There is no other Way.

The Word for today:
Job 25:1 -- 27:23


mark this:
How then can man be righteous before God? (Job 25:4)

The wonder isn’t that bad things happen to good people. The wonder is that good things happen to bad people.
The exchange between Satan and God reveals that there seems to be some measure of overarching universal justice which allows God to use only broken tools—the circumstances left in the wake of our sin-- to repair and renew lives:

Satan: "Look what sin has wrought."
God: "Then with these very circumstances, I will restore them."

This is making good out of bad, which is God’s greatest miracle by far. The primary example is, of course, the cross of Christ where what sin has wrought—death, “the wages of sin”—was used to save the people.

Jesus Christ, growing up in Nazareth, immersed in scripture (1), came to the realization that only through suffering could there be salvation. And then came the realization that only His suffering would suffice. The cross, you see, is for all to carry. But there would be only one Christ. We suffer in vain, for we have brought it upon ourselves. He suffered, the just for the unjust (2), to pay the wages of our sin.

There was no other Way (3).

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(1) Luke 2:46-49; (2) 1 Peter 3:18; (3) John 14:6

Only the broken can be rebuilt

The Word for today:
Job 22:1 -- 24:25

mark this:
When He has tested me, I shall come forth as gold. (Job 23:10)


Suffering is in the realm of God’s general Providence—sent, like the rain and the sunshine—to fall upon the just and unjust alike. God uses it—see Genesis 50:20—“to save many alive.” It is part of the climate (see John 16:8-10) maintained by the Holy Spirit in order that the Word of God might be heard and understood and believed unto salvation.

The Law is part of this “climate,” pronouncing and emphasizing specific sin in order that we seek a Redeemer (Gal. 3:24-25). When Jesus Christ wrote in the sand—his only recorded instance of writing--before those who were to stone the woman taken in adultery, it very likely was a re-enactment of the finger of God upon the tablets of the law (see Ex. 31:18), reminding the scribes and Pharisees of specific instances of their own adultery. What Jesus wrote might have been as specific as this:

”Sue from Samaria, Beth in Beersheba, Barb from Bethlehem, Jane from Jericho…”

And again he stooped down, and wrote on the ground….
And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst. (John 8:8-9)

The breaking down of prideful hearts is a precondition for those who will seek salvation.

Job is broken down in order to start seeing himself as God sees him. The breakdown is prerequisite to Job's transformation, ever more closely resembling his Redeemer.

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God is fixing what we broke...with a hammer and three nails

The Word for today:
Job 20:1 -- 21:34


Don't tell anybody, but no specific answer is given in Job to the question, "Why does God allow evil and suffering?” The only guidance God gives is to point Job toward a new way to interpret suffering--from God's own perspective.

Follow this line of reasoning to its logical conclusion in order to glimpse God's point of view:

1. God has endowed mankind with the stamp of his image. Mankind therefore is a free moral agent, able to make choices. The choices have consequences, good and bad. If their choices had no consequences, they would not be choices at all, and mankind would not therefore have been endowed with moral freedom.

2. If God were to pronounce immediate judgment upon every injustice caused by sin, all sinners would be destroyed.

3. Allowing the consequences of evil (suffering) makes manifest the reality of evil, that mankind might turn from it.

4. Therefore, God permits the exercise of evil (Satan) but only to "the end of his chain."

5. If the consequences of evil were not permitted, they would not have been visited upon Jesus Christ, and salvation could not be achieved.

6. In the end, God is a gift-giver. That we have misused those gifts to create sorrow and suffering, it is still God’s party, and He’s still giving out gifts because it is inherent in His character to do so.

Job, then, is a story that shows how our moral compromise—sin—allows evil to parade its consequences: sorrow and suffering. God noted the sorrow and could not allow it to thwart his generosity and love. There being only one way out—one unstained heart—He set his face for Jerusalem, and took the evil and the suffering on Himself.

So, why does God allow suffering and evil? He doesn’t.
You and I--our sin--"broke" God's perfect universe. God's in the process of fixing what we broke.

He sent a carpenter, with a hammer and three nails, to do the job.

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Why the righteous must repent

The Word for today: Job 18:1 -- 19:29

mark this: Job 19:25-27



Q. Job is righteous, but he must repent. How’s that work?

A. We say to the unbeliever, “Believe in Jesus Christ, and you will be saved (1). Have faith.”

Well, Job already has faith: I know that my Redeemer lives (2). He has faith like Abraham, whose faith was accounted to him as righteousness (3). Thereby, Abraham is accredited with the righteousness of Christ; and so is Job--and so are you, if you have the faith that proclaims: "I know that my Redeemer, Jesus, lives."

So, why does Job need to repent?

'Repent' means to turn--from your own way to God’s way. So when Job sees God, he says, I’d heard of you, but now I see you. Therefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes (4).

The more we learn about God, the more we learn about ourselves as well. The believer will see in himself attitudes and actions that are not in accordance with the attitudes and actions of Jesus. When we fall short of His standards, we repent--we re-align our lives.

Repentance--turning from our way to God's way--is how the redeemed child of God becomes more and more like his Redeemer every day.

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(1) Acts 16:31; (2) Job 19:25; (3) Genesis 15:6; (4) Job 42:5-6

words of wind

The Word for today:
Job 15:1 -- 17:16

mark this:
Will your futile words of wind never end? (Job 16:3/Amplified Version)
Shall vain words have an end? (Job 16:3/King James Version)


Job tells his friends that their words of wind are futile, spoken in vain; they do not meet the need.

Are you having your spiritual needs met where you attend church? Many sermons in many churches are just vain words, words of wind--without substance.

Put your church, your pastor or priest, your Sunday School teacher, and this blogger to the test:

Do they teach the real Jesus, the Biblical Jesus?--

Is this the Jesus they're telling you about:

The Word of God--who became flesh to dwell amongst us, whose triumph over evil was promised in the Garden of Eden, pictured in the sacrificial system of the law of Moses, and clearly portrayed by the prophets...
Because the wages of sin had to be paid in kind--an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a life for a life (1)--He divested Himself of heaven's glory to become like one of us--born of woman, born under the law--so that he could take your place on a cross you'd earned.
Virgin born, the sinless son of God, He was baptized in identification with us as we are baptized in identification with Him. Coming up out of the water, driven by the Spirit, he withstood temptation by wielding the sword of the Spirit, the Word of God, against the devil in the wilderness.
He performed miracles, personified the grace and truth of God, died at the hands of secular government and organized religion for the sins of the world, then rose from the dead in accordance with, and fulfillment of, scripture (2).
He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and of His kingdom there will be no end.

If that describes the Jesus they're telling you about, then you are in a Bible-centered church where you will be able to grow closer to God.

If not, they are teaching you words of wind, about a "Jesus" who does not meet your needs, who is unable to save your soul.

Many things are said and written about "Jesus." But the only real description of Jesus is found in your Bible.

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(1) Exodus 21:23-24; (2) 1 Corinthians 15:3-4

"Yes!"

The Word for today:
Job 13:1 -- 14:22

mark this: Job 14:14



Job's philosophy as he struggles to understand his plight is often wrong-headed, but on this question--"If a man dies, shall he live again?"--Job never wavers. Soon, we'll hear Job's cry of faith:

I know that my Redeemer lives,
and that in the end he will stand upon the earth.
And after my skin has been destroyed,
yet in my flesh I will see God;
I myself will see him
with my own eyes--I, and not another.
How my heart yearns within me! (1)

The resurrection of Jesus Christ--and the promise that whosoever believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life--is the bedrock of Christian faith.

Because of Jesus, the answer to Job's most important question is a resounding, "Yes!"

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(1) Job 19:25-27

"Be careful how you hear."

The Word for today:
Job 11:1 -- 12:25

mark this: Job 11:4-5



Many people presume to speak for God. Since God wasn't speaking, Zophar--in Job chapter 11--speaks for Him.

Jesus told us to, "Be careful how you hear" (1). What does that mean? It means that we have to be selective about our influences. We have to turn our backs on false words, especially when they are attributed to God.

Just because the president, or the pope, or your preacher; or your mom, or your dad, or your best friend might say so, doesn't necessarily mean it's true.

Everything we hear has to be held up to the light of scripture. And scripture--every chapter and verse--has to be scrutinized in the context of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ:
In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son (2).

A cacophony of false voices--in the media, in our schools, in our government, in our friendships, and sometimes in our homes and churches--awaits us each day, often channeling and giving voice to an agenda they might not even be aware of.

So be careful how you hear. Weigh words. Consider their source. What's in it for them?

We don't have to be suspicious. But we've got to be smart.

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(1) Luke 8:18; (2) Hebrews 1:1-2