Poetry – Job 35-36
Yesterday, I spent a great day in Church learning more about His Words and how we can use them to speak to our friends and loved ones about Jesus and our Christian beliefs.
For those of you who missed out – I would strongly urge that you attend the next sessions conducted by the Church – especially on the 1st Sunday of each month – where the Jia En Committee has organised a series of Christian lectures addressing different ‘contentions’ we might face with regards to the sharing of our faith.
The AV team should have recorded the lecture and if you can – you should listen. Although if you are Mandarin challenged – you might need an interpreter to help you :). Let me know, and I would be most happy to help.
For today, we are reading…
Bible Passage: Job 35-36
Elihu continues to take issue with Job in today’s 2 chapters. In Chapter 35, you can literally hear Elihu shouting at Job…
“Job! You are being too self-righteous!”
“Talk! Talk! Talk! Job – all your words are empty talk against God!”
Then in Chapter 36, Elihu reminds Job of the goodness and majesty of God and thinks that Job is being judged.
Although these are 2 relatively straightforward passages, a couple of verses caught my eye.
Job 36:26
“ Behold, God is great, and we do not know Him;
Nor can the number of His years be discovered.
This is one of the themes we constantly read in the Poetry books of the Bible – God is Great and that He is not fully comprehensible.
Yes, we do have some knowledge about Him for the Bible is full of details of who He is, how we can get to know Him, and how we can build an eternal relationship with Him. But the fact of the matter is, we can never know enough to be able to answer all of life’s questions (Eccl 3:11).
Yesterday morning’s Jia En Contender Series – Preacher Aun Quek tried to give answers to questions many people have on whether God is just a fable and also about creation. In the afternoon during the Evangelistic lecture, we learned about the history of Baptism and when there was a shift in Christian’s acceptance that Baptism has to do with Salvation.
And I could not help marveling that despite being in Church for a long time and having attended so many Spiritual Meetings, REU Classes, Theological Seminars, Bible Studies … there are still so many new insights and things that you can learn about God.
We can never know enough to be able to predict our own future or manipulate God for our own gains. Life always creates more questions than we have answers.
And that is why we have to constantly go back to Him for answers. That is why we have to read the Bible daily. That is why we should make an effort to make time to know Him more.
I think all the contributors to this Bible blog share the same experiences as me.
To prepare for each day’s posting may take the better part of an hour to 2 hours. Sometimes even more as these passages are read, and re-read, meditated and prayed upon before a single word is written.
But the delight in discovering God in His Word is something that is hard to describe and I do hope you are also finding that joy as you read the Bible together with us. And many a times, the Bible Passage that I have to prepare for is the source of inspiration, encouragement and admonishment at the exact right time.
God’s Word is living.
And if we want to really LIVE – we need to seek to know Him more through reading the Bible, attending services and special events such as those conducted yesterday.
Someone once remarked that this is how you know there is a recession… the attendance in Church services goes UP!
Of course he was joking but sometimes it does seem that way in that only when we are in trouble, are we more open to listening to God.
This was exactly what Elihu said in Job 36:15
He delivers the poor in their affliction,
And opens their ears in oppression.
God wants to use our afflictions, and the way He delivers us from them, to lead us to a deeper and richer relationship with Him. Adversity can be a bridge in our closer walk with Him.
But why wait till trouble comes?
Start walking with God today.
2 Comments
PS
36:27-28 For He draws up drops of water, which distill as rain from the mist, which the clouds drop down and pour abundantly on man.
This brings back memory of the first time i learn about the water cycle in science class in school.
36:29-30 Indeed, can anyone understand the spreading of clouds, the thunder from His canopy? Look, He scatters His light upon it, and covers the depths of the sea.
The new knowledge and discovery are just documentation of the amazing creations of God. They ought to give us a sense of awe for God, not arrogance or doubt of God.
36:31 For by these He judges the peoples; He gives food in abundance.
It may be hard for us to relate to V31 today bec we are so detached from the work of God. We cannot relate bec we have not experienced times when there was famine as God has withheld rain for three and a half years. To us the abundance of food is in the supermarket or in the rising price of rice instead of the providence of God.
Rom 1:20 For since the creation of the world, His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and divine nature.
i m sure Elihu had not attended science class. Yet he understood the water cycle. Let us continue to read His words and see God in our life daily.
jide ologun
Indeed God is awesome and beyond comprehension.
But one thing has been revealed in all generations:
Those who diligently seek God find him.
When he is found, he reveals what he wishes to reveal
of himself, and provides for growth in that revelation.
Whatever we then know about him, he desires we use to his glory
and not for self ego polishing.
In working with God’s revelation Jewsus remarked that greater works than he did (while physically on earth) we shall do.
COMMITMENT & DEDICATION are two key elements in doing exploits with the knowledge of God,
as he seeks to work through us, for without him, we can do nothing.