Job chose to be silent after all the time wanting to have a chance to plead his innocence before God, but after seeing God Job decided he no longer needed to say anything. He could then see how limited he was as a human. He became humbled. When Job saw the greatness of God, he had no more complaint. As God revealed Himself to Job, all he could do is repent.
Now we come to the conclusion of the book of Job. Some may feel a little disappointed not to learn the reasons that bad things happen to good people. God does not explain Job’s suffering and instead of argument He gives interrogation. Job was not meant to have his suffering explained. We, like Job, are meant to learn the lesson that God can not explain our suffering without nullifying the purpose for the suffering. It all comes down to Faith - complete trust or confidence in God!
Job 42:1-6
Then Job replied to the LORD: “I know that you can do all things; no purpose of yours can be thwarted. You asked, ‘Who is this that obscures my plans without knowledge?’ Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know. “You said, ‘Listen now, and I will speak; I will question you, and you shall answer me.’ My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you. Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes.”
Then, in the end, something wonderful happened. Verse twelve of chapter 42 says that “The LORD blessed the latter part of Job’s life more than the former part.” That gives us some sort of relief after imagining Job’s suffering. However we are not promised our reward for endurance will be on this side of Heaven. In faith we must allow God to work in our lives the way He wants. We should strive to learn who He is instead of why He does things. To know God is all one needs to know.
I want to have a little fun with some of what we read today. Have you ever wondered where all the stories about dragons really come from? Have you ever wondered if there was some truth to those legends of fire-breathing dragons? What do you think about today’s reading? My study notes suggest that the text is describing a crocodile, but wouldn’t it have to be a very large croc to match up with the details given? I think it would have to be very large like that of a “dinosaur.” Hey but wait a minute? Did dinosaurs live during the same time as man? I believe they did because God created our world in six days and man was created on the sixth day, just one day after all the living creatures. There is something very significant about this text.
Some explain away some of the details of these animals described as being mythological. Of course it is hard to imagine a fire-breathing dragon could be real but the Word is clearly explaining something other than the ordinary crocodile or alligator. If a fire-breathing creature is difficult to believe in then look up the bombardier beetle. This beetle is a native of Central America, and has a nozzle in its hind end that acts like a little flame thrower.
I bring out this point about the leviathan simply because of what I was taught growing up. I was taught at church that God created the whole universe in six days and then went to school and was taught that life on earth evolved over millions of years. I wonder how many young lives have been steered in the wrong direction because of this. As christian parents, we want to bring up our children in the"nuture and admonition of the Lord..." The very first concept taught in the Bible, that we must pass on to our children, is "In the Beginning God created the heavens and the earth" (Gen 1:1) Then we come to the book of Job and read more about God through His creation. "Where were you when I laid the earth's foundations?" Job 38:4
Many Christian parents are now sending their Children to Christian private schools or are homeschooling for the very reason that you stated near the end of your post. You are taught that God created the world in six days and on the seventh rested. Public schools teach evolution. We know that is not so. My son's family is home schooled because of this. When the kids hear that it took thousands of years for the earth to be made and how we evolved from monkeys, they will say "fairy tales."
ReplyDeleteI have always thought that Job went through all the suffering to show satan that he could not shake the faith of Job. I now know that sometimes it is not because of sin that people suffer but it is done to glorify God.
Great post Amy! I love your line "We, like Job, are meant to learn the lesson that God can not explain our suffering without nullifying the purpose for the suffering. It all comes down to Faith - complete trust or confidence in God!" Again- the message I've heard over and over again- God is God and I am not! I can't help but wonder if the "latter" part of all our lives would be more blessed if we could just hang on to this concept and live it out! Another thing that has struck me in reading this book has been that it is not always about us. Job's trials were part of a grander scheme, visible and understandable only by God that played out in the spiritual realm. Again, I've got to be able to trust, in the midst of my trials, that God still sees me, loves me, and wants to help me- but I may not understand everything about them.
ReplyDeleteRegarding the "Leviathan"- there has been a lot of talk about creation around our house lately because Aaron has been preparing some lessons about it for his Wednesday night class. Suffice to say- again, it's one of those things that requires faith that God is God. I know He created the world. Are there creatures that did exist that now do not? We know that's true because of fossils we've found. What we have NOT found is any conclusive evidence of ANY species "evolving" from another. It's shocking how little evidence they have for evolution. Who knows what this animal was. Crocodile or dragon (which I think would be really cool if that's what it was...) the point is again, that we don't know but God does. God is God, and I am not!
I think that the "summary" that God gives of the creation is really cool seeing as how some scholars say that the book of Job is one of the oldest books of the Bible chronologically even though it appears in our Bibles close to the middle.
ReplyDeleteI took a class on Genesis chapters 1-11 that was 13 weeks on just these chapters, so needless to say it was VERY in depth! It was a Kay Arthur study and if any of you have ever done any of her studies, you know how VERY in depth they are and it is done by letting Scripture interpret itself. In that study, we learned that the earth is THOUSANDS (approximately 10,000) of years old NOT MILLIONS. As Christians with a Biblical world view, when you really study Scripture, we HAVE to believe in a YOUNG earth! And according to the Bible, ALL of the creatures were made on the sixth day, so yes, this would mean that dinosaurs were on the earth when man was on the earth. Hence, the book of Job makes more sense in terms of the Leviathon. Obviously dinosaurs are no longer around, so something obviously happened to them at some point after the flood. Also, we learned that there is NO, I REPEAT NOOOOO scientific basis for evolution AT ALL!!!! As a matter of fact, the scientific evidence COMPLETELY and TOTALLY refutes the theory of evolution. But people continue to hang onto this, quite frankly, STUPID theory AND it is still taught in our schools!!! APOLOGETICS is SO VERY IMPORTANT!!! WE NEED TO KNOW HOW TO DEFEND OUR FAITH!!! GEAR UP!!!
Job was speechless! Clearly when God spoke, Job had nothing to say... and then repented. Yes, God is God and we are not!
ReplyDeleteI appreciate all the information and details about creation. Thank you gals for reminding me of the truth and details in God's creation. The details of the bombardier beetle are amazing. When looking at those details and how God created an amazing little "machine" like that, I wonder how people can believe that things like that just evolve... just evolve???
No one but our God could create us and the earth with such clarity and purpose. Praise Him!