(Dear Lord Jesus, guide me and give me insight as I read and study Your word, and let it be the meditation of my heart...)
(Job 22:1-30) Then Eliphaz the Temanite responded,
2 “Can a strong man be of use to God,
Or a wise one be useful to himself?
3 Is it any pleasure to the Almighty if you are righteous,
Or gain if you make your ways blameless?
4 Is it because of your reverence that He punishes you,
That He enters into judgment against you?
5 Is your wickedness not abundant,
And is there no end to your guilty deeds?
6 For you have seized pledges from your brothers without cause,
And stripped people naked.
7 You have given the weary no water to drink,
And you have withheld bread from the hungry.
8 But the earth belongs to the powerful man,
And the one who is honorable dwells on it.
9 You have sent widows away empty,
And the strength of orphans has been crushed.
10 Therefore traps surround you,
And sudden dread terrifies you,
11 Or darkness, so that you cannot see,
And a flood of water covers you.
12 “Is God not in the height of heaven?
Look also at the highest stars, how high they are!
13 But you say, ‘What does God know?
Can He judge through the thick darkness?
14 Clouds are a hiding place for Him, so that He cannot see;
And He walks on the vault of heaven.’
15 Will you keep to the ancient path
Which wicked people have walked,
16 Who were snatched away before their time,
Whose foundations were washed away by a river?
17 They said to God, ‘Go away from us!’
And ‘What can the Almighty do to them?’
18 Yet He filled their houses with good things;
But the advice of the wicked is far from me.
19 The righteous see and are glad,
And the innocent mock them, saying,
20 ‘Truly our enemies are eliminated,
And fire has consumed their abundance.’
21 “Be reconciled with Him, and be at peace;
Thereby good will come to you.
22 Please receive instruction from His mouth,
And put His words in your heart.
23 If you return to the Almighty, you will be restored;
If you remove injustice far from your tent,
24 And put your gold in the dust,
And the gold of Ophir among the stones of the brooks,
25 Then the Almighty will be your gold
And abundant silver to you.
26 For then you will take pleasure in the Almighty
And lift up your face to God.
27 You will pray to Him, and He will hear you;
And you will pay your vows.
28 You will also decide something, and it will be established for you;
And light will shine on your ways.
29 When they have brought you low, you will speak with confidence,
And He will save the humble person.
30 He will rescue one who is not innocent,
And he will be rescued due to the cleanness of your hands.”
2 “Can a strong man be of use to God,
Or a wise one be useful to himself?
3 Is it any pleasure to the Almighty if you are righteous,
Or gain if you make your ways blameless?
4 Is it because of your reverence that He punishes you,
That He enters into judgment against you?
5 Is your wickedness not abundant,
And is there no end to your guilty deeds?
6 For you have seized pledges from your brothers without cause,
And stripped people naked.
7 You have given the weary no water to drink,
And you have withheld bread from the hungry.
8 But the earth belongs to the powerful man,
And the one who is honorable dwells on it.
9 You have sent widows away empty,
And the strength of orphans has been crushed.
10 Therefore traps surround you,
And sudden dread terrifies you,
11 Or darkness, so that you cannot see,
And a flood of water covers you.
12 “Is God not in the height of heaven?
Look also at the highest stars, how high they are!
13 But you say, ‘What does God know?
Can He judge through the thick darkness?
14 Clouds are a hiding place for Him, so that He cannot see;
And He walks on the vault of heaven.’
15 Will you keep to the ancient path
Which wicked people have walked,
16 Who were snatched away before their time,
Whose foundations were washed away by a river?
17 They said to God, ‘Go away from us!’
And ‘What can the Almighty do to them?’
18 Yet He filled their houses with good things;
But the advice of the wicked is far from me.
19 The righteous see and are glad,
And the innocent mock them, saying,
20 ‘Truly our enemies are eliminated,
And fire has consumed their abundance.’
21 “Be reconciled with Him, and be at peace;
Thereby good will come to you.
22 Please receive instruction from His mouth,
And put His words in your heart.
23 If you return to the Almighty, you will be restored;
If you remove injustice far from your tent,
24 And put your gold in the dust,
And the gold of Ophir among the stones of the brooks,
25 Then the Almighty will be your gold
And abundant silver to you.
26 For then you will take pleasure in the Almighty
And lift up your face to God.
27 You will pray to Him, and He will hear you;
And you will pay your vows.
28 You will also decide something, and it will be established for you;
And light will shine on your ways.
29 When they have brought you low, you will speak with confidence,
And He will save the humble person.
30 He will rescue one who is not innocent,
And he will be rescued due to the cleanness of your hands.”
(Job 23:1-17) Then Job responded,
2 “Even today my complaint is rebellion;
His hand is heavy despite my groaning.
3 Oh that I knew how to find Him,
That I might come to His home!
4 I would present my case before Him
And fill my mouth with arguments.
5 I would learn the words which He would answer,
And perceive what He would tell me.
6 Would He contend with me by the greatness of His power?
No, surely He would pay attention to me.
7 There the upright would argue with Him;
And I would be free of my Judge forever.
8 “Behold, I go forward but He is not there,
And backward, but I cannot perceive Him;
9 When He acts on the left, I cannot see Him;
He turns to the right, but I cannot see Him.
10 But He knows the way I take;
When He has put me to the test, I will come out as gold.
11 My foot has held on to His path;
I have kept His way and not turned aside.
12 I have not failed the command of His lips;
I have treasured the words of His mouth more than my necessary food.
13 But He is unique, and who can make Him turn?
Whatever His soul desires, He does it.
14 For He carries out what is destined for me,
And many such destinies are with Him.
15 Therefore, I would be terrified at His presence;
When I consider this, I am frightened of Him.
16 It is God who has made my heart faint,
And the Almighty who has terrified me,
17 But I am not destroyed by darkness,
Nor by deep gloom which covers me.
2 “Even today my complaint is rebellion;
His hand is heavy despite my groaning.
3 Oh that I knew how to find Him,
That I might come to His home!
4 I would present my case before Him
And fill my mouth with arguments.
5 I would learn the words which He would answer,
And perceive what He would tell me.
6 Would He contend with me by the greatness of His power?
No, surely He would pay attention to me.
7 There the upright would argue with Him;
And I would be free of my Judge forever.
8 “Behold, I go forward but He is not there,
And backward, but I cannot perceive Him;
9 When He acts on the left, I cannot see Him;
He turns to the right, but I cannot see Him.
10 But He knows the way I take;
When He has put me to the test, I will come out as gold.
11 My foot has held on to His path;
I have kept His way and not turned aside.
12 I have not failed the command of His lips;
I have treasured the words of His mouth more than my necessary food.
13 But He is unique, and who can make Him turn?
Whatever His soul desires, He does it.
14 For He carries out what is destined for me,
And many such destinies are with Him.
15 Therefore, I would be terrified at His presence;
When I consider this, I am frightened of Him.
16 It is God who has made my heart faint,
And the Almighty who has terrified me,
17 But I am not destroyed by darkness,
Nor by deep gloom which covers me.
(Job 24:1-25)
1 “Why are times not stored up by the Almighty,
And why do those who know Him not see His days?
2 People remove landmarks;
They seize and devour flocks.
3 They drive away the donkeys of orphans;
They seize the widow’s ox as a pledge.
4 They push the needy aside from the road;
The poor of the land have to hide themselves together.
5 Behold, like wild donkeys in the wilderness
They go out scavenging for food in their activity,
As bread for their children in the desert.
6 They harvest their feed in the field
And glean the vineyard of the wicked.
7 They spend the night naked, without clothing,
And have no covering against the cold.
8 They are wet from the mountain rains,
And they hug the rock for lack of a shelter.
9 Others snatch an orphan from the breast,
And they seize it as a pledge against the poor.
10 The poor move about naked without clothing,
And they carry sheaves, while going hungry.
11 Within the walls they produce oil;
They tread wine presses but go thirsty.
12 From the city people groan,
And the souls of the wounded cry for help;
Yet God does not pay attention to the offensiveness.
13 “Others have been with those who rebel against the light;
They do not want to know its ways
Nor stay in its paths.
14 The murderer arises at dawn;
He kills the poor and the needy,
And at night he is like a thief.
15 The eye of the adulterer watches for twilight,
Saying, ‘No eye will see me.’
And he disguises his face.
16 In the darkness they dig into houses,
They shut themselves up by day;
They do not know the light.
17 For the morning is the same to him as thick darkness,
For he is familiar with the terrors of thick darkness.
18 “They are insignificant on the surface of the water;
Their plot of land on the earth is cursed.
They do not turn toward the vineyards.
19 Dryness and heat snatch away the snow waters,
As Sheol snatches those who have sinned.
20 A mother will forget him;
The maggot feeds sweetly until he is no longer remembered.
And injustice will be broken like a tree.
21 He wrongs the infertile woman,
And does no good for the widow.
22 But He drags off the mighty by His power;
He rises, but no one has assurance of life.
23 He provides them with security, and they are supported;
And His eyes are on their ways.
24 They are exalted a little while, then they are gone;
Moreover, they are brought low, and like everything they are gathered up;
Like the heads of grain they wither.
25 Now if it is not so, who can prove me a liar,
And make my speech worthless?”
TODAY'S THOUGHTS AND MEDITATION:
And why do those who know Him not see His days?
2 People remove landmarks;
They seize and devour flocks.
3 They drive away the donkeys of orphans;
They seize the widow’s ox as a pledge.
4 They push the needy aside from the road;
The poor of the land have to hide themselves together.
5 Behold, like wild donkeys in the wilderness
They go out scavenging for food in their activity,
As bread for their children in the desert.
6 They harvest their feed in the field
And glean the vineyard of the wicked.
7 They spend the night naked, without clothing,
And have no covering against the cold.
8 They are wet from the mountain rains,
And they hug the rock for lack of a shelter.
9 Others snatch an orphan from the breast,
And they seize it as a pledge against the poor.
10 The poor move about naked without clothing,
And they carry sheaves, while going hungry.
11 Within the walls they produce oil;
They tread wine presses but go thirsty.
12 From the city people groan,
And the souls of the wounded cry for help;
Yet God does not pay attention to the offensiveness.
13 “Others have been with those who rebel against the light;
They do not want to know its ways
Nor stay in its paths.
14 The murderer arises at dawn;
He kills the poor and the needy,
And at night he is like a thief.
15 The eye of the adulterer watches for twilight,
Saying, ‘No eye will see me.’
And he disguises his face.
16 In the darkness they dig into houses,
They shut themselves up by day;
They do not know the light.
17 For the morning is the same to him as thick darkness,
For he is familiar with the terrors of thick darkness.
18 “They are insignificant on the surface of the water;
Their plot of land on the earth is cursed.
They do not turn toward the vineyards.
19 Dryness and heat snatch away the snow waters,
As Sheol snatches those who have sinned.
20 A mother will forget him;
The maggot feeds sweetly until he is no longer remembered.
And injustice will be broken like a tree.
21 He wrongs the infertile woman,
And does no good for the widow.
22 But He drags off the mighty by His power;
He rises, but no one has assurance of life.
23 He provides them with security, and they are supported;
And His eyes are on their ways.
24 They are exalted a little while, then they are gone;
Moreover, they are brought low, and like everything they are gathered up;
Like the heads of grain they wither.
25 Now if it is not so, who can prove me a liar,
And make my speech worthless?”
TODAY'S THOUGHTS AND MEDITATION:
Understandably, we have seen Job vent a lot. But (in 22:4) Eliphaz is wrong in his question, "Is it because of your reverence that He punishes you?" Eliphaz is assuming that God is punishing Job. But from the very first two chapters of the book, we know God said that Job was righteous and He allowed Job to be tested. Now, as Job gets further into the testing period, he is certainly flailing. As far as when we ARE in the wrong, we must keep in mind that God punishes the wicked, but disciplines His children. There is a big difference.
Always we should be searching our hearts for where we might be wrong, then confess, reconcile and change... And if we have searched our hearts and we cannot recognize any sins to confess, then continue following God. We should not be daunted when others judge us unfairly. They too struggle with sin, and God, who is holy, righteous and all-knowing, is our Judge, and He is faithful to forgive. So once we confess, we no longer have to feel remorse! We CAN move on in God's strength, peace and joy, no matter what we are experiencing around us.
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