Today we start with Bildad's speech to Job. He rebukes Job again for his words (8:1-2) and reminds him that God is just (8:3). He says that his children sinned and were punished for their sin with death (8:4). Bildad encourages Job to repent, assuring him that God would then pour out His blessings on Job once again (8:5-7).
He then encourages Job to learn from the past generations for each person's life is too short to "learn from scratch" so to speak (8:8-10). The wicked will soon perish forever (8:11-19) but God will not forget a blameless man (8:20 - implying that Job is not blameless) and that God would restore Job assuming he repents (8:21-22).
Job basically agrees with Bildad but wonders who can possibly be truly righteous before God (9:1-2). No one can argue with God for He is too wise and powerful (9:3-13). God's power, Job says, makes God inaccessible, and that even if he were perfect he would be unable to answer God in the face of His power and might (9:14-20). Job continues to maintain his innocence, losing his desire to live, and concludes that God destroys both the righteous and the wicked and doesn't really care (9:21-24). Job feels absolutely hopeless - the days are going by without end in sight, why should he even bother to try since God has obviously condemned him unjustly, there's no way to reason with God and no mediator to help him and he longs for an end to come someway, somehow (9:25-35).
In utter pain he just gives vent to his questions and complaints (10:1-22).
- Why do You condemn me - why?! (10:2)
- Do You think it's a good thing to destroy Your own creation? (10:3)
- Are You having to search for my sin, like a mere man, even though You know I'm innocent? (10:4-7)
- Have you made me only to destroy me?
- Why did you even let me be born?
- Can't you just leave me alone and let me die?
Then Zophar steps in with his "words of wisdom". He claims that Job needs to be rebuked for mocking God and that Job is actually getting off easy, that Job has likely sinned so much that God's even forgotten some of it (11:1-6). He says that Job should quit trying to figure out the deep things of God. He can't do it anyway! (11:7-10) God sees the wickedness of man and responds appropriately (11:11). He calls Job a fool (11:12). And, finally, he reminds Job that if he will only repent of his sin, God will again lift him up and bless him, he'll be able to live in brightness, security and hope (11:13-19). But the wicked will not escape and their only hope is death (11:20).
Digging deeper
Job's friends truly think they are giving him sound advice. In their little world, God only punishes those who deserve it, and since Job is obviously being punished, he needs to repent and be restored to God.
But I want to focus mainly on Job's questioning of God in Chapter 10.
He's asking the "Why?" questions that we virtually all ask when bad things happen to us for no reason that we can see. Why me? What did I do to deserve this?
One of the problems with these questions is that we're coming at this from a wrong point of view. We think we deserve happiness. But we don't. We do not have a right to be happy. Our happiness is not God's focus and is not the meaning of life.
If I can be so bold as to assume I have the answer to what the meaning of life is, I believe it is this....
The meaning of life is to live our lives to bring glory and honour to God, drawing on the strength of the Holy Spirit as we strive to reflect Jesus ever more accurately to a watching world.
You see, asking "Why?" makes it all about us. And it's not all about us. (For a great read on this very topic check out Max Lucado's book titled It's Not About Me). It's about God. And God will do what He needs to do to work out His perfect will for our lives, for each other's lives, for the world.
Does God consider the loss of one person's physical life worth the trade if it results in even one person coming to know Him? Absolutely. And so should we. We need to live in light of eternity. We need to live trying to impact eternity.
Now, it's easy for me to say that from where I sit right now. I have all my children here with me, they are healthy and physically whole. I have a wonderful husband who cherishes me and is a fabulous father. I truly have blessings too numerous to count.
And though I am not sitting around waiting for disaster to strike, I know that every human on this planet goes through trials and I am no exception. Some people definitely do seem to have a much harder lot in life than others, that is true. But when troubles come (and they will) I want to remember Job's initial reaction - to remember that the Lord gives and the Lord takes a way, to praise God both for my circumstances and despite my circumstances.
I don't believe it is necessarily sinful to question God at all. It is human and God is strong enough to handle our questions. But I think the point that it becomes sinful is when we focus solely on ourselves and dwell in that pity party with no intent of moving beyond it. As long as we are focusing on Jesus, He will carry us through those dark times.
I think it would have been helpful for Job to have some Psalms to meditate on. We have entire Bible to help us through - Job never had that! 2 Psalms in particular stand out to me.
The first is the most well-known Psalm....
Psalm 23
The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters, he restores my soul.
He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil,
for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil, my cup overflows.
Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters, he restores my soul.
He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil,
for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil, my cup overflows.
Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
And another Psalm that I think is a great one to meditate on for those that struggle with depression. It just gets you focusing on your blessings and on the Lord.
Psalm 103
Praise the Lord, O my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name.
Praise the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits -
who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases,
who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion,
who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's.
The Lord works righteousness and justice for all the oppressed.
He made known his ways to Moses, his deeds to the people of Israel:
The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love.
He will not always accuse, nor will he harbor his anger forever;
he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities.
For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him;
as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.
As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him;
for he knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust.
As for man, his days are like grass, he flourished like a flower of the field;
the wind blows over it and it is gone, and its place remembers it no more.
But from everlasting to everlasting the Lord's love is with those who fear him,
and his righteousness with their children's children -
with those who keep his covenant and remember to obey his precepts.
The Lord has established his throne in heaven, and his kingdom rules over all.
Praise the Lord, you his angels, you mighty ones who do his bidding, who obey his word.
Praise the Lord, all his heavenly hosts, you his servants who do his will.
Praise the Lord, all his works everywhere in his dominion.
Praise the Lord, O my soul.
Praise the Lord, O my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name.
Praise the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits -
who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases,
who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion,
who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's.
The Lord works righteousness and justice for all the oppressed.
He made known his ways to Moses, his deeds to the people of Israel:
The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love.
He will not always accuse, nor will he harbor his anger forever;
he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities.
For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him;
as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.
As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him;
for he knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust.
As for man, his days are like grass, he flourished like a flower of the field;
the wind blows over it and it is gone, and its place remembers it no more.
But from everlasting to everlasting the Lord's love is with those who fear him,
and his righteousness with their children's children -
with those who keep his covenant and remember to obey his precepts.
The Lord has established his throne in heaven, and his kingdom rules over all.
Praise the Lord, you his angels, you mighty ones who do his bidding, who obey his word.
Praise the Lord, all his heavenly hosts, you his servants who do his will.
Praise the Lord, all his works everywhere in his dominion.
Praise the Lord, O my soul.
Tomorrow's readings are Job 12-14. Click here to read online.
18 comments:
Job only agrees with some of the things that Bildad says in general, but he doesn't agree with all of it and doesn't agree with them being applied in his own case. And he knows that no one can be truly righteous before God.
He is saying in verse 3, that because of the omnicense (all knowing power) of God, God could ask a thousand questions that we would not know the answer to. He's not saying that God is inaccessable, he's just stating the wonder and almighty power of God. These verses are not negative, but speaking truth and greatness of God in a possitive and yet just way. He's simply saying that though he may be blameless, he has no right to question God, and he doesn't...and we don't.
In fact, he doesn't ever question God here...in chapter 10, he is just speaking relatively of what is going through his mind, what he would ask of God if he were to allow himself. He doesn't truly question God or turn on Him blaming Him for unjustly punishing him...that would be blaming or cursing Him, and he never does that...that's the whole point of this entire chapter. In verse 3 of Chapter 10, he is saying, can it really please You to opress me, while you leave the wicked or unjust people un justified, or unpunished? Once again, not actually asking God this, but wondering about it. Job is just confused. He knows that God is not to be questioned, but his human side wonders why, since he is blameless, God would allow these things to happen to him. His grief is great, and since he will not blame God, he blames his life, and has no concern for it anymore...wishing it wouldn't have ever been and won't be anymore.
These verses are often looked at in the wrong way because of the poetic nature of them...it makes them hard to understand.
I also want to say that I agree with you Tammy, on the reason for our life. I do believe it is to bring honor and glory to God and to constantly strive to be more like Jesus until the day we go to meet Him. People should be able to see Jesus through our lives and testimony that they may also come to know Him. There is a beautiful song called "Do they see Jesus in me" It's absolutely beautiful.
All that we do should be to and for the honor and glory of God. Like you said Tammy, we need to be living with eternity on our minds. It is so easy to focus on the present and what is going on here, but this world is temporary and so are it's troubles and good times. Our Pastor said that one of his father's biggest testimonies was that he always lived with the knowledge that Heaven was his home, not here. Not a day went by that his actions didn't show that his home wasn't here on earth. He lived for eternity with every bone in his body and all of his heart and mind.
I loved your post. It was very truthful.
I do want to say however that God does want our happiness. However, the basis of Christian hedonism is that our only happiness is completely defined by God himself. He is our happiness. As C.S. Lewis said "God cannot give us a happiness and peace apart from Himself, because it is not there. There is no such thing."
What we do is wrongly define happiness. We also look to finding it in the temporal when happiness in truth is completely eternal (because God is eternal and He IS it's definition) and culminates in eternity. We do have God with us now...Jesus, and he is our happiness. God does want us to be happy, he wants it so much that He sent Christ.
So, it's a fine line. We really mean joy, I understand, but I think we Christians need to use the word "happiness" more because it is our gift from him, and because it is being done an injustice by being wrongly understood. Our happiness is wrapped up in His. It's a great mystery but I do think we should know that God DOES want us to be happy, he wants us to have Him. We just call being happy so many other things it is not.
I appologize if that comes accross as nitpicking your statement. I have no desire to do that. I just would like to see this word return to the Christian venacular because it does have it's place, in fact, it's completion.
I look at happy as being temporal, and is fleeting...easily changed by circumstances. While joy is something eternal from God. Many people can be happy and certain things or situations can make us happy, but true joy comes only from God through Jesus Christ and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit...and isn't changed by circumstance.
Yes, you are right. Christian happiness is what we call joy. However, we have to be careful when we say that God does not want us to be happy because that can cover all basis of him seeking our delight (because He himself has intermingled His own delight with ours). Words are so very critical when we develop things in our understanding of God. What he really does not want is for us to think happiness exhists outside of himself.
God has instilled in us the desire to seek happiness: "All men seek happiness. This is without exception. Whatever different means they employ, they all tend to this end." Blaise Pascal
To want to be happy is doing what we were meant to do. As Piper says: "seeking one's own happiness is not a sin; it is a simple given human nature. It is a law of the human heart, as gravity is a law of nature."
God has made a way for us to fullfill that need put there by him. This is why I see the statement as dangerous. It isn't really that we think we deserve happiness, it's that we are given the desire for happiness by God himself (you could say that we have a "sense of happiness" as we have a "sense of justice). The definition of happiness does not change, it is the fullfillment of desire.
IT IS TRUE that we have used this term to mean fulfilling temporal desires but all I'm trying to say is that the revolution of our thinking begins when we take back the word for what it is meant for.
"Our happiness is not God's focus" is bothersome to me. It was his complete focus (because it was what made HIM happy, again, they are intermingled), in it's true definition, the completion of desire. By making one valid point using these terms, we cross over and erase a meaningful truth. God's focus is not our comfort here or our pleasure outside of him here, but see, those are not happiness.
It's a war of words, I get that. Totally. I just think we loose some MAJOR things when we obliterate the word all together from God's motives because what we are really doing is going along with the misrepresented understanding of what happiness is as it has been defined, taking place for too long and missing out on the impact of what it really means. When a word is being wrongly used, we don't change the word, we fix the definition.
I highly recomend a glance at "Desiring God" by John Piper for this, even just the first chapter. He quotes Jeremy Taylor who said:
"God threatens terrible things if we will not be happy". and I love that CSL said "God finds our desires not too strong but too weak."
God has a passion for our happiness.
I understand what you're saying.
However, I know people can use the saying "God wants me to be happy" as an excuse to get a divorce, etc. That's not the kind of happiness God wants for us.
He wants us to find our happiness in Him, absolutely. To me that still seems to be joy though. To me joy is something we can still be despite our circumstances. It's pretty hard to be happy when our circumstances are horrible (like Job's!), but we can still be joyful.
Happiness implies frivolity and superficiality, or based in material possessions, or physical health or just how our day went. And yes, I'm sure God likes it when we have a good day. But He's much more concerned with our spiritual strength and drawing us closer to Him, then in finding us a good parking spot. (note tongue in cheek).
And on a deeper scale I think it applies just as much. For ex - He knows how much pain it causes us to lose those dear to us. And yet often, through one person's loss of physical life, another person may come to the saving knowledge of Christ Jesus. In this case, our happiness is secondary, it simply has to be. One person's eternal life is more important than one person's physical life. That was more my point by that sentence.
I know that God's desire is not for us to live in a state of misery. But Job is certainly miserable right now, and it was something God allowed to happen. Job's happiness is not God's focus.
I agree with you and that is very true. I think we are on two different wave lenghts though and my thoughts really are a rabbit trail drifting away from the passages so I won't continue on here much. It's all in how we define things. It's sad to me that happiness implies frivolity and superficiality as you said ( and you are 100% right) because that's not what it's supposed to mean, biblically speaking. I agree that God is not concerned with any of those things and when people say that they should do this or that because God want's them to be happy, they are not using the fullest and truest definition of happy. They mean "feel good here and now" which unfortunately is what happiness has come to mean, as you so well stated and gave examples that are very real and every day.
I agree whole heartedly that God's not focused on Job feeling good, being at ease, or having his fleshly desires fulfilled but I do know his happiness is his focus. The very fact that he has stripped him of everything else allows an avenue to demonstrate to Job the truest desire of his heart and God is intending to fulfill it. In essence, he wants to show Job what happiness truly is. He wants to tell us all through Job's story.
We can feel it's wrong to want to be happy, but it's there to drive us to God. Sin fills our lives with empty dirty wells, thereby messing up happiness like everything else. Like so many things sin has messed up, we do not eliminate the thing itself but try to get it back to how God intended it to be. If we could launder happiness and purify it of what sin has tainted it to be, we would have the end product of what God wanted for Job. Can we still call it happiness? Yes, I think so. I just want us to take back the term and not throw the baby out with the very dirty water:)
What you say is true and this is why we likely have the word joy. Joy is such a settled word though. It is complete, content, as it ought to be. IT lacks one thing though in that state that "happiness" brings to it...delight. Delight is an ongoing state of both joy and happiness. It emplies that we are full, and we still long for more and we are filled more and we still long. AH! That we would have an ongoing DESIRE for God like our original created longing for happiness would bring back to us. "Delight yourself in the Lord!" Joy is awesome, it's supernatural, but it brings the sense of "I've arrived". Happiness, longing and desiring for fulfillment is something we will have for all eternity. We will never get enough of God and he does not want us to. When we wash the sin out of happiness and we clean it of it's temporal stains, THAT is what it brings to joy. Okay, so maybe we need a new word. LOL! All of these words bring up important images though. That is why I think "happiness" has it's validity OUTISDE of sin...important note.
I appreciate all you said.
Though you may find my discussion frustrating, I think healthy discussion of these things is good. Your thoughts, both of you, help me with mine and digging into God's truths is exciting. I hope you can sense that I want to discuss with a grateful heart for hearing what you have to say. We don't know eachother but we are sisters in the Lord! I have great joy in the journey with you....or, delight...ur...shhhhh....happiness.;)
Again, it's a rabbit trial though so I'll shut up now! :)
OH, one more thing...(I'm ducking to miss the flying tomatoes!LOL) about the text...promise..
Did anyone else notice or think of Jesus from chapter 9! OH, my goodness. I was just feeling the verse 1 Tim. 2:5 through the whole chapter! "For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus"
I just felt the need for Christ so strongly reading through Jobs lamentations.
It is unfortunate that they didn't have Jesus then, at least not His death as an atonemnt for thier sin. That's why some of God's punishments (not in this case...this wasn't a punishment...but others) are so harsh...because they got what they deserved. There was no remmision of sin yet. And in this case with Job, there was no mediater between Him and God. We are truly blessed that we have One who interceedes for us daily!
As for the other thing, I agree with you Tammy, but I see the point you are trying to make Mrs.Oz. I think a new word could help...to me happiness is just to tied to the world...not eternal. I don't know...I like Joy! It sounds very delightful to me! I believe God wants us to be joyfull, and happy. I don't think that our happiness is on the top of His list, but it's there. But like you said Tammy, it can't be used as an excuse for sin. And we should put eternal things in front of our happiness as well. Our true "happiness" will be given to us in Heaven. Also, I believe that God doesn't require for us to be "happy" all the time...He knows our hearts and what certain circumstances will do to us, how they'll make us feel. We are human. However, I do believe that through those times and at ALL times, He expects us to be joyfull. The joy that comes from being Spirit Filled. We always have salvation to be thankful for, God has saved us from Hell, and that in itself is enought to be joyfull about, no matter what else the circumstance.
to clarify.
i did not mean that joy was without delight.
joy is complete, it is an ongoing and unchanging thing (as you both have said). Joy is an aspect of happiness by definition. We may call it deeper, and thicker than happiness. Yet, happiness is an ongoing seeking process. The relationship between these two is much like justification and santification. One is solid and one is ongoing. God want's us to seek happiness (pleasure, contentment, delight) in Him. He wants to provide it for us. Happiness from God is in never ending supply, but it is something he keeps wanting us to seek and he keeps wanting to give. We experience pleasures over and over, sometimes in little, sometimes great. This is the movement inside our happiness in God. We start it now, we begin to understand it here on earth, but we continue it forever. There will never be an end to finding happiness in God. THis involves a want, a desire however and that implies seeking and filling a need. Joy is different in that it rests, it is constant and content. We have all we ever need and long for more at the same time. I'm not doing a very good job of explaining this, I'm sorry. We cannot settle with joy and leave happiness out. To say that our happiness will only be in heaven is not right either. We learn it and discover it here as we seek new delights from the Lord. We may not always feel them but we do recieve them. While we are filled with the desire to be pleased and delighted in him, we are completely full of joy.
Like I said before it's really not about the earthly superficial stuff. I'm trying to point to the importance of happiness as God intended it. God does want us to be happy, meaning that he wants us to be continually seeking pleasure in Him. He also wants us to be joyful, meaning that he wants us to rest in the hope we have always and be satisfied by it. Full but always seeking. Like I said, it's a mystery. He desires both for us. Please understand that I'm not saying he desires what sin has made happiness to be, I'm trying to help us remember what happiness is and why he wants us to have it. I'm not doing a good job of this. It's meant for someone better than I and I frankly wish I'd just brainstormed over at my own blog.
The problem we have is when the words "good fortune" entered the human definition of happiness. "Luck" became the rootword "hap" , and the concept became tainted. There is in the word happiness though some valid desires that we need to find that are meant to be fulfilled in God and YES, they are partners with joy.
My dad died by slowly fading before my eyes of cancer two years ago. He was 54 when he finally died after a year of agony. I do not come at this without having walked a road. The Lord DID teach me what joy was, and then he began to teach me the importance of my desire for him continually. To seek my happiness in him, that he wanted me to be happy. Please understand that is where my urgency comes from for this subject.
It is a very hard set of thoughts to explain.
Again, I highly recommend Piper.
http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/Sermons/ByDate/1983/404_The_Happiness_of_God_Foundation_for_Christian_Hedonism/
Like I said, I do see your point. I was simply trying to identify with parts of all of our opinions on the matter. I'm not saying that happiness is ONLY in Heaven, I said that our "true happiness" is in Heaven. The kind that can only exhist where sin, tears, death, loss, or pain cannot be found. That our primary goal here on earth, is not to seek happiness. I'm not saying it's not important...I'm just saying that it shouldn't be our primary focus. Christ should be our primary focus...being like Him, and leading others to Him. The greatest gift is love and that is what we should strive to possess and show towards others above all things. Jesus said that people will know we are a Christian, by showing love for the brethren.
I apologize for my wording in response to your thoughts, to say that that was not right was not to respond graciously. Please forgive me.
I was going to throw in that Mrs. Oz sounds like she must be familiar with pastor/author John Piper ~ and then I saw her link to his organization's site, so I guess she is! He does a great job of explaining Christian hedonism and I highly recommend checking out that link.
Thank you VG. I'm almost in tears coming here this morning. My heart was to share an element that has blessed me about happiness in God and from God.
Sometimes it is hard to enter a tight circle of women and not be known to them and try to share something with passion without it comming accross as arrogant and snootie. My heart is heavy this morning that I have frustrated when I meant to inspire.
I feel I did an awful job of explaining my point and this is not the place to sort out these thoughts. However, this concept is very important to the gospel and I will be continuing it further on my blog. I want to be humble before the Lord but also not be quiet when there are valid truths to be discussed.
I feel I stepped on toes and for that I'm very sorry. It seriously grieves me.
Not meeting face-to-face is definitely a drawback to this kind of thing. Please don't be discouraged or timid about sharing in the future because of this. Studying the Word will affect us all differently, we'll sometimes have differing opinions about what is being said or not said; we'll have read different commentaries written from different perspectives; and we'll all have come to believe different things on our own prior to this experience.
The point, I think, is not necessarily to understand things the same way and always agree with each other, but to spur one another on to continue to dig deeper into God's Word. ♥
My cousin VG is so right!
I'm GLAD you said the things you said Mrs Oz! We are here to challenge each other in our walks with God, to encourage each other to grow. And part of that includes challenge our preconceived ideas - do they really line up with God's Word? Has society influenced my thinking negatively? Have I allowed society to rob me of something God is trying to do? Is my belief grounded in the Word or did it come from a human source?
Everything was shared in love, nothing came across as arrogant at all.
Please do not hesitate to share your viewpoint in the future! I really appreciate your input.
And rabbit trails are welcome here too!
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