Gold for the heart

Job 21

1 But Job answered and said, 2 Listen carefully to my speech, and let this be your comfort. 3 Bear with me and I will speak; and after I have spoken you may mock. 4 As for me, is my complaint to man? Should not my spirit be troubled? 5 Look at me and be astonished, and lay your hand over your mouth. 6 Even when I remember, I am afraid and shuddering seizes my flesh. 7 Why do the wicked live? They become old and mighty in power. 8 Their seed is established in their sight with them, and their offspring before their eyes. 9 Their houses are safe from fear, neither is the rod of God upon them.

He chastens His beloved sons. His chastening brings happiness.

Hebrews 12:6 whom the Lord loves he chastens, and scourges every son he receives.

Job 5:17 Behold, happy is the man whom God corrects: therefore do not despise the correction of the Almighty:

10 Their bull mates, and do not fail; their cows calve, and do not miscarry. 11 They send forth their little ones like a flock, and their children dance. 12 They take the tambourine and harp, and sing to the sound of the flute. 13 They spend their days in wealth/mirth, and in a moment go down to the grave. 14 So they say to God, Depart from us; for we do not desire the knowledge of your ways. 15 What is the Almighty that we should serve him? And what profit will we have, if we pray to him?

God is infinitely profitable to us in every way.
All that we are and have has come from Him (Romans 11:36).
He deserves humble reverence and gratitude.

John 14:13 And whatever you ask in my name, I will do it, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.

Psalm 103:2 Bless the LORD, O my soul, and do not forget all his benefits:3 Who forgives all your iniquities; who heals all your diseases; 4 Who redeems your life from destruction; who crowns you with loving kindness and tender mercies; 5 Who satisfies your mouth with good things; so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

16 Behold, their good is not in their hand: the counsel of the wicked is far from me. 17 How often is the lamp of the wicked put out? How often does their destruction come upon them? God distributes sorrows in his anger. 18 They are as stubble before the wind, and as chaff that the storm carries away. 19 Well, you say, at least God will punish their children! But I say that God should punish the ones who sin, not their children! Let them feel their own penalty.

Psalm 94:23 he will bring upon them their own iniquity, and will cut them off in their own wickedness; yea, the LORD our God will cut them off.

20 His eyes will see his destruction, and he will drink of the wrath of the Almighty. 21 For what pleasure does he have in his house after him, when the number of his months is cut off in the midst? 22 Can any teach God knowledge? Since he judges those that are high.

No one has ever taught God anything.
He judges the high ones. Ephesians 6:12 talks about them.
At the beginning of Job we get a glimpse of this.
Job was proof in the high court of heaven that Satan does not rule all of earth. He didn’t rule Job.

1John 3:20 if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and knows all things.

Psalm 82:1 God stands in the congregation of the mighty; he judges among the gods.

23 One dies in his full strength, being wholly at ease and quiet. 24 His pails are full of milk, and his bones are moistened with marrow. 25 And another dies in the bitterness of his soul, and never eats with pleasure. 26 They will lie down alike in the dust, and the worms will cover them. 27 Behold, I know your thoughts, and the plans that you wrongfully imagine against me. 28 For you say, Where is the house of the prince? And where are the dwelling places of the wicked? 29 Have you not asked those that go along the highway? And do you not recognize their signs, 30 that the wicked is reserved to the day of destruction? They will be brought to the day of wrath.

God uses the wicked as His sword against evil.

Psalm 17:13 Arise, O LORD, disappoint him, cast him down: deliver my soul from the wicked, which is your sword:

31 Who will declare his way to his face? And who will repay him what he has done? 32 Yet he will be brought to the grave, and will remain in the tomb. 33 The clods of the valley will be sweet to him, Everyone will follow him, As countless have gone before him. 34 How can you comfort me? All your explanations are wrong!

If we give people help according to God’s word, leading people to Him, then we have helped them.
All other help is temporary.
The real issues must be faced eventually.

Romans 12:19 Dearly beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, says the Lord.

John 17:17 Sanctify them through your truth: your word is truth.

Job 22

1 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said, 2 Can a man be profitable to God, as he that is wise may be profitable to himself? 3 Is it any pleasure to the Almighty, that you are righteous? Or is it gain to him that you make your ways perfect?

John 4:23 But the hour comes, and now is, when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeks such to worship him.

Psalm 16:3 But to the saints that are in the earth, and to the excellent, in whom is all my delight.

Zephaniah 3:17 The LORD your God in the midst of you is mighty; he will save, he will rejoice over you with joy; he will rest in his love, he will joy over you with singing.

4 Will he reprove you for fear of you? Will he enter with you into judgment? 5 Is not your wickedness great? and your iniquities infinite?

Remember Job chap 1 where Job made animal sacrifices for his children after their feasting?
He put them under the promise of the blood of the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
He also was under God’s promise and in God’s eyes had no wickedness at all.
The friends continue to think Job’s suffering is because of sin, but its because of persecution from evil.

Matthew 5:11 Blessed are you, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. 12 Rejoice and be exceedingly glad for great is your reward in heaven.

6 For you have taken a pledge from your brother for nothing, and stripped the naked of their clothing. 7 You have not given water to the weary to drink, and you have withheld bread from the hungry. 8 But the mighty man possessed the land; and the honorable man dwelt in it. 9 You have sent widows away empty, and the arms of the fatherless have been broken. 10 Therefore snares are all around you, and sudden fear troubles you; 11 or darkness, that you cannot see; and abundance of waters cover you.

God is everywhere; He walks the circuit of heaven

12 Is not God in the height of heaven? And behold the height of the stars, how high they are! 13 And you say, How does God know? Can he judge through the dark cloud? 14 Thick clouds are a covering to him so that he does not see; he walks in the circuit of heaven.

Proverbs 15:3 The eyes of the LORD are in every place, beholding the evil and the good.

15 Do you keep to the old way that evil men have trod? 16 Who were cut down out of time, a flood was poured on their foundation: 17 Who said to God, Depart from us: and what can the Almighty do to them? 18 Yet he filled their houses with good things: but the counsel of the wicked is far from me. 19 The righteous see and are glad: and the innocent laugh them to scorn. 20 Our estate is not consumed, but fire consumes their excellency. 21 Acquaint now yourself with him, and be at peace: by it good will come to you.

John 14:27 Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world gives, give I unto you. Do not let your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

Isaiah 26:3 You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on you: because he trusts in you.

22 Receive, I beg you, the law from his mouth, and lay up his words in your heart. 23 If you return to the Almighty, you will be built up, you will put away iniquity far from your tabernacles. 24 Then you will lay up gold as dust, and the gold of Ophir as the stones of the brooks.

Matthew 4:4 But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.

He is our defense and provides abundance

25 Yes, the Almighty will be your gold, and you will have silver of strength. 26 For then you will have your delight in the Almighty, and lift up your face to God. 27 You will make your prayer to him, and he will hear you, and you will pay your vows. 28 You will also decree a thing, and it will be established to you: and the light will shine on your ways. 29 When men are cast down, then you will say, There is lifting up; and he will save the humble person. 30 He will deliver the island of the innocent: and it is delivered by the pureness of your hands.

Proverbs 10:22 The blessing of the LORD, it makes rich, and he adds no sorrow with it.

Psalm 37:4 Delight yourself also in the LORD; and he will give you the desires of your heart.

Psalm 34:18 The LORD is near to them that are of a broken heart; and saves such as are of a contrite spirit.

Job 23

1 Then Job answered and said, 2 Even today my complaint is bitter: his hand is heavy despite my groaning. 3 Oh that I knew where I might find him! That I might come even to his seat!

Ezekiel 1:26 And above the firmament that was over their heads was the likeness of a throne, appearing like a sapphire stone: and on throne was the likeness of a man above upon it. 27 And I saw as the color of amber, as the appearance of fire round about within it, from the appearance of his loins upward, and from the appearance of his loins downward, I saw the appearance of fire, and it had brightness around it. 28 Like the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud in the day of rain was the appearance of the brightness around it. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD.

4 I would order my cause before him, and fill my mouth with arguments. 5 I would know the words that he would answer me, and understand what he would say to me. 6 Will he plead against me with his great power? No; he would put strength in me.

God’s power is so great that He spoke creation into being.

Psalm 33:6 By the word of the LORD were the heavens made; all the host of them by the breath of his mouth. 9 For he spoke, and it was done; he commanded, and it stood fast.

2Corinthians 12:9 And he said to me, My grace is sufficient for you: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

7 There the righteous might dispute with him; then I would be delivered forever from my judge.

Jesus delivered us forever from the judgment of our judge.

Colossians 2:14 Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross;

Psalm 103:12 As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.

God knows the way that we take and He makes us as pure as gold

8 Behold, I go forward, but he is not there; and backward, but I cannot perceive him: 9 On the left hand, where he works, but I cannot behold him: he hides himself on the right hand, that I cannot see him: 10 But he knows the way that I take: when he has tried/refined me, I will come forth as gold.

The process of refining gold heats the metal so that the impurities rise to the top where the refiner then removes them.

Isaiah 48:10 Behold, I have refined you, but not with silver; I have chosen you in the furnace of affliction.

11 My foot has held his steps, I have kept his way and not declined. 12 Neither have I gone back from the commandment of his lips; I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food. 13 But he is of one mind, and who can turn him? What his soul desires, that he does.

God is not frivolous in His doing.
He is righteous and His ways are high and holy.

Psalm 135:6 Whatever the LORD pleased, that he did in heaven, and in earth, in the seas, and all deep places.

Deuteronomy 32:4 He is the Rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he.

He performs what is appointed for us

14 For he performs the thing that is appointed for me: and many such things are with him. 15 Therefore I tremble inwardly at his presence: when I consider, I am afraid of him. 16 For God makes softens my heart, and the Almighty makes me tremble: 17 Because I was not cut off before the darkness, neither has he covered the darkness from my face.

Isaiah 26:12 LORD, you will ordain peace for us: you have worked all our works in us.

Philippians 1:6 Being confident of this very thing, that he which has begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:

Job 24

God’s eyes are on their ways

1 Why, since times are not hidden from the Almighty, do they that know him not see his days? 2 Some remove the landmarks; they violently take away flocks, and feed on them. 3 They drive away the ass of the fatherless, they take the widow’s ox for a pledge.

Psalm 68:5 A father of the fatherless, and a judge of the widows, is God in his holy habitation.

4 They turn the needy out of the way: the poor of the earth hide themselves together. 5 Like the wild asses in the desert, go they out to their work; seeking early for a prey: the wilderness yields food for them and for their children. 6 They harvest a field they do not own: and they gather the vineyard of the wicked. 7 They cause the naked to lodge without clothing, that they have no covering in the cold. 8 They are wet with the showers of the mountains, and embrace the rock for lack of a shelter. 9 They pluck the fatherless from the breast, and take a pledge of the poor. 10 They cause him to go naked without clothing, and they take away the sheaf from the hungry; 11 Who make oil within their walls, and tread their winepresses, and suffer thirst. 12 The dying groan in the city, and the soul of the wounded cries out: yet God does not charge them with folly.

Galatians 6:7 Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatever a man sows, that is what he will reap.

13 They are of those that rebel against the light; they do not know its way, or stay in its paths. 14 The murderer rising with the light kills the poor and needy, and in the night is as a thief. 15 Also, the eye of the adulterer waits for the twilight, saying, No eye will see me: and disguises his face.

God’s word is the light we are to walk in, that these rebel against.

Psalm 119:105 Your word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.

16 In the dark they dig through houses, which they had marked for themselves in the daytime: they do not know the light. 17 For the morning is to them even as the shadow of death: if one knows them, they are in the terrors of death’s shadow. 18 He is swift as the waters; their portion is cursed in the earth: he does not face the way of the vineyards. 19 Drought and heat consume the snow waters: so does the grave those that have sinned. 20 The womb will forget him; the worm will feed sweetly on him; he will be remembered no more; and wickedness will be broken as a tree. 21 He wrongs the barren that do not bear: and does no good to the widow. 22 But God draws the mighty away with His power; He rises up, but no man is sure of life.

Psalm 33:20 Our soul waits for the LORD: he is our help and our shield.

23 He gives them security, and they rely on it; yet his eyes are on their ways. 24 They are exalted for a little while, but are gone and brought low; they are taken out of the way as all others, and cut off as the tops of the ears of grain. 25 And if it is not so now, who will make me a liar, and make my speech no worth?

Isaiah 13:11 I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogance of the proud to cease, and will end the arrogance of the proud.

Isaiah 5:15 And the mean man will be brought down, and the mighty man will be humbled, and the eyes of the lofty will be humbled: 16 But the LORD of hosts will be exalted in judgment, and God that is holy will be sanctified in righteousness.

Job 25

Dominion and awe belong to God

1 Then Bildad the Shuhite answered and said: 2 Dominion and fear belong to Him; he makes peace in His high places. 3 Is there any number to His armies? On whom does His light not rise?

Dominion means supreme authority and control.
God created and controls the universe.
He reigns sovereign over rulers.
Fear is more than being afraid of. It is awe, reverence, and adoration.
Angels are God’s armies.

4 How then can man be righteous before God? Or how can he be pure who is born of a woman?

Romans 4:3 For what says the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.

Philippians 3:9 And be found in him, not having my own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness of God by faith:

John 15:3 Now you are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.

5 If even the moon does not shine, and the stars are not pure in His sight, 6 How much less man, who is a maggot, and a son of man, who is a worm?"

Jude 1:24 Now to him who is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy...

Job 26

God’s wonders are many

1 But Job answered and said: 2 How have you helped him who is without power? How have you saved the arm that has no strength? 3 How have you counseled one who has no wisdom? And how have you declared sound advice to many? 4 To whom have you uttered words? And whose spirit came from you?

Isaiah 42:5 Thus says God the LORD, he that created the heavens, and stretched them out; he that spread forth the earth, and that which comes out of it; he that gives breath to the people on it, and spirit to them that walk in it.

5 The departed spirits writhe under the waters and those inhabiting them. 6 Sheol is naked before Him, and Destruction has no covering.

Sheol is a part of hell. God sees all that is in hell, earth, and heaven.
Proverbs 15:3 The eyes of the Lord are in every place beholding the evil and the good.

7 He stretches out the north over empty space; he hangs the earth on nothing. 8 He binds up the water in his thick clouds, yet the clouds are not broken under it. 9 He covers the face of his throne, and spreads his cloud over it.

Ezekiel 1:26 And above the firmament that was over their heads was the likeness of a throne, appearing like a sapphire stone: and on throne was the likeness of a man above upon it. 27 And I saw as the color of amber, as the appearance of fire round about within it, from the appearance of his loins upward, and from the appearance of his loins downward, I saw the appearance of fire, and it had brightness around it. 28 Like the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud in the day of rain was the appearance of the brightness around it. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD.

10 He drew a circular horizon on the face of the waters, at the boundary of light and darkness. 11 The pillars of heaven tremble, and are astonished at his rebuke. 12 He stirs up the sea with his power, and by his understanding he breaks pride. 13 By his Spirit he adorned the heavens; his hand pierced the fleeing serpent. 14 Indeed these are the mere edges of his ways, and how small a whisper we hear of him! But the thunder of his power who can understand?"

Psalm 66:7 He rules by his power forever; his eyes behold the nations: do not let the rebellious exalt themselves. Selah.

Job 27

1 Job continued his discourse and said, 2 As God lives, who has taken away my judgment; and the Almighty, who has made my soul bitter; 3 All the while my breath is in me, and the spirit of God is in my nostrils, 4 my lips will not speak wickedness, or my tongue utter deceit. 5 God forbid that I should justify you: until I die I will not retract my integrity.

Our words should reflect what is in our heart, not just say what other people want to hear.
God’s breath gives life.

Genesis 2:7 And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

Job 33:4 The Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty has given me life.

6 I hold fast by my righteousness, and will not let it go: my heart will not reproach me as long as I live. 7 Let my enemy be as the wicked, and he that rises up against me as the unrighteous.

God held Job up to Satan as an example of righteousness in Job 1 and called Job His servant, saying there was no one like him on the earth who feared God and turned away from evil.

God takes away the soul

8 For what is the hope of the hypocrite, though he has gained, when God takes away his soul?

Jesus Christ says who lives, who dies, and who goes to hell.

Revelation 1:18 I am he that lives, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.

9 Will God hear his cry when trouble comes on him? 10 Will he delight himself in the Almighty? Will he always call on God? 11 I will teach you by the hand of God: I will not conceal that which is with the Almighty. 12 Behold, all you yourselves have seen it; why then have you vainly become empty? 13 This is the portion of a wicked man with God, and the heritage of oppressors, which they shall receive from the Almighty. 14 If his children are multiplied, it is for the sword: and his offspring will not be satisfied with bread. 15 Those that remain of him will be buried in death: and his widows will not weep. 16 Though he heaps up silver as the dust, and prepares clothing as plentiful as the clay; 17 He may prepare it, but the just will put it on, and the innocent will divide the silver. 18 He builds his house as a moth, as a booth that the watchman makes. 19 The rich man will lie down, but he will not be gathered: he opens his eyes, and he is not. 20 Terrors take hold on him like waters, a tempest steals him away in the night. 21 The east wind carries him away, and he departs: and as a storm whirls him out of his place. 22 For God will cast upon him, and not spare: he flees desperately from its power. 23 He will clap his hands at him, and hiss him out of his place.

God wants only good for man.
He has done everything including become a man and die for man’s sins to secure blessing for man.
But He will not force Himself on man.

2Peter 3:9 The Lord is … longsuffering toward us, not willing that any perish, but that all come to repentance.

Galatians 6:7 Do not be deceived; God is not mocked: for whatever a man sows, that is what he will reap.

SUMMARY: Job 21-27

The LORD God is everywhere
He walks the circuit of heaven
He is our defense and provides abundance
He knows the way we take and makes us as pure as gold
God's eyes are on their ways
Dominion and awe belong to God
His wonders are many
He takes away the soul