Job 18 Redeemed From The Curse

Let The Redeemed of the Lord Say So!

Today’s chapter starts off with the biting words of a so called friend. I don’t know about you but if I were Job at that point I would think I might be so hurt I would just ask them to leave. Of course one never knows how they would really handle any situation until they are actually in it. No one can say what they really would do until they experience the very thing they are talking about. In our beginning Bildad asks Job when he will just be quiet. Look at how the ERV puts it:

Job 18:1-4

Then Bildad from Shuah answered:

“When will you stop talking? Be sensible; let us say something. Why do you think we are stupid, like dumb cows? Your anger is hurting no one but you. Do you think this world was made for you alone? Do you think God should move mountains just to satisfy you?

Heavenly Father,

I ask You to show us what You want us to see in this chapter today. Open the eyes and ears of our hearts to see and hear all that You want to teach us. Enlighten us and help us to see great and unsearchable things in Your word. May You speak to me and through me to send Your word that You always watch over and perform in Jesus name. Thank You Father. Amen. 

At this point, it has gone too far, don’t you think? I mean look at what our Bible Gateway verse of the day said…

James 1:19

So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath;

And look at Proverbs 17:27-28

He who has knowledge spares his words, and a man of understanding is of a calm spirit.

Even a fool is counted wise when he holds his peace; when he shuts his lips, he is considered perceptive.

Bildad has gone from chapter 8 where he told Job to seek God and lashed out at him to the same type of conversation in this chapter. When we last heard from Bildad in chapter 8, our main topic of discussion was that we need to do what James 1:19 says – be quick to listen, be slow to speak and be slow to get angry. I find it quite amazing that today when I opened my Bible I came to that very same verse in James chapter one. Then when I pulled up the Bible Gateway verse of the day – it was the exact same verse. Next, I opened my Bible and came to the Proverbs verses about using words with restraint and being even tempered.

Do you suppose God is trying to hone in on helping us to tame our tongues? What if Bildad had just stayed by Job’s side to encourage him without all this talk? He has basically said to him, “What makes you think you are so special? Heaven and earth were not created to rise and come to your aid alone. We are not stupid and God isn’t there just for you!” Ouch! The wounds of a friend are deep indeed. But there is a friend that sticks closer than a brother…

Proverbs 18:24

A man who has friends must himself be friendly, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.

Who would find any comfort in such talk? Where is the faithful friend? Where is the wisdom that knows when to close the mouth and open the ears? I mean really! Bildad had already been down this road with Job in chapter 8. He warned Job to seek God and what would happen to those who seek God compared to the end of the wicked. This entire chapter is Bildad ranting about what happens to the wicked? Is this what Job really needed to hear at this time?

Lots of listening, remaining calm and quiet would have been the best choice for all these guys at this point, wouldn’t it? How often do we point an accusing finger at someone going through a trial, saying, “Well, if that were me, I would do it this way or that way.” And the reality is that unless we have experienced it ourselves, we really have no way of knowing how we would respond to any situation, right? Besides that, we have different personalities, different backgrounds, different educational levels, family experiences, and on and on. All of these factors come together to form the way each of us will respond to the situation we are in. So how can we sit by someone we call friend and go on and on about what happens to the wicked, when they already know all this?

When people looked at me as I went through that terrible trial, I can only imagine the harsh things that were said behind my back. “How could she do that to her children? What kind of woman is she anyway?” Even my own relative said to me one day that she could not believe I would do such a thing to my children. I simply looked back at her and replied, “Well, I can tell you this. I did not wake up one day and say, ‘Gee, today I think I will do something terrible to hurt my husband and crush and break my daughter’s hearts!’” She looked back at me and said, “I never thought of it that way.” Of course she hadn’t! She wasn’t me.

She didn’t know the pain I had in my soul that caused to me make such a foolish decision. She didn’t understand all the dynamics that were going on inside my soul and spirit as I experienced the greatest meltdown I could have ever experienced. She didn’t know how terribly I had grieved over what I had done or the rivers of tears I had cried over hurting my husband and daughters and other family members and friends like I had.

She wasn’t there when I wailed from the depth of my soul in terrible anguish over what I had done. Nor did she understand how I hated myself for it, which finally led to the suicide attempt. Nobody on the planet understood one fraction of what I was going through. They looked at the surface of the situation and made their judgments over me. They decided I was no good and they tossed me to the curb as one who was no longer worth the time of day. I myself did not have a clue that all that junk was brewing under the surface in my heart. Little did I know that I was a wounded walking time bomb just waiting to explode.

The family and friends that once respected me as a great mom and hard worker and great party buddy now talked to me like I was the filth of the earth. It was difficult to look anyone in the eye after that. I felt so ashamed of myself. And then to top it off, I couldn’t even escape my own misery through death. The Lord had other plans – just like Job. Throughout his trial he has longed to see the face of death and find his relief in the grave – just like I did. But it would not be. His longtime friends who came to comfort had stayed to accuse and condemn him – just like mine did.

Instead of sticking it out with me, they bailed out. They all turned on me like a swift east wind, they were long gone – family, friends and children. Everywhere I turned there were closed doors. I had felt alone like this before. I had known what it was like to be abandoned since early childhood. I knew what it was like to feel all alone as a teenager and then a young adult. Even after I got married and settled down in my mid-twenties, I felt alone. My husband liked to party with me and that was it. The rest of the time he preferred to hang out with the guys. So even in my marriage I felt very much alone. My children have never even heard my story. To this day they do not really know who their mother is or what happened in my life. I simply wait until they are ready to ask and ready to listen.

When nobody wants to hear you out, where do you turn? When all you get is accusing blows from so called friends, what do you do? When every mouth is opened against you and every door is slammed shut in your face, what are your options then? When guilt is piled so high on your head that it reaches to the heavens, and weighs you down like you are carrying a truckload of bricks – what then? For me I felt like I walked alone most of my life. I never had a true and faithful friend as I have mentioned previously. I became so accustomed to learning how to survive on my own that I became convinced that I could do whatever needed to be done quite well on my own. Then I became a perfectionist – that’s pride and not a good thing. I wanted everything just so. It was like nobody could measure up to my standards and yet, I was more desperate for help than I even consciously realized.

I wonder what my family and children would say if they knew the real me. What would they think if they knew how much I love people and want everyone to love each other? What would they think if they knew how very sorry I was for all the pain and trouble I had caused. Would they continue to throw stones at me? By the grace of God there has been a great deal of restoration in my family with more yet to come. In the meantime I have to know that God is for me and that He is with me.

So what does a person do when they have lost everything and anything that ever held any value in their life and they can’t even escape in death? That person has to cry out to Jesus. I finally did that as most of you know. He was there. He is always there. He never wanted us to suffer. It was never His will for us to be hurt or to hurt others because of the pain we ourselves have received.

Here is what I found out in Psalm 107, let’s look at it together…

Psalm 107

Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever. Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom He has redeemed from the hand of the enemy, and gathered out of the lands,
from the east and from the west, from the north and from the south.

They wandered in the wilderness in a desolate way; they found no city to dwell in.

Hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted in them. Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble, and He delivered them out of their distresses. And He led them forth by the right way, that they might go to a city for a dwelling place.
Oh, that men would give thanks to the Lord for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men! For He satisfies the longing soul, and fills the hungry soul with goodness.

Those who sat in darkness and in the shadow of death, bound in affliction and irons—
because they rebelled against the words of God, and despised the counsel of the Most High, therefore He brought down their heart with labor; they fell down, and there was none to help.

Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble, and He saved them out of their distresses. He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death, and broke their chains in pieces.

Oh, that men would give thanks to the Lord for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men! For He has broken the gates of bronze, and cut the bars of iron in two.

Fools, because of their transgression, and because of their iniquities, were afflicted. Their soul abhorred all manner of food, and they drew near to the gates of death. Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble, and He saved them out of their distresses.

He sent His word and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions. Oh, that men would give thanks to the Lord for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men!

Let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving, and declare His works with rejoicing.

Those who go down to the sea in ships, who do business on great waters, they see the works of the Lord, and His wonders in the deep. For He commands and raises the stormy wind, which lifts up the waves of the sea. They mount up to the heavens, they go down again to the depths; their soul melts because of trouble. They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wits’ end.

Then they cry out to the Lord in their trouble, and He brings them out of their distresses. He calms the storm, so that its waves are still. Then they are glad because they are quiet; so He guides them to their desired haven.

Oh, that men would give thanks to the Lord for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men! Let them exalt Him also in the assembly of the people, and praise Him in the company of the elders.

He turns rivers into a wilderness, and the watersprings into dry ground; a fruitful land into barrenness, for the wickedness of those who dwell in it.

He turns a wilderness into pools of water, and dry land into watersprings. There He makes the hungry dwell, that they may establish a city for a dwelling place, and sow fields and plant vineyards, that they may yield a fruitful harvest. He also blesses them, and they multiply greatly; and He does not let their cattle decrease.

When they are diminished and brought low through oppression, affliction, and sorrow, He pours contempt on princes, and causes them to wander in the wilderness where there is no way;

yet He sets the poor on high, far from affliction, and makes their families like a flock. The righteous see it and rejoice, and all iniquity stops its mouth.

Whoever is wise will observe these things, and they will understand the lovingkindness of the Lord.

Job had been crying out in his affliction. He has been angry at God, he questioned Him, He has been confused, lost and forlorn in his soul. Most of us know that this book has a very happy ending. But remember, we are reading it as if we have never read it before. My life is having a very happy ending – the last third of it shall be redeemed from destruction and restored with streams in the desert – hallelujah! He has satisfied my longing soul and filled my hungry soul with goodness.

Do I still have moments of pain? Yes, but they are getting fewer and fewer. I am getting stronger and stronger in Him as we go through each day with my eyes fixed on Him. Coming out of a lifetime of pain and disappointment takes time. We live in the flesh but when we are led by His Spirit, we become more and more like the Master each and every day. Praise His name forever. When I have a not so good day of eating for example, I just get up the next day and get right back on track with His help and trust these words for my future with that mountain…

Zechariah 4:6

So he answered and said to me:

“This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: ‘Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ says the Lord of hosts.

It is His Spirit that helps us walk the straight and narrow path. It is His love that compels us to go further. It is the love of God that causes us to repent and turn to Him. The accusations of uncaring people sting our souls, but the words of the Lord are a man’s comfort and hope. When no one else is around, He is there. When people are firing accusations and throwing their stones at us, we can turn our back to them and our face to the Lord who delivers us from all our destruct ions. It has really surprised me that the Lord wanted me to share so much of my testimony in these passages as we study the life and times of Job.

When I first surrendered to the Lord in 2005 I had been given a book about Job called, “Job – A Man of Endurance” by Chuck Swindoll. When I read that book I felt like I could relate so well to it. It spoke volumes to me at that time as I was just beginning to have my eyes opened to the things of God. Now here we are, 10 years later, studying the life of Job – again. What God wants me to do is share the many experiences that I have been through to encourage others so they too can see the only way out of the darkness.

I think a lot of Joyce Meyer. I listened to her faithfully for years. I listened as she gave her testimonies about how her life had been and what God had done when she really turned to Him for her help and strength. She is a wonderful miracle of the grace of God. Just like me and perhaps many of you.

Why didn’t God let me die when I wanted to? Why didn’t He cast me away like the rest of the world? Because He has a love that will never fail. He has a plan to use me for something so much bigger than myself. And while I have had to deal with a food and sugar addiction that became much bigger than I could handle in my own strength, he has come into my life to show that by His stripes, I am healed. Buy His power I am anointed to preach the good news to you and everyone He will bring my way…

Isaiah 61

“The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me, because the Lord has anointed Me to preach good tidings to the poor;
He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God;
to comfort all who mourn, to console those who mourn in Zion, to give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they may be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified.”

And they shall rebuild the old ruins, they shall raise up the former desolations, and they shall repair the ruined cities, the desolations of many generations. Strangers shall stand and feed your flocks, and the sons of the foreigner shall be your plowmen and your vinedressers. But you shall be named the priests of the Lord, they shall call you the servants of our God. You shall eat the riches of the Gentiles, and in their glory you shall boast.

Instead of your shame you shall have double honor, and instead of confusion they shall rejoice in their portion.
Therefore in their land they shall possess double; everlasting joy shall be theirs.

“For I, the Lord, love justice; I hate robbery for burnt offering; I will direct their work in truth, and will make with them an everlasting covenant.

Their descendants shall be known among the Gentiles, and their offspring among the people. All who see them shall acknowledge them, that they are the posterity whom the Lord has blessed.”

I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for He has clothed me with the garments of salvation, He has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.

For as the earth brings forth its bud, as the garden causes the things that are sown in it to spring forth, so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations.

Hallelujah! My accusers will see what the Lord has done for me! I am redeemed – praise His name forever! Bildad may not have seemed like much of a friend at this point, but one day Job would come to find out what a faithful friend God would always be to him. We have been redeemed from the curse. No matter what our friends say or think, we have a true friend in Jesus. Hallelujah! 

Questions:

What did Bildad accuse Job of?

What was the main theme of Bildad’s comments to Job?

What does the Bible say about speaking, listening and getting angry?

In what way can you encourage someone who is hurting?

Galatians 3:13

Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”

                                                  

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

A true friend knows when to speak, when to listen and how to keep from getting angry

When the world is against us – God is for us

He satisfies our longing soul and fills our hungry soul with His goodness

We have been redeemed from the curse 

Heavenly Father,

Thank You for being there when all else fails. Thank You for redeeming my life from the curse of the law and the sting of all my accusers. Thank You for Your love that never fails. Lord, I want to be like my Master Jesus and be a loving friend to all whom You will bring my way. Show me how to be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to anger. Help me to remember that I cannot throw a stone at others or judge them because I really know so little about what they are going through. Thank You for loving me at my worst. I love You Lord! In Jesus name! Amen.

To whom will you lend your shoulder to lean on today? 

And God Said… You fill in the blanks.

                                           

            

Isaiah 43:1-7

But now, thus says the Lord, who created you, O Jacob, and He who formed you, O Israel:
“Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name;
You are Mine.
When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;
And through the rivers, they shall not overflow you.
When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned,
Nor shall the flame scorch you.
For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior;
I gave Egypt for your ransom, Ethiopia and Seba in your place.
Since you were precious in My sight,
You have been honored, and I have loved you;
Therefore I will give men for you,
And people for your life.
Fear not, for I am with you;
I will bring your descendants from the east, and gather you from the west;
I will say to the north, ‘Give them up!’ And to the south, ‘Do not keep them back!’
Bring My sons from afar, and My daughters from the ends of the earth—
Everyone who is called by My name,
Whom I have created for My glory;
I have formed him, yes, I have made him.”