And finally, Job...

 And finally, Job....

I don’t anyone that likes to go through hard times, deaths of loved ones, diseases, loss of any kind...but, it seems when we have that opportunity, we find ourselves reading, studying or quoting things from the book of Job...looking for answers....we want to know the “why”...and we want to come out the other side blessed doubly as he was...

Well, that may not happen...we may still suffer...bad things do happen to good people...(whole books are written about it)...

But we have hope...hopefully we have maintained our integrity...and our fear of God still intact...

But, mostly through it all, we have maintained our faith, knowing that there is suffering...after all, we live in a world that is dying and decaying, that groans to be freed... 

Thank YOU that You have given us an eternal Hope through Christ Jesus, not in earthly things/people....

I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. 

For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. 

For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself s will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God. 

We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. 

Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies. 

For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have?

Romans 8:18-24 

In the land of Uz there lived a man whose name was Job. This man was blameless and upright; he feared God and shunned evil. 

Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil.” 

In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing. 

Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil. And he still maintains his integrity, though you incited me against him to ruin him without any reason....”

“If someone ventures a word with you, will you be impatient?

But who can keep from speaking? 

Think how you have instructed many, how you have strengthened feeble hands. 

Your words have supported those who stumbled; you have strengthened faltering knees. 

But now trouble comes to you, and you are discouraged; it strikes you, and you are dismayed. 

Should not your piety be your confidence and your blameless ways your hope?

Job 1:1,8,22,2:3,9,4:2-6

May integrity and uprightness protect me, because my hope, Lord, is in you. 

Test me,  Lord, and try me, examine my heart and my mind; 

for I have always been mindful of your unfailing love and have lived in reliance on your faithfulness.

Psalm 25:21,26:2-3 

Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.

Romans 12:12 

God did this so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope set before us may be greatly encouraged. We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain,

Hebrews 6:18-19

Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.

Hebrews 10:23

But he knows the way that I take; when he has tested me, I will come forth as gold. 

My feet have closely followed his steps; I have kept to his way without turning aside. 

I have not departed from the commands of his lips; I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my daily bread.

Job 23:10-12 

“I know that you can do all things; no purpose of yours can be thwarted. You asked, ‘Who is this that obscures my plans without knowledge?’ Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know. 

“You said, ‘Listen now, and I will speak; I will question you, and you shall answer me.’ 

My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you. Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes.”

Job 42:2-6