Archive for category: GAMEtime Sharing

Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is Job 11:1-12.  Let’s go!
 
Job 11:7 (NIV) 
7  “Can you fathom the mysteries of God? Can you probe the limits of the Almighty?
 
On verses 1-12:  Here Zophar the Naamathite, Job’s third friend, chimes in.  Like Eliphaz and Bildad before him, Zophar’s first words are heavy in judgment and light on grace.  To paraphrase Zophar’s words to Job, “Will no one rebut your idle talk and rebuke your self-proclaimed innocence (v2-4)?  I wish God would speak right now and shut you up, because the fact is God is punishing you less than you deserve (v5-6).  God is so much bigger than you.  Don’t even try to measure His dimensions (v7-9).  If He tries you in His court, you wouldn’t stand a chance (v10).  He sees right through deceitful men and takes note of what evil people do (v11).  But stupid people will become wise about the same time that donkeys give birth to humans (v12).”

What can we learn from this?  Here we must separate the wheat from the chaff in what Zophar says.

Zophar is correct in saying that:

Hi GAMErs,

Job 9:25-26 (NIV) 
25  “My days are swifter than a runner; they fly away without a glimpse of joy.
26  They skim past like boats of papyrus, like eagles swooping down on their prey.

On verses 25-26:  For a lot of people, when they are in pain, time moves very slowly – minutes feel like hours, days feel like months, and months feel like years. So why is it that Job, who is in great pain, says, “My days are swifter than a runner; they fly away” (v25).  I believe that is because Job has gone from the prime of his life to nearing his death so quickly.  For Job, it’s as if decades have passed in just a few days.

Job 9:27-28 (NIV) 
27  If I say, ‘I will forget my complaint, I will change my expression, and smile,’
28  I still dread all my sufferings, for I know you will not hold me innocent.

On verses 27-28:  For Job, trying to cheer himself up and choosing to be joyful is little use when he believes that in the end, God is going to punish him for his sin (v27-28).

Hi GAMErs,

Job 9:2-4 (NIV) 
2  “Indeed, I know that this is true. But how can a mortal be righteous before God? 
3  Though one wished to dispute with him, he could not answer him one time out of a thousand. 
4  His wisdom is profound, his power is vast. Who has resisted him and come out unscathed?
 
On verses 1-12:  In these verses Job is asking a very important question: “how can mere mortals prove their innocence before God?” (v2)  The answer is we can’t.  Job knows that.  God’s power, wisdom and standards are so beyond our own that there is no way we could ever compare or come close.  But the amazing message of the Bible is that when there was no way we could possibly prove ourselves innocent in God’s sight, in love God sent Jesus Christ His Son – fully God and fully man – to die on the cross for our sins.  In so doing, at the cross God’s need for justice was satisfied while His mercy and forgiveness could be extended to us. It’s only because of God’s mercy expressed through Jesus Christ that we can be righteous and innocent before God.

Hi GAMErs,

Job 7:11 (NIV) 
11  “Therefore I will not keep silent; I will speak out in the anguish of my spirit, I will complain in the bitterness of my soul. 

On verses 1-11:  Long, difficult days (v1-2), sleepless nights (v3-4), deteriorating health (v5), an unsightly appearance (v5), feeling cut down during the prime of his life (v6), and utter hopelessness (v7-10) – that is Job’s plight.  “Therefore,” Job says, “I will not keep silent; I will speak out in the anguish of my spirit, I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.” (v11)  In other words, because life is so hard for Job, Job has had enough.  He decides it is time to voice his complaint to God.  Has life ever gotten so tough that you felt like you had to express your frustration to God?  It is fine and in fact healthy to do so, but always with humility, remembering that God is God and we are not.

Job 7:16-17 (NIV) 
16  I despise my life; I would not live forever. Let me alone; my days have no meaning. 
17  “What is man that you make so much of him, that you give him so much attention,

Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is Job 6:1-13.  Let’s go!
 
Job 6:1-4 (NIV) 
1  Then Job replied: 
2  “If only my anguish could be weighed and all my misery be placed on the scales! 
3  It would surely outweigh the sand of the seas– no wonder my words have been impetuous. 
4  The arrows of the Almighty are in me, my spirit drinks in their poison; God’s terrors are marshaled against me. 

On verses 1-4:  To paraphrase Job, “There’s no way you can measure how much pain I am in right now (v2-3).  For some reason I’ve become God’s target (v4).”  The fact that the Holy Spirit allowed such words to be in the Bible shows that God wants us to be real and honest with Him about how we feel.  Your emotions are not too much for Him to handle, so come to God honestly.