Morning Light – April 27th, 2016
Source:
http://ift.tt/1UhbrRe
Today: [Job Forty] God Puts on His Tornado Suit. Have you ever been mad at God? In this chapter God continues to speak to Job from the whirlwind. We do hear from Job a brief 34 word repentance. That is not enough. God continues to speak to Job because Job has spent the balance of 35 chapters (40 days time) shaking his fist in God’s face insisting on his own self righteousness. God demands equal time and though speaking with great power He also speaks with great restraint and kindness to correct Job as He will us as well if we will as well give Him equal time to speak to us in the midst of our suffering.
[Job 40:1-24 KJV] 1 Moreover the LORD answered Job, and said, 2 Shall he that contendeth with the Almighty instruct [him]? he that reproveth God, let him answer it. 3 Then Job answered the LORD, and said, 4 Behold, I am vile; what shall I answer thee? I will lay mine hand upon my mouth. 5 Once have I spoken; but I will not answer: yea, twice; but I will proceed no further. 6 Then answered the LORD unto Job out of the whirlwind, and said, 7 Gird up thy loins now like a man: I will demand of thee, and declare thou unto me. 8 Wilt thou also disannul my judgment? wilt thou condemn me, that thou mayest be righteous? 9 Hast thou an arm like God? or canst thou thunder with a voice like him? 10 Deck thyself now [with] majesty and excellency; and array thyself with glory and beauty.
In God’s answer to Job we can sum up his challenge with the question “where were you Job, and how do you presume to know so much about Me and what I will and won’t do?” It is noteworthy that in all of God’s comments to Job not one time does He take responsibility for Job’s trials. As Elihu says in Job 34:12 “God will not do wickedly …” This has been the universal agreement between Job and his friends was that God had afflicted Job when in fact this was not the case. The astounding thing to realize is that the commentators almost without exclusion PRESUMPTIVELY CONCLUDE without question that “of course God did this to Job…” when in fact in Job 1:11-12 we see the true culprit:
[Job 1:11-12 KJV] 11 But put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face. 12 And the LORD said unto Satan, Behold, all that he hath [is] in thy power; only upon himself put not forth thine hand. So Satan went forth from the presence of the LORD.
God did not originate Job’s suffering. What God did to is put a hedge for a time to protect Job from the consequences of a character flaw in his life that opened him to attack. We read of this in Job 3:25:
[Job 3:25-26 KJV] 25 For the thing which I greatly feared is come upon me, and that which I was afraid of is come unto me. 26 I was not in safety, neither had I rest, neither was I quiet; yet trouble came.
Your life will rise to the level of your expectation. If you expect difficulty it will find you. The expectation in your heart is the prophecy over your life. If you look for trouble it will find you. This is the warning of Solomon in Proverbs:
[Pro 4:23 KJV] 23 Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it [are] the issues of life.
We may suffer and go through difficulty but ask yourself “where did this come from?” If you choose to believe the testimony of scripture – the issues of life originate in the human heart and therefore are influenced by what transpires there. Job feared and that fear lodged in his heart generating a self-fulfilling set of circumstances. For a time God protected Job – not just from Satan but from himself, from his own fears. Satan complained to God about this:
[Job 1:10 KJV] 10 Hast not thou made an hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side? thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land.
In other words there were undealt with fears in Job’s life that gave Satan something he would work with in Job to bring him harm but God held him back giving Job space to repent. Now if Job was to repent he must first be corrected. Was Job corrected? We can see in Job 7:3-4 that he was troubled in the night. Elihu seized upon this fact and pointed out in Job 33:14-18 that this troubled sleep pattern was because God was speaking to Job to keep him from destruction. Gen. 6:3 tells us that God will not always strive with man. There is a point that God will protect you from the very things in your character or environment that He speaks to you about but if you refuse to listen he will allow consequences to follow. Does this cover every instance of suffering in man – no. In Luke 13:1-5 Jesus speaks further on this subject – however in whatever the case may be at no point in Job or the teachings of Jesus do we see that God originated or instigated the sufferings of Job or our suffering for that matter.
11 Cast abroad the rage of thy wrath: and behold every one [that is] proud, and abase him. 12 Look on every one [that is] proud, [and] bring him low; and tread down the wicked in their place. 13 Hide them in the dust together; [and] bind their faces in secret. 14 Then will I also confess unto thee that thine own right hand can save thee.
So God remonstrates with Job challenging Job’s self-righteous wrath directed at God Himself. Have you ever been mad at God? In Job 23:1-16 Job with great disrespect demands to be brought before God. He challenges God and boasts about how convincing his argument would be before God’s throne. Now God asks Job “where were you…”? In answer in v. 4 Job says “no I am vile – and I lay my hand upon my mouth…” Is this what God is after – to humiliate Job? No but he has to break through Job’s thinking because he is contaminated in his mind by Satan himself. All of Job’s words and the words of his friends are filled with accusation. Who is the accuser? Rev. 12:10 calls Satan the accuser of the brethren. When someone comes to you and says “I love you BUT” – get ready to hear a word from Satan himself. The enemy and religious people are VERY adept at crafting flattering words and deceptive conversation to set you up for an assault from hell speaking veiled words of accusation “with a heavy heart, and because I love you so much…”
We are to receive correction just as God is correcting Job. How does God correct Job? By pointing to nature and showing Job how great He is and how good He is. Rom. 2:4-5 tell us God’s GOODNESS leads to repentance. If you want someone to repent speak of God’s goodness. Give them God’s goodness. The person who faining a call to repentance brings something other than God’s goodness or looks at you through a filter that doesn’t reflect how God looked at you when He sent Jesus to die for you – then that person’s goal is something other than repentance. They are anointed alright but it is an anointing of accusation straight from hell – no matter how sugar coated, high sounding or mature they may masquerade themselves to be. Strong language? Yes but this spirit of accusation runs bone deep in Christian culture and requires strong medicine to root out of our thinking.
15 Behold now behemoth, which I made with thee; he eateth grass as an ox. 16 Lo now, his strength [is] in his loins, and his force [is] in the navel of his belly. 17 He moveth his tail like a cedar: the sinews of his stones are wrapped together. 18 His bones [are as] strong pieces of brass; his bones [are] like bars of iron. 19 He [is] the chief of the ways of God: he that made him can make his sword to approach [unto him]. 20 Surely the mountains bring him forth food, where all the beasts of the field play. 21 He lieth under the shady trees, in the covert of the reed, and fens. 22 The shady trees cover him [with] their shadow; the willows of the brook compass him about. 23 Behold, he drinketh up a river, [and] hasteth not: he trusteth that he can draw up Jordan into his mouth. 24 He taketh it with his eyes: [his] nose pierceth through snares.
God continues with a description of the great Behemoth He has created – challenging Job to come up with something in himself as great as the Hippopotamus that most scholars agree this passage describes. Have you ever gotten mad at God? Have you ever gotten your feelings hurt by something you are sure God did or did not do. It has been said that all emotional hurt carries within it repressed anger. When we are offended at others or at God Himself there is an inherent self-righteousness in the offence. The Psalmist tells us:
[Psa 119:165 KJV] 165 Great peace have they which love thy law: and nothing shall offend them.
Are you offended? We may reply – “no but I am hurt…” That is buried offence. You may say “you don’t know what I’ve been through…” 1 Cor. 10:13 says there is no challenge you can face that isn’t common to man. You may contend “I don’t deserve this …” Isa. 64:6 tells us that outside of Christ all our righteousness is filthy rags. One of the great problems in dealing with people influence by Christian culture is the deception of being a sweet rebel. We wrap ourselves in the garments of our victimhood and dare anyone to suggest our pain does not give us authority and right to question God and reject sound counsel. Remember that all of God’s words to Job are in the midst of his trial and suffering. Even when Job says “I am vile and lay my hand on my mouth…” God does not say “Oh… well ok then – let’s forget the whole thing…” No, Job has spent 35 chapters – almost 40 days shaking his fist in God’s face. God is demanding equal time. He knows that Job’s self-righteousness will only be cleansed by a deep correction. In John 15:3 Jesus tells the disciples “now you are clean through the word I have spoken to you…” The most loving thing God can do is correct you in the midst of suffering. How does that come? Not in the package that you might dictate. He speaks in dreams. He speaks in deep slumberings in the night, in Job’s case. We often want to dictate how God speaks to us and on what terms. We want Him to speak through our favorite preacher or through an instrumentality of our choosing. In this case God is speaking out of a tornado. He dressed up in a tornado suit and came to Job’s house and Job hears a voice speaking to him as he cowers in the storm cellar. Have you ever been mad at God? You are not alone. Let God speak to you in your anger. Give Him equal time. Get quiet before Him and hear the words that will cleanse you and deliver you from the consequences of your life.
