“I will teach you about the power of God; the ways of the Almighty I will not conceal.”
~ Job 27:11
Hi James and Ellen,
What do you do when you are absolutely sure that you are right about something after you have been told that you are wrong about what you are absolutely sure about? Do you tell the guy, gal or kid who has told you that you are wrong about something that it is he or she who is wrong? What would you have done if you had been Job? Job had three guys telling him that he had to have done something wrong – otherwise God would not be punishing him. The three guys thought of themselves as being friends of Job. The three guys thought that they were really helping Job by telling him how awful that he must have been for God to be punishing him in the ways that He had Job suffering. Job lived in the land that God had promised to the Israelite people group. The Israelite people group was God’s specially chosen guys, gals and kids. Job was a respected, established patriarch. Job had a family, livestock and wealth – and guys who he thought were friends. Job was doing just fine until the day when God got a visit. God’s visitor was Satan. Satan is good’s enemy. Satan wanted permission from God to try to make Job reject good. God told Satan that he could do whatever he wanted to do to Job – except to kill him. God also told Satan that what he wanted to do would never happen as Job would never reject Him and that Job would always see good in life. God gave Satan permission to have Job’s enemies kill Job’s kids and to take for themselves Job’s livestock. God gave Satan permission to cause Job’s body to be covered with sores. Job had to have really felt awful having had his kids killed, having his animals taken and having his body covered with sores. What probably was more discouraging and disgusting to Job was to have the three guys – who he thought were his friends, telling him that it was his fault that all this was happening to him. These three self-appointed friends – Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar, took turns telling Job that they were right and he was wrong. Job – after each guy did bloviating, had his turn to tell the guys that he knew that he was right and they were wrong. Who do you think was right and who do you think was wrong?
Job 27 is Job speaking again. Job is responding to Bildad. Bildad had just finished telling Job that a guy is no more than a maggot or a worm. Job by this time seems to be becoming somewhat impatient with the three guys who are calling themselves his friends. Job knows that he had done absolutely nothing wrong. Job knows that God is not Who caused the horrific things that have happened to him. Job seems to be almost ready to tell his three so-called friends that they are on the side of Satan – the wicked one. Job knew God. Job says in verse 11 “‘I will teach you about the power of God; the ways of the Almighty I will not conceal.” Even though Job was suffering physically in a horrible way with sores covering his body and emotionally in a dreadful way because of the death of his kids and the loss of all his livestock, Job was not going to give up on God. Job knew that his only hope was to trust in God to help him through this appalling, difficult time. Your grandpaa hopes that he never has the kinds of experiences that Job had. Your grandpaa hopes that you will never have to go through the kinds of physical and emotional sufferings that Job had to suffer. Satan though will not stop going to God for His permission to try to get you to deny God and good. What if you do find yourselves one day going through the kinds of physical and emotional sufferings which Job suffered because Satan – who is your enemy, got permission from God to try to get you to deny God and good, what would you do? Guys and gals have asked forever the question if there really is a God, why is there suffering? What do you think is the answer? Emotional and physical suffering both are life teachers. Emotional and/or physical suffering puts a guy or gal in a decision making place to either reject God and good or to accept God and good.
Your grandpaa is very grateful that he has not had to so far suffer as Job suffered. Your grandpaa though has experienced some health concerns. Your grandpaa had virus pneumonia when he was a kid. Your grandpaa had to be hospitalized for several days. Your grandpaa had rheumatic fever when he was a kid. Your grandpaa had to stay in bed for weeks. Your grandpaa when he was in Bolivia had a taxicab almost run into him. Your grandpaa had to stay in a clinic for a couple of days after a doctor removed a bone chip from his elbow and sowed the muscles back which had torn lose from his left elbow. Your grandpaa when he was in Bolivia had his head become swollen. Your grandpaa’s head looked like a balloon. Your grandpaa knows that God has blessed him physically. Your grandpaa knows that God has also blessed him emotionally. Sooner or later almost every guy, gal and kid will get sick. Sooner or later almost every guy, gal or kid will get hurt in an accident or need some kind of operation. Sooner or later every guy, gal and kid will have another guy, gal or kid angry with him or her. Sooner or later every guy, gal and kid will have another guy, gal or kid tell him or her what they think regarding his or her actions, words or situation. How do you think that your grandpaa should act towards God when your grandpaa gets sick or hurt or when another guy gets mad at your grandpaa or when a guy tells your grandpaa what he thinks about the way that your grandpaa is acting? Your grandpaa is to pull a Job. Job exemplifies patience. Job believed in and followed the one true God. Job believed that God is Who created all things. Job believed that God is Who is in control of all things. Job believed that God has a place for wicked guys and gals who only want to live their lives for themselves. Job believed God will blow away all the wicked guys and gals like they are nothing and that God will take away the wealth that every wicked guy has accumulated. Just as Job always trusted in God, your grandpaa is to always put his trust in God.
Job 27 (139)