Job 29:1-33:18

Job

29:1-30:31  –  Don’t forget to remember! In his time of darkness, Job remembers: ‘when His lamp shone upon my head, and by His light I walked through darkness’. When God seems so far away, Job remembers: ‘when the friendship of God was upon my tent; when the Almighty was yet with me’ (29:4-5). What are we to do when ‘the days of affliction come to meet’ us, when our days are full of ‘mourning’ and ‘weeping’ (30:27,31)? We must remember the good times, the happy days. When you find yourself wondering, ‘Why are these bad things happening to me?’, think of something else – ‘Why has God blessed me with so many good things?’.  This will help you when everything seems so dark, when God seems so far away. Remember to thank God for His good days. It will help you to trust Him in your bad days.

31:1-40  –  For a summary of all that Job says here, we may go back to the very beginning of his story: ‘Job…was blameless and upright, one who feared God, and turned away from evil’ (1:1). He is a fine example of the kind of godly living which Paul made his ideal: ‘I strive always to keep my conscience clear before God and man’ (Acts 24:16). How many times we fall short of this ideal! Again and again, we must come to God with our confession of sin . We ‘have sinned’. We ‘fall short of the glory of God’ (Romans 3:23). How can our sins be forgiven? How can our guilt be removed? There is only one way. It is through ‘the blood of Jesus’. Through His blood, ‘our hearts are sprinkled clean from an evil conscience’. Confess your sins to God. Let ‘the blood of Jesus cleanse you from all sin’ (Hebrews 10:19-22; 1 John 1:9,7).

32:1-33:18  –  ‘The Bible is the Word of God’ – What do we mean when we say this? Two statements from Elihu may help us to think about this question. (a) ‘Understanding’ comes from ‘the breath of the Almighty’ (32:8). (b) ‘God does speak – now one way, now another – though man may not perceive it’ (33:14). ‘The breath of the Almighty’ – This is where the Scriptures come from: ‘All Scripture is God-breathed’ (2 Timothy 3:16). God has spoken. He has breathed out His Word. ‘God does speak – now one way, now another’ – There is great variety in the Bible. We have our favourite passages. Let’s not forget the more obscure and difficult passages – He speaks through ‘all Scripture’: ‘now one way, now another’. When the doubters fire their questions – remember: ‘God does speak…though man may not perceive it’!