Week 5: A Look at Job's Friends

At first, it’s easy to be hard on Job’s friends. There is absolutely reason to doubt their friendship. However, there is also the possibility of us being filled with the same pride that clouded their judgment if we make the assumption that we are any better. Thinking back on times in my own life, attitudes that I’ve had, other Christians that I’ve known, I see this same attitude evident. What’s so frustrating about these friends is that they really do sound wise. What’s so sad is that they sincerely believe they are speaking on behalf of God. There are a couple of truths that just keep resounding with me as I study this book and examine these friends.  Let’s first look at their thought process; why they were to be able to make such claims and accusations. These men had good intentions. I do not believe that they were trying to betray Job. They honestly believed that they understood suffering and thought were speaking truth to Job. I don’t think that they were being arrogant. I think that their limited knowledge clouded their awareness of their lack of knowledge. Further, their words seemed wise and religious. They sounded logical. Here was the problem, though. They began to speak what they believed without stopping to consult God about it first. We can think we believe the truth with deepest sincerity, but that does not make it true. Before we begin to spout off the wisdom we think we posses, we must stop to evaluate. What I’ve learned by reading this book is that I know nothing. Before I speak anything to anyone, I better stop and seek God first. Something that God has been teaching me in my own life is that I just might be wrong. It is so crucial to constantly keep a teachable heart. I am amazed at how right these men thought that they were; and I don’t mean that in a negative way. How many times have I been in the same place? I pray that I learn to come to God with a humble heart that says, “Father, I really believe this. I really think I understand this. I really think this is what this person needs to hear. But, Father, I know I may be wrong.” We must keep a constant awareness that we are not nearly as wise as we’d like to think. As the created, not the Creator, our wisdom and perspective and understanding is so limited. Reading this book makes me realize the importance of what Paul said to the church of Philippi when he said, “Do not think more highly of yourselves than you ought.” Thankfully, God graciously gives wisdom to us when we seek Him. That’s just the key, though. These three friends began speaking rather than praying. Not one time did they actually ask God before they began to speak on behalf of God. The reading tells us that they sat in silence for a week before they began to speak to Job. I imagine they were doing what I so often am guilty of doing; they let their minds start rolling, stewing, building up these grand speeches and discourses rather than simply seeking God on behalf of their friend. May we come to a place of spiritual maturity where our desire is to seek God rather than just be right. Being religious and wise in our own opinion is one of the greatest ways Satan blinds us and keeps us from growing. Today has seemed like much rambling but to simply list what we can learn: 1. Accept my limited understanding; 2. Admit that I don’t have it all figured out;  3. Ask God before speaking.

The Book of Job: A Look at Satan

My approach to this book is going to be different than most of the rest of our reading. Rather than looking at Job from each day’s reading, we are going to look at the player’s in the story. Let’s start with Satan; after all, it’s him who starts this entire fiasco. It may make more sense to begin with Job, but I for no specific reason would like to begin with Satan. I will be honest up front: I still have many questions regarding this book. My husband and I were discussing the reading a few nights ago, I gave him my list of questions and am waiting for him to give me some answers! Until then, we are going to have to depend on my limited understanding. Take a look at verse six of the first chapter; “One day the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came with them. The Lord asked Satan, ‘Where have you come from?’ ‘From roaming through the earth,’ Satan answered Him, ‘and walking around on it.’” If you are wondering, how or why was Satan allowed to go before God, you’re not alone. All I can for certain tell you is that Satan is accountable to God. I do want to clarify one other question that arose for me. ‘The sons of God’ mentioned at the beginning of this passage is referring to angels. Now, let’s get past our questions and look at what we learn about Satan. As we continue to read this exchange between God and Satan, we see that Satan is wanting to prove that God’s people only love Him because of His blessings, not for the relationship with Him itself. What better man to prove this point than Job, the man with whom God has most blessed above all men? We do see in the end, that Satan’s plan backfires. However, what we learn is that the schemes of Satan are really about God, not us. Satan desire is to hurt God and we are his enemies as a result of our love for God. If he hurts us, causes us to fall or doubt or abandon our God, he doesn’t only have victory over us, he hurts the heart of God Almighty. Further, do these verses bring any New Testament passages to mind? Think about 1 Peter telling us that “Satan is like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.” Maybe we just might need to pay a little more attention to the reality of these verses. Satan had been roaming around earth looking for someone to destroy. Ephesians 6 also comes to mind when reading this exchange, “For our battle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realm.” What we learn from Job is that there is so much about the spiritual realm that we do not understand nor will be able. Yet, we must realize how serious we need to take the plans of Satan. We are not in a battle against our spouse or parents or friends or kids or co-workers or finances or government. It is Satan who is our enemy. We would be wise to take this player in the book of Job and realize that he is still roaming the earth. Do we fear him? No, but we must be prepared for battle. We cannot stand as children of God, as Job did, if we live oblivious to the war that is being waged against us. I leave this passage feeling as though I could not spend enough time in prayer for my husband, my children, my church and myself.

Week 4: Overview of Job

The book of Job is one of those books from God’s Word that I just stay away from. It is intimidating, confusing and depressing. To be honest, I just don’t like its message. However, with God’s Word, it is all or nothing. It is His word from beginning to end. Because of my lack of familiarity with this book, I’ve spent this week studying and researching. I dare not begin to post anything regarding Job without much time in prayer and gaining accurate insight, especially since we will be camping out here for a few weeks. As we learned during our 9 week study on Reading the Bible for Life, I have been gathering contextual information regarding this book. My post today, and perhaps this week, is simply going to consist of how you can more accurately study Job. This is one of those books that is often out of context. Through my study, God is changing my heart towards this book as He is revealing to me such wisdom to be found through the life of this man named Job.  Prayerfully, these will be helpful, practical insights that will deepen your understanding of this difficult book. I am learning as I go, so please bear with me through the next several days of reading. First, let’s establish background information. This book has been placed here in our chronological reading because Job most likely lived during the time of Abraham. There is still debate among theologians as to the exact time of his life, however it is agreed that he lived before the time of Exodus. Remember, that the book of Exodus does not take place until 400 years after Genesis ends. At the very least, Job lived before Exodus. Therefore, this is where his life would chronologically fall. So as not to break the story of the patriarchs, his record is simply put at the end of Genesis. Further, please keep in mind that Job is not an Israelite. It is stated at the beginning of his book that he is from the East. He is not a part of the promised line. He is simply a wealthy man that lives somewhere in the East that is described as having “perfect integrity.”  It is a difficult task knowing how to approach this book. What I have learned this week is that this is not a book of theology, but a recording of raw human emotion. Therefore, we must keep a few things in mind as we read through this book. First, until the end when God Himself speaks, the words spoken are the thoughts, feelings and limited wisdom of man. These are the words of man, not God. While some truth may be contained, many false assumptions also exist. Secondly, keep in mind that it is simply a discussion between Job and his friends. We cannot read the words of these men and assume that these are truths from God. This brings us to the purpose of this book. This book was given to us for two reasons: to answer the question of human suffering and to answer where wisdom is found. One of the greatest mistakes we make as Christians is that we take this book to mean that all of our suffering is because God struck us just like He did Job. That is not what this book is trying to teach. This is Job’s story, not ours. What we see is that the players in this story are trying to answer the suffering question in their meager human wisdom. They approach their answers from a cause-and effect stance. There must clearly be some kind of hidden sin in Job’s life that is causing this calamity. Job knows that’s not the case. We as the reader know that’s not the case. Yet, they believe they had it all figured out. The first truth I want to point out is that we are often times just like these so called friends. We believe that we are wiser than we actually are. It’s actually pitiful how often we are just like these men. Just because we know a little bit about God, we think we have it all figured out. One of the greatest points of this book is to show us that we have nothing figured out. As stated in one of the commentaries I read, this book shows us that we must realize that we are the created being. We do not have the wisdom of the Creator, nor is He obligated to explain Himself to His creation. Reading this book should make us realize how much of a pedestal we have put ourselves on. Yes, we are God’s most beloved creation, but we are just that; a created being. Our pride, the same pride that caused Satan to fall, has caused us to elevate ourselves to Creator status. He alone is God. I am not. We must live within the bounds of the limited wisdom as created beings. Speaking of Satan, let me say that this whole scenario is just strange to me. After some study, I’m slightly more comfortable with this exchange. At the very least, I have a bit more understanding. What Satan is trying to prove is that human beings, God’s beloved, only love Him for what they get from Him, not for God Himself. As Fee and Stuart state, Satan’s argument is that “people are righteous only if they get paid for it.” This actually clears up a lot of questions for me that I’ve had about this book. It has always scared me to think that Satan can just walk up to God and ask to strike me and God will allow him. That is absolutely not what this book is trying to teach. God allowed Satan to curse Job to prove Satan wrong. God, and only God, knew the heart of Job. God uses this opportunity to use the pride and arrogance of Satan against himself. At the end, we see that Satan is put in his place. I can’t help but ask myself, however, if God would have proven Satan right had that been me?  What this book is trying to teach us is that we cannot seek to explain our circumstances or the circumstances of those around us, from our own limited wisdom. We dare not think that we have such wisdom that we know the reason for anything. Perhaps the circumstance is because we are being put to the test. Perhaps the circumstance is because of some sin in our life and we are living with a natural consequence. Perhaps the circumstance is simply because we live in a fallen world. I think we try to make the point of trials and tragedies “Why?” Why did God make this happen? What I have learned from this book is that the “why” question only reveals my limited wisdom. The point of this book, is the “how” question. How will I respond? Will I display an unwavering faith? And the “what” question. What kind of friend will I be? The know it all, I have it all figured out friend or the faithful friend? We are created beings and we will never understand all of the ways of God. If we could, He wouldn’t be much of a God. As His beloved child, will I trust Him even when I cannot understand? Over the next few days I will discuss the players in this story: Satan, Job, the friends and God. I hope that this meager attempt of mine will help you as you read through Job.

Week 3; Day 6

Genesis 47-50

I apologize for the delay of this post. We’ve had strep throat invade our home over the weekend, so my posting has been put on the back burner. I did want to briefly close last week’s reading due to its significance. This is the week where God has been unveiling His plan to carry out His covenant. Two important things are given in this day’s reading that we must see before moving on through God’s story. The first is that Judah is given the blessing by Jacob to the line from which the Messiah would come. We read this in 49:9-12, specifically verse 10. I want to go ahead and give you some further information. Recall that this is the brother that decided to sell his brother to make some money off of him; remember that this is also the brother who slept with his daughter-in-law? Well, the illegitimate child born from that scandal is the child from whom Jesus would be born. God, again, using the least likely and unfavored one to bring about His plan. Secondly, pay close attention to Joseph’s request just before his death, “When God comes to your aid, you are to carry my bones up from here.” Do you see the significance of this? Joseph believed God’s promise that his people would become a great nation. He knew Egypt was not their home. He knew God was going to someday move in their midst to bring them to the promise land. What certainty. As the Israelites sat at the base of Mount Sinai, hearing Moses tell them their history this would have been of particular importance. They knew nothing about their history. This ending to Joseph’s life would have made their exodus from Egypt make sense. This would have shown them the faithfulness of God and brought light to the reason for their circumstance. Imagine yourself as one of the Israelites hearing all of this for the very first time. I think these old stories of the Bible become so common to us that they become just that, old stories. Let’s, however, put ourselves back into their shoes. To hear of the power and faithfulness of God for the very first time would be astonishing, breathtaking. We are only 50 chapters into the God’s story and look at how we’ve already witnessed His love, devotion, patience and power. When this becomes more than words on a page to us, we will be blown away by our God.  

Week 3; Day 5

Genesis 44-46

Today, God reveals His plan. He has used this evil for His good and preserved a remnant. His covenant prevails. Despite everything, God’s plan and promise does not fail. Today is one of those days of reading that truly causes me to stop and worship the God who is above all. There is no scheme of man, no act of disobedience, no trickery of Satan, nor act of selfishness that can limit God. I hope you didn’t skip the beauty revealed in the genealogy of chapter 46. The chapter begins with God restating, yet again, His promise to Jacob. “I am God, the God of your father. Do not be afraid…” After promising to make a great nation from Jacob’s family, the record of Jacob’s family is listed. Did you catch its ending? “All those of Jacob’s household who had come to Egypt; 70 persons.” From 70, God established an entire nation. This chapter begins with the promise and ends with how He is going to accomplish His plan. Take time today to stop and thank God. This is our heritage. This is where our story begins to unfold. Here is where we see how the nation of Israel began. We can rejoice in the reconciliation of a father and son. We can delight in a family’s salvation from famine. Yet, God is the one who triumphs as the hero. It is He who prevails to redeem us and it is in Him whom we should glory.  

Week 3; Day 4

Genesis 38-40

The primary focus of today’s reading is Joseph’s brothers coming to Egypt due to the famine. We see his dreams fulfilled. Joseph puts his brothers to the test to see if they have sincerely changed. It has become clear to us how God has worked all of Joseph’s trials and tribulations together for His good. What I want to focus on today is the very first sentence of today’s reading, “Two years later….” Sometimes, it is hard to embrace the principles that we learn from God’s Word. This is an example. We delight in the fact that Josephs hardships were not in vain. It brings us joy to see that his brothers bow down to him. But we must not miss one very important lesson: Joseph had to remain faithful in every circumstance. He had been betrayed by his brothers, falsely accused of rape, thrown into prison and then forgotten; not just for a few days, but two years. For two more years this young man sat in jail for a crime he did not commit, forgotten by a man whose dream he had correctly interpreted. So for two years he sat, he waited, he trusted. Then the day finally arrives when God reveals His plan and everything makes sense. What we cannot do is misapply the lesson. Don’t look at the magnitude of God’s plan for Joseph. Often times, us as Christians set our eyes on how grand our purpose will be. That is not the point of today’s truth. The principle is not about what God will do. Joseph remained faithful even when his circumstances looked utterly hopeless. Yet, he did not lose faith. He did not abandon God. He remained confident that God was greater than any circumstance. God had made him a promise and he trusted that God would be faithful to carry out that promise, even if he could not understand how it would happen. In fact, it is not recorded that Joseph asked God to get him out of the situation. Maybe he did, but it isn’t recorded which tells us that even though he may have had times where he felt that way, it was his faith that prevailed. We cannot read this story and think that if we just remain faithful God will bless us with some huge task. The point is that even when everything feels hopeless, God has not abandoned us. His timing may not make any sense and we may even feel as though He is the one who has forgotten us. Yet, hold on to the hope that the God of Abraham, of Isaac, of Jacob and of Joseph, your Almighty God, is faithful to you. Absolutely, God will accomplish more than we can imagine in our lives. However, our desire is to be for Him, not the greatness plan. In His eyes, having faith in the trials is much greater then faith in the blessings. I’m not so sure God would have used Joseph if he had not been faithful while he was setting in jail. I love that God shows us today that through Him, nothing is wasted. Every tragedy Joseph encountered, God redeemed. Only God can accomplish that. Only God can take what is bad and bring good. Only God can take the ashes and bring beauty. Only God can bring salvation to others through the tragedies of our life. God was able to rescue the promised line, the family that would become the twelve tribes of Israel, from death all because of the heartbreak Joseph endured time and time again. Rather than live in pain and pity, allow God to bring purpose. Our God is always greater.

Week 3; Day 3

Genesis 38-40

Interestingly, we have this little insert of Judah’s life. Considering the disgrace of his actions, one might wonder why God chose to have this incident recorded. Seems better to save the humiliation and leave it out. After all, nothing is recorded about any of the other brothers with the exception of Joseph. Remember from reading just a few days ago that this is the brother who came up with the brilliant plan to make a profit off of his brother Joseph by selling him into slavery rather than just kill him. What a sweet brother. Why choose this one brother and this sad situation to be included in God’s story of humankind’s redemption? Take a quick look at Matthew 1:3, the genealogy of the Messiah. Judah. Tamar. Perez. Zerah. It is from this scandalous line that the Messiah is born. God continues His pattern of using the least likely, the unfavored. Joseph is the most likely; he is the one I would have chosen. Not God.  Now back to Joseph. He was the pivotal player in establishing the nation of Israel. It is repeated multiple times that God was with Joseph. This young man of God honestly just had a horrible life of misfortune. Many people claim that they are victims but this poor guy truly was. Yet, he never pouts or whines or cries victim. By the time we get to the end of today’s reading, I wanted to yell, God make it stop for this guy! His proves his faith and we can learn a simple, yet life changing truth from his life. It is possible to remain faithful to God in the midst of temptation and misfortune. This young man proved as much. His unwavering faith in God Almighty allowed him to be an incredible vessel for God to carry out His promise. We will read about that tomorrow. We see from his faith proven time and time again that he is the mostly likely choice from whom the Messiah would come, but it is not this man of faith that God chooses. Incredible. There is one more character that I want to briefly discuss. Potiphar’s wife. Good grief here is yet another woman wanting what she can’t have. Will we as women ever learn to leave alone what is not ours?! God shows us something through this situation, though. It seems tragic for Joseph. He is thrown in jail. He is forgotten. What we will see tomorrow is that this is how God brings His good from this bad situation. Romans 8:28 tells us that God works all things together for His good for those who love Him and are called according to His purposes. Joseph didn’t panic and Potiphar’s wife didn’t win. Joseph loved God and had a special purpose; God used even the scheme of this woman to bring about His plan for Israel. God is not bound by the schemes of man. Despite human failure, God has the power, the wisdom and the love to continue His covenant. That should bring us great hope when we face circumstances that seem unfair. No matter what anyone else may do to us, our lives will not remain destroyed. God will pick up the pieces and carry out His purpose in our lives. No man can destroy what God wants to accomplish through lives of those who love Him.  

Week 3; Day 2

Genesis 34-37

Tragedy strikes again and revenge is taken. I can’t say that I wouldn’t want to react any differently, but Jacob’s sons do reveal their character when they slaughter an entire community. Did you catch that they took their sister from the house of the prince? This implies that she had agreed to marry him, but her brothers stopped that from occurring. There existed no greater disgrace than what Dinah suffered. However, I am sure that God would have taken care of revenge and defended her. What we see as a result of this incident is that Jacob finally holds the faith of his father and grandfather. His name is changed to Israel. The greatest significance of today’s reading is that Joseph’s story begins. Joseph is vital to the establishment of the nation of Israel. And it all begins will hatred and betrayal. Not a good start. We also see God continue to use His same course of action of choosing the younger son. The significance of this is that in the culture of that day, the younger son was the unfavored son. Isn’t that just like God to choose the least likely, the unfavored, to carry out His plan for redemption? What I want us to pay particularly close attention to today is His command to Jacob in Genesis 35:11. Upon changing Jacob’s name to Israel, He says, “I am God Almighty. Be fruitful and multiply.” Does that sound familiar? This was the exact same command He spoke to Adam and Eve in the Garden. This was the same exact command He spoke to Noah. God is continuing His covenant and it is Jacob whom He chose to carry out the plan for redemption. The faithfulness of God to His people is unexplainable. His unwavering commitment to carry out His covenant so that His creation can have a way to be reconciled to Him is unbelievable. That is the God we serve. Through all of the failures and disobedience we’ve seen thus far in our reading, God still kept His promise. This should speak volumes to us as followers of the same God. 

Week 3; Day 1

Genesis 30-33

The very first sentence. Rachel envied her sister. Well this isn’t going to lead to anything good. She blames Jacob for her bareness and we see the only time where Jacob becomes angry with his beloved wife. While her blame begs the question, why in the world does she blame Jacob rather than God, we read further along in the story that she isn’t devoted to God when she steals her father’s idols. Just as Sarah, Rachel takes matters into her own hands. Leah follows suit. The battle wages. While Leah bares the most children, Rachel bares the beloved Joseph. We see that Jacob follows his parents’ actions of playing favorites when he places Rachel and Joseph behind the rest of his caravan to give them the greatest protection from Esau. Speaking of Esau, what joy it brings to see these two brothers reconciled. There is so much covered in this day that it is not possible to cover every scene. I want to devote my time, yet again, to what we as women can learn from the women of today’s reading. Leah and Rachel. Sisters divided by the love of a man and trickery of their father. While God does create the nation of Israel from the twelve children these women and their servants bare Jacob, no good comes from their actions. They allow their jealousy to destroy their relationship. Think about times in your life where jealousy has caused you to take matters into your own hands rather than giving that feeling to God and allowing Him to replace it with truth. Oh sure, they experienced temporary satisfaction, but it was never lasting because they had to continue to out-do one another. One of the greatest lies we believe is that things will be different for us. What we see from the honesty about humanity recorded in God’s Word is that the struggles and failures then are still the same for us today. The results are also the same. There is nothing new under the sun. We become jealous. Jealous of the life, the possessions, the spouse, the job, the children of another woman. Our jealousy clouds our judgment and we act impulsively. Then when it all falls apart, we throw a fit. It’s hard to admit when we are wrong. Jealousy will never be removed from our lives unless we find the root of the problem. The root of the problem is simply trust. We do not trust God. We do not trust that His plan is good. We do not trust that He will work out the details. We do not trust that our good will be as good as her good. We do not trust His timing. We do not trust what He has for us so we begin to want what she has. We are not content with what He has given to us because we are too consumed with what she has. Then the jealousy takes root in our hearts. Jealousy weeds out God and our own plans take His place. We begin to scheme, manipulate, whine and deceive. The greatest deception is our own. We deceive ourselves into believing that if we could just get what she has, we will be happy. In the process of attempting to get what we think should be ours, what we think will make us happy, we do not see that we are only destroying those around us. What we are left with is not happiness but heartache. But we go through the cycle again because we have too much pride to admit that we blew it, that we were wrong. Maybe if we just keep trying, it will eventually work. But it never does. As for God, His way is perfect. Ours never is. My prayer for today is that you and I are humble enough to admit that we are utterly foolish without Him. If there is any jealousy taking root in our hearts may we be wise enough to give it to Him rather than allow it to grow.