THE WORSHIP BATTLE (2)

Welcome to part 2.

I just thought about the 10 commandments that the Lord gave to Moses. The first commandment is "I am the Lord your God... you shall have no other gods before me". (Exodus 20:1&2)

HE spells it out clearly; worship only me.

So, we'll get back to the story now :)

Just when you think that Satan has done his worst, chapter 2 of Job tells us more!

Again,the Angels were presenting themselves before God; and again satan was with them.

So God had to brag again; "Have you considered my servant,Job?... still he holds fast to his integrity!..."

So satan is upset and says "Skin for skin! yes, all that a man has,he will give for his life... touch his bone and his flesh and he will curse you to your face!"

Remember we said man doesn't own anything? So what does a man have that he will give for his life?... what do you think? ( we'll get back to that...i hope you already guessed the answer)

So the Lord gives satan permission to touch Jobs body and you know...

satan strikes job with a hell of a plague! Now He has painful boils from the crown of his head to the soles of his feet.

"And he took for himself potsherd with which to scrape himself while he sat in the midst of the ashes."

In the ancient middle east, pouring sand or ash on your head,wearing sackcloth and sitting in ashes are all signs of deep sorrow or mourning/grief.

I would grieve to if all this happened to me. You know, i've not even experienced this kind of catastrophe; not even a fraction of it! and yet when little things upset me and things don't go my way i get so angry at God! I ask the famous "why me?" ... okay, so maybe i have been over-reacting :(

So, Job is grieving really bad and his friends who have heard about his misfortune come to see him. They don't even recognize him! They sit with him in the ashes and they can't even say anything for seven days because they realize that his grief is really great.

Finally Job speaks and he curses the day he was born. It's the same thing as wishing you were never born. He says some really sad stuff in chapter 3. I guess we all do that when we've lost everything. We wish we were never born. We ask "whoever" why we were born if all we do is suffer,suffer and suffer.

And people do suffer,like really suffer. So, why are we born? what's the point of living?

Then his friends try to answer him.

Eliphaz asks him " can a mortal be more righteous than God? Can a man be more pure than his maker?

The next chapters document the discussion between Job and his friends. They all try to suggest that maybe God is trying to punish Job for his sins, and Job can't think of anything He's done wrong. But then again, He says what can a mortal say to God?... they go back and forth like that and they make some incredible quotes and ask some thought provoking questions (Um... you'll have to read it for yourself.)

Finally, the Lord answers Job in a whirlwind.(I'm glad i wasn't there... i would have passed out seven times!)

The Lord asks him some really awesome questions. (it's in chapter 38-41. You should really read it and see if you can answer. i couldn't)

God asks " who is this who darkens counsel by words without knowledge?... He who rebukes God, let him answer it."

"Would you indeed annul My judgement?... Who has preceded Me that i should pay him? Everything under heaven is Mine..."

Of course Job couldn't answer.

Bottom line, God IS sovereign.

His counsel is the wisest and it will stand.

Oswald Chambers defines sin differently from what we all think sin is.

We generally think that sin is the bad stuff that we do. It's not.

Sin is a nature.

Now, i'll go back to the beginning of the story. Remember God was bragging about Job?

This is because He created us to give Him pleasure and to worship Him.

To worship God is to pay great Honour to Him, to put Him first before our own rights and interests, to obey Him. This is easy to do only after we realize that all we have He has given to us.

So what did Job have that he would give to save his life?

He had his worship. We have been given the gift of free will. To choose how to worship. I almost added ;to choose who to worship. But then, if we can choose who to worship, why is it wrong to worship other god's? This is getting interesting.

I guess, that will start another series.

To end this part, Job abhorred himself before God and repented for questioning Him. Job acknowledged that God IS sovereign and we are just His servants. Here to worship Him.

It does have a happy ending... because God blessed Job twice as much! and returned his covering.