{"id":7614,"date":"2020-02-10T20:00:05","date_gmt":"2020-02-11T03:00:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/?p=7614"},"modified":"2020-02-11T00:20:39","modified_gmt":"2020-02-11T07:20:39","slug":"job24_1-25","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/job24_1-25\/","title":{"rendered":"When Job Met Peter"},"content":{"rendered":"

Job 24:1-25 \u00a0Click here for Bible Verses<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Job 24:1-25.\u00a0\u00a0Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

Job 24:1-17 (NIV)\u00a0<\/strong>
\n1\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0“Why does the Almighty not set times for judgment? Why must those who know him look in vain for such days?
\n2\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Men move boundary stones; they pasture flocks they have stolen.
\n3\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0They drive away the orphan’s donkey and take the widow’s ox in pledge.
\n4\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0They thrust the needy from the path and force all the poor of the land into hiding.
\n5\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Like wild donkeys in the desert, the poor go about their labor of foraging food; the wasteland provides food for their children.
\n6\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0They gather fodder in the fields and glean in the vineyards of the wicked.
\n7\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Lacking clothes, they spend the night naked; they have nothing to cover themselves in the cold.
\n8\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0They are drenched by mountain rains and hug the rocks for lack of shelter.
\n9\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0The fatherless child is snatched from the breast; the infant of the poor is seized for a debt.
\n10\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Lacking clothes, they go about naked; they carry the sheaves, but still go hungry.
\n11\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0They crush olives among the terraces; they tread the winepresses, yet suffer thirst.
\n12\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0The groans of the dying rise from the city, and the souls of the wounded cry out for help. But God charges no one with wrongdoing.
\n13\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0“There are those who rebel against the light, who do not know its ways or stay in its paths.
\n14\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0When daylight is gone, the murderer rises up and kills the poor and needy; in the night he steals forth like a thief.
\n15\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0The eye of the adulterer watches for dusk; he thinks, ‘No eye will see me,’ and he keeps his face concealed.
\n16\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0In the dark, men break into houses, but by day they shut themselves in; they want nothing to do with the light.
\n17\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0For all of them, deep darkness is their morning; they make friends with the terrors of darkness.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 1-17:\u00a0\u00a0Job sees so much injustice around him \u2013 people stealing others\u2019 property (v2), taking advantage of the weak and poor (v3-8), and causing the most vulnerable in society to suffer the most (v9-12).\u00a0\u00a0Job sees murder (v14), adultery (v15), robberies (v16), people reveling in the darkness and avoiding the light (v16-17).\u00a0\u00a0In the face of all this injustice, Job questions why \u201cGod charges no one with wrongdoing\u201d (v12) and \u201cWhy does the Almighty not set times for judgment?\u201d (v1)<\/p>\n

I know they never met on earth, but if Job ever met Peter, I imagine this is how their conversation might go:<\/p>\n

Job:<\/strong>\u00a0“Why does the Almighty not set times for judgment? Why must those who know him look in vain for such days?\u201d (Job 24:1)<\/p>\n

Peter:<\/strong>\u00a0\u201cThe Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.\u201d (2 Peter 3:9)<\/p>\n

In other words, sometimes we might be confused, disillusioned and even angry to see so much evil going on in this world and seemingly so little judgment from God on those who perpetrate it.\u00a0\u00a0But remember this: God has promised that one day there will be a day of judgment when God will bring all evildoers to account.\u00a0\u00a0As Peter would put it, \u201cthe present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.\u201d (2 Peter 3:7).<\/p>\n

But here\u2019s the thing: if God were to judge and destroy everyone who does evil, that would mean He would need to judge and destroy every person in this world, save for those who are covered by the blood of His Son Jesus.\u00a0\u00a0But because God\u2019s heart is not to destroy but to give life, because He \u201cdesires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth\u201d (1 Timothy 2:4), He patiently waits for \u201ceveryone to come to repentance\u201d (2 Peter 3:9).\u00a0\u00a0In fact, 2 Peter 3:9 puts it this way: \u201cHe is patient\u00a0with you<\/em>, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0I find it interesting that when Peter writes, \u201cHe is patient with\u00a0you<\/em>\u201d, he is addressing Christians everywhere.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s as if Peter is saying: Christian, remember how patient God is with you.\u00a0\u00a0First, God could easily have decided to bring about judgment day at any time before you knew His Son Jesus, but because He did not want you to perish, He chose to patiently wait for you to know Jesus first.\u00a0\u00a0Second, God is patient with you in that He wants to use you to reach others who do not know His Son Jesus Christ.\u00a0\u00a0He has chosen you to be His instrument to let them know about the mercy and salvation that are in Jesus Christ, and so He patiently waits for you to go out there and tell others about Him.\u00a0\u00a0He\u2019s patient with\u00a0you<\/em>.<\/p>\n

So before we accuse God of not doing anything to judge evildoers, let\u2019s remember why God\u2019s judgment day has not yet come.\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s not because God is slow, lazy, negligent, indifferent or irresponsible.\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s because God is patient with us.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Job 24:18-25 (NIV)\u00a0<\/strong>
\n18\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0“Yet they are foam on the surface of the water; their portion of the land is cursed, so that no one goes to the vineyards.
\n19\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0As heat and drought snatch away the melted snow, so the grave snatches away those who have sinned.
\n20\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0The womb forgets them, the worm feasts on them; evil men are no longer remembered but are broken like a tree.
\n21\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0They prey on the barren and childless woman, and to the widow show no kindness.
\n22\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0But God drags away the mighty by his power; though they become established, they have no assurance of life.
\n23\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0He may let them rest in a feeling of security, but his eyes are on their ways.
\n24\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0For a little while they are exalted, and then they are gone; they are brought low and gathered up like all others; they are cut off like heads of grain.
\n25\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0“If this is not so, who can prove me false and reduce my words to nothing?”<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 18-25:\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s a strange transition, isn\u2019t it?\u00a0\u00a0In verses 1-17 Job is questioning why God seems slow to judge evildoers.\u00a0\u00a0Yet here in verses 18-25 Job seems to contradict himself by talking about how evil doers are cursed (v18), snatched away suddenly (v19), forgotten (v20), dragged away by God (v22) and \u201ccut off like heads of grain\u201d (v24).\u00a0\u00a0What is going on with Job?\u00a0\u00a0All of a sudden Job is sounding a lot like his companions Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar.\u00a0Is Job finally agreeing with his friends?\u00a0\u00a0Is Job admitting that he is one of those wicked people that God has cut down in his prime?\u00a0\u00a0No.\u00a0\u00a0This is not Job admitting his own wrongdoing.\u00a0\u00a0At this point Job still thinks of himself as blameless.\u00a0\u00a0That is why throughout this chapter Job refers to evildoers in the third person, saying\u00a0they\u00a0<\/em>steal,\u00a0they<\/em>\u00a0murder, and\u00a0they\u00a0<\/em>mistreat the poor.<\/p>\n

So what is going on?\u00a0\u00a0Scholars differ in their interpretation of verses 18-25.\u00a0\u00a0Some scholars believe that Job is actually pronouncing a curse on evildoers, such that, for example, verse 20 should read like a prayer: \u201cMay<\/em>\u00a0the womb forget them,\u00a0may\u00a0<\/em>the worm feast on them,\u00a0may\u00a0<\/em>evil men no longer be remembered but be broken like a tree.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0Others believe that in verses 18-20 Job is paraphrasing his friends\u2019 earlier arguments about how God cuts off the wicked and then in verses 21 to 25 he is rebutting those arguments (see the ESV translation of verses 18-25).<\/p>\n

This is a difficult passage to interpret.\u00a0\u00a0When we take the Scriptures here at face value without reading additional language into the passage, it would seem that Job is a conflicted man.\u00a0\u00a0On one hand, he wonders why God is not quick to judge evildoers; on the other hand, he is still confident that somehow, some way and some day, evildoers will get the punishment they deserve.\u00a0\u00a0You and I can be the same sometimes.\u00a0\u00a0We may question God\u2019s methods and timing, but in the end we believe somehow God will work it all out for good.\u00a0\u00a0That kind of internal conflict is natural, normal and part of working out one\u2019s faith.<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s trusting that we may not have all the answers now, but one day it will all make sense in the end (1 Corinthians\u00a013:12).<\/p>\n

Heavenly Father, thank You that You are patient with all of us, not wanting any of us to come to perish, but all of us to be saved.\u00a0\u00a0In Jesus\u2019 name, AMEN!<\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Job 24:1-25.\u00a0\u00a0Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

Job 24:1-17 (NIV)\u00a0
\n1\u00a0\u00a0“Why does the Almighty not set times for judgment? Why must those who know him look in vain for such days?
\n2\u00a0\u00a0Men move boundary stones; they pasture flocks they have stolen.
\n3\u00a0\u00a0They drive away the orphan’s donkey and take the widow’s ox in pledge.
\n4\u00a0\u00a0They thrust the needy from the path and force all the poor of the land into hiding.
\n5\u00a0\u00a0Like wild donkeys in the desert, the poor go about their labor of foraging food; the wasteland provides food for their children……..<\/p>\n

On verses 1-17:\u00a0\u00a0Job sees so much injustice around him \u2013 people stealing others\u2019 property (v2), taking advantage of the weak and poor (v3-8), and causing the most vulnerable in society to suffer the most (v9-12).\u00a0\u00a0Job sees murder (v14), adultery (v15), robberies (v16), people reveling in the darkness and avoiding the light (v16-17).\u00a0\u00a0In the face of all this injustice, Job questions why \u201cGod charges no one with wrongdoing\u201d (v12) and \u201cWhy does the Almighty not set times for judgment?\u201d (v1)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7615,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7614","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\/7614","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=7614"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7614\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7617,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7614\/revisions\/7617"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7615"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7614"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7614"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7614"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}