Job chapter 30, our Text today, our Bible focus.

Yesterday in Job chapter 29 this great servant of the Lord was telling us about the way things “used to be,” back before the trouble came, the devastation.

Now today … the way things are, as he suffered Satan’s greatest blows, one after another, and of course their long-running consequences as well. Like the running sores, the grief over loved ones who’ve died, and the scathing criticism of all who “know” why Job is in such agony!

Job 30:1 actually begins … “But now!”

The context almost speaks for itself … “But now they that are younger than I have me in derision.” Kids making fun of Job, not behind his back, to his face! (Remember those 42 young people who mocked Elisha? And the angry she bears? But there’s no supernatural retaliation for Job, not here!)

And Job can no longer sleep at night, internal pain. “My bones are pierced in me in the night season: and my sinews take no rest.” Job 30:17

Look what Job believes God has done to him: “He hath cast me into the mire, and I am become like dust and ashes.” Job 30:19

Desperation nearly, but no cursing God! “I cry unto thee, and thou dost not hear me: I stand up, and thou regardest me not. Thou art become cruel to me: with thy strong hand thou opposest thyself against me. Thou liftest me up to the wind; thou causest me to ride upon it, and dissolvest my substance. For I know that thou wilt bring me to death.” Job praying, with no consciousness of God hearing at all, no answer from Heaven!

Nothing is going “right,” it seems. One bad day after another. “When I looked for good, then evil came unto me: and when I waited for light, there came darkness.” Job 30:26

If Job had only known about the “contest!”

He continues …

“My bowels boiled, and rested not.”

“I stood up, and I cried in the congregation.” Public humiliation!

Then at times he is ultra lonely. “I am a brother to dragons, and a companion to owls.” Two solitary creatures of the desert!

Dehydration, or fever? “My skin is black upon me, and my bones are burned with heat.” Or results of starvation, not being able to eat?

No joy, anymore! Who wouldn’t have been depressed? “My harp also is turned to mourning, and my organ into the voice of them that weep.” Job 30:31, the chapter’s last verse.

This is a first person account (and a reason I believe Job is the author of this Book) of agony, intensified because God is not responding to Job’s cries.

I truly believe Job here is a Type of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The innocent Sufferer indeed!

Who also was mocked.

Who also was forsaken by God!

Who also was emaciated.

Who also cried in the darkness.

Who also was pierced.

But, good news! Just as Jesus, after the Cross (and subsequent Resurrection) was highly honored of God, exalted by God … so was Job!

What beauty is enfolded in Holy Scripture!

What amazing treasures of truth!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

 

 

Once I preached the Life of Job, a series of 5 Sermons on this great man of God. And I began (on Sunday morning) with Job chapter 29, the Text for today’s Lesson.

Why?

Because here Job tells us how his life was ordered prior to the calamities that have befallen him. As I said in the Lesson Title, “The way things used to be.”

Job is lamenting, grieving, remembering … the whole chapter long!

First, Job “longs” for the days when His fellowship with God was unbroken! This sentiment alone tells us how very godly the Patriarch Job was! “Oh that I were as in months past, as in the days when God preserved me; when his candle shined upon my head, and when by his light I walked through darkness; as I was in the days of my youth, when the secret of God was upon my tabernacle; when the Almighty was yet with me.” Job 29:2-5

The good old days … when God “protected” me!

When He smiled my way, His “light” was upon me!

When darkness came (it does to everyone), but He (back then) gave my insight!

He once shared “secrets” with me!

And He “walked” with me as well!

BUT NOW … GOD HAS STEPPED AWAY … JOB IS BEING TESTED, PROVEN, GIVEN AN OPPORTUNITY TO SHOW THAT A MAN CAN STILL LOVE AND SERVE AND WORSHIP ALMIGHTY GOD … WITH OR WITHOUT LOADS OF MATERIAL  BLESSINGS!

Wow, look how “close” to God Job lived! Verses 2-5 almost sound like they were written in the New Testament!

If that’s all (these 4 verses) we possessed of Job chapter 29, we already would have been enlightened greatly about the “character” of this admirable believer in God.

But there’s more.

Job (back then) was so wealthy he could have washed his doorsteps in butter! See verse 6.

He annually harvested “rivers” of oil, precious and costly “olive oil.”

He had a “seat” at the city gate, meaning he was some kind of a “judge” in his community. “When I went out to the gate through the city, when I prepared my seat in the street!” Verse 7

He passed by, and people stood up in honor!

Why was Job so respected? “Because I delivered the poor that cried, and the fatherless, and him that had none to help him.” Verse 12, the very sins his 3 “friends” have accused him of committing, ignoring the poor and mistreating the orphans! “And I caused the widow’s heart to sing for joy.”

How’s this for a testimony, every word being true? “I put on righteousness, and it clothed me: my judgment was as a robe and a diadem. I was eyes to the blind, and feet was I to the lame. I was a father to the poor.” Job 29:14-15

Once Job passed an opinion, nobody else offered a word! He was that wise! “After my words they spake not again; and my speech dropped upon them.” Verse 22, then: “They waited for me as for the rain; and they opened their mouth wide as for the latter rain.” Wow!

Are these the rants of an egomaniac, a person with a huge self image? A PROUD man?

No!

No, regardless of what many commentators and teachers say!

These are the cries of a suffering man … savoring the days of the past, “When my children were about me.” Said back in verse 5 … children (10 of them) who were now all dead!

Yes, Job is one of the greatest examples of faith … in all the Bible! Never once did He “curse” God … through this year (?) of turmoil, agony!

No wonder some preachers believe the man Job is a great “Type of Christ!”

All that prosperity left behind … now suffering innocently!

Like our Lord Jesus … having come “out of the ivory palaces” … into a world of woe. And HE indeed is the Innocent Sufferer, for sure! Paul wrote of Him, our dear Lord: “Ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though HE WAS RICH, yet for your sakes HE BECAME POOR, that ye through his poverty might be (spiritually) rich, might be saved.” Based on 2 Corinthians 8:9.

Mercy!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

 

 

I think I say this a lot, but today’s chapter is one of my favorites! Job 28, with its 28 verses, easy to remember. In some ways it is very “unlike” the rest of the Book which houses it.

Job 28 is still dialogue, as are all the chapters between 3 and 37. In fact, when God speaks in chapters 38-42, we still have dialogue. And it is still poetic too. But many current Jobian scholars wonder if Job really wrote this piece. If it is “authentic” to the Book as a whole? It is so “different.” (My answer, it is genuine, Holy Spirit inspired and directly from the pen of the wise Job!)

The entire chapter is about WISDOM.

It’s one of the greatest chapters in the whole Bible on the subject, in fact. Every bit as good as the Old Testament Book of Proverb’s little “jewels” on the subject!

The chapter divides itself into four little sections, of unequal length I might add. It’s is a search for true wisdom.

Verses 1-11 picture man as a “miner,” digging out the depths of the earth, searching for (and finding) precious metals. (In Scripture “wisdom” is often compared to precious stones and minerals. “Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding. For the merchandise of it is better than the merchandise of SILVER, and the gain thereof than fine GOLD. She is more precious than RUBIES: and all the things thou canst desire are not to be compared unto her. Length of days is in her right hand; and in her left hand RICHES and honour. Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace.” Proverbs 3:13-17) I think the idea of verses 1-11 is this: Mankind works and searches and takes great risks trying to find gold and silver and such. But mankind does NOT put that much effort into finding real Wisdom (much more valuable than gold), God’s Wisdom, thinking it less valuable!

Wouldn’t it be great if we Christians searched the Scriptures for God’s Wisdom, like the worldlings scour the earth for their diamonds?

Then Job 28:12 interprets (encapsulates) the first paragraph for us, with two questions. “But where shall wisdom be found? and where is the place of understanding?”

Whereupon Job 28:15-19 immediately answers: “It (real wisdom) cannot be gotten for gold, neither shall silver be weighed for the price thereof. It cannot be valued with the gold of Ophir, with the precious onyx, or the sapphire. The gold and the crystal cannot equal it: and the exchange of it shall not be for jewels of fine gold. No mention shall be made of coral, or of pearls: FOR THE PRICE OF WISDOM IS ABOVE RUBIES. The TOPAZ of Ethiopia shall not equal it, neither shall it be valued with pure GOLD.”

The stock market, the gold exchange, the bank vault … none of these can offer enough cash to buy this commodity called “God’s Wisdom!” Here money is truly “filthy lucre.” A man can be a billionaire and not possess an ounce of holy wisdom. Can be spiritually bankrupt! Materially wealthy, but morally impoverished!

Then comes Job 28:20-28, with an ending verse that’s dynamite! But first, verse 20 begins with parallel questions to verse 12. “Whence then cometh wisdom? and where is the place of understanding? Seeing it is hid from the eyes of all living, and kept close from the fowls of the air.“

This last paragraph merely continues our Wisdom search. Finally to conclude that only ALMIGHTY GOD possesses the kind of Wisdom essential for life, real life, meaningful life!

Let’s continue with our chapter …

“Destruction and death now say, We have heard the fame (of Wisdom) thereof with our ears. (Only) God understandeth the way (of Wisdom) thereof, and He knoweth the place (where Wisdom dwells)thereof.” Quoting verses 22-23 of Job 28.

And now here’s the “apex” of the whole chapter! “Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding.”

Job, with Eliphaz and Bildad and Zophar (and by now Elihu as well) listening, defines Wisdom as only such a godly sage could have done. Again: “Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding.”

Wow!

But, wait a second!

The fear of the Lord?

Departing from evil?

Qualifications for God’s wisdom, in fact definitions of it?

YES!

And those are the very traits God says Job possessed way back in Job chapter 1. “And the LORD said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, ONE THAT FEARETH GOD, and ESCHEWETH EVIL?” (Job 1:8)

Job, says His Creator, fears the Lord!

And “escheweth” evil, meaning he departs from every form of evil he spots!

Folks, we’ve just been told that Job has the Wisdom of God in his life, and has possessed it since this storm-tossed Book began!

Job the wise one, such understanding being a gift of God, of course.

This is amazing!

This is ironic!

This is beautiful!

And Job is quite the writer!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

I (again) stand amazed.

The Bible, what a miraculous Book!

 

 

Job would NOT admit to being a hypocrite! Because … he wasn’t! 

Yet Eliphaz and Bildad and Zophar have accused him of harboring hidden sin! In fact they have accused him of such over and over again!

So Job issues one of the strongest affirmations of faith I’ve ever read! (Although some commentators says it’s an outburst of pride! An assertion to which I will never agree!)

Here are his words, Job’s …

“As God liveth, who hath taken away my judgment; and the Almighty, who hath vexed my soul; all the while my breath is in me, and the spirit of God is in my nostrils; My lips shall not speak wickedness, nor my tongue utter deceit.” Job 27:1-4

That is … Job feels God has “turned against” him. That God has brought much “bitterness” into his life! What else could Job have thought?

Then Job avows that (as long as he lives, breathes) he will speak no wickedness! Nor tell any lies! His tongue will be faithful to the Lord! (Especially notice that he will not in any way CURSE God … Who ultimately is the One in control of everything!)

Job’s mindset: I’m going to keep on living for God. No matter what!

Then he turns to his so-called “friends” and says: “God forbid that I should justify you (Eliphaz and crew): till I die I will not remove mine integrity from me.” Job 27:5, you “boys” are not right. I’ll never agree to your false charges against me! UNTIL I DIE (JOB SAYS) I WILL NOT DENY MY INTEGRITY. I HAVE BEEN HONEST BEFORE GOD! I AM NOT HIDING ANY KNOWN SIN IN MY LIFE!)

And in case we didn’t “get” it, our Hero continues … “My righteousness I hold fast, and will not let it go: my heart shall not reproach me so long as I live.” Job 27:1-6, saying all this with a clear conscience! (His heart does not condemn him one iota!)

Wow!

I’m so glad Job didn’t “roll over and die!”

That he fought for who he was, what his heart was really like!

He would not agree to a bunch of untruth, a pack of inaccurate insinuations!

He has now lived for God many years. And he is not turning back!

Resolved!

Is this self-defense?

Yes, but Paul did the very same thing. “I am become a fool in glorying (bragging): ye have compelled me: for I ought to have been commended of you (Corinthians): for in nothing am I behind the very chiefest apostles, though I be nothing.” 2nd Corinthians 12:11

Integrity, what a word! A quality sorely missing in a day when “Truth,” its very existence, is questioned by many. Thank God for Job, what an example of faith!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

“Tenacious” faith at that!

 

I love Job chapter 26!

It’s our “Text” this morning.

Job is there responding to Bildad’s last remarks, which were uttered in Job chapter 25 (of course). Yesterday’s Lesson discuses that matter. There Bildad virtually asks Job, “Why do keep making yourself so just in God’s Eyes? Everyone knows you are a hypocrite!”

And the great Patriarch (justly so) gets a little bit “sarcastic” in his response, too! (“Sarcastic,” a word meaning literally “to tear some flesh!” It has a Latin background.)

Like this, Job to Bildad: “How hast thou (Bildad) helped him (Job) that is without power? How savest thou the arm that hath no strength (still Job)? How hast thou (Bildad) counselled him that hath no wisdom (Job, self deprecating)? And how hast thou (great Bildad) plentifully declared the thing as it is? To whom hast thou (Bildad) uttered (such omniscient) words? and whose spirit came from thee?” Is this in truth the Lord talking, Bildad? Or some other “spirit?” (Job 26:2-4)

Wow, pretty abrasive!

Also, as I already said, pretty deserved!

Then Job launches into one of the greatest descriptions of the Power of God (omnipotence) I’ve ever read, anywhere. Enjoy it with me, please. (In fact I have preached this awesome Text a few times during my ministry.)

“Dead things are formed from under the waters, and the inhabitants thereof. Hell is naked before him, and destruction hath no covering. He stretcheth out the north over the empty place, and hangeth the earth upon nothing. He bindeth up the waters in his thick clouds; and the cloud is not rent under them. He holdeth back the face of his throne, and spreadeth his cloud upon it. He hath compassed the waters with bounds, until the day and night come to an end. The pillars of heaven tremble and are astonished at his reproof. He divideth the sea with his power, and by his understanding he smiteth through the proud. By his spirit he hath garnished the heavens; his hand hath formed the crooked serpent.” Job 26:5-13

God oversees the “underworld!” (Including “sheol,” Hell or the Grave itself!) This first line in Hebrew suggests the (wicked) dead are in Hell, in torment, this very second! A truth Jesus later confirmed beyond doubt! Plus, God can see right into Hell, into the “heart of the earth!” “Dead things are formed (from a verb meaning “to writhe in pain”) from under the waters, and the inhabitants thereof. Hell (the grave included) is naked before him, and destruction hath no covering.”

Next we see God the mighty Creator … “He stretcheth out the north over the empty place, and hangeth the earth upon nothing.” I love the “flow” of those words! He made “something” out of “nothing!”

Then we quickly meet God Almighty, the Meteorologist! In a description that closely depicts how rain actually forms and falls to earth! “He bindeth up the waters in his thick clouds; and the cloud is not rent under them.” Job just taught us that: water droplets (via evaporation) remain suspended in the clouds … until they (going up and down with various wind currents) pick up enough “dust particles” thereby getting so “heavy” … they fall through the clouds onto the earth! Wow! (God here “owns” the clouds, “His thick clouds!”)

God also does not reveal all of Himself to us. “He holdeth back the face of his throne, and spreadeth his cloud upon it.” (Hidden, really demanding faith as a means of “seeing” Him!)

Then furthermore: “He hath compassed the waters with bounds, until the day and night come to an end.” He “holds” all the Oceans in place! And “sets the clock” for night and day to come and go!

Yes, at the first display of God’s Wrath, Job notes: “The pillars of heaven tremble and are astonished at his reproof.” And John, in Revelation 11:19, agrees! “And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament: and there were lightnings, and voices, and thunderings, and an EARTHQUAKE, and great hail.” Clearly a judgment setting!

Nearing the end of Job’s great Science Poem … we learn a spiritual truth: “He (God) divideth the sea with his power, and by his understanding he smiteth through the proud.” Often in Scripture the tempestuous, untamed Ocean is a picture of the restless wicked (proud) man! (Isaiah 57:20, for example: “But the wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt.” Picturesque!) So God, Who “split” the sea (at the Exodus, when drowning Pharaoh’s whole army) judged unrighteous mankind, simultaneously humbled the proud!

Mercy!

One more great thing. “By His Spirit He (God) hath garnished the heavens; his hand hath formed the crooked serpent.” That “serpent” being perhaps a constellation of stars! To “garnish” means “to make beautiful!” To put all the “trimmings” of a thing into place!

Beautiful, Job. We know Whose Spirit led you to write such words! Words of worship, really!

Then, one last line! All of this Might … and we still know only “parts” of His (God’s) Ways! “Lo, these are (just) parts of his ways: but how little a portion is heard of him? but the thunder of his power who can understand?” In other words: “How very little” of Him do we yet realize!

What a Poem!

What a Text!

Best of all, What a God!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

Maybe even, Job, what a writer!