Scripture Nuggets 6.23-24. 2016

Scripture Nuggets (did not have a wi-fi connection yesterday, so posting 2 today)

6.23.2016 (Job 34-37) “Surely God is mighty and does not despise any; he is mighty in strength of understanding. He does not keep the wicked alive, but gives the afflicted their right. He does not withdraw his eyes from the righteous, but with kings on the throne he sets them forever, and they are exalted. And if they are bound in fetters and caught in cord of affliction, then he declares to them their work and their transgressions, that they are behaving arrogantly. He opens their ears to instruction, and commands that they return from iniquity. If they listen, and serve him, they complete their days in prosperity, and their years in pleasantness. But if they do listen, they shall perish by the sword, and die without knowledge.” Job 36:5-12

Elihu exalts God’s goodness, in this paragraph he touches on grace, and free will. The relationship God offers to us and desires we enter in, and the consequences if we choose another way. God convicts, but doesn’t condemn; God provides instruction, guidance and example but doesn’t force us to follow. When we listen and hear, our hearts are changed and we turn to God. Those who never have an attentive moment, never hear the good news, never turn to God, they perish. God loves all, invites all to enter His presence. To enter and stay we must be holy and righteous; we must confess and repent, turning to God and entering into the joy of the Kingdom of God.

6.24.2016 (Job 38-40) “Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind: ‘Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge? Gird up your loins like a man, I will question you, and you shall declare to me. Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding. … Will you even put me in the wrong? Will you condemn me that you may be justified? Have you an arm like God, and can you thunder with a voice like his?” Job 38:1-4, 39:8-9

God speaks to Job directly and to Job’s friends indirectly from a whirlwind. It is time to pay attention! We are always in God’s presence, God is everywhere, in this moment God is making His presence known, He speaks from a whirlwind; this is not the time to cover our ears or block our hearts or minds. God is speaking from directly in front of us from an Over-the-Horizon perspective that only He can grasp and comprehend. Life is grand, life is complicated, life is not easy to understand or explain. Especially from Job’s position, or his friend’s position or mine or yours. We are only part of creation, though God gives us dominion, we not the center of creation, creation does not revolve us nor our limited thoughts on what is fair and how God is supposed to react. This world is larger and more wondrous than we can imagine, it is impossible then to conclude how large and wondrous is the entirety of God’s creation. Do I/you/we pay attention when God speaks, when God takes action or am I/are you/are we too busy espousing our personal knowledge of the situation? Have I attempted to force the world that I see around me to revolve around me as if I am the Creator? O God forbid I ever do such a thing. Help me God to gird up my loins, to stand in your presence, to listen, to hear and take action according to Your will.

Scripture Nugget 6.22.2016

“But truly it is the spirit in a mortal, the breath of the Almighty, that makes for understanding.” Job 32:8

Praise God for prevenient grace! The presence of God in us before we even realize it draws us into mature, wise, loving relationship with God. Created by God’s spirit in the image of God we are able to love God, follow God, love others and ourselves.

Scripture Nugget 6.21.2016

“‘But where shall wisdom be found? And where is the place of understanding?’ …. ‘Where then does wisdom come from? And where is the place of understanding?’ …. ‘God understands the way to it, and he knows its place.’ …. ‘And he said to humankind, “Truly, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding.” ’” Job 28:12,20,23,28

“Truly, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding.” To worship God is wise. God calls me/us to worship Him, to love him first and most. While we are to love others and ourselves as God loves us, we are to worship God only. Doing so is wise and separates one from evil. Evil is the absence of the presence of God. Loving God keeps us in relationship with God; worshiping God is that relationship in proper perspective. To worship is to be in God’s presence. In God’s presence, lifting God high, I/we are in proper relationship. The added benefit of being in God’s presence is separation from evil. Separated from evil is the ultimate departure from evil – oh that it may always be so in every moment of my/our lives! In God’s presence we are traveling with Him, walking hand in hand to the place of understanding – God’s wisdom, not our own. God created, God set the order, God writes the standards for our lives. With God, in God’s presence one must be holy/righteous – the ultimate fear of the Lord.

Scripture Nugget 6.20.2016

“Why do the wicked live on, reach old age, and grow mighty in power? … They spend their days in prosperity, and in peace they go down to Sheol. They say to God, ‘Leave us alone! We do not desire to know your ways. What is the Almighty, that we should serve him? And what profit do we get if we pray to him?’ Is not their prosperity indeed their own achievement? The plans of the wicked are repugnant to me.” Job 21:7,13-16

In this life, here on earth, there are those who seem prosperous, happy and all things going their way. They live life separated from their Creator as if they created themselves and the world they live in. They die separated from God as well. They live eternally, as do believers, but they do so separated from God, outside the kingdom of God that God continually invited them to enter as they lived earthly life thumbing their noses at God. What more might they have achieved if they had walked with God? Let’s not be fooled by temporary signs of prosperity – let’s look to God’s eternal blessings and promises.

Scripture Nugget 6.19.2016

“‘For I know my Redeemer lives, and that at the last he will stand upon the earth; and after my skin has been thus destroyed, then in my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall behold, and not another. My heart faints within me!’” Job 19:25-27

Job continues to wrestle with what he believes and reconcile what he believes with what is happening in is own life, or appears to be happening. It is certainly a time for Over-the-Horizon Faith, a long term outlook believing in God’s Over-the-Horizon Promises. As I read the words of Job above, I remember these words from the Apostle’s Creed: “…he descended to the dead. On the third day he rose again; he ascended into heaven, is seated at the right hand of the Father, and will come again to judge the living and the dead.” My Redeemer lives! Our Redeemer lives! Our Redeemer is God! Though we feel conviction of sin be not discouraged! Our Redeemer Lives! That conviction is our conscience at work. John Wesley thought conscience is a supernatural gift of God made possible by a manifestation of prevenient grace from God. (Wesleyan Core Term – Conscience, pg 628 Wesley Study Bible) Conscience/conviction causes us to realize our need for a Savior. Our Redeemer lives! Praise God from whom all blessings flow!

Scripture Nugget 6.18.2016

“Though I am innocent, my own mouth would condemn me; though I am blameless, he would prove me perverse. I am blameless; I do not know myself; I loathe my life. It is all one; therefore I say, he destroys both the blameless and the wicked. When disaster brings sudden death, he mocks at the calamity of the innocent. The earth is given into the hand of the wicked; he covers the eyes of its judges – if it is not he, who then is it?” Job 9: 20-24

I certainly don’t claim to have the book of Job figured out totally. I do recognize the spiritual, emotional and theological wrestling with God that Job (and his ‘friends’) are going through as they discuss, argue and lecture. As I read these verses, it occurs to me that Job has left out one very important option concerning the cause of calamity/disaster in our lives across history. Bad things happen to good and bad people, just as good things happen to good and bad people. We can’t cover all outcomes with a simple formula that God blesses the good and punishes the wicked, for on this earth we know that simply isn’t true. Ultimately, in the spiritual realm, that is how I think it will play out, but God will judge, not me. But, here on earth, today, in this season of the Kingdom, Free Will is a major component in how things play out. Decisions to act one way or another by someone else may affect me or someone I know. Even if those actions are not focused directly at me. My actions and decisions also affect others. While God is in control, God does not direct every action – God did not create humankind to be robots, ones who can only say yes to Him. It is because we have the option to say no that our yes to God’s offer of grace is so huge. Or as Dr. Bob Tuttle says, “If we didn’t have the choice to say no, our yes would be meaningless.” God loves the entirety of His creation, but not the evil present in the absence of love. God doesn’t mock those who suffer, God suffers with and for them. God does not give His creation over to the wicked nor cover our eyes so as to be blind to those who do evil. It is our choices as individuals that cause the calamity, the disaster, and the destruction. Job, considered by God blameless and upright (vs 1:1, 8, 2:3) is in a league different than most. Yet he suffers loss of family, property and health. Evil affected him negatively, God’s prevenient grace protects him, God’s justifying grace makes him right and God’s sanctifying grace preserves his blameless and upright nature.

Scripture Nugget 6.16.2016

“‘Call now; is there anyone who will answer you? … As for me, I would seek God, and to God I would commit my cause.’ … ‘O that my vexation were weighed, and all my calamity laid in balances! … O that I might have my request, and that God would grant my desire; … What is my strength, that I should wait? … In truth I have no help in me, and any resource is driven from me.’” Job 5:1a, 8, 6:2, 8, 13

This morning as I struggle with my own battles (something is attacking my body and health, it is having a negative effect on me spiritually, mentally, emotionally and relationally) as I wrestle with what I’ve read in Job chapters 5-8, I read my friend’s blog, my friend is a few days into a new journey. His wife, friend, soulmate and other of their children lost her two-year battle with cancer. His struggle continues – I can only imagine. In all that he said in his blog today – this stands out to me;

 “I know enough that though I may be at odds with God, God is the only one I’ve got.”

That’s a declaration of faith for sure. At the end of the day Job wrestled with God relationally, just as Jacob did physically and if we are all honest with ourselves and each other, as we do to. My Brother in Christ, Ken reminds us simply and profoundly to trust God. Even Jesus asks from the cross, “My God, why have you forsaken me?” It’s an honest question, it’s a question worth wrestling with – do you see in crying out to God, in asking God the question – I, you, we are demonstrating our faith in God? Trusting God will answer. Even though I don’t understand, I can hold on for the blessing that is coming. I have learned and continue to learn that God’s Over-the-Horizon promises require me/you/us to possess Over-the-Horizon faith. Job’s struggle, his friend’s responses; my brother Ken’s declaration are all great examples. O that I may live out what and who is inside me!

Scripture Nugget 6.15.2016

“The LORD said to Satan, ‘Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man who fears God and turns away from evil.’ … In all this Job did not sin or charge God with wrongdoing. … In all this Job did not sin with his lips.” (Job 1:8 & 2:3, 1:22, 2:10c) “Job said: … Why is light given to one in misery, and life to the bitter in soul, who long for death, but it does not come, and dig for it more than hidden treasures; and who rejoice exceedingly, and are glad when they find the grave? Why is light given to one who cannot see the way, whom God has fenced in?” Job 3:2b, 20-23

Job is conflicted, he is struggling with life on earth. Job, a man, recognized by God as blameless and upright, one who loves God and turns to God instead of evil even in times of distress, loss of family, property and health. Job hurts deeply, he asks several faith rattling questions; who wouldn’t after their personal lives are turned upside down? He asks, “Why is light given?” My devotional response: How else is anyone to find joy in living if the light of God isn’t shined upon them? How else can we see the way of God if there is no light from God? God sheds His light (love) on those in misery and those who feel fenced in so that they are able to see, so that they choose light, not darkness, so that the immediate way is revealed. Yes, trouble comes, darkness prevails when the sun goes down but light comes in the morning! Will we watch for the light in the midst of the dark? Will we search for the light of God, the love of God as expectantly as we believe in ourselves? It is precisely because we are not at ease and cannot rest that God shines light upon us. Individually and corporately, God lights our path so we may rest in Him. O God, when I struggle, and I do struggle, help me to look for and move to and follow the light you provide.

Scripture Nugget 6.14.2016

“For Mordecai the Jew was next in rank to King Ahasuerus, and he was powerful among the Jews and popular with his many kindred, for he sought the good of his people and interceded for the welfare of all his descendants.” Esther 10:3

This last verse of the Book of Esther provides a powerful example for all of us to follow. Mordecai’s power and popularity are not the focus, or should not be our focus. It is how Mordecai lived his life, selflessly, for the good of his kindred, “for he sought the good of his people and interceded for the welfare of all his descendants.” From the very beginning, we read how Mordecai cared for others and that his actions backed this up. In his individual relationships – he adopted Esther his cousin, after her parents died – he raised her as his own daughter. As a citizen – he reported a plot against the King, he was close enough to the conspirators to hear their plans. He cared more about the greater good of his people group – the Jews, than he did himself. He had faith to potentially enter into a dangerous situation for the good of his kindred. In his success “he sought the good of his people and interceded for the welfare of his descendants.” Though God isn’t mentioned once in this book, that last line sounds a lot like what Christ does for us. Mordecai’s example is an example of Christlikeness; Mordecai seems pretty close to Whole (Holy) Sanctification. O Lord, that I be a man who follows Mordecai’s example….. that I be a man who follows Christ’s example…..

Scripture Nugget 6.13.2016

“On that night the king could not sleep, and he gave orders to bring the book of records, the annals, and they were read to the king. It was found written how Mordecai had told about Bigthana and Teresh, two of the king’s eunuchs, who guarded the threshold, and who had conspired to assassinate King Ahasuerus. Then the king said, ‘What honor or distinction has been bestowed on Mordecai for this?” The king’s servants who attended him said, ‘Nothing has been done for him.’” Esther 6:1-3

What do you do when you can’t sleep? What do you read and why do you read it? I may be giving King Ahasuerus too much credit here but it appears he is attempting to review the official records for completeness. Of course it could be that he had the most boring document he could think of brought in to overcome his insomnia. Regardless, isn’t it wonderful that God can change our hearts, even the hearts of royal leadership (or those who think they are)? “John Wesley notes that the schemes of foolish people are nothing to God, who can change the hearts of kings through ‘trivial accidents’ (Notes, 6:1).” The story continues; Haman who is self-serving and guided by his self-centeredness is asked by the King, “What shall be done for the man whom the king wishes to honor?” (v6:6b) With his self-centeredness in tack he thinks to himself, “Whom could the king wish to honor more than me?” (v6:6c) He answers so as to honor himself but in God’s providence, causes his enemy to be honored instead. A good deed is honored, a wrong is righted while a self-serving, hater is identified and his success is about to be thwarted. Meanwhile, Esther courageously and patiently speaks using her positon for the greater good. Putting herself at personal risk, she speaks up and against Haman’s efforts to annihilate the Jews. Oh the providence of God, the ability of God to make right among the wrong, to overcome sin from all directions, in its many forms. Praise God from whom all blessings flow, praise God for His prevenient Grace, the move of God that goes before us.