Job 42

Job 42:5-6 "I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear, But now my eye sees You. (6) Therefore I abhor myself, And repent in dust and ashes."

I said it earlier this week and I will say it again, I think Job did pretty good. He never did what Satan set out for him, he never cursed God. In fact, he openly proclaimed, in the face of his friends and wife, that he will not curse the nae of the Lord but rather bless it. You look at everything he has been through and you start to thinks, "Pats on back Job. Y0u are a pretty good guy."

Well, Job would disagree with you. See, Job did not curse God's name, but he did question God's plan. He could not understand why God would do this to him. This may sound like a minor offense, however, when faced before the righteousness of God, Job felt like dust. In fact, he says, "Therefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes." I have never repented in dust and ashes. How powerful that experience with God must have been! Compared to God's righteousness, Job could not bare to look at himself.

We may have "good" weeks. We may have times when we feel we have followed all of God's commands possible. We may also have times when we feel we have done this in the face of tribulation. Consider the righteousness of God. Remember, He is on a different level of righteousness we could ever conjure up. He is God, and we are man. I beleieve we need to be like Job. We need to repent for what we ave done and continue to bless the name of the Lord and the name of Jesus for allowing us access into this righteousness.

Next time you want to give yourself a pat on the back, consider Job, consider his testimony, and consider his final action. Rather than pat himself on the back, he repented in dust and ashes.

Job 41

Job 41:1 "Can you draw out Leviathan with a hook, Or snare his tongue with a line which you lower?

There has been much debate over what the Leviathan is. Some have believed it to be a whale, because the word literally translates whale. Others, because of the descriptions, have thought it to be like a crocodile. I honestly believe this creature to be even greater than both. The Lord says that when he sneezes, light flashes, and that out of his mouth comes a flame. I believe this to suggest that Leviathan is a fire breathing animal! He has scales which produces a hard layer, much like a crocodile. He has so many teeth which come together perfectly, the Lord states, "...no air can come between them." This creature is certainly fierce. Picture a dragon of the sea.

The simple lesson from this chapter is, as awesome and mystical and out of this world Leviathan is, our God is even greater still. Our God is all powerful. Our God is truly great. We go to the zoo, and see powerful animals and stand amazed. I know I love to see the giraffe. The designs and the animals shape is crazy! However, even more amazing still is that I stand before the creator of the world and sup with Him at His table. Take time to worship God, not just in worship, but on your own. Truly our Lord is great!

Job 40

Job 40:2-5 "Shall the one who contends with the Almighty correct Him? He who rebukes God, let him answer it." (3) Then Job answered the LORD and said: (4) "Behold, I am vile; What shall I answer You? I lay my hand over my mouth. (5) Once I have spoken, but I will not answer; Yes, twice, but I will proceed no further."

When you first read the book of Job, it is easy to think it is all about Job's glory. In my opinion, the guy passed with flying colors. He had everything that was of worth to him taken away. His friends and even his wife turn on him. He is suffering in pain. His only fault is that he asks God, "Why?" Like I said, flying colors.

When we dig deeper into Job we realize, this book was not made that we might give Job praise, but that we might give God praise. As mentioned before, Job's righteousness and God's righteousness are in different leagues. Job was a righteous man, God said so. He was blameless. However, the righteousness of God is that much greater. Reading these chapters you cannot help but feel in awe of the power of God. Imagine being there, experiencing the voice of the Lord from the whirlwind. Imagine being rebuked by God's voice, and hearing Him describe His creation. It would sure beat biology class.

Job was coming undone. You see, Job was blameless, but he was still human, and he still had a layer of pride that the LORD wanted to get rid of. As He states later in this chapter, (Can you) "Look on everyone who is proud, and humble him?"

We are His workmanship, and He is the Workman. His level of righteousness is far beyond what we can attain. Therefore, as a loving father, God is going to refine us. In the end, may God, not us, attain all the glory. May we be left like Job, with a hand over our mouths, speechless in the Lord.

Job 39

Job 39:25 At the blast of the trumpet he says, 'Aha!' He smells the battle from afar, The thunder of captains and shouting.

All these verses allude to one thing, the power and wisdom of the Lord. Here is God observing His creation. He knows all of His creations very well, and He acknowledges each one of their gifts. He ackowledges that to some, He gave an extra instinct, only He could give.

Have you ever watched Animal Planet? SOmetimes you watch these animals and when you figure out what they do to preserve their life you have to wonder, "How do they do that?" God tells us here tat the horse was essentially designed for battle. For some reason, the horse does not spook when in the midst of chaos. We have no explanation except that it was God's will for it to be that way.

Finally we look at Job. He is sitting before the Lord soaking all of this in. It would be like going to school and finding out that God was going to be your teacher. All of a sudden it is becoming crystal clear that the whole world is a testiment to God's awesome work. I know I cannot help but be amazed at our Lord when reading through these verses. It reminds me to appreciate His creation all around me. May we all give praise to God continually, for we are His greatest creation.

Job 38

Then the LORD answered Job from the whirlwind: "Who is this that questions My wisdom with such ignorant words?

(Job 38:1-2)

It is here that we finally see the Lord speak. He is about to respond to Job, and what He brings are not the “answers” that Job had “demanded”. Instead, He has a set of questions for Job… they are questions that expose how little Job, and you, and I, and Elihu, and Zophar, and Bildad, and Eliphaz, and really the whole world; know about God and the things of God. God begins this interrogation by asking question number one… “Who is this that questions my wisdom with such ignorant words?” Though spoken to Job specifically, I believe it applied to all 4 of his friends. There words had been words of IGNORANCE. They were trying to speak about things they knew nothing of as if like Elihu claimed, they had PERFECT KNOWLEDGE of them. Job was blameless God had said, and was a man who no other was like… yet He was still ignorant!

As you read the following chapters, the ones that deal with God’s interrogation of Job, think about how you would answer God… are you speechless? Sometimes the greatest thing we can do is just worship God in silence, in awe of His greatness. I am glad I can’t answer “yes I know all this stuff” to the questions God presents. One of the beautiful things about having a relationship with God is simply this: He is God. He knows things we will never know. That in itself makes Him worthy of our worship.

Job 37

We cannot look at the sun, for it shines brightly in the sky when the wind clears away the clouds. So also, golden splendor comes from the mountain of God. He is clothed in dazzling splendor. We cannot imagine the power of the Almighty; but even though He is just and righteous, He does not destroy us. No wonder people everywhere fear Him. All who are wise show Him reverence."

(Job 37:21-24)

God is Holy. We are told in the Old Testament that anyone who looked upon Him would surely die. In the New Testament we are told that He is a CONSUMING FIRE. Holy. Unapproachable. Glorious like the sun, yet inaccessible like the sun.

When Jesus came, all of this changed. God is holy still, that has not changed; but when Jesus died, and the veil in the temple was torn, we gained access like we NEVER HAD BEFORE.

According to the scriptures, we can now BOLDY approach God’s Throne… in fact; it is described as a THRONE OF GRACE. Did you catch that? God is enthroned upon the stuff that He gives us freely to live the life He has called us to live. Do you realize how blessed we are? Do you realize how amazing the relationship we have with God is? We can talk to Him like a friend… like a father. We can come to Him at any time, we have ACCESS. Elihu says that in view of God’s holiness and mercy, we should show the Lord reverence… how much more then should we give to Him our EVERYTHING in light of His love and grace?

Job 36

I will fetch my knowledge from afar; I will ascribe righteousness to my Maker. For truly my words are not false; one who is perfect in knowledge is with you.

(Job 36:3-4)

What a crazy thing to claim! Elihu thinks that he has PERFECT KNOWLEDGE in this area concerning God and the things of God.

Friends… we don’t have PERFECT knowledge about anything. We are learning more and more all the time, but our knowledge, especially in the area of God and the things of God is FAR FROM PERFECT. The Bible says that our view of these things today in this fallen world is like looking through a piece of foggy or frosted glass. It’s distorted, we can’t make out the details, there are pieces missing. By the Holy Spirit we can know all that we NEED to know, but we in no way at all know all that there is to know.

We need to keep ourselves in a place where our positions and opinions about God, His work, and His ways are always being refined. We need to be sure that we don’t act like we have it all figured out. It is only as we come to God’s word that we can have things become clearer… so don’t close the file on anything. Let God continue to bring deeper knowledge.

We can preach the Gospel with authority as men and women led by and filled with the Spirit. Authority is one thing… claiming infallibility is another! Be humble, and point people not to YOURSELF but to Jesus as the TRUTH.

Job 35

But it is wrong to say God doesn't listen, to say the Almighty isn't concerned. You say you can't see Him, but He will bring justice if you will only wait.

(Job 35:13-14)

This is a good word from Elihu. In the book of Isaiah we read (paraphrasing) that “the Lord doesn’t need hearing aids, He can hear your every prayer; and it isn’t that He can’t reach us if we need His salvation… the problem lies with us. Our sins have separated us from a holy God”. It is here that we realize that the problem never lies on God’s side of the equation, it is always with us. Now, God declared that Job was more righteous than any other man on the face of the earth, but his righteousness was still like FILTHY RAGS before a holy God.

God has provided a way for us to have a relationship with Him. We can deal with the issue of the sin that separates us. In Job’s day, they looked forward to the day when men could have intimate and open communication with the Lord the way that we do. Elihu’s admonition was especially applicable for Job and his contemporaries. The Lord listened, and He WAS concerned. In fact, He cared a great deal about Job, and would see to it that all things were made right. Job couldn’t see God, or the answer God was going to send… but the Lord was working.

Sometimes we can feel like Job. It is as if God doesn’t care, and our prayers just hit the ceiling and fall right back to the ground. God is listening. God is working. God will make all things right… he promises it in His word. Wait on the Lord.

Job 34

Truly, God will not do wrong. The Almighty will not twist justice. Did someone else put the world in His care? Who set the whole world in place? If God were to take back His spirit and withdraw His breath, all life would cease, and humanity would turn again to dust.

(Job 34:12-15)

This verse got me thinking… I’ve been asking myself, “What WOULD happen if God withdrew from us, if He truly abandoned us?” Can you even begin to imagine a world where God WASN’T at work? One where God did wrong, or twisted justice to His own ends? Can you imagine if we lived in a world where God just didn’t care about us or anyone else? This world would truly be an AWFUL place.

We often here people asking the question “where is God when _______”. They talk about God in terms of why does He do this, why doesn’t He do this, etc… In the midst of their struggles with the circumstances of life they are losing sight of what would happen if God WASN’T involved. We need to remember that God is really the only reason we breathe. He is the only reason we have life at all. The question shouldn’t be “why is God letting this happen to me”; on the contrary, it should be, “why does God continue to sustain me, why does He allow me, a sinner, to live anyway”.

Listen to the words of Psalm 8:

O LORD, our Lord, Your majestic name fills the earth!

Your glory is higher than the heavens.

You have taught children and infants to tell of Your strength, silencing Your enemies and all who oppose You.

When I look at the night sky and see the work of Your fingers—

The moon and the stars You set in place—

What are mere mortals that You should think about them?

human beings that You should care for them?

Yet You made them only a little lower than God

and crowned them with glory and honor.

You gave them charge of everything You made,

putting all things under their authority—

the flocks and the herds and all the wild animals, the birds in the sky, the fish in the sea, and everything that swims the ocean currents.

O LORD, our Lord, Your majestic name fills the earth!

(Psa 8:1-9)

Job 33

Elihu begins in this chapter to explain to Job just WHAT his problem with Job really is. He begins to paraphrase Job, quoting him from all of his previous speeches where he made himself to be sinless, pure, innocent, and free of guilt. Elihu points out that Job described the events that had overtaken him as God picking on him as if he were an enemy. To this Elihu says, “You are wrong, and I will tell you why”.

The essence of Elihu’s problem with Job lies in these two things.

1. Job had made himself out to be guiltless, something no man is, or ever has been
2. Job made it seem as though the LORD was the one that was unrighteous.

Elihu tells Job that God is bigger than all of us, and all that we see. He deals in realms beyond us, things we cannot see or understand. He maintains that in spite of this, and in spite of Job’s arguments to the contrary, God DOES speak to us, through dreams and visions, and through his chastening hand. Elihu says that God was trying to bring Job to a point of humility and repentance, a point of recognizing that God is ALWAYS RIGHTEOUS whether we understand it or not.

Elihu’s message is not bad. The problem with Elihu is that his delivery is one of ARROGANCE. In addition to that, his arguments only somewhat apply to Job. Ultimately this whole thing was not really about Job and his sin; though he was a sinner… it was about God, and the challenge from Satan on the issue of WHY He was worshipped.

We need to be careful that we don’t begin to think we have things all figured out. Elihu thinks he has it all figured out. Don’t be an Elihu… Let God be God, he doesn’t need us to defend Him, just to point people to Him.

Job 32

Job's three friends refused to reply further to him because he kept insisting on his innocence. Then Elihu son of Barakel the Buzite, of the clan of Ram, became angry. He was angry because Job refused to admit that he had sinned and that God was right in punishing him. He was also angry with Job's three friends, for they made God appear to be wrong by their inability to answer Job's arguments. Elihu had waited for the others to speak to Job because they were older than he. But when he saw that they had no further reply, he spoke out angrily.

(Job 32:1-5)

Anger. In this passage we see a new charter named Elihu. He is a younger man, and seemingly he has been around for this entire debate. The first thing we see about Elihu is that he was ANGRY. He was angry for two different reasons, and eventually his anger compels him to speak. Notice the two things that drove Elihu to the point of speaking out in anger.

1. Elihu was angry with JOB because Job refused to admit his sin, and say that God was right in punishing him.
2. Elihu was angry with JOB’S FRIENDS because in his mind, their faulty arguments made it seem as though Job was right, and God was UNRIGHTEOUS.

Now, before we get into talking about Elihu and his arguments, I think it is important for us to understand that in the last chapter of Job God rebukes Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar; but He says nothing to Elihu. Though this doesn’t mean that everything Elihu says is right, and all of his attitudes are right, it does help us to see that God viewed Elihu’s speech as something totally different than those of the other three men. In fact, God corrects Job for speaking out of ignorance, something He does NOT do to Elihu.

Having said that, I see 2 problems arise with Elihu here in this 1^st chapter.

1. He talks an awful lot about himself.
2. He lets his anger cause him to “spout off”. In a sense, it is controlling him rather than he controlling it.

The Bible tells us to “be angry and sin not”. Anger is a problem when it is directed at people, when it isn’t controlled. Elihu should have taken this anger and frustration and brought it to the Lord. Then he could have spoken in a more controlled and even manner.

If we allow anger to control us, we can come off as harsh, brash, or even self-consumed. Elihu comes off as all of these things. Friends, if God gives you a word to share with someone, whether it is for encouragement or correction, do it in a HUMBLE way… it’s the Lord’s word and not yours! Don’t speak out of anger or frustration, but let EVERYTHING you do be done in LOVE. We want to be people that are LED by the SPIRIT, not DRIVEN by our ANGER.

Job 31

Job's words are ended.

(Job 31:40b)

This is the end of Job’s final speech, and it leaves us with this sense… Job believes that what has happened to him is UNFAIR. He says that he hasn’t sinned to deserve this, that in fact, he is more righteous than other men. Is he right?

Think about this idea of FAIRNESS. JUSTICE. WHAT I DESERVE. From God’s perspective, do you know what Job “DESERVED”? He deserved hell! Do you know why??? Because he is a SINNER, he was born as a sinner just like you and I. Job has a problem that is very easy to have here on earth… he is comparing himself the people all around him. Compared to them, maybe he doesn’t “deserve” to be punished; maybe they deserve it more than him. In God’s eyes a sinner is a sinner is a sinner. There isn’t varying degrees, for him any darkness is too much. He is the FATHER OF LIGHTS, in him there isn’t even shadow, just PURE LIGHT!

Job reminds me of what I used to do as a kid. I would often exclaim “IT’S NOT FAIR”!!!! I wanted fairness all the time, equality… I wanted all my brothers and sisters to have to wait as long as me for privileges. I wanted everything to be EVEN. I didn’t want to be SHORTED in any way.

God’s economy is different than ours. Job was so busy comparing himself to others that he forgot just how far short he fell of God’s holiness.

Remember, don’t talk about what you deserve, you deserve HELL. Grace and mercy is what we have, and let’s be thankful!

Chapter 30

In this chapter, we see Job at his lowest. He describes how drastic his change in circumstance was… he went from the top to the very bottom almost overnight. He says here in this chapter that he had fallen so low that the very outcasts of society mocked and jeered at him… they called him names and treated him with utter contempt.

For Job, this was more than he could bear. His humiliation was so great that he claims here that his “life was seeping away, and depression was haunting all of his days”. Why was Job distressed? Why was he distressed? Why does it seem that he has lost all hope? The Bible answers these questions by telling us that Job was looking at himself and his circumstances rather than the Lord. In Isaiah we read that “The Lord will keep in PERFECT PEACE those whose minds are stayed on Him, because they trust in Him”. Perfect peace doesn’t mean they won’t have outward conflict or adverse circumstances… it means that as these go on, the man or woman who focuses on the Lord and trust Him will have a heart that is filled with God’s peace. In a similar way Paul told us in Philippians that if we lay our cares and burdens at his feet, He will grant us a peace that PASSES OUR UNDERSTANDING. Not a peace ABOUT our circumstances, a peace IN SPITE OF our circumstances.

Corrie Tenboom said this, “Look with out and be distressed, look within and be depressed, look to Jesus and be at rest”. That sums up Job and what he needs. He needs to look to Jesus. What about you? Are you distressed or depressed? Are you facing challenges greater than yourself, maybe greater than you have ever had to deal with before? Look to Jesus, and in Him you will find REST.

Job 29

In this chapter we have Job recount to his friends the way that things once where, the blessings that he possessed as a man who followed the Lord and was used by the Lord. Let’s take a minute and look at what some of these things were:

1. God’s presence was clearly felt in Job’s home
2. God’s protection was clearly seen over Job’s family
3. God’s blessing was clearly seen over Job’s industry
4. He had a position of respect and prominence in the community
5. He had a reputation for being a great and godly man
6. He devoted his life to devoting the helpless; widows, orphans, strangers, and those oppressed
7. He was like a tree, constantly refreshed and renewed by God’s living water
8. His counsel was respected and sought after
9. I comforted the mourning and the discouraged
10. I was a leader to the people

These things are all circumstances. They are in no way permanent fixtures that come with being a Christian. There will be times in the life of a godly man or woman that things look this way. At other times, they may lose all of this. The one thing that never changes is the Lord’s faithfulness to us. He loves us and is always with us, through good times and bad.

Job said at the beginning of the book that “the Lord gives and the Lord takes away, blessed be the name of the Lord”. Tomorrow we will see Job recount how these circumstances had changed. What Job never forgets is that the Lord is still worthy of praise.

Job 28

Then He saw wisdom and evaluated it. He set it in place and examined it thoroughly. And this is what He says to all humanity: 'The fear of the Lord is true wisdom; to forsake evil is real understanding.'"

(Job 28:27-28)

I LOVE this chapter. It is totally unique in the book of Job, a real change of pace from the normal rhetoric of Job as he responds to his friends.

It begins with a description of how man has found ways to mine the earth for precious metals and stones… things the animals are unaware of things, things that men LIVE FOR. Job points out the great lengths men go to to get these things, and the innovative ways they have discovered as they attempt to extract them from the “roots of the earth”.

With all of this knowledge of how to mine for these precious metals, man knows nothing of how to discover wisdom. Job points out that all the gold in the world can do nothing for you when it comes to wanting to acquire wisdom. You can’t buy it, and men haven’t figured out how to dig it up. Even the formidable foes death and destruction have only heard rumors of wisdom and its whereabouts… it seems that God alone knows where wisdom resides.

God has not left man in a state of forever being unable to acquire wisdom… according to Job God told men where wisdom was to be found… ONLY IN FORSAKING EVIL AND LIVING IN THE FEAR OF GOD. According to Job, God had communicated this truth to men. If they would forsake evil and live in the fear of God, they would receive wisdom and real understanding in the areas of life, its purpose, and its mysteries.

This theme of real wisdom being attached to the “fear of God” appears all throughout the scriptures. Job is the first mention chronologically of this idea. Job was a contemporary of Abraham… so apparently this was a truth that God revealed long before He even sent us the ten commandments. Job reminded his friends of a truth we need to allow to mark our lives… real wisdom begins with a rejection of evil, and a firm resolve to live our lives in the fear of God. In other words, not being afraid of God, but being aware of who He is, what He requires, and how we relate to Him. Remember, He is God and you are not… LIVE LIKE IT, and you will be wise far beyond your years!

Job 27

There is a long pause between the last chapter and this one. It is as if Job waits to see if his “friends” have anything else to say. Once he realizes that they don’t, he goes on to explain 3 things:

1. He is innocent, and will never concede that they are right.

2. He is very aware of the fate of the hypocrite, and dreads being one… he is making it clear that hypocrisy is not something that exists in him.

3. He expresses that he DOES believe that the wicked will be judged… but he focuses on how the wicked will be EVENTUALLY brought low.

As we look at what Job says here in this passage, it brings up the concept of righteousness. We know that according to the scriptures “all have sinned and fallen short of God’s glory”, and “there is none righteous, no not one”. Is Job claiming sinlessness? Is he claiming to be righteous as God is righteous?

I don’t think this is what Job is saying. We need to remember what it was that Job’s friends were accusing him of. They were saying he was a WICKED man. We are all sinners, but do we all fall under the category of the wicked? Before Jesus came, men and women would live BY the law (at this point not even the Mosaic law, just the moral law written on their hearts, passed down over the generations) looking forward to a God who could save them. Job was a man of INTEGRITY. With Job, he had a “what you see is what you get” reputation. He wasn’t fake. He wasn’t phony. Job was not a hypocrite. According to the Lord he was BLAMELESS. This means that you could not accuse him of anything… nothing men threw at him would stick.

Imagine today that you fall ill with some crazy disease. Your friends start saying “maybe God is judging you for a hidden sin”. They say, “Maybe you stole a lot of money, maybe you killed someone, maybe you are an adulterer…” If you knew those things weren’t true then you could say, “What are you talking about! If you could talk to God you would know that these things are FALSE! I am blameless in these areas!”

The problem with Job is this: He is getting so adamant about these false accusations, that he is forgetting the fact that though he may be the most righteous man in the world, he is still a sinner. The way Job thinks things will go when he gets a chance to have a face to face with God are just plain wrong. Job, though he can express how holy God is, (like in the last chapter) has forgotten some of those things in practice.

Realize this: we don’t need to defend ourselves. Even if people come and levy all sorts of false accusations against us, we don’t have to respond. Why? Because the Lord is our defender. He will set the record straight. Just wait and see... God does just that between Job and his friends.

Chapter 26

From chapter 26 to 31 we have Job’s final words to his three friends. They have finished speaking now, and we will not hear from them again. It is clear that they still believe that Job is guilty of some wickedness, and are not ready to agree with him about his innocence. Chapter 26 starts with Job responding to Bildad. He basically says to him, “what you just said is true, but what does it have to do with what we are dealing with?” Job basically challenges Bildad and the others with the thought that they had done NOTHING to comfort or encourage him. There every word to him had been either accusatory or irrelevant.

Job spends the remainder of the chapter demonstrating that he is aware of the greatness of God and the smallness of man. He understands the principle completely, and has NEVER been arguing against it. Remember, Job is a suffering man who is just wondering why. He wants to ask the Lord why these things are happening to HIM, and why they are happening the way they are happening. Job will hear from the Lord soon enough.

What can we learn from this short chapter that is really just a response to Bildad? We can learn how not to be a Bildad. If you don’t know what to say to someone who is hurting, don’t SAY ANYTHING. Talk about the greatness of God and puniness of man won’t make them feel better. Theological debate won’t make them feel better. What a person who is hurting really needs is LOVE.

Job 25

Bildad speaks once again in this chapter, but this time he keeps things surprisingly brief.

It seems that he has in mind the first part of what Job says in chapter 23… the bit about arguing his case before the Lord.

Interestingly, what Bildad says here is completely true. It is an accurate description of God’s holiness, and just how far short we fall. However, I don’t think that Job was claiming sinlessness… instead; he was claiming that he hadn’t been committing any SECRET SINS, or living a HABITUALLY WICKED lifestyle. As far as Job could see, he could come up with no reason why he would be singled out for such awful suffering.

Having said this, I think there re a couple of things we can all benefit from in what Bildad has to say here. I think Bildad has 2 main thoughts:

1. We need to think HIGHLY of the Lord. It is so easy for us to forget just how holy, how “otherly” God is. As Hector has been pointing out lately, He is the only SELF-EXISTENT ONE. Ravi Zacharias, one of my favorite bible teachers often points out that our entire existence is DEPENDENT upon one thing or another. Oxygen, Water, Food… we have needs and if we don’t fulfill them we will die. Ultimately we must look to God to sustain us. We only live because He has given us life. God on the other hand is dependent upon nothing. His existence is eternal and unfaltering. We forget this sometimes. I think sometimes our lives communicate that we really believe that God was created for our pleasure… quite opposite of the truth. We could all use to step back and remember the greatness of our God.
2. Bildad also brings up the reality of who we are in light of God’s greatness, and how LITTLE we should really think of ourselves. He says that we are worms… Creatures that crawl through the dirt, creatures of very low esteem.

Bildad concludes that as worms we should realize that we CANNOT stand in the presence of God.

What Bildad didn’t know was that God was going to bridge the gap between His holiness and our sinfulness… God Himself would become a man… He would be a worm, like you and I.

Job 24

Job 24:12 The dying groan in the city, And the souls of the wounded cry out; Yet God does not charge them with wrong.

This is the challenge of every Christian going through a trial. How often do we yell, "Justice!" We look at all our righteousness compared to those around us and we wonder if God is even noticing. Job recognizes this. He claims God does not charge all these evildoers with any wrong.

Job is blind in one area and God is going to open his eyes. You see, the real story behind Job is, even in all our righteousness we fall short of the righteousness of God. We are in completely different classes of righteousness. Even if someone were to live the perfect life, without sin, they would not be self-existent. They would not be able to create something out of nothing. They would not be able to die and take away the sins of all people. Jesus was unique in the sense that, though He was a 100% man, He was also 100% God. He was able to say, "Before Abraham was, I AM." That is a righteousness that can only be spoken by God.

Job was a good man. However, his righteousness was at the same level of all those evils he was speaking of in this chapter. He falls far short. Apart from being imperfect, he also was not God. Therefore his righteousness was never going to be able to reach God's righteousness. Toward the end of Job we will see God reveal a bit of His righteousness towards Job. In doing this, Job's eyes are open to just how far he falls from the righteousness of God.

If you are out on an ego trip, or if you are struggling with the success of the wicked, read the last chapter's of Job. Pray that God will reveal a bit of His righteousness to you, that you may be humbled. Once humbled, God can work with you.

Job 23

Job 23:12 I have not departed from the commandment of His lips; I have treasured the words of His mouth More than my necessary food.

Job's comeback for Eliphaz was short, but direct. In it, he claims to be innocent and also claims that if he were to find God, God would prove his innocence. In some cases, what Job says in this chapter is false. When Job does come before the Lord, his mouth is not filled with arguments but with awe and wonder. When Job does come before the Lord, instead of reasoning his innocence he sees himself as a sinner, guilty and worthy of death. Nevertheless, I am encouraged by the words highlighted above.

Job was bent on ollowing the Lord. He made an active decision every moment of his life that he would not turn his face from God. He says that he has "treasured the words of His mouth more than my necessary food." If you are anything like me you love food. I think food is one of the Lord's greatest creations, and I think it signifies a lot to eat with someone. Even the Lord Jesus was to be remembered through a cracker and wine. Yet, imagine thirsting for God so much that between a decision to eat or spend time with Him, you would choose Him.

How important is God in your life? What are you willing to give up for Him? I pray that you hunger and thirst for the Bread of Life and for the Living Water. I hope you make the necessary sacrifice to make sure your spiritual health is well fed. I pray that, if placed in Job's shoes, we would all be able to make the same claim he made even after such tragedy had occured.