Job 40:8 (KJV) You’re Asking the Wrong Question About Suffering

Job 40:8 (KJV)

Wilt thou also disannul my judgment? wilt thou condemn me, that thou mayest be righteous?

I wonder if we have been too quick to read this as a rebuke of Job.

God does not say that Job has disannulled His judgment. He does not say that Job has condemned Him. He asks, “Wilt thou?”

For much of the book, Job’s friends have operated under what appears to be a false choice. God is righteous. Job is suffering. Therefore, Job must have done something to deserve his suffering. To defend the righteousness of God, they believed they had to condemn Job.

Job refused to accept their conclusion.

He knew he had not committed the sins they imagined. He would not confess to something merely because his circumstances seemed to demand an explanation. Yet neither did Job abandon his faith in God.

Perhaps that is the point of God’s question. “Wilt thou condemn me, that thou mayest be righteous?”

Job did not have to.

There was never a necessity to choose between the righteousness of God and the integrity of Job. The friends had created that dilemma because they could not imagine another explanation for Job’s suffering. But their inability to explain something did not make their explanation true.

There is a lesson here worth remembering.

We can become so determined to explain what God is doing that we begin assigning guilt where God has not assigned it. We see trouble and assume chastening. We see suffering and search for sin. We see circumstances that do not fit our understanding of God and construct an explanation that makes everything fit neatly again.

But God does not need us to defend Him by falsely accusing another man.

Neither must we question the righteousness of God when we know an accusation against us is false.

There is another possibility. We may simply not know.

God can be righteous when I cannot explain what He is doing. A man can suffer without my knowing why he suffers. And I can trust the judgment of God without inventing an explanation for what God has not explained.

Faith does not require an answer for everything. It requires confidence that God is right even when I do not know the answer.

#TrustGod #BookOfJob #FaithWithoutAnswers #GodIsRight #BibleTruth

You’re Asking the Wrong Question About Suffering: Seeing What God Sees

What do you think Job 40:8 is really teaching? Is God rebuking Job, or showing him that he cannot see the whole picture? Share your thoughts in the comments. 

Then visit marvinmckenzie.org for more Bible studies, daily devotionals, and practical lessons from the King James Bible.

To my readers:

Thank you! It is a great joy to me to know you read the thoughts and lessons God has given me in His word. I would love to hear from you. Please feel free to leave comments.

For this and, more than 7200 earlier Daily Visits with God, visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2005.

If you have been blessed by this blog, please subscribe to my feed and share it with others.

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Job 40:8 (KJV) You’re Asking the Wrong Question About Suffering

Here's a comic version of the lesson.

http://youtube.com/post/UgkxCneUPlspe80Yy_d2CgA7u75h_NDdstJX?si=Kl7k2sCq7P2kyEjY

 

Job 39:17 (KJV) The Danger of Thinking You Have God Figured Out

Job 39:17 (KJV)

Because God hath deprived her of wisdom, neither hath he imparted to her understanding.

While I know this is not the typical interpretation of God’s words to Job, I want to entertain the idea that God’s monologue in chapters 38-39 is not directed at Job precisely, but that God is speaking to Job about his friends. It will lead naturally into the dialogue that follows. They had given bad counsel because they did not fully understand God.

God’s explanation can then be broken into two segments:

Chapter 38 — God governs a world man cannot comprehend.

(We don’t know enough to explain God.)

Chapter 39 — God governs creatures man cannot control.

(God’s ways are far more varied, intricate, and surprising than their tidy theology allowed.)

That problem did not end with Job’s friends.

Whether we speak of the varying religions of the world, the differing philosophies that have been introduced, or the angry responses of those who basically hate everything and choose to think of themselves as little more than animals, the reason they can’t get things adequately figured out is because they just miss who God is.

Even Job fell short on this count. So do we.

The great danger is not that we do not understand everything about God. We never will. The danger is that we speak as though we do.

Job’s friends took what little they knew of God and used it to explain what they could not know about Job. We can make the same mistake. We see a circumstance, observe another person, collect a few facts, and become certain we know what God is doing.

Better to know God than to insist upon explaining Him.

There are things God has not given us the wisdom to understand. Faith does not demand that He explain them. Faith trusts that the God who governs what we cannot comprehend and controls what we cannot control can also be trusted with what we cannot explain.

“Because God hath.”

Let that settle it.

#BecauseGodHath #TrustGod #BookOfJob #FaithOverUnderstanding #DailyVisitWithGod

The Danger of Thinking You Have God Figured Out: Knowing Our Limits and Learning to Trust Him

What do you do when God does not explain what He is doing? Job 39 reminds us that limited understanding should never become confident assumptions about God. “Because God hath.” Let that settle it.

What has the Lord taught you about trusting Him when you cannot understand His ways? Share your thoughts in the comments.

For more KJV Bible studies, daily devotions, Christian encouragement, and practical Bible teaching, visit marvinmckenzie.org.

To my readers:

Thank you! It is a great joy to me to know you read the thoughts and lessons God has given me in His word. I would love to hear from you. Please feel free to leave comments.

For this and, more than 7200 earlier Daily Visits with God, visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2005.

If you have been blessed by this blog, please subscribe to my feed and share it with others.

My books, and other resources, are available at:
https://marvinmckenzie.org

Join me at Daily Visits with God Podcast
https://marvinmckenzie.substack.com/

Merch at my Teespring store https://macz.creator-spring.com/
Be a witness with hats, mugs, t-shirts, sweat shirts, and more

Let’s have coffee?
The link to Ko-fi  is an opportunity to support this effort to reach a world of souls with the Word of God. I would appreciate any gift you can give. 

Job 39:17 (KJV) The Danger of Thinking You Have God Figured Out

Here's a comic version of the lesson.

http://youtube.com/post/Ugkx78-sFLLWElm5NsZjgY0l6t-uWpFvmSMW?si=ozt-sza9VoVqQqfa

Job 38:2 (KJV) Did God Rebuke Job—or Was He Addressing His Friends?

Job 38:2 (KJV)

Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge?

Who is this? It is not Job.

I picture the Lord now addressing Job but speaking about his friends. I don’t think Elihu is one of them, but perhaps I’m wrong on this point. At any rate, I do not believe Job is the one who “darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge.”

In fact, that seems to fit the character of the entire chapter. Job’s friends have spoken confidently about things they could not possibly know. They were certain they understood Job’s suffering. They had explanations for why it happened, what God was doing, and what Job must have done to bring it upon himself.

Then God speaks.

He does not begin by explaining Job’s suffering. Instead, He begins asking questions.

“Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth?”

“Hast thou commanded the morning since thy days?”

“Hast thou entered into the springs of the sea?”

“Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades?”

God is essentially saying, Job, you have listened to men speak confidently about matters beyond their knowledge. Now let Me demonstrate just how little man actually knows.

That is the great lesson of the chapter. Man knows some things, but God knows all things. We see one circumstance; God sees the whole. We know what has happened; God knows why it happened, what He is accomplishing through it, and where it will finally lead.

There is a danger in speaking with certainty where God has not spoken. Job’s friends did not lack words. They lacked knowledge sufficient to justify those words.

When God has not explained the reason, humility is wiser than speculation.

We should be careful that our counsel does not become darker because we insist upon explaining what only God understands.

#Job38v2 #WordsWithoutKnowledge #TrustGodsWisdom #BiblicalCounsel #DailyVisitWithGod

Did God Rebuke Job—or Was He Addressing His Friends? Rethinking Job 38

Who do you believe God was speaking about in Job 38:2—Job himself, or the friends whose counsel had been so confidently wrong? Read Job 38 carefully and share your thoughts in the comments. I’d especially like to know what you see in the text. 

For more KJV Bible studies, practical Christian teaching, and Daily Visits with God, visit MarvinMcKenzie.org and continue growing in God’s Word with me.

To my readers:

Thank you! It is a great joy to me to know you read the thoughts and lessons God has given me in His word. I would love to hear from you. Please feel free to leave comments.

For this and, more than 7200 earlier Daily Visits with God, visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2005.

If you have been blessed by this blog, please subscribe to my feed and share it with others.

My books, and other resources, are available at:
https://marvinmckenzie.org

Join me at Daily Visits with God Podcast
https://marvinmckenzie.substack.com/

Merch at my Teespring store https://macz.creator-spring.com/
Be a witness with hats, mugs, t-shirts, sweat shirts, and more

Let’s have coffee?
The link to Ko-fi  is an opportunity to support this effort to reach a world of souls with the Word of God. I would appreciate any gift you can give. 

Job 37:14 (KJV) What Is the Preacher’s Most Important Job?

Here's a comic version of the lesson.

http://youtube.com/post/UgkxaAx3y4zoDBjNpymZX4UDk7Ddih5BuRhW?si=Zjf4vL33DWhMvnFf

Job 37:14 (KJV) What Is the Preacher’s Most Important Job?

Job 37:14 (KJV)

Hearken unto this, O Job: stand still, and consider the wondrous works of God.

Here is, in one sentence, the whole work of the preacher. He is not God. He cannot answer every question, nor can he explain every circumstance. Things happen in life for which there simply is no human explanation.

The preacher’s job is not to answer every question, solve every problem, or pull every soul from their troubles. He cannot do it, and it will kill him to try.

Neither is the preacher’s job to jump down every sinner’s throat. He is, frankly, no better than any of them.

But the preacher can do one thing exceptionally well.

He can urge souls to “stand still, and consider the wondrous works of God.”

If he’ll concentrate on that, he’ll do a good work with his life.

#StandStillAndConsider #WondrousWorksOfGod #TheWorkOfThePreacher #PointPeopleToGod #Job37v14

What Is the Preacher’s Most Important Job? Pointing Souls Toward God

What is the preacher’s most important work when he cannot answer every question or solve every problem? Job 37:14 reminds us to “stand still, and consider the wondrous works of God.” The preacher does not have to be the answer—his calling is to point people to the One who is.

What do you believe is the most important work of a preacher? Share your thoughts in the comments.

For more KJV Bible studies, daily devotionals, Christian encouragement, and practical Bible teaching, visit MarvinMcKenzie.org.

To my readers:

Thank you! It is a great joy to me to know you read the thoughts and lessons God has given me in His word. I would love to hear from you. Please feel free to leave comments.

For this and, more than 7200 earlier Daily Visits with God, visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2005.

If you have been blessed by this blog, please subscribe to my feed and share it with others.

My books, and other resources, are available at:
https://marvinmckenzie.org

Join me at Daily Visits with God Podcast
https://marvinmckenzie.substack.com/

Merch at my Teespring store https://macz.creator-spring.com/
Be a witness with hats, mugs, t-shirts, sweat shirts, and more

Let’s have coffee?
The link to Ko-fi  is an opportunity to support this effort to reach a world of souls with the Word of God. I would appreciate any gift you can give. 

Job 37:14 (KJV) What Is the Preacher’s Most Important Job?

Here's a comic version of the lesson.