Job 5 - Seeking God

Eliphaz Continues Speaking

Yesterday we saw that Eliphaz was sent by the Lord to give a word very much in season to Job – amen?! Today he continues talking and what he says makes nothing but perfect sense. It is as if God Himself was speaking here. And we know that it was in fact Him. Let’s first summarize what Eliphaz was telling his sorrowful friend. He asked Job who he would turn to. Would there be a man or even angels who could help him, really? Or what about foolish men? Surely they can’t help. After all, look at what happens to them.

In reality the fact is that man is born to trouble as certainly as the flames of a fire stretch themselves toward the heavens. Even Jesus said it, so we know it is true…

John 16:33

These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”

So what is a man to do in this case? Eliphaz gave the answer as it came straight from the heart of God. Seek God! The only possible way a man can find his way out of trouble is to seek the Lord while He may be found – hallelujah!

Isaiah 55:6

Seek the Lord while He may be found, call upon Him while He is near.

He tells us in the following verses (8-23) about the marvelous things that the Lord does. Everything we need from rain and things we don’t even know to search for; yes, blessings without number. Glory to God! That sounds like a pretty good deal doesn’t it? After all, if I am born into trouble, why wouldn’t I want to seek something or someone who can bring me up out of that trouble? Wouldn’t any sensible person think this way? But not all do, do they? There are many hard hearted and foolish people in the earth who want nothing to do with God. They are indeed the foolish ones and we already looked at what happens to them in this chapter, haven’t we?

But God takes those who are low and sets them on high. Saints, I know this from experience. How you ask? Look at my testimony these past two days. I was as low as a person could get. One breath or two from passing away, there was just nothing left for me. I lost all my relationships, my belongings and my reputation. I lost hope and despaired of living. I thought death was the only option. And I wasn’t just trying to get someone’s attention when I attempted that suicide. I fully expected to die and didn’t want to face anyone in this life ever again. I had certainly taken enough pills to do the job but God would not allow it! I was so ashamed of myself. That was low friends; really low.

But wait. This chapter says to seek the Lord while He may be found. Well when He wouldn’t even let me die I was left with one of two choices. I could continue to run away from Him and try to do life my way; or, I could seek after Him with everything in me and find out what He really had to offer. I chose to seek Him – hallelujah! I was poor (spiritually) and I was weak (emotionally); at the bottom of the wrung. When I decided to seek Him I started going to church. No matter what town I was in at the moment, I went to church. I would just find one near me and go. I didn’t have a Bible at that time. But someone had given me a book while I was homeless and I read it from cover to cover.

The title of that book was ‘The Purpose Driven Life’ by Rick Warren. As I read it I began to see things about my life I had never even imagined. I began to understand that in God’s eyes I really did have a purpose (in Him) that I never knew in all those years of raising my daughters in church! I saw that God created me – He was the one who actually put me together in my mama’s womb. Then I saw the fact that He did it with a purpose in mind. This began to transform my thinking. I was determined to know more about God now than ever. I had not known Him as much as I used to think I did, but now my life was so desperate I thought it had to be good to seek Him.

I knew I was a simple minded woman. I was not wise and crafty in my own eyes. I used to think I was quite unintelligent really. I couldn’t make quick comebacks to people’s snide remarks or be quick to come up with a sick joke like others around me could. I thought I was lacking in all kinds of areas and certainly didn’t acclaim to know much. Well this chapter confirms what happens to those who do (think they are ‘all that’) and it is not a good thing. So humility is always the best place to start and there to remain. Exalting God and seeking Him is the best place to be at every turn in life as I was soon to discover.

In our chapter today Eliphaz said that the Lord saves the poor and gives the poor hope. I was so poor in spirit. I was fatherless. My dad had abandoned all of us when my parents divorced to marry another woman and raise her two boys. This left us without the most important parental role that every child needs in their life.

A dad is supposed to teach the child all the things about life and godliness so they can grow up and make great decisions using wisdom and practical teaching from the Bible to guide their path every step of the way. But that would not be the case for me and my siblings. While dad chose to serve himself (Yes, I have forgiven him) and leave us all behind, we had to go on in this crazy mixed up world and try to figure out how to survive the best we could. Some of us did better than others, but each of the five children in my family had a host of issues stemming from the poor parenting examples we had been exposed to. Finding myself back in the world after the hospital I had to take it one day at a time. But I was so determined to find the Lord that this was what kept me going forward even though the circumstances I was in were still very, very difficult.

I didn’t have any money to speak of but I began to tithe. That had started one day when I saw the 700 Club on TV when I was homeless and staying in that motel room. I walked across the street to give them the only $20 I had in my possession. It was money that someone from the church had given me. Right after that the husband had some fines to pay and we certainly couldn’t afford them but the Lord provided every penny of it. I saw the miracle and I was quite amazed. I began to see other miracles on my journey in my quest to find God. I would need a ride and suddenly someone would show up and just be available at just the right time.

When we talked yesterday I told you about the great church I went to where I saw my sins as they were and went home and repented. 

From that time forward as I began to understand how prayer works, I began to get bold and just ask God for what I needed. And He would answer and provide what I had asked Him for. I continued to be amazed at His wonderful kindness. It seems the miraculous signs and wonders were all around me. I was convinced if I told anyone about the things He was doing they would call me crazy. Well that’s OK. I know what I saw. I was there. Nobody could ever tell me it was anything but the amazing power and grace of God.

I found out in that time period that seeking God was paying off. By the time I had surrendered to Him in October of 2005, I had been seeking Him for about 11 months. So I didn’t really find Him instantly. I actually had to show Him I was serious about finding Him. And He saw my heart. He saw that even though I was in the toughest of situations I had ever been in I wasn’t going to let that stop me from seeking Him. I just kept tithing and I kept going to church.

I was like a walking sponge. I had my ears open and my mouth shut as I watched, listened and learned about the things of God. And the more I was experiencing with Him, the more I saw Him doing miraculous things that could only be from Him, and the more in awe of Him I became. So when October 1, 2005 rolled around and I dropped to my knees to ask for His help, He quickly came to my rescue – hallelujah!

Jeremiah 29:13

And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.

Matthew 7:7

“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.

And as I did the seeking I kept on receiving more and more revelation from Him. We all start with a measure of faith…

Romans 12:3

For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith.

I had to use the faith I had and build on that. I had to put my faith to work. One day of seeking God and then going back to what you were doing before that will not cut it. What I had been given was so good – I could see that. Now I wanted more. When I got more I would respond to the Lord with a desire for even more…

Matthew 13:12

For whoever has, to him more will be given, and he will have abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him.

Like any good thing a person might receive, if they discover it is really good they are going to want more. Well, now I was getting more and more of God and the more I got the more I wanted. It was a perpetual state of increase – abundance. It was and is so rich and wonderful. I never want to stop experiencing more of Him, how about you?

As I walked with the Lord further into a life of full devotion I learned that He would chasten me. Here is what the Webster’s 1828 dictionary says about chastening;

1. To correct by punishment; to punish; to inflict pain for the purpose of reclaiming an offender; as, to chasten a son with a rod.

I will chasten him with the rod of men. 2 Samuel 7:14.

2. To afflict by other means.

As many as I love I rebuke and chasten   Revelation 3:19.

3. To purify from errors or faults.

I found out that the Lord will not hold back on correction when we need it. I needed a lot of correction in my thinking and I needed to break off old habits and relationships that were harmful to me. This has taken a lot of submission and that has not been easy as most of you know all too well. But where would we be without the loving care and correction of our Lord? So many folks in the Christian world today say this quite often, “God loves us just the way we are.” Says who? He loves us but He certainly does not like all our dysfunctional and sinful behavior. That is why He provides both a rod and a staff to guide us through our lives. We need His love and we need His correction so we won’t stay the way we are…

Psalm 23:4

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.

As we walk through this life with death all around us and evil at every turn, we don’t ever have to be afraid. He is with us. And His rod corrects us when we need it as His staff continually guides through each day. Aren’t we so grateful saints? Our heavenly Father has so much good in mind for us, but we have to want it. It is that simple. He will not ever force His ways on us. We must seek Him willingly, diligently, as one going after a pearl of greatest treasure…

Matthew 13:45

 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking beautiful pearls, who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had and bought it.

I was seeking the Lord so fervently, just as if I was on the trail of some priceless gem and I wouldn’t stop until I found it. It was the greatest treasure hunt of all, and lo, He led me each step. Can you imagine how much it pleases the Father and Jesus to see someone going after Him with their face set like flint? Do we not believe that He will give us the desire of our heart?

Isaiah 50:7

“For the Lord God will help Me; therefore I will not be disgraced; therefore I have set My face like a flint, and I know that I will not be ashamed.

He is faithful. He will not let the righteous be left begging. We never have to beg God. He will reveal Himself to the ones who truly want Him. To those who don’t He is known as the God who hides Himself.

Isaiah 8:17

And I will wait on the Lord, who hides His face from the house of Jacob; and I will hope in Him.

To the man or woman who says there is no God, He will be hidden from their sight. He will not manifest His glory and throw that which is holy to the dogs. God will only reveal Himself to those who are truly seeking Him. I would find this out in that 11 month period of seeking Him. The more I received the hungrier for Him I became. And He didn’t let me down. He never would either.

He is faithful – hallelujah! I believe my heart’s greatest desire in this life second to spending time with the Lord on a personal level is to encourage others to seek Him. I know how awesome He is, at least from where I stand today. I know that more will be revealed to me as I go deeper in my walk with Him. And God is not slack on His promises. He will take us as deep as we are willing to go. I want to be in over my head. How about you?

Next in our chapter (Verse 19 – 22) we see the Lord as a Deliverer and a Provider. Oh saints, He is truly everything we need in every situation. He delivers us from trouble, from famine, from the battles we face when the arrows are flying rapidly in our direction…

Psalm 91:5

You shall not be afraid of the terror by night, nor of the arrow that flies by day,

He will hide us from the harmful words that come against us. When I was walking out of that pit I had thrown myself into, there were plenty of painful scourges coming my way. Lots of folks had plenty of bad things to say about me. The dirt was flying at me from a thousand different directions it seemed. But while I was down in the pit and the accusers began throwing in their dirt, I decided to take Jesus hand and let Him help me walk out of that pit.

Like the donkey who had fallen into a pit so deep the people knew they couldn’t get him out, so they decided to bury him alive and put him out of his misery. As they began to shovel the dirt into the pit to close up the hole, the donkey would step up on the next heap of dirt that landed at the bottom. With each painful shovelful of dirt, the donkey continued to step on top of the pile. Eventually, he stepped right up to the ground level and he walked away, a free donkey – hallelujah!

Friends, Jesus cannot pull us out of the pit unless we want to come out. And it is up to us to take the steps to get out of it. No matter why you landed in your pit, it has to be your choice (and mine) to walk out of it. And when I decided that death was obviously not an option for me, I made a decision to walk out of my pit. And every step I took Jesus had my hand. He showed me so much love along the way.

You can hear Him saying, “That’s it. Come on honey. I am here. I will help you. Don’t stop. I know it is rough. I never wanted this for you. But don’t give up. There will be great reward for you if you do not faint. Keep going, yes, that’s it.” Just yesterday the Lord showed me something about the cat Ezekiel that He had sent for me while I was living in the marriage from hell. You remember I told you how Ezekiel had been brought by my daughter. I told you about the painful scene when I had to let him go. He had been so extra loving and special toward me.

I had never seen an animal do the things he did. He would love on me and crawl up on my chest and give me sweet kisses on my ear. His little hugs were almost human like. 

And the morning I was letting him go before coming to Florida, the look he gave and the final hug seemed far beyond what any normal cat would do. Well, just yesterday as my husband and I discussed this event, the Lord spoke to my heart and said, “Hanny, when he was loving on you like that; it was Me. I was doing that through him.” This caused me to cry even more as I looked back at how the Lord had used this precious little fur ball to give me His love in a tangible way. That was one of the rewards He had given me for seeking Him like I was. He is such a good God – hallelujah! 

As we move on in the chapter, the Lord is showing us that He will cause us to live in peaceful dwellings. He would cause us to live in harmony with the animals and people in our midst. When I came to Florida, it was a completely different atmosphere than the suburbs of Detroit where I had lived the majority of my life. Florida was peaceful. It was almost too calm for this city girl with a country heart. I had been used to life in the fast lane for so many years that it took several years for me to come down to the new pace I would one day embrace with great joy.

I never knew that life could be this peaceful. The skies seemed bluer here. The gentle breezes from the gulf combined with the breathtaking sunsets came together to form a peaceful balm over my heart each day. People here walk slower and talk slower. They are not in quite as big a hurry as they are up north. Now when I travel back to Detroit to visit my children and grandchildren, the atmosphere and all the chaos are almost overwhelming to me. I look forward to seeing them but I am always so glad to get back to what is now my home; sunny and peaceful southwest Florida – praise the Lord!

We end the chapter with some more great promises from our great God. He promises us that our seed will be great and will multiply. Well, I am not having any more kids, (LOL!) but I am planting seeds into the kingdom of heaven on a regular basis – glory to His name forever. As a result, I am expecting and receiving great multiplication of that seed. I know my children and grandchildren will be blessed. In fact we are so blessed that even the blessed call us blessed! Praise God! He is so good to us when we seek Him with all our hearts. We are promised that we will live to a ripe old age. Isn’t that great news? And we can bear fruit like wildfire in our old age…

Psalm 92:12-15

The righteous shall flourish like a palm tree, he shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon.
Those who are planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God.
They shall still bear fruit in old age; they shall be fresh and flourishing, to declare that the Lord is upright; He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in Him.

I have to give God the glory. At the age of 60 I have never been healthier, felt better or had more energy! I can run around the lake with my sweet puppy and do what the Lord calls me to do. I am excited about so many things that are coming – we stay in a constant state of excitement and expectation for what the Lord is and will do. Denny & I are rejoicing in God our Savior – me and my wonderful godly husband whose sweetness cannot be compared to any other on the planet. The Lord has blessed us and the bars of our gates. He has blessed our comings and goings. He blesses me every step of the way. Yes, I have to brag on Him every chance I get because He deserves all the glory, all the honor and all the praise for ever. How about you? What are you excited about? As the chapter closes, Eliphaz tells his friend Job that they had searched out these good things about God. He was telling Job to hear it, know it and believe it for his own good. Will you take that wonderful advice as well?

What was Eliphaz’s first point of advice to Job?

What was the point he was trying to make in the next several verses? (9-27)

What was Eliphaz’s last point of advice to Job?

Are you seeking God with all your heart? If not, what is stopping you?

Luke 6:20-23

Then He lifted up His eyes toward His disciples, and said:

“Blessed are you poor,
    for yours is the kingdom of God.
Blessed are you who hunger now,
    for you shall be filled.
Blessed are you who weep now,
    for you shall laugh.
Blessed are you when men hate you,
    and when they exclude you,
    and revile you, and cast out your name as evil,
    For the Son of Man’s sake.
Rejoice in that day and leap for joy!
    For indeed your reward is great in heaven,
    for in like manner their fathers did to the prophets.

Matthew 7:11

If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!

There are three main points to consider from today’s study…

Man is born to trouble – but Jesus has overcome the world

The best decision we can ever make is to seek God with all our heart

When we seek Him, we will find Him, and He will fill our lives with good things

Heavenly Father,

Thank You for revealing Yourself to those who seek after you with their whole heart! Thank You for revealing Yourself in greater measure to me as I walk deeper and deeper into a life of full devotion with You. Thank You for helping me to walk out of every pit I have ever been in to a life full of prosperity and great fruit. You are the Almighty God and You have done great things for me. Holy is Your name! Father, I ask You to use my life as a living testimony of Your goodness to the sons of men. Bring glory to Yourself in me each and every day and give me opportunities to tell others how great You are in Jesus name. Amen! 

Will you seek Him with your whole heart? 

And God Said… You fill in the blanks.

 1 Peter 1:3-5

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,

who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 

to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away,

reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.