Jumping for Joy

O. T. #1129  "Jumping for Joy"
Jan.9, 2018
Job 9
These things have I spoken unto you, that My joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.  John 15:11

LET IT GLOW

I enjoy living out in the country. I see God's hand over animals as He brings them my way to be astonished at His creation. The other evening we were going out to eat with our son and his family. As he drove us along our country road, he stopped the vehicle. We saw a half dozen does in the woods. We were all in awe as we watched this young deer prancing around, practicing jumping. It was quite a show. And I think, why are we Christians not jumping for joy at what God does in our life? (Speaking to me.) He saved my soul, set me free from the power of sin, provides for me to over come the evil around here. He is fighting my battles if I will let Him. Yeah, I should be jumping for joy, like the deer.

Well, Bildad was a legalist, a traditionalist, indicating that Job needed sermons and illustrations from the past and philosophical analogies from examples in the world of nature-plants, spiders, roots around rocks.  How would that help Job solve the problem of sores all over his body? Was Bildad there with Job because he cared for the poor man? Did he even pray for Job to survive it all? Some encouraging friend he was.

In chapter 9, Job speaks to Bildad asking questions:

• So what's new? Job knew all that Bildad said.
• How can mere mortals get just with God? Just means to be vindicated in the sense of a court declaring in one's favor.
• What chance would we have if we wanted to bring our case before Him? Job wants to contend, or challenge God. Job answered his own question, "Not 1 in a 1,000."
• Who could take Him on and come out in 1 piece? God's wisdom is so deep, and His power so immense. Even the earth, mountains and seas, stars and sun are under His control. We will never comprehend all the great things God does.
• If He steals you blind who can stop Him?
• Who is going to question what God is doing?

Job recognizes how great God is. He is magnificent in might and Job feared God. He stood before Him in awe and wonder. Job wants to be able to approach God and talk this out. Bildad did not help him do that.

If we could approach God in a divine courtroom setting, and stand before the Judge, what would we do? God is holy and we are sinners.  tend to think we would humbly bow before Him.

LET IT GROW

Job longs to walk into God's courtroom just as he is-covered with sores, bankrupt and broken, to argue his case. He would be a rebel, but desires talking it through face to face  with God.

Swindoll tells us four questions that Job would a God:

1. If I could stand before God, what would I say? Job couldn't answer God, but implore the mercy of the Judge. He couldn't believe God would even listen to him. Job states that God is the strong one. If it is a matter of power, He wins. If Job could stand before God, what would he say? If he could declare his own innocence, what good would it do?

Are we willing to kneel before the Lord our God and Creator? Either we submit to Him now or when we die. Then it will be too late to confess our sins. We are all sinners; none is righteous, no not one.
Will we admit it?

Do we want to fly above our problems like the eagle, soaring in the sky?
Do we want to prance with joy like the young deer?
Then we need to submit to God. Whatever He wants to bring into our life to change us and be a witness of His strength, let us surrender.

LET IT GO

I am a sinner in need of a Savior, Jesus Christ, constantly.
Give my problems to God and soar like an eagle above them.
Jump for joy as I live pardoned.
Share with others how they too can be like the eagle and deer.

Where Are You Looking?

O. T. # 1128  "Where Are You Looking?
Jan. 8, 2018
Job 8
Don't look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too.  Philippians 2:4

LET IT GLOW

I have noticed that when life is going good, then I am more concerned about others. It is when I am in a trial, working through a problem, that I am looking at myself more, focusing on the bad situation. But the way out of the pit is to look to the needs of others and help them. That helps me in the long run, getting me out of my pit of despair. Maybe Job's friends could have used our key verse in their lives.

You are nothing more than other than a windbag, Job. Can you imagine Job hearing that after the first of his friends, Eliphaz preached repentance, basing his words on experience.

His reasonings came from experience-I have learned, I have observed, I have seen. (Swindoll)

 hat are you guys doing to poor Job in his condition? With his 10 children buried up on the hill? Since he was as poor as a nail? Had a wife nagging him to curse God and die?

Job's second friend, named Bildad, is different. He bases his words on tradition. He urged Job to go back into history and check what happened there.

Swindoll gives us an outline of Bildad's sermon:

1. The Character of God (verses 3-7) Look Up, Job!
2. The Wisdom of the Past (verses 8-10) Look Back, Job!
3. The Evidence of Nature (verses 11-19) Look Around, Job!
4. Concluding Comments (verses 20-22)

Because Job's children sinned, God judged them, thus killing them.  If Job would repent, then God would restore his health and wealth. He is a withering, dying hypocrite. He has sinned and God had uprooted him. His hope is in perishing. Couldn't Bildad have shown  little more tact and compassion in his words to Job? After all, Job had not forgotten God, nor was he godless, but remained a godly man during his friends' visits. He did not deserve all that had happened to him. Satan was behind it all. (Easy for me to say, I didn't live through it.)

The tradition of our faith as Christians is based upon God's Word and the life of Jesus. Aren't we thankful that God's compassions fail not, and His mercies are new every morning?

LET IT GROW

Bildad instructed Job to:

• pray to God,
• seek the favor of the Almighty,
• be pure,
• live with integrity,

then God will raise you up and restore your happy home. And though you started with little, you will end with much.

Sometimes changes in our life are needed so we can be more like those characteristics.  Sometimes they achieve good results and other times our circumstances do not change. Our life is in God's hands. Will we accept good and bad? Will we live for God's glory or for our self?

LET IT GO

Pray more, seek to please God more, have pure thoughts, live with integrity.
Stop looking at my circumstances, rely on God, then take a look at others.
Look up, look back, and look around.
Learn what God is like, looking up.
Learn life lessons from my past and the past of others, looking back.
See the needs of those in suffering times and what could help encourage them, looking around.

Need a Moment to Catch Your Breath?

O. T. #1127  "Need a Moment to Catch Your Breath?"
Jan. 5, 2018
Job 7

LET IT GLOW

Hey, I have been eagle watching from my front door. Yep, He has been sitting in a bare tree, just looking around. Then another one came to the same tree, but soon flew off. Two eagles came flying by him. You know I was using my binoculars to get a birds eye view. How majestic these birds are, huge in size, white heads and white tails, a giant wing expanse. This was all an answer to a wish the other day when I was in town, sitting in the truck, waiting on my husband in the store. I saw half a dozen flying around.  My desire was to see them up closer, but it didn't happen that day. I believe the Lord heard me and sent them my way this morning, 3 days later. What a blessing! Is there a lesson for you and me from the eagles?
Are we having our strength renewed because we are waiting upon the Lord? Are we mounting up as eagles, running without growing weary, walking without fainting? (Is. 40:31) Anyway, that is why I'm late for the study.

If only Job could have found that strength. Although, he was still sitting in misery, listening to his friends. He gives an answer to Eliphaz in chapter 6, whenever he stopped comforting and went to preaching repentance to Job. Then in chapter 7, Job directs his words crying out to God.

O God, remember that my life is but a breath.  (NLT  verse 7)

KJV uses the word wind; in the Hebrew is rauwach (roo'-akh), which is wind by resemblance breath.

Can we stop for a minute and consider our breath of life? If we have congestion in our lungs or passage, we have problems breathing. I know that from having asthma, had pneumonia, and influenza A. Breathing is important to staying alive, we will all agree. It keeps us going, our body functioning with the oxygen it needs. If our breath is gone, our life is snuffed out in  minute's time. Do we thank God for our breath? For allowing us to awaken this morning?

LET IT GROW

If only Job could bring his case before the Living God, lay his situation out before Him, then Job would accept whatever God had to say, judging rightly. However, God is silent to Job during those days of his testing.

In verse 18, Job acknowledges that God examines us every morning and tests us each moment. He is watching over us constantly. That makes Him God.
Job needs a moment to catch his breath, to swallow. (verse 19)
After the busy season we have just survived, do we need a moment to catch our breath? The Holy Spirit can supply our every need.

If I have sinned, what have I done to You, O watcher of humanity? (verse 20)

This is not an admission of guilt, but an argument against the way God has dealt with him. Job closes his discourse with the urgent request that God forgive him, if indeed he has sinned, before it is too late, in verse 21. (Falwell)

Soon we lie down in the dust and die, like Job said in verse 21b. Yes, it happens to us so quickly. That is why we must be about our Father's business, as Jesus told his parents when they found Him in the temple after 3 days.

LET IT GO

Wait upon the Lord Jesus.
Be thankful for my breath of life today.
Admit my sins and ask God's forgiveness.

A Silent Friend

O. T. #1126  "A Silent Friend"
Jan. 4, 2018
Job 6-Part 2

LET IT GLOW

Eliphaz, I haven't asked for something special, your wealth, deliverance from my adversary, or redeeming me from the hands of tyrants. Job does not ask help to get relief, nor try to cover up some hidden sin. (verses 22-23)

Teach me, and I will be silent; and show me how I have erred.  (verse 24)

Job expresses anguish and questions his trials. He needs sympathy while in his pain. Job is willing to acknowledge his wrongs, for he had not lied of his incense. He was neither a madman nor a wicked man. Job was patient and submissive. It didn't matter what Eliphaz thought, Job knew in his heart that he did not deserve the boils, his children killed, lost of livestock and servants.

A just cause deserves a just hearing. (Henry)

Silence and prayers often are the best help we can render a friend in pain, not judgment.

LET IT GROW

David Jeremiah gives us some pointers when helping a friend facing trouble:

• They do not need sarcasm; they need support.
• They do not need logic; they need love.
• They do not need experiences; they need encouragement.
• They do not need assumptions; they need assurances.
• They do not need advice; they need affirmation.
• They do not need pious platitudes; they need powerful principles.

No pep talks are needed, but sincere compassion. I think that I have learned a few things from Job already, or rather his so called friends.
When I am upset, I need a silent, listening ear. My husband has learned this. I don't need to be told how to solve the problem right then. I need apathy, reassurance that I am loved. As I work through the situation, then when I ask for advice, give it. But not until then. Anyone else like me?

LET IT GO

Be a silent friend.
Show support, love, and listen to those going through trials and troubles.
Be assuring and encouraging.
Listen when others state their opinion for me to consider.

Give Up and Get Out or Carry On?

O. T. #1125  "Give Up and Get Out or Carry On?"
Jan. 3, 2018
Job 6
God is the strength of my heart, my portion forever.  Psalm 73:26b

LET IT GLOW

According to David Jeremiah, Job made two mistakes in his attempt to help Job:

1. He made all suffering sin.
2. He said that all righteousness is rewarded and that all sin is judged.

Eliphaz assumed he knew the cause of Job's sufferings. He believed that if Job would submit to the chastening of the Almighty, he would reap a harvest of blessing.

Now let's hear Job's response-my righteousness still stands. Job's friends seemed more intend on arguing their points than trying to understand Job's situation. What does arguing prove in the long run?

Job used several metaphors to describe his suffering in verses 2-7:

1. sand of the sea, which implies a vast amount;
2. a profound weight;
3. shot with arrows, an OT expression for judgment;
4. tasteless, like the white of an egg. ((The Jeremiah Study Bible)

To Job, life has lost its pleasures. His complaint is justifiable, so Job thinks. He is deep down in grief and misery. It is better to listen politely to one suffering in severe trials, showing compassion, than give advice. Job wanted to give in, give up, and die. (verses 8-9) Did God grant Job's request? No. God had a greater plan for Job's life.


LET IT GROW

Don't I have a right to complain? Paul tells us to do all things without murmurings and disputings, in Philippians 2:14. No grumbling or arguing? Do all things in that manner? So many times I fail at this instruction.

According to NLT, verses 10-11, Job says, At least I can take comfort in this: Despite the pain, I have not denied the words of the Holy One. But I don't have the strength to endure-I have nothing to live for.

He can just take so much. Job recognizes that he is not made of stone or metal. We are only made of flesh and bones. They decay and over time our body wears out. Some days we realize that more than other days, especially after we turn 60, huh?

We tend to want to give up and get out when the going gets rough. When our limits are tested and our faith has been stretched to the limit, we find out what we are made of. Are we trusting that God is in control and will take care of us? Been there, done that. It's easy to quit, but difficult to continue on, get back in there, press on. Ask God for strength to carry on, friend, as the key verse says.

Is anything stealing our joy, or trying to do so? Praise God in the midst, dear one. Start being a giver and a liver, living, not the organ. There ain't nothing goin' a steal my joy, as the song goes. Put our hope in Jesus, and He will be our strength to carry on.

LET IT GO

Put those painful things behind, in last year, and start a new year.
Let my disappointments become appointments with God.
Rely on God and carry on, not giving up and getting out.

Unfailing Kindness

O. T. #1124  "Unfailing Kindness"
Jan. 2, 2018
Job 5-Part 3
He shows unfailing kindness to His anointed. Psalm 18:50

LET IT GLOW

Isn't it time that we get back to the basics of life? Develop our relationship with God and with others. Ask forgiveness, give forgiveness, show unfailing kindness. This year, in spite of how that hard person treats us, let us show them kindness this year, for we receive God's unfailing kindness. Job's friend could have used those words.

Although Job is miserable physically, at wits' end emotionally, and confused spiritually, his friend Eliphaz has blamed and shamed, rebuked and judged Job.

Swindoll gives us 3 lessons we can learn from Eliphaz:

1. Assumptions reduce understanding and insight. If you have made up your mind and you have already figured out what caused this, you can't really understand the truth because you're no longer listening. Assumptions reduce understanding, insight gets lost.
2. Shame blocks grace and hinders relief.  Shame shoves you further into the tight grip of anguish. "Shame on you" does no good.
3. Pride eclipses mercy and compassion. Pride and compassion cannot coexist.

so we need to listen instead of assume, to show grace instead of point out shame, and show compassion in place of pride. Of course, we have heard why we have 2 ears and only one mouth-to hear twice as much as we speak.

Job's friend did not even give him a chance to speak first, to get it off his chest, this pain and suffering. No, Eliphaz jumped right in with both feet, condemning Job for sinning. Yet Job was the most righteous man around, blameless and had integrity, which we know is true because God had said it to Satan in chapter 1.

Have we learned that we can't convict people of their sins. Only God can. When He does, we can offer His grace, understanding, and compassion.
 
LET IT GROW

Eliphaz tells Job, in verse 27, that they have studied life and found this to be true, hear it and understand it for yourself. He is talking about all he's been talking about. Hmm

According to verses 19-26, we can trust God will keep us safe from evil, death in famine, the sword in wartime, slander, destruction, wild animals. He continues to say, God will give us peace, a safe home, possessions from being stolen, bless us with children, and a long life. Eliphaz indicates Job would have prosperity, security, a family, and a rich life if he would confess his sins.

Now who couldn't use that in their life? Yeah buddy! We know that it rains on the just and the unjust. God provides for those not following Him as well as His faithful followers. But, let us keep in mind that Satan's ploy is to get us to doubt God's love and faithfulness toward us.

LET IT GO

Repent of my sins.
Be an obedient, faithful follower of Jesus.
Trust God for peace and safety.
Help others find God's mercy and grace.
Show kindness to someone today.

Suffering and Deliverance

O. T. #1123  "Suffering and Deliverance"
January 1, 2018
Job 5-Part 2
But consider the joy of those corrected by God! Do not despise the discipline of the Almighty when you sin. For though He wounds, he also bandages. He strikes but His hands also heal.
(Job 5:17-18 NLT)

LET IT GLOW

Happy New Year, my dear friends in Christ. I am so glad you have continued with me as we study God's Word together. However, many of you have yet to leave a comment about what God is doing in your life. Won't you consider sharing with us? It brings encouragement to us.
Well, instead of looking back over last year and all the struggles, problems, and trials we went through, shall we look ahead with confident expectance as we trust in our Savior Jesus Christ? Our assignment is to complete God's will in our life no matter what that may entail. But are we ready?
Although Job's friend Eliphaz has some harsh things to say to Job, he does have a few good things to say. Join me, won't you?

This so called friend of Job's does have a few good things to say:

• We should be happy to suffer for the glory of God, especially if it brings restoration to a soul (ours or others).
• We should accept God's discipline upon our life, for it proves to us that He loves us  as His child.
• God binds up the wounds of His children.
• He heals those injured.
• God delivers us from troubles. (verse 19)
• He redeems us from famine, death, and war. (verse 20)
• He hides us from the scourge of the tongue. (verse 21)
• God delivers us from destruction and the beasts. (verse 22)
• Your offspring shall be great and numerous. (verse 25)
• You will come to the grave at full age. (verse 26)

Of course, Eliphaz was speaking to Job, but God placed this passage in His Word to speak to us His children. Which of those do you need as reassurance in your life today, in your walk of faith?

We know that later on, Job is blessed by God with those things in his life because of his faithfulness and eventual humility. (chapter 42)
Although this friend said words of truth, he hasn't been much help to Job at that time.

LET IT GROW

Job's friend, Eliphaz,  did not give up. If he came to sympathize and comfort, then he sure had a weird way of doing it. Does it really matter how many experiences he has had, being older? He had no right to question Job's integrity. He accused Job of suffering because he was guilty of sin. Eliphaz suggests Job seeks God, placing his cause before Him. (verse 8)

There are people who twist the truth, ignore the facts, and verbally abuse the undeserving. (Swindoll)

Did Job get what he deserved? Was he not listening to God's reproofs? Was it true that after Job repented of his sins, then he would be just fine? If we don't have God's clear mind and the facts of the situation as proof, shouldn't we just love our hurting friend and keep quiet?

If there is insight to be gained, it will be gained through comfort and tender mercies, not rebuke and accusation. (Swindoll)

Do we need more tender mercies and compassion for others?

LET IT GO

                                ... of judgmental thoughts and show tender mercies and compassion to those who
                                    hurt me.
                                ... and willfully suffer for Jesus.
                                ... then trust Jesus for deliverance in His time.