To read Job wondering what I will glean from it, I know it has pain and sorrow, why to read it now maybe cause of Jobs poor state, .
if any can take me through this bible study please contact me and maybe we can to the study together, a sort of job buddie like one someone gets when one wants to give up smoking or drink, Im sure theres someone who knows alot about this book .
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I actually just finished reading the book a few days ago. I really enjoyed it. Compared to what Job went through. We all have to give glory to God for blessing us with what we have. Even if that means the worst any one has went through. I have been having it really ruff lately. This has motivated me to start reading the book. Well that was 2 weeks ago. After reading the book of Job. I can see more clearing how in control God is with our lives. And this truth motivates me to become more like our lord Jesus Christ. There is a really great summery of the book avaible on GotQuestions.org. Check it out.
What is interesting, that Eliphaz and Job's other friends had that is very uncommon today (even among Christians) is that they knew God had to be involved in the events of Job's life.
They wrongly surmized that God was punishing Job, but they rightly assessed that God must be involved and aware in Job's situation.
I think that we can allow ourselves to become bitter if we fail to trust God, fail to remember all that He has done. I have seen a lot of hardship in life, I know - it is easy to get bitter. I have been there.
But, as you know, the right response is to seek and trust the presence of our Savior. Yes, we ought to ask hard questions and seek to understand when we feel that God has abandoned us. But, we can trust that He is going to carry us through. We cannot see where he is going, so we keep his Word and His presence near.
On the personal example side:
You know, earlier this year I was in a very bad place in my heart for a while. I felt that God and friends had forsaken me and that I was having to endure unfair hardships. I was very worried about some very difficult challenges and I felt God had pushed me aside - abandoned me. The Spirit came and rebuked me for my lack of faith, my pitiful pride and self-centered-ness. He did so, in a very loving way. "Have I not promised you that I will never leave you? Never forsake you? Why do you doubt my word? Don't you teach people to trust in Me with all their hearts, not leaning on their own understanding and in all their ways to acknowledge me?"
So, I confessed my sin of doubt and unbelief to the Lord and asked if he was still intending to work in my life or not to show me. He said to me, deep in my Spirit "show me that you know I will never leave you nor forsake you. Show yourself." I thanked God that He is with me and that He has allowed me the privilege of his presence, both through adversity and blessing.
So, I recommitted to reading the Word daily. Praying daily. Weekly attending a prayer meeting. Praying for those who had forsaken me and taken advantage of me. I committed to forgive, and bless them when the opportunity comes.
God interrupted my pity party and almost immediately after thanking God for these challenges, I began to see answers to prayer. Some friends began to reveal to me that they had been praying for me. I can't calculate how many blessings the Lord has shown me this year. I'm still facing trials. But I know God is with me.
Naomi came to a dark season and was hurt and angry - bitter at how things went on in Moab, bitter for the pain of her loss. But, she shows her trust in God and his Word when:
a) she returns to Israel.
b) she sends Ruth to the Goel (Kinsman Redeemer) in Boaz and
c) admonishes her about God's command for redemption of the family.
Naomi concludes that she will trust in God and that she will endure with faith. In so doing, Ruth becomes part of the Royal line, and ultimately an ancestor of Jesus of Nazareth. How cool is that?? It was Naomi's faith that motivated Ruth to trust in God in the first place. You see, God had warned the Israelites NOT to go to Moab. The deaths of the sons and husband may well have been because of the disobedience of them going there. But, God answers the faithful response of Naomi and of Ruth by blessing them both with life and reputation-immortality. Their faithfulness is embedded into the very person of Christ himself for all eternity.
So, you see, we have to set aside our own ambitions and feeble plans and lay them at the feet of Jesus. He knows we get tired, he knows we get frustrated, he knows we feel forsaken. He is the one who prayed, Father if there is any other way... please pretty please... let this cup pass. He is the one who said "my God, my God, why have you forsaken me???"
Jesus knows and Jesus will give us strength to remain faithful. We just have to start seeing our lives as part of His plan. How does Job fit in? I don't know... but Job sure speaks to me. He reminds me to believe in the plans and purposes of God. I wish I could have seen that better 30 years ago.
~Scribe
Greetings Chris,
Let me start by saying that I don`t believe in luck, good or bad, and I don`t believe in coincidences.
So, it`s very interesting that just this morning, during my quiet time with the Lord, I was meditating about all the suffering in the world, and the Book of Job came to mind.
I haven`t read this book for a couple of years, and I decided to read it again. Just started tonight before sitting down at the computer. Lo and behold, Chris, here is your post staring me in the face. AMEN. Thank you. Joe and Amanda have already contributed some interesting points.
Guys, I firmly believe the Book of Job contains a message from God that may have been kinda missed for these thousands of years.
Count me in for the discussion and sharing to come on this venture.
Grace and Peace.
>>Job is an example of true faith in God. No matter what he lost in the area of his family, possessions and health, he never once cursed God. Job is a book about the kind of faith God is looking for in all of us.
A hearty Amen to that, sister.
Chris,
From the response so far, you`re attracting some of AAG`s finest Bible students. Good job.(for Job).
No doubt, during Job`s time, it was common belief that God punished people outright for their sins.
Even a couple of thousand years later, that was still the theory in vogue. Compare John 9:1-2," And as He passed by, He saw a man blind from birth.(2) And His disciples asked Him,"Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he should be born blind?"
What do you think? Is that kind of thinking still prevelent in Christian ranks today?
Grace and Peace.
I would have to say so, but it comes from an inverse point of view in America: e.g. if you are a successful and prosperous Christian, this is God's "blessing" on you (therefore, if you are not successful and prosperous, you must not be "blessed"). But, I have found that wealth and power lead to a haughty spirit. This is so true in my experience that it is extremely remarkable to me when I meet a truly humble leader who is either powerful, prosperous or renown in some way.
I find even in myself the need to rethink my attitude daily and see if there is haughty or arrogant attitude in me. Fortunately, I have a wife who keeps me humble whether i need it or not:-)
When I was living in California during the 1990's, at the hight of the 'Properity Gospel', this type of thinking was all the rage amoung 'Christians'.
Of course they didn't say, "Oh, that person is blind because they sinned." or, "Those people are poor because they are being punished by God." Of course no one would say such a thing today.
However, they would say, and believed that they got a new Rolls Royce because God Blessed them ; which really is the same thing, isn't it?
If you believe that your own upper-class life style is due to God's Blessing then you also must believe that the people living in poverty are NOT Blessed by God, that the poor did something 'wrong', ie; they sinned.
The poor don't have Faith, or they don't 'pray aright' , while the rich receive God's Blessings--and a trip to Aruba!
I can tell you that at the time, i became angry at God to think that he may have authorized Satan to bring destruction into my life and that I may have God's own purposes to thank for the challenges I had faced as a young person.
But, it did give me a little sense of humility that maybe I needed to know more about God and find out if I had some responsibility before him. I did not get saved, but I did get very compelled by that book.
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