Month: August 2021

Job 5:17, 18 Behold, happy is the man whom God correcteth; therefore despise not thou the chastening of the Almighty. For he maketh sore and bindeth up: he woundeth, and his hands make whole.

Eliphaz continues speaking, attempting to discover a reason for the suffering of Job. One of his pronouncements contains a promise of God, also quoted in the NT. This is not a promise we like to hear, but in the end it is good for us: “He disciplines us for our good [Hebrews 12:10].” And in verse 12: “for the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.”

We may never see the good and righteous result of our Lord’s correction, but God sees. But we believe it, even if we don’t see it, because God’s Word says so. The promise is: the Lord will correct and chasten and it will be good for us. God loves us so much that He cannot not discipline us. God knows what He is doing and He gets the result He is looking for.

Therefore, because of this promise, we do not complain about anything; instead, we thank God for everything. Then we learn faster whatever it is the Spirit is teaching. And don’t think you don’t need discipline, for then it is just that very pride that must be knocked out of you. Humility is a beautiful thing and a pleasant fruit.

We get two promised results out of the experiences that are in God’s hands: Happiness (“Happy is the man…”) and Wholeness (“His hands make whole”). Pray for God’s Name to be holy, His Kingdom to come, and His Will to be done in your soul, in your family, and where you live. Then watch what happens. God is going to do something good, even if you don’t like it at first.

Job 5:9-11 (God) doeth great things and unsearchable; marvelous things without number: Who giveth rain upon the earth, and sendeth waters upon the fields: To set up on high those that be low; that those which mourn may be exalted to safety.

Eliphaz, Job’s friend, is speaking in response to Job’s despondency and despair, basically saying that he should seek God for He does great things. Although the friends “have not spoken of Me the thing which is right,” God says, sometimes they do speak God’s revealed truth. The promise spoken here is a common theme in Scripture: the Lord will exalt the humble and bring down the proud. He sets the lowly on high and exalts mourners. This is the Great Reversal. It is what happened to Jesus and it is what Jesus does for us in death and resurrection.

Jesus promises reversal for the poor, the hungry, those who mourn, etc., and He excoriates the Pharisees and brings down their proud and self-righteous attitude. The lesson for us is simple: the appearance of things in this earthly life is not what’s really going on, and the condition of things now will not remain that way for long and certainly not forever. Take the long view, see the big picture, and believe the promises of God.

If you feel down now, fret not, it won’t stay that way. If you like a nothing now, hang on, God will make something out of you. If you sense sin and guilt now, don’t worry, forgiveness and life is coming. On the other side, if you feel smug and self-satisfied now, snap out of it, the Lord will bring you down to repentance in due time.

Job 2:10 But he said unto her, Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speakest. What? Shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? In all this did not Job sin with his lips.

After the second time “bad things” happened to Job, he held to his faith in God and did not sin. Satan had made a bet with God, that Job would curse God if he was afflicted with pain and sickness in his body. The temptation was even stronger the second time, for his own wife urged Job to “curse God and die.” He even suggested that she was like an unbelieving heathen (“foolish” means unbelieving).

God is still God, and God is still good, no matter what circumstances we are experiencing. This is strong faith in the promises of God. The Book of Job wrestles with the age-old question: “Why do bad things happen to good people?” This is a false and misleading question for two reasons: the words bad and good. 1) Bad things are not evil unless they lead us to blame God and lose faith and eternal life, and, 2) Good people don’t exist (“call no man good…except God”) until Jesus makes us righteous. God promises to lead us out of the temptation to misbelief and despair and to deliver us from the evil of the bad thing.

I have to learn the lesson that Job learned: God is always good and I am always bad; He is holy and I am the sinner. Therefore, I repent and believe the gospel. Then I can confess with Job: I gladly receive good from the hand of God and at the same time I will be receiving evil, though not from the hand of God. God is always and only good, and He even knows how to turn evil into ultimate and eternal good. “All things work together for good.”

Job 1:21 And said, Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither: the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.

Job was an amazing man of God, exhibiting great fear, which means faith, in the Lord. After losing all his earthly wealth for no reason, “without cause,” he did not sin or curse God. Job was able to fear, love and trust God above things no matter what, because he knew the Lord to be good, right, wise, kind and loving all the time. He believed the promise: the Lord gives and takes away. Whatever He does with me is just fine, and I bless Him and thank Him for it, whatever it is.

This book is written for our example that we also might learn to trust God to be good and to bless Him anyway, no matter what happens, whether he gives or takes away. We often thank the Lord for “giving,” but don’t usually bless Him for “taking away.” God knows what you need for a full, rich, and happy life in the Kingdom; and He knows what you don’t need, things which might actually prove detrimental to your internal and eternal life in His Kingdom. So He takes it away. Think of it this way: God give the good and takes away the bad. Knowing that takes deep faith and real trust.

Job didn’t know that God and Satan had a little side bet going on. He didn’t know that this “evil” was from the devil. Job attributed it to the Lord (“He taketh away”). This kind of faith is hard to find. We sinners are good at blaming and finding fault: blaming God, the devil, other people, fate, or whatever. Instead, the believing sinner looks at his own sinful flesh, repents, turns to the cross, and believes the gospel. By God’s grace, we are able to believe the promise: If God gives, that’s good and I thank Him; If God takes away, that’s good, too, and I bless Him.

God wounds and He heals. He curses and He blesses. He kills and He makes alive. Thanks be to God.

Esther 9:22 As the days wherein the Jews rested from their enemies, and the month which was turned unto them from sorrow to joy, and from mourning into a good day: that they should make them days of feasting and joy, and of sending portions one to another, and gifts to the poor.

This sounds like a Holiday, like Christmas, but it is the institution of the Feast of Purim for the Jews. The historical story of Esther is like an allegory, revealing from earthly life what really is going on in the spiritual world. Haman (symbolizing Sin and Satan) builds a gallows (symbolizing the Cross) to hang Mordecai the Jew (symbolizing Christ), but in a turnabout Haman (our Sin) is hung (crucified) instead. The Jews of the kingdom of Persia (us people) are saved from persecution and death (eternal death in hell) on a chosen day.

Therefore, “The Day,” Purim, became a Feast Day, because the day that was meant to be the death of God’s people turned into life and salvation. This is the promise of Good Friday. And it is the celebration of great joy on every Church Festival, and of every Sunday, and indeed every day that we spend time with the Lord hearing the Gospel of life. Every day we have rest from our spiritual enemies, sorrow is turned to joy, and mourning becomes a good day.

The promise of God for us becomes real when we remember, rehearse, and celebrate the gospel story. We receive this promise when we repent, when we are reminded, or remind ourselves, of God’s Grace in Christ. The Lord promises us rest from enemies, joy in place of sorrow, and a good day instead of mourning. We live! We do not die! Have a good day!

Nehemiah 12:43 Also that day they offered great sacrifices, and rejoiced: for God had made them rejoice with great joy: the wives also and the children rejoiced: so that the joy of Jerusalem was heard even afar off.

God promises joy. He is the one who makes us rejoice with great joy. The Lord gives Himself and His life, and the result of this grace is rejoicing with joy. Joy is one aspect of the fruit of the Spirit. It doesn’t come from the flesh, my own soul and body, and I can’t make it up. I can fake it, but I can’t make it. The joys of this world are superficial and fleeting. Worldly thrills are momentary and fade quickly. The joy of the Lord comes from the Lord; it is deep, abiding, long-lasting, and it never fades. Our emotions may not always feel the joy on the surface, but it is still present within.

We may recapture the joy of the Lord when get into the Word and hear it with faith. Joy comes from knowing and believing, even rehearsing, what great things God has done for us in Christ. We rehearse the Good News every Sunday and Festival Day. For example, where does the real joy of Christmas and Easter come from? From the proclaimed Gospel. We may rehearse the joy and rejoice any time by thanking and praising God, for He is always good.

The outcome of God’s gracious goodness toward us is that we sacrifice our own time and resources for the good of others in service to people. God doesn’t need our sacrifices, but others do. The Lord makes us so happy that we gladly give up something to make others happy.

Nehemiah 9:29 And testifiedst against them, that thou mightest bring them unto thy law; yet they dealt proudly, and hearkened not unto thy commandments, but sinned thy judgments, (which if a man do, he shall live in them;) and withdrew the shoulder, and hardened their neck, and would not hear.

After the Jews returned to Jerusalem and rebuilt the wall, the Levites are recounting in proclaimed prayer the history of God’s grace and of the people’s rebellion. In this context they retell the period of the Judges as an example of the pattern: they disobeyed the Law and bad things happened, then they repented and good things happened when the Lord delivered them from their enemies.

This is the cause and effect of the conditional promises. The Lord judged them through their enemies to bring them back to the Torah, but when they were proud, disobedient and sinful the Lord separated from them and withdrew, turning a cold shoulder. Many times this cycle recurred: sin – judgment – repentance – deliverance.

Embedded within this rehearsal of salvation history is this parenthesis; “If a person keeps the Law he will live.” This is a fundamental Biblical conditional promise, and it scares the bejesus out of us. We should be terrified because we know we have not kept the Law; therefore we are not alive but dead in sin. The horror of judgment disappears when we hear the words of Romans 1:17, “The just shall live by faith.” The words by faith changes everything. Faith in Christ is eternal life. The Gospel proclaims: the “if” condition of righteous law-keeping has been satisfied by Jesus, and by faith in Him you have too. By faith you kept the Law; by faith you are alive in Christ; by faith YOU LIVE! The Law promises life if you keep it, but it brings death if you don’t. The Gospel gives life when you believe it, but leaves you in death if you don’t.

Nehemiah 9:16-17 But they and their fathers dealt proudly, and hardened their necks, and heartened not to Thy commandments, And refused to obey, neither were mindful of Thy wonders that thou didst among them; but hardened their necks, and in their rebellion appointed a captain to return to their bondage: but thou art a God ready to pardon, gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and forsookest them not.

In the celebration of the building of the wall and the Feast of Tabernacles the Levites proclaimed a prayer of praise to God. They recounted all God’s works and wonders. Then they confessed all the sin and rebellion and unbelief of God’s saved people. They disobeyed and hardened their necks. But in spite of all that God is still God and God is still good.

The common refrain describing the nature of the Lord is then proclaimed. It is because of who God is that He forgives, and does not forsake them; it is not because of who we are. We do not deserve forgiveness and we should be forsaken by God. For us, too, God is ready to pardon, He is gracious and merciful, He slow to anger, and He is super kind. This is the promise. God is ready to pardon, and so He sent His Son to justly forgive all sins. That’s a promise. God promises to act with grace and mercy toward us because of Christ. God promises to be patient and kind, showing more patience and kindness than we will ever experience from humans.

If these promises were contrary to the Lord’s nature and character we may have a reason to doubt the promise. But God is love, and this is how He proved it: He sent His Son. Now we know for sure; we can believe it; and now we have life. Who is God? God is love. How do I know? Jesus died for us. We joyfully thank the Lord for His sure word.

Nehemiah 8:10 Then he said unto them, Go your way, eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared: for this day is holy unto our Lord: neither be ye sorry; for the joy of the Lord is your strength.

When Nehemiah had finished building the wall, he held a huge celebration for the Jews of Jerusalem. The highlight of the celebration and the main point of it all was the public reading of the Torah of Moses. The Word of God brought forth tears of sorrow (repentance by the Law) and tears of joy (faith in the Gospel), because they heard the Word with understanding. The Lord convicted the hearers of sin and guilt and of forgiveness and mercy. V. 8: “So they read in the book in the law of God distinctly, and gave the sense, and caused them to understand the reading.”

This sounds like what we get to experience every Sunday, or “Holy Day.” Nehemiah miah and Ezra said, “This day is holy unto the Lord your God.” What makes it holy? The Word read with understanding makes it a holy day. Thus Luther changed the Commandment, “Remember the Sabbath Day,” to a NT meaning, “Sanctify the holy day.” What makes Sunday a holy day? The Word is read with understanding. The Bible is read aloud and the sermon gives the meaning; the Gospel is given in Word and Sacrament.

This is what makes Sunday a special day: we hear the gospel. Then what happens? We go our way, eat, drink, and give gifts of good works. We go out of the church service smiling and rejoicing. For we have this promise: the joy of the Lord is your strength. And we are good to go for another week, reinforced with daily devotions. We have God’s Joy and God’s Strength.

Nehemiah 4:20 In what place therefore ye hear the sound of the trumpet, resort ye thither unto us: our God shall fight for us.

When the Jews were rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem the workers were scattered to different places around the city. Nehemiah told them that if the enemy should attack in one place the workers there should sound the trumpet and the other workers should come running to help fight. Then he gives this promise from the Lord to encourage them in their effort: “our God shall fight for us.” He is saying, “You can do this. Be courageous and fight, for it is not you, but God who is doing the fighting.” The Lord had serious enemies who were dead set on leaving Jerusalem vulnerable and unprotected.

Nehemiah had to be certain that he was in God’s will and doing God’s work, since it was a formidable task and he couldn’t do it without His help and blessing. He knew he could count on the Lord’s promise to fight for him. Because he had such a faith he knew he could encourage the workers.

Our Lord will fight for us in our spiritual battles when we are going about our Father’s business doing His good works. Our Lord did not say all life would now be easy when we “suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,” or when we “take up arms against a sea of troubles.” But He did say He would fight for us, that we would come to the aid and support of fellow Christians in their spiritual struggles, and that others would support us. In our Christian fellowships we live safely and well under a spiritual prayer covering.

Jesus came from the heavenly realm to fight for us, and win. He will come again and win the last great battle. And He comes daily to deliver us from evil when we sound the trumpet (say our prayers and pray the Lord’s Prayer). We believe the promise, and so we pray. Psalm 50:15: “Call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee.”