Have You Considered Job?

Wednesday, November 22, 2023

Then Job spoke again:  “I have heard all this before.  What miserable comforters you are!  Won’t you ever stop blowing hot air?  What makes you keep on talking?  I could say the same things if you were in my place.  I could spout off criticism and shake my head at you.  But if it were me, I would encourage you.  I would try to take away your grief.  Instead, I suffer if I defend myself, and I suffer no less if I refuse to speak.  “O God, you have ground me down and devastated my family.  As if to prove I have sinned, you’ve reduced me to skin and bones.  My gaunt flesh testifies against me.  God hates me and angrily tears me apart.  He snaps his teeth at me and pierces me with his eyes.  People jeer and laugh at me.  They slap my cheek in contempt.  A mob gathers against me.  God has handed me over to sinners.  He has tossed me into the hands of the wicked.  “I was living quietly until he shattered me.  He took me by the neck and broke me in pieces.  He set me up as his target, and now his archers surround me.  His arrows pierce me without mercy.  The ground is wet with my blood.  Again and again he smashes against me, charging at me like a warrior.  I wear burlap to show my grief.  My pride lies in the dust.  My eyes are red with weeping; dark shadows circle my eyes.  Yet I have done no wrong, and my prayer is pure.  “O earth, do not conceal my blood.  Let it cry out on my behalf.  Even now my witness is in heaven.  My advocate is there on high.  My friends scorn me, but I pour out my tears to God.  I need someone to mediate between God and me, as a person mediates between friends.  Job 16:1-21

There is so much pathos and meaning of life in the Book of Job, it could hardly be exhausted in months of study; perhaps years; maybe only when, in Heaven, we have One who can unveil for us the depth of Job’s sorrow, confusion, and grief. 

This chapter is the fifth time Job answers his friends.  They have been trying to get their suffering friend to see how he must have sinned really-big, and really-dark to get God that ticked-off.  Job’s children were all dead, his riches gone, his livestock and goods carried off by robbers and thieves.  The icing on the cake is painful boils covering Job’s body, and his wife has suggested suicide would be better. 

Most studies of Job focus on this calamity of a good man suffering utter loss.  And there’s nothing wrong with picking it apart in the search for meaning, purpose, and order in human existence.  God created us with a brain to figure these things out!  But there is one connection we must never miss.  Given the total unravelling of a good man’s life, what can we say about God’s purpose in allowing all that?  Simply put, all of what happened to Job helps us understand life’s rain, good or horrible, falls on the just and the unjust, and is an example, which Paul writes in   1 Corinthians 10[1] that leads to Job’s conclusion:

I need someone to mediate between God and me, as a person mediates between friends.  Job 16:1-21

Job was hurting, and he knew God permitted everything that happened to him.  He knew, as good a life as he’d led, and as holy as he tried to be, his efforts just weren’t enough.  Whatever troubles anyone on earth could experience, Job was not exempt; he needed a mediator, an advocate to plead his case before God.

My dear children, I am writing this to you so that you will not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate who pleads our case before the Father. He is Jesus Christ, the one who is truly righteous.  1 John 2:1

For You Today 

You may be on the verge of following Mrs. Job’s advice to her husband, or maybe you’ve suffered little in life…yet!  Whether you are there now, and down to your last shred of hope, or leading a joy-filled, even carefree life, remember this, and count on it…you do have someone who will love you.  His name is Jesus.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!

Go to VIDEO

There are about 2,600 devotional posts and 400 sermons in the Rocky Road library.

Today’s title Image from Pixabay.com  

Images without citation are in public domain or cited via weblinks.  

Unless noted, Scripture quoted from NLT^©  

---

[1] Read 1 Corinthians 10

So Many Questions - Only One Answer

Thursday, June 1, 2023

Then the Lord answered Job from the whirlwind:  “Who is this that questions my wisdom with such ignorant words?  Brace yourself like a man, because I have some questions for you, and you must answer them.  “Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?  Tell me, if you know so much.  Who determined its dimensions and stretched out the surveying line?  What supports its foundations, and who laid its cornerstone as the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy?  “Who kept the sea inside its boundaries as it burst from the womb, and as I clothed it with clouds and wrapped it in thick darkness?  For I locked it behind barred gates, limiting its shores.  I said, ‘This far and no farther will you come.  Here your proud waves must stop!  Job 38:1-11

For 37 chapters Job has heard no answers from heaven about why his children died, why his reputation in the community died, and why his wealth crumbled, and why his wife lost faith in him and advised him to curse God for all of it, lie down and just die.  You can certainly believe it; Job had questions…a lot of them.  And from the tone of Job’s voice, while debating with his well-intentioned dragons, the neighbors who feigned deep concern, but had already made up their minds that Job must have had closet sins which were the reason God was punishing him, you can deduce that Job figured he was entitled to some answers! 

Finally, God does give an answer to all those questions.  And they all had the same answer…a question, really; God asked Job:  With so little understanding, my dear child, how did you even manage to lace-up your sandals this morning?

God’s commentary followed, describing for Job how he couldn’t possibly understand God’s thought process for allowing Satan to sift through Job’s life and create such chaos.  That commentary was about the creation, starting with the DNA of the tiniest creature, to the great Leviathan beasts roaming the open seas.  He described assembling the foundation of the earth, and teaching the stars to sing, while arranging all the majestic splendour of life, physical and metaphysical. 

Gods’ answer continues for another chapter and a half, but it’s still one answer, a description of God’s majesty, displayed in creation, and how Job, a latecomer to time and eternity, really doesn’t have enough brain power to even begin understanding God’s ways, let alone instructing God in His responsibilities.  Here’s how the conversation finishes…God says to Job:

“Do you still want to argue with the Almighty?  You are God’s critic, but do you have the answers?” 

Then Job replied to the Lord, “I am nothing—how could I ever find the answers?  I will cover my mouth with my hand.  I have said too much already.  I have nothing more to say.”  Job 40:2-5

Finally…Job lays-hold of an intelligent thing to say to an Almighty, Sovereign God!

For You Today 

There exists in our world an arrogance which is as old as Satan prancing into heaven and challenging God to this battle with Job’s soul as the prize.  It is the arrogance that we humans have judging God for the bad stuff that happens.  We charge God as scapegoat for all the misery we have created by ignoring His love and righteousness.  We choose destruction over the plan of God for good and holy living.  And then, in our pride, we blame him for our choices.

Approach God in your day today…listen much, say less…let Him love you.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!

Go to VIDEO (read by author)

There are about 2,500 devotional posts and 400 sermons in the Rocky Road Devotions library.  To dig deeper explore some of these:   Wondering About the Big Stuff Series:  Part 1  Part 2  Part 3  and We Mortals

Title Image:  via Pixabay.com   Images without citation are in public domain.

Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©   

When Job Got It Right

[1]

Wednesday, September 18, 2019

Then the Lord answered Job from the whirlwind:  “Brace yourself like a man, because I have some questions for you, and you must answer them.  “Will you discredit my justice and condemn me just to prove you are right?  Are you as strong as God?  Can you thunder with a voice like his?  All right, put on your glory and splendor, your honor and majesty.  Give vent to your anger.  Let it overflow against the proud.  Humiliate the proud with a glance; walk on the wicked where they stand.  Bury them in the dust.  Imprison them in the world of the dead.  Then even I would praise you, for your own strength would save you.  Job 40:6-14

Then Job replied to the Lord:  “I know that you can do anything, and no one can stop you.  You asked, ‘Who is this that questions my wisdom with such ignorance?’  It is I—and I was talking about things I knew nothing about, things far too wonderful for me.  You said, ‘Listen and I will speak!  I have some questions for you, and you must answer them.’  I had only heard about you before, but now I have seen you with my own eyes.  I take back everything I said, and I sit in dust and ashes to show my repentance.”  Job 42:1-6

Somewhere along the way Job forgot his connection to Adam and Eve; Job forgot about original sin and that sin nature we all inherit from our first parents.  Job somehow managed to consign to the back burner that need we all have for God’s grace-filled forgiveness.  Job was a moral, God-fearing man who, as a paragon of virtue in his community, was respected and did the right things.  He was like the good brother in the story of the Prodigal Son, obedient, compliant, useful, and the kind of dependable, unselfish guy every church elects as chairman of the board.

However, when the unfair, tough times came and his life’s train got derailed, Job defended his purity level, demanding an answer from God.  For 39 chapters Job tried to pry an accounting from Heaven.  When God did answer it shook the “good man” to his core.  The only sound heard from him the rest of that day was the clicking of his teeth as his mouth closed its’ complaining.  That was how Job finally got it right.

Many in our day who have ditched “church” in favor of just being good people are making the same mistake Job made.  They assume their goodness is measure enough to pass whatever test God (if He’s really up there) can pass out.  It’s a kind of macho-bravado that dares God to question their freedom to determine their chosen pathway.  And that attitude holds enough truth to get them in as big a dilemma with God as Job experienced.  That’s because God does, indeed, allow us free choice in how we will live our lives; it’s just that the consequences of our choices are just as tied to those choices we make as night is connected to the next morning’s daylight.  It’s like the proverbial domino reality; when you choose to push that first one, the second, third, fourth, and each one thereafter will fall the same way.  Years ago, the Alaskan highway was just a rough, unpaved trail through the wilderness.  During the rainy times the ground was soft and muddy.  A sign was erected at the start of the trail:

Choose your rut carefully; you’ll be in it for the next 200 miles.

We could apply that same wisdom to choosing grace, or our own strength.  God has given us the gift of free will; humility applied to that choosing will go a long way towards losing that arrogance that says its my life, I’ll do what I want.

For You Today

Job’s biggest mistake (before he heard that thundering voice from Heaven cataloging an indictment of his ignorance) was to think he’d been a self-made man, that his popularity, wealth, and “goodness” were enough.  He may have been right in the eyes of his neighbors and friends.  That day’s culture and community elected him man of the year every year, until the bad times and boils made their appearance.  Then all Job had was God.  And when he realized that, he realized he had all he needed!

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day.

 

Go to VIDEO

---

[1] Title Image:  By Hult, Adolf, 1869-1943; Via Wikimedia Commons     Unless noted, Scripture used from The New Living Translation©

Job's Story - From Hero to Zero (and Back)

[1]

Thursday, January 3, 2019

To rightly understand the lessons of Job’s life we must consider both the height of his ease as well as the depth of his trouble.  As his story opens, we have the good times:

There once was a man named Job who lived in the land of Uz.  He was blameless—a man of complete integrity.  He feared God and stayed away from evil.  He had seven sons and three daughters.  He owned 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 teams of oxen, and 500 female donkeys.  He also had many servants.  He was, in fact, the richest person in that entire area.  Job 1:1-3(NLT)

Job was a rich man, but also righteous (not perfect, but always remembering God was God, and Job was not).  The Accuser, Satan, wanted Job…for lunch:

One day the members of the heavenly court came to present themselves before the Lord, and the Accuser, Satan, came with them.  “Where have you come from?” the Lord asked Satan.  Satan answered the Lord, “I have been patrolling the earth, watching everything that’s going on.”  Then the Lord asked Satan, “Have you noticed my servant Job?  He is the finest man in all the earth.  He is blameless—a man of complete integrity.  He fears God and stays away from evil.”  Satan replied to the Lord, “Yes, but Job has good reason to fear God.  You have always put a wall of protection around him and his home and his property.  You have made him prosper in everything he does.  Look how rich he is!  But reach out and take away everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face!”  “All right, you may test him,” the Lord said to Satan.  “Do whatever you want with everything he possesses, but don’t harm him physically.”  So Satan left the Lord’s presence.  Job 1:6-12(NLT)

The story continues with Job’s children dying in a freak accident, his health, possessions and position in the community being taken from him, and his wife giving up, counselling Job to just curse God and die.  The man went from hero to zero in 25 verses; he’d been the richest, most respected man in the region, enjoying the ease of the good life to a childless beggar, sitting in the misery of dust and ashes, nursing the boils that covered his body, and enduring the snarky harping of his less-than-pleased wife.

The next forty chapters of Job’s story are the meat of humans (Job and his three friends) trying to figure out why bad things happen to good people.  Or, if Job wasn’t a good person underneath, and his life was all a sham, a pretention to Godliness, what, exactly, had this sufferer done to tick God off that bad?

Fast-forwarding to the end of the story, we find God speaking to interrupt heaven’s silence in light of Job and his friend’s questions.  God answers Job with a hard challenge:  Job, if you have it figured out, YOU instruct me; you tell ME how this should end.  And to Job’s credit, he knew when it was time to shut his mouth.  He listened, waited, and kept obedient through the storm of his death valley, and God did what God does – He gave Job a lesson more valuable than his previous riches.  God taught him to look outside the feeling in his gut, to the troubles others face:

When Job prayed for his friends, the Lord restored his fortunes.  In fact, the Lord gave him twice as much as before!  Then all his brothers, sisters, and former friends came and feasted with him in his home.  And they consoled him and comforted him because of all the trials the Lord had brought against him.  And each of them brought him a gift of money and a gold ring.  So the Lord blessed Job in the second half of his life even more than in the beginning.  Job 42:10-12(NLT)

Job learned that the response to tragedy and adversity is trusting God.  Truth be told, Satan understood human nature, and went right for the jugular in pushing all the buttons connected to Job’s trust in God.  He knew that this rich man’s dream life hadn’t been tested with a choice between his wealth and his Creator.  Satan had it figured out that the temptation to sell-out for a few pieces of silver can overcome a shaky faith.  After all, Adam and Eve had caved for just a single bite of what God had and they didn’t!

The one thing Satan never figured out (and perhaps still hasn’t) is that God will allow tests of our strength.  He will at times even allow the beating, bruising, battering ordeal of crosses and tombs.  Every bit of it must pass under the scrutiny of a sovereign God!  Our ever-present question, WHY? Is never answered until, in hindsight, and in trust, we see the marks of God’s guiding presence in what we’ve been through. 

For You Today

God’s purposes are our blessing, and they are rarely understood in the ease of being on top of the heap; sometimes it’s got to fall on us to do any good!

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day.

Go to VIDEO

---

[1] Title Image:  Pixabay.com

Joy & Judgment

[1]

Monday, June 12, 2017

He makes Lebanon’s mountains skip like a calf; he makes Mount Hermon leap like a young wild ox.  The voice of the Lord strikes with bolts of lightning.  Psalm 29:6-7^(NLT)

I think if I owned two horses I would name them “Joy” and “Judgment”. 

There is a certain amount of duality or dichotomy that appears in all of us, and it stems from the fact that we are created in the image of the One who can appear that way.  One day we seem, like Job, to be enjoying the joy of God; everything is smooth and life is good.  The next moment, like Job, we seem to be under the harsh thumb of God’s judgment. 

I’ve heard God called two-faced before, and it’s always when the person is experiencing something of a painful judgment kind of day, rather than the joy to which they assume they’re entitled.

Preacher’s sermons always seem to focus on one side of that equation or the other.  On this Sunday we are hearing about the joy of skipping calves, or mountains that leap like a young ox – the next Sunday there are bolts of lightning scorching everything in sight.

You can just hear the anguished cry of confusion:  When you say ‘God’ do you mean joy or judgment?  Will the real God please stand up; is it Joy or Judgment? 

And the answer is always Yes!

Uhhhh, Preacher, would you care to run that by me again?  What can I really expect from God, is it joy or judgment? 

Yes!

Always!

The fact that God created this universe with polar opposites (up/down, cold/hot, positive/negative) should give us a clue that God, being altogether consistent in all things, would relate to that creation with joy in appropriate circumstances, and judgment in the other case. 

Let’s take a short course in parenting:  you can be joyful with your children, but there are times when training them properly must include judgment.  You might be called two-faced (or a lot of other things under their breath), but a parent who loves the child will not let the child grow up a self-serving, obnoxious brat!

Applying that thought to the way God “parents” us, you have to magnify the skill of the parent (compared to us human parents) by a factor of one million to the umpteenth power, and you have a faint picture of how much greater God’s love is applied to all His creation, whether it is in joy or judgment.

For You Today

God’s love is unquestionably in action right now for you; mostly it’s your choice whether it comes down as judgment; He prefers joy.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road…have a blessed day!

Go to VIDEO

---

[1] Title Image:  via Pixabay.com

God Answers Job

[1]

Friday, June 9, 2017

The Book of Job starts out with a conversation in Heaven between God and the Accuser.  God gives the Accuser permission to test Job.  In just 23 verses Job, the richest man in the East loses his wealth in so many ways.  His entire herds of livestock and the servants who care for them, are either stolen or consumed by lightning, and his ten children die in the collapse of a house where they’re partying.    And if that isn’t enough tragedy on the plate, a satanic attack of boils covers Job from the soles of his feet to the crown of his head.  The crowning touch is chapter 2, verse 9 where Mrs. Job looked at her poor, wretched, suffering husband and sneers, why don’t you just curse God and die?

Chapters 3 through 37 are the conversations Job has with his three “friends” who try to convince Job he must have done something really awful to have ticked-off God so much to bring on this punishing turn of life’s events.  How much worse can it get when those who are supposed to be your support system spend days and weeks questioning your character, kicking you when you’re already down, rolling on the ground in grief and physical pain? 

In-between Job taking time to answer his so-called “friend’s” accusations, Job also carries on a soliloquy with Heaven, imploring God to speak up and give a sane reason for all the suffering this good man has had to endure.  In short, Job is daring God to vindicate his character and show the world this is all unjust and makes no sense.  The problem, of course, is that Job doesn’t know it does make sense. 

But as the 38^th chapter opens, Job’s jaw drops and then his mouth seals shut as God answers with four chapters of kicking every bit of Job and his friends’ so-called wisdom to the corner.  Listen to just a little bit of the response God gives to Job’s ranting demand that God be accountable to Him:

“Have you ever commanded the morning to appear and caused the dawn to rise in the east?  Have you made daylight spread to the ends of the earth, to bring an end to the night’s wickedness?  As the light approaches, the earth takes shape like clay pressed beneath a seal; it is robed in brilliant colors.  The light disturbs the wicked and stops the arm that is raised in violence.

“Have you explored the springs from which the seas come?  Have you explored their depths?  Do you know where the gates of death are located?  Have you seen the gates of utter gloom?  Do you realize the extent of the earth?  Tell me about it if you know!

“Where does light come from, and where does darkness go?  Can you take each to its home?  Do you know how to get there?  But of course you know all this!  For you were born before it was all created, and you are so very experienced!   Job 38:12-21^(NLT)

Job’s final word back to God was that he had no more words; Job understood that there is only one God…God was God, and Job was not!

For You Today

Sometimes we tend to go-off on God when we see things that we know inside are wrong, and we just want God to speak up.  At those times, before we speak what we do not know, and before the boils cover our bodies, and the Chaldeans steal our jobs and 401K’s, it would be a good thing to sneak a peek at the last few chapters of Job and follow his example….rant over!

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road…have a blessed day!

Go to VIDEO

---

[1] Title Image:  via Pixabay.com

It's Not Easy Being Green

[i]

Monday, May 29, 2017

Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you your heart’s desires.  Psalm 37:4^(NLT)

Jim Henson’s puppet character Kermit the Frog had a lot to say about making peace with yourself about who and what you are, and not entering into destructive forms of selfish behavior in order to make sense of that which troubles you.

Listen to the green philosopher: 

It's not that easy being green;

            Having to spend each day the color of the leaves.
When I think it could be nicer being red, or yellow or gold-or something much more colorful like that.

It's not easy being green. 
It seems you blend in with so many other ordinary things.
And people tend to pass you over 'cause you're not standing out like flashy sparkles in the water-or stars in the sky.

But green's the color of Spring. 

            And green can be cool and friendly-like.
And green can be big like the ocean, or important like a mountain, or tall like a tree.

When green is all there is to be It could make you wonder why, but why wonder?

            Why Wonder, I am green and it'll do fine, it's beautiful! 
And I think it's what I want to be.[ii]

Kermit, figured out that he was created green (after all, he’s a frog); but what’s more, Kermit learned to look for the beauty in what God made.  And in so-doing, the frog accepted the fact of his green-ness and his frog-ness, and found that he wouldn’t have it any other way.

Note the last line of Kermit’s song:

And I think it's what I want to be.

That is one fine frog commentary on the Psalmist’s advice to us this morning about making peace with all that surrounds your life.  Taking delight in the Lord is a matter of accepting everything about the way you came into this world, including your family, where and how you were born, what you look like, and all the other stuff that makes up the hand you were dealt…and thanking God for His wisdom in giving you breath, life, and even the not-so-wonderful circumstances, or overly-wonderful circumstances in which you find yourself.

What is absolutely astounding in 100% of human existence is that once you come to terms with that hand you’ve been dealt in life – you begin to realize that the heart of God created you in a most magnificent way, better than anything you could have imagined – and it has inexplicably become the desire of your heart too!

For You Today

If God created you to be green, be the best green ever!

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road…have a blessed day!

Go to VIDEO

NOTES

---

 ^I Title image: By Dawn Endico from Menlo Park, California (Cindy Lou Who meets Kermit the Frog), via Wikimedia Commons

[ii] Muppets - It's Not Easy Being Green Lyrics | MetroLyrics