Making a Differencewith Pastor Phil Erickson

Jun 16th Take It Like A Man

Today’s Passages – Job 39-42; Proverbs 16

(Second Milers also read – Hebrews 2 – 5; Memorize Luke 6:38)

“Then Job answered the LORD, and said, Behold, I am vile; what shall I answer thee? I will lay mine hand upon my mouth.” – (Job 40:3-4)

“Then answered the LORD unto Job out of the whirlwind, and said, Gird up thy loins now like a man: I will demand of thee, and declare thou unto me.” – (Job 40:6-7)

“Then Job answered the LORD, and said, I know that thou canst do every thing, and that no thought can be withholden from thee. Who is he that hideth counsel without knowledge? therefore have I uttered that I understood not; things too wonderful for me, which I knew not. Hear, I beseech thee, and I will speak: I will demand of thee, and declare thou unto me. I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee. Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.” – (Job 42:1-6)

In these last several chapters of the Book of Job, we see that God is doing most of the talking. Job’s friends are completely silent, and Job doesn’t say much except to declare that he is going to keep his mouth shut. I remember as a child, I would often get into arguments with my brothers. My dad would tolerate the bickering up to a certain point, but there would come a time when he would eventually make us all shut up, and then he would do all of the talking; and we often didn’t like what he had to say. Needless to say, he set us straight. That is what God is doing here with Job and his three friends, He is setting them straight. They were all pompous experts about God in the early part of the book, but now they are strangely silent. Job finally declared that he “uttered [he] understood not”.

My thought this morning, however, comes from vv 6 & 7 of chapter 40. God is rebuking Job and his three friends. I am sure that they did not like what God had to say, but they needed to hear it. People don’t like rebuke too much. It is not very pleasant. However, when it comes to rebuke by those who are in authority over us, we must train ourselves to accept it, and apply it to our lives. God told Job to “take it like a man”. Every once in a while in life, God is going to bring you through something unpleasant for your own good, and you are going to have to “suck it up” and take it like a man. It’s part of life. Trials are part of life; rebuke is part of life. Who do we think we are that we should be excempt from it? We are not God. We need to be taken to the woodshed every once in a while. Learn to appreciate the correction of God, knowing that He corrects us with nothing but our best interest in mind.

Jun 15th Now It’s God’s Turn To Speak

Today’s Passages – Job 36-38; Proverbs 15

(Second Milers also read – Titus 2 – Hebrews 1; Memorize – Luke 6:38)

“Gird up now thy loins like a man; for I will demand of thee, and answer thou me.” – (Job 38:3)

It is now God’s turn to speak. God hasn’t said anything in this book since His earlier conversation with Satan; and the humans in the story were not privy to that conversation. All of this talk that has been going on since chapter 2 has been by people who really had no idea of the true circumstances regarding the calamity that Job was facing. They were clueless. Job’s friends were accusing Job, and Job was defending himself. They were all speaking on behalf of God; yet much of what they said was not true. However, now we will hear from the Source. God is speaking, and we know that everything that God says is true. By the way, you get the idea from the tone of this passage that God is not very happy about all that has been said. It kind of reminds me of a time when I was much younger when I was rebuked by an authority figure in my life. He had some things to say to me, and I was going to listen. God will spend take 4 chapters to basically remind Job and his friends that He is God, and they are merely humans.

As we read chapters 39 – 42 together tomorrow, pay close attention to God describing Himself, and His magnificent, omnipotent power. Between now and then, however, think a little bit of how much we are like Job and His friends. We are just little humans, trying to understand an infinite God. Let’s start thinking of ourselves as we really are. We are not much. We are pretty small and insignificant in the big scheme of things. And while we are at that, let us also start trusting God’s wisdom in allowing the things that have happened to us in our lives.

Jun 14th Multiplying Words Without Knowledge

Today’s Passages – Job 33-35; Proverbs 14

(Second Milers also read – 2 Timothy 2 – Titus 1; Memorize Luke 6:38)

“Therefore doth Job open his mouth in vain; he multiplieth words without knowledge.” – (Job 35:16)

“Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest thou also be like unto him.” – (Proverbs 26:4)

“Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath:” – (James 1:19)

“Even a fool, when he holdeth his peace, is counted wise: and he that shutteth his lips is esteemed a man of understanding.” – (Proverbs 17:28 )

There is entirely too much talking going on in this entire Book of Job. Job’s so-called friends should be listening to Job rather than rebuking him. He certainly has suffered enough. Even Job is talking too much by arguing with these idiots. They are all “experts” on God; yet there is much that they do not, and cannot understand.

We do the same thing, don’t we? We talk about things, and try to sound like we have complete knowledge on a subject; but half the time we really do not know what we are talking about, especially when it comes to talking about God. The best thing that we can do is quote Scripture if we have to talk at all. The older I get, the more I realize that I really do not know much. I should keep my mouth open proportionately to the amount of knowledge that I have, which means it should not be open much.

Jun 13th Make a Covenant With Your Eyes

Today’s Passage – Job 30-32; Proverbs 13

(Second Milers also read – 1 Timothy 4 – 2 Timothy 1; Memorize – Luke 6:38)

“I made a covenant with mine eyes; why then should I think upon a maid?” (Job 31:1)

In our reading we have been following the conversation between Job and his friends.  Job has been declaring hi innocence: not that he claims sinlessness; but he does contend that his sins were open and confessed to God, and that he was not living a double life.  His friends, however, are sure that Job must have some heinous secret sin in his life.  In this chapter Job seems to be answering a charge regarding his fidelity.  Perhaps the underlying accusation was that Job was an adulterer.  Job’s answer in chapter 31 is that he had been faithful, not only in not touching that which is forbidden, but in not looking on another woman besides his wife.

In our culture the accepted instruction is, “you can look, but you just can’t touch”.  Funny, my wife never bought into that line of reasoning.  The fact of the matter is that looking might just lead to touching.  Job said that he made a covenant, a commitment to himself and his eyes not to think (let alone look) upon a maid.  David said something similar when he said that he would set no wicked thing before his eyes.

Men, we need to do the same thing regarding the opposite sex. We need to determine to keep our eyes and our minds on that which is pleasing to the Lord. Turn off the TV if you have to; get rid of the internet if you must, but do what you have to do to keep yourself from sinning against your God and your wife. It is wise to know your limitations and put up some fences to protect yourself. A little accountability will go a long way.  And ladies, your not exempt from this either.  Your lusting may not be for the opposite sex per say, but I am sure you have your weak areas as well. Maybe with you the struggle involves seeing things at the mall that you can’t afford. We all need to make this same covenant that Job made to keep us from seeing and thinking about the things that we know are not part of God’s perfect will for our lives.