…wast thou made before the hills? (Job 15:7b)
We read this verse as part of our church’s ongoing study of the book of Job.
When I see verses like this one, it sets me thinking — in this case, this verse seemed a little familiar; with a little thought, it reminded me of the modern phrase “older than dirt”.
Perhaps “older than dirt” can trace back to this verse? I’m not sure, but it’s fun to speculate.
My apologies – things got busy and I left putting these out; I’m not quite out of good quotes. Here’s another one:
O that ye would altogether hold your peace! and it should be your wisdom. (Job 13:5)
This reminds me of more modern phrase: “It’s better to keep one’s mouth shut and be thought a fool than to open one’s mouth and prove it.” It also reminds me of a verse in Proverbs: A fool uttereth all his mind: but a wise man keepeth it in till afterwards. (Prov 29:11)
If you remember the story of Job, he had a series of catastrophes occur; three friends of his visited him, and were just with him for a week, day & night. This action was probably their best; after that they started a conversion trying to work out why such terrible things had happened to Job. They weren’t such good friends in the conversation — one (Zophar) went so far as to tell Job that he deserved a greater punishment! (Job 11:6).
Today’s verse is also well-known in the world of music:
For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: (Job 19:25)
There is a hymn that pretty much starts with this verse: “I know that my Redeemer liveth, and on the earth again shall stand…”
But this verse is also famous in Handel’s Messiah, which quotes it exactly: “I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that He shall stand at the latter day upon the earth”
This isn’t some 20th century theologian – Job lived thousands of years ago, and yet says of God that He is a personal Redeemer (“my Redeemer”), and that He is going to come to earth in the last day.
One of the reasons I am posting these is that it seems to me that the book of Job is overlooked; over the years, I have heard multiple messages on Job 1-2, and on Job 42, but seldom any messages that examine the great bulk of the chapters in between. Most people seem to dismiss these as all the same: that Job’s “friends” say that he must have done something wrong, and Job defending himself… for 39 chapters, so they are not studied very often. That’s why I am grateful to God that our church is going through the entire book and actually looking at the details of the discussions in those 39 “middle” chapters.
I think today’s quote is fairly well known. I think I’ve read it in secular works and I’ve probably heard it quoted by others:
Man that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble. (Job 14:1)
This reminds of of James 4:14 (For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.)
These verses emphasize how brief human life is – not to discourage us, but to help us with perspective – eternity is so very much longer than our human life. It is so easy to get wrapped up in our human life; while it is not wrong to take care of our responsibilities in this life (in fact, is is noble and praiseworthy), we must not let these duties blot out the fact of eternity. Alternatively, some people are nearly overwhelmed with trouble – but allow this verse to encourage you: it won’t last; it is brief (in the light of eternity).
Most of these writings are aimed at those who have a personal relationship with Christ Jesus. A lesson from this verse is to check that we are doing our best to please Him in all that we do, say, and think. We won’t be happy long-term if we seek only to please ourselves – someone once said that we are our own worst taskmaster. Jesus said “My yoke is easy, and my burden is light“.
To those do not know Christ Jesus personally: God is gracious, and gives you (indeed all of us) good things in this life. But if you refuse Him, you will spend eternity without Him and without any of His goodness. No light, no pleasing things, no pleasing feelings… just you by yourself with nothing good.
I don’t have any particular number of these; we’ll see how many I find.
Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him: (Job 13:15a)
What a sublime expression of faith! I don’t live at this level; it doesn’t take much trouble for me to get unhappy at what I’m going through… yet this remains as a great goal to strive towards.
In certain circles, today’s quote is rather well-known:
…He knoweth the way that I take: and when He hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold. (Job 23:10)
If you are familiar with the work of the late Ron Hamilton (Patch the Pirate), you will likely recognize that our verse forms the bulk of the chorus to his early song Rejoice in the Lord. Here is the chorus (I’ve put in bold the parts that refer to this verse):
O rejoice in the Lord; He makes no mistake.
He knoweth the end of each path that I take.
For when I am tried and purified,
I shall come forth as gold.
At our church, we have been studying Job for a while, and I’ve been struck by the great quotes that can be found in this book of the Bible.
I thought I would post some of them here. These will of necessity be rather short posts.
I don’t plan on having any particular order to them. To kick things off, I’d thought I’d start with one I liked that I noticed a few years ago:
…by His light, I walked through darkness; (Job 29:3)
This thought is based upon three verses in the first chapter of the little book of I John. The phrase above occurs three times:
- If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: (I John 1:6)
- If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. (I John 1:8)
- If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. (I John 1:10)
Let us consider the last one first – it covers our past: Why do we make Him [God] a liar? Because God has declared all have sinned (Rom 6:23). When we claim to have never sinned, we are calling God Himself a liar. I have heard people make statements to the effect that they have not sinned; I think they have a misunderstanding of “sin” – they are probably thinking that sin is some terrible deed like murdering someone, or robbing a bank, or some such awful thing. A definition of sin I read or heard is that sin is “any thought, word, or action against the will of God”. There have been too many times in my own life that I have been uncaring about the will of God and determined to go my own way. This is sin, and I think reasonable people would have to admit that they have sinned.
The other two verses deal with the present: verse eight rather destroys the idea that we can reach some kind of ideal state in which we no longer sin (I understand that this idea is taught in some denominations). However, the Scriptures, by which we should judge everything plainly states here that such a statement is merely self-deception. The truth then is that we DO have sin, but the great news is that though we have sin, we can be in fellowship with Him: the next verse tells us how: If, instead of denying our sins, we confess them, we hear great news: He is faithful and just to forgive us – how great and wonderful is He! Thus forgiven, we can be in fellowship with Him.
Finally, verse six deals with those who claim to be in fellowship with God, with sin cleansed, and yet are walking in darkness: such people are hypocrites; they are lying. If we are in this state, our walk does not match our talk. May such a state bother us enough to drive us to cleansing and restored fellowship!
A while back, I did some writing about despised Bible characters. I added a similar post last year about Obadiah.
I think that the reason for this I’ve heard preaching or teaching about these characters that doesn’t treat them as real people: they are either utterly evil (Saul, for example) or else really wonderful (David).
This time, I want to write about Cain.
Let’s be clear: Cain was wicked; he did kill his brother Abel, apparently in a jealous rage. It is the events leading up to this that I want to think about. Let’s look at the story:
And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the LORD. And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the LORD had respect unto Abel and to his offering: But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell. And the LORD said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen? If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him. (Gen 4:3-7)
I’ve heard it said that Cain and Abel were told that they needed to bring a blood sacrifice, and that Abel obeyed the instruction, but Cain refused, substituting his own ideas. However, this is not supported by the text above: why would Cain be “very wroth” when the LORD had respect to Abel’s offering? If I ask you for a saw, and you decide to bring me a hammer, and I don’t take it, why would you be angry? You know you didn’t bring me what I asked for. However, if I ask a couple of people for tools, and one brings me a saw and another brings me a hammer, and I enjoy and use the saw and not the hammer (I “have respect” to the saw and the one that brought it), then the guy who brought me the hammer may have some reason to be angry. If Cain KNEW he was bringing something that was not valid as an offering, he had no reason at all to be “very wroth”.
Cain’s response indicates that he thought the LORD was being arbitrary: he probably reasoned that he was just as sincere as Abel; his offering was just as good (or better) than Abel’s offering. Moreover, Cain was the oldest brother, and his offering should have been accepted first. There was no reason, he probably thought, for the LORD accepting Abel’s sacrifice and not his. As his wrath grew, he probably reasoned that the LORD was merely “playing favorites” by respecting Abel’s offering, and this may led Cain to hate Abel.
(Note concerning the sacrifice: we know from Hebrews 11 that Abel’s sacrifice was “more excellent” than Cain’s sacrifice. I assume, as I think most do, that it was “more excellent” because it was a better picture of the sacrifice of God’s only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, on Calvary.)
The LORD graciously told Cain that he [Cain] had no reason to be angry; he could acquire an animal from Abel’s flock and offer it, and then his offering would be accepted. It is wonderful of God that He allows us second chances (and sometimes multiple chances!).
We only know that the next thing that happened was that Cain talked with Abel and then killed him. Cain may have started out negotiating with Abel for one of the flock. Perhaps Abel, not realizing that Cain was seething inside, innocently poked a little fun at Cain’s offering. In any event, it came about that Cain killed Abel.
It’s just something to think about.
Christians are supposed to be separated from the world; this post is not arguing that point – instead it is to point out that there is teaching (I don’t know how prevalent it is) about separation that is wrong.
I was taught that Christians are to be separated, so I determined to keep “the world” at an arm’s length (that’s probably a little over two feet). Another person claims he is more separated because he won’t touch “the world” with a 10-foot pole… and 10 feet is more than two-something feet, so that guy is more separated. Then a third guy says that he won’t get within a mile of “the world” — Wow! He’s “really” separated!
But all of this is wrong: separation is not about staying away from the world.
You see, God is unchanging; He is always the same in His character. But the world is changeable; it may make a step or two toward God when it’s fashionable, but it also goes sideways and backward. And, over time, the world is getting farther away from God.
And there’s the problem: if I am determined to stay 10 feet “away” from the world, it just has to move backward 10 feet, and then I am where the world was a little while ago. But I can (truthfully) proclaim that “I am as separated as I ever was” — because I’m still 10 feet away from the world. Thus, you see, it doesn’t matter how far away we keep, we are doomed to fail:
Because… we are keeping our eyes upon the world.
We need to repent of this – literally – and turn around and focus on our unchanging High and Holy God. Our efforts need to be directed at staying close to Him. Then, it is unimportant to us if the world happens to take a step toward godliness or five steps away from God. It just doesn’t matter because are eyes are upon Him.
And THAT is true separation.
rlosey 