Coro Baptist Church

Last week Wayne introduced us to the young, angry man who name is Elihu. His name means, 'He is my God' and he is intent on telling Job who his God is and how he acts towards us mere mortals. But sadly, Elihu does not truly know his God. In fact, he admits, "God is great, and we know him not… The Almighty – we cannot find him." Elihu knows only of a deity who is distant and indifferent to us. A God who has no regard at all for the proud. But why then does the Lord come and speak to Job? Why is he mindful of us? Why does visit and speak to us? Why does he come to be with us in his Son - Immanuel? All of this suggests, not a distant and indifferent God but one who longs to know us and to be known by us, one who loves us and draws near to those who draw near to him in faith. He is my God. I pray he is yours too.

This is the second of five studies on the topic Unstoppable Divine Blessing. This study focusses on the blessings given to Abraham and Israel and their spiritual significance for believers today. It highlights God's redemptive favour through the central blessing of relational presence, alongside the blessings of place (homeland), people (offspring/nationhood), purpose and protection. The promises to Abraham are received by faith. Those of faith in Abraham's seed, Jesus Christ, are the spiritual descendants of Abraham and the "Israel of God". Those in Christ are the recipients of the covenanted blessings in His new creation. In the now, and in the yet to come, they are fulfilled more gloriously in Christ than any alternative prosperity could hope for.

Chapter 32 introduces us to Elihu, a young man who burns with anger at Job and his three friends. He thinks he has the perfect wisdom to settle the argument between them and he is busting to have his say. And he certainly lets it rip! So does he have the irrefutable answer for Job's situation? Sadly, no. His passion and self-confidence do not guarantee wisdom. While Elihu says a few things differently to the others, he still shares the shortcomings of their strict justice/retributive view of God. Lacking a covenantal understanding of God, Elihu paints God as one who may save us from destruction by terrorising us in our dreams as we sleep or by inflicting us with immense pain. He also sees God as inaccessible and so rigid in his exercise of justice that he considers Job to be blasphemous in seeking an explanation from God for his suffering. This is a far cry from the true God revealed to us in the Son, who loved us, entered our world of suffering and gave his life for us. God does speak to us in our suffering, not to terrify us but to draw us into a deeper appreciation of his own suffering for us as the cost of his atonement for sin. So it is through suffering we come to know more of the love of the Triune God for us and are led to worship him.

Whilst God blesses all of creation to flourish, People are specifically blessed by God's Word spoken directly to them. They are blessed to flourish in this blessed Place; blessed with a wonderful Purpose to Edenize the world and, most importantly to obediently walk in His Presence. In the Fall (disobedience, distrust, sin, autonomy) Man chose death, barring the way into Eden … but God has an unstoppable plan to bless through His Word.

This week, Job offers up his final defence to his friends and God. He reveals that the greatest longing of his heart is a restored intimate friendship with God. This isn't just a prize in the eyes of Job; it is the most fantastic prize any person could ever desire, let alone have. A relationship of glory and enjoyment between God and a person. It is a longing to walk with God that humanity has had from creation and will one day have again. Like all great treasures though, it can only be acquired at great cost. The cost of extreme humility, unanswered prayer, unjust suffering, and perfect obedience. Job's story is a foreshadowing of Jesus'. Jesus' humility, unanswered prayers, unjust suffering, and perfect obedience, and his reward of the ultimate prize, intimate friendship and unity with God. For Job and us, the cost for this treasure has already been paid for by our Lord Jesus Christ, and given freely to us through grace and faith. Such a prize is ours already in Him. The humility, unanswered prayer, and unjust suffering we may experience as believers are God's work in making the sufferings of Christ complete in us. He is waking us up to the glorious prize of friendship with God that we can boldly claim in Jesus' perfect obedience, that we might rejoice more fully in it even today!

In our sinful depravity we may well deserve the moniker of "maggots" that Bildad attributes to us, but that is not how God treats us. We may well be small in comparison to his infinite majesty and might as Job argues but the Lord makes much of us, having made us in his image and likeness. More than that, he has made us for his glory and speaks to us as his own children, telling us mere "worms" where it is we can find true wisdom - wisdom which equates to a true knowledge of God himself, and therefore a true knowledge of ourselves. Do you know where to find this wisdom?

It doesn't always seem fair, does it? When you look around the world and see faithful believers in Christ struggling in life's circumstances, while those who deny God seem to succeed. The lives of those who cherish the things of this world can appear so full, right up to death. Compare this to the life of a believer, who, in the pit of their despair, can come to fear what plans the Lord has in store for them next, even as he brings them into his holiness. This week in Job 20-24, we will consider four things from the comments of Job and his friends Zophar and Eliphaz. First, the success of the wicked is temporary and ultimately ends in destruction. Second, suffering can lead to impatience with the timing of God's judgment of the wicked. Third, it is easy to judge a person's favour with God based on their circumstances. Fourth, a faithful person can become afraid of God's plans for their future.

Comfort has quickly turned into competition between Job and his three friends. They are all determined to stick to their guns which, whilst admirable, only serves to intensify their animosity for each other. In the midst of all this Job maintains his innocence and displays brief but bold glimpses of his only remaining hope. He has longed for a mediator (9:33). He now claims to have a 'witness' in heaven who will testify for him (16:19) and then declares, "I know that my Redeemer lives" (19:25). This side of the cross we may know more than Job, but only because we share the same hope and Redeemer, who has revealed himself to us in his Son, Jesus Christ. In this hope we are saved!

Despite having no mediator and knowing he has little chance of surviving an encounter with the Almighty, Job is determined to argue his case with God. He has had enough of the counsel of his friends'– 'worthless physicians' that they are. He wants to take his chances with God and speak to him, face to face! A little like life itself, it is not always easy to distinguish the wise counsel from the worthless in the book of Job. Even Job's knowledge of God seems to fluctuate between the two. And yet, one thing we can learn from these chapters is Job's deep longing to both speak to and hear from God. He wants the truth revealed – even if it costs him his life! What a gift it is we have in our Mediator, Jesus Christ, who not only argues our case on our behalf, but exchanges places with us so that we might indeed meet with God, face to face! He alone is the way, the truth and the life. An inexpressible gift indeed!

A VAST GOD – Job 9-10 Dear friends, Nat continues our 'Lessons From Job' this week and writes, "Last week, we heard Bildad provide wisdom to comfort Job by setting his feet on the solid ground of God's character. So we learnt that God is just, welcoming the blameless, and rejecting the wicked. Frustratingly, Bildad's understanding of God was limited to this one characteristic, and so it offered little in the way of comfort or wisdom. This week, we hear Job's reply. Job rejects Bildad's wisdom based on his personal experience of innocent suffering. To Job's mind, God is not 'justice' alone; he is 'vast in wisdom and power' alone. Job's wisdom, like Bildad's, is greatly perverted by this limited understanding of God. Despite these misunderstandings, Job reveals a deep desire to be in good standing with God and longs for a mediator to bridge the great divide between mere mortals and God. Job cannot comprehend such a mediator existing... can you?