Job 23
Job responds to Eliphaz for second time verse 1
Then Job answered and said
Job wants his day in court with the LORD verse 2- 10
Even today is my complaint bitter
my stroke is heavier than my groaning
oh that I knew where I might find HIM
that I might come even to HIS seat
I would order my cause before HIM
and fill my mouth with arguments
I would know the words which HE would answer me
and understand what HE would say to me
Will HE plead against me with HIS great power?
NO – BUT HE would put strength in me
There the righteous might dispute with HIM
so should I be delivered for ever from my JUDGE
BEHOLD – I go forward
BUT HE is not there – and backward
BUT I cannot perceive HIM – on the left hand
where HE does work
BUT I cannot behold HIM
HE hides HIMSELF on the right hand
that I cannot see HIM
BUT HE knows the way that I take
when HE has tried me
I shall come forth as gold
Job faithfulness is known to the LORD verse 11- 17
My foot has held HIS steps – HIS way have I kept
and not declined
neither have I gone back
from the commandment of HIS lips
I have esteemed the words of HIS mouth
more than my necessary food
BUT HE is in one mind – and who can turn HIM?
and what HIS soul desires – even that HE does
for HE performs the thing that is
APPOINTED for me
and many such things are with HIM
THEREFORE am I troubled at HIS presence
when I consider
I am AFRAID of HIM – for God makes my heart soft
and the Almighty troubles me
BECAUSE I was not cut off before the darkness
neither hath HE covered the darkness from my face
COMMENTARY:
DAILY SPIRITUAL BREAKFAST: Young Believers
: 2 Even today is my complaint bitter: my stoke is heavier than my groaning. (7878 “complaint” [siyach] means lament, discourse, an expression of grievance or resentment; especially one that assumes blame, musing, anguish, thoughts, to put forth, or commune)
DEVOTION: Job has had to listen to these individuals who call themselves “friends” tell him that he is a great sinner and that they are right and he is wrong. Someone has suggested that this conversation could have happened in a day but most believe that it took place over a time period more than a day.
The comments of the friends were wearing on him. He didn’t doubt his relationship with the LORD but he was tired of defending himself to these individuals. This was going on for days.
He wanted an answer from the LORD that didn’t seem to be coming. He thought he was waiting long enough for the LORD to answer but it seemed that his prayers were not coming to the throne of the LORD.
He has gotten to the point that he is groaning aloud to the LORD because he found it hard not to groan. Remember our prayers should be full of praise for all the LORD has done for us even during the times HE allows trials in our life.
Job had gotten to the point where he wanted encouragement from the LORD. This day he was complaining to the LORD regarding HIS lack of response.
God was going to respond but not in the way he thought HE would or should. This is true in our life too as we pray for victory over what is happening at present and it seems that victory is not coming. We are not as longsuffering with the LORD as HE is with us. We need to be willing to wait on HIM as HE waits on us at times.
It is hard for us because we think that we are at the end of our rope with some of the things that are happening in our life at present. The problem is that NONE of us are facing the same trial that the LORD gave Job.
Job became a symbol of longsuffering during his time period described in this book. We are challenged with the patience of Job by the Word of God. Can we say that we have the patience of Job without groaning aloud?
CHALLENGE: What are you facing that is harder than what Job faced in this book?
DAILY SPIRITUAL LUNCH: Transitional Believers
: 4 I would order my cause before HIM, and fill my mouth with arguments. (8433 “arguments” [towkechah] means reprimand, reproof, a fact or assertion offered as evidence that something is true, protest, objection, or retort)
DEVOTION: Job believed he was blameless of the charges that these three “friends”
had placed against him. He wanted his day in court to prove his case. He thought he
could do a good job of defending himself against all charges.
He was certain that he would be acquitted of all charges that these “friends” were making
against him. He just wanted his day in court to show that he was innocent of their charges
and that there was another reason for what was happening to him.
He like us wants life to be “fair” and that we only receive just problems because of our
sins not what people think of us or say about us. Too often people can say anything they
want against us and we have no recourse.
We all would like a day in court with the LORD Jesus by our side to help us face what
people are saying against us falsely. This doesn’t usually happen in our world. It didn’t
happen in the time of Job.
God wanted Job to trust HIM and to wait for HIM to come to his defense. HE wanted Job
to just take what was happening patiently and wait on him without his working himself
up regarding what others were thinking.
The problem is that we care what people think of us. We want our friends to be the ones
that defend us against all charges but there are times when this can’t happen and we have
to wait on the LORD to settle an issue.
Waiting on God is not easy most of the time when things don’t seem to be happening as
fast as we would like them to happen. We want God to act in our timing and not HIS
which is the wrong way to think of things. HE wants us to trust HIM in good times and
bad times. That is very hard.
Job had to wait on the LORD and we have to do the same when we are going through good times and bad times. HE will send an answer when the timing is perfect. We have to trust HIM during the wait.
CHALLENGE: Are you waiting on the LORD for an answer to something that is weighting heavy on your heart? Trust HIM to send the answer at just the right time.
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: 10 But HE knows the way that I take, when HE has tried me, I shall come forth as gold. (1870 “way” [derek] means road, journey, manner, behavior, path, conduct, direction, or of course of life)
DEVOTION: This is a great memory verse. I was asked to learn it by a Sunday School teacher in my second church. She was having each of the children in our church learn the verse and challenged me to learn it as well. I was not in her class but she thought that if the pastor learned the verses with the children it would challenge me as well as them.
Virginia wanted to see not only the children memorizing Scripture but the adults so I challenged the congregation to learn this verse as well. It has quite a testimony for all believers. She also had two different types of arthritis. Even with that she would go on visitation with me as I visited the neighbors around the church and community.
Job was willing to make this statement because in his heart he knew it was true in his life. He was taking the way the LORD wanted him to take no matter what. He didn’t like what he was presently going through and even asked the LORD to allow him to die. He wanted to die quickly but the LORD was not finished with his testimony yet.
He believed that after all the testing that he was going through and would go through in the future he would come forth a victor because of the LORD. He was not going to give in to the trial but accept the challenge and continue serving the LORD no matter what.
He believed that even what he was presently going through would prove that he was a good servant of the LORD. He didn’t understand it all but he knew in the end that the LORD would be pleased with him.
Can this be said of us? Are we presently going through a time period of testing and think that when it is done we will come through it with a victory because of the LORD’S help?
Our path has to please the LORD for us to be ones who have the victory each day.
CHALLENGE: Our victory only comes at the end of our life when the LORD can say to us “Well done you good and faithful servant.”
DAILY SPIRITUAL SUPPER: Mature Believers
: 12 Neither have I gone back from the commandment of HIS lips; I
have esteemed the words of HIS mouth more than my necessary
food. (6845 “esteemed” [tsaphan] means hidden, treasured,
stored up, or saved up)
Job considered each word that came from the LORD important. He wanted to obey the LORD and never break HIS commandments. That was the goal of his life. That should be the goal of all those who profess a belief in the LORD.
His “friends” were saying that he was disobedient and needed to be punished to realize that he was going in the wrong direction. They would not believe that he was headed right because of all that was happening to him and his family. They couldn’t think of God allowing all these things to happen to someone who was obedient.
Yet we know that he was obedient. God gave him a testimony that all of us wish was true of us. So, we have to come to the conclusion that if Job was telling the truth and we know that he was then we need to allow the LORD to work through difficult times in our life as well.
We can get the false opinion that if we are faithful to the LORD and keep short accounts with HIM, we will never suffer any pruning from HIM. That is wrong because Job had done everything right but the LORD had allowed him to be pruned to prove just where he was in his relationship with HIM. Job had some growing to do. We all do.
Do we treasure HIS words that HE has given in the Bible as precious as our daily bread? Do we allow people and things to get in the way when it is time to spend time with HIM? Do we get distracted easy because of not being a good reader?
There are many ways to study the Bible besides reading it. One way is to listen to it on our headphones. Other people have read the Bible on tape. We can have others read it to us.
We should have a real desire to know what the Holy Spirit has to say to us each day from the Word of God. It should be a stronger desire than food. This is not the case for most believers. Many don’t open their Bible between each Sunday morning service and yet they think they have a good relationship with the LORD. We need to all hid God word in our heart that we might not sin against HIM.
CHALLENGE: Give yourself time to read the Bible each day. Desire it more than physical food itself.
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: 16 For God makes my heart soft, and the Almighty troubles me.
(7706 “Almighty”[Shadday] means most powerful, self-
sufficient, one true God or Shaddai).
DEVOTION: We find that Job was accused of his “friends” of being a sinner. He was accused of not honoring the LORD with his life. They believed that only sinners would be judged the way Job was judged.
He wants to go to court with the LORD as a judge. He wants to present his case before the LORD. However, he can’t seem to find the LORD. He looks in all the directions on the map and still doesn’t see the LORD. He knows that if he can have his day in court everything would be good.
He believes that the LORD is trying him and that he will pass the test. He thinks that he will come out of with a gold crown. He has been faithful to the LORD. He has honored the LORD’S commands.
Job does have a high regard for the LORD. He knows that HE is the most powerful ONE in the universe. He is not trying to confront God in his own strength. He wants to go into the presence of the LORD in the strength that HE gives him.
Job refers to God as the most powerful one or El Shaddai. This name is used 48 times in the Old Testament for God. In the book of Job, it is used 31 times. Job had a reverent awe of God. He knew that God had the power to complete HIS promises of blessing and prosperity. He knew that if he went to trial, the LORD would find him not guilty. He said that he would come forth as gold at his trial. He also knew that the LORD acted in a way that was pleasing to HIM.
Job didn’t understand what God was doing but he understood that God was acting. This verse brings out the fact that Job had an attitude or feeling of distress and lack of courage. He had been made tender by these trials. He was tired of fighting his “friends.” He knew that the LORD was an awesome God and it troubled him. Not because of fear of answering for his sin but because he was in HIS presence.
Isaiah had the same reaction to the presence of God. He fell down and commented “Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.”
We have to have the same reaction to the presence of God. HE is present in each of our times of worship. HE is the one who can bless us with spiritual blessings in heavenly places. HE is still omnipotent.
CHALLENGE: Let us go into HIS presence with thanksgiving for all that HE has done for us. We can even thank HIM for the trials HE allows to come into our lives. Job understands this concept.
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DISCIPLINES OF THE FAITH:
BODY
Chastity (Purity in living)
Fasting (Time alone with LORD without eating or drinking)
Sacrifice (Giving up something we want to serve the LORD)
Submission (Willing to listen to others and LORD)
Solitude (Going to a quiet place without anyone)
SOUL
Fellowship (Gathering together around the Word of God)
Frugality (wise use of resources)
Journalizing (Writing down what you have learned from the LORD)
Study and Meditation (Thinking through your study in the Word)
Secrecy (Doing your good deeds without others knowing but God)
SPIRIT
Celebration (Gathering around a special occasion to worship LORD)
Confession (Tell the LORD we are sorry for our sins on a daily basis)
Prayer (Conversation with God on a personal level)
Silence (Letting the LORD deal with some problems and needs)
Worship (Time to praise the LORD alone or in a group)
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DOCTRINES OF THE FAITH:
Scripture (66 inerrant books of the Bible)
Commandment verse 12
God the Father (First person of the Godhead)
Great power verse 6
Judge verse 7
God – Elohim (Creator, Sovereign) verse 16
Almighty verse 16
God the Son (Second person of the Godhead –God/man, Messiah)
God the Holy Spirit (Third person of the Godhead – our comforter)
Trinity (Three persons of the Godhead who are co-equal = ONE God)
Angels (Created before the foundation of the world – Good and Evil)
Man (Created on the sixth twenty-four hour period of creation)
Job verse 1- 17
Bitter complaint
Fill mouth with arguments
Says God would put strength in him
Can’t find God
Tried of God
Once tried will come forth as gold
Kept step with LORD
Esteemed word of HIS mouth
Troubled at HIS presence
Afraid of God
Sin (Missing the mark set by God on man and angels)
Complaint verse 2
Bitterness verse 2
Afraid of God verse 15
Salvation (Provided by Christ’s death on the cross for our sins)
Seeking the LORD verse 3
Strength verse 6
Righteous verse 7
Deliverance verse 7
Tried verse 10
Held HIS steps verse 11
Keep the ways of the LORD verse 11
Obeyed commands of the LORD verse 12
Word of God necessary food verse 12
Appointed verse 14
Israel (Old Testament people of God)
Church (New Testament people of God)
Last Things (Future Events)
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QUOTES regarding passage
3–7. Here Job’s courageous honesty is seen at its best. His consuming desire is to come face to face with God (3), not by a contrived penance, as Eliphaz recommends, but in fair trial (4). Job has abandoned his earlier hesitation and self-mistrust (9:14–20, 32; 13:18). He is now confident that he will be able to state his case persuasively (4). He is confident of acquittal (7). He is prepared to answer charges (5; cf. 13:22). Earlier, when everyone had been emphasizing the infinite power of God, Job had dreaded such a meeting, even while he was demanding it. Fully aware that God is ‘not a man’ (9:32), he expected to be paralysed with terror (9:34; 13:21) when it was his turn to speak. Behind this anxiety lay an even more shattering thought. What if the difference between God and man is so great that each has a different moral code and Job finds that there is no common ground to argue on? The friends’ songs in praise of God’s justice, instead of making Job feel guilty, have had the opposite effect. Now he is certain that he is in the right (7a: the key word of Job 1:1), and equally sure that God will not take unfair advantage of his superior strength (6a), but will give him a fair hearing (6b). The acquittal he expects is not the pardon of a guilty man by grace, but the vindication of a righteous man by law. This does not mean that the book of Job is ignorant of the truths that were later enshrined in Pauline theology. The justification of which Paul spoke is attested by ‘the law and the prophets’ (Rom. 3:21), including Job. What Job is seeking is confirmation from God, in contradiction of what his friends have been saying, that his right relationship with God, which, throughout his whole life, had been grounded in ‘the fear of God’ and not in the merit of his own good deeds, was unimpaired. Job’s expanding faith will now embrace his sufferings as something between himself and God within that right relationship. (Andersen, F. I. (1976). Job: An Introduction and Commentary (Vol. 14, pp. 224–225). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.)
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23:1–7. In his bitterness (the fourth of five times he spoke of it; cf. 3:20; 7:11; 10:1; 27:2) and groaning Job still sensed that God’s hand of affliction was weighing him down (cf. 13:21; 33:7). (Heavy in spite of my groaning should read, as in the niv marg., “heavy on me in my groaning.”) Job certainly wanted to turn to God (as each debater had advised, 5:8; 8:5; 11:13; 22:23), but he could not find Him (cf. 13:24). If God could be found then Job would present his case (23:4, mišpoṭ, another court term used frequently in the Book of Job), arguing persuasively (cf. 10:2) and weighing God’s reply (23:5). Faced with the facts of Job’s innocence, God would no longer oppose Job with His awesome power or press charges (rîḇ, lit., “contend, or bring a court litigation”) against him. Earlier Job had stated that it would be pointless to present his case before God (9:14–16), but now he was certain that an upright man, meaning himself, could present his case (yāḵaḥ “argue, debate in court”) and the Judge (cf. 9:15) would acquit him and his troubles would terminate. (Zuck, R. B. (1985). Job. In J. F. Walvoord & R. B. Zuck (Eds.), The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures (Vol. 1, p. 746). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.)
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23:6, 7 contend. Engage in court debate over evidence, witnesses, etc. Job knew God was not going to enter a contest with him to determine, as in a court case, who was right. But he wanted God to at least listen to him, so confident was he that he could make his case, and be delivered by his just Judge (cf. 1:8; 2:3). (MacArthur, J. F., Jr. (2006). The MacArthur study Bible: New American Standard Bible. (Job 23:6). Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers.)
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Ver. 6. Will he plead against me with his great power? &c.] God will not plead against his people at all, but for them: much less will he plead against them with his great strength, use all his power to run them down, crush, and oppress them; for he is a great God, and of great power, he is mighty in strength, and there is no contending with him, or answering of him, ch. 9:3,9, 19. nor will he deal with them according to the strict rigour of his justice, nor stir up all his wrath, nor contend for ever with them in such a way; for then the spirits would fail before him, and the souls that he has made; whatever he does with others, making known his power on the vessels of wrath, he will never act after this manner with the vessels of mercy: no, but he would put strength in me: to pray unto him, and prevail with him to lay hold on him, and not let him go without the blessing, as Jacob did, Hos. 12:3, 4. or to stand before him, and plead his own cause with him, in such a strong and powerful manner as to bear down all the accusations and charges brought against him: or he will set his heart upon me; deal mildly and gently, kindly and graciously, and not with his great strength and strict justice; or will not put sins upon me, as Jarchi, or lay charges to him, however guilty of them, as his friends did, or impute such to him he never committed: God is so far from doing this to his people, that he does not impute their sins to them they have committed, but to his son, much less will he lay upon them more than is right, ch. 34:23. Some take the sense of the words to be this, in answer to the above question, will he plead against me with his great power? let him do it, only let him not set upon me, in an hostile way, and then I do not decline entering the lists with him; which expresses great boldness and confidence, and even too much, and must be reckoned among the unbecoming expressions Job was afterwards convinced of; but this he utters in his passion, in order the more clearly to shew, and the more strongly to assert, his innocence. (Gill, J. (1810). An Exposition of the Old Testament (Vol. 3, p. 383). London: Mathews and Leigh.)
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1–6. If we read these words of Job with an eye to the gospel, (and after what we have reviewed of Job’s strong faith, in his kinsman Redeemer, chap. 19:25–27. we surely may safely do it;) they contain the sweet and gracious breathings of a pious soul, after fellowship with God in Christ. And I beg the Reader to observe yet further with me, how ardent that faith in Christ was, when the suffering Believer took confidence, that God would put strength in him, and not put forth that strength against him. For, Reader! what is God’s strength, as it concerns a poor awakened sinner, but Jesus, and his salvation? That beautiful passage, in the Prophet, fully confirms it: Let him take hold of my strength (saith Jehovah) to make peace with me, and he shall make peace with me. Isaiah 27:5.—What is the strength of Jehovah but Christ? Hence God commands Zion to put it on, Isaiah 2:1. And, in reference to former manifestations of it, God himself, by the Prophet, calls upon his strength, to awake, as the arm of the Lord. Isaiah 51:9. (Hawker, R. (2013). Poor Man’s Old Testament Commentary: Job–Psalms (Vol. 4, p. 85). Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software.)
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FROM MY READING:
(Remember the only author that I totally agree with is the HOLY SPIRIT in the inerrant WORD OF GOD called THE BIBLE! All other I try to gleam what I can to help me grow in the LORD!!)
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If we simply work to earn a living – if we labor for the bread that perishes – we will waste our lives. But if we labor with the sweet assurance that God will supply all our needs – that Christ died to purchase every undeserved blessing – then all our labor will be a labor of love and a boasting only in the cross. (p. 150, don’t waste your life by john piper)
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GOD IS FAITHFUL
by Anne R. C. Neale
God is faithful, He never abandons you,
He created you and loves you deeply too,
He has made you promises which He keeps,
He watches over you when you are asleep.
God is Faithful, He is Trustworthy and Kind.
He is the All, Our Shepherd and He is Sublime.
He’s always there when we need Him each day
He’s always ready to hear you when you to Him you pray.
God is Faithful, He is our Lord God,
He created us and put us on earth’s sod,
He prepared a place for our Spirit to go,
We will meet God there too, God is Faithful that’s so.
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Whoever comes in contact with Jesus is either blinded or enlightened. They either accept Him or begin manufacturing reasons not to believe in Him. Jesus illustrates this reality with the imagery of sheep and a shepherd. He says, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow Me” (10:27). Make your heart tender and sensitive to hear and obey Jesus. Walk in His light and you will not stumble. (Quiet Walk)
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A Southwest Airlines pilot who was forced to make an emergency landing on Tuesday relied on her faith to keep calm in the tense situation.
Charisma News reports that Tammie Jo Shults had to think fast when the plane she was piloting en route to Dallas from New York City lost one of its engines while airborne at 32,000 feet. Shults was forced to make an emergency landing in Philadelphia.
She radioed the Philadelphia air traffic controller, calmly saying, “So we have a part of the aircraft missing so we’re going to need to slow down a bit.” She also told personnel at the Philadelphia International Airport that they would be needed an ambulance for injured passengers.
Shults was able to safely land the plane in Philadelphia, although one passenger died after she was nearly sucked out of a broken window.
Many of the passengers commended Shults on her poise in the face of disaster. “The pilot Tammy Jo was so amazing! She landed us safely in Philly,” said passenger Amanda Bourman on Instagram. “God sent his angels to watch over us. I actually heard someone say, there is a God!!”
Shults herself identifies as a Christian. She gained experience as a pilot while in the U.S. Navy, flying F-18 fighter jets. Her skills landing planes at high speeds certainly helped her bring her passengers to safety on the Southwest flight.
Shults also said she views her career as a way to shine a light for Christ. She says she is given “the opportunity to witness for Christ on almost every flight.”
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According to the U.S. Department of Education, since the start of the pandemic, more than 1.5 million students have left traditional public schooling. Parents and students, it seems, are looking for something different.
Many parents and students are looking elsewhere because students struggled to learn online or have even fallen behind. Others feel helpless to respond to how school districts and states have handled, and sometimes mishandled, the pandemic. Others are worried about their students learning bad habits with technology, or suffering from loneliness and despair.
And many parents have finally seen what their students are actually being taught. During the pandemic, various forms of anti-Americanism, sexual indoctrinations, and critical theory, that are being passed in the name of education, have streamed into homes through online Zoom classrooms. Many parents realized, some for the first time, that their students weren’t learning what the parents thought they were learning. As one former college professor noted, if you haven’t been in education in the past three years, it’s almost unrecognizable to what you experienced growing up. (Break Point)
All of which has led to incredible growth in the number of homeschooling families and record enrollments for virtually every Christian school I know. I’ve talked to dozens of schools leaders who didn’t have waiting lists before, but have them now.
One Christian school administrator told me that, even early on in the pandemic, his teachers were begging him to do whatever he could to reopen their school. “They need us,” the teachers would say, even while the public school teachers unions in that state were asking officials to keep schools closed. Their attitude was unique in their community, but not among Christian schools around the nation.
And, apparently, parents noticed.
At the same time, Christian schools face incredible challenges, especially internally. Too often, for example, Christian education takes the form of regular education with Bible verses added on as illustrations, or as the same schooling, only with chapel, a “spiritual formation” week, more rules, longer skirts, and shorter hair.
In reality, a truly Christian education is a fundamentally different enterprise. Christian education rests on the assumption that every person is made in the image of God, created by God for a purpose, called by God to live in the world He created, and specifically called to live for Christ in this cultural moment. Christian education equips and prepares students to understand reality and to live with the clarity, confidence, and courage they need to face the challenges of this broken world. To paraphrase T.S. Elliot, Christian education is not just teaching Christian students to behave or how to be safe in a dangerous world. It’s about training them to think and live as Christians for such a time as this.
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Acts 25
Felix vacates his office without resolving Paul’s status.
INSIGHT
How strangely God fulfills His own word: “So you must also bear witness at Rome” (Acts 23:11). Paul knows he will have to go to Rome, but he doesn’t expect to go under Roman guard and at Rome’s expense. After two years the Jews still thirst for his blood! Had he been transferred to Jerusalem, his life would have been imperiled. However, God had called him to preach the Gospel in Rome. Through these circumstances, Paul is transferred. (Quiet Walk)
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THE CHRISTIAN AND THE WORLD
And we know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness [or, in the wicked one]. 1 John 5:19
The New Testament teaches that however much the world may change on the surface, it is always under the control of evil and of sin. This admits that the powers of evil can be mollified a great deal, and they have been mollified during the passing of the centuries. There have been periods when the world has been getting better, but these have been followed by a terrible declension, and the teaching of the New Testament is that the whole time the world has been lying “in the wicked one.”
Now that is where, it seems to me, we have been so steadily fooled for the last hundred years; and when I say “we,” I mean the Christian as well as the non-Christian. How confident people were toward the end of the nineteenth century that the world was being Christianized! But we must not be deluded by all these changes that are merely superficial. The world, says John to these people, is under the dominion of Satan and sin. It is in the grip of evil; it always has been, and it always will be.
According to the New Testament (and here we get the realism), the world will always be the world; it will never get better. I do not know the future. There may be another period of apparent reform and improvement, but the world will still be lying “in the wicked one,” and indeed the New Testament tells us it may “wax worse and worse” (2 Timothy 3:13). Indeed the evil of the world is so essentially a part of it and its life that its final outlook will be judgment and destruction. You will find this teaching everywhere. The evil in the world cannot be taken out; it is to be destroyed. There is to be an ultimate climax, and there will be a terrible end.
A Thought to Ponder
The teaching of the New Testament is that the whole time the world has been lying “in the wicked one.”
(From Fellowship with God, pp. 17-18, by Dr. Martyn Lloyd – Jones)
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The Riches of His Grace
“In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace.” (Ephesians 1:7)
The attributes of God are characterized by the “riches of His grace.” This amazing grace led Him to shed His blood as the price of our redemption.
No wonder men have developed the familiar acrostic for GRACE—“God’s Riches at Christ’s Expense.” “For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich” (2 Corinthians 8:9).
Paul seems again and again to try to find descriptions for these riches. To the Romans he wrote of “the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering” (Romans 2:4) and of His plan to “make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of [his] mercy” (Romans 9:23). Speaking of God’s mercy, he exclaims, “O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God!” (Romans 11:33).
The inexhaustibility of these infinite depths of grace and mercy led Paul to call these attributes “the unsearchable riches of Christ” (Ephesians 3:8). Desiring that all believers might learn to appreciate the tremendous future they have in Christ, he prayed that “the eyes of your understanding being enlightened,” somehow we might come to appreciate even now “the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints” (Ephesians 1:18).
Yet, marvelously rich and full though His grace is now, there is much more to come. “God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ,…That in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:4-5, 7). (HMM, The Institute for Creation Research)
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Considered one of the greatest video games ever made, Nintendo’s The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time has sold more than seven million copies worldwide. It’s also popularized the ocarina, a tiny, ancient, potato-shaped musical instrument made of clay.
The ocarina doesn’t look like much of a musical instrument. However, when it’s played—by blowing into its mouthpiece and covering various holes around its misshapen body—it produces a strikingly serene and hauntingly hopeful sound.
The ocarina’s maker took a lump of clay, applied pressure and heat to it, and transformed it into an amazing musical instrument. I see a picture of God and us here. Isaiah 64:6, 8–9 tells us: “All of us have become like one who is unclean. . . . Yet you, Lord , are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter. . . . Do not be angry beyond measure.” The prophet was saying: God, You’re in charge. We’re all sinful. Shape us into beautiful instruments for You.
That’s exactly what God does! In His mercy, He sent His Son, Jesus, to die for our sin, and now He’s shaping and transforming us as we walk in step with His Spirit every day. Just as the ocarina maker’s breath flows through the instrument to produce beautiful music, God works through us—His molded instruments—to accomplish His beautiful will: to be more and more like Jesus (Romans 8:29).
(By Ruth Wan, Our Daily Bread)
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