{"id":7526,"date":"2020-02-06T20:00:17","date_gmt":"2020-02-07T03:00:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/?p=7526"},"modified":"2020-02-02T22:30:39","modified_gmt":"2020-02-03T05:30:39","slug":"job22_1-20","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/job22_1-20\/","title":{"rendered":"Whose Opinion About You Matters Most?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Job 22:1-20\u00a0Click here for Bible Verses<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Job 21:17-34.\u00a0Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

Job 22:1-3 (NIV)\u00a0<\/strong>
\n1\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Then Eliphaz the Temanite replied:
\n2\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0“Can a man be of benefit to God?\u00a0Can even a wise man benefit him?
\n3\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0What pleasure would it give the Almighty if you were righteous?\u00a0What would he gain if your ways were blameless?
\nOn verses 1-3:\u00a0\u00a0I love Eugene Peterson\u2019s paraphrase of Eliphaz\u2019s words in verses 2-3:
\n2\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0“Are any of us strong enough to give God a hand, or smart enough to give him advice?
\n3\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0So what if you were righteous\u2014would God Almighty even notice? Even if you gave a perfect performance, do you think he’d applaud?” (Job 22:2-3 (MSG))<\/em><\/p>\n

Job 22:5 (NIV)\u00a0<\/strong>
\n5\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Is not your wickedness great? Are not your sins endless?\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 4-11:\u00a0\u00a0After suggesting that Job\u2019s wickedness is great and that his sins are endless (v4-5), Eliphaz finally gets more specific about the sins he believes Job has committed which he thinks have led to Job\u2019s suffering:<\/p>\n

– Eliphaz accuses Job of demanding security from his brothers.\u00a0\u00a0Instead of lending money and not asking for anything in return, Job stripped his neighbours bare of what they had, according to Eliphaz (v6);<\/p>\n

– Eliphaz accuses Job of withholding water and food from the poor (v7) despite being a wealthy landowner (v8);<\/p>\n

– Eliphaz accuses Job of not taking care of widows and discouraging orphans (v9);<\/p>\n

Eliphaz claims that it is because of these sins that Job is now suffering \u2013 \u201cThat is why snares are all around you, why sudden peril terrifies you, why it is so dark you cannot see and why a flood of water covers you\u201d (v10-11).<\/p>\n

Did Job actually commit these sins?\u00a0\u00a0If he did, for some reason God did not count them against Job, since God calls Job blameless in Job 1:8 and 2:3.<\/p>\n

What can we learn from this?\u00a0\u00a0What God says about you is far more important than what any other person says about you.\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0God knows your situation fully, whereas people only see partially. Amazingly, though God is aware of every sin we commit, He still shows us more mercy than people who don\u2019t know the half of it.\u00a0\u00a0So\u00a0do not allow other people\u2019s opinions to hold you hostage.\u00a0\u00a0Live in and for the opinion of the God who loves you the most and who has washed your sins in the blood of His Son Jesus.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Job 22:18-20 (NIV)\u00a0<\/strong>
\n18\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Yet it was he who filled their houses with good things, so I stand aloof from the counsel of the wicked.
\n19\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0“The righteous see their ruin and rejoice; the innocent mock them, saying,
\n20\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0‘Surely our foes are destroyed, and fire devours their wealth.’<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 12-20:\u00a0\u00a0To paraphrase Eliphaz, \u201cJob, stop thinking that God can\u2019t see all the evil you have been doing (v12-14).\u00a0You\u2019re traveling the same path all other evil doers have traveled before you (v15).\u00a0\u00a0All of them perished before their time, to the delight of the righteous (v16-20).\u201d<\/p>\n

By the way, what does Eliphaz mean when he says in verse 18, \u201cso I stand aloof from the counsel of the wicked\u201d?\u00a0\u00a0He means that his hope is not in wicked people.\u00a0\u00a0Job in fact uses the exact same words earlier in Job\u00a021:16.\u00a0\u00a0Job and Eliphaz are in agreement that wicked people are not worth depending on since their prosperity is ultimately not their own doing, but God\u2019s.<\/p>\n

What can we learn from this?\u00a0\u00a0Realize that every good thing we have in life is not simply the result of our own hard work or clever planning.\u00a0\u00a0Rather, as James\u00a01:17\u00a0says, \u201cEvery good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0So give God the praise that He is due.<\/p>\n

Heavenly Father, thank You that it is Your opinion that counts far more than anyone else\u2019s.\u00a0\u00a0Thank You that through the blood of Jesus Christ I am clean, forgiven and acceptable in Your sight, no matter what the enemy tries to convince me of otherwise.\u00a0Thank You that You have filled our houses with good things, even when You knew how wicked we could be.\u00a0\u00a0That is Your grace and mercy on our lives, expressed most of all when You sent Your Son Jesus to knock on our door and to be with us.\u00a0\u00a0In Jesus\u2019 name, AMEN!<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Job 21:17-34.\u00a0Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

Job 22:1-3 (NIV)\u00a0
\n1\u00a0\u00a0Then Eliphaz the Temanite replied:
\n2\u00a0\u00a0“Can a man be of benefit to God?\u00a0Can even a wise man benefit him?
\n3\u00a0\u00a0What pleasure would it give the Almighty if you were righteous?\u00a0What would he gain if your ways were blameless?
\nOn verses 1-3:\u00a0\u00a0I love Eugene Peterson\u2019s paraphrase of Eliphaz\u2019s words in verses 2-3:
\n2\u00a0\u00a0“Are any of us strong enough to give God a hand, or smart enough to give him advice?
\n3\u00a0\u00a0So what if you were righteous\u2014would God Almighty even notice? Even if you gave a perfect performance, do you think he’d applaud?” (Job 22:2-3 (MSG))<\/p>\n

Job 22:5 (NIV)\u00a0
\n5\u00a0\u00a0Is not your wickedness great? Are not your sins endless?\u00a0<\/p>\n

On verses 4-11:\u00a0\u00a0After suggesting that Job\u2019s wickedness is great and that his sins are endless (v4-5), Eliphaz finally gets more specific about the sins he believes Job has committed which he thinks have led to Job\u2019s suffering:<\/p>\n

– Eliphaz accuses Job of demanding security from his brothers.\u00a0\u00a0Instead of lending money and not asking for anything in return, Job stripped his neighbours bare of what they had, according to Eliphaz (v6);<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7527,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7526","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gametime-sharing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7526","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7526"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7526\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7529,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7526\/revisions\/7529"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7527"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7526"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7526"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7526"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}