November 2019 – Page 2

5.l. “Will it be well with you when he searches you out?”

Job 13:4 As for you, you whitewash with lies; worthless physicians are you all. Oh that you would keep silent, and it would be your wisdom! Will you speak falsely for God and speak deceitfully for him? Will you show partiality toward him? Will you plead the case for God? Will it be well with you when he searches you out?

James 1:19    Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger;

Proverbs 17:28     Even a fool who keeps silent is considered wise; when he closes his lips, he is deemed intelligent.

Proverbs 10:19    When words are many, transgression is not lacking, but whoever restrains his lips is prudent.

Ecclesiastes 5:2-3    Be not rash with your mouth, nor let your heart be hasty to utter a word before God, for God is in heaven and you are on earth. Therefore let your words be few.

Proverbs 17:27    Whoever restrains his words has knowledge, and he who has a cool spirit is a man of understanding.

Job obviously was upset at what his friends were saying to him and told them to keep silent and let that be their wisdom. Keeping silent. I am always fearful of when I am in discussion with a friend or brother and they are battling a decision. I am fearful that what I am speaking may not be in-line with God’s purpose and plan for them. I am fearful that I may say something in-line with God’s Word with such conviction that I leave no room for God’s will or timing. What if what I tell them leads them away from God and not closer? What if what I say makes them lose faith instead of increasing it? In this fear I sometimes just keep quiet. I recognize this and here is what I do when finding myself in these times of discussion; I’m in prayer as they speak and as I listen. I ask God to give me recall scripture and speak what He would have me speak. It comforts my soul to yield to God first and trust in the Holy Spirit to lead my thoughts and what I say. We must always leave room in what we say for God’s plans and purposes and timing. God is in control. God can and will use us if we yield to Him. We need not be afraid to offer counsel to friends but let us make sure we are never lacking in studying God’s Word and applying it in our lives each day. many times our words will be few but with God, they will speak volumes into the heart of our friend.

5.k. “‘Keep on hearing, but do not understand; keep on seeing, but do not perceive.’

Job 12:23 He makes nations great, and he destroys them; he enlarges nations, and leads them away. He takes away understanding from the chiefs of the people of the earth and makes them wander in a trackless waste. They grope in the dark without light, and he makes them stagger like a drunken man.

Isaiah 6:9-10    And he said, “Go, and say to this people: “‘Keep on hearing, but do not understand; keep on seeing, but do not perceive.’  Make the heart of this people dull, and their ears heavy, and blind their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.”

Psalms 107:40     he pours contempt on princes and makes them wander in trackless wastes;

Isaiah 59:10    We grope for the wall like the blind; we grope like those who have no eyes; we stumble at noon as in the twilight, among those in full vigor we are like dead men.

1 John 2:11   But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.

Isaiah 19:14   The LORD has mingled within her a spirit of confusion, and they will make Egypt stagger in all its deeds, as a drunken man staggers in his vomit.

These words of God were written thousands of years ago they still seem to ring true today. When I look at our leaders and hear their speeches and read the news it is as if eyes are blind and any brain activity has ceased to function. Boastfully they speak of things that are meaningless in the scope of eternity. They speak of things temporal as if the course of these things alone will change the world forever. God is not even a thought in their brains. Self-serving, self-pride, self-worship, self-reliance, self-grandeur, and self-important all find there way to the surface of what comes out of their mouths. It is these very people that lead capture the foolish weak-minded people and convince them with worldly speech on things they have no control over. They speak of changes and future events as if they alone will accomplish that which only God is able to do. God will confound and confuse these leaders and foolish followers to believe in this worldly wisdom as truth because they have denied God and that He exists. We need to be mindful of this worldly wisdom and flowery speech and worrisome news reporting. It can affect the hearts and minds of those who neglect and are complacent with God’s Word. The reverence of God is the beginning of wisdom. Without this ever-present reverence, we are never going to grow and mature in the wisdom of things of God. If we would spend as much time in His Word as we do watching or reading news, or watching or reading about sports there would be such a change in the people of God that the whole world would see and know the difference God’s Word makes in the lives of those who intentionally choose to humbly serve, honor, glorify, follow, and obey Him.

5.j. It is he who made the earth by his power, who established the world by his wisdom, and by his understanding stretched out the heavens.

Job 12:13 “With God are wisdom and might; he has counsel and understanding. If he tears down, none can rebuild; if he shuts a man in, none can open. If he withholds the waters, they dry up; if he sends them out, they overwhelm the land. With him are strength and sound wisdom;

Psalms 147:5    Great is our Lord, and abundant in power; his understanding is beyond measure.

Proverbs 2:6-7   For the LORD gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding;  he stores up sound wisdom for the upright; he is a shield to those who walk in integrity,

Jeremiah 10:12   It is he who made the earth by his power, who established the world by his wisdom, and by his understanding stretched out the heavens.

Colossians 2:3    to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

James 1:5    If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.

Isaiah said this about God; “ Who has measured the Spirit of the LORD, or what man shows him his counsel? Whom did he consult, and who made him understand? Who taught him the path of justice, and taught him knowledge, and showed him the way of understanding?” When you think about this and know that God consulted with no one. He was not taught these things. He created all there is by speaking them into existence. It is hard for us to imagine just how all-powerful, all-knowing, and always present God is. His majesty is beyond our deepest knowledge and understanding. His holiness is greater than purity. His power is greater than all the forces of man and all of nature. Yet, this same one and only God chose to send His son to redeem us, to create a new spirit within us, to give us peace, joy, rest, hope, love, and courage, to give us hope in eternity, to give us hope this side of eternity, and to know our sins are forgiven and removed as far as the east is from the west. God chose us. He called to us. He drew us close. He softened our hearts. He gave us the wisdom to know of both the need for salvation but also the Savior. He said, “come unto me all who are heavy with burden and I will give you rest”. Think about this for a while; the Creator of all there is leaves an open invitation for salvation and help. The do we wait to run into His wide-open arms?

5.k. For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you

Job 12:12  Wisdom is with the aged, and understanding in length of days.

Job 8:8   “For inquire, please, of bygone ages, and consider what the fathers have searched out.

Job 32:7   I said, ‘Let days speak, and many years teach wisdom.’

1 Kings 12:6-8   Then King Rehoboam took counsel with the old men, who had stood before Solomon his father while he was yet alive, saying, “How do you advise me to answer this people?”  And they said to him, “If you will be a servant to this people today and serve them, and speak good words to them when you answer them, then they will be your servants forever.”  But he abandoned the counsel that the old men gave him and took counsel with the young men who had grown up with him and stood before him.

Hebrews 5:12   For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food,

Pro 1:2  To know wisdom and instruction, to understand words of insight,  to receive instruction in wise dealing, in righteousness, justice, and equity; to give prudence to the simple, knowledge and discretion to the youth— Let the wise hear and increase in learning, and the one who understands obtain guidance,  to understand a proverb and a saying, the words of the wise and their riddles. The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.

There is worldly wisdom that comes to most. It comes with time and age. It is cultivated through experience and observing good and bad, right and wrong, worldly and godly, smart and foolish, and justice and injustice. This wisdom can teach a man how to walk a worldly path and avoid troubles that have come to others. This wisdom can make one appear to have the secrets of knowledge and understanding. However, in the end, this wisdom only has the ability to help in worldly things. It is missing wisdom that comes from a surrender of self to Jesus Christ. Without this godly wisdom, we will miss grace, mercy, love, forgiveness, salvation, redemption, and eternity in heaven. Godly wisdom is a gift to those who desire and seek after things of God. This desire and seeking drive us to His Word, to our knees or to our hands lifted high in praise and worship of Jesus Christ. It is in this reverence we touch the surface of godly wisdom and it is in this that we will grow and mature. Choose today to start fresh and committed to seeking and growing in Godly wisdom.

5.j. In him we live and move and have our being’

Job 12:7 “But ask the beasts, and they will teach you; the birds of the heavens, and they will tell you: or the bushes of the earth, and they will teach you; and the fish of the sea will declare to you. Who among all these does not know that the hand of the Lord has done this? In his hand is the life of every living thing and the breath of all mankind.

Jeremiah 8:7     Even the stork in the heavens knows her times, and the turtledove, swallow, and crane keep the time of their coming, but my people know not the rules of the LORD.  Beware lest you say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth.’  You shall remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth, that he may confirm his covenant that he swore to your fathers, as it is this day.

1 Samuel 2:7    The LORD makes poor and makes rich; he brings low and he exalts.

Jeremiah 27:5-6    “It is I who by my great power and my outstretched arm have made the earth, with the men and animals that are on the earth, and I give it to whomever it seems right to me.

Romans 11:36    For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.

Acts 17:28   for “‘In him we live and move and have our being’

God is in control of all things at all times. We would do well to plant this firmly in our mind and water it frequently with our heart seeking to honor Jesus Christ. I like how Job says to his friends; “who among these does not know that the hand of the Lord has done this?” He said this to say to his friends that he knows this is at the hand of God. His point is that God, creator of all there is and the one who is in control of all things can do as He plans and purposes. He is the creator! It is through Jesus Christ that we live, move, and have our being. We and all of creation. Yet, we seem to go days on end without giving thought to the Creator or giving thanks to the Creator or honoring the Creator, or clinging to, relying on, and trusting in the Creator. Why is this? Why is it we live day after day, and week after week with shallow commitments to Him? Are we too busy? Are we occupied by other things more important than the Creator? Is He not worthy of all of our time? Can we go about our day and have him first on our minds? Jesus Christ is our living water and bread of life. He is the one who will fill the void we have from shallow complacent commitment. Jesus Christ is so much more than worthy of our honor, glory, worship, and praise. It is time to start living each moment of every day intentionally for Him.

5.i. You will look around and take your rest in security.

Job 11:13 “If you prepare your heart, you will stretch out your hands toward him. If iniquity is in your hand, put it far away, and let not injustice dwell in your tents. Surely then you will lift up your face without blemish; you will be secure and will not fear. You will forget your misery; you will remember it as waters that have passed away. And your life will be brighter than the noonday; its darkness will be like the morning. And you will feel secure, because there is hope; you will look around and take your rest in security. You will lie down, and none will make you afraid; many will court your favor. But the eyes of the wicked will fail; all way of escape will be lost to them, and their hope is to breathe their last.”

Isaiah 12:1-2 You will say in that day: “I will give thanks to you, O LORD, for though you were angry with me, your anger turned away, that you might comfort me. “Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and will not be afraid; for the LORD GOD is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation.”

Hosea 6:3 Let us know; let us press on to know the LORD; his going out is sure as the dawn; he will come to us as the showers, as the spring rains that water the earth.”

There is nothing like feeling secure. We find a peace that passes all understanding when we humbly come to Jesus Christ with a contrite heart, repentant heart, and a seeking and desiring heart. We enter into a restful peace because we have yielded all claim to self and self-reliance into the hands of Jesus Christ. We know this to be true and yet too often we wait until there are trials and troubles before we do the yielding. The fact is we could have more satisfying and fulfilling lives if we would just learn to live with a daily committed yielding of any claim to our life and yield it all to the honor and glory and obedience of Jesus Christ.

5.h. Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God!

Job 11:7 “Can you find out the deep things of God? Can you find out the limit of the Almighty? It is higher than heaven—what can you do? Deeper than Sheol—what can you know? Its measure is longer than the earth and broader than the sea.

Psalms 77:19     Your way was through the sea, your path through the great waters; yet your footprints were unseen.

Psalms 145:3    Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised, and his greatness is unsearchable.

Ecclesiastes 3:11    He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.

Isaiah 40:28   Have you not known? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable.

Romans 11:33   Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!

Ephesians 3:8   To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ,

1 Corinthians 2:16   “For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?”

We catch glimpses of the mysteries of God. We see men of God who searched deep, hard and long for this glimpse of God. In the end, they come to the conclusion that His greatness is unsearchable for when we capture the briefest of a glimpse we are no closer to understanding how awesome He is. We just see more and understand that He is greater than are the furthest imagination. When we examine and search for His love we find it greater and more encompassing. When we search out His might and power it is greater than all men who have been born before and now and in the future combined. When we search out His wisdom, knowledge, and understanding we are no closer to finding it than when we began, even if we were to search it out for millions of years. When we search out His grace and mercy we come to Jesus Christ and have an example but it still leaves us with unsearchable Holy qualities that are too high, too deep, and too wide to comprehend even the surface of it.

Certainly, we can meditate on God and His Word and grow more mature in our understanding and grow in our want to know Him more and more, and serve Him more, and honor Him more, and follow Him more, and obey Him more and this is our goal and purpose this side of eternity. In the scope of eternity we are here but a blink of an eye. Think about what it will be like to be in His presence forever and ever. Let not another day go by with neglect of honoring Him. He alone is worthy.

5.g. The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end;

Job 11:4 For you say, ‘My doctrine is pure, and I am clean in God’s eyes.’ But oh, that God would speak and open his lips to you, and that he would tell you the secrets of wisdom! For he is manifold in understanding. Know then that God exacts of you less than your guilt deserves.

Ezra 9:13     And after all that has come upon us for our evil deeds and for our great guilt, seeing that you, our God, have punished us less than our iniquities deserved

Psalms 103:10     He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities.

Psalms 106:43-46     Many times he delivered them, but they were rebellious in their purposes and were brought low through their iniquity.  Nevertheless, he looked upon their distress, when he heard their cry.  For their sake he remembered his covenant, and relented according to the abundance of his steadfast love.

Lamentations 3:22    The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end;

The word of God contains truths of God. From early on in our journey of being drawn in by God, His Holiness and our sinfulness and need for forgiveness unfold. Our heart is softened and with our mind starting to be opened to the understanding of the mystery of His unfailing and steadfast love for us, we intentionally choose to confess, repent, and fully trust in and rely on, and cling to Jesus Christ. We believe in His sacrifice for our sin and God the Father washing our sin stains away, forever gone. As we read more and more of God’s Word with a heart, mind, and soul-deep desire and seeking, we see our sinful nature and wonder how it is that God does not repay us according to our sins. We see the battle that wages within our soul between sinful self and the new creation, rebirth, being born again self that occurs when we confess, repent, believe, and trust in Jesus Christ. We understand more and more each day how self wants to put self ahead of humbly serving, honoring, glorifying, trusting, following, obeying, and relying on Jesus Christ. We become aware of those things we know we ought to do but don’t and those things we ought not to do but do. In this understanding of our sinful nature, we can only wonder and be awed by the grace, mercy, and love given to us through Jesus Christ. When we commit, (intentionally choose) to seek and desire wisdom and understanding from and through time in His Word, we will continue to mature and grow in our understanding of God’s mercy, grace, and love. Our heart, mind, and soul will continually be moved by this and we will become more and more humble, honoring, serving, and obeying, in our life walk with Jesus Christ.

It is never too late to make this heart, mind, and soul commitment of living each moment of every day in service to our savior Jesus Christ. It is never too late to confess and repent of neglect and complacency.

It is, however, always to late to waste another minute being self-centered, self-serving, self-helping, self-satisfying, and self-seeking. Choosing to live and walk apart from God.

5.f. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way;

Job 10:14 If I sin, you watch me and do not acquit me of my iniquity. If I am guilty, woe to me! If I am in the right, I cannot lift up my head, for I am filled with disgrace and look on my affliction.

Psalms 139:1    O LORD, you have searched me and known me!

Psalms 130:3    If you, O LORD, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand?

Exodus 34:7    keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.”

Ecclesiastes 7:20   Surely there is not a righteous man on earth who does good and never sins.

Isaiah 53:6    All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way;

Romans 3:23-24     for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,  and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,

Throughout scripture, we see men of God who speak of the sin of man. We read of it from Genesis through Revelation. We see the history of man’s sin in light of God’s Holiness. We catch a glimpse of man’s choice to honor and reverence his Creator or not. We see men and women who have intentionally chosen to seek after and live to honor God. We also see those who have intentionally chosen to reject God and only seek to live to please and honor themselves. We read of both God’s steadfast love toward His creation and those who seek to honor, glorify, and worship Him and His anger and wrath towards those who reject Him and live for self-interests, self-gain, self-satisfying, and self-centered reasons.

We live in an age where technological advances have far outstripped our ethics; we have a lot of “power,” but no clear moral benchmarks to aid us in the use of such power. One reason we lack the moral foundation is that we have left the doctrinal foundation of creation and who we are before a Holy and Wise Creator. We seem to lack the desire to search our heart, mind, and soul for that which is not pleasing to Him (sin). We intentionally choose to neglect His word and seek the Holy Spirit to lead us in sin awareness. For the record, neglecting His word and not being aware of sin does not mean we are guiltless. It just means we have turned our back and hardened our hearts to the true things that honor and glorify Jesus Christ.

When we choose to be in His word and seek and desire to do that which is God-honoring and glorifying we will see more and more of our sinful nature and His grace and mercy. We will see more clearly that which honors Him. We will continue to grow and mature in this understanding and knowledge. We will begin to understand love and hope that is found in trusting, obeying, relying on, clinging to, and living for Jesus Christ.

5.e. “For I am not aware of anything against myself, but I am not thereby acquitted. It is the Lord who judges me.”

Job 9:15  Though I am in the right, I cannot answer him; I must appeal for mercy to my accuser.

1 Kings 8:38-39   whatever prayer, whatever plea is made by any man or by all your people Israel, each knowing the affliction of his own heart and stretching out his hands toward this house,  then hear in heaven your dwelling place and forgive and act and render to each whose heart you know, according to all his ways (for you, you only, know the hearts of all the children of mankind),

1 Corinthians 4:4    For I am not aware of anything against myself, but I am not thereby acquitted. It is the Lord who judges me.

Jeremiah 31:9  With weeping they shall come, and with pleas for mercy I will lead them back, I will make them walk by brooks of water, in a straight path in which they shall not stumble, for I am a father to Israel,

Daniel 9:3    Then I turned my face to the Lord God, seeking him by prayer and pleas for mercy with fasting and sackcloth and ashes.

Daniel 9:18   O my God, incline your ear and hear. Open your eyes and see our desolations, and the city that is called by your name. For we do not present our pleas before you because of our righteousness, but because of your great mercy.

Job examined his life. He has lost his family, his flocks, and his body is being attacked with boils and sores. In this calamity, he examines his life and proclaims “I am in the right”. He is not saying he has done nothing wrong but that he has not done something to deserve all of this happening in his life. He has lived knowing that God is a rewarder of those who seek Him and live humbly before Him. Humanly we can understand what he is saying because from the worldly view it does not seem fair or right. We see what has happened and think what has happened to Job does not seem to be in line with the way he lived. Justice does not seemed to have been awarded fairly.

Does God ever make a mistake? Is He ever unjust? Does He ever do wrong? Is there anything in all of creation that is not under His control?

In our trials and troubles, God may seem far away but He is ever-present. In our trials and troubles, God may seem not in control but He is all-powerful. In our trials and troubles, it may seem God is unaware but He is all-knowing. In trials and troubles, God does not change and has not changed and will not change. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Though we do not understand we can trust Him. We can seek His mercy and know that His perfect will is being done, His perfect plans are being carried out, and His purpose will be for the good of those called according to His purpose. In times of chaos, cling to Him. In times of trials and troubles, trust Him. In times of loneliness, know He loves you. In times of sickness, seek the Great Physician.