SCRIPTURE: Job 23
OBSERVATION/APPLICATION:
I have not departed from the commands of his lips; I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my daily bread. [Job 23:12]
With all of his heart, he tried to honour and obey the Lord; he paid close attention to God’s teaching, and did his best to live according to it.
He was a serious, diligent student of God’s truth, and made sure he obeyed what he understood of it.
He compares God’s will to our most basic need, our daily food intake.
Job was a sincere man, not a sinless man.
This is his frustration, as he goes through this crisis; yet he is still confident that God is great and God is good, and that at the end of the day God will do the right thing.
Jesus affirms what Moses taught, and what Job discovered: People do not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. [Matthew 4:4, Deuteronomy 8:3]
He also lived it: “My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. [John 4:34]
But as for Jesus, He was both a sincere man and a sinless man, the perfect example of what a life surrendered to God should look like – and therefore the pattern for what we should live like.
Do I share Job’s heart for making God’s truth and will my #1 priority?
Can I say of myself that paying attention to and obeying the Lord’s teaching is like my daily food intake – essential for my daily survival?
Am I a serious, diligent student of God’s truth, do I make sure I obey what I understand of it?
Do I try to honour and obey the Lord with all my heart, to pay close attention to His words and do my best to live them?
Obviously I am not a sinless man, but am I a sincere man?
PRAYER:
Lord, help me not just to write devotionals on what I read in the bible, help me to want to live what I discover, to depend on Your truth and will like my daily bread!
I love witnessing the relationship Job has with God. The relationship Job must have had in all those years previous to this season of trials must have been incredible. These trials are spinning his understanding and experiences from previous for sure, but he doesn’t kiss them goodbye. But what is amazing is that he is able, despite all the very natural and honest frustration he pours out to God, to say “No, he will take me seriously” He understands that he still has that relationship with God – God will not abandon his relationship with Job.
It reminds me of the verse in Romans 8:38,39
“For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, not height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord”
How amazing that Job had this kind of relationship with God and that he even had foresight of the advocate Jesus from chapter 16 where he declares, “Someone in heaven who knows the truth about me, in highest heaven, some attorney who can clear my name, my champion, my friend, while I’m weeping my eyes out before God. I appeal to the One who represents mortals before God as a neighbor stands up for a neighbor.”
Job’s story is such an incredible and truthful witness to living by faith and not by sight … I love this book because even though they could not see the answers before them – their struggle and the ultimate truth of the situation beyond their understanding reveals alot of answers to what I see around me today.
My hope in this life is to put my trust only in the One who ultimately KNOWS. So much of what we experience here on life gets so distorted and twisted and the deception of it all destroys so many lives. This goes across the board to all of us – even the most sincere and religious, if we are not holding on to the hope of God who KNOWS then we lie victim to deception like these friends of Job.
As I continue to read the book of Job, I keep cheering him on that he doesn’t listen to the deception of the words spoken to him by his friends and that he hangs on to what he knows of God through this terrible trial!
Good morning Lord.
It is I once again.
As I meet this day, may I reaffirm what I read about Job this morning that You know the way that I take. Help me to follow in Your footsteps this day in my walk, walking in Your Sonshine. May also Your word be my Guide for this day You have created. Not only are You my daily bread, but You give the very air I breathe. By Your Spirit guide me to be the man of integrity You desire in my life of service to You. Let all of today and tomorrow and all the tomorrows be a life of worship – carrying out the plans you have in store for me.
Today I will go forward trusting Your will for my life as a small child trusts his father. You are my Father. Lead me and guide me along the way today.
This is the air I breathe
This is the air I breathe
Your holy presence living in me
This is my daily bread
This is my daily bread
Your very word spoken to me
And I, I’m desperate for you
And I, I’m lost without you
This is the air I breathe