The Joy of Glory

Discovering endless joy in the boundless glory of God…

Tag: Lent

March 25, 2014

Lent Devotional: Job 9-10

Job 9-10 (click here)
For he is not a man, as I am, that I might answer him, that we should come to trial together. 33 There is no arbiter between us, who might lay his hand on us both. 34 Let him take his rod away from me, and let not dread of him terrify me. (Job 9:32-34)

Reflection
No matter how much Job feels that he is innocent and undeserving of the suffering he is experiencing, he knows that arguing such a case before the perfectly righteous, almighty God would be futile. No man can stand before the holy God and argue that he is righteous. Job knows that would never work!

Therefore, he longs for an arbiter…someone who could stand between he and God. Someone who could argue his case for him…someone who could relate to him as a man, but be worthy to stand before God. Such a person could perhaps save Job.

Is there such a person?

From our Christian perspective, we cannot help but think of Jesus. Fully God…able to stand before the Father in perfect righteousness. Fully man…able to identify with us. He is our arbiter…our mediator. He has born our unrighteousness so that we might be righteous before God…saved.

Job (and us) experiences suffering in this life, but God has provided a mediator who ultimately will bring our suffering to an end.  As our arbiter, Jesus has taken all the punishment for our sin so that we can know when we suffer…we are are NOT being punished! Job is NOT being punished and neither are you when you suffer for Christ has taken every ounce of just punishment you ever deserved!  When we suffer, it is mysteriously, providentially working for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison…it is working for our good, not our punishment (2 Cor 4:17, Ro 8:28).

Take heart…you have a mediator, an arbiter…the man, Jesus Christ (1 Tim 2:5)!

*The complete SVCC Lenten reading guide is available here.

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March 24, 2014

Lent Devotional: Job 8

Job 8 (click here)
Then Bildad the Shuhite answered and said: 2 “How long will you say these things, and the words of your mouth be a great wind? 3 Does God pervert justice? Or does the Almighty pervert the right? 4 If your children have sinned against him, he has delivered them into the hand of their transgression.” (Job 8:1-4)

Reflection
Bildad’s problem is that he is right! God does not pervert justice! The Almighty does not pervert the right! Bildad’s theology is correct…but he makes the grave mistake of assuming that he can see the whole picture of what is going on with Job and that leads him to horribly, wrongly apply his right beliefs!

Bildad cannot imagine a universe beyond what he can see…a world in which God has more information and wisdom than he does. In his mind Job’s suffering must be direct punishment for some sin or that would make God unjust. This leads him to say foolish things to his suffering friend…such as, “Your kids must have sinned and received what they deserved!”

Could a worse thing be said to this bereaved father? All too often, we have correct beliefs that lead us to say foolish things amidst suffering because we believe we have the full picture when we simply do not. We must always remember there is a heavenly perspective that goes beyond us and we cannot possibly know all that God is doing in any given situation.

Before we attempt to advise anyone who is suffering, we would do well to recall Paul’s words in Romans 11:33, “Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!”

*The complete SVCC Lenten reading guide is available here.

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March 23, 2014

Lent Devotional: Job 6-7

Job 6-7 (click here)
Therefore I will not restrain my mouth; I will speak in the anguish of my spirit; I will complain in the bitterness of my soul. (Job 7:11)

Reflection
Despair. It has crept into Job’s soul and now spews out his mouth. God is the sole source of his hope, but it seems as though God himself is set against him. He has nowhere left to go. What is a believer to do when despair comes?

We are still to go to the only source of hope we have…God. We take our anguish, our complaints, our bitterness to the Lord. We do not keep everything shut up inside our hearts and wear a happy face like all is ok. No.  Bottled up bitterness is like a stomach full of glass…it will cut you to pieces and kill you from the inside out.

Even though Job feels like God is opposing him, he still goes to God. As a believer, he (and we) has nowhere else to go.  And Job doesn’t hold back, he lets go everything that is in his heart. This doesn’t mean that everything he says or does is right! All too often we mistake it being ok to express our feelings before God as an actual affirmation that our feelings are correct. That is not the case.

As Job will find out, anytime we are angry with God, we are in the wrong…for God never does anything wrong. Yet, it is ok to express what we are feeling to the Lord. He will walk us, as he does with Job, through the situation in his time and his way. He will affirm the feelings that should be affirmed and lead us to repent of those for which repentance is needed.

Don’t sit in the darkness of despair alone…for you are not alone. Cry out to God. Take everything in your heart before him. Hold nothing back. He is the only one who can turn our night to day. He is our only hope.

*The complete SVCC Lenten reading guide is available here.

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