search.noResults

search.searching

saml.title
dataCollection.invalidEmail
note.createNoteMessage

search.noResults

search.searching

orderForm.title

orderForm.productCode
orderForm.description
orderForm.quantity
orderForm.itemPrice
orderForm.price
orderForm.totalPrice
orderForm.deliveryDetails.billingAddress
orderForm.deliveryDetails.deliveryAddress
orderForm.noItems
Moderator’s Challenge


LESSONS FROM JOB


ALAN BROYLES Moderator


circumstances he was now in. However he did not account for what was hidden from him, and his questions cast a shadow on the wisdom and righteousness of God’s governance over the affairs of men.”


God will question Job to remind him that even in all that man can behold of God’s creation, much is still hidden and will not be revealed.


 “Just who do you think you are?”


The LORD begins to question Job, much like a judge would question a defendant in a courtroom. By my count, God asks Job at least 100 questions, such as (paraphrasing):


Did you create the universe and all that is in it? Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding. Did you set the boundaries of the oceans? Can you make it rain?


Job 1:1-3 “There was a man in the


land of Uz whose name was Job, and that man was blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil. There were born to him seven sons and three daughters. 3 He possessed 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 yoke of oxen, and 500 female donkeys, and very many ser- vants, so that this man was the greatest of all the people of the east.”


him by God in response to a challenge from Satan. In this brief article we will focus on the point in the account where God speaks to Job to answer – in His own way – Job’s questions about why all this is happening to him. We will begin in chapters 38, as sud denly God answers Job from out of the whirlwind: Job 38:2-3: “Who is this that darkens counsel by words with- out knowledge? Dress for action like a man; I will question you, and you make it known to me.”


W


I have always been a little puzzled by that phrase, “who is this that darkens counsel?” It seems to suggest that Job has decided in his heart that God is punishing him for some unknown reason. What Job does not see or realize is that rather than being punished, God is using him, a fee ble human being, to rebuke the Prince of Darkness – Satan himself. From the ESV Study Bible, “Job has drawn conclusions about the nature of God’s rule based on the


e are all familiar with the story of Job, and how he persevered through the trials brought upon


Where is the way to the dwelling of light, and where is the place of darkness? Can you make the sun come up at dawn and go down at night? Did you give names to all the stars? Did you create the mountain goat, the horse, or the eagle? Do you know where the storehouses of hail are – the hail I have reserved for the time of trouble, for the day of battle and war?


 “Can you make it thunder? Can you tame the Leviathan (crocodile) or the sea mon- ster (dinosaur or Hippo)?” God asks again: “Tell me Job, can you do any of this?” Notice that all these questions God asked Job were concerning the physical world and


were not theological. God didn’t say “Job, why do you think I allowed sin to enter the world? Or “Job, why did I permit Satan to rebel against me in Heaven? Or “Job, do you think it is unjust for unrepentant sinners to spend eternity in Hell?” No, the questions God asked Job were pretty easy because the answer to each of them


was in front of Job’s face (and ours too). Job could see that he did not have control over the ocean’s waves, or the birds in the sky, or the rising and setting of the sun, or rain or snow or sunshine, nor anything else in the natural world. Job came to know that he had no ciatingly painful sores and boils. Now Job understood that while he had enjoyed God’s favor, he had absolutely no power to prevent what had happened nor did he have the power to restore his fortune and his family. Job did not have the capacity to understand what had happened to him, but now he was able to accept what had happened to him without understanding it.


 


thority: “Then Job answered the Lord and said: I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted…. therefore I despise myself, and re- pent in dust and ashes.”


What can we learn from our friend Job? Ultimately, we learn that He is God, and we are not, and the sooner we come to grips with that fact the better off we will be.


To the ends of the Earth...Together January/February 2025 3


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32