of broken pottery with which to scrape himself while he sat in the ashes.

9 Then his wife said to him, “Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die.” 10 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?” [1] In all this Job did not sin with his lips.

Job’s Three Friends

11 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. 12 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. 13 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.