Search Me O' God - Job 1-8
When I saw that Job was next on the list, I was thrilled. I love reading this book. Every time that I read this book God reveals new things to me because each time I am in a different season of my own personal life. There are so many dynamics going on in this book it could be studied in philosophy, literature, or even a debate class. The point is the relational, emotional, spiritual, and even physical ... moments grab you as a reader, and you can't help but find yourself enthralled and wanting to see the story to its end.
Think about this, so far we have only read two days worth (8 chapters) and Job, a man "of perfect integrity, who feared God and turned away from evil" (vv. 1,8), was given over by God to Satan to be tested. Job was tested to see if he were to lose everything he had, and if his body were to be in the worst possible pain it could endure, inside and out, would he no longer praise his God but instead curse Him and die? God allowed Satan to do just that and so Satan took away all Job's livestock and servants, all of his children died, and then he was struck with leprosy. He was in so much pain that even his wife couldn't understand why he wouldn't just curse God so he could die and end it all.
His response:
"Should we accept only good from God and not adversity?" (2:10)
At the beginning of this trial, Jobs three friends - Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar - responded perfectly. They saw the pain and suffering he was enduring and they "met together to sympathize with him and comfort him. When they looked from a distance, they could barely recognize him. They wept aloud, ...but no one said a word to him because they saw that his suffering was very intense. (vv. 12b, 13b).
Chapter 3 Job speaks, and they listen.
Chapter 4 Eliphaz speaks, and he is assuming that because of the outward signs of what is going on and has happened in Job's life and what has happened in other "sinners" lives, it must be the same for Job. God must be disciplining Job.
Chapter 6 Job responds to Eliphaz and tells him, look here's the deal, if that were the case, I would confess and get this over with...trust me. So, if you know something I don't know, tell me what it is, and I'll confess it. (24-26)
Chapter 8 Bildad has his turn. Bildad actually thinks he can speak for God (vv. 4-6). What Bildad or any of them say is incorrect, but they are assuming on behalf of the will of God. Truth is the truth, but God is the giver of the truth. These circumstances were very different, and they were trying to apply God's truth in a way that was not applicable to Job's life.
Practical Application: - Don't we do this all the time? This being assume on behalf of others? We look at the surface of what we see appears to be going on in their life, whether the "happy life" or the "messed up life" and we create a whole put together to puzzle out of it. We have worked the whole thing out in our heads and decided their fate and their with the "if only's":
- Well, if only they would ... God would... - if only they would not have... then they would be in a better position to... - if only she would submit to... then he would ... and they would... - if only he would ... then he would stop have trouble with ... ...and it goes on and on...
We are the three friends. The worst of it is we HATE it when we have one of the three friends in our own life, but we don't realize we are just as easily one of them ourselves. What does the word say about all of this?
Let us be patient with one another, knowing that only God can see the heart of man, his motives, his reasons for doing why he does what he does, and why he has the hardships, pains, and sufferings in his life.
“Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” (1 Samuel 16:7)
"All the ways of a man are clean in his own sight, But the LORD weighs the motives." (Proverbs 16:2)
"But You know me, O LORD; You see me; And You examine my heart's attitude toward You." (Jeremiah 12:3a)
"Would not God find this out? For He knows the secrets of the heart." (Psalm 44:21)
Psalms 139:1-4
You have searched me, Lord, and you know me. 2 You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. 3 You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. 4 Before a word is on my tongue you, Lord, know it completely.
