Gold for the heart

Job 6

1 But Job answered and said, 2 Oh that my grief were thoroughly weighed and my calamity laid in the balances together! 3 For now it would be heavier than the sand of the sea: therefore my words are rash. 4 For the arrows of the Almighty are within me, their poison drinks up my spirit: the terrors of God set themselves in array against me.

Job 1, 2 show that God used Job as an example to prove to Satan the Satan does not rule earth.
Job revered God and turned away from any suggestion of evil.

5 Does the wild ass bray when he has grass? Or does the ox low at grass. 6 Can that which is has no flavor be eaten without salt? Or is there any taste in the white of an egg? 7 The things that my soul refuses to touch are sickening to me. 8 Oh that I might have my request; and that God would grant me the thing that I long for! 9 That it would please God to destroy me; that he would let loose his hand, and cut me off! Then I would have comfort; yes, I would harden myself in sorrow: let him not spare; for I have not concealed the words of the Holy One.

Job 12:10 In whose hand is the soul of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind.

11 What is my strength that I should hope? And what is my end, that I should prolong my life? 12 Is my strength the strength of stones? Or is my flesh of brass? 13 Is it that my help is not within me? And is wisdom driven quite from me? 14 To him that is afflicted pity should be showed from his friend; but he forsakes the fear of the Almighty. 15 My brothers have dealt deceitfully as a brook, and as the stream of brooks they pass away 16 which are turbid because of the ice, and into which the snow is hid: 17 When they are warmed, they vanish: when it is hot, they are consumed out of their place. 18 The paths of their course wind along; they go to nothing, and perish.

John 16:33 These things I have spoken to you, that in me you might have peace. In the world you will have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.

1 Corinthians 2:9 But as it is written, Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, neither has entered into the heart of man, the things that God has prepared for them that love him.

19 The caravans of Tema looked, the companies of Sheba waited for them. 20 They were confounded because they had hoped; they came here and were ashamed. 21 For now you are like them; you see my dismay, and are afraid. 22 Did I say, Bring to me? Or, Give me a reward from your substance? 23 Or, Deliver me from the enemy's hand? Or, Redeem me from the hand of the mighty? 24 Teach me and I will be silent. 25 How forcible are right words! But what do your arguments prove?

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

Matthew 24:35 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.

26 Do you criticize the words and the speeches of one that is desperate, which are as wind? 27 Yes, you overwhelm the fatherless, and you dig a pit for your friend. 28.Now therefore be content, look on me; for it is evident to you if I lie. 29 Turn back, I beg you, that there be no iniquity; yes, turn again, my righteousness is in this matter. 30. Is there iniquity in my tongue? Cannot my taste discern perverse things?

Job begged them to stop their arguing against him because he was right.
He said, ‘that there be no iniquity’
At the end of the book, God has them offer sacrifice for this sin of judging Job.
‘If God has made your cup sweet, drink it with grace; if He has made it bitter, drink it in communion with Him…God chose the crucible for Abraham, and Abraham made no demur; he went steadily through. If you are not living in touch with Him, it is easy to pass a crude verdict on God. He is working for His highest ends until His purpose and man’s purpose become one.’ Oswald Chambers

Matthew 7:1 Judge not, that you be not judged.

Job 7

1 Is there not an appointed time/warfare to man on earth? Are not his days also like the days of a hired man? 2 As a slave earnestly pants for the shade, and as a hired man looks for the reward of his work: 3 So I am made to possess months of vanity, and wearisome nights are appointed to me. 4 When I lie down, I say, when will I get up, and the night be gone? I am full of tossing to and fro until the dawning of the day. 5 My flesh is clothed with worms and clods of dust; my skin is broken, and has become loathsome. 6 My days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle, and are spent without hope. 7 O remember that my life is wind: my eye will never again see good.

Psalm 91:16 (the one who abides in the Almighty) With long life will I satisfy him, and show him my salvation.

8 The eye of him that has seen me will see me no more: your eyes are upon me, and I can live no longer. 9 As the cloud is consumed and vanishes away: so he that goes down to the grave will come up no more. 10 He will return no more to his house; neither will his place know him any more. 11 Therefore I will not refrain my mouth; I will speak in the anguish of my spirit; I will complain in the bitterness of my soul. 12 Am I a sea, or a sea monster, that you set a watch over me? 13 When I say, my bed will comfort me; my couch will ease my complaint; 14 Then you scare me with dreams, and terrify me through visions: 15 So that my soul chooses strangling and death rather than my life. 16 I loathe it; I would not always live: let me alone for my days are vanity.

God has set His heart on us

17 What is man, that you magnify him? And that you set your heart on him? 18 That you visit him every morning, and examine him every moment? 19 Will you never turn your gaze away from me, or let me alone until I swallow my spit?

He preserves us

20 I have sinned; what can I do to you, O preserver of men? Why have you set me as a mark against you, so that I am a burden to myself? 21 And why do you not pardon my transgression, and take away my iniquity? For now I will sleep in the dust; you will seek me in the morning, but I will not be.

Remember that God used Job to prove to Satan that Satan doesn’t rule on earth.
Job wasn’t suffering because of sin. His sin was under the blood of Christ's promised sacrifice.

Psalm 103:2-4 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.

Job 8

1 Then Bildad the Shuhite answered and said, 2 How long will you speak these things? How long will the words of your mouth be like a strong wind? 3 Does God pervert judgment? Does the Almighty pervert justice? 4 If your children have sinned against him, and he has cast them away for their transgression; 5 If you would seek God and make your supplication to the Almighty; 6 If you were pure and upright; surely now he would awake for you, and make the habitation of your righteousness prosperous.

Remember that God praised Job saying there was none like him in all the earth.
He feared God and turned from evil.
Bildad was wrong.
Job was God’s proof that Satan doesn’t rule on earth.
God is just; He does not pervert justice.

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.

7 Though your beginning was small, your end would greatly increase. 8 Ask, I beg you, of the former generations, and prepare yourself to the search of their fathers: 9 (For we are but of yesterday, and know nothing, because our days on earth are a shadow:) 10 Do they not teach you, and tell you, and utter words out of their heart? 11 Can the rush grow up without mire? Can the flag grow without water? 12 While it is yet in his greenness, and not cut down, it withers before any other herb. 13 So are the paths of all that forget God; the hypocrite's hope will perish:

Revelation 2:4 Nevertheless I have this against you, you have left your first love.

God fills our mouths with laughter and our lips with rejoicing

14 Whose hope is cut off, and whose trust is a spider's web/house. 15 He will lean on his house, but it will not stand: he will hold it fast, but it will not endure. 16 He is green before the sun, and his branch shoots forth in his garden. 17 His roots are wrapped about the heap and see the place of stones. 18 If he destroys him from his place, then it will deny him saying, I have not seen you. 19 Behold, this is the joy of his way and out of the earth others will grow. 20 Behold, God will not cast away a perfect man, neither will he help evildoers: 21 Until he fills your mouth with laughing, and your lips with rejoicing. 22 Those that hate you will be clothed with shame; and the dwelling place of the wicked will come to nothing.

Psalm 16:11 You will show me the path of life: in your presence is fullness of joy; at your right hand there are pleasures for evermore.

Job 9

1 Then Job answered and said, 2 I know this is true: but how can man be just with God? 3 If he will contend with him, he cannot answer him one time in a thousand. 4 He is wise in heart, and mighty in strength: who has hardened himself against him, and has prospered? 5 Who removes the mountains, and they do not know: who overturns them in his anger. 6 Who shakes the earth out of her place, and its pillars tremble. 7 The One commanding the sun and it does not rise; and seals up the stars. 8 Who alone spread out the heavens, and treads on the waves/heights of the sea. 9 The One who makes Arcturus, Orion, and Pleiades, and the chambers of the south.

Think about the magnitude of this for a minute.
God moves the stars about in the billions of miles of space so that from earth’s surface they appear as pictographs, the early language of man.

God does great things beyond the realm of our discovery

10 Who does great things past finding out; yes, and wonders without number. 11 Lo, he goes by me, and I do not see him: he passes on also, but I do not perceive him. 12 Behold, he takes away, who can hinder him? Who will say to him, What are you doing? 13 If God will not withdraw his anger, the helpers of pride stoop under him. 14 How much less can I answer him, and choose my words to reason with him? 15 Whom, though I were righteous, yet I would not answer, but I would make supplication to my judge.

John 5:22 For the Father judges no man, but has committed all judgment to the Son:

16 If I had called and he had answered me; I would still not believe that he had listened to my voice. 17 For he breaks me with a tempest, and multiplies my wounds without cause. 18 He will not allow me to take my breath, but fills me with bitterness. 19 If I speak of strength, lo, he is strong: and if of judgment, who will set me a time to plead? 20 If I justify myself, my own mouth will condemn me: if I say, I am perfect, it will prove me perverse. 21 Though I were perfect, yet I would not know my soul: I despise my life. 18 He will not allow me to take my breath, but fills me with bitterness. 19 If I speak of strength, behold, he is strong: and if of judgment, who will set me a time to plead? 20 If I justify myself, my own mouth will condemn me: if I say, I am perfect, it will also prove me perverse. 21 I am blameless, yet I do not know myself; I despise my life. 22 It is all one, therefore I said it, He destroys the perfect and the wicked.

Remember Job chapters 1, 2, that it isn’t God doing these things, it was Satan.
God has allowed evil to test Job as proof that Satan does not rule earth.
God had said that Job was the most righteous man on earth.

23 If the scourge kills suddenly, he will laugh at the trial of the innocent. 24 The earth is given into the hand of the wicked: he covers the faces of its judges; if not, where, and who is he? 25 Now my days are swifter than a post: they flee away, they see no good. 26 They are passed away as the swift ships: as the eagle that swoops to the prey. 27 If I say, I will forget my complaint, I will leave off my heaviness, and comfort myself: 28 I am afraid of all my sorrows, I know that you will not hold me innocent.

Job has said some untrue things about God under adverse circumstances.
God was with Job in all this.
God declares us innocent in Christ Jesus.
God is with the innocent in their suffering, not laughing at them. It was evil that was laughing (Psalm 49:14).

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.

Romans 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation to those are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

29 If I am wicked, then why do I labor in vain? 30 If I wash myself with snow water, and make my hands shine with cleanness; 31 You will still plunge me in the ditch, and my own clothes will abhor me. 32 For he is not a man, as I am, that I would answer him, and we would come together in judgment. 33 There is no mediator between us to lay his hand on us both. 34 Let him take his rod away from me, and do not let his fear terrify me: 35 Then I would speak, and not fear him; but I cannot do that in my own strength.

1 Timothy 2:5-6 For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; 6 Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.

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.

Job 10

1 I am disgusted with my life. Let me complain freely. I will speak in the bitterness of my soul. 2 I say to God, Don’t condemn me; show me why you judge me this way. 3 Is it good for you to oppress, for you to despise the work of your hands, and shine on the counsel of the wicked?

Lamentations 3:33 he does not willingly afflict or grieve the children of men.

4 Do you have eyes of flesh? Or do you see as man sees? 5 Are your days as the days of man? Are your years as man's days, 6 That you seek out my iniquity, and search after my sin? 7You know I am not wicked; and there is none that can deliver out of your hand. 8 Your hands have made me and fashioned me, An intricate unity; Yet you would destroy me. 9 Remember, I beg you, that you have made me as the clay; will you bring me to dust again? 10 Have you not poured me out as milk, and curdled me like cheese? 11 You have clothed me with skin and flesh, and have fenced me with bones and sinews. 12 You have granted me life and favor, and your visiting me has preserved my spirit.

Psalm 139:14 I will praise you; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvelous are your works; and that my soul knows right well.

God hides the things about us in His heart

13 And these things you hid in your heart: I know that this is with you. 14 If I sin, then you mark me, and you will not acquit me from my iniquity. 15 If I am wicked, woe to me; and if I am righteous, yet I will not lift up my head. I am full of confusion; if I am wicked, woe to me; and if I am righteous, yet I will not lift up my head. I am full of confusion; therefore look on my affliction; 16 For it increases. You hunt me as a fierce lion: and again you show yourself marvelous upon me.

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 You renew your witnesses/plagues against me, and increase your indignation on me; changes and war are against me.18 Why have you brought me out of the womb? Oh that I had given up the ghost/spirit, and no eye had seen me! 19 I should have been as though I had never been; I should have been carried from the womb to the grave. 20 Are not my days few? Then stop, and let me alone, that I may take comfort a little, 21 before I go where I shall not return, even to the land of darkness and the shadow of death; 22 A land of darkness, as darkness itself; and of the shadow of death, without any order, and where the light is as darkness.

Luke 23:43 Jesus said to him, Truly I say to you, Today you will be with me in paradise.

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SUMMARY: Job 6-10

God has set His heart on us
He preserves us
He fills our mouths with laughter and our lips with rejoicing
He does great things beyond the realm of our discovery
He hides things about us in His heart