{"id":7610,"date":"2020-02-09T20:00:33","date_gmt":"2020-02-10T03:00:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/?p=7610"},"modified":"2020-02-09T23:45:15","modified_gmt":"2020-02-10T06:45:15","slug":"job23_1-17","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/job23_1-17\/","title":{"rendered":"You Can\u2019t See God and Be His Enemy at the Same Time"},"content":{"rendered":"

Job 23:1-17 \u00a0Click here for Bible Verses<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Job 23:1-9 (NIV)<\/p>\n

1\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Then Job replied:
\n2\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0“Even today my complaint is bitter; his hand is heavy in spite of my groaning.
\n3\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0If only I knew where to find him; if only I could go to his dwelling!
\n4\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0I would state my case before him and fill my mouth with arguments.
\n5\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0I would find out what he would answer me, and consider what he would say.
\n6\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Would he oppose me with great power? No, he would not press charges against me.
\n7\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0There an upright man could present his case before him, and I would be delivered forever from my judge.
\n8\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0“But if I go to the east, he is not there; if I go to the west, I do not find him.
\n9\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0When he is at work in the north, I do not see him; when he turns to the south, I catch no glimpse of him.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 1-9:\u00a0\u00a0Job wants to have a word with God.\u00a0\u00a0Job thinks that if he could argue his case before God, plead his innocence, and convince God that he is upright, God would come to His senses and see that Job is not deserving of such suffering.\u00a0\u00a0Job\u2019s only problem, in his mind at least, is that he can\u2019t find God.<\/p>\n

What can we learn from this?\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0When we take an adversarial approach toward God and treat Him like He is an enemy to defeat or an opponent to out argue, we experience something frustrating: we can\u2019t find God.<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0That is, we have no idea where He is, can\u2019t feel His presence and can\u2019t hear His voice.\u00a0\u00a0That\u2019s because God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.\u00a0\u00a0If you want the grace of knowing where God is, feeling His presence and hearing His voice, it\u2019s about laying down your arguments and complaints and humbling yourself before Him.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Job 23:10-12 (NIV)\u00a0<\/strong>
\n10\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0But he knows the way that I take; when he has tested me, I will come forth as gold.
\n11\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0My feet have closely followed his steps; I have kept to his way without turning aside.
\n12\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0I have not departed from the commands of his lips; I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my daily bread.
\n<\/em>
\nOn verses 10-12:\u00a0\u00a0Back around high school, I used to read verse 10 as an inspirational verse for myself, as a reminder that God sees my situation and as an inspiration for me to pass whatever test He has placed in front of me.\u00a0\u00a0But that\u2019s probably not the way Job meant verse 10.\u00a0\u00a0Job\u2019s point in verses 10-12 is that he believes he is blameless before God.<\/p>\n

Can anyone of us really say that?\u00a0\u00a0Can I, like Job, honestly say that \u201cI have kept to His way without turning aside\u201d (v11) and never departed from His commands (v12)?\u00a0\u00a0None of us can, except one: Jesus Christ.\u00a0\u00a0It is only when my life is by faith hidden in Christ that I can say what Job says in verses 10-12, because on my own I don\u2019t stand a chance before God.\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Job 23:13-17 (NIV)\u00a0<\/strong>
\n13\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0“But he stands alone, and who can oppose him? He does whatever he pleases.
\n14\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0He carries out his decree against me, and many such plans he still has in store.
\n15\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0That is why I am terrified before him; when I think of all this, I fear him.
\n16\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0God has made my heart faint; the Almighty has terrified me.
\n17\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Yet I am not silenced by the darkness, by the thick darkness that covers my face.
\n<\/em>
\nOn verses 13-17:\u00a0\u00a0Job is afraid of God after all the suffering God has allowed him to endure.\u00a0\u00a0But Job remains defiantly unquiet.\u00a0\u00a0He is set on voicing his complaint to God and pleading his innocence, even if it scares him to death and even though all around him is darkness.<\/p>\n

What can we learn from this?\u00a0\u00a0When we are set on opposing God and doing nothing but complain to Him, not only do we fail to see God, but we fail to see much at all.\u00a0\u00a0All around us becomes dark.\u00a0\u00a0Bitterness and pride cloud our judgment, darken our insight and distort our perspective.\u00a0\u00a0Yet when we humble ourselves before God, that\u2019s when we experience \u201cenlightenment\u201d \u2013 our burdens are lightened, our perspective is brightened, and our judgment about God and about other things generally becomes more accurate.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Heavenly Father, thank You for showing me today the importance of staying humble before You.\u00a0\u00a0Pride causes me to miss you and to misjudge everything around me.\u00a0\u00a0Humility lightens my load, brightens my perspective and opens the door to really hearing from You.\u00a0\u00a0May I walk humbly before You today.\u00a0\u00a0In Jesus\u2019 name, AMEN!<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Job 23:1-9 (NIV)<\/p>\n

1\u00a0\u00a0Then Job replied:\u00a0
\n2\u00a0\u00a0“Even today my complaint is bitter; his hand is heavy in spite of my groaning.\u00a0
\n3\u00a0\u00a0If only I knew where to find him; if only I could go to his dwelling!\u00a0
\n4\u00a0\u00a0I would state my case before him and fill my mouth with arguments.\u00a0
\n5\u00a0\u00a0I would find out what he would answer me, and consider what he would say.\u00a0
\n6\u00a0\u00a0Would he oppose me with great power? No, he would not press charges against me.\u00a0
\n7\u00a0\u00a0There an upright man could present his case before him, and I would be delivered forever from my judge.
\n8\u00a0\u00a0“But if I go to the east, he is not there; if I go to the west, I do not find him.\u00a0
\n9\u00a0\u00a0When he is at work in the north, I do not see him; when he turns to the south, I catch no glimpse of him.\u00a0<\/p>\n

On verses 1-9:\u00a0\u00a0Job wants to have a word with God.\u00a0\u00a0Job thinks that if he could argue his case before God, plead his innocence, and convince God that he is upright, God would come to His senses and see that Job is not deserving of such suffering.\u00a0\u00a0Job\u2019s only problem, in his mind at least, is that he can\u2019t find God.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7611,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7610","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\/7610","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=7610"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7610\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7613,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7610\/revisions\/7613"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7611"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7610"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7610"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7610"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}