Today's post is by guest writer Lucas Ward.

In Acts 5, the Apostles are brought before the Sanhedrin who are enraged that they have turned Jerusalem upside down by teaching Jesus and the resurrection. After some deliberation, the Sanhedrin had the Apostles beaten and then ordered them not to continue preaching Jesus. Given Jewish custom each Apostle was probably beaten 39 times with a cane. This was not a minor punishment to shake off easily. Then comes Acts 5:41 “They therefore departed from the presence of the council rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the Name.”

I have never understood that verse. I mean, the words are easy enough to understand. I know what the sentence means, but I have never been able to grasp how they could feel that way. “Rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer”? It doesn’t make sense! One of the outstanding things about the Bible is how human it is. The people described in it act like people would normally act in those circumstances. Even when the cultures differ, we can understand why people with those cultures would act the way the Bible says they act. Except this verse. In all the Bible, this is the verse that has always rung untrue for me: these are supermen, not real people! I’ve heard sermons and sat in Bible classes about this bit of scripture and the preachers/teachers try their best to explain, but my biggest impression of those sermons/classes has always been that they don’t really fathom the idea either. Really, how can anyone think that it is an honor to suffer? Keeping the faith through suffering, yes. But to be counted (or considered) worthy to suffer is an honor? I don’t get it.

Or didn’t until after I had completed teaching my class on Job. A few weeks after I had concluded that class I thought of Acts 5 and a lightbulb went off. You see, in the class we had discussed how God had carefully picked Job as the person to go through these trials. Notice that in Job 1 it is God who calls Satan’s attention to Job by holding Job up as an exemplar of what a righteous person should be. By allowing Satan to persecute Job, God was proving that the righteous will love Him because of who He is, not because of blessings being showered down. Job lived that. Instead of cursing God, as Satan predicted, Job glorified God and worshipped. Satan was proven wrong and is not heard from again in the book. God had carefully picked Job as the one who could undergo suffering and triumph in his faith. Oddly, it was a compliment from God that Job was allowed to suffer.

Think about your job. Doesn’t the boss have certain people he goes to when really tough tasks come up? They are the best workers he has available. He isn’t punishing those people with hard work, he just knows that they are best equipped to handle it. The hard task shows his confidence in those employees and is, essentially, a compliment. So it is when we are allowed to suffer for the Name of Jesus. God understands that we can handle those trials and come through for Him. (1 Cor. 10:13). It is an honor to be chosen to suffer for Him.

Let me tell you, if God were to replay the events of Job today, He wouldn’t pick me as the person He held up to Satan. When I said that, most/all of my class nodded in agreement that they would not be picked either. It takes true spiritual maturity and deep faith to accept all that Job handled in those first two chapters and to then say “The Lord gives and the Lord takes away. Blessed be the name of the Lord”. In picking Job, God considered him worthy to suffer for Him. I’m not sure there is a higher compliment God gives. And this is why the Apostles rejoiced that they had been considered worthy. It reinforced for them God’s faith in them. And that would make anyone feel good.

If I never find myself suffering for Christ, maybe it is because He has no confidence in me. In that case, I need to step it up so that I may join in the Apostles’ rejoicing one day.
Lucas Ward

Today's post is by guest writer Keith Ward.

Sometimes we focus too much on theology and theory. It is interesting to try to understand the why’s and the methods by which God works. We understand that a man is saved by grace; that he is saved by faith. But sometimes, some go too far in their assertions of what that means in relation to the life a Christian must live. Their theories state that one cannot overcome sin on a regular continuing basis.
 
Their theories begin to usurp the place of plain statements of scripture and often excuse a careless attitude toward God’s demand for holy living. And, make no mistake, it is a demand.
 
Not to dismiss the passages on grace and faith from which the theology proceeds, let us consider some of the “on the other hand” applications made by the same writers inspired by the same Holy Spirit.
 
Having therefore these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.  (2 Cor 7:1)
 
Sort of absolute, “all.”  Perfecting is ongoing as is the cleansing—get clean and stay clean.
 
For the grace of God hath appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us, to the intent that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly and righteously and godly in this present world; (Titus 2: 11-12)
 
Grace instructs all to live righteously, godly.
 
Holding faith and a good conscience; which some having thrust from them made shipwreck concerning the faith:  (1Tim 1:19)
 
So, one could go a whole day, or longer with a good conscience! In fact, the grace of God is so powerful in one’s life that he has to “thrust” a good conscience away, shove it aside.
 
For this is the will of God, [even] your sanctification, that ye abstain from fornication; (1Thess 4:3) Abstain from every form of evil.  (1Thess 5:22)
 
We understand this means to abstain from evil in every shape it comes in. Again, the Holy Spirit is very absolute.
 
Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.  (Col 3:5)
 
Kill it. Don’t just reduce it. Kill it. Don’t be satisfied with being better than last week or last year, KILL IT!
 
Envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these, I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.  (Gal 5:21)
 
Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness?  (Rom 6:16)
Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey the lusts thereof:  neither present your members unto sin [as] instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves unto God, as alive from the dead, and your members [as] instruments of righteousness unto God.  For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under law, but under grace.  (Rom 6: 12-14)
 
Grace is the power to choose whom you serve. To sin is to serve sin and to prove oneself not under grace. Sin is a choice to obey ourselves instead of living in Grace.
 
But I buffet my body, and bring it into bondage: lest by any means, after that I have preached to others, I myself should be rejected.  (1Cor 9:27)
 
If Paul had to work at it this hard, we know that it is not easy. To buffet is to beat like a boxer. No nonsense about that approach.
 
With all the theorizing about grace and faith, that one cannot achieve sinlessness, even for a short time, we discourage others from doing what the Scriptures clearly command. Perhaps we could even say, grace has become a cloak to cover impenitence.
 
To repent means to STOP what one repents of. That is clearly the import of these passages and a dozen of others.
 
The sermons I have heard that use these verses usually go on to say that we all know we cannot really do this! Really?! Are they not saying to just keep sinning and praying forgiveness that grace may abound (Rom 6:1)?
 
If God said it, he gives us the power to do it. Doing it is a daily effort. These verses were written to people who had been Christians for some time. Therefore, Grace does not magically make us ok despite the sin or cause God to ignore the sin on the basis of Christ. God expects us to overcome our sin.
 
Yes, I struggle; more, perhaps on that later. Overcoming is no easy task and getting old is not a solution or else 66 is still too young. The solution is to effectively use the grace of God to renew our minds and transform ourselves.

Keith Ward

Today’s post is by guest writer Lucas Ward.  It is almost a double post. Plan a lengthy sitting to read it all.

Today I want to look at the concept of wisdom as it is presented in Job. To do that, the first thing we need to inspect is the literary structure of the book.

The book of Job has a very interesting structure in an A B C D E D’ C’ B’ A’ format. To wit:

A. Job is prosperous (1:1-3)
B. Job acts as priest for his children (1:4-6)
C. God speaks twice to Satan (1:7-2:9)
D. Conflict between Job and his Friends (3-27)
E. Ode to Wisdom (28)
D’. Conflict between Job and Elihu (29-37)
C’. God speaks twice to Job (38-42:6)
B’. Job acts as priest for his Friends (42:7-9)
A’. Job is prosperous (42:10-17)

Notice that, in this format, the ode to wisdom in chapter 28 is the center of the book. Everything that happens before chapter 28 has a corresponding event after chapter 28. If we were to graph this on a chart, it would look like a beam of light bouncing at an angle off a mirror, with each event in Job having a mirror image except chapter 28, which would be at the point in which the light hits the mirror. This structure, with the ode to wisdom at the center of the book, strongly suggests that the central theme of Job is wisdom.

“What?” I can hear you yelling, “No it isn’t! Job is about human suffering and why bad things happen to good people, and why we go through trials, and about patience to deal with those trials, and . . .” And I’ll agree that a lot of those things are present in the book, but if the question the book deals with is “why do we suffer?” then why is the answer to Job’s suffering given to us in chapter 1? Job never learns why he had to go through such suffering, but we are told at the very beginning that God was using Job to prove an essential point to Satan—that true servants of God don’t serve Him just for the reward, but because He is worthy of the service. Since we have the answer in chapter 1, what is the point of the rest of the book? Again, based on its central position in the book, it is the ode to wisdom in chapter 28. So let’s inspect it for a moment.

Chapter 28 begins by acknowledging that man can find anything that is valuable. If it is precious minerals like gold, copper & tin (to make bronze), or iron (for steel weapons), man will track it down. Overturning mountains, lighting up caverns, tracking it down in wilderness areas even the wild animals don’t know about, man will find it. But then comes verse 12. In spite of being able to find anything else on or in the Earth, man cannot find wisdom. The poem then turns to the marketplace where anything can be bought and everything has a price. Except wisdom, which can’t be bought no matter how much of what type of precious commodities one has. Finally, in verses 23-28 we see that God, and only God, knows the way to wisdom. He established it and defined it. It is only through Him that man gets any inkling, any speck of wisdom. Wisdom, as God defines it, is to fear Him and turn away from evil.

It is a beautiful poem showing the value of wisdom and God’s preeminence, but, on the surface it doesn’t seem to have anything to do with the rest of the book. It almost feels like it should be Proverbs 32, rather than Job 28, but that’s because it is easy to get distracted when reading Job. We get distracted by Job’s pathetic wails of grief and pain and the friends’ seemingly unsympathetic attacks. Elihu’s hubris amazes and God’s appearance awes. One has to read Job with the centrality of chapter 28 in mind to see just how all pervasive the concept of wisdom is to the book.

I went back through Job looking for places where wisdom, teaching, or knowledge was mentioned. I looked for places where the speaker implored the others to listen and he would tell them truth. Mentions of proverbs, explanations and similar phrases were also noted. And from chapter 4 through 36:4 (not counting chapter 28) I found 46 places where the concept of wisdom/teachings was mentioned or discussed. I quit at 36:4 because I ran out of energy; there might be a couple more between there and chapter 38, where God speaks. And, of course, God’s speeches are full of the discussion of wisdom as He demands Job explain the workings of the world to God, if Job is so smart.

Yes, Job and his friends are trying to deal with the problem of human suffering and why God allows the righteous to suffer, but they are using their concepts of wisdom to deal with those problems all the while denying the wisdom of their opponents. This is most clear in the first round of discussion, in which the friends are essentially being good examples of what Paul later commands in Galatians 6:1. They erroneously see Job’s suffering as punishment from God and assume that means that Job has sinned and they each try to convince him to turn back to the Lord. In fact, the only real invitations you see in the Bible are in the book of Job as each friend in the first round of speeches invites Job to return to the Lord. While they are trying to bring back their “erring brother”, as they see it, they each proclaim that what they are telling Job is wisdom.

Eliphaz finishes his speech by saying “Lo this, we have searched it, so it is; Hear it, and know thou it for thy good.” Job 5:27.  He claims to have researched what he is teaching Job and knows it is true. It is wisdom to live by.

Bildad goes further in saying “For inquire, I pray thee, of the former age, And apply thyself to that which their fathers have searched out: (For we are but of yesterday, and know nothing, Because our days upon earth are a shadow); Shall not they teach thee, and tell thee, And utter words out of their heart?” 8:8-10. Bildad claims to be giving Job not his own wisdom, but the wisdom of the ancients. When Job still refuses to listen to their “wisdom”

Zophar then nearly claims to be speaking for God: “But oh that God would speak, And open his lips against thee, And that he would show thee the secrets of wisdom! For he is manifold in understanding.” When Zophar continues to speak after this he is at least claiming that his words are backed by what God would say. In all three cases, the friends are trying to teach Job wisdom that they believe will help him in his predicament. Of course, they are wrong, but that is their intention.
J
ob begins to answer in force in chapter 12. In the first three verses he mocks their wisdom, essentially calling it too simplistic for the problems he sees. In 13:1-3 he repeats that idea in a more clear way: “Behold, my eye has seen all this, my ear has heard and understood it. What you know, I also know; I am not inferior to you. But I would speak to the Almighty, and I desire to argue my case with God.” Job is saying he already knows what the friends are telling him but that isn’t enough. He wants to move forward and speak to God. He wants greater understanding that what they are offering (which he already knows anyway). He then tells his friends they would show their wisdom better if they just shut up.

Throughout the remaining discussions between Job and the friends, the friends keep claiming to have the right wisdom for dealing with these problems, but Job continues to poke holes in their arguments and mock their understanding. In the process, Job builds up concepts of wisdom that are far more profound than the friends’ paltry offerings, and nearly gets to the correct answer (he is oh so close in chapter 23 before he again allows his grief to overwhelm him). What Job does accomplish is a complete dismantlement of all the friends’ arguments. He makes them look like fools and they shut up, bewildered.

Then Elihu enters the fray and it seems that all he talks about is wisdom. All he says in chapter 32 is a defense of his right to speak. He has wisdom too, better than the old men around him, and he will speak it. He then tells Job repeatedly in 33 that he will teach Job (never stated so baldly by the friends), asks the wise men to judge between his words and Job’s in chapter 34, claiming that all the wise will side with him and say that Job has no insight. Then in 36:2-3 he flat-out claims to be speaking for God and in verse 4 says he is “perfect in knowledge”. Despite his hubris, Elihu is often right as he tries to answer the problems brought up by Job. Right, but with a caveat. What he says doesn’t apply to Job’s situation (known to us from chapters 1&2). He is right in the facts (God is great) but wrong in the application (you don’t have the right to ask the question!). So, finally, despite all his claims, Elihu doesn’t get the answers through his wisdom either.

God has to come upon the scene to dispense the proper wisdom for dealing with the problems facing Job. God’s answers basically boil down to “There are things you can’t understand, but I do understand them and I’m in charge watching out for all these things. Trust me.” In a lot of ways, what God says boils down to 28:28. Fear God and turn away from evil. If Job just feared God, let Him handle what Job didn’t understand, and kept himself pure, all would turn out ok. And that’s what eventually happened.

Did you notice how closely this perusal of the theme of wisdom through the book of Job followed the ode to wisdom in chapter 28? All through the discussions Job is searching for the wisdom to deal with his problems and to know the whys. His friends offer their best, but it is fool’s gold. Just like it says in chapter 28, man’s best efforts can’t find true wisdom. Finally, after the best man can do, after a great search for correct wisdom from some very intelligent and wise men turns up nothing, God has to come upon the scene to give out the true wisdom. Just like Chapter 28. The true point of Job seems to be that man’s wisdom will never be able to obtain all the answers. The best that man’s wisdom can do will still leave us short on some of the most important questions. Job is teaching us that to get the answers to those problems we must turn to God for the proper wisdom. And then we learn that God’s answer is “Don’t worry about it, you wouldn’t understand anyway. But I love you and am looking out for you, so just trust me. I got this.”
 
Lucas Ward

“Remember not the sins of my youth” -- These are words from a currently popular song, in turn taken from David’s words in Psa 25:7.

Now why should we, or David either, be worried about sins of long ago –long, long ago for some of us?  We and he repented, we/he confessed, we/he prayed.  We were forgiven—long ago.

But, I confess that the temptations that BESET me are those same sins that started in my youth.  Perhaps in that time of hubris, Satan finds our weakest character trait and attacks and lodges arrows whose tips bedevil us with the pain of sin all our lives.

To illustrate: The popular kids in high school cussed and so did I.  (Shame on me).  I kept that world separate from home and Mom never knew—provable by the fact that the only scars on my hide are bullet holes and various self-inflicted accidental wounds.  I got to college and waxed worse, still leading singing and making talks.  Then I obtained a master’s degree in bad language in the USMC.  I went to Florida College 3 years, preached full time for 10 and part time for years, and have been a deacon for decades.  I cleaned it up.  But when frustration builds up, I still fight the battle over, when multiple things go wrong in a short time and I am tired and, and, and….the words are at the tip of my tongue, in the edge of my mind.  Shame on me.

I wish I could say that is the only sin that began in my youth, battles I still fight too often.  I suspect David was warning young people—don’t start.  It never stops.  The appetites that you do not learn to control now will haunt you all your lives.

For that same reason, Paul warns a middle-aged Timothy, “Flee youthful lusts.”  Old people are bothered by the same temptations that plague young ones.  Problems may vary from vulgar language to pornography to covetous materialism to sexual fantasies to lying to envy, or a host of others, but the principle remains that it is easier to never begin than to stop, easier to stop when you are young than later.  Now is the time.

So, with David and Paul, I would also warn:  Learn now to control yourself.  Every indulgence will weaken you and haunt you all your life.  Not because it is unforgiven but because it never goes away.  Like an addiction, sin/Satan never leaves you alone.  You can control it, but you are never over it.
 
So you too consider yourselves dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its desires, and do not present your members to sin as instruments to be used for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who are alive from the dead and your members to God as instruments to be used for righteousness. For sin will have no mastery over you, because you are not under law but under grace.  (Rom 6:11-14, NET)
 
Keith Ward

Today's post is by guest writer Lucas Ward.

First we must first back up to chapter 40.

In verse two God challenges Job to answer His first speech and Job's answer is inadequate, to say the least: Job 40:4-5 "Behold, I am of small account; what shall I answer you? I lay my hand on my mouth. I have spoken once, and I will not answer; twice, but I will proceed no further." At first this doesn't seem so bad; Job is acknowledging his smallness before God and that he doesn't have the right to speak. But look again. God has demanded Job speak, and Job refuses. Oh, he coaches it in respectful sounding words, 'I am small, I cannot answer', but he is refusing to answer God's speech because he knows he can't.

One commentator likened this to a child who was caught doing something wrong and won't talk back to his parents, but won't acknowledge wrong either and is just sullenly waiting out the tongue lashing. "Saving up more spit". God's second speech reflects this in Job, as well. While the first speech contained its share of sarcasm, it was largely in a teaching mode. God's second speech, 40:6-41:34, is downright angry at the beginning and harsher throughout. For example Job 40:8-9 "Will you even put me in the wrong? Will you condemn me that you may be in the right? Have you an arm like God, and can you thunder with a voice like his?" 41:10b "Who then is he who can stand before me?" Also, think about this: if Job had responded in the way God wanted, why did God bother to deliver a second speech? I know that if fits in the poetic structure of the book, but the book was designed around what actually happened, it didn't change what happened to fit the book. Otherwise the scripture is untrue. So therefore God gave a second speech to Job, a harsher speech, because Job didn't respond properly after the first time.

That leads us to Job 42:1-6 and Job's second response to God which is totally different from his first response. He quotes two of God's challenges to him and acknowledges that God was right to call him into question and that he was wrong. Job then "repent[ed] in dust and ashes". Once Job acknowledged his sin and repented, it was over as far as God was concerned. The next thing we see is God elevating Job before the friends as they are told to take sacrifices to Job and "my servant Job" would pray for them and "I will accept his prayer". If we acknowledge our sins before him and repent, God will forgive us completely (1 John 1:9) and Job is the perfect example of that.

Then we see that Job's family, which had formerly deserted him (19:13-14), finally shows up and helps him out, each giving Job a "piece of money". That very phrase lets us know that Job is an ancient book. Pretty much all money mentioned in the Bible from the time of the Judges onward was referred to by specific names, e.g. shekel, talent, etc. "Piece of money" was used in very ancient times before nation-states began to codify money. The only other uses of it in the Bible are in Genesis 33:19 and Joshua 24:32. After that more regular denominations of monies are usually used. (You will find "piece of silver" a few times, but the Hebrew word, and the implication, is different.) This seems to point to the fact that Job occurred previous to the time of Joshua. Another hint at the time Job lived comes in verse 16 which says he lived 140 years after these things took place. No one knows how old Job was before his test took place, but he was old enough to have 10 adult children, so he was no spring chicken. Some have suggested that since his wealth was doubled after his test was over, his life span after it was doubled also, so he was 70 when Job 1 began. I don't know if that has any merit, but it is hard so believe he was much younger than 70 given the fact of his adult children. It seems likely that he died being at least 200 years old. Given the diminishing lifespans of the patriarchs from the time immediately after the flood (600) to the time of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (175, 180, and 147 respectively) it seems likely that Job lived just prior to Abraham. (Terah, Abraham's father, died at 205.) When was the book written? Who knows, but Job that lived in the patriarchal age seems almost certain from these and other clues.

Job had three daughters after his test and he apparently loved them greatly. They received an inheritance with their brothers, which was unheard of even in the Mosaic Law, and their names also bear out his love for them: Jemimah, Keziah, and Keren-happuch. (Jemimah was almost certainly an aunt many times over but, as far as we know, she never made pancake syrup.) Jemimah means "day" indicating either that she was as beautiful as the day or that she symbolized Job emerging from his period of night. Keziah means "cassia" which was a bark used to make very expensive perfume. It indicates her value to him. Finally Keren-happuch means "horn of stibium". Stibium was a very valuable eye make-up that was highly prized for its enhancement of the eye's natural beauty. It was applied by dipping a wedge into the stibium and then putting the wedge between the eyelids and closing the eyes tightly onto the wedge, which then colored the eyelids like modern eye liner and eye shadow do. If the horn of stibium refers to the container of the makeup, then Keren-happuch's name is another reference to her value and esteem before her father. If the horn referred to the applicator then the name not only indicates her value but also implies that she made those around her more beautiful by her presence. Job obviously loved his daughters.

Lucas Ward

Today's post is by guest writer Keith Ward.

More and more I hear people talk about how “the Lord opened a door to me,” or some variation such as, “This is an opportunity from the Lord.”

My first thought was how nice it is that more and more people are putting the Lord God into their decisions and their lives on an everyday basis. Then, further, that it was nice that they were not too scared of being labeled “Pentecostal” to talk about God working through them.

But then I began to wonder how I am to know whether a door is an opportunity from God or whether it is an open trap from Satan. Of course, if the thing is wrong in and of itself, we can be sure. But, not all Satan’s traps are baited with lusts/evil; some are baited with distractions and time-wasters and faith-weakening actions that are not of themselves sinful. We do agree that God is not whispering the answer in our heads so how can we know?

Well, the Apostle Paul could not tell according to Acts 16. He started for Asia. To all measurements this holy man could take, Asia was the door. The Spirit had to say, “No.” Later Paul would call Ephesus a “great door and effectual,” but not yet, the Spirit said. Then he looked to Bithynia for it likewise seemed to be an opportunity for the gospel, but again the Spirit said, “No.” Finally we know the Spirit led him to Philippi. None of the choices was sinful, but only one was God’s door at that time. Absent such a direct leading from God, no one can know whether a thing is a door or a side road into a bog, not even so spiritual a man as the Apostle Paul.

Some have so fiercely latched onto the idea that their choice is an opportunity from God that even advice from sincere, older, godly men with a whole lot more experience is denounced with, “You do not have enough faith.”

Does no one else see the potential for an almost arrogant spirit in this attitude? First, God chose ME. Second, I listen to no one, not even brethren with knowledge, brethren with love for the Lord and love for me. Third, I turn it into a matter of faith and I have enough to make it go. Often, when the door slams, the opportunity sinks without a trace, and their faith goes with it.

Looking back through my life, I can discern a few times that now appear to me to have been God’s door of opportunity. But is that how God views them? Again, I see many times I slogged through the bog, slowed by mud and briars and in danger of varmints. But, is that how God views those times?

I doubt that at 11:30 pm, Paul and Silas, being in severe pain from a beating and after hours of being locked in stocks, were thinking of their inner prison as a door of opportunity. By dawn, they knew that it had been. All we can do is the thing they did—however they could at that moment they served the Lord. They sang and prayed. Wherever we are, we need to be doing what we can, making the best decisions we can to accomplish God’s work. We must not let ourselves become too enthusiastic, and certainly not too arrogant, to hear wisdom.

Keith Ward

Today's post is by guest writer Lucas Ward.

When God speaks in Job 38-41, He doesn't seem to answer any of Job's questions. He doesn't tell Job why this is happening. He doesn't tell Job what (if anything) he did to deserve this. He doesn't tell Job why, in general, the righteous sometimes suffer and the wicked sometimes prosper. On the surface what God says has nothing to do with anything Job wants to know. But only on the surface. 

God begins in Job 38 by challenging Job to answer some questions. Remember, the last thing Job said was to brag that if he had an indictment from God he would wear it like a crown, march in like a prince, and tell God what's what. (31:35-37) So God says, Ok, I'll ask you some questions and you give me the answers if you know so much. He then asks Job where he was during creation, how the sea was kept in its bounds, and if he could make sure the sun dawned properly, on time, every morning. He asked about the deeps, where light lived, and where God kept the stores of snow and hail. How were the stars kept in their courses? Can Job command the storms? Does Job know anything about the wild animals and how they live?

These obviously rhetorical questions (very sarcastically asked) all have as their answers "I don't know". But on a deeper level, they also imply that God does know. 'Job, you can't do these things, don't understand these things, and can't control these things, but I do understand and can control and order these things,' God seems to be saying. Essentially, God is telling Job to have faith: 'You can't understand it and can't control it, but I can, and I'm on watch. Trust Me.'

Then, after Job's unsatisfactory response in 40:3-5, God begins a second speech which primarily deals with two great beasts which man can't begin to control, but which are small before God. He states His point when speaking of Leviathan in Job 41:10-11 "No one is so fierce that he dares to stir him up. Who then is he who can stand before me? Who has first given to me, that I should repay him? Whatever is under the whole heaven is mine." Unfortunately, the Hebrew in vs 11a -- "Who has first given to me, that I should repay him" -- is very difficult. But all of the various translations have the same underlying idea, that God owes no one anything. This answers Job's questions about why bad things have happened to him despite his prayer being pure and there not being violence in his hands (16:17) but also answers the friends' insistence that God always, and only, rewards the righteous and punishes the wicked (e.g. Bildad in 8:13, 20-21). Being righteous does not earn anyone a reward. If you give all you have and all you are to the Lord, is He obligated to you? No, because "Whatever is under the whole heaven is Mine." He already owned you (and me) and everything you have, so He didn't gain anything by your righteousness, and therefore owes nothing. Likewise, unrighteousness does not hurt the Lord in any way and is not therefore owed punishment. (God does promise ultimate rewards for righteousness and punishment for the wicked in eternity, but He does those things because of who He is and what He has decided to do, not because He owes us anything one way or the other. He doesn't do those things out of obligation to us.) God is telling Job that He can do whatever He wants and He does not have to answer to Job, nor is He in anyway constrained by Job's actions. 

Wow, that seems kind of harsh, doesn't it? Kind of scary? Maybe disheartening? But put these two ideas together: the same God who has just said He can do whatever He wants without any reference to man at all has also been spending these two speeches telling Job that He is in control and He knows what is going on and that Job should trust Him. In other words, despite owing Job nothing, God has a plan for him and is making sure that it all works out. That is pretty much the definition of grace and the motivation behind grace is love. I believe God's speeches might be summed up this way: 'Job, there is a plan at work which you can't understand, but I'm in control and I'll make sure it all works out because I love you.' 

Does Job get the answers he wanted? No, but he gets a better answer.

Lucas Ward

Today’s post is by guest writer, Keith Ward.

It is easy to read a passage and go right past an important thought without catching the Holy Spirit’s intent. This is a major reason those of us who have been studying for years are still discovering new truths.

It is also the reason I do not mark up my Bible. When your Bible has underlines, highlights and notes, all you see when you return to a passage is the same points you marked the last time, or wrote. It is difficult to see or think anything else.

Such a verse is Heb 12:1-3, “Therefore let us also, seeing we are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus the author and perfecter of [our] faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising shame, and hath sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”  We often jump right to the cross and to our need to look to him for an example without considering his motivation.

“Who for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despising shame”

What was “the joy set before him,” Jesus, that made the cross worthwhile? Years ago, I did a Lord’s Supper talk in which I stated the following position.

First, it cannot be Heaven, or returning to the Father. He had those before he came. If that were his goal, he need not have become incarnate in the first place. Or, as late as the betrayal night, he said that he could ask the Father and receive deliverance by legions of angels. No, the cross was not necessary for returning to the Father, neither was any form of death.

So what one thing did the cross gain? He endured the cross for us. We are the “Joy set before him”; the goal that kept him nailed there instead of crying out for the angels of deliverance. Considering him doing so is our motivation for perseverance, per vs 3. We see this more easily if we think about it in abstract terms--he endured for the church, his bride, his body. Otherwise, we must face things inside us that we hope no one else ever finds out, not even our spouses. We know that it is a joke to think that we personally could ever be a joy to the Lord sufficient for such a sacrifice.

But it is true, that is the Holy Spirit’s meaning. You, with all the warts, blemishes and faults that you have not overcome with grace yet (because you have not applied yourself to grace with sufficient devotion), YOU are so great a joy to Jesus that he died that shameful death willingly and with the joy of anticipation of having you for his friend. He is not ashamed to call you “family” (Heb 2:11).

If that is true for you, then I can hope that it is for me too, though, having known better for so long and having not gotten any better than this keeps me doubting.

Let us then “not wax weary fainting in [our] souls”.

Keith Ward

Today's post is by guest writer Lucas Ward.  So read parts 1 through 3, click on guest writers on the right sidebar and scroll down.

Yes, this is a legitimate question, despite Job saying that he repents in 42:6. After all, the word repent only means to change course and does not necessarily imply sin. For example, in Genesis 6:6 God repents of having created man. In Ex. 32:14 it says that the Lord, "repented of the evil which he said he would do unto his people." Since we know that God can't sin, then repenting doesn't necessarily imply that a sin occurred. It might simply imply that a person changed his mind or his planned course of action. However, since Job repented "in dust and ashes" it seems that he was repenting of a sin. If he was merely changing course then dust and ashes would hardly have been necessary. This was mourning added to repentance. 

So it seems Job sinned. Ok, when? We know he got through the initial shock of his trial without sin (1:22, 2:10). Most put it in his final speech, chapters 29-31. After all, he says some pretty shocking things about God in this speech. When we read it, we almost flinch back from the page in fear of being too near when the thunderbolt hits. Job 30:20-23 "I cry to you for help and you do not answer me; I stand, and you only look at me. You have turned cruel to me; with the might of your hand you persecute me. You lift me up on the wind; you make me ride on it, and you toss me about in the roar of the storm. For I know that you will bring me to death and to the house appointed for all living." Even worse is 31:6 "Let me be weighed in a just balance, and let God know my integrity!" Is Job actually implying that God might not be just when He judges Job?! Good grief! Surely this is where Job sinned.

Except it's not. And, yes, I can be very positive about that. You see, the same language -- if not worse -- is used in the Psalms and in other poems of lamentation by inspired writers. For example: Ps. 73:13-14 "All in vain have I kept my heart clean and washed my hands in innocence. For all the day long I have been stricken and rebuked every morning." Psa 13:1-2 To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. "How long, O LORD? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I take counsel in my soul and have sorrow in my heart all the day? How long shall my enemy be exalted over me?" Psa 35:15-17 "But at my stumbling they rejoiced and gathered; they gathered together against me; wretches whom I did not know tore at me without ceasing; like profane mockers at a feast, they gnash at me with their teeth. How long, O Lord, will you look on? Rescue me from their destruction, my precious life from the lions!" Psa 35:22-23 "You have seen, O LORD; be not silent! O Lord, be not far from me! Awake and rouse yourself for my vindication, for my cause, my God and my Lord!" Asaph claims that to live righteously is vanity since he is punished anyway. Is this not hinting that God is unjust? David continually asks "How long?" wondering why God isn't meeting out justice and implying that following God doesn't pay off. God just watches why we suffer.

This is idea for idea, if not word for word, what Job is expressing. And the psalmists were inspired by the Holy Spirit to write those words. So those words CAN'T be sin. Expressing doubts to God, crying out to Him in agony, asking why and saying that none of this seems fair is not sinful, because God inspired people to write down those expressions to Him, and God cannot sin or cause to sin (James 1:13). In fact, it seems that God wants us to bring those thoughts to Him. He wants us to cry to Him, to express our pain to Him. He even wants to hear our doubts and our disappointments in Him, and the times we are angry with Him. Maybe because if we are expressing those feelings to Him, then we are still talking to Him. (How great is our God that He doesn't get so easily offended like all the gods in mythology, but rather welcomes our expressions of pain and doubt! He cares how we feel and wants us to tell Him.) So, if we are hurting for some reason, if we don't understand what is happening in our lives and why God is allowing the bad things to happen we can go to Him with those questions. We don't have to be afraid to express doubt, discouragement, fear and/or confusion to our God. He wants us to tell Him and He showed us so in His inspired word. And that is awesome. 

Well, then, when did Job sin? At the end of chapter 31. Chapter 31 is written in the style of an official defense in a court during Job's time. He gets carried away in his proclamations of innocence and begins to demand God's answer rather than pleading for it. He even challenges God to indict him. Job drops his humility before God and proclaims that he will march in before God and tell Him what's what. Job 31:35-37 "Oh, that I had one to hear me! (Here is my signature! Let the Almighty answer me!) Oh, that I had the indictment written by my adversary! Surely I would carry it on my shoulder; I would bind it on me as a crown; I would give him an account of all my steps; like a prince I would approach him." When God answers Job in chapters 38-41 it is this defiance of Job that is repeatedly rebuked (38:3, 40:2-3, 7-8). None of Job's other questions, expressions of anguish or disappointment, or confusion are ever mentioned. 

So, when we are hurting it is ok to be afraid, to be confused as to why God is allowing these things to happen, to be disappointed in God's lack of action, to question why, why, why and to take those questions and thoughts to Him. It is not ok to forget our place, to demand action from God and to declare that we know better than He. If we go down that road we might just wind up in the "dust and ashes."

Lucas Ward

Today's post is by guest writer Keith Ward.

In our Bible class the teacher focused on emulating Jesus as a servant and he made some points I had not considered in just that way. But I remembered a point that I had made months earlier in a Wednesday night devotional, that when we sing the servant song we are writing the Lord a blank check whose cost may exceed anything we imagined, “Lord make me a servant, …Do what you must do.” Suddenly there was a short in the synapses and I had a thought, “Did anyone perceive Jesus as a servant?”

He washed the disciples’ feet and we wonder that any could miss the message of his servanthood. But those sane disciples were still arguing about rank in his militarily triumphant kingdom and continued to do so after the resurrection, “Lord will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel” (Acts 1:6).

The Pharisees certainly did not think he was a servant. He was constantly at war with them in the most scathing denunciations that began almost with his baptism and culminated in Matthew 23. To them, Jesus was an opponent, a false teacher, not a servant.

The rulers did not view him as a servant for they were afraid that he would either take their power or cause so much unrest that the Romans would take it. So, they thought of him as an insurrectionist. This attitude continues through Gamaliel’s speech in Acts 5.

To the people he was a puzzle. He spoke in parables they did not comprehend; he healed the sick and worked miracles but would not lead them against the Romans. They often tried to kill him. Servant? Not in their view!

So being a servant like Jesus means that we must serve others in ways that often upsets them. Our service does not appear to be service to them. They may resent it. They often will misunderstand it. Not seldom they will oppose it and vilify it. But that is the price of being a servant like Jesus, for in like manner did they persecute our Lord, the greatest servant.

We avoid this kind of service by performing deeds of kindness with a smile. We make sure we never upset anyone under any circumstances and we are always “there” to listen and to lend a helping hand. Certainly, this is service, but it is the easiest service.  Maybe in comparison with that of the “suffering servant,” it is the lesser kind of service.  His kind of service is the one we resist giving the most.

Is “kindness service only” the way we put a cap on the amount we will let the Lord write on our blank check?

“A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master. It is enough for the disciple to be like his teacher, and the servant like his master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign those of his household. “So have no fear of them, for nothing is covered that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. What I tell you in the dark, say in the light, and what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops. And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell, Matt 10:24-28.

Keith Ward