Job 39 - In Him We Live and Move and Have Our Being

Daily Bible Study for Thursday June 23, 2016

By: Hanny Lynn Stearns

Fish – N – Loaves Ministries

Multiplying God’s Word around the Globe!

Chapter Reading for Today: Please read in your Bible before proceeding. Note that most translations are considered paraphrases. The Young’s Literal Translation provides a more accurate translation since he is the one who authored a concordance. Others are helpful for seeing a different perspective, but we cannot always depend on their wording. I hope this is helpful to you. If you are studying in another version, that is fine. I am studying from the KJV, but for the purpose of this study, I will keep it with the New King James Version. One final note: I will put the scripture in italics to differentiate from my own writing. I am adding red to the letters when it is Jesus talking – just like the Bible. Thank you.

Bible Gateway Verse of the Day

Isaiah 40:31

But those who wait on the Lord
Shall renew their strength;
They shall mount up with wings like eagles,
They shall run and not be weary,
They shall walk and not faint

Psalm 100:4

Enter into His gates with thanksgiving,

and into His courts with praise.

Be thankful to Him, and bless His name.

Song:  God of Wonders

In Him We Live & Move & Have Our Being

Yesterday we saw the beginning of a litany of questions coming from the mouth of the Creator Himself. There were 39 questions in chapter 38 and today there are 22 more! Praise God! He has questions for Job alright, and for us – but who can discern His ways? Let’s pray…

Heavenly Father,

Thank You once again Sir for the wonder of You and Your word to Your children. When we listen to the questions You ask Lord it humbles our human hearts greatly. How could we ever discern Your ways? Yet in all this You are speaking directly to us. Father I ask You to use my mind, heart and hands to birth a fresh word in us today. May Your purpose in this chapter today be fulfilled. Send it out to whomever would be hungry enough to take it in and feast upon its richness. Father, cause it to go forth unhindered and unchecked by any outside force or my flesh in Jesus name. Lord, we will purpose in our hearts to be doers of Your word and not hearers only in Jesus name. Amen!

In our chapter yesterday the Lord asked about the ways of the earth, the sea, the weather, the universe, solar system and planets, the ways of heaven, wisdom and understanding, and finally He talked about the ways of the animals. Today that discussion is a continuation and God is asking Job (and us) about the ways of the animals including the wild goats, wild donkeys, the unicorn, peacocks, horses, the hawk and finally the eagle. He was asking Job if he knew how they were made. Did he know how they were designed just so and made to do very specific things and have keenness of eye and even ignorance about their young? The Lord asked if Job knew how they made their homes in the wilderness and brought forth their young, and basically everything from A to Z about how they live and move and have their being.

Saints, I believe that He wants to show us today. When He created us, He made everything about us to be very specific in our functions and capability. Yes, in Him we truly live and move and have our being…

 Acts 17:22-34

Then Paul stood in the midst of the Areopagus and said, “Men of Athens, I perceive that in all things you are very religious; ²³ for as I was passing through and considering the objects of your worship, I even found an altar with this inscription:

TO THE UNKNOWN GOD.

Therefore, the One whom you worship without knowing, Him I proclaim to you: ²⁴ “God, who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands. ²⁵ Nor is He worshiped with men’s hands, as though He needed anything, since He gives to all life, breath, and all things.²⁶ And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings, ²⁷ so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; ²⁸ for in Him we live and move and have our being, as also some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are also His offspring.’²⁹ Therefore, since we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, something shaped by art and man’s devising. ³⁰ Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent, ³¹ because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead.”

³² And when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked, while others said, “We will hear you again on this matter.” ³³ So Paul departed from among them. ³⁴ However, some men joined him and believed, among them Dionysius the Areopagite, a woman named Damaris, and others with them.

Paul came to Athens waiting for his partners to join him. While he was there he was provoked in his spirit that the people there were worshipping idols – unknown and unreal gods. He was taken before the leader and given a chance to speak to the people. Here he would be given a divine opportunity to explain some truths about God and creation to these unbelievers. The philosophers were there and wondered what this “babbler had to say” and they would soon find out.

You see, it was a complete mystery to them when they heard the name Jesus. All the things they worshipped had nothing to do with the one true God. They had no clue about how God had made them, nor did they understand anything about Him and what He is all about. So Paul was used by God to set the people straight. They needed to know that God does not dwell in temples made with hands. Can you see the correlation with today’s illustration of the animals and how they do not dwell in things built by a man’s hands either? It was God who designed how they would live and where and how they would eat and survive.

The same was true of God Himself – the One who gave those men their life to begin with, their every breath and their assignment for life. God would determine when and where they would live while on the earth, yet these Athenians knew nothing of Him. But God is fair and just and wants to reveal Himself to people. His heart always desires that we know Him and come close to Him. No person will ever leave this life and be able to say to God, “I didn’t know Lord!” That will not be possible for any human being. The Lord will give every man a chance to know something about Him and then it’s up to the man to desire to know more about our awesome Creator.

Yes, God delegated our times and places to live while here. Just like the animals in today’s chapter, He gave you and me and all mankind an appointed time and place to exist. It was no mistake that you were born when you were. Such knowledge is too great for many to comprehend but it is true. God not only made us but He predestined us to be here at a certain time and to do certain work…

Those who would choose to seek Him and become a part of His family would have this promise and assurance they could stand on…

Ephesians 2:10

For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

God is not far from any man on the planet. He has made Himself known in a multitude of ways, but how many have chosen to seek Him? He is the one who gives every living creature, both man and beast their breath and their food every day, yet some find it easy to worship anything made by man’s hands much easier because that type of ‘god’ carries no accountability since it is not a living being. The Athenians were happy to entertain Paul’s words for a few moments. But when it got down to the nitty gritty, they turned cold as ice. The Bible says we are His offspring. He made in His likeness…

Genesis 1:1 – 2:7

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. ² The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.

³ Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. ⁴ And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness. ⁵ God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. So the evening and the morning were the first day.

⁶ Then God said, “Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.” 

⁷ Thus God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament; and it was so. ⁸ And God called the firmament Heaven. So the evening and the morning were the second day.

⁹ Then God said, “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear”; and it was so. ¹⁰ And God called the dry land Earth, and the gathering together of the waters He called Seas. And God saw that it was good.

¹¹ Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb that yields seed, and the fruit tree that yields fruit according to its kind, whose seed is in itself, on the earth”; and it was so. ¹² And the earth brought forth grass, the herb that yields seed according to its kind, and the tree that yields fruit, whose seed is in itself according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. ¹³ So the evening and the morning were the third day.

¹⁴ Then God said, “Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and years; ¹⁵ and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth”; and it was so. ¹⁶ Then God made two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night. He made the stars also. ¹⁷ God set them in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth, ¹⁸ and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. ¹⁹ So the evening and the morning were the fourth day.

²⁰ Then God said, “Let the waters abound with an abundance of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the face of the firmament of the heavens.” ²¹ So God created great sea creatures and every living thing that moves, with which the waters abounded, according to their kind, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. ²² And God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.” ²³ So the evening and the morning were the fifth day.

²⁴ Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth the living creature according to its kind: cattle and creeping thing and beast of the earth, each according to its kind”; and it was so. ²⁵ And God made the beast of the earth according to its kind, cattle according to its kind, and everything that creeps on the earth according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.

²⁶ Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” ²⁷ So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. ²⁸ Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

²⁹ And God said, “See, I have given you every herb that yields seed which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit yields seed; to you it shall be for food. 

³⁰ Also, to every beast of the earth, to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, in which there is life, I have given every green herb for food”; and it was so. ³¹ Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good. So the evening and the morning were the sixth day.

2 Thus the heavens and the earth, and all the host of them, were finished. ² And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. ³ Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.

⁴ This is the history of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens, ⁵ before any plant of the field was in the earth and before any herb of the field had grown. For the Lord God had not caused it to rain on the earth, and there was no man to till the ground; ⁶ but a mist went up from the earth and watered the whole face of the ground.

⁷ And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.

The Athenians, like many people today, worship things made of gold, silver and stone – items of art and fashioned by men’s hands. But God formed our world and our very bodies with the palm of His hand and the breath of His mouth is what caused us and all living creatures to come to life. Without acknowledging God, we do not see how we or any animal, fish or bird can possibly exist. For some this may look like Christianity ‘101’ but according to our chapter today and the leading of Holy Spirit we need to be reminded and appreciate all that God has done for us. Let’s go further…

Genesis 2:8-25

The Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there He put the man whom He had formed. ⁹ And out of the ground the Lord God made every tree grow that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

¹⁰ Now a river went out of Eden to water the garden, and from there it parted and became four riverheads. ¹¹ The name of the first is Pishon; it is the one which skirts the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold. ¹² And the gold of that land is good. Bdellium and the onyx stone are there. ¹³ The name of the second river is Gihon; it is the one which goes around the whole land of Cush. ¹⁴ The name of the third river is Hiddekel; it is the one which goes toward the east of Assyria. The fourth river is the Euphrates.

¹⁵ Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it. ¹⁶ And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; ¹⁷ but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”

¹⁸ And the Lord God said, “It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him.”

¹⁹ Out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the air, and brought them to Adam to see what he would call them. And whatever Adam called each living creature, that was its name. ²⁰ So Adam gave names to all cattle, to the birds of the air, and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper comparable to him.

²¹ And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept; and He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place. ²² Then the rib which the Lord God had taken from man He made into a woman, and He brought her to the man.

²³ And Adam said:

“This is now bone of my bones
And flesh of my flesh;
She shall be called Woman,
Because she was taken out of Man.”

²⁴ Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.

²⁵ And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.

Talk about good use of a ‘spare rib’ wow – glory to God! Laugh out loud saints – God does have a wonderful sense of humor! I am thinking about making some spare ribs for the 4^th of July and this just hit me so funny when I read this. How many know that God wants us to laugh and have fun and include Him in on it – He is full of joy all the time, just like we should be.

Maybe some have taken for granted all that God has created for us - from the sun and moon to the animals and the food He made. When God cooks up a dish it is perfectly healthy – custom made for the human body parts so that everything is perfectly nourished to perform at maximum capacity! Hallelujah! Thank You Lord for fruits and vegetables and nuts and seeds. No fast food or processed junk for these bodies – can I get an amen?! So God not only is the only One who can properly handle a spare rib, but He is the only one who knows how to make a horse what he is and provide the right food for him along with all the other creatures He formed. He is an awesome and mighty God.

And He gave us wealth. Look at the gold – good gold He placed in the garden. Then there was the precious stones, lots of that. Plenty of food, water, riches, a helper and the best part, fellowship with the Lord Himself everyday…

Genesis 3:8a

 And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day,

We can determine from the scriptures that God came to visit with Adam and Eve every day at an appointed time. So after He finished all that He had made, He even established a time of day when He would fellowship with His people. Isn’t that wonderful? Are you making sure to keep your appointment with Your Creator every single day? After all without Him you wouldn’t even be breathing! Yikes! LOL! He gave man his work to do – good work. Before the fall we can imagine the garden with no thorns and thistles by which they would prick their finger. The temperature of the air was just right – not too hot, not too cold. Everything was perfect. All of that until man decided to try things his own way and now we live in a fallen world. But God never designed it to be that way from the very beginning.

The Lord created all of this; the heavens and the earth, mankind and all the creatures to have a wonderful relationship with a perfectly designed and fully inhabited world. God was the “UNKNOWN GOD” to the Athenians, but in His great love and mercy for these clueless people, He would send a messenger to let them know about ‘creation basics class 101’ – hallelujah! He gave us everything we would need for life and godliness through Jesus Christ – the Athenians would have to find that out. Did they ever wonder how come they could breathe or think? Hmmm… But that’s why Paul was there that day – it was no mistake. What had been unknown by them and all their so called ‘brilliant philosophers’ would be made known by the power of Holy Spirit speaking through a man of God who was faithful to take the message of our Savior that had opened his spiritual eyes to a lost city in Greece.

How about you? How many people live in your city that do not know the first thing about God or even if He really exists? When did your eyes get opened to the Lord Jesus Christ? Since you and I were saved, it has been our responsibility to tell the whole town – the place where each of us lives, about the one true God and His plan of salvation. Saints, we can do this in our everyday lives. God knows we have to go to work and we have families and duties. He does not expect us to sit around reading our Bibles all day. If we did that nothing else would get done – don’t we mere humans think that God knows that? Look at what happened when a woman of Samaria met up with the Savior one day at Jacob’s well…

John 4:29-30

 “Come, see a Man who told me all things that I ever did. Could this be the Christ?” Then they went out of the city and came to Him.

If you start reading at verse 1 you get the whole story of course, but this is the verse that specifically makes the point. There are a lot of people out there in the world who are floundering around (flounder, hmmm, sounds good! God made it, so it must be tasty!) LOL! They don’t know who gives them their place to live, their food or even the breath they take. They think there is some ‘universe’ out there or some kind of ‘higher power’ maybe, but they just aren’t quite sure. So how many of us who know who causes us to live, move and have our being, yet open not our mouths like the Samaritan woman to tell people what God has done for us so they too can have the same promise of hope for themselves?

Unbeknown to me, the book of Job would open my eyes and my heart in ways I had not imagined. I learned a lot more about what it means to depend on Holy Spirit to bring forth the word that God has for us each day. I had no idea that God would use a large part of my testimony as we looked at these chapters. Sometimes it made me cry as I looked back at those painful memories. But He has given me the grace – and why? So that I can be like that sweet yet slightly confused woman by the well that day. I could meet my Savior and see Him for who He truly is and then in my joy and excitement for His amazing grace, I could run around town and even the known world and tell anyone who will give me an ear about the wonderful good news of Jesus – the Lord of all creation.

For years I went to church and sang praise to an “unknown by me God”. His name was mentioned and they talked about Him, but it wasn’t made very clear, so to me He remained unknown for many, many years. Until that amazing day in October of 2005 when I dropped to me knees and surrendered to the God and Savior I did not yet know. In my darkest hours of desperation I cried out - if He would hear me. Well the great news is saints that when I humbled my heart before Him He showed up on the scene in a powerful way! Ever so quietly but oh so powerfully, He began to make Himself known to me because I wanted to know more about Him. He has always promised to reveal Himself to those who seek Him…

Jeremiah 29:13

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

What about you friends? How many people really think of Him as an unknown God in your world? How many people can you share this Bible study with so they can get to know the one true God – the One who causes us to live and move and have our being? 

Questions:

How many questions did God ask in today’s chapter?

How do those questions pertain to yesterday’s chapter as it moves through today’s chapter?

What did the Athenians think of Paul’s preaching and why?

List some of the things from the Genesis verses that God made and ponder them in your heart for a few moments?

What did the Samaritan woman do when Jesus revealed Himself to her at the well?

What can you start to do right now to make God known in your sphere of influence? Who can you share this Bible study with? Online, in the neighborhood or at work?

Romans 11:33-36

Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out!

“For who has known the mind of the Lord?
Or who has become His counselor?”
“Or who has first given to Him
and it shall be repaid to him?”

For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen.

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

The Lord gave every creature and every person their assignment for their appointed time on the earth

It’s only by God’s hand that we can breathe or live or even move

God will make Himself known to anyone who seeks Him with their whole heart

Let’s pray…

Heavenly Father,

Thank You giving us an abundant life to live with You! Thank You for all the wonderful things that You created for our benefit to give our lives meaning, fullness, richness and good purpose. Thank You for revealing Yourself to me Lord. Your amazing grace will always be the song of my heart. Father, I ask You to bring people to me who are ready to hear about who You are and all You can do for them. Thank You in advance Lord in Jesus name. Amen!

Has the Lord put someone on your heart to tell your story to?

And God Said… You fill in the blanks.

 Acts 17:28a

for in Him we live and move and have our being,