“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

Today’s post is by Lucas Ward.  To read parts 1 and 2, click on “Guest Writers” on the right sidebar and scroll down.

Job 28 is an ode to wisdom. It is beautiful and compelling. It ends with verse 28: "And he [God] said to man, 'Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom, and to turn away from evil is understanding.'" It is often pointed out that this description of wisdom is the same description made of Job in 1:1 and 1:8. Essentially, this tells us that Job was wise. But this is not all it does. It also defines wisdom for us.

"The fear of the Lord, that is wisdom." Solomon reinforces this in several places in Proverbs, the first being in Prov. 1:7 "The fear of Jehovah is the beginning of knowledge;" Have you ever heard new Christians say they are afraid of Hell? They often express guilt that this is their main motivation, but there is no reason for them to feel that way: the fear of the Lord is wisdom. If we aren't afraid of being thrown in Hell, then we are fools! And if we aren't living lives of faithful service to Him, God will send us to Hell, however much that saddens Him (2 Peter 3:9). So it is wise, and the beginning of knowledge, to fear the Lord. It is only the beginning of knowledge, and as we grow in knowledge of the Lord, our motivations should mature (love for Him, hope of glory, etc.). However, it never stops being wise to fear the Lord.

"To turn away from evil is understanding". So those who don't turn away from evil lack understanding, right? So what about me? Do I turn away from evil? Or do I give in to the same temptation every time it comes up? Is it to the point that an impartial observer might conclude that I don't even try to turn away from those temptations/evils? Do I go looking for it, rather than turning away? Do I see how closely I can sidle up to it without giving in? Do I have any understanding at all? Or am I like an uncomprehending beast of the field, ruled solely by my passions?

"Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom, and to turn away from evil is understanding."

Am I wise?

Do I understand anything at all?

Lucas Ward

Today's post is by guest writer Keith Ward

A few questions:

Why did Jesus so often say, “Thy sins be forgiven thee” instead of, “Your disease be healed?”   Why did he not heal everyone?  Not only did he leave many for the apostles to heal, there is no indication they cleaned up all the rest, even in Judea.

Of course, one of the reasons he said “sins…forgiven” was to emphasize to the scribes and Pharisees that if he could heal, he could forgive.  Certainly, since he healed one leper, he had the power with a word to heal all lepers, or to heal all the blind.  The power was there.  The compassion that moved him to heal had to also tug at his heart in relation to all the un-healed lame and sick.

The questions bring our focus to the simple truth that sickness/infirmity was not the problem; sin was.  The compassion was moved within him to bypass these small things and focus on healing the root, the cause of all the misery that comes on man.  Healing the few he did was a pledge toward the healing of sin.

Sickness is really a part of death.  Healing is life triumphant, but Lazarus, the blind man, the 10 lepers, all still died.  Because Jesus is the great physician, death is destroyed (1 Cor 15:50ff) and we are all healed of death, not merely of a symptom like disease, and we will all be raised.

So, the last question:  What occupies the bulk of your prayer time?  A list of sick church members and friends?  Or, a list of sins and sin-sick souls?  I think my answer leaves me on the wrong side here.

Yes, I know the prayer of faith will heal the sick and I am by no means suggesting that any of us diminish that part of our prayer life.  I am thinking that I am going to greatly increase the part of mine that focuses on sin and the healing of sin and death.

Notice how great a portion of Jesus’ last prayer for the disciples was in relation to their spiritual safety and triumph:

I am praying for them.  I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours.  All mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them.  And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you.  Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one.  While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.  But now I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves.  I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.  I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. (Jn 17:9-15).

Keithh Ward

Today’s post is by guest writer Lucas Ward.  If you missed part 1, check out the May 11, 2015 post in the archives on the right sidebar.

The discussions between Job and his friends were the last place I expected to find expressions of hope from Job. He has lost everything, despite his righteousness. His friends are accusing him of sins and refusing to listen to anything he says. Even his wife is encouraging him to turn from God. And yet, a major theme of Job's speeches in the second cycle of arguments is hope. It comes up at least four times: Job 13:15, 14:14-17, 17:13-16, and 19:25-27.

Now, before a theologian or linguist attacks, let me say I know that the Hebrew is unclear in Job 13 and that the expressions of hope in Job 14 and 17 are open to some differing interpretations. However, each cycle of speeches contains its own themes. Job develops his ideas throughout each cycle and then moves on in the next. With a clear expression of great hope in the second cycle's penultimate speech and a 50/50 expression in the first speech, the definite possibilities of expressed hope in the middle speeches should be at least considered.

Let's start at the end and work back. Chapter 19 is Job's summation of how alone he feels. He begins by pleading with his friends to stop tormenting him. He then details how God has seemingly turned against him and will no longer listen (vs. 6-12). Vs. 13-19 tell how the people he would normally have relied on in times of trouble have forsaken him: brothers, relatives, house guests, servants, wife, intimate friends, even the children in the street back talk him now. Then, in verse 20, his body itself has turned against him. His friends torment him, his God has punished him unjustly (he thinks), his friends and family have forsaken him, his body fails him, and in the midst of all that he then says: "For I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God," Job 19:25-26. Yes, I know, the Hebrew here is especially garbled. We don't know whether it should be "in my flesh I shall see God" or "without my flesh I shall see God". Several of the phrases here and in the next verse have up to a dozen different possible translations. But what is clear in this passage is Job's statements "For I know that my Redeemer lives" and "I shall see God". We can argue about the rest of it until we are all blue in the face and IT DOESN'T MATTER ONE BIT to the interpretation of Job's speech. His life is falling apart. Everything he would normally rely upon has been taken away. Even God seems to be against him. And in all that turmoil, in the cyclone that has become his life, Job says "I know that my Redeemer lives" and "I shall see God." Despite everything, Job holds fast to the hope that God would redeem him. His hope remained firmly attached to God even when his senses told him that God was against him. Amazing faith. This is clear from chapter 19. If this is not some extraordinary one-time statement, but rather the concluding statement of a theme that runs through the second cycle of speeches, then how does that affect the interpretation of other passages?

Job 13:15a "Though he slay me, I will hope in him;" Another possible interpretation is "he will slay me, I have no hope". If you ask 100 scholars their opinion 40 will vote for the first option, 40 will vote for the second, and 20 will be honest enough to say "I don't know". Apparently, the Hebrew is very unclear. However, this is the first mention of hope in any context and it is at the beginning of the cycle which contains Job's monumental expression of hope just six chapters later. I am unqualified to argue the linguistics (I am barely qualified to spell linguistics) but I can understand themes in writing and this seems like the beginning of a thread that culminates in chapter 19. Based on that, I will argue for the first interpretation "Though he slay me, I will hope in him;"

Then we have Job 14:13-17 "Oh that you would hide me in Sheol, that you would conceal me until your wrath be past, that you would appoint me a set time, and remember me! If a man dies, shall he live again? All the days of my service I would wait, till my renewal should come. You would call, and I would answer you; you would long for the work of your hands. For then you would number my steps; you would not keep watch over my sin; my transgression would be sealed up in a bag, and you would cover over my iniquity." Job is willing to hide in the grave (Sheol) until God's wrath is past? Sure! He expresses confidence that God would remember him. If a man dies, shall he live again? Sure! Job is positive that his renewal will come. God would long for Job and call for him. What is involved in that renewal? God would seal up Job's transgressions in a bag and cover his iniquity. Tell me, is this anything other than hope? And don't be confused because immediately after this passage Job seems to fall back into despair. There was a form of argument in ancient times in which the speaker would surround his conclusion with two ideas considered but rejected. This is exactly what we see in Job 14, with this wonderful expression of hope surrounded by passages of despair. It is confusing to us only because we went to Western schools instead of learning rhetoric in the Near East of a few millennia ago.

Job 17:13-16 is usually considered a downer of a passage, but I think it is exactly the opposite. Its "if-then" nature demands a conclusion and only one conclusion is rational. "If I hope for Sheol as my house, if I make my bed in darkness, if I say to the pit, 'You are my father,' and to the worm, 'My mother,' or 'My sister,' where then is my hope? Who will see my hope? Will it go down to the bars of Sheol? Shall we descend together into the dust?"" If I hope for the grave, then where is my hope? Who will see it? This is not despair, but rather a rejection of despair! The contrast is between hoping in the grave and Job's previous expressions of hope, especially in chapter 14. 'Will it [my hope] go down to the bars of Sheol? Shall we descend together into the dust?' That is a description of despair, and it is described in question form. In the Bible when these question forms are used, they are almost always rhetorical questions whose implied answer is "No!" This is not Job giving up, but rather Job declaring that he won't give up, that he won't stop hoping in God.

So what do we have? Job saying that even if he dies he will not stop hoping in God. Job declaring a clear hope for a renewal with God, being clean from sin, after the grave. Job refusing to despair, but clinging to hope. Job declaring that despite the turmoil in his life, despite being forsaken and rejected by his friends, family, and wife, and despite God's apparent temporary enmity that he knows that his Redeemer lives and that he will one day see God.

My only remaining question is, if Job can express such wonderful hope despite his overwhelming troubles, what do I have to feel depressed about?

Lucas Ward