Assigned To Me

Job 6:30-7:6 – Is there any wickedness on my lips? Can my mouth not discern malice? “Do not mortals have hard service on earth? Are not their days like those of hired laborers? Like a slave longing for the evening shadows, or a hired laborer waiting to be paid, so I have been allotted months of futility, and nights of misery have been assigned to me. When I lie down I think, ‘How long before I get up?’ The night drags on, and I toss and turn until dawn. My body is clothed with worms and scabs, my skin is broken and festering. “My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle, and they come to an end without hope.

Ecclesiastes 4:1 – Again I looked and saw all the oppression that was taking place under the sun: I saw the tears of the oppressed—and they have no comforter; power was on the side of their oppressors—and they have no comforter.

Jeremiah 9:1 – Oh, that my head were a spring of water and my eyes a fountain of tears! I would weep day and night for the slain of my people.

Job 13:15 – Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him; I will surely defend my ways to his face.

Application:

• ·         To find life meaningless is sad enough, but to taste its cruelty is bitter beyond words.
• ·         Jeremiah is often called the “weeping prophet”—a well-deserved title.
• ·         No matter, what happens, Job intends to seek vindication from God and believes that he will receive it.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

My Integrity Is At Stake

Job 6:22-29 – Have I ever said, ‘Give something on my behalf, pay a ransom for me from your wealth, deliver me from the hand of the enemy, rescue me from the clutches of the ruthless’? “Teach me, and I will be quiet; show me where I have been wrong. How painful are honest words! But what do your arguments prove? Do you mean to correct what I say, and treat my desperate words as wind? You would even cast lots for the fatherless and barter away your friend. “But now be so kind as to look at me. Would I lie to your face? Relent, do not be unjust; reconsider, for my integrity is at stake.

Job 2:3,10 – Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil. And he still maintains his integrity, though you incited me against him to ruin him without any reason.”…He replied, “You are talking like a foolish woman. Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?” In all this, Job did not sin in what he said.

Ecclesiastes 12:11 – The words of the wise are like goads, their collected sayings like firmly embedded nails—given by one shepherd.

Job 19:5-6 – If indeed you would exalt yourselves above me and use my humiliation against me, then know that God has wronged me and drawn his net around me.

Job 27:2-4 – “As surely as God lives, who has denied me justice, the Almighty, who has made my life bitter, as long as I have life within me, the breath of God in my nostrils, my lips will not say anything wicked, and my tongue will not utter lies.

Job 35:2 – “Do you think this is just? You say, ‘I am in the right, not God.’

Job 42:6 – Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes.”

Psalm 66:10 – For you, God, tested us; you refined us like silver.

Zechariah 13:9 – This third I will put into the fire; I will refine them like silver and test them like gold. They will call on my name and I will answer them; I will say, ‘They are my people,’ and they will say, ‘The Lord is our God.’”

Application:

• ·         Job’s reply to his wife silences “the accuser”, who is not heard from again.
• ·         Scripture is in a class of its own.
• ·         The wicked may get themselves into trouble, as Bildad had pointed out, but Job here attributes his suffering to God.
• ·         Job’s faith in God continued despite his personal perception of denied justice.
• ·         God cannot be stirred up to do things against His will. Though it is not always clear how, everything that happens is part of His divine purpose.
• ·         The psalmist who thirsted for God also questioned why God had forgotten him and rejected him.
• ·         To his humility Job adds repentance for the presumptuous words he had spoken to God.
• ·         From one point of view, times of distress constitute a testing of God’s people as to their trust in and loyalty to God.
• ·         “My people” will be restored to proper covenant relationship with the Lord.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

Almighty

Job 6:11-21 – “What strength do I have, that I should still hope? What prospects, that I should be patient? Do I have the strength of stone? Is my flesh bronze? Do I have any power to help myself, now that success has been driven from me? “Anyone who withholds kindness from a friend forsakes the fear of the Almighty. But my brothers are as undependable as intermittent streams, as the streams that overflow when darkened by thawing ice and swollen with melting snow, but that stop flowing in the dry season, and in the heat vanish from their channels. Caravans turn aside from their routes; they go off into the wasteland and perish. The caravans of Tema look for water, the traveling merchants of Sheba look in hope. They are distressed, because they had been confident; they arrive there, only to be disappointed. Now you too have proved to be of no help; you see something dreadful and are afraid.

Genesis 17:1 – When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to him and said, “I am God Almighty; walk before me faithfully and be blameless.

Application:

• ·         The Hebrew for God Almighty perhaps means “God, the mountain One”, either highlighting the invincible power of God or referring to the mountains as God’s symbolic home.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

Scales

Job 6:1-10 – Then Job replied: “If only my anguish could be weighed and all my misery be placed on the scales! It would surely outweigh the sand of the seas—no wonder my words have been impetuous. The arrows of the Almighty are in me, my spirit drinks in their poison; God’s terrors are marshaled against me. Does a wild donkey bray when it has grass, or an ox bellow when it has fodder? Is tasteless food eaten without salt, or is there flavor in the sap of the mallow? I refuse to touch it; such food makes me ill. “Oh, that I might have my request, that God would grant what I hope for, that God would be willing to crush me, to let loose his hand and cut off my life! Then I would still have this consolation—my joy in unrelenting pain—that I had not denied the words of the Holy One.

Daniel 5:27 – Tekel: You have been weighed on the scales and found wanting.

Genesis 17:1 – When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to him and said, “I am God Almighty; walk before me faithfully and be blameless.

Mark 8:38 – If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels.”

Leviticus 11:44 – I am the Lord your God; consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am holy. Do not make yourselves unclean by any creature that moves along the ground.

Application:

• ·         “Weighed on the scales” means measured in the light of God’s standards.
• ·         The Hebrew for God Almighty perhaps means “God, the mountain One”, either highlighting the invincible power of God or referring to the mountains as God’s symbolic home.
• ·         Those who are more concerned about fitting into and pleasing their own “adulterous and sinful generation” than about following and pleasing Christ will have no part in God’s kingdom.
• ·         When God’s holiness is spoken of in the Bible, reference is to (1) His incomparably awesome majesty, and (2) His absolute moral virtue.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

Many

Job 5:24-27 – You will know that your tent is secure; you will take stock of your property and find nothing missing. You will know that your children will be many, and your descendants like the grass of the earth. You will come to the grave in full vigor, like sheaves gathered in season. “We have examined this, and it is true. So hear it and apply it to yourself.”

Psalm 112:2 – Their children will be mighty in the land; the generation of the upright will be blessed.

Isaiah 44:3 – For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground; I will pour out my Spirit on your offspring, and my blessing on your descendants.

Application:

• ·         The godly bring blessing to their children and to themselves—not least in the fact that through their children they are “remembered” in the community.
• ·         “Pour out my Spirit” is associated with the Messianic age.
• ·         Eliphaz’s purpose is to offer theological comfort and counsel to Job, but instead he wounds him with false accusation.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

Sword

Job 5:20-23 – In famine he will deliver you from death, and in battle from the stroke of the sword. You will be protected from the lash of the tongue, and need not fear when destruction comes. You will laugh at destruction and famine, and need not fear the wild animals. For you will have a covenant with the stones of the field, and the wild animals will be at peace with you.

Jeremiah 39:18 – I will save you; you will not fall by the sword but will escape with your life, because you trust in me, declares the Lord.’”

Psalm 27:1 – The Lord is my light and my salvation—whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life—of whom shall I be afraid?

Ezekiel 34:25 – “‘I will make a covenant of peace with them and rid the land of savage beasts so that they may live in the wilderness and sleep in the forests in safety.

Application:

• ·         Ebed-Melek had expressed his faith in God by securing Jeremiah’s release from the cistern.
• ·         “Light” often symbolizes well-being or life and salvation.
• ·         The “peace” envisioned here is that of a restored relationship with God and the secure enjoyment of a life made full and rich through His blessings.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

Six...Seven

Job 5:18-19 – For he wounds, but he also binds up; he injures, but his hands also heal. From six calamities he will rescue you; in seven no harm will touch you.

Isaiah 61:1-3 – The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion—to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor.

Hosea 6:1 – “Come, let us return to the Lord. He has torn us to pieces but he will heal us; he has injured us but he will bind up our wounds.

Daniel 3:17 – If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it, and he will deliver us from Your Majesty’s hand.

Amos 2:4-5 – This is what the Lord says: “For three sins of Judah, even for four, I will not relent. Because they have rejected the law of the Lord and have not kept his decrees, because they have been led astray by false gods, the gods their ancestors followed, I will send fire on Judah that will consume the fortresses of Jerusalem.”

Micah 5:5-6 – And he will be our peace when the Assyrians invade our land and march through our fortresses. We will raise against them seven shepherds, even eight commanders, who will rule the land of Assyria with the sword, the land of Nimrod with drawn sword. He will deliver us from the Assyrians when they invade our land and march across our borders.

Application:

• ·         “Spirit…is on me” may refer to Isaiah in a limited sense, but the Messianic servant is the main figure intended.
• ·         “Let us return” was a shallow proposal of repentance, in which Israel acknowledged that God, not Assyria, was the true physician.
• ·         Judah’s sins differed in kind from those of the other nations.
• ·         Those nations violated the generally recognized laws of humanity, but Judah disobeyed the revealed law of God.
• ·         “Seven…eight” was a figurative way of saying “many”.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

Almighty

Job 5:14-17 – Darkness comes upon them in the daytime; at noon they grope as in the night. He saves the needy from the sword in their mouth; he saves them from the clutches of the powerful. So the poor have hope, and injustice shuts its mouth. “Blessed is the one whom God corrects; so do not despise the discipline of the Almighty.

Isaiah 61:1-3 – The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion—to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor.

Genesis 17:1 – When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to him and said, “I am God Almighty; walk before me faithfully and be blameless.

Hebrews 12:5-7,11 – And have you completely forgotten this word of encouragement that addresses you as a father addresses his son? It says, “My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and he chastens everyone he accepts as his son.” Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their father?...No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.

Proverbs 1:1-7 – The proverbs of Solomon son of David, king of Israel: for gaining wisdom and instruction; for understanding words of insight; for receiving instruction in prudent behavior, doing what is right and just and fair; for giving prudence to those who are simple, knowledge and discretion to the young—let the wise listen and add to their learning, and let the discerning get guidance—for understanding proverbs and parables, the sayings and riddles of the wise. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction.

Application:

• ·         “Spirit…is on me” may refer to Isaiah in a limited sense, but the Messianic servant is the main figure intended.
• ·         The Hebrew for God Almighty perhaps means “God, the mountain One”, either highlighting the invincible power of God or referring to the mountains as God’s symbolic home.
• ·         Suffering and persecution should be seen as corrective and instructive training for our spiritual development as God’s children.
• ·         God chastens us in order to correct our faults.
• ·         God’s discipline is evidence that we are His children.
• ·         When received submissively, discipline is wholesome and beneficial.
• ·         Proverbs urges people to get wisdom, for it is worth more than silver or gold.
• ·         “Fear of the Lord” is a loving reverence for God that includes submission to His lordship and to the commands of His word. “Fools” are those who hate knowledge and correction of any kind, who are “quick to quarrel” and “give full vent” to their anger, who are complacent and who trust in themselves rather than in God.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

Plans

Job 5:12-13 – He thwarts the plans of the crafty, so that their hands achieve no success. He catches the wise in their craftiness, and the schemes of the wily are swept away.

Isaiah 8:10 – Devise your strategy, but it will be thwarted; propose your plan, but it will not stand, for God is with us.

Psalm 78:59 – When God heard them, he was furious; he rejected Israel completely.

Jeremiah 51:57 – I will make her officials and wise men drunk, her governors, officers and warriors as well; they will sleep forever and not awake,” declares the King, whose name is the Lord Almighty.

Proverbs 21:30 – There is no wisdom, no insight, no plan that can succeed against the Lord.

Application:

• ·         Only God’s plans and purposes will last.
• ·         “Rejected her completely” means abandoned her to her enemies.
• ·         The true King is the Lord.
• ·         “No plan that can succeed against the Lord” because He is sovereign and controls people and nations.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

Mourn

Job 5:10-11 – He provides rain for the earth; he sends water on the countryside. The lowly he sets on high, and those who mourn are lifted to safety.

Psalm 135:7 – He makes clouds rise from the ends of the earth; he sends lightning with the rain and brings out the wind from his storehouses.

Isaiah 61:1-3 – The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion—to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor.

Romans 12:15 – Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn.

Application:

• ·         The Lord, not Baal or any other god, brings the life-giving rains.
• ·         “Year of the Lord’s favor” corresponds to the “day of salvation” and the “year for me to redeem”.
• ·         Identification with others in their joys and in their sorrows is a Christian’s privilege and responsibility.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

Fathomed

Job 5:9 – He performs wonders that cannot be fathomed, miracles that cannot be counted.

Job 26:14 – And these are but the outer fringe of his works; how faint the whisper we hear of him! Who then can understand the thunder of his power?”

Job 36:5 – “God is mighty, but despises no one; he is mighty, and firm in his purpose.

Psalm 40:5 – Many, Lord my God, are the wonders you have done, the things you planned for us. None can compare with you; were I to speak and tell of your deeds, they would be too many to declare.

Psalm 131:1 – My heart is not proud, Lord, my eyes are not haughty; I do not concern myself with great matters or things too wonderful for me.

Application:

• ·         If it is difficult for us to comprehend the little that we know about God, how much more impossible it would be to understand the full extent of His might!
• ·         God’s power assures the fulfillment of His purpose.
• ·         God’s ways and thoughts are infinitely higher than ours.
• ·         God’s action in behalf of Israel are according to His predetermined purpose.
• ·         Pride in humanity’s presumed ability to master the whole creation, design its own moral world and control its own destiny is that which, more than all else, alienates humans from God.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

Lay My Cause Before Him

Job 5:8 – “But if I were you, I would appeal to God; I would lay my cause before him.

Job 13:15 – Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him; I will surely defend my ways to his face.

Psalm 50:14-15 – “Sacrifice thank offerings to God, fulfill your vows to the Most High, and call on me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor me.”

Jeremiah 12:1 – You are always righteous, Lord, when I bring a case before you. Yet I would speak with you about your justice: Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why do all the faithless live at ease?

Application:

• ·         No matter, what happens, Job intends to seek vindication from God and believes that he will receive it.
• ·         Because God is righteous, He is a dependable arbiter and judge.
• ·         He is nevertheless ready to listen to our questions and complaints.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

Man Is Born To Trouble

Job 5:1,4-7 – “Call if you will, but who will answer you? To which of the holy ones will you turn?...His children are far from safety, crushed in court without a defender. The hungry consume his harvest, taking it even from among thorns, and the thirsty pant after his wealth. For hardship does not spring from the soil, nor does trouble sprout from the ground. Yet man is born to trouble as surely as sparks fly upward.

Job 20:18 – What he toiled for he must give back uneaten; he will not enjoy the profit from his trading.

Job 15:35 – They conceive trouble and give birth to evil; their womb fashions deceit.”

Song of Songs 8:6 – Place me like a seal over your heart, like a seal on your arm; for love is as strong as death, its jealousy unyielding as the grave. It burns like blazing fire, like a mighty flame.

Application:

• ·         “What he toiled for…he will not enjoy” was a common theme in wisdom literature.
• ·         Unlike a weed, trouble must be sown and cultivated.
• ·          “Man is born to trouble” is proof that no one is righteous in the eyes of God.
• ·         Once initiated, sinful thoughts develop quickly into evil acts.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

Fool

Job 5:2-3 – Resentment kills a fool, and envy slays the simple. I myself have seen a fool taking root, but suddenly his house was cursed.

Job 2:10 – He replied, “You are talking like a foolish woman. Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?” In all this, Job did not sin in what he said.

Proverbs 1:7 – The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction.

Jeremiah 12:2 – You have planted them, and they have taken root; they grow and bear fruit. You are always on their lips but far from their hearts.

Application:

• ·         “Fool” is one who pays no attention to God.
• ·         “Fools” are those who hate knowledge and correction of any kind, who are “quick to quarrel” and “give full vent” to their anger, who are complacent and who trust in themselves rather than in God.
• ·         “You have planted them”, but a sovereign God can always reconsider His intentions if conditions warrant a change.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

To Which...Will You Turn?

Job 4:20-5:1 – Between dawn and dusk they are broken to pieces; unnoticed, they perish forever. Are not the cords of their tent pulled up, so that they die without wisdom?’ “Call if you will, but who will answer you? To which of the holy ones will you turn?

Job 18:21 – Surely such is the dwelling of an evil man; such is the place of one who does not know God.”

Habakkuk 1:2 – How long, Lord, must I call for help, but you do not listen? Or cry out to you, “Violence!” but you do not save?

Job 9:33-34 – If only there were someone to mediate between us, someone to bring us together, someone to remove God’s rod from me, so that his terror would frighten me no more.

Job 19:25 – I know that my redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand on the earth.

Application:

• ·         Having no intimate knowledge of God is synonymous with being wicked.
• ·         “To which…will you turn?” to plead your case with God.
• ·         God is so immense that Job feels he needs someone who can help him, someone who can argue his case in court.
• ·         Job’s call is not directly predicting the mediatorship of Christ, for Job is not looking for one to forgive him but for one who can testify to his innocence.
• ·         Job expresses confidence that ultimately God will vindicate His faithful servants in the face of all false accusations.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

Houses Of Clay

Job 4:18-19 – If God places no trust in his servants, if he charges his angels with error, how much more those who live in houses of clay, whose foundations are in the dust, who are crushed more readily than a moth!

Job 21:22 – “Can anyone teach knowledge to God, since he judges even the highest?

2 Corinthians 4:7 – But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.

Genesis 2:7 – Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.

Job 7:17-18 – “What is mankind that you make so much of them, that you give them so much attention, that you examine them every morning and test them every moment?

Isaiah 41:14 – Do not be afraid, you worm Jacob, little Israel, do not fear, for I myself will help you,” declares the Lord, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.

Application:

• ·         “Can anyone teach…God…?”, on the contrary, God is the one who does the teaching.
• ·         Treasures were concealed in clay jars, which had little value or beauty and did not attract attention to themselves and their contents.
• ·         The Hebrew for “formed” commonly referred to the work of a potter, who fashions vessels from clay.
• ·         Humanity is created in God’s image to have dominion over the world.
• ·         Job’s words imply that God’s only interest in people is to scrutinize them unmercifully and take quick offense at their slightest fault.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV