When God Speaks (Walk Thru the Bible Week 37)

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Welcome to Walk Through the Bible, Susan Michael's 12-month journey through the most exciting

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book on the planet.

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It will transform your life one page at a time.

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Be sure to subscribe for future episodes that will ignite your faith and bring your Bible

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to life.

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Now, let's join our host, Susan Michael.

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Well, hey there and welcome back.

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This is week 37 of our Walk Through the Bible.

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This week we are reading the dates in the daily Bible of September 10-16, or that is page

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numbers 1164-1202.

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So let's give a quick review.

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Last week we saw Jerusalem and Judah are finished.

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It's over for now.

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Jeremiah ends up in Egypt and ends his ministry and his life there.

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Ezekiel has these grand visions and his final vision that of the temple and then his life

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or his ministry comes to an end and at some point his life does too.

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So only Daniel continues.

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And so we've taken a break though in our story about from Daniel to read the book of Job.

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We began that last week and as I explained last week, Job has three parts.

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It has the prologue in the first two chapters where we introduced Job and we introduced

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the story.

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And then for most of the book from chapter 3-42, it's this dialogue between Job and his

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friends and then a fourth friend appears and speaks and then God himself speaks.

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And then just the last few verses of the book are considered an epilogue and that is where

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it gives you the conclusion, the end of the story of Job.

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So you know, I remember back in college for some reason I was impressed to read through

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the book of Job and I got out my new international version Bible and I just read Job from beginning

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to end, letting to follow the dialogue, follow who was saying what.

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I kind of was on a quest to see how could God allow this to happen to Job.

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And when you get to the end of Job, it is such a powerful ending.

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So I encourage you to make the trip through this dialogue and listen.

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What his friends say doesn't actually sound very wrong, but it is wrong.

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It is not right.

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And that's why in the end, the Lord has to set the record straight.

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But they say things that they think it's logical to them, it makes sense to them.

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And this is why we always have to be careful not to sermonize too much when someone is

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hurting.

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We can do more damage than good.

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So you know, in the time of the writing of the Old Testament, most people did see suffering

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as a consequence of sin.

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And some of that is because, you know, in God's covenant with the Jewish people, he

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made it very clear that their obedience to him and walking in right relationship with

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him would bring blessing, but that if they didn't, if they worshiped other gods, they

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turned from him, they disobeyed, then they would suffer.

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There were bad things that were going to happen in their lives.

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And so the people of Israel really saw this cause and effect.

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And sin brought suffering and pain.

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And it does.

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But what the book of Job does is it kind of breaks through and brings a new revelation

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that not all sin and not all suffering is because of sin, that there is something about

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the sovereignty of God and that sometimes God will allow suffering and it's for his

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greater purposes.

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And that really is the overarching message here in Job and the really groundbreaking

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message into that time and that place and that society.

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It's a brilliant book.

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It is written by a master storyteller.

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And did it happen exactly as it's written?

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Did these three friends really appear and do this and say that we don't know because

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it really is a master story?

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And you tend to think, well, maybe we're just being set up here just to learn a lesson.

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It's a story to learn a lesson.

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But as I said last week, we really do believe that Job existed.

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He lived somewhere there south of Edom and north of Midian.

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And therefore this story about Job was passed down from generation to generation, especially

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in that area.

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And both James in the New Testament and the prophet Ezekiel, actually God speaking through

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Ezekiel, refer to Job as a very real character.

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So I believe that Job really did live and that this is a true story.

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It may have been embellished a bit to drive home the point, but the book is an amazing

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piece of theology.

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And it's really worth the ride as we read through it.

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So last week we read Job 1 through 7.

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So I'm not going to repeat about the prologue and what it said about Job, but I do want

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to emphasize one point and that is God's description of Job.

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This isn't what Job said, it's not what his friend said.

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This is what God said.

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And so there were four attributes that God pointed out about his servant Job.

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And number one, it said he was blameless.

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Number two, that he was upright.

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Number three, that he fears God.

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And number four, that he shuns evil.

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Oh, that we might all be described in such wonderful ways by the Lord when he talks about

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us.

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What does he say about us?

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That's what he said about Job.

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He was blameless.

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He was upright.

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He feared God and he shunned evil.

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Nevertheless, God allowed this loss in Job's life.

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He allowed him to come under attack in this degree.

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And of course, Job refused to curse God.

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And in that way, Job did pass the test early on.

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So the adversary went farther.

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He said, of course he's praising you.

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But let's attack him in his health.

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Let's go further.

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And so he does.

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And still, Job does not curse God.

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Even Job's wife makes this very brief appearance on the stage and she tells him, just curse

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God and die.

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He said, I'm not about to do that.

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And then in walk his three friends.

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So in chapter three, then, we begin this dialogue where each of the friends speaks and then Job

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answers each one of them.

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And finally, in comes this young man, Elihu.

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He's a younger man and he begins to correct these older guys.

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And he says, you just haven't gotten it right.

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You need to listen to me.

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I've got a different perspective here.

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And he begins to talk.

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And in one section, he begins to talk about God speaking.

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And so I just want you to, I want to emphasize this because I want to ask you, has God ever

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spoken to you?

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And maybe not audibly.

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Maybe it was through a still small voice or through his word.

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But when God speaks, it's not just words.

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And this is what, you know, when he speaks, it's not that he's giving us knowledge for

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our brain and our mind.

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The Holy Spirit is speaking to our spirit and it brings the power of the spirit into

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our lives.

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Sometimes when God speaks, it may just be through a little small voice, a little whisper,

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or it could be that you're reading the scriptures and a verse just jumps off the page and into

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your heart.

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And it's the Holy Spirit speaking that to you and with it will come a peace that passes

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all understanding.

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It can be a peace that you feel from the top of your head to the soles of your feet.

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It can be that God gives you a directive.

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And with that directive, once again, it's not head knowledge you're receiving.

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You're actually receiving the resolve, the commitment, the power to do what you know

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that he's telling you to do or what he's letting you know is his will to do.

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When God speaks, it's with power and it makes a difference in our life.

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It makes an impact.

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So here, Elihu begins to talk about God speaking.

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And in chapter 33, here, I'm not going to read it all, but this is what he says.

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He says, God does speak now one way, now another.

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Though no one may perceive it, but he'll speak in a dream or in a vision at night, or he

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may speak in their ears, or there may be an angel that speaks to them or ministers to

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them on behalf of the Lord.

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He says, God does all these things to a person and twice, maybe even three times, to turn

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them back from the pit that the light of light may shine on them.

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Now this is a synthesis of what Elihu said.

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It's so interesting here.

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He says, God may speak through a vision or a dream at night.

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He may speak through a still small voice in your ear.

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He may use an angel to minister to you.

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And he may do this more than once, maybe twice, maybe three times in order to direct your

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steps.

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And so then in the book of Job, in chapter 38, then God begins to speak.

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And how does he speak?

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In none of those ways.

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It says he speaks, he spoke out of the storm.

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And God says this, where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?

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Whoa.

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You've got to read chapter 38.

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If you're skimming over any of Job's stop, start reading in chapter 38 and listen to

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how God describes His Majesty, His greatness, His power, His breath.

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Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?

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And then he says this, will the one who contends with the Almighty correct Him?

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Let him who accuses God answer him.

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I mean, he's saying, are you really contending with me?

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And it says, Job was dumbfounded.

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He had nothing to say.

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So then God tells, embrace yourself like a man.

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Stand up and answer me, because I'm going to ask you some questions.

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And he says, would you condemn me just to justify yourself?

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Wow.

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Friends, this is a loaded question.

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Would you, Job, condemn me, the creator of the universe, in order to justify your measly

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little self?

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Then the end, by chapter 42, I mean, you've got to read this.

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It's two very rich chapters.

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And then Job finally responds in 42, verse 3.

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And he says, I spoke to things I did not understand.

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And then in verse 6, he says, my ears had heard of you, but now my eyes have seen you.

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For I despise myself and I repent in dust and ashes.

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You know, Job was an upright guy.

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God said himself he was blameless.

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He was upright.

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He feared God.

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And yet here, when God reveals himself to Job, Job is so overwhelmed by the presence of God

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and the majesty of God and the power of God, he says, my ears had heard of you, but now

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my eyes have seen you.

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And I despise myself.

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That my friends is the response of our human nature when we are in front of this most powerful

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God because in an instant we know not because he tells us, it's not about words and head

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knowledge.

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Our spirit knows.

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This is the Almighty God, the Creator of the universe.

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I am but a speck of dust before him.

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And I follow my face before him.

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That is the response of Job.

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It was the response of Isaiah when he saw God.

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It's the response of many of the times in the Bible where someone saw God and they fell

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in their face before him.

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And that's how our response should be to this God.

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The moment we start accusing him because we have a problem in our life is the day that

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we're putting ourselves up on the pedestal.

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We are contending with the Almighty God, Creator of the universe, just trying to make our self

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look better.

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This is the lesson of Job and it says that after this God then rebuked the three friends

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for all of their wrong and empty words.

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And then it says, Job prayed for his friends.

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And then God restored Job's fortunes.

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It seems as though God was waiting.

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Job had to forgive his friends.

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Job had to pray for his friends and forgive them for all the bad advice, for all the bad

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things they had said about him, for all the ways they had made him feel, leading him to

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even say wrong things.

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He had to forgive them.

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And when he did, God restored his fortunes and blessed him many more times over.

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You know, Job still didn't have all the answers.

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You understand?

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And there are times in our lives when we may not have all the answers.

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But when we come into the presence of God, we no longer care.

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We don't need the answers because we are aware that all those little problems, all

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those little questions are nothing but a little speck before this mighty God, the Creator

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of the universe.

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So I pray that as you read through Job this week, and particularly when you read God's

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response to Job and he reveals his power and his greatness and how little we are as mankind,

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God his awesome majesty, fill your heart and your mind and your life.

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May that peace just flood your being, that peace that passes all understanding, bypasses

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all those little questions we might have, all the whys, even the problems, and just

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bask in his presence this week.

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And then I'll see you back here next week when we move forward in our story.

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But until then, may the Lord bless you as you spend time in his word.