Gold for the heart

Job 28

1 Surely there is a mine for silver, and a place where gold is refined. 2 Iron is taken out of the earth, and copper is smelted out of stone. 3 He sets an end to darkness, and searches out all extremity: the stones of darkness, and the shadow of death. 4 He opens a shaft far from the visitor; they are forgotten of man’s foot: they hang far away from men. They swing to and fro. 5 As for the earth, out of it comes food: and under it is turned up as fire. 6 Its stones are the place of sapphires: and it has dust of gold.

These were ancient mining techniques, to dig a hole and hang down in it.
The whole world has proof of the existence of a literal hell every time a volcano erupts. Inside the earth is a lake of fire and brimstone (Revelation 21:8).

Our Lord is amazing in the earth

7 There is a path not known to birds of prey, and which the falcon’s eye has not seen: 8 The proud have not walked on it, nor the fierce lion passed by it. 9 He puts out his hand upon the rock; he overturns the mountains by the roots. 10 He cuts out rivers among the rocks; and his eye sees every precious thing. 11 He binds the floods from overflowing; and what is hidden he brings to light. 12 But where is wisdom found? Where is the place of understanding? 13 Man does not know its value; it is not found in the land of the living. 14 The depth says, It is not in me: and the sea says, It is not with me. 15 It cannot be gotten for pure gold, nor can silver be weighed as its price. 16 It cannot be valued with the gold of Ophir, with the precious onyx, or the sapphire. 17 The gold and the crystal cannot equal it: jewels of fine gold cannot be bartered for it. 18 No mention will be made of coral, or of pearls: for the price of wisdom is above rubies. 19 The topaz of Ethiopia will not equal it; neither will it be valued with pure gold. 20 Where then does wisdom come from? Where is the place of understanding?

Wisdom is from God. He puts it in seeking men’s hearts.

Proverbs 2:6 For the LORD gives wisdom: out of his mouth comes knowledge and understanding.

21 It is hidden from the eyes of all living, and concealed from the birds of the air. 22 Destruction and death say, We have heard of its fame with our ears. 23 God understands its way, and he knows its place. 24 For he looks to the ends of the earth, and sees under the whole heaven; 25 To make the weight for the winds; and he weighs the waters by measure. 26 When he made a decree for the rain, and a way for the lightning of the thunder: 27 Then he saw it, and declared it; he prepared it, yes, and searched it out. 28 And to man he said, Behold, the fear of/reverence for the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding.

Job 29

1 Job continued his parable and said, 2 Oh that I were as in months past, as in the days when God preserved me; 3 When his lamp shined on my head, and when I walked by his light through darkness; 4 As I was in the days of my youth, when the intimacy of God was on my tent;

The presence and love of the Almighty is the most precious thing that exists.

Romans 8:38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, 39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

God is with us

5 When the Almighty was still with me, when my children were about me; 6 When I washed my steps with butter, and the rock poured me out rivers of oil; 7 When I went out to the gate of the city.

The gate of the city means that Job sat on the city council.
He was a leader of the people.
The rock is Christ Jesus.
The rivers of oil speak of the Holy Spirit.
God was with Job through all his trials just as He is with us.

Isaiah 63:9 In all their affliction he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved them: in his love and in his pity he redeemed them; and he bare them, and carried them all the days of old.

8 The young men saw me, and hid themselves: and the aged arose, and stood up. 9 The princes refrained talking, and laid their hand on their mouth. 10 The nobles held their peace, and their tongue stuck to the roof of their mouth. 11 When the ear heard me, then it blessed me; and when the eye saw me, it gave witness to me: 12 Because I delivered the poor that cried, and the fatherless, and him that had none to help him.

Job helped wherever he saw a need.
Because Job knew of the Almighty, the solutions Job offered were of true benefit.

13 The blessing of him that was ready to perish came upon me: and I caused the widow's heart to sing for joy. 14 I put on righteousness, and it clothed me: my judgment was as a robe and a diadem. 15 I was eyes to the blind and feet to the lame. 16 I was a father to the poor: and the lawsuit I did not know I investigated. 17 And I broke the fangs of the wicked, and cast the prey from his teeth. 18 Then I said, I will die in my nest, and I will multiply my days as the sand.

Psalm 91:14-16 Because he has set his love upon me, therefore will I deliver him: I will set him on high, because he has known my name. 15 He will call upon me, and I will answer him: I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him, and honor him. 16 With long life will I satisfy him, and show him my salvation.

19 My root was spread out by the waters, and the dew lay all night upon my branch. 20 My glory was fresh in me, and my bow was renewed in my hand. 21 Men listened to me and waited, and kept silence at my counsel. 22 After my words they did not speak again; and my speech dropped on them. 23 And they waited for me as for the rain; and they opened their mouth wide as for the latter rain. 24 I smiled on them when they did not believe; and they did not dim the light of my face. 25 I chose out their way and sat as chief, and lived like a king in the army, as one that comforts the mourners.

Job gave counsel and comfort.
He was a man honored and blessed by God.
He was zealous of good works.
He called upon God and God answered him and God was about to show him ‘great and mighty things’ which he didn’t know (Job 38-40).

Psalm 1:1-3 Blessed is the man that walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, or stand in the way of sinners, or sit in the seat of the scornful. 2. But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law he meditates day and night. 3. And he will be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that brings forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also will not wither; and whatever he does will prosper.

Job 30

1 But now lesser ones laugh at me, whose fathers I would have refused to set with the dogs of my flock. 2 Yes, how might the strength of their hands profit me, in whom old age was perished? 3 From want and famine they gnaw the dry ground; by night in waste and desolation. 4 Who cut up mallows by the bushes, and juniper roots for their food. 5 They were driven forth from among men, (they cried after them as after a thief;) 6 To dwell in the cliffs of the valleys, in caves of the earth, and in the rocks. 7 Among the bushes they brayed; under the nettles they were gathered together. 8 They were children of fools, yes, sons without name: they were viler than the earth. 9 And now I am their song, yes, I am their byword. 10 They abhor me; and stand aloof from me, and do not refrain to spit in my face. 11 Because he has loosed my cord, and afflicted me, so they have thrown off all restraint. 12 On my right hand their brood arises; they thrust away my feet, and they build up against me the ways of their destruction. 13 They have broken down my path, they profit by my ruin saying, he has no helper.

These were children of unbelievers.

Psalm 14:1-3 The fool has said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that does good. 2 The LORD looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God. 3 They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy: there is none that does good, no, not one.

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

Hebrews 13:6 So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do to me.

14 They came upon me as a wide breaking in of waters: in the desolation they rolled themselves upon me. 15 Terrors are turned against me: they pursue my soul as the wind: and my goods pass away like a cloud. 16 And how my soul pours itself out; the days of affliction have seized me.

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

Isaiah 63:9 In all their affliction he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved them: in his love and in his pity he redeemed them; and he bare them, and carried them all the days of old.

17 The night pierces my bones in me: and my gnawings take no rest. 18 By the great force of my disease is my garment changed: it chokes me as the collar of my coat. 19 He has cast me into the mire, and I have become like dust and ashes. 20 I cry to you, and you do not hear me: I stand up, and you do not regard me. 21 You are become cruel to me: with the might of your hand you assault me. 22 You lift me up to the wind; you cause me to ride on it, and melt me in a storm. 23 For I know that you will bring me to death, and to the house appointed for all living.

When God doesn’t answer, though sins have been confessed and turned from, then there is a very good reason. And in His time God will answer and save.

God allowed Job to experience unjust suffering like our Lord suffered for him

24 Surely he will not stretch out his hand to a heap of ruin, though in his misfortune he cries out. 25 Did I not weep for him that was in trouble? Was not my soul grieved for the poor? 26 When I looked for good, then evil came to me: and when I waited for light, there came darkness. 27 My bowels boiled, and did not rest: days of affliction confront me. 28 I went mourning without the sun: I stood up, and I cried in the congregation. 29 I am a brother to jackals, and a friend to the daughter of ostriches. 30 My skin is black upon me, and my bones are burned with heat. 31 My harp is turned to mourning, and my organ into the voice of them that weep.

Job complained that his suffering was unjust and God confirmed it (Job 2:3).
‘you moved me against him to destroy him without cause.
When we suffer unjustly it is an opportunity to fellowship with the Lord in His unjust sufferings.
We can come to understand just a glimpse of what He suffered as He walked this earth and was executed by the wrath of our holy God for sins He did not commit.

1 Peter 3:18 For Christ also has once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:

Philippians 3:10 That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings,

Job 31

1 I made a covenant with my eyes; why then should I think upon a maid? 2 For what portion of God is there from above? And what inheritance of the Almighty from on high? 3 Is not destruction to the wicked? And disaster to the workers of iniquity? 4 Does he not see my ways, and count all my steps? 5 If I have walked with vanity, or if my foot has hurried to deceit 6.then let me be weighed in an even balance, that God may know my integrity.

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

Revelation 21:7 He that overcomes will inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he will be my son.

7 If my step has turned out of the way, and my heart walked after my eyes, and if any blot has clung to my hands; 8 Then let me sow, and let another eat; yes, let my offspring be rooted out. 9 If my heart has been deceived by a woman, or if I have laid wait at my neighbor's door; 10 then let my wife grind to another, and let others bow down upon her. 11 For this is a heinous crime; yes, it is an iniquity to be punished by the judges. 12 For it is a fire that consumes to destruction, and would root out all my increase.

God made a ‘bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh’ mate for most of the person’s on earth.
To go looking to what God has given your neighbor is as Job said ‘a heinous crime.’
It is worthy of legal justice in court.
Many a man has lost his life in a fight over a woman.
Song of Solomon 8:6 Set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm: for love is strong as death; jealousy is cruel as the grave: the coals of it are coals of fire, which have a most vehement flame.

13 If I despised the cause of my manservant or of my maidservant when they contended with me, 14 what shall I do then when God rises up? And when he visits, what shall I answer him?

God made us in the womb

15 Did not he that made me in the womb make him? And did not one fashion us in the womb? 16Have I refused to help the poor, or crushed the hopes of widows who looked to me for help? 17 Or have eaten my morsel myself alone, and the fatherless has not eaten from it; 18 (For from my youth he was brought up with me, as with a father, and I have guided her from my mother's womb;) 19 If I have seen any perish for lack of clothing, or any poor without covering; 20 If his loins have not blessed me, and if he were not warmed with the fleece of my sheep;

This verse speaks of those in need of the basic necessities of life, not persons who won’t work for a living.
God gave work to humble the heart.
If we provide the food but the heart isn’t humbled before God, that person will die in hell and we have helped him go there.

II Thessalonians 3:10 For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat.

21 If I have lifted up my hand against the fatherless, when I saw my help in the gate: 22 Then let my arm fall from my shoulder blade, and my arm be broken from the bone. 23 For destruction from God was a terror to me, and by reason of his highness I could not endure.

The title ‘most high’ is used of God over 50 x in scripture.
He is the one that all beings in the universe answer to.

Genesis 14:19 And he blessed him, and said, Blessed be Abram of the most high God, possessor of heaven and earth:

24 If I have made gold my hope, or have said to the fine gold, You are my confidence; 25 If I rejoiced because my wealth was great, and because my hand had gotten much; 26 If I beheld the sun when it shined, or the moon walking in brightness; 27 And my heart has been secretly enticed, or my mouth has kissed my hand: 28 This also is an iniquity to be punished by the judge: for I would have denied theGod that is above.

Any thing or person that we look to or trust more than God is an idol to us.

Luke 16:13 No servant can serve two masters: he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.

29 If I rejoiced at the destruction of him that hated me, or lifted myself up when evil found him: 30 I have not allowed my mouth to sin by wishing a curse to his soul. 31 If the men of my camp did not say, Who can find one that has not been satisfied with his meat. 32 The foreigner did not lodge in the street: but I opened my doors to the traveler. 33 If I covered my transgressions as Adam, by hiding my iniquity in my bosom 34 then let me tremble before the great multitude, and be terrified by the scorn of families, then I would be silent and go out the door. 35 Oh that one would hear me! Behold, my desire is, that the Almighty would answer me, and that my adversary had written a book.

God answered this beyond his Job’s desire in chapters 38-40.
Not only has Job’s testing been written in a book, it has been written in the word of God that lives and abides forever.

36 Surely I would take it on my shoulder, and bind it as a crown to me. 37 I would declare to him the number of my steps; as a prince would I go near him. 38 If my land cries against me, or its furrows weep. 39 If I have eaten its fruits without money, or caused its owners to lose their life, 40 Then let thistles grow instead of wheat, and cockle instead of barley. The words of Job are ended.

Job 32

1 So these three men stopped answering Job, because he was righteous in his own eyes. 2 Then the wrath of Elihu, the son of Barachel the Buzite was kindled, of the family of Ram: his wrath was kindled against Job, because he justified himself rather than God.

Psalm 18:30 As for God, his way is perfect: the word of the LORD is tried: he is a buckler to all those that trust in him.

3 Also his wrath was kindled against his three friends, because they had found no answer, and yet had condemned Job. 4 Now Elihu waited until Job had spoken, because they were older than he. 5 When Elihu saw that there was no answer in the mouth of these three men, then his wrath was kindled. 6 And Elihu, the son of Barachel the Buzite answered and said, I am young, and you are very old; so I was afraid, and feared to show you my opinion. 7 I said, Days should speak, and multitude of years should teach wisdom.

God’s inspiration gives understanding

8 But there is a spirit in man: and the breath of the Almighty gives them understanding. 9 Great men are not always wise: neither do the aged understand judgment. 10 Therefore I said, Listen to me; I also will show my opinion. 11 Behold, I waited for your words; I listened to your reasons while you searched out words to say. 12 Yes, I paid attention to you, and behold, there was none of you that convinced Job, or that answered his words: 13 Lest you should say, We have found out wisdom: God thrusts him down, not man. 14 Now he has not directed his words against me: neither will I answer him with your speeches. 15 They were amazed, they answered no more: they quit speaking. 16 When I had waited, (they did not speak, but stood still, and answered no more;) 17 I said, I will answer also my part; I also will show my opinion.

In Job chapters 1 and 2 we saw that Satan caused it all.
He challenged God; God used Job as a rebuttal to Satan’s claim.
Satan also came against Peter (Luke 22:31).

18 For I am full of words, the spirit within me constrains me. 19 Behold, my belly is as wine that has no vent; it is ready to burst like new bottles. 20 I will speak, that I may be refreshed: I will open my lips and answer. 21 I beg you, Do not let me accept any man's person; neither let me give flattering titles to man. 22 For I do not know how to give flattering titles; in so doing my maker wouldsoon take me away.

Flattery dishonest or insincere praise for the purpose of gaining something.
Absalom is a good example in 2 Samuel 15:2-5.

Psalm 12:3 The LORD will cut off all flattering lips, the tongue that speaks proudly.

SUMMARY: Job 28-32

The LORD is amazing in the earth
God is with us
God allowed Job to experience unjust suffering like our LORD suffered unjustly for him
He made us in the womb
God's breath (inspiration) gives understanding