Job – Light from the Word

But As for Me

It is, in many ways, easier to follow the crowd than to stand alone, under the scrutiny of the majority, because we are all connected; we are social beings. It is natural for us to copy each other’s behavior, follow the trend, life styles, the way we dress, even the way we speak. We are copy-cats in many aspects of life, learning from each other, as in, “Monkey see, monkey do.” However, there will be times when exercising our faith, we must separate ourselves from the crowd to follow the Word of God. In Romans 12:1-2 “Paul appeals to them saying, Therefore, brethren, I beg of you in view of [all] the mercies of God, to make a decisive dedication of your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and well pleasing to God, which is your reasonable service and spiritual worship; do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, so that you may prove what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God, even the thing which is good and acceptable and perfect.” The Lord spoke to the prophet Isaiah with His strong hand and warned and instructed him not to walk in the way of the people saying, “Do not call conspiracy all that this people will call conspiracy; neither be in fear of what they fear nor in dread. The Lord of hosts- regard Him as holy and honor His holy name, and let Him be your fear and let Him be your dread and He shall be a sanctuary; but He shall be a Stone of stumbling and a Rock of offense to both the houses of Israel, a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem” (Isaiah 8:11-14).

God’s instructions and guidelines continue for us today. Life is without meaning, and without success when God is out of the equation. The phrase, “But as for me,” denotes a personal commitment, based on knowledge of Scripture coupled with the desire to follow God’s instructions. It is also based on the love we have for Him, as we have died for the world and live for Him. While the report from the spies who were sent to explore Canaan was discouraging to the congregation, Joshua’s report and Caleb’s report had a different view. They had made a choice not to support what they had heard, but stood firmly to change the congregation’s view, saying, “The land through which we passed as scouts is an exceedingly good land. If the Lord delights in us, then He will bring us into this land and give it to us, a land flowing with milk and honey, only do to rebel against the Lord, neither fear the people of the land, for they are bread for us. Their defense and the shadow are removed from over them, but the Lord is with us. Fear them not.” (Num. 14:77-9)

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To Him Who Is About To Faint

The world parties while the sufferings increase; indifference that causes blindness toward compassion, expresses itself in obvious manners seen in the victims of circumstances. This is seen in one of the parables of YAHSHUA to answer a lawyer’s question,” Who is my neighbor.” A neighbor is anyone we encounter in the path of life. There is such a warm feeling in the word neighbor in its meaning. It connects all of us to forget ourselves in order to help, to serve, and to love those who are in difficulties, including foreigners. The behavior of a neighbor should be one that does not measure sacrifice to help one in need, no matter who the person is, even our enemy. Be it psychologically, financially or in any other way we are faced with, compelling us to help. Leaving our comfortable zone, interrupting our schedule to extend a hand is to be a “Good neighbor.” For the believer in YAHSHUA, it is imperative to perform actions of a good neighbor to fulfill the command of our Lord, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” The church of Christ is to be the lighthouse, beaming its light to save one from perishing in the storm of suffering. The beams of light are expressions of the love of YAHSHUA sent out through us into the world lost in sin, and perishing, chained to its power. Proverbs 24:11-12 commands us “to deliver those who are drawn away to death, and those who totter to the slaughter, to hold them back. If you [profess ignorance and] say, Behold, we did not know this, does not He Who weighs and ponders the heart perceive and consider it? And He Who guards your life, does not He know it? And shall not He render to every man according to his works?” This is a solemn warning not to be ignored.

The Patriarch Job was found in a miserable situation, when his friends became accusers instead of comforters. They separated themselves from him, when treating him as worthy of the circumstances brought to his life, even when not his fault. It is easier for us to act this way than to invest our time with those in need. However, we forget that tomorrow we could be found in their situations and in need of help from them, for no one is exempt from sufferings life brings. The Bible tells us to strive to save others, snatching [them] out of [the] fire; on others, take pity with fear, loathing even the garment spotted by the flesh and polluted by their sensuality (Jude 23). The world is filled with such people today. Taken by addictions, which controls the mind causing the loss of self- identity, losing the core of whom they are, becoming more like animals than humans, yes, probably guilty of wrong choices made in their life time. The odor they project for not having had baths and their outlook appearances, separates them from society. They are treated as leprous, when in fact, their mental estate requires a little compassion to position them back to human standards. After all, that’s what they are. YAHSHUA died for them, too. If He, being God incarnate, lowered Himself as to become human in order to reach out to sinners, why is it that we can’t have the heart of God to touch another human with His love? God’s love is to be passed on, like a river that overflows to its tributaries. “To him who is about to faint and despair, kindness is due from his friends, lest he forsake the fear of the Almighty” (Job 6:14). Ignoring to help one in need, touches the heart of God. Solomon wrote, “He who oppresses the poor, reproaches, mocks and insults his Maker, but he who is kind and merciful to the needy honors God” (Prov. 14:31). Our response to the needy – positive or negative, connects us to the very presence of God. Our Lord was often criticized by the religious men of His days for being with those forsaken by society. In Mark 2:15-17, as we read the report of YAHSHUA eating with sinners, that is, the tax collectors: “And as YAHSHUA, together with His disciples, sat at table in his house, (Levi’s) many tax collectors and persons with sin were dinning with Him, for there were many who walked the same road; and the scribes of the Pharisees, when they saw that He was eating with sinners and tax collectors, said to His disciples, Why does He eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners? When YAHSHUA heard it, He said to them, Those who are strong and well have no need of a physician, but those who are weak and sick; I came not to call the righteous ones to repentance, but sinners.” Israel’s religious authorities often separated themselves from the rest of the people, for they considered themselves holier than the rest, when as a matter of fact, YAHSHUA defined them as whitewashed tombs—beautiful on the outside but filled on the inside with dead people’s bones and all sorts of impurity. Outwardly you look like righteous people, but inwardly your hearts are filled with hypocrisy and lawlessness (Matt.23).

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Job Walked With God and Was Tried

The life of the Patriarch Job is one of fear of God. Described by God Himself as His servant, a man with no equal on earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears God and abstains from and shuns evil (Job 1:8). Often, we mention Job as an example of patience, as in “The patience of Job.” There is much to consider in what God described Job. His life brings to mind Paul’s spiritual guidelines in his letters. In the letter to the Romans. He said, “I appeal to you therefore, brethren and beg of you in view of the mercies of God, to make a decisive dedication of your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and well pleasing to God which is your reasonable service and spiritual worship; love one another with brotherly affection, giving precedence and showing honor to one another, never lag in zeal and in earnest endeavor; be aglow and burning with the Spirit, serving the Lord” (12:1,10,11). Job walked with God, shinning the fruit of the Spirit: “love, joy, peace patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control” (Gal. 5:22-23). One very important fact in Job’s life was that God, the all- knowing God, knew that Job would be faithful to Him, when challenged with temptation to forsake Him. Job, in his unweaving integrity, was a man God trusted with a tremendous trial. One that we surely would fail, for where there is no understanding, ignorance dominates the feeling of man with doubt and fear and despair. When Job had lost most of his precious belongings, including his children, in perseverance of faith, he arose and rent his robe and shaved his head and fell down upon the ground and worshiped and said, “Naked came I from my mother’s womb, and naked I shall depart. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord! In all this Job sinned not nor charged God foolishly” (Job 1:20-22). That was a true faith in God.

Job’s faith shone in the midst of his trials. His words of hope kept him secured in his faith when he uttered, “For I know that my Redeemer and Vindicator lives, and at last He will stand upon the earth and after my skin, even this body, has been destroyed, then from my flesh or without it I shall see God, Whom I, even I shall see for myself and on my side! And my eyes shall behold Him and not as a stranger!” (Job 19:25-27a). Job, in His utterance, spoke of the present and of the future concerning the resurrection of the saints. “One way or another, I will be healed here on earth and if I die now, I will be rewarded with life eternal when in heaven, I shall behold my Redeemer. For He knows the way that I take. When He has tried me, I shall come forth as refined gold.” (Job 23:10). “I have not gone back from the commandment of His lips; I have esteemed and treasured the words of His mouth more than my necessary food. But He is unchangeable, and who can turn Him? And what He wants to do, that He does” (vs.10,14). In short, Job confessed his enduring faith in God even amidst circumstances he himself did not understand. For while he was walking with God in communion with Him, this trial fell on him, for reason unknown. His wife told him to “Do you still hold fast your blameless, uprightness? Renounce God and die! But he said to her, You speak as one of the impious and foolish women would speak What? Shall we accept only good at the hand of God and shall we not accept misfortune and what is of a bad nature? In all this, Job did not sin with his lips” (Job2:9-10). His unwavering love for God even in the midst of his trial, showed him to be genuine and steadfast in his faith. To him, God was God, unchangeable in ways Job could not comprehend. The wall of anguish and despair did not separate him from His Redeemer, Who was going to reward him in His time.

Job walked with God and He trusted him to walk through the fire, so to prove his faithfulness to Him. Satan, who so much wanted to destroy Job and disprove God’s All-knowing attribute, suffered major defeat. Job was in the battlefield without knowing it. Living as a Christian should live, under God’s grace, Job excelled. For he did not have a Bible in those days to guide him. But Job had the fear of God guided by his faith in Him. Strong in his beliefs, he stood the test of time. Wrestling against the despotisms, against the powers, against rulers of this present darkness, against the spirit forces of wickedness in the heavenly sphere, he was properly dressed with God’s armor. He resisted and stood his ground on those evil days; he had the belt of truth around his waist, the breastplate on his chest, his feet shod to stand firmly and ready against the enemy; he quenched the flaming missiles from the enemy through the shield of faith; and wore the helmet of salvation, which protected his mind; and he fought with the sword of the Spirit which was his knowledge of God. Job’s prayers came up to God as part of the battle in his battlefield, for the battle was not his, but God’s (personalized from the book of Ephesians 6).

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Job and His Three Friends

There was upon a time, a righteous man before God and man, a leader of the community in which he lived, and respected by all. There was a day, however when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord and Satan also came among them, who had been gone to and fro on the earth and from walking up and down on it, when the Lord made mention of this man’s righteousness to Satan, he answered, Does Job fear God for nothing? Have You not put a hedge about him and his house and all that he has on every side? You have conferred prosperity and happiness upon him in the work of his hands and his possessions have increased in the land. But put forth Your hand now and touch all that he has, and he will curse You to Your face…. God then put Job to the test. Satan wanted Job destroyed to prove to God that he was righteous because he was blessed with riches. The Bible says that Satan moved God against Job without cause. As a result, he lost everything including his health, his children, and his properties. Job was covered with sores in his body. Day and night, he struggled without sleep. Life was now for him a moan and groan, for pain had taken his entire body. In that condition, he took a piece of broken pottery with which to scrape himself. Seeing the misery he was in, his wife suggested to him to curse God and die. But Job called her a fool (and said), Shall we accept good at the hand of God and shall we not accept misfortune?… In all this, Job did not sin with his lips. (Job 2). Thinking about Job’s experience, it comes to mind the two women Eve and Sarah who changed the world for their idea contrary to God’s plan for the world.

Much we learn when we read the book of Job, for its poetic writings and for his knowledge of God in Job 9:4-10: “God is wise in heart and mighty in strength; who has [ever] hardened himself against Him and prospered or even been safe? God, Who removes the mountains, and they know it not when He overturns them in His anger; Who commands the sun and it rises not; Who seals up the stars; Who alone stretches out the heavens and treads upon the waves and high places of the sea; Who made [the constellation] the Bear, Orion, and the Pleiades and the [vast starry] spaces of the south; Who does great things past finding out, yes, marvelous things without number.” This was the God Job knew and feared and worshipped.

Job had a close relationship with God by the way that he expresses himself. It shows throughout the book. “Oh, that I knew where I might find God, (was his desire) that I might come even to His seat! I would lay my cause before Him and fill my mouth with arguments. I would learn what He would answer me, and understand what He would say to me… He knows the way that I take. When He has tried me, I shall come forth as refined gold; I have not gone back from the commandment of His lips; I have esteemed and treasured the words of His mouth more than my necessary food; He performs [that which He has] planned for me, and of many such matters He is mindful” (Job 23:3-5,10,12-,14). Amidst his sufferings, Job never denied Who God was; he believed in God’s sovereignty and also in God’s works of sanctification. Knowledgeable of God’s creation, he understood his position with God’s protection and guidance. His relationship with God showed his spiritual maturity in those days when there was not a Bible to be guided by. He was an amazing man of faith, believing even the resurrection of the righteous in the last days, saying, “For I know that my Redeemer and Vindicator lives and at last He will stand upon the earth. And after my skin, even this body, has been destroyed, then from my flesh or without it I shall see God, Whom I, even I, shall see for myself and on my side! And my eyes shall behold Him, and not as a stranger! My heart pines away and is consumed within me” (Job 19:25-28).

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Then Came the Morning to the Life of Job

This is an interesting and to us a controversy story about a just and blameless man under a test proposed by Satan to God. He was from the land of Uz. He possessed a host of sheep, camels, oxen, donkeys and a very great body of servants (Job 1). He feared God and shunned evil. He was a wealthy man, but not one prideful and selfish. His life was always a light to his world. God took notice of it and said to Satan: “Have you considered My servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears God and abstains from and shuns all evil; and still he holds fast his integrity although you moved Me against him to destroy him without cause” (Job 2: 3). At Satan’s request, God allowed him to touch Job with the death of his family, destruction of his proprieties and disease on his entire body. As a matter of fact, he was disfigured beyond imagination. To that his friends lifted up their voices and wept; and each one tore his robe and they cast dust over their heads toward the heavens (Job 2). Job used a piece of broken pottery to scrape himself, and he sat down among the ashes. His ordeal continued for a long time. His wife suggested him to renounce God and die. In time, his friends from pity to the pointing of the finger, blamed him for his situation.

The time of his illness became a debate time among Job and his friends. He defended himself by saying, “Surely, I wish to speak to the Almighty, and I desire to argue and reason my case with God” (Job 13:3); “though He will slay me, yet will I wait for and trust Him”. (Job 13:15). “Even now, behold, my witness is in heaven, and He who vouches for me is on high” (Job 16:19); “Oh, that there were one who might plead for a man with God and that he might maintain his right with Him as a son of man pleads with or for his neighbor” (Job 16:21); “I was living at ease, but [Satan] crushed me and broke me apart; yes, he seized me by the neck and dashed me in pieces; then he set me up for his target; his arrows whiz around me. He slashes open my vitals and does not spare; he pours out my gall on the ground; he stabs me making breach after breach and attacking again and again; he runs at me like a giant and irresistible warrior; I have sewed sackcloth over my skin and have defiled my horn in the dust” (Job 16:12-15).

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The Valley of the Shadow of Death

What does the Valley of the shadow and death mean to us? Surely that it does not sound inviting in its adjectives of the shadow of death. We find this term in Psalm 23:4: “Yes, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me. Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.” These are words of trust and confidence in the shepherd. Although, the Hebrew word for “shadow of death” means darkness, the root word for both shadow and death is the same. YAHSHUA, as our Shepherd, knows the way out of a valley, as well as the dangers of it. He stands tall to protect His own from the danger found in the valley of the shadow of death.

A valley is an elongated low area often running between hills or mountains, which will typically contain a river or stream running from one end to the other. Most valleys are formed by erosion of the land surface by rivers or streams over a very long period. Some valleys are formed through erosion by glacial ice. These glaciers may remain present in valleys in high mountains or polar areas shield. (Wikipedia)

Valleys display beautiful surroundings in spite of its dangers. The valleys we go through are difficult and challenging, for they are the valleys of life. It is the place where we feel alone in our trials; as YAHSHUA experienced in the Garden of Gethsemane. Not one of the disciples would pray with Him. He promised that He will be with us always to the end of time. The Bible says that He fills the entire world. There is no place where He is not. “Where could I go from Your Spirit? Or where could I flee from Your presence? If I ascend up into heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in Sheol behold, You are there; if I take the wings of the morning or dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there shall You hand lead me, and Your right hand shall hold me” (Ps. 139:7-10). And, “Am I a God at hand, says the Lord, and not a God afar off? Can anyone hide himself in secret places so that I cannot see him? Says the Lord. Do not I fill heaven and earth? Says the Lord?” (Jer. 23:23-24). While we walk the valley of suffering, even though overwhelmed by the feeling of loneliness and depression, it is good to draw near to the Lord. Sometimes, it seems He is far away and is not hearing our voice; and that’s when doubts take our mind; we suffer anguish and torment of the soul.

The Psalmist Asaph once said, “Will the Lord cast off forever? And will He be favorable no more? Have His mercy and loving-kindness ceased forever? Have His promises ended for all time? Has God abandoned or forgotten His graciousness? Has He in anger shut up His compassion?” (Ps. 77:7-9). YAHSHUA, in the valley of abandonment from His Father cried, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken me?” (Ps. 22:1). Alone in the valley of suffering, separated from His heavenly Father for the first time, YAHSHUA carried the sins of the world, which darkened the way to the Father. That was the valley of death of hell. God’s presence will never be there. But YAHSHUA had to go through to pull us out of it, in order to rescue us from the power of eternal death and Satan. Every time, we go through the valley of suffering, let’s remember that we are not alone. We may feel that way, which is normal for humans to feel in the presence of hopeless situations, since we are flesh and demand to see things that we can touch. However, faith mingled with hope opens our spiritual eyes and there in the midst of sufferings, we feel peace. It is the peace that comes from the presence of the Lord standing there with us.

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Going to the Courts of Heaven

(Job 23: 2-7; Esther 5; Zachariah 3)

“Divine justice is available to every believer”

The high priest, Joshua was found before the Lord in the courts of heaven with Satan standing at his right hand to be his adversary and to accuse him. Joshua was clothed with filthy garments, a representation of his sins. Satan well knew about Joshua and readily stood by his side to bring accusation against him. But the Lord rebuked Satan and forgave Joshua’s sins. He said, “Behold, I have caused your iniquity to pass from you, and I will clothe you with rich apparel. If you will walk in My ways and keep My charge, then also you shall rule My house and have charge of My courts and I will give you access [to My presence] and places to walk among these who stand here” (Zachariah 3). Satan had legal issues against the high priest Joshua, due to his life of sin. He never rests until he fulfills his evil desire to kill and destroy God’s people. YAHSHUA said that the devil had come to kill and destroy, but He had come to give life abundantly. After forgiving Joshua, the Lord dressed Him in the robe of righteousness and warned him to walk in obedience in order to continue in his position of serving Him. The high priest was set free from the devil’s accusations after the Lord forgave him. This experience is not unique only to Joshua; through our life’s journey on earth we too have walked in disobedience to the Lord, causing an open door for Satan to have his way against us. But John, in his first epistle, assured us that if we confess our sins, God is faithful to forgive and purify us. And as He did for Joshua He will do for us too.

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Every Life is a Book

Without paper, without a pen, every minute pages are written through someone’s life. From the crib to the grave, life speaks through attitude and actions without language, without voices one’s book is developed page by page in a subtle way, until life’s breath is taken away from us. Life is a beautiful expression of God’s wisdom, love and His mercy. It demonstrates the immensity and depth of God’s wisdom. Created to bring glory to God, we humans have failed God’s purpose for creating us, but not nature around us. Look at the flowers of the field, the firmament declaring His glory. They are faithfully declaring their Creator’s glory. The Word of God says, The heavens declare the glory and the firmament shows His handiwork. Day after day pours forth speech, and night after night shows forth knowledge (Ps. 19:1-2). From the time we are born we start the first page of our book. For many, their stories are filled with joy, pomp privileges and smiles. For others, not so fortunate, nonetheless. The pages of their book start with misfortune and death. Millions of others will not have a chance to see the light of the day, only anguish and despair, for their lives are taken away in suffering. They have been denied the right to live when being sucked out of the mother’s womb, the supposed safest place to be. Their book is a wordless book. No one knows what would have been their lives’ story registered in a forever book. Only God knows. Life is given to all by God with a future planned under each name, as David so wrote: I will confess and praise You for You are fearful and wonderful and for the awful wonder of my birth! Wonderful are Your works, and that my inner self knows right well. My frame was not hidden from You when I was being formed in secret intricately and curiously wrought in the depths of the earth; Your eyes saw my unformed substance, and in Your book all the days [of my life] were written before ever they took shape, when yet there was none of them (Ps. 139: 14-16).

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Faith and Reason- Journey of the Soul

How does one reason God’s way, plan, and His fulfillment? We sinned; He gave us His Son to ransom us from its penalty with His life. While being nailed to the tree, YAHSHUA prayed a prayer of forgiveness for those who were nailing Him to the cross. How can one reason God’s love for us to the point of not only dying in our stead, but wanting us to live in heaven with Him? The soul, in its journey of reason, wonders clueless to the fact that there is no answer to these questions. Reasoning is good for us to understand the whys of the matter, but it takes faith to calm the heart and the mind, when there is no answer to the questions. Our rational conclusions do not always line up with faith, if we so depend on it for our understanding of things. The acceptance of Scripture without regard to reason and logic is a step of faith outside human’s interference. Faith, true faith, that is, relies on confident expectation. Think, for example, Abraham, who had to wait for twenty-seven years before God fulfilled His promise to him of a son. Not only that, the fact that he and his wife were past the age of childbearing, opened the door to reasoning to step in, as he asked the Lord the question: “After I have become aged shall I have pleasure and delight, my lord, being old also? And shall a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old? And Sarah, who is ninety-nine years old, bear a son?” (Gen. 17:17b). But God is not limited by impossibilities; in fact, nothing is impossible to Him, as He confirmed it to Abraham with these words: Is anything too hard or too wonderful for the Lord? At the appointed time, when the season comes around, I will return to you and Sarah shall have borne a son (vs.14). Here we have God reasoning with Abraham, leading him to apply faith on that which seemed to him unreasonable.

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Faith in the Testing of Time

(Genesis 22; Job 1:8-9; I Peter 1: 7)

Blessed is the man who is patient under trial and stands up under temptation, for when he has stood the test and been approved, he will receive the crown of life which God has promised to those who love Him (James 1:12).

“For when he has stood the test and been approved” there will be a crown waiting for him, the crown of life which has been promised by God Himself to those who love Him, shown in action of obedience and endurance. The crown of life is the crown that will be given to those who endure trials and martyrdom for their faith. “Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life” (Rev. 2:10).

In his testing of faith, the Patriarch Abraham answered the Lord’s calling by saying, Here I am! This is such a gesture of submission it cannot be ignored. Abraham had a friend’s relationship with God. His walk of faith confirmed it, and the fact that God Himself so expressed in Genesis 18:19: For I have known him [as My own], so that he may teach and command his children and the sons of his house after him to keep the way of the Lord and to do what is just and righteous, so that the Lord may bring Abraham what He has promised him. Abraham did not know about the test of faith he was about to go through at God’s calling his name. “Here I am” he answered. The Lord then commanded him saying, Take your son, your only son, whom you loveand go to the region of Moriah; and offer him there as a burnt offering upon one of the mountains of which I will tell you ( Gen. 22:2).

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