JOB PART 2, JOB's FRIENDS

 

JOB PART 2, JOB's FRIENDS Now when Job’s three friends—Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite—heard about all the adversity that had come upon him, each of them came from his home, and they met together to go and sympathize with Job and comfort him. Job 2:11 Job had three friends who came to comfort him in his distress. But they weren't much help! They were religious busybodies who were determined to convince Job that all his calamities had come about because of secret sin. So they urged Job to confess. And in another low blow, they declared that Job's children died because of their sins also. Those men used lofty religious language as they dug the knife in, again and again. Then Job answered: “I have heard many things like these; miserable comforters are you all. Is there no end to your long-winded speeches? What provokes you to continue testifying? Job 16:1-3 Job refused to be bullied by his friends and stood firm in his belief that he hadn't done anything worthy of such severe calamity. WHAT WE LEARN FROM JOB'S FRIENDS Do not judge, or you will be judged. For with the same judgment you pronounce, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. Matthew 7:1 Sometimes bad things happen and it's nobody's fault. Don't be quick to judge. I have seen it happen in churches when vicious religious busybodies approached people and sliced them to ribbons with their hard-hearted legalism. And social media makes it even easier to hurt people! In this modern age we have a bad habit of assigning blame the minute anything happens. After the recent Texas floods, a million social media couch potatoes analyzed how this happened and who was at fault. HOWEVER; the Texas flood waters were several feet ABOVE the level that engineers had determined was the "100 year flood level." In other words, the flash flood was beyond what anyone had imagined would be worst-case scenario. So how can anyone be blamed? Even people who had made every precaution against flash floods were swept away. It was a terrible, awful flood event. There's no reason to point fingers - and it's not helpful. The Bible gives us very simple instructions on how to share in the joys and sorrows of our friends, family and community: Rejoice with those who rejoice; weep with those who weep. Romans 12:15 JOB PART 3 continued TOMORROW.

 

THE TRIALS OF JOB PART 1

 

THE TRIALS OF JOB PART 1 In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in various trials so that the proven character of your faith (more precious than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire) may result in praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. I Peter 1:6-7 Job was an incredibly wealthy man. He had houses, sheep, camels, oxen, donkeys, servants and riches galore. He also had seven sons and three daughters. Job was the greatest man of all the people of the East. Scholars believe Job was born around the time of Abraham, and he may have been a relative. The book of Job is the oldest in the Bible. Job was blameless and upright, fearing God and shunning evil. He taught his children to fear God and offered sacrifices for them so God would accept them. Then one day Satan strolled into heaven and told God that Job would certainly curse Him if all the wealth and blessings were taken away. Satan said that Job only served God because of the privileges God had given him. So, God told Satan to do whatever he wanted with Job, but Satan must spare Job's life. In one day, Job lost everything: health, wealth, sons and daughters. And God allowed it. In all this, Job did not sin or charge God with wrongdoing. Job 1:22 We have struggled to understand all this. Our sympathies are definitely with Job. This wasn't fair at all! And even if God made it up to Job later on, how could anything make up for the loss of his ten children who died? Apparently Job's story is not a lesson on fairness. Job was a devout, godly man; and Job's ordeal was entirely about a trial of FAITH. So this lesson is for believers. This week, we will look at the major points of Job's story. WHAT WE LEARN ABOUT SATAN 1. He has access to God. 2. He made accusations against Job. 3. He wanted to destroy Job. 4. Satan was limited by God in how much destruction he could do. 5. The heavenly, spiritual realm is real and spiritual beings are very interested in us. JOB PART 2 continued TOMORROW.