Thoughts About Job from Phil Erickson Jr.

Today’s Reading – Job 15 – 18 (Click on the references to listen to the audio – Click here to view the passage from Blue Letter Bible)

(Second Milers Read – Philippians 1 – 4Psalms 41 – 45Proverbs 9)

Scripture Memorization for June – Verses Supporting an Unlimited Atonement

Listen to this morning’s Scripture song – Psalm 51

Read a great article by Pastor Cary Schmidt – “Wait Before You Step Out

Read the “0609 Evening and Morning” devotion for today, by the late Charles Haddon Spurgeon

“I have heard many such things: miserable comforters are ye all.” (Job 16:2)

The story of Job in the Bible has always fascinated me. I have always loved hearing messages preached about his life. For those of you who attend our church, the “Hast thou retained thine integrity?” message is one of the all-time greats. To think that a man could go from being ”the greatest of all the men of the east” as the Bible calls him, to having nothing in just a matter of hours, and still praise God through all of it just boggles my mind. I have often wondered what it was that made Job such a “perfect and upright” man. Was it the fact that he gave his tithes and offerings faithfully? Maybe. Was it the fact that he cared so much about his family and their spiritual condition? Could be. Or maybe did God just like him better than anyone else at the time? God is not a respecter of persons, but who knows? Maybe He did favor him. He obviously blessed him with a lot. But as I read these few chapters a thought jumped out at me. Job is right smack in the middle of the absolute worst time in his life, and here come his ”friends.” They go on and on about why they think this is all happening to Job. And right in the middle of it, I noticed verses 19-20 of chapter 16. And, I may be wrong, but I think these couple verses may be the secret to Job’s “success” as a man of God. The verses say – “And now, behold, my witness is in heaven, and my record is on high. My friends scorn me: but mine eye poureth out tears unto God.” Job cared about what God thought, and ONLY about what God thought. He said ‘my witness is in heaven’ , and ‘ my record is on high.’ He knew that God knew everything that was going on. He knew that God knew his heart and his intentions with everything he did in his life. He knew that God knew that his tithes and offerings, his service to God, and his love for his family was out of his love and devotion to God. It had nothing to do with ANYONE else.  So, when the chips were down, and everything went down the drain, he didn’t go running to his friends or anyone else. He went to God. He brought his tears to God. He knew that when things were good, it was God. When things were bad, it was God. And he praised God through it all.

As Christians we need to see that everything that happens to us, good or bad, comes from the Lord. He loves us more than we can ever know. He has a plan for our lives, and we need to trust Him and Him alone. When the chips are down, our friends won’t always be there. Sometimes even our family won’t be there. But God is always there. He never turns His back on us…who are we to turn our backs on Him?


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Debbie Baber
Debbie Baber
10 years ago

Thank you son in law! Absolutely a wonderful devotion to read this morning. Thank you for bringing out this nugget of wisdom & reminding us of Gods love & mercies & blessing & ever presence in our lives. Have a blessed Lords day & give my daughter (& Caleb :)) & sweet Jaxon a hug for me. Love you.

joe
joe
10 years ago

Amen.

Cole T. Hubbard
10 years ago

Omniscience is not something that is within our ability to understand and the same thing goes for anything that is infinite. To assume that God created a perfect free will in creatures that he said he would make in his image, and then knew everything that they would do is strange to me. There’s no reason to think that God is powerless over how much he knows about any specific thing. If he is omnipotent then he has power over what he knows and doesn’t know. The situation with the angels may have been his first time giving a will similar to his to a creation of his. An infinite power that does as it pleases set all of this in motion and I doubt that we have what it takes to understand the motivation to do that much further than, it wanted to love truly and to be loved truly. True love is chosen not forced/preordained.

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