A Study in Job part six

 

Job was different. He was insightful and thankful, even in his unregenerate state. Look at his humble words as his life was torn apart:

“Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return there. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.”

Charles Spurgeon put his words into perspective when he said,

“Job lost his ten children at a stroke. O Death, what an insatiable archer you were that day, when ten must fall at once! Yet Job says, ‘The Lord hath taken away.’ That is all he has to say about it: ‘The Lord hath taken away.’ I need not repeat to you the story of the gardener who missed a choice rose, but who could not complain because the master had plucked it. Do you feel that it is just so with all that you have, if he takes it? Oh, yes! Why should he not take it? If I were to go about my house, and take down an ornament or anything from the walls, would anybody say a word to me? Suppose my dear wife should say to the servant, ‘Where has that picture gone?’ and the maid replied, ‘Oh, the master took it!’ Would she find fault? Oh, no! If it had been a servant who took it down, or a stranger who removed it, she might have said something; but not when I took it, for it is mine. And surely we will let God be Master in His own house; where we are only the children, he shall take whatever He pleases of all He has lent us for a while. It is easy to stand here and say this; but, brothers and sisters, let us try to say it if it should ever come to us as a matter of fact that the Lord who gave should also take away.”

What wise and wonderful words! Job held onto the things of this world with a loose hand, and so much we want to buttress ourselves against inevitable suffering. Job’s words need to be close to all of our hearts because his experience could happen to any of us in a moment of time. Every day we hear of lives being torn apart by bombs, tornados, hurricanes and accidents, and so that attitude is our fortification and consolation. We are mere custodians of loved ones. They belong to God as He is their Creator.

Continued tomorrow...

Wretched: Carrie Underwood Preaches.

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Pleasure in sin

As we witness, we should remember that there is pleasure in sin for a season. Contrary to the claims of modern evangelism, the world can find happiness without Jesus. The prophet Jeremiah complained to the Lord, “Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why are those happy who deal so treacherously?” (Jer. 12:1). However, this sinful world cannot find righteousness without Jesus, and it is righteousness that they will need on the Day of Wrath (Prov. 11:4).

"Oh, what folly it is: for a cup of pleasure—drink a sea of wrath! Sin will be bitter in the end. The pleasure of sin is soon gone—but the sting remains!" Thomas Watson

Hebrews 11:25 choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin,

Critical Decision

The Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country. . . . So Abram departed, as the Lord had spoken unto him. Genesis 12:1, 4

People have many different ideas about the most important moment of their lives on this earth. We know of many who have testified to the great importance of their own spiritual decision—the act of faith whereby they committed themselves and their entire futures to God!

I believe the Bible makes it plain that the single most critical, most important time in the life of Abraham was when he heard and answered the call of God. Unexpectedly and dramatically, God revealed Himself to Abraham and called him to be a pilgrim. It is a lesson to us that when Abraham was called, he by faith obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going!

I have found comfort in the doctrine of prevenient grace, which, simply stated, is the belief that before a sinner can seek God, God must first have sought him.

In Abraham’s case, I believe that if he had been insensitive, he would never have heard God’s voice calling him, and if Abraham had rejected God’s overtures, the whole history of the world would have been vastly different—and different for the worse!

Heavenly Father, I thank You for Abraham’s example: He heard Your voice, and he obeyed. May it be so in my life as well, Lord.

Darwinian Accounts

“There are no detailed Darwinian accounts for the evolution of any fundamental biochemical or cellular system, only a variety of wishful speculations. It is remarkable that Darwinism is accepted as a satisfactory explanation for such a vast subject—evolution—with so little rigorous examination of how well its basic theses work in illuminating specific instances of biological adaptation or diversity.” James Shapiro, molecular biologist (“In the Details...What?” National Review

Psalm 115:15 May you be blessed by the Lord,
Who made heaven and earth.

Warning in the Gospel

He that believeth not is condemned already.John 3:18

When God warns a nation or a city, a church or a person, it is a grievous sin to ignore such warning. In conservative Christianity, we believe that the Christian message does indeed contain an element of alarm, but not all Christians believe this.

Some have been taught that the Christian gospel is “good news exclusively.” They believe that the only way to explain the full meaning of the Christian gospel is to quote one verse: “Believe on the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved” (John 3:18).

Lord, Your Great Commission (see Matthew 28:19–20) tells us to spread Your good news around the world. I pray especially for those involved in creative efforts to share the gospel in countries where preaching Christ is forbidden.

Does Forgiving Mean Forgetting? #381

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Marriage

Intermarrying with pagan nations often lead to the downfall of God’s people. Some may question why God would require families to separate, but even Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived, was lured away from God by his many wives to worship worthless idols (see 1 Kings 11:1–8 and Neh.13:26 for details). God wants His people to be faithful to Him and not be enticed to commit spiritual adultery. James 4:4 warns us, “Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.”

Ezra 10:10 Then Ezra the priest stood up and said to them, “You have transgressed and have taken pagan wives, adding to the guilt of Israel.

A Study in Job part five

 

So the supernatural Book of Job is entirely in keeping with the rest of the supernatural Word of God. Like many other strange instances in Holy Scripture, the four men coming to Job with the exact same account may be hard to swallow, but gnat-straining thoughts of doubt will only keep us from the comforting truths of Holy Scripture. It is a freeing thing to be able to let go of doubt and rest in knowledge-based trust. It’s like a man who has never flown in a plane, letting go of his natural reasoning. He could sit in his seat indignantly mumbling that it is impossible for human beings to fly at 35,000 feet in the air in a massive steal can with wings, at 500 miles per hour. Then again, he may say that it’s a reality that he can’t deny and relax, or he can reason a little and consider how gravity can be superseded by the law of aerodynamics, and a steal can, can be airtight and filled with renewable air to keep human beings alive at that height. So you and I can rest in the fact that all of us that believe in a Creator of creation believe in the supernatural, or we can have a knowledge-based trust that works things out a little by realizing that God has deliberately placed strange and hard-to-believe instances in the Scriptures, to humble the proud. All who trust that the Bible is the Word of God are forced to humble themselves and become as a little child, much to the scorn of a proud and godless world. But that is the way of salvation. The door has been made low to exclude those who are wise in their own conceits. God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble.

So how did Job handle the fourfold and terrible news? He didn’t hold his fist to the heavens and accuse God of some sort of wrong. The man tore his robe, shaved his head and fell onto the ground and worshipped God. He was a godly man and he therefore knew that He is the giver of life, and ultimately He’s the One that takes it away. That was his fortification. Every blessing and every good gift comes from above.

But this isn’t how the ungodly think. God isn’t in their thoughts (see Psalm 10:4). Millions don’t attribute the blessings of loved ones, food, light, the seasons, color, beauty, fruits, eyesight, hearing and their own lives to God. They think that they are the mere product of change. There was a big bang, and there you have it, we are here. No one is to be thanked for anything. Others believe in the existence of God, but never even think to bow their heads in prayer and thank Him for His amazing kindness. Even though their very ability to breathe comes from their Creator, if you ask what God has done for them, they will shake their heads and say, “I can’t think of anything.” I know because I have asked many people that question. I also know because I was once in darkness, alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that was in me because of the blindness of my heart.

Continued Monday...

When the flood came

“I have no doubt that those who would not pray when the ark was being built, prayed when the Flood came; but their prayer was not answered. I have no doubt that when Lot went out of Sodom, Sodom cried to God; but it was too late, and God’s judgment swept them from the earth. My friend, it is not too late now, but it may be at twelve o’clock tonight. I cannot find any place in the Bible where it says you may call tomorrow. I am not justified in saying that. ‘Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.’” D. L. Moody

Genesis 7:11 In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all tthe fountains of the great deep were broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened. 12 And the rain was on the earth forty days and forty nights.