Eliphaz.....Zophar.....and Bildad the Shuhite....(shoeheight)....(the shortest guy in the Bible)....and Elihu....and of course Job....(Hebrew pronunciation Jobe).....those are the 'Job Figures" that I'm alluding to. Everyone knows the story....'with friends like these'.....but I only have a comment about the end of the book.....when God speaks.
Job and three of his visitors talked and then argued.....just as we do....but thirty-eight chapters into the book God entered the conversation and lowered the boom on Job....and Job's response was pretty much immediate....and it was marvelous....and wonderful....and so much meant for all of us....as he in essence said....'I erred.....Thou art God....I repent....I'm listening now'....and God....also marvelously and wonderfully....extended great mercy and blessings. That's where we are at in America folks. It's time to listen.
Addendum: The temperature today was in the 50s but I spent the afternoon on my deck reading.....trying to get a little bit of sun. I have posted a fair amount lately on our national prayer days....and on all the comments we hear about praying from celebrities and politicians....and yet the total lack of any remorse in those prayers. We pray now as if God will rush to our aid so that we can get right back to what we were doing. Anyway....these verses from the ninth chapter of Daniel struck me even as I was squinting in the sun. Daniel had...."observed from the books"....that there would be seventy years that Jerusalem would remain desolate. Here are only a few verses of his prayer after he sought the Lord God with prayer and supplication and fasting and sackcloth and ashes. I would ask the reader here if they had heard lately or read about anything remotely similar to Daniel's prayer....but they do sound very similar to the words in the 1863 petition of our Senate....signed by President Lincoln....in the middle of our Civil War. (Those petitions are highlighted in a post just a few below this post.
Verses 4-6....."And I prayed to the Lord my God and confessed....We have sinned, committed iniquity, acted wickedly, and rebelled, even turning aside from Thy commandments and ordinances. Moreover, we have not listened to Thy servants the prophets who spoke in Thy name to our kings, our princes, our fathers, and all they people of the land." (Does not Billy Graham for one come to mind as one who has warned us....or maybe R. C. Sproul to the Reformed....or maybe John MacArthur? One might want to read his book.....Ashamed Of The Gospel)
Verse 8.....Open shame belongs to us, O Lord, to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, because we have sinned against Thee."
Verse 10-11....."nor have we obeyed the voice of the Lord our God, to walk in His teachings which He set before us through His servants the prophets. Indeed all Israel has transgressed Thy law and turned aside, not obeying Thy voice; so the curse has been poured out on us.... yet we have not sought the favor of the Lord our God by turning from our iniquity and giving attention to Thy truth."
Job and three of his visitors talked and then argued.....just as we do....but thirty-eight chapters into the book God entered the conversation and lowered the boom on Job....and Job's response was pretty much immediate....and it was marvelous....and wonderful....and so much meant for all of us....as he in essence said....'I erred.....Thou art God....I repent....I'm listening now'....and God....also marvelously and wonderfully....extended great mercy and blessings. That's where we are at in America folks. It's time to listen.
Addendum: The temperature today was in the 50s but I spent the afternoon on my deck reading.....trying to get a little bit of sun. I have posted a fair amount lately on our national prayer days....and on all the comments we hear about praying from celebrities and politicians....and yet the total lack of any remorse in those prayers. We pray now as if God will rush to our aid so that we can get right back to what we were doing. Anyway....these verses from the ninth chapter of Daniel struck me even as I was squinting in the sun. Daniel had...."observed from the books"....that there would be seventy years that Jerusalem would remain desolate. Here are only a few verses of his prayer after he sought the Lord God with prayer and supplication and fasting and sackcloth and ashes. I would ask the reader here if they had heard lately or read about anything remotely similar to Daniel's prayer....but they do sound very similar to the words in the 1863 petition of our Senate....signed by President Lincoln....in the middle of our Civil War. (Those petitions are highlighted in a post just a few below this post.
Verses 4-6....."And I prayed to the Lord my God and confessed....We have sinned, committed iniquity, acted wickedly, and rebelled, even turning aside from Thy commandments and ordinances. Moreover, we have not listened to Thy servants the prophets who spoke in Thy name to our kings, our princes, our fathers, and all they people of the land." (Does not Billy Graham for one come to mind as one who has warned us....or maybe R. C. Sproul to the Reformed....or maybe John MacArthur? One might want to read his book.....Ashamed Of The Gospel)
Verse 8.....Open shame belongs to us, O Lord, to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, because we have sinned against Thee."
Verse 10-11....."nor have we obeyed the voice of the Lord our God, to walk in His teachings which He set before us through His servants the prophets. Indeed all Israel has transgressed Thy law and turned aside, not obeying Thy voice; so the curse has been poured out on us.... yet we have not sought the favor of the Lord our God by turning from our iniquity and giving attention to Thy truth."
