Job 23-24: The Majesty of God (LSFAB S13E082)

[TEASER - 0:00]  
We've gotten so used to his grace that we forget about his awesome infinite power.

[INTRO S13E082 - 0:13]  
Coming to you from Riverside, California, this is the Lifespring Family Audio Bible, and podcasting since 2004, I'm your OG Godcaster, Steve Webb. This is the daily podcast where you and I are reading through the entire Bible in a year. Thank you for being with me. The website is lifespringmedia.com. And this is Poetry Thursday. Our reading will be Job chapters 23 and 24, and I'm calling the episode, “The Majesty of God.” 

And it's December 22, so we're down to the last three Christmas questions. Today, we'll do another one of my questions. And of course, our Christmas expert, James Cooper of whychristmas.com, will be answering my question.

Now, before we read, let's pray.

[OPENING PRAYER - 0:55]
Our Father, as we open your Word today and read more about Job, I pray that you would touch our hearts and our minds and, Lord, teach us, I pray in Jesus’ name, amen.

Okay, let's begin. 

[JOB 23 (CEB) - 1:09]
Job, chapter 23.

(1) Job answered:

(2) Today my complaint is again bitter;
my strength is weighed down because of my groaning.
(3) Oh, that I could know how to find him—
come to his dwelling place;
(4) I would lay out my case before him,
fill my mouth with arguments,
(5) know the words with which he would answer,
understand what he would say to me.
(6) Would he contend with me through brute force?
No, he would surely listen to me.
(7) There those who do the right thing can argue with him;
I could escape from my judge forever.

(8) Look, I go east; he’s not there,
west, and don’t discover him;
(9) north in his activity, and I don’t grasp him;
he turns south, and I don’t see.
(10) Surely he knows my way;
when he tests me,
I will emerge as gold.
(11) My feet have stayed right in his tracks.
I have kept his way and not left it,
(12) kept the commandments from his lips and not departed,
valued the words from his mouth more than my food.

(13) He is of one mind; who can reverse it?
What he desires, he does.
(14) He carries out what is decreed for me
and can do many similar things with me.
(15) Therefore, I am scared by his presence;
I think and become afraid of him.
(16) God has weakened my mind;
the Almighty has frightened me.
(17) Still I’m not annihilated by darkness;
he has hidden deep darkness from me.

[JOB 24 (NET) - 2:35]  
Job, chapter 24.

(1) “Why are times not appointed by the Almighty?
Why do those who know him not see his days?
(2) Men move boundary stones;
they seize the flock and pasture them.
(3) They drive away the orphan’s donkey;
they take the widow’s ox as a pledge.
(4) They turn the needy from the pathway,
and the poor of the land hide themselves together.
(5) Like wild donkeys in the desert
they go out to their labor,
seeking diligently for food;
the wasteland provides food for them
and for their children.
(6) They reap fodder in the field,
and glean in the vineyard of the wicked.
(7) They spend the night naked because they lack clothing;
they have no covering against the cold.
(8) They are soaked by mountain rains
and huddle in the rocks because they lack shelter.
(9) The fatherless child is snatched from the breast,
the infant of the poor is taken as a pledge.
(10) They go about naked, without clothing,
and go hungry while they carry the sheaves.
(11) They press out the olive oil between the rows of olive trees;
they tread the winepresses while they are thirsty.
(12) From the city the dying groan,
and the wounded cry out for help,
but God charges no one with wrongdoing.
(13) There are those who rebel against the light;
they do not know its ways
and they do not stay on its paths.
(14) Before daybreak the murderer rises up;
he kills the poor and the needy;
in the night he is like a thief.
(15) And the eye of the adulterer watches for the twilight,
thinking, ‘No eye can see me,’
and covers his face with a mask.
(16) In the dark the robber breaks into houses,
but by day they shut themselves in;
they do not know the light.
(17) For all of them, the morning is to them
like deep darkness;
they are friends with the terrors of darkness.
(18) “You say, ‘He is foam on the face of the waters;
their portion of the land is cursed
so that no one goes to their vineyard.
(19) The drought as well as the heat carry away
the melted snow;
so the grave takes away those who have sinned.
(20) The womb forgets him,
the worm feasts on him,
no longer will he be remembered.
Like a tree, wickedness will be broken down.
(21) He preys on the barren and childless woman,
and does not treat the widow well.
(22) But God drags off the mighty by his power;
when God rises up against him, he has no faith in his life.
(23) God may let them rest in a feeling of security,
but he is constantly watching all their ways.
(24) They are exalted for a little while,
and then they are gone,
they are brought low like all others,
and gathered in,
and like a head of grain they are cut off.’
(25) “If this is not so, who can prove me a liar
and reduce my words to nothing?”

[COMMENTARY - 5:41]  
Well, today we had two short chapters in which our brother Job continues to answer his friends. Or should I say “accusers?”

Let's look for a moment at chapter 23, shall we? Job says that he'd like to make his case in God's presence. He says, “Would He argue with me from His position of power? No, I know that He would listen to me.”

So even though Job feels that God has brought his sorrows on him unjustly, he still trusts that God would listen and give him a fair audience.

And then he says that surely God knows that he's been a good man and that the trials that he's been through are refining him as gold.

But even though he trusts God, he's afraid of him because of who God is. I believe this is a healthy fear. I think sometimes, Beloved, we take God for granted. We've gotten so used to his grace that we forget about his awesome infinite power, it's good to be reminded that God is not to be trifled with.

The commentator Adam Clarke had this to say,

"Nothing can humble a pious mind so much as Scriptural apprehensions of the majesty of God. It is easy to contemplate his goodness, loving-kindness, and mercy; in all these, we have an interest, and from them, we expect the greatest good: but to consider his holiness and justice, the infinite righteousness of his nature, under the conviction that we have sinned, and broken the laws prescribed by his sovereign Majesty, and to feel ourselves brought as into the presence of his judgment-seat, – who can bear the thought? If cherubim and seraphim veil their faces before his throne, and the holiest soul exclaims, 'I loathe myself when I see God, And into nothing fall;' what must a sinner feel, whose conscience is not yet purged from dead works and who feels the wrath of God abiding on him? And how without such a mediator and sacrifice as Jesus Christ is, can any human spirit come into the presence of its Judge? Those who can approach him without terror, know little of his justice and nothing of their sin. When we approach him in prayer, or in any ordinance, should we not feel more reverence than we generally do?"

That's something to think about. I invite your comments. Write to me at steve@lifespringmedia.com.

[LIFESPRING FAMILY HOTLINE - 8:13]
Something to think about. You have a comment? Let me know. Call the Lifespring Family Hotline at +1-951-732-8511. Or go to comment.lifespringmedia.com.

Tomorrow is Prophecy Friday, and we'll read Isaiah 62 through 66. 

[CHRISTMAS QUESTION - 8:31]  
Before I get into today's question for James, I have a question for you. Did your parents take you to see Santa at the local department store when you were little? My mom took me and I took my sons. I don't actually remember my first visit to see Santa but I have the picture. I'm wondering if your picture of the first time seeing the big man with a big white beard and bright red suit looks anything like mine, you can see that I was scared to death because I'm just really crying hard in that picture. And the pictures I have of my sons are just like mine, bawling their heads off. I guess it's a rite of passage or something. So that got me to thinking, when did this tradition of having department store Santas begin? Of course, James Cooper has the answer.

[JAMES COOPER ANSWERS - 9:16]  
Well, you'll have to ask the big man himself about that, as there are a few candidates. Macy's in New York claims to be the first in 1861 or 1862, which was only a few years after the store was founded. And from 1924, the arrival of Santa was the finale of their Thanksgiving Parade. And the Macy's Santa became extra famous after featuring in the 1947 film "Miracle on 34th Street."

James Wood Parkinson from Philadelphia is sometimes said to have got the first store Santa. In the 1840s he employed Santa to entertain people visiting his confectionary shop, but we're not so sure about that.

And an early person that we know about who portrayed Santa - so wasn't Santa, but was one of his helpers - was James Edgar. He portrayed Santa in his dry goods store in Brockton, Massachusetts in 1890. James Edgar was born in Edinburgh, Scotland in 1843, which coincidentally is a very big year for Christmas being the year of the first Christmas card and the publication of "A Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens. Anyway, he'd moved to Brockton from Scotland in 1878. In the years before he started playing Santa had been running July the Fourth picnics for several thousand local children and would dress up as different figures and in different costumes at the picnics. Soon after his appearance as Santa in 1890, children from Boston and even New York were traveling to see him.

But what we do know is by the 1920s, department store Santas had become a fixture in the U.S. and then throughout the world.

[CHRISTMAS QUESTION (CONT’D) - 10:45]  
I forgot to tell you that in that picture of me with Santa with me terrified and crying, I was fifteen years old. Except not really. I was about three. Thanks again, James.

Well, there's still a couple more days to send in your Christmas questions and be included in the drawings we'll have on Christmas Day. I'll be giving away two pairs of tickets to the movie "Jesus Revolution," and a signed copy of my book "Webb's Easy Bible Names Pronunciation Guide." Send your questions to steve@lifespringmedia.com and put "Christmas question" in the subject line.

[OUTRO S13E082 - 11:16]  
I first became acquainted with the music of Bruce Cockburn in 1979 When I worked in the sales department of KQLH-FM in San Bernardino, California. We played a cut or two from his album "Dancing in the Dragon's Jaws," and I've been a fan of his music ever since. So today I've got his version of "Adeste Fidelis" for you.

And until tomorrow, may God bless you richly. My name is Steve Webb. Thanks for making me a part of your day. See you tomorrow. Bye.

[BRUCE COCKBURN PERFORMS “ADESTE FIDELIS” - 11:53]


Transcribed by https://otter.ai