JOB 5

JOB 5 IN FULL

We see that Eliphaz is wrong in his assumptions about Job, he is of the opinion still that Job has brought this on himself (which we clearly understand from the first 4 chapters that this is not the case).

For me the lesson to be learnt from this passage is that while we need friends around us, especially at this sort of time for Job having lost his possessions and children, we must be careful even when friends give us advice, even when it is genuine advice, because sometimes they do not know the full surroundings of the situation (either we don’t tell them the whole story, or we don’t know ourselves).

In other words, we ought not to be hyper skeptical towards those around us not at all or we will turn into paranoid people 24/7, but at the same time we should be wise with regards to what we are told even when it is our closest ones, for even they are not always infallible.

JOB 4

JOB 4 IN FULL FOR READING IN CONTEXT

Eliphaz (one of Job’s friends that had come to mourn the death of his children with him in chapter 2) comes to Job with the premise that the ‘innocent’ do not suffer. [Sidebar - there is no one truly innocent we are all born sinners but the point is made that it is not always because of a particular thing you have done wrong why you suffer]

He is wrong as life experience and Job’s experience will tell us, but the outcome of this book and indeed the first few chapters that I have previously discussed show us that our God, our GREAT Lord is ALWAYS in TOTAL control.

Calamities may come but as the songwriter says

‘We have an anchor that keeps the soul
Steadfast and sure while the billows roll,
Fastened to the Rock which cannot move,
Grounded firm and deep in the Savior’s love’

THE SONG ABOVE IN FULL – ‘WE HAVE AN ANCHOR’

JOB 3

You want to see despair? This man had buckets full of it, yet what is remarkable to me is that he had not yet cussed out God!

Job 3 is essentially a monologue of Job basically in absolute despair! His friends had come to see him (outlined in chapter 2), but near Eastern culture at the time was a culture where the grieving person had to speak first (I suppose out of respect) and after seven days of being with him in silence, he opened his mouth and in despair described his situation to them!

verse 11 says this

‘Whydid I not die at birth,
come out from the womb and expire?

Here are some other biblical figures describing things at the point when they were in a deep ditch!

The prophet, the man of God, Jeremiah who lived around 600 BC said this in Jeremiah 20:14-15

‘Cursed be the day on which I was born’

He had been totally rejected by his country and put in prison and beaten up simply for telling them God was totally displeased with them, yet he carried on knowing the God whom he served, but it is not at the same time like he was not a real person as the quote shows! It shows that these great guys were normal yes like us, but they had a passion for God and they knew Him for his worth!

One of the psalmists said this in Psalm chapter 88

‘I am shut in so that I cannot escape, my eyes grow dim through sorrow’

JOB 3 IN FULL – ITS FULL OF JOB’S DESPAIRINGS ALL 26 VERSES!

JEREMIAH 28 – TO SEE THE IMMEDIATE CONTEXT OF WHAT WAS GOING ON WITH JEREMIAH

PSALM 88

JOB 2

JOB 2 IN FULL FOR READING IN CONTEXT

Don’t worry, God is always in sovereign control

Satan had God’s permission to strike Job, showing he had no ultimate power, but it is God who grants Satan permission to plague Job’s life.

We see also that Job’s wife did not know the watchful preservation that God would preserve Job with. Sometimes we do not know all that is going on, but be assured in your mind that God knows the end from the beginning. God is always in sovereign, total and comprehensive unassailable control.

Be encouraged that those who are in Him are totally surrounded – HE IS GOD – and there is none like Him! Hallelujah!

Hebrews 1:14 describes the angels as having this function to those who follow Christ by asking this rhetorical question.

‘Are they not all ministering spirits sent out to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation?’

May the Lord God Almighty bless you, to know Him, or to continue in the knowledge of Him

HEBREWS 1 IN FULL FOR READING IN CONTEXT

JOB 1

The man named Job in the Bible, to whom the book is given its name had lost everything in life in a short space of time, his whole estate, all of his animals had been stolen or killed rendering him totally in poverty, and worse still all of his 10 sons and daughters had been killed, but yet this is what happened straight after,

“Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head and fell on the ground and worshiped. And he said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.”

[JOB 1:20-21]

Oh for a quiet submission to the Lord’s secret will!

c.f. Philippians 4:11-13, here hundreds of years later the disciple called Paul said this of his own different situation.

‘Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me.’

Yes all things, no matter how tough, with the strength given to us by Jesus we can manage it!

JOB 1 IN FULL – FOR READING THE TEXT IN CONTEXT

PHILIPPIANS 4 IN FULL – FOR READING WHAT I QUOTED IN CONTEXT