GOD’S WORD FOR DECEMBER  6 ~ ~ Acts 4:31~ ~ “And when they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word of God with boldness.”

From the book “How to Read the Bible” by Dr. Michael Youssef of  Leading the Way International Ministries.   We’re in chapter 7, “Job’s Kingdom Faith:  Accepting God’s Sovereignty”

Section:  Miserable Comforters

Then Job’s three friends appear on the scene:  Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite.  These three men mourned with Job for seven days and seven nights.  No one spoke because they saw how great Job’s suffering was.

Job then delivers a monologue, cursing the day of his birth and longing for death – but death does not come.  This begins a cycle of dialogues between Job and his three friends – and as they continue, the friends become Job’s tormentors.  They accuse Job of committing unconfessed sins.  They tell him his suffering is deserved.  Job angrily defends himself and replies, “You are miserable comforters, all of you!  Will your long-winded speeches never end?”  (Job 16:2-3)

In these debates, we see that human nature never changes.  Even in the twenty-first century, when Christians suffer calamities, setbacks, or illnesses, there are still those who will act the part of “Job’s comforters,” offering arguments or platitudes instead of genuine empathy.  There are always people who think they have all the answers for the fix you’re in.  They may even accuse you of hidden sin.

But neither Job’s “friends” nor Job himself had all the answers for Job’s suffering.  God permitted Satan to act – but it was Satan who directly afflicted Job.  It’s important that neither Job nor his “friends” ever mentions Satan.  In fact, he is only mentioned in the first two chapters (the dialogue in heaven). Job and his friends had a lengthy debate about the nature and causes of evil, and never once mentioned the source of evil, Satan himself.

One of the lessons of Job is that we can debate the problem of evil for days or years, but if we do not understand the great contest between good and evil, between God and Satan, then we simply don’t know what we’re talking about.  The real struggle against evil is not taking place in the earthly realm, but in the heavenly realm – the realm we glimpse briefly in the first two chapters of Job.,

God knows something that you and I tend to forget: There is no victory without battles.  Or, as we sometimes hear: No pain, no gain.  You will never truly empathize with a suffering person until you’ve suffered yourself.  You will never really know what prayer is about until you have gone through the fiery furnace.

God’s goal for His children is spiritual maturity.  We will one day reign and rule with Him over entire planets.  So in this life, we have struggles and sufferings to prepare us to reign with Him in the next life.

Job and the Kingdom of God

Job lived in a land called Uz.  We don’t know where Uz was located or when Job lived, but he was not an Israelite.  He probably lived in the time before Abraham, so he was not a citizen of any kingdom as far as we know.  As we see throughout the account, Job viewed God as his King.  During his ordeals, Job grappled with the sovereign rule of God over his life, demonstrating his unwavering faith in God’s sovereign kingship over him through his speeches.

Job longs for a personal audience with his sovereign King.  He acknowledges God’s superiority.  He recognizes that God is no mere mortal, and that as a human being he cannot stand before God and make his case.  In a prophetic moment, Job wishes he had a go-between to mediate between himself and God: (Job 9:32-35)

“He is not a mere mortal like me that I might answer Him, that we might confront each other in court.  If only there were someone to mediate between us, someone to bring us together, someone to remove God’s rod from me, so that His terror would frighten me no more.  Then I would speak up without fear of Him, but as it now stands with me, I cannot.”

Here, stated obliquely but clearly, is another prophecy of the coming Messiah, who would one day serve as a mediator between God and humanity – or, as Job put it, “Someone to bring us together.”  As the apostle Paul wrote centuries later, “For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus.” (1Timothy 2:5)

In Job  28:20, 23,and 28,  Job affirms his belief in God’s righteous wisdom:

“Where then does wisdom come from?  Where does understanding dwell?….God understands the way to it and he alone knows where it dwells…..And He said to the human race, “The fear of the Lord – that is wisdom, and to shun evil is understanding.”

Throughout the book, Job maintains an attitude of submission to the kingship of God and trust in his wisdom and righteousness.  Job never loses faith in God’s sovereign justice.

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Matthew 6:33  But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added to you.

Isaiah 26:12

Lord, You will establish peace for us,

Since You have also performed for us all our works.

Isaiah 55:12 

For you shall go out with joy and be led forth with peace; the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands

Psalm 119:165

Great peace have they which love thy law: and nothing shall offend them.

Romans 14:17-19

for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.  For the one who serves Christ in this way is acceptable to God and approved by other people.  So then we pursue the things which make for peace and the building up of one another

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