Questions

Article for August 13, 2023

Job 38:16–18 16“Have you entered into the springs of the sea, or walked in the recesses of the deep? 17Have the gates of death been revealed to you, or have you seen the gates of deep darkness? 18Have you comprehended the expanse of the earth? Declare, if you know all this.”

Were you there when the heavens and the earth were made? Were you there when God created man and woman? Were you there when the fall of man happened? Were you there when they crucified our Lord? Sorry to start with so many questions but being all rhetorical you can at least ponder what is being asked, and why.

Many people claim to know many things and even declare in one way or another to be experts on the subject of God and God’s word. Were you there when God inspire certain men to write down His word? Were you there when I took the isagogic class at the seminary so that I could know something about each writer in the Holy Bible? What makes one a true expert? Who knows it all? Declare, if you know all!

The questions we read in the Old Testament reading were asked of Job who had been listening to his friends. Such friends as they were, told Job that he was being punished by God and that is why he has lost family and cattle. Such friends try to guilt Job into looking at his life to find out what he must have done to make God so angry to punish him.

Job 38:4–18 1Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind and said: 2 “Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge? 3 Dress for action like a man; I will question you, and you make it known to me.

Yes, we should seek our council from God, not from man who will lead us astray. But to listen to God is to listen to His word.

Romans 10:17 17So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.

If we do not trust the word God has given us, we have nothing. Those who say that because men wrote the Holy Bible it can’t be trusted, they claim they themselves are men who can’t be trusted. In other words, there is no one to trust according to those who do not trust God’s word to be true and inerrant. Ref. (Psalms 40:4; John 21:24; 2 Timothy 1:15, 2:11; 3 John 12; Revelation 21:5; 22:6) not sorry, please look these up.

As with Job, God is the one who will ask the questions and we will answer to God and God alone. Many people want to and try to lead you astray through their swollen ego. Many people think they know what they claim though their heart seems to be in the right place they unwittingly lead people with half-truths.

Truthfully if your heart is in the right place, you should make sure you know the information you pass on to others is truthful, factual, and faithful to God’s word and will. If it is God’s word, then make sure what you say is the same as what God would say. If not at least let the person know you don’t know if what you say is true or not. It is one thing to make a mistake out of ignorance, it is another thing to purposely mislead someone down a dark path.

Job 38:4 4[The Lord said to Job:] “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding.

Another mistake experts make is misquoting the word of God. All verses in the Bible are linked to other verses that give them their true meaning and interpretation. Of course, Job’s friends did not have the written word so they might have an excuse. They also at that time might not have had God’s law. We do have God’s written word and we do not have any excuse in misinforming others of God’s word and the Gospel of Christ Jesus. Unless you count purposely being ignorant of God’s word an excuse.

Remember as most so-called experts forget, we all will have to answer to God. For some this will be their end, for others this will be their beginning.

The answer to all questions that God’s word will ask why we are going to heaven because Jesus Christ died for my sins, I am led to repent of them. It would seem prudent to admit when you are unknowledgeable about something and therefore not putting yourself and others in danger of judgement.

Job 38:5-7 5Who determined its measurements—surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it? 6On what were its bases sunk, or who laid its cornerstone, 7when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?

God is the creator, God is the giver of life, and God is the savior Jesus Christ. And God is the Holy Spirit who is the sanctifier, the one who makes us holy.

When you read what God says to Job you see a builder’s expertise as God lays out the plans for earth. God refers to a plumb line, putting in the foundation, and placing the cornerstone for all that God will create.

It is almost like God is talking about His person Jesus Christ the cornerstone, the Star marking the birth of Jesus and the cheers of those who recognized savior has come. What we do not know about God and all He has done we must believe and have faith as He makes known to us parts of the mystery of His ways and means.

Job 38:8-11 8“Or who shut in the sea with doors when it burst out from the womb, 9when I made clouds its garment and thick darkness its swaddling band, 10and prescribed limits for it and set bars and doors, 11and said, ‘Thus far shall you come, and no farther, and here shall your proud waves be stayed’?

The breaking of water, the birth of a child, the limits of life, and the place of mankind. A savior came in this same way, suffering the limits of a human body, walking the very ground He helped to create. This same savior also was caught by the limits of man’s sinfulness and suffered for man’s jealousy. But Jesus who is the Christ overcame the death that mankind tried to appose on Him and was resurrected to spite death and give us freedom from death. Even though we are sinners we are saved by grace and the grace of the one we should listen to. We have much to glorify our God for, and when we listen to His word, we do glorify Him.

Job 38:12-13 12“Have you commanded the morning since your days began, and caused the dawn to know its place, 13that it might take hold of the skirts of the earth, and the wicked be shaken out of it?

God commands the heavens and the earth, life and death, life eternal and death eternal. And it is God that gave us the promise of forgiveness and it is God’s forgiveness that leads us to eternal life. We praise and thank God for His love, for there is no greater love than from one who sacrificed Himself, His only begotten Son so that we could live.

Job 38:14–15 14It is changed like clay under the seal, and its features stand out like a garment. 15From the wicked their light is withheld, and their uplifted arm is broken.

From the wicked their light is withheld, and they will live in the depths of darkness. But for the believer, our forgiveness will stand, Jesus will be our light, and we will live with Him forever and ever. All Glory laud and Honor to our God Yahweh. Amen.

Written by Pastor Curtis A, May