This study is from an on going online Daily Bible Study at:
DailyBibleStudy.Org | Daily Bible Study Index Page | Daily Bible Study Online E-Book Library
Job 33:18
18 He keepeth back [chasak] his soul [nephesh] from the pit [shachath], and his life [chay] from perishing [`abar] by the sword [shelach]. KJV-Interlinear
18 He keeps back his soul from the pit, And his life from passing over into Sheol. NASB
There are four key words in this verse - soul, pit, life, and sword. Each has a specific reference to your existence or the quality of your existence in this world.
What you think is what you really are. Your thinking processes exists within your soul. The real you is your human life which resides within your soul. Neither are a part of your biological self.
Life, is a reference to your physical being. It is your body, flesh and bones and such, which acts as a vessel or platform where your soul can reside during you time on this earth.
Pit, is a reference to the potential destruction which threatens your soul. And the sword is a reference to the potential destruction which threatens your physical self - your flesh and bones, etc.
And so God speaks to you once, and twice. The first time he speaks is a reference to all of the many times the scriptures, or truth in whatever form, are communicated to you during your life. You have ample opportunities to listen and learn, or not.
God speaks to you a second time. That is a reference to the may times throughout your life whereby your day-to-day experiences serve as teaching platforms, intended to get you on the right track back in your spiritual life.
You can look up at the sky at night and see its vastness and consider your smallness. You can see the order of this world through authority, family life, right and wrong, etc., and see the foundations for truth in those concepts. You can witness violence in many forms on the news, in the weather, in accidents, in birth defects, in employment, and so forth, and see the many limitations that mankind has in his life.
In fact, there isn't anywhere in life that you can look and not see the influence of God or his principles in life.
The truth is everywhere in some form or another. The only place which will prevent your seeing it is within your own mental attitude.
And in the last verse, that is why God attempts to keep your arrogance to a minimum. It is your arrogance, which can prove to be extremely subtle, which will prevent your seeing truth, and consequently send your life in its entirety, both body and soul, into the pit of self-destruction or failure, both now and in eternity.
No one has any excuse in life. You do not have any excuse in life for not advancing in your spiritual life.
The only thing that can prevent you from advancing is your own self. There is no power, set of circumstances, environment, nothing in this world, which can prevent God from getting you to spiritual maturity, if you genuinely desire it.
