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WED.05.20.20 Bible Study - #5) God Speaks from the Storm

Updated: May 21, 2020

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1) Billie Kern Roberts Visitation: Thursday, May 28, 2020 - 9 AM to 7 PM, Black & Clark Funeral Home

2) 10 FAMILY REUNION Music Tracks for SEPTEMBER (Mt. Olive Birthday Party)

3) In MAY: Learn to LAYER Worship Tracks (Garage Band, Acapella)

4) In JUNE: Build a Companionship TREE & Deliver Companionship KITS

Thursday, May 21 -- Companionship Leadership Meeting

5) In JULY: Adapt Companionship Kits for MEMBERS to give out to our NEIGHBORS & discuss FOOD PANTRY Plan for the Future


JOB 38: God Speaks from the Storm

Job 38:

The Lord Speaks

1 Then the Lord spoke to Job out of the storm. He said:

2 “Who is this that obscures my plans with words without knowledge? 3 Brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer me.

4 “Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation? Tell me, if you understand. 5 Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know! Who stretched a measuring line across it? 6 On what were its footings set, or who laid its cornerstone — 7 while the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy? 8 “Who shut up the sea behind doors when it burst forth from the womb, 9 when I made the clouds its garment and wrapped it in thick darkness, 10 when I fixed limits for it and set its doors and bars in place, 11 when I said, ‘This far you may come and no farther; here is where your proud waves halt’?


SIX STUDIES IN JOB

  1. JOB 1: Cause of the Suffering

  2. JOB 2: Reactions to Suffering

  3. JOB 10: Grief and Bad Theology

  4. JOB 19: Response to Bad Theology

  5. JOB 38: Response from the Storm

  6. JOB 42: Job Repents and Forgives Why is Elihu so Mysterious?

MAJOR THEMES of JOB

We are prepared to address the HARD REALITIES of Life. And Death.

  • Suffering is a given. For everyone.

  • Do we REACT out of Fear?

  • Or RESPOND out of Faith?

We are able to ask the HARD QUESTIONS -- of ourselves -- AND God

  • What is Good and what is Bad? How do we really know?

  • Why does Suffering have to be a reality of life?

We are able to redirect away from the EASY ANSWERS

  • We can wait in silence as long as it is needed

  • We don't have to trivialize the Challenges others face.

  • We don't have to give advice to distance ourselves from other's pain

We can affirm the Majestic Mysteries of Heaven AND Earth

  • Who can contemplate the beginning of Creation? Or the End?

  • Beware of believing WE understand God ... or God's purpose(s)

Why Elihu is Just Like the Other Three

  • Eliphaz: “Job has sinned” (Job 4:7, 15:4-6, 22:5).

  • Bildad: “Job has sinned” (Job 8:5-6, 18:4).

  • Zophar: “Job has sinned” (Job 11:6, 20:29).

  • Elihu: “Job has sinned” (Job 34:7, 37; 35:16).

  • Of course, the reader knows Job has not sinned: “There is none like [Job] on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil” (Job 1:8, 2:3).

  • But Elihu charges him with sin, just as the other three do. What’s all the fuss? This case should be closed.

Why Elihu seems to AGREE with God

  • Though God clears Job of all charges (Job 42:7-8), notice that his declaration comes after Job repents in dust and ashes (Job 42:6). Before this repentance, God calls Job a faultfinder (Job 40:2) who speaks without knowledge (Job 38:2) and puts God in the wrong (Job 40:8).

  • Elihu also desires to justify Job of all charges (Job 33:32). He accuses Job of finding fault with God (Job 33:9-11), speaking without knowledge (Job 34:35), and putting God in the wrong (Job 34:5-6, 36:23).

Why Elihu is Not Like the Other Three

  • Though their conclusion is the same, their arguments are completely different. Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar perpetually argue: “BEFORE you began suffering, you must have sinned.”

  • Elihu’s case is different: “AFTER you began suffering, you have sinned.”

  • The three concern themselves with Job’s hidden conduct;

  • Elihu concerns himself with Job’s present speech.

  • Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar have no evidence, only presumption, though Job begs them for the merest shred (Job 6:28-30).

  • Elihu, however, constantly brings specific evidence to support his charges: “You say…You say…You say…You say…” (Job 33:8-11, 33:13, 34:5-6, 35:2-3, 36:23).

  1. JOB's Perfect Storm - Job 30, 40, 42 In this sermon, Andy Cook says, "Look squarely and honestly into the center of the dark clouds and the raging storm. For it is there you will find that God has kept His promise to never leave you, to never forsake you, and to never stop using you for His glory." Main points include

  • A perfect storm of suffering may overwhelm you.

  • A perfect storm of suffering might drive you away from God.

  • God is most clearly revealed in the worst moments of our suffering.


Job 38:

The Lord Speaks

1 Then the Lord spoke to Job out of the storm. He continued:

12 “Have you ever given orders to the morning, or shown the dawn its place, 13 that it might take the earth by the edges and shake the wicked out of it? 14 The earth takes shape like clay under a seal; its features stand out like those of a garment. 15 The wicked are denied their light, and their upraised arm is broken. 16 “Have you journeyed to the springs of the sea or walked in the recesses of the deep? 17 Have the gates of death been shown to you? Have you seen the gates of the deepest darkness 18 Have you comprehended the vast expanses of the earth? Tell me, if you know all this. 19 “What is the way to the abode of light? And where does darkness reside? 20 Can you take them to their places? Do you know the paths to their dwellings 21 Surely you know, for you were already born! You have lived so many years!


22 “Have you entered the storehouses of the snow or seen the storehouses of the hail, 23 which I reserve for times of trouble, for days of war and battle? 24 What is the way to the place where the lightning is dispersed, or the place where the east winds are scattered over the earth? 25 Who cuts a channel for the torrents of rain, and a path for the thunderstorm, 26 to water a land where no one lives, an uninhabited desert, 27 to satisfy a desolate wasteland and make it sprout with grass? 28 Does the rain have a father? Who fathers the drops of dew? 29 From whose womb comes the ice Who gives birth to the frost from the heavens 30 when the waters become hard as stone, when the surface of the deep is frozen?


31 “Can you bind the chains of the Pleiades? Can you loosen Orion’s belt? 32 Can you bring forth the constellations in their seasons or lead out the Bear with its cubs? 33 Do you know the laws of the heavens? Can you set up God’s[e] dominion over the earth? 34 “Can you raise your voice to the clouds and cover yourself with a flood of water? 35 Do you send the lightning bolts on their way? Do they report to you, ‘Here we are’? 36 Who gives the ibis wisdom or gives the rooster understanding? 37 Who has the wisdom to count the clouds? Who can tip over the water jars of the heavens 38 when the dust becomes hard and the clods of earth stick together? 39 “Do you hunt the prey for the lioness and satisfy the hunger of the lions 40 when they crouch in their dens or lie in wait in a thicket? 41 Who provides food for the raven when its young cry out to God and wander about for lack of food?


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