Job 40

As God spoke to Job, we see his response in vs 4-5 that he will not speak and he will put his hand over his mouth. In ch. 39 God asked him a series of questions regarding creation. Job could not answer them because he did not know. When God waited for Job’s response, Job could only stay quiet, he was humbled before God’s greatness. God had to teach Job something about life and about who he was. Job was wrong and it is sometimes a hard thing to come to terms with when you find out you were wrong when you thought you were right.

In this chapter God asks Job if he would be able to prove him wrong of injustice. Job thought he was mistreated and God just revealed himself as God is the answer of fairness, justice, and morality. 

Come and Deal with These Issues

In verses 9- 14 God asks Job if he would like to be in a place like God and make decisions. He is asking Job if he could clothe himself with majesty so he could humble the proud and bring fear to the wicked. God was asking Job if he could judge the world and be fair. The problem with Job is not that he is evil, God is not doing that, God is revealing himself so Job would be humbled. Job is being honest and he just needs a good view of who God is to get the correct understanding.

Have you ever worn someone’s glasses and they may have a strong prescription. You can’t see out of them. They can but you can’t. You need to remove them so you can see clearly. 

As you have to have glasses to see clearly we need to have a clear understanding of who God is because we can make our own version of God. 

Behemoth

In verses 15-24 God then mentions about a certain creature named Behemoth. Some commentators suggest this could be anywhere from a dinosaur to a hippopotamus. I think this was more of a dinosaur type creature based on the details in these verses. Either way, what God was trying to point out was here is this mighty creature that men cannot just capture with a snare. But God, he made the animal and has control over this mighty creature and as this creature is mighty God is mightier than it. 

I wonder what was going through Job’s mind, maybe he saw one of these creatures and it was walking by as God spoke about it. As Job was silenced, he was soon becoming humbled by God’s greatness and his inadequacies. 

Sometimes we need a good view of God so our pride can go away. We too, like Job can be honest and good people who believe in God, but if we are mistreated we feel like that was not fair. We need to take off the glasses that are fogging our view of God up. We need to realize that God is in control and let him say what is fair and unfair. Let him be in control with all things. As Proverbs 3:5-6 says, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Lean not on your own understanding but in all your ways acknowledge him and he will make  your paths straight.” Let God be God and we need to realize that he is mighty and all knowing and he does have our best interest in mind because he loves us.

Job 39

Have you ever thought you know a lot of something and then you find out that you don’t. That was how college was for me. I thought I knew some things and it turns out I knew barely anything. In this chapter God continues with his discussion with Job, in chapter 28 God came in a whirlwind and is addressing Job in the issue of his knowledge.

God Knows…

In chapter 39 he asks Job if knows about certain animals such as the wild goat, the wild donkey, wild ox, ostrich, horse, and hawk. God asked Job if he knows details of why they are the way they are. Why the ostrich acts a certain way or why the horse is might? He asked Job if he was there at creation or even the knowledge of when the wild goat gives birth. 

In Job 40 we see Job’s response and that is that he is silenced. He could not answer God because he was not there and does not know the details of these animals, only God does. God knows why these animals are a certain way because he is the one that created them. 

The reason why God responded was because Job kept on wanting to bring his case before God. He wanted to be defended because he was undeserving of this suffering. God responded but not with “Oh Job, I am so sorry.” He responded with revealing himself to God and his glory. What Job went through was God’s allowing of him to go through. Job could not defend himself against God, he needed to submit his wisdom to God. 

We need to learn from this because many times, we think we know better than God. Sometimes we might even say, “If I were God…” YOU CAN NOT be wiser than God. You can not behold his infinite wisdom. Psalm 104:24 says, “O Lord, how manifold are your works! In wisdom have you made them all; the earth is full of your creatures. God is all knowing! When we realize that God is smarter, wiser, all-knowing it should silence us and humble us. We will see more about this tomorrow.

Job 37

This is something that I need to do more of and this is just stop what I am doing and consider the wondrous works of God. Elihu is proclaiming God’s majesty to Job. People go back and forth about Elihu, if he is good or not but he in this chapter he mentions many true statements about God’s majesty.

Stop and think

As verse 14 says to stop and consider the wondrous works of God. I would like you to be challenged in this area too. Instead of maybe your normal routine of vegging out on t.v. after school and homework turn off the noise, your cellphone, your ipod, t.v. and think or consider or ponder or whatever word you want to use and think about the wondrous works of God. Not only think about them but write a list down and go back to it time and time again and add to it.

God’s wondrous works:

You could go through the Bible and write down all the things that he has done such as creation, deliverance of Israel out of Egypt, the plagues, the parting of the sea, his majesty being demonstrated in battle. What are some wondrous works of God that he has done in your life? What about in history? How does God reveal himself to us, in creation, through his word? What are some wondrous things that you read about God in the Bible? Spend time thinking about these things in a quiet room, I even encourage maybe taking a walk or outside away from things that can distract you.

Job 35

One person once asked me, “Jon, how come God is not answering my prayer?” I then ask them what they are praying for. Then once they tell me, I say, “God already did answer, and it is either wait or no. Just because we did not get what we wanted does not mean that God did not answer us, it means he answered us by not giving us something that would be harmful for us.

If you think about it, if you were a parent and your child asked to play with something dangerous like knives, you would say no. God is doing the same thing. We may be asking for something we want but God knows that it would be harmful for us.

In this chapter Elihu is talking to Job about his responses.

God is Big

In verses 2- 8 Job Elihu is responding to one of Job’s statements, “What right do I have before God?” Job says, “What profit do I get for not sinning, it would be as if I did sin, I would still be in the same place.” It is true that we stand before God without any rights. God does not owe us anything. He has given us life and we stand before him worthless because of sin.  

A side note about this. Elihu was saying that God does not profit from us doing good or evil. This may be true, he does not profit anything from us but God also does demand obedience from his children. As believers we should desire to please God and do what his word says. Commentator Ray Stedman brings up a good point. He said this is why a lot of people’s prayers are not answered. People may cry from relief from their circumstance but they do not need relief right then, they need to be transformed. If God gave relief right away then they would go back to their old ways of sin and selfishness. God has people go through things and does not give relief right away so growth could take place. The only thing is Job was righteous before God. He was not going through all this because he needed to stop sinning and being selfish. He was going through it because he was faithful.

The truth is in this situation, Job wants to defend himself before God and say he is right and God is wrong, but God is not wrong. What Job is receiving is what Job is receiving and he needs to endure. We will see that God will answer Job soon and Job will realize that God is wise and in control. 

When you Pray:

When you keep praying for the same thing, and you think God is not answering your request, ask, “Is this my will or God’s will?” A.W. Tozer said, “To pray effectively we must want what God wants-that and that only is to pray the will of God.” When we start wanting what God wants, our prayers will be different. We will know that we do go through hardships and sometimes we need to endure. Even through the hard times our prayer service will be a praise service. As Job even worshiped the Lord as he knew God was in control after he received the news about his wealth and children.

Here is today’s message from John Battler on Job 34. 

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Job 33

What is your take on Elihu? All of a sudden in ch. 32 we are introduced to a fourth friend, Elihu. He was there during the whole argument between Job and Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar. We see that he told everyone that he remained quiet because he was young and wanted to be respectful to his elders. So this new friend, was young and quiet and then we see that he finally has enough and wants to speak up. 

It is interesting about this friend that just emerged. Commentator Ray Stedman  gives a couple of points to show that Elihu is a little different than the other ones. 1) At the end of Job, God does not rebuke Elihu but he does to the other three. 2) Elihu is sensitive to Job’s suffering. In this chapter we see that he knew he was suffering and that he was in pit of depression. 3) Elihu speaks from revelation and not emotion or age.

Young People Can be Wise

Elihu starts his dialogue with Job by asking him to hear his words because he is not speaking out of experience. He could not because he does not have much to go with. He is not speaking out of emotion. Responding to someone based on emotion is easy because we are emotional beings. The three other friends were getting angry with Job. They were the ones reacting because Job did not see it their way. Do you ever get angry when talking with someone and they do not see it your way? Wait until you get married, you will get to that point. The Bible is clear about us to be quick to listen and slow to speak and slow to get angry (James 1:19). Have you ever had to defend the faith? It is easy when you are defending the faith and the other party may make an insulting comment and then you react and get angry. It is interesting that Elihu was not basing his comments on emotion and yet he was younger than the others who did.

Elihu responded with revelation from God. In 1st Timothy 4:12 Paul tells young Timothy to not let others despise his youth. It is easy to intimidated when you need to speak truth to someone that is older. A couple things we need to know is 1) God is the giver of wisdom and can give them to a young person or an older person. It is possible for a younger person to have better insight in the Lord. 2) If God has given you wisdom over an older person be careful and do not become prideful. 3) Respond in love and respect. They are still older than you. Paul tells Timothy to not let others despise his youth but also to set the example. I truly believe the best way you can impart wisdom is by not living foolishly and setting the example. I have seen young jr highers make wiser decisions than some adults and live their life more for the king. So go out and set that example for others to see and do not let them despise your youth. James 1:5 tells us if any is lacking in wisdom let him ask and we should ask for wisdom from the Lord.