One Year Bible, August 30

JOB 34:1 - 36:33                                                                                                                  
"LISTEN UP, AND I WILL TEACH YOU WISDOM!"   Elihu, the youngest, is losing it" because Job won't answer him back.  Elihu believes that suffering comes to chasten and correct. That God is never wrong in what He does, and that Job was wrong in what he said about God causing his troubles.   (Elihu had misinterpreted Job, guessed at Job's motives, and even misquoted him a few times.)   (1) God is not and cannot be unjust.  God can cut down the whole human race if He wants to!  Therefore Job is in rebellion and needs to just submit and learn.  "He (God) won't lay on man more than what's right."  (2) God is not affected by man's behavior; He is God all by Himself.   Since God is always fair, if He doesn't answer your prayers, it must be because your prayers are wrong.   (3) "He that is perfect (Elihu) is with thee."   If you are suffering, it is so God can show you your heart and teach you not to transgress.   Suffering opens your ears to discipline.  Job needs to return to the Lord!   (4) Be sure to receive your correction in the right spirit! Don't be independent.

THE APPROACHING STORM: The noise of the storm announces the Presence of God. (Psa 50:3)   The only light comes from God.   The thunder and lightning should make us tremble.

RESPONSE: Elihu seems to be full of himself!  He has a lot of information that he has still to live out.  He has a depth of knowledge, but not much compassion.  Job said that compassion is learned through suffering.   I believe him.   Once you experience the "dark night of the soul", or "the horror of great darkness" (Gen 15:12) with God, you cannot inflict pain on anyone else, even if they are guilty.   Even Jacob can testify of the life-changing event of having God "smite" you (Gen 32:25 - "touched" is actually "smote", which is what knocked Job's house down! Job 1:19)

2 CORINTHIANS 4:1-12                                                                                                   
GOD OF THIS WORLD:  Not, the planet, but the TEMPORARY WORLD SYSTEMS run by the "world-spirit of antichrist".   He is a RELIGIOUS SPIRIT - and rules over all religions except God's own.   His master plan is to blind minds - to mess up our thinking so we can't see and understand the Gospel.  The glory and power of the Gospel is the image of Jesus being formed in us who believe.   WE DO NOT BELIEVE IN TWO GODS: ONE GOOD AND ONE EVIL.  Satan only rules temporary world systems and he usurps those!  We can redeem them back to God with our Kingdom influence.  Satan is not God's enemy - he is OURS. Jesus ALREADY DEFEATED SATAN on the cross by His blood and His resurrection.  God has no equals. He is God all by Himself.   Doublemindedness is idolatry.

BUT.... even our afflictions result in glory!   We are "cracked pots" - our flesh is broken down and destroyed so that the light of Jesus that is IN us, shines out.   "We are always delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh."   One of the MOST EXCITING REVELATIONS IN THE SCRIPTURES.   Affliction does not come to teach us something; but to destroy the FLESH! God isn't going to FIX US, He wants to KILL US! (our flesh, our self-life)   In my severest trials is when Jesus is most exalted in my life.   This is when the fullest measure of resurrection power is manifested and exerted.   These afflictions produce bitterness if we do not submit to God's purposes.

RESPONSE:   I knew it! V.15 says I am getting younger every day (on the inside)!  Anything that I can see with my physical eye is TEMPORARY.  I am not intended to SURVIVE my trials, but to be changed by them.  I can know that I'm truly dead to self, when someone can throw dirt on me and I don't realize it.  Dead people don't get offended.

PSALM 44:1-8                                                                                                                 
DELIVER ME FROM DEFEAT:  I hate to lose.  Losing is when my flesh overcomes my spirit and sprays itself all over the place (manifests itself)   God is in the process of "driving out the heathen" in my heart - and sometimes one will get away and manifest itself!   I can't trust in my sword to help me (willpower, determination, self-control, self-discipline, resolve, fortitude).   I call on God for full deliverance!

PROVERBS 22:10-12                                                                                                   
When the "scoffer" leaves, they take strife, quarreling and insults with them.   When someone scorns God and God's Word, it is because they want you to believe them instead!   That's why they breed arguments.

"Gracious speech" is speech full of comfort, encouragement and strengthening.   It is someone who empowers others.   Everyone wants to be around them.

God defeats the designs of the ones who argue against God.

RESPONSE:   Giving in to my flesh is a DEFEAT, not a WIN!  I feel awful afterwards.  Trying harder doesn't work.   My flesh is too big and too strong for me.   I was saved by faith in God, and have to trust God to drive out the enemy.  I make my boast in the Lord!   His Name is higher than any other.