Understanding

Job 8:8-13 – “Ask the former generation and find out what their ancestors learned, for we were born only yesterday and know nothing, and our days on earth are but a shadow. Will they not instruct you and tell you? Will they not bring forth words from their understanding? Can papyrus grow tall where there is no marsh? Can reeds thrive without water? While still growing and uncut, they wither more quickly than grass. Such is the destiny of all who forget God; so perishes the hope of the godless.

Proverbs 2:1-5 – My son, if you accept my words and store up my commands within you, turning your ear to wisdom and applying your heart to understanding—indeed, if you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding, and if you look for it as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God.

Job 13:16 – Indeed, this will turn out for my deliverance, for no godless person would dare come before him!

Application:

• ·         “Our days…are but a shadow” was a common theme in wisdom literature.
• ·         “Store up…within you” just as the psalmist hid God’s word in his heart to avoid sin.
• ·         This will turn out for my deliverance.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

If You Are Pure And Upright

Job 8:5-7 – But if you will seek God earnestly and plead with the Almighty, if you are pure and upright, even now he will rouse himself on your behalf and restore you to your prosperous state. Your beginnings will seem humble, so prosperous will your future be.

Job 2:3 – 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.”

Jeremiah 29:11 – For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

Job 42:10 – After Job had prayed for his friends, the Lord restored his fortunes and gave him twice as much as he had before.

Application:

• ·         God cannot be stirred up to do things against His will.
• ·         God is the ultimate source of both prosperity and disaster.
• ·         Job’s prayer marked the turning point back to prosperity for him.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

Right

Job 8:1-6 – Then Bildad the Shuhite replied: “How long will you say such things? Your words are a blustering wind. Does God pervert justice? Does the Almighty pervert what is right? When your children sinned against him, he gave them over to the penalty of their sin. But if you will seek God earnestly and plead with the Almighty, if you are pure and upright, even now he will rouse himself on your behalf and restore you to your prosperous state.

Genesis 18:25 – Far be it from you to do such a thing—to kill the righteous with the wicked, treating the righteous and the wicked alike. Far be it from you! Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?”

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?

Job 5:27 – “We have examined this, and it is true. So hear it and apply it to yourself.”

Application:

• ·         Abraham based his plea on the justice and authority of God, confident that God would do what was right.
• ·         Because God is righteous, He is a dependable arbiter and judge.
• ·         Bildad reasons as follows: God cannot be unjust, so Job and his family must be suffering as a result of sinfulness. Job should plead for mercy, and if he has been upright, God will restore him.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

Moment

Job 7:17-21 – “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? Will you never look away from me, or let me alone even for an instant? If I have sinned, what have I done to you, you who see everything we do? Why have you made me your target? Have I become a burden to you? Why do you not pardon my offenses and forgive my sins? For I will soon lie down in the dust; you will search for me, but I will be no more.”

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

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.

Jeremiah 31:34 – No longer will they teach their neighbor, or say to one another, ‘Know the Lord,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest,” declares the Lord. “For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.”

Application:

• ·         From one point of view, times of distress constitute a testing of God’s people as to their trust in and loyalty to God.
• ·         Job’s faith in God continued despite his personal perception of denied justice.
• ·         When the Lord did His new work, there was no longer among His people those who are ignorant of Him and His will for human lives.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

What Is Mankind That You Make So Much Of Them…?

Job 7:12-18 – Am I the sea, or the monster of the deep, that you put me under guard? When I think my bed will comfort me and my couch will ease my complaint, even then you frighten me with dreams and terrify me with visions, so that I prefer strangling and death, rather than this body of mine. I despise my life; I would not live forever. Let me alone; my days have no meaning. “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?

1 Kings 19:3-4 – Elijah was afraid and ran for his life. When he came to Beersheba in Judah, he left his servant there, while he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness. He came to a broom bush, sat down under it and prayed that he might die. “I have had enough, Lord,” he said. “Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors.”

Genesis 1:26,28 – Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”…God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”

Application:

• ·         Elijah concluded that his work was fruitless and consequently not worth living.
• ·         Humanity is created in God’s image to have dominion over the world. Job’s words are a parody on this theme—as if God’s only interest in people is to scrutinize them unmercifully and take quick offense at their slightest fault.
• ·         Humans are the climax of God’s creative activity, and God has “crowned them with glory and honor” and made them rulers over the rest of His creation.
• ·         Humankind goes forth from the hands of the Creator under His divine benediction—flourishing, filling the earth with their kind, and exercising dominion over the other earthly creatures.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

Bitterness Of...Soul

Job 7:11,17-18 – “Therefore I will not keep silent; I will speak out in the anguish of my spirit, I will complain in the bitterness of my soul…“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?

Job 10:1 – “I loathe my very life; therefore I will give free rein to my complaint and speak out in the bitterness of my soul.

Psalm 6:3 – My soul is in deep anguish. How long, Lord, how long?

Isaiah 38:17 – Surely it was for my benefit that I suffered such anguish. In your love you kept me from the pit of destruction; you have put all my sins behind your back.

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.

Application:

• ·         Because Job is so bitter, his mind has conjured up a false picture of God.
• ·         Language of impatience and complaint is found frequently in the prayers of the Psalter. It expresses the anguish of relief not granted and exhibits the boldness with which the psalmists wrestled with God on the basis of their relationship with Him and their conviction concerning His righteousness.
• ·         God not only puts our sins out of sight; He also puts them out of reach, out of mind and out of existence.
• ·         Humanity is created in God’s image to have dominion over the world. Job’s words are a parody on this theme—as if God’s only interest in people is to scrutinize them unmercifully and take quick offense at their slightest fault.
• ·         Job’s faith in God continued despite his personal perception of denied justice.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

One Who Goes Down To The Grave Does Not Return

Job 7:7-10 – Remember, O God, that my life is but a breath; my eyes will never see happiness again. The eye that now sees me will see me no longer; you will look for me, but I will be no more. As a cloud vanishes and is gone, so one who goes down to the grave does not return. He will never come to his house again; his place will know him no more.

Ecclesiastes 7:15 – In this meaningless life of mine I have seen both of these: the righteous perishing in their righteousness, and the wicked living long in their wickedness.

Psalm 6:5 – Among the dead no one proclaims your name. Who praises you from the grave?

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

Jeremiah 18:17 – Like a wind from the east, I will scatter them before their enemies; I will show them my back and not my face in the day of their disaster.”

Application:

• ·         Righteousness is no sure protection against hard times or an early death.
• ·         The Israelites usually viewed death as they saw it—the very opposite of life.
• ·         Having no intimate knowledge of God is synonymous with being wicked.
• ·         His face symbolizes His gracious blessing and favor.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV