STAND STILL
Today’s Reading: Job 36-37
Click scripture link to read online or HERE to listen online (then click the symbol of the audio speaker above the scripture portion).
Here in the Judean Desert, beneath the historic mountain of Masada, you can see many large rock formations and crevasses created by flash floods washing down to the Dead Sea. This sky was the perfect backdrop for this dramatic rock. As our key verse says, “Consider the wondrous works of God!”
GOOGLE MAPS – To see where the photo was taken, click HERE.
Key Verse: Job 37:14
Listen to this, O Job; Stand still and consider the wondrous works of God.
The theology of this young man Elihu was right on. However, his judgment of Job was unfair and far from correct in God’s eyes. God had said of Job, “There is none like him in all the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears God and shuns evil” (Job 1:8). We would do well to remember the words of Jesus, “Judge not, and you shall not be judged. Condemn not, and you shall not be condemned. Forgive and you will be forgiven” (Luke 6:37). We can be theologically correct and not understand our fellow human being. We should all be encouraged by the fact that Elihu was correct when he said that God “does not withdraw His eyes from the righteous” (Job 36:7). In God’s eyes, we who have believed in Jesus are seen to be righteous. Back on the blog from August 23rd, we considered the righteousness which is ours. We may want to read that posting once more (click here).
PRAYER FOR TODAY:
Lord God, I ask for grace to “stand still!” May I stop all my busyness for a time and take the time to meditate on Your “wondrous works.” Amen!!!
100 PERSONAL WORDS:
I’m keenly anticipating the next four days of reading Job. God Himself begins to speak to Job! God’s description of nature and His creation is awe-inspiring to me.
I remember well heroes to me in Christian ministry. I heard Rev. Hope Smith say one day, “The way out of the rat race is to slow down and walk with God.” He and his ministry co-worker, Rev. Laurie Price, were an amazing team. They were Pastors of a Church called Evangel Temple, located (at that time) at the corner of Dundas and Bond Streets in Toronto, just a block west of what is known as the longest main street in the world, Yonge Street. They told the story of when Hope, who was injured and crippled in WW2, and Laurie, who had been injured in a car accident, were driving up Yonge Street in the late 1940s, when their old car stalled, backing up traffic for blocks. Horns were blowing and people were angry. From the waist up they looked like two able-bodied young men. No one could understand why they didn’t get out of the car and push it out of the way. In spite of all the fuss and rush of downtown traffic, they were totally at peace within themselves. It’s a humorous scene to imagine. Laurie was healed by God and gained great mobility later, and Hope continued with a serious limp throughout his life, but it never slowed him down. They impacted my life greatly when I was a teenager. They were filled with joy and incurable optimism. For some reason when I read the words in our key verse “stand still,” I thought of Laurie and Hope…by far the most unique ministry team I’ve ever met.
Yours for coming to a total stop once in a while in order to “consider the wondrous works of God,”
David
Praying for God’s mercy love and grace upon all saints, today. Holding Judy in prayer as she prepares for heart surgery tomorrow and Wednesday. May she trust in You Lord and You alone. Grateful to worship at church, this morning in honour of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.
The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. Psalm 19:1 ESV
Holy Spirit – Francesca Battistelli (lyric video)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3zARVp3420I
Amen. Beverlee.
I prayed for Judy as well. Will keep her in prayer this week for sure.
God bless you all.
I am also praying for Judy, for her heart operation to be successful . Help her Lord to feel your presence through it all. In Jesus name Amen.
Blessings to all, Eleanor M.
Thanks folks for praying for Judy. She’s also a recent widow (after 63 years). Blessings all.
As Job listens to Elihu in these two chapters, he knows Elihu’s assessment is not correct, but Job does not know how to prove that.
I find that comparison for us as Christians, when we are trying to show the world how the concept of faith is not just a series of co-incidences. When we are in a learning curve of any kind, (as Job was in the learning curve of growing in faith) we feel doubtful as to weather what we are trying to learn is worthwhile to keep pursuing and wonder if we will ever learn it well enough to apply it. God knew Job’s frustration of trying to prove to his friends that they did not understand the reason for Job’s troubles. God allowed them to bombard Job until the point where God also knew He had to step into the situation and draw a boundary line for his friends to stop at. Just as God did for Moses and the Children of Israel at the Red Sea to allow time for them to walk through the parted waters, before Pharaoh’s army could pursue them any further.
Job held onto his faith because he knew God had been the one who blessed him in the first place. He utters that famous phrase we as Christians often quote “Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him, but I will maintain mine own ways before Him”. (Job 13:15)
This shows us that Job was looking to God as his source, rather then man. Job was saying the same thing as Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego said to King Nebuchadnezzar “If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king.” (Daniel 3:19) It is when we mediate on verses like this, that we are then able to stand in our faith and know that God will (in His perfect time) confirm to those who are accusing us of being naïve, that our faith is not just a fairytale or series of coincidences, but rather something much deeper and real. This is revealed through two things 1. Our commitment to our faith & 2.The genuine love God puts in our hearts that leads us to reach into the lives of others and touch those lives in practical ways confirming we are acting out of love and not out of obligation or for social recognition.
God has shown me this time and again in my own life when I have reached the point where I told God that after doing everything I knew to be right, still what His word promised had not come to pass. I can honestly say though, that just when I uttered those words, the person who had ridiculed my faith in front of others, came to me privately to apologize and asked me for the secret of the peace and willingness to reach out to others that they saw in me, and that was how the Lord opened the door of their heart that I could share Christ with them.
God did this for Job to share with his friends in the end, God did this for Joseph to show his brothers Gods love, God did it for Esau in forgiving Jacob, and God will do this you too.
I am always so humbled when I read the book of Job, especially when God speaks and questions Job.
It makes me think of that beautiful hymn…oh Lord my God when I in awesome wonder, consider all the worlds thy hands have made….
May God’s will be done today in all of our lives and in this world!