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JOB 37
1 My heart pounds at this
and leaps from my chest.
2 Just listen to His thunderous voice
and the rumbling that comes from His mouth.
3 He lets it loose beneath the entire sky;
His lightning to the ends of the earth.
4 Then there comes a roaring sound;
God thunders with His majestic voice.
He does not restrain the lightning
when His [rumbling] voice is heard.
5 God thunders marvelously with His voice;
He does great things that we cannot comprehend.
6 For He says to the snow, "Fall to the earth,"
and the torrential rains, His mighty torrential rains,
7 serve as His signature to all mankind,
so that all men may know His work.
8 The wild animals enter [their] lairs
and stay in their dens.
9 The windstorm comes from its chamber,
and the cold from the driving north winds.
10 Ice is formed by the breath of God,
and watery expanses are frozen.
11 He saturates clouds with moisture;
He scatters His lightning through them.
12 They swirl about,
turning round and round at His direction,
accomplishing everything He commands them
over the surface of the inhabited world.
13 He causes this to happen for punishment,
for His land, or for His faithful love.
14 Listen to this, Job.
Stop and consider God's wonders.
15 Do you know how God directs His clouds
or makes their lightning flash?
16 Do you understand how the clouds float,
those wonderful works of Him who has perfect knowledge?
17 You whose clothes get hot
when the south wind brings calm to the land,
18 can you help God spread out the skies
as hard as a cast metal mirror?
19 Teach us what we should say to Him;
we cannot prepare [our case] because of our darkness.
20 Should He be told that I want to speak?
Can a man speak when he is confused?
21 Now men cannot [even] look at the sun
when it is in the skies,
after a wind has swept through and cleared them away.
22 Yet out of the north He comes, [shrouded] in a golden [glow];
awesome majesty surrounds Him.
23 The Almighty—we cannot reach Him—
He is exalted in power!
In His justice and righteousness,
He will not oppress.
24 Therefore, men fear Him.
He does not look favorably on any who are wise in heart.
Attention / Focus turns to God
Victory is not in circumstances
Victory is in gazing on the Lord
VS 1: “I am sop excited to tell you this, my heart is racing”
VS 2-7: The wonders of nature speak of how big and wonderful God is; the excitement of God’s power demonstrated in nature
VS 8-10: God is a God of nature and God of all seasons.
“dens” indicate a change of weather – hibernation
Elihu is saying that Job has been looking at himself, it is time to look at God
VS 12: God will direct the rain or a storm to a certain spot to accomplish HIS purpose; that they may do whatever HE commands them on the face of the whole earth.
Romans 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
God uses all things to work for HIS purpose
VS 13: punishment/discipline/correction out of His mercy (faithful love)
Hebrews 12:6 For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.
VS 14: stand still / stop and consider God’s wonders
Considering the amount of loss in just a matter of days that Job has suffered – it is easy to see how the focus can be on Job – there is a time frame between the disasters against Job and when God speaks.
God will usually takes time so that we can absorb all that is happening
Give God time to take care of problems – don’t jump in ahead of HIM – don’t preempt what God needs to do in someone’s life in order to correct them or solve their problems.
Don’t jump into decisions too quickly for example - a certain man needed a car; he prayed about his need; then went to a dealership; he accepted a loan on a car that would be difficult on him financially. When he drove to church it was discovered that a member there had a car that he had intended to give to the man. The man had prayed but did not wait for God.
VS 16: Just because you don’t understand does not mean that God is not operating.
VS 19-20: The other friends were presenting their case to Job and Job presented his case to them. We only know our own perspective, our own opinion on any issue. We are talking from darkness and confusion.
VS 21: looking at the sun dulls your vision. Man cannot comprehend light. Light shows truth.
Exodus 33:17-23 17And the LORD said unto Moses, I will do this thing also that thou hast spoken: for thou hast found grace in my sight, and I know thee by name. 18And he said, I beseech thee, shew me thy glory. 19And he said, I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the LORD before thee; and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will shew mercy on whom I will shew mercy. 20And he said, Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live. 21And the LORD said, Behold, there is a place by me, and thou shalt stand upon a rock: 22And it shall come to pass, while my glory passeth by, that I will put thee in a clift of the rock, and will cover thee with my hand while I pass by: 23And I will take away mine hand, and thou shalt see my back parts: but my face shall not be seen.
If the light, glory and truth of our sun is too great for man to gaze into … How much greater is God’s GLORY (LIGHT and TRUTH) and how much less our comprehension!
VS 22-23 HE comes to us, we cannot go to HIM
1 John 4:19 We love him, because he first loved us.
God wants us – HE pursues us – the hound of heaven
“north” – a measurable distance (so is south) denotes from upward – a specific area that God comes from;
2 Corinthians 12:2 I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago, (whether in the body, I cannot tell; or whether out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;) such an one caught up to the third heaven
Revelation 3:12 Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name.
North Star – major standard of direction – it is always constant – all other stars change with seasons
God comes from the North Star where we all get all our directions.
No matter where we are we can always find the North Star.
east to west cannot be measured –
Psalm 103:12 As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.
In the oldest literature we have (Job 37:22) the majesty of the LORD is expressed.
Golden splendor surrounds HIM - Isaiah 6:1 In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the LORD sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple.
VS 23: We cannot reach GOD, but HE can reach us;
We cannot find HIM
We cannot attain… Isaiah 64:6 But we are all like an unclean thing,
And all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags;
We all fade as a leaf,
And our iniquities, like the wind,
Have taken us away.
God is exalted – power, justice, righteousness > all represent HIS HOLINESS
Do not treat God casually – Remember HIS holiness – Respect HIS friendship- hold HIM in awe – Exalt HIM
Don’t go too far the other way either – Don’t hold HIM so separated from mankind that we do not know HIM.
“He does not oppress” - Kings of the earth when they are in power and exalted they oppress their servants
God is HOLY, Exalted, Righteous BUT HE will NOT oppress
HE is so awesome, so big, but HE loves even me.
The other three friends see God only as just and righteous; Elihu says “yes, He is exalted, Holy, etc. BUT HE will not oppress.
VS 24: men fear Him –
1. God is AWESOME –stand in AWE of the possibility of facing judgment by HIM – it is a fearful thing.
Hebrews 10:31 It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
The cross does not negate accountability for my sin – it negates the punishment of death for my sins.
2 Corinthians 5:10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad
When God says that consequences will be reaped – believe it
Dennis Swanburg: never heard the words “wait till I get you home” his dad always took care of the punishment at the time of the “crime” – he punished swiftly then offered “popcorn” – punishment then fellowship.
VS 24: “HE shows no partiality to any who are self-righteous”
Pride is the quickest way to keep God from blessing you.
James 4:6 But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.
Luke 18:10-14 10Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican.
11The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican.
12I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess.
13And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner.
14I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.
God would rather have a publican that knows he is a sinner, is undone, is broken anytime over the self – righteous who prides himself on not sinning in a week, etc.
God does not listen to us when we have pride in our hearts. Job and the other 3 friends all had pride in their heart. Job made the statement “I don’t deserve what has happened” only say this when you feel you deserve better.
Anything we have above hell is GRACE.
When you compare God to man – man’s outstretched arms are not long enough to show the tremendous difference.
God used the other 3 friends to get Job to the place where he could hear God.
Solomon in the book of Ecclesiastes discovers that all a man does or has (wealth, work, wife, etc) is all vanity.
Ecclesiastes12:8 Vanity of vanities, saith the preacher; all is vanity.
Ecclesiastes12:13 Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.
Job was ready to hear God because he was tired of hearing the words of Bildad, Eliphaz, Zophar and Elihu.
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Posted by sonyalambert on 2008-04-11 10:50:19 | Rating: | Views: 70
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