A
New Voice
Today is a new day
friends! There is a new voice on the scene and we are excited to enter in and
see what God will show us in this. Job had said his piece (lengthy as it was)
and his three friends had run their mouths (without wisdom) until they just
plain ran out of things to say. Oh, but there is another (young) man on the
scene – now being brought to the forefront to speak. He has been watching and
listening to these elders. He was looking for the wisdom of God to come forth
from them but had found little. Let’s pray…
Dear Heavenly
Father;
Thank You for Your
word that never fails. Lord, we place Your word first and secondly we turn to
the help of Your Holy Spirit to bring us the revelation that we need in Your
word today. Sir, there is a new voice on the scene today and that voice looks
like it will be filled with Your wisdom. Father, I ask You to speak to all of
us through Your word and Your Spirit today. Help us to see what You want to
teach us for such a time as this. Though this is an ancient book, its depths
and meanings shall never fail. May Your revelation go forth through my mind and
my hands, unhindered and unchecked by any outside force or my flesh. Father, I
give You all the glory and thanks for all that You have for us today in Jesus
name. Amen. Hallelujah!
As Elihu said in
verse 8, it is the Spirit of God in a man that brings understanding. And even
though in the Old Testament people were not yet born again and filled with the
Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit came upon people in times past. Elihu had listened
to all these discussions and because he was a young man, he had maintained his
silence. That shows wisdom right there, doesn’t it saints? The younger man had
respected his elders and kept his mouth clamped. We could do an entire study on
that one sentence alone – amen?!
Elihu witnessed the
terrible attack that Job was experiencing. He sat and absorbed what they were
all saying without making a sound. He hoped that the truth would come out –
after all, there had been a litany of discussions flying like long range
missiles. Surely if these were men of God they would get to the point and God’s
revelation would come through them. But it hadn’t. The fact of the matter is
they hadn’t even come close. Job started his trial praising God. Next, he moved
from that into despair, depression and ceaseless complaining about his
circumstances. From there he went on to justify himself before God and even
accused God of doing evil. Oh that is dangerous ground folks.
Job still sits in
his pot of misery as of today in our lesson because he himself has delayed his
healing and restoration with his words and attitude. It was time for a new voice
on the scene. God would use a younger man with the Holy Spirit speaking through
him to bring a new perspective. It was desperately needed, don’t you agree? And
God knows when to release us from bondage. Though we do not understand His
timetable for such matters, we know He is 100% just and fair in all He does and
when He does it. Let’s look at a chapter in the book of Nahum that relates well
to this. Please read it through first in the NKJV or whatever version you
normally use. Then we will work off the Easy to Read Version to make it as
simple as possible for today’s lesson…
Nahum 1
The Lord is a jealous God. The Lord punishes the guilty, and he is very angry. The Lord punishes his enemies, and he
stays angry with them.
As
we read through Nahum chapter one, let’s be thinking about Job, his trial and
his friends. Let’s also be aware of the devil and what he was up to here. The
Lord is jealous. He does not want to share our best affections with anyone or
anything. Not wife, kids, money, status or friends. None of these things can
come before our relationship and adoration of our God. When those things start
to happen, we are in sin. Remember we just looked at the Ten Commandments in
yesterday’s study. Idolatry is high treason against the Lord and He will not
tolerate it. And He is so good – He shouldn’t have to. We owe Him the first and
best part of our hearts, don’t we saints? After all He has done for us, it is a
small thing to give Him our heart – yet is a really big and most important
thing to do.
3 The Lord is patient, but he is also very powerful! The Lord will punish the guilty; he
will not let them go free.
He will use whirlwinds and storms to show his power. People walk on the dusty ground, but he walks on the clouds.
He will use whirlwinds and storms to show his power. People walk on the dusty ground, but he walks on the clouds.
God
punishes the guilty – that includes His children. He doesn’t let His kids off
the hook because they are His kids. Here is what the Bible says about the
chastisement of the Lord…
Proverbs
3:11-12
My son,
do not despise the chastening of the Lord, nor detest His correction; for whom the Lord loves
He corrects, just as a father the son in whom he
delights.
We know that when God gives us a spanking, we
desperately need it. God loves us and love corrects. People who do not correct
their children are actually not loving them at all. It is allowing harm to come
their way because they will not have parental discipline built into them that
they need to be good and wise people when they grow up. In Job, we see him
getting quite the spanking. I have shared my trial with you and I know what a
really hard spanking looks like and it was not fun, I assure you. Maybe you
also can relate.
4 He will speak harshly to the sea,
and it will become dry. He will dry up all the rivers. The rich lands of Bashan
and Carmel become dry and dead. The flowers in Lebanon fade away.
5 The Lord will come, and the
mountains will shake and the hills will melt away. He will come, and the earth
will shake with fear. The earth and everyone on it will shake with fear.
6 No one can stand against his great
anger. No one can endure his terrible anger. His anger will burn like fire.
The rocks will shatter when he comes.
The rocks will shatter when he comes.
Verses
4-6 show us that God is very powerful and strong. All of creation trembles at
His presence. There isn’t a mountain standing on the face of the planet today
that can stand in His presence. God made it and He can shake everything to its
core. We must not be fooled to think that when He is maintaining silence (for a
season) that He is not watching nor has a plan to deal with the matter. It is
like Elihu in these verses in Job today. He had been there all along – albeit
quietly observing and taking it all in. So it was with God.
7 The Lord is good. He is a safe place to go to in times of
trouble. He takes care of those who trust him.
Even
though Job had blown it big time – (can anyone relate?) Job knew in the bottom
of his heart that he could go to God and trust him. It doesn’t matter what we
are going through. If we are born again Christians, there is something in our
regenerated spirit that knows God is our refuge and the only place to go for
safety. Men and women of God should know beyond a doubt that the Lord takes
care of those who trust Him. We see it over and over in the Bible. Those were
real people and real circumstances. And many of us can give real life
testimonies of the many times He has been there for us and brought us through
what seemed like the worst of times – amen! Praise His name forever!
8 But he will completely destroy his
enemies. He will wash them away like a flood and chase them into the darkness.
We
know from many scriptures (and perhaps experience) that God will take of His
enemies. We have discussed this already. Though they may seem to get away with
their evil schemes for a period, their end is sure.
9 Why are you making plans against
the Lord? He will bring
complete destruction, so you will not cause trouble again.
10 You will be destroyed completely like thornbushes burning under a pot. You will be destroyed like dry weeds that burn quickly.
10 You will be destroyed completely like thornbushes burning under a pot. You will be destroyed like dry weeds that burn quickly.
11 Someone from Nineveh is making evil
plans against the Lord. That
advisor is a worthless troublemaker.
When
we think about this “someone”, remember who this someone is – satan himself. He
is an evil troublemaker. He lives and moves about looking who he can devour.
That is his entire purpose in the earth today until he gets bound in chains for
a thousand years. And he will never change. Even after that, when he is let out
for a short time, he goes right back to causing every type of evil he can. We
can imagine his attempts will intensify then because he knows his time will be
shorter than ever.
12 This is what the Lord said: “The people of Assyria
are at full strength. They have many soldiers, but they will all be cut down. They
will all be finished. My people, I made you suffer, but I will make you suffer
no more.
In
this verse, when we think of the people of Assyria, remember that Assyria
represents the enemy and his armies. Satan has many wicked helpers in his army.
There are numerous demons who report to him and their purpose is to come
against God’s people as a strong force. But we don’t have to worry. God is
going to cut them down like they were nothing. And let’s remember, to us who
have strong faith – the enemy is nothing.
He is a defeated foe. He has no power in our lives but what we choose to give
him. Too many Christians today are giving the enemy more rule and power in
their lives than they are giving God Himself. That is really SADD-U-CEE!
God
has made His man Job suffer - but his suffering will come to an end. God will
pull the enemy off Job’s back so fast it will make him wonder why he ever
messed with God’s servant in the first place – hallelujah! And the Lord will do
that for you and me. If we turn to Him with all our heart and show Him that we
love Him above all else, the Lord will pull our enemies off of us like a hot
knife slicing through butter – praise His name forever!
13 Now I will set you free from the
power of Assyria. I will take the yoke off your neck and tear away the chains
holding you.”
When
something starts to change in our circumstances, we can tell that a new thing
is about to happen. For Job, help was on the way. God was sending a prophet to
go before Him – the young man named Elihu. This man didn’t have to be
considered great by the public or well advanced in age.
All
he needed was an assignment by God to be used to speak on His behalf. Elihu is
the first step toward a solution for Job. God wants to set Job free from the
bondage that satan has placed on him. The Lord does not delight to see his
servant continue to suffer. God knew that there were things that He needed to
bring up and out of Job’s heart so that He could continue to prosper him
greatly and to use him to be a blessing to many, many other people.
Only
God knows how long it will take each one of us to be healed and cleansed of
junk that is festering beneath the surface in our hearts. You and I may look at
this time frame with Job’s affliction and no matter how short it really was,
most would probably think to themselves, “Why did God let this go on for so
long if He loved Job so much?” But don’t be too quick to make that accusation
against the Most High who knows all things. He knew how many days exactly it
would take before Job would come to the end of himself and realize that try
though he might, he would never be able to fix himself or figure it all out on
his own. But God knew.
It
was the same when I went through that terrible trial. The Lord knew how long it
would take to cure me of trying to figure things out on my own. He knew that I
wouldn’t be finished until I heard that sermon on October 1, 2005. The Lord
knows the end from the beginning. He knows every step we are going to take and
every word we will speak. It is far beyond our human comprehension the things
that God knows.
For
me, not only then but even now, He knew how long it would be and what it would
take before I would finally surrender my will with my eating issues to His
perfect will. He knew what it would take to break me of reverting back to old
habits. He also knew exactly who to put in my path to help me and what He
needed to say to get my attention. And glory to His name – His way works every
time! Praise His name forever.
14 King of Assyria, the Lord gave this command about you: “You
will not have any descendants to wear your name. I will destroy your carved
idols and metal statues that are in the temple of your gods. I am preparing
your grave, because your end is coming soon”
In
this verse, the Lord is showing us that He would take the king of the Assyrians
(aka – the devil) and destroy him and his offspring (demons) and remove what
they falsely worship and send them all to the lake of burning fire that is
being prepared for the devil and his angels…
Matthew
25:41
“Then He will also
say to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from Me, you cursed, into the
everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels:
Hell wasn’t made for us. It was made for the devil.
Unfortunately many will choose to join him there rather than worship the Lord
of glory – Jesus. Some folks, no matter what they go through will not give up
the throne of their hearts to anyone but that which pleases them in this life.
And this is the end for those that choose this way of life.
But that’s not you and me, is it saints? We will be willing and obedient to the
Lord and allow Him to make the necessary changes in our hearts so we can enjoy
Him and His prosperity for all eternity – hallelujah!
15 Judah, look! There, coming over the
mountains, is a messenger bringing good news! He says there is peace. Judah,
celebrate your special festivals and do what you promised. Those worthless
troublemakers will not come through and attack you again. They have all been
destroyed.
The
Lord sends us messengers with good news – messengers of peace. Elihu would be
that voice for Job. A prophet sent to deliver him a strong message. That’s what
a prophet does. He brings a word from the Lord. It may contain a warning and it
may contain a promise of blessing – or an encouragement of some kind. It really
pays to listen to a prophet when God truly sends one our way – amen. Who has
the Lord sent your way to bring you a message to encourage you and draw you
closer to Him? I thank God for the many people the Lord used to send me words
of encouragement and peace in my times of great trial. They were the thread
that the Lord used to keep me hanging on. Praise His name!
It
will be exciting to see what God through Elihu communicates in the coming
chapters to Job. Right now we can see that he was hot with anger (righteous
indignation) about how Job had been carrying on and how his friends had been
accusing this man of sin without having a clue if he were even guilty. We have
an example we can look at in the New Testament that closely resembles such a
case. Read all of the following verses – John 9:1-34. Then let’s focus on this
one verse…
John
9:3
Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor
his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him.
This
man who had been born blind had suffered his whole life being blind. Yet when
Jesus showed up he dispelled any accusations that the man had sinned. So if
that could happen then, why were Job’s friends accusing Job of all sorts of
evil when they had no proof to back up their accusations? It will be an ‘eye
opener’ for all of us as we proceed through the remaining chapters of the book
of Job – pun intended. LOL!
Questions:
What was Elihu
angry with Job for?
And what about his
friends – what did he say about them?
Who or what was giving Elihu the unction to speak?
In our study of Nahum chapter 1, what was the promise that made
this chapter so exciting?
In what way has the enemy been tormenting you?
Will you trust God and follow Him, knowing He alone can remove
that burden?
Psalm 31:14-18
But
as for me, I trust in You, O Lord;
I say, “You are my God.”
My times are in Your hand;
Deliver me from the hand of my enemies,
And from those who persecute me.
Make Your face shine upon Your servant;
Save me for Your mercies’ sake.
Do not let me be ashamed, O Lord, for I have called upon You;
Let the wicked be ashamed;
Let them be silent in the grave.
Let the lying lips be put to silence,
Which speak insolent things proudly and contemptuously against the righteous.
I say, “You are my God.”
My times are in Your hand;
Deliver me from the hand of my enemies,
And from those who persecute me.
Make Your face shine upon Your servant;
Save me for Your mercies’ sake.
Do not let me be ashamed, O Lord, for I have called upon You;
Let the wicked be ashamed;
Let them be silent in the grave.
Let the lying lips be put to silence,
Which speak insolent things proudly and contemptuously against the righteous.
There are three main points to consider
from today’s study…
Be encouraged and pay attention when God sends a ‘new voice’ to you
It is the Spirit of God that brings wisdom and understanding – not age
or human greatness
The Lord will deal with our enemies at the proper time
Let’s pray…
Heavenly
Father,
Thank
You for encouraging me and spurring me on in the midst of struggles and trials.
Lord, You alone know what it takes to see me through the battles I face. May I
face each one fully trusting in You and Your strength to see me through. Help
me never to give place to the devil in my life so I can walk in all the victory
that Jesus gave me when You raised Him from the dead. Bring glory to Yourself
in the circumstances of my heart and life. In Jesus name – amen!
Who
has God sent your way to speak a breath of fresh air?
And God Said… You fill in the blanks.
2
Samuel 22:33
God is my strength and power, and He makes my way perfect
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