As Gold

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King James Bible Study[And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. – Mark 8:34]

Date: Wednesday, January 05, 2021
Chapters: Job 1-3
Message: As Gold

Hello My Friend,

I signed up with this company that does this type of day labor work in convenience stores, I managed to get four shifts this week. I got in my car, eager to get to work, started driving when I look at my gas gauge and see that it is only a quarter full. Where I was going would have been enough to get there, but not return. On top of that, money had been taken out of my account that I was not aware of, and that left me with only fifteen cents in the bank. I could read two things into this, that I have zero trust in God because I did not go or that I have complete trust in God because I did not go. Well, let me see, it has been six weeks since I worked, these past six months have been quite the challenge, but I will tell you what, I am grabbing Scripture from my favorite book in the Old Testament, [Behold, I go forward, but he is not there; and backward, but I cannot perceive him: On the left hand, where he doth work, but I cannot behold him: he hideth himself on the right hand, that I cannot see him: But he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold. – Job 23:8-10]

Sometimes we do feel like no matter what we do, we cannot get a break, something is always happening, and even though we know that God is always with us we cannot help, but wonder where He is. Before we get into the study of Abraham and how God chose him to establish His covenant to make a nation as numerous as the amount of sand on the earth, we come to Job. I say this is my favorite book every time we come to it as it was the Book of Job that brought me to repentance on July 10, 2004. While some people will come to Christ without affliction, that is when most people truly find Him, [For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death. For behold this selfsame thing, that ye sorrowed after a godly sort, what carefulness it wrought in you, yea, what clearing of yourselves, yea, what indignation, yea, what fear, yea, what vehement desire, yea, what zeal, yea, what revenge! In all things ye have approved yourselves to be clear in this matter. – 2 Corinthians 7:10-11]

The Book of Job is the eighteenth book of the Old Testament/Bible and contains forty-two chapters. It is the oldest of the Bible books, the timeline is around the time of the Abrahamic Covenant, and the events recorded cover a period of abut one year. The author of the book is unknown, but could have been Moses, Elihu, or Job and was written around 1520 BC. This book was not written to a particular group, but to all who experience suffering for unexplained reasons. The purpose of the book is to explain the reasons by unexplained suffering. What we are to learn from the book is that God has a reason behind all of unanswered suffering that we are faced with, and He knows the way that we take, [But he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold. – Job 23:10]

Job also was a descent of Shem, well, the Book of Job actually tells us that he was from the land of Uz, which is also where Abraham lived, and towns were often named after the men who was the head of them. It was not like God did not have faithful believers from other descendants of Shem or Noah’s other sons before Abraham, it was that God chose Abraham for a specific reason, which we will learn when we get back to Genesis. God Himself describes Job as being perfect and upright, meaning he had great faith in God, feared Him, and obeyed him the best he could, and this was during a time when there was no written word.

[There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil. And there were born unto him seven sons and three daughters. His substance also was seven thousand sheep, and three thousand camels, and five hundred yoke of oxen, and five hundred she asses, and a very great household; so that this man was the greatest of all the men of the east. And his sons went and feasted in their houses, every one his day; and sent and called for their three sisters to eat and to drink with them. And it was so, when the days of their feasting were gone about, that Job sent and sanctified them, and rose up early in the morning, and offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all: for Job said, It may be that my sons have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts. Thus did Job continually. – Job 1:1-5]

[Thus did Job continually.] Job was very wealthy, very blessed, and a very respected among the community, and they were well aware of his faith in God. With all that he had and the blessings He received, he did not become proud, greedy, or arrogant, in fact, he remained quite humble, knowing that it was God who blessed him, and his family. There was not a day that went by that He did not get his grown children to come to his home where they would spend time with God in prayer and offered up a sacrifice to Him to be reconciled for their sin. And we too need to do this daily, praying to God, confessing our sin, and asking Him to forgive us. Remember, it is not about the sacrifice, it is about the faith, [For thou desirest not sacrifice; else would I give it: thou delightest not in burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise. – Psalms 51:16-17]

Remember, there are two kinds of evil, natural, which stems from the curse of sin, and that includes death and disease, these are things that come natural to us, and may or may not be triggered by sin. Then we have wicked evil, and that is what comes from Satan, he will use natural evil to afflict us, but he must get permission from God to do so. Say what? Yes, God gives him the permission to afflict His people. There are some things we need to understand about Satan, he cannot afflict us all at the same time because he is not God and can only be in one place at a time, but he does send his evil spirits. Another thing about Satan is that when he is the one afflicting us it is like nothing we have ever experienced, and often when we have been living perfect and upright. And there is another thing about Satan that we can sort of understand, but not really, he meets with God and discusses our faith with Him. We discover this as God spoke to him about Job.

[Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them. And the LORD said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it. And the LORD said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil? Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, Doth Job fear God for nought? Hast not thou made an hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side? thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land. But put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face. – Job 1:6-11]

[Now there was a day when the sons of God] The sons of God are those who fear God and walk with God, or at least, know Him enough to get saved. Nevertheless, he is able to communicate with God and apparently has conversations with him about us. This is not the third part of heaven where God’s throne is as God cast him out of heaven, and is probably the entrance to paradise, this was where the saved souls would dwell until Christ’s passion, [Luke 23:43]. And it just occurred to me that God is taking to him about saved souls, Satan has no concern for unsaved souls as they are cast into hell immediately, [Luke 16:24].

[and touch all that he hath,] You see, there really are quite a few people who are faithful to God as long as they are prosperous, but start taking things away and they will turn on Him, and this is what Satan is accusing Job of. God knew Job, and therefore, allowed Satan to test him by taking everything away from him, and he did not hesitate, in a matter of minutes, he took away his children, livestock, and crops.

[And there was a day when his sons and his daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother’s house: While he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said, Thy sons and thy daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother’s house: And, behold, there came a great wind from the wilderness, and smote the four corners of the house, and it fell upon the young men, and they are dead; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee. Then Job arose, and rent his mantle, and shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground, and worshipped, And said, Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither: the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD. – Job 1:13,18-21]

[the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away;] This is what I often tell myself when I start to lose things, God gives us everything, and will take it away. More often than I care to admit, the first thing I do is ask myself what am I doing that God is so angry at me and is taking them away. Satan loves to make us think that God is angry at us, especially when we are walking perfect and upright. If he can get us to doubt God, get angry at Him for taking something away, and stop being faithful to Him, then he has done his job. Again, God knows our heart, Satan’s scheme did not work on Job, so, he tries it once again, stating that the only reason why he is faithful to Him is because he is still in good health.

[Again there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them to present himself before the LORD. And the LORD said unto Satan, From whence comest thou? And Satan answered the LORD, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it. And the LORD said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil? and still he holdeth fast his integrity, although thou movedst me against him, to destroy him without cause. And Satan answered the LORD, and said, Skin for skin, yea, all that a man hath will he give for his life. But put forth thine hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse thee to thy face. And the LORD said unto Satan, Behold, he is in thine hand; but save his life. – Job 2:1-6]

[to destroy him without cause.] [Destroy; To take away; to cause to cease; to put an end to; as, pain destroys happiness.] God was not saying that Satan stirred Him up to kill him, but rather take away his happiness. God is the giver and taker of life, but Satan is the destroyer, God was not saying that He sends the rain on the just and the unjust, and wants us to trust Him with all our heart, whether we have everything or lose everything. God may allow Satan to afflict us, but he cannot touch our soul as that belongs to Jesus, [And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand. I and my Father are one. – John 10:28-30]

Well, God allowed Satan to afflict his body this time, and he was not subtle about it, Job ended up covered in boils from head to toe, he was in so itchy and in so much pain that he used a piece of pottery from a broken pot to scratch them, and covered himself in ashes, [So went Satan forth from the presence of the LORD, and smote Job with sore boils from the sole of his foot unto his crown. And he took him a potsherd to scrape himself withal; and he sat down among the ashes. Then said his wife unto him, Dost thou still retain thine integrity? curse God, and die. But he said unto her, Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh. What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? In all this did not Job sin with his lips. Now when Job’s three friends heard of all this evil that was come upon him, they came every one from his own place; Eliphaz the Temanite, and Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite: for they had made an appointment together to come to mourn with him and to comfort him. – Job 2:7-11]

[curse God, and die.] Now, his wife was not heartless, she was in pain, grieving and mourning the loss of her children, and everything they possessed. From the sound of it, she was asking God why all this was happening herself. It is sort of like when Jesus told Peter that he was going to deny Him three times, it is not that she hated God, she was hurting, but Job even reminded her that we cannot just trust God when things are good, we must trust Him when they are bad as well. We are not promised a life that has no more pain after we are saved, but we are promised that there will come a day when we will never be in pain ever again, [And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away. – Revelation 21:4]

[for they had made an appointment together to come to mourn with him] So, apparently Job is the talk of the town, and not just about the loss of their children, these three men decided that they were going to visit Job, and sat there a week with him in complete silence. Then all of a sudden, Job spoke out.

[After this opened Job his mouth, and cursed his day. And Job spake, and said, Let the day perish wherein I was born, and the night in which it was said, There is a man child conceived. Because it shut not up the doors of my mother’s womb, nor hid sorrow from mine eyes. There the wicked cease from troubling; and there the weary be at rest. There the prisoners rest together; they hear not the voice of the oppressor. The small and great are there; and the servant is free from his master. Why is light given to a man whose way is hid, and whom God hath hedged in? For my sighing cometh before I eat, and my roarings are poured out like the waters. For the thing which I greatly feared is come upon me, and that which I was afraid of is come unto me. I was not in safety, neither had I rest, neither was I quiet; yet trouble came. – Job 3:1-3,10,17-19,23-26]

[There the wicked cease from troubling;] Job did not know what was going on, but he did know that there was a much better place than he was at right now, one that will not bring any evil. When you think about all the babies that never got an opportunity to be born or experience life here, it is heartbreaking, but we never know what God was saving them from when He kept them home with Him. Never think that a baby, young child, or even someone who is a child mentally ends up in hell, we become accountable for our sin when we understand what sin is and that we have sinned, [And he said, While the child was yet alive, I fasted and wept: for I said, Who can tell whether GOD will be gracious to me, that the child may live? But now he is dead, wherefore should I fast? can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me. – 2 Samuel 12:22-23]

[neither was I quiet; yet trouble came.] We can certainly understand affliction when we have done something wrong, as far as knowingly committing sin, but when we have been walking perfect and upright it is quite troubling, especially when one thing after another happens. And we have heard it all before, “Everything happens for a reason.”, but as we are sitting there trying to contemplate the reason that is not very comforting. While we may never understand why, the more important thing is not to ask God why, but to trust that God will use it for good, and always remember that His thoughts of us are precious, [Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them. How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them! If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand: when I awake, I am still with thee. – Psalms 139:16-18]

Let Us Pray: God, You surely are the giver and taker of life, and everything that we possess, they are merely temporary gifts that You bless all mankind with. Those of us who acknowledge that You are God, who are perfect and upright in our faith in Your Son, know that everything is in Your hands. We are blessed with something much more than possessions upon our faith in Your Son, we are given eternal life for our soul with You. Now, we know that Satan has no power over our soul, and he can only afflict us with Your permission, so, when I am afraid, I will trust in You. Lord, Lead us and guide us, keep our hearts fixed on You, fill us with Your power, mercy, and grace to endure every bit of evil that Satan afflicts us with. Let us not question why, rather trust that everything is under Your control, that You will bless us through every sorrow, and ask You for Your help to endure it. I ask these things in Your name, Jesus. Amen.

God Bless You, I am praying for you,

Christina

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