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Job 37:1
1 At this [zo'th] also my heart [leb] trembleth [charad], and is moved out [nathar] of his place [maqowm]. KJV-Interlinear
1'At this also my heart trembles, And leaps from its place. NASB
At these things, the thunder and lightning, the storms of unexplained origin and support, it is these things, things of which Elihu has no explanation, that terrify him.
He ascribes all to God and the source of Gods power, which he believes to be immeasurable. Elihu believes that it is God who holds life together and that it is God who can simply let loose of life, allowing it to fly apart, as it were, thus ending anything abruptly in its path.
And over this, man has no control, influence, or say.
Man did not have a say in his creation, or his birth. Man does not have a say in the circumstances of his birth. Man does not have a say in the content of his physical makeup, his genetics, his gifts, his talents, his intellect.
Man has no say whatsoever in how, when, or where his life begins. And what I say in this study seems rather obvious, the point here is not the fear instilled by thunder or lightning, but in the power and will of God.
It has already been said that the beginning of wisdom is the fear of God. When people lose that fear, then they are in an extreme state of delusion. Likewise, they are in an extreme state of danger for their life.
The thunder and lightning are simple symbols teaching us all that they are indeed ominous, and uncontrollable. Likewise, Gods plan goes far, far, far beyond our ability to even begin to understand it. We could never even begin to control life as God is able.
I mentioned yesterday, the opinions of man verses the opinion of God. Thought sure I would get some email responses. But alas, none crossed my computer screen.
Lets just recall what we have been studying. Job.
Job was the greatest of believers in his time. He was the recipient of phenomenal prosperity from God. Without explanation to him, from anyone, all of his wealth was taken away. Even his children were lost, with no explanation given.
The ensuing questions raised in this book seek to answer that question. His friends believed it to be because of Jobs secret wickedness.
Elihu simply believes that God does what God does and it is not for man to question anything, but simply to live with it, as we live with the weather from season to season throughout our lives.
Job, on the other hand, believes that there is an explanation, but that it just isn't apparent to him at the moment. And we have already heard from God, way back in the opening chapter, that Job was a righteous man.
But there is one more party in this play and that is Satan.
Satan is an actual person, but he also represents all the opposition to God, and therefore the opposition to truth in this world. Satan is not the only one who opposes truth. Jobs friends have demonstrated this thought pattern. They have perpetuated the views of Satan, in their distortions of the applications of truth.
And so we come around to the fears that you may wish to consider in life, as the world, which follows the lead of Satanic thought, it its attempt to control life.
Now this is just an introduction of chapter 37, but recall our study of the anti-christ, the leader of the revived Roman Empire of the Tribulation. That is still a future state. That anti-christ will be a dynamic person, pleasant, personable, popular with the masses. He will be popular with the then existing news media. But under that outward appearance, there will be the essence of Satan himself.
Not everyone who is personable and pleasing, is evil. And you can only learn of their true nature by listening to them and comparing their opinions with truth.
We are currently in the Church Age. Our dispensation is one of historical trends. We have already studied this in the four gospels. There are no prophecies set to occur within our dispensation, except the one which identifies the conclusion of our dispensation - namely the Rapture.
However, when the Tribulation is introduced, various circumstances exist, and they can only come into existence during our dispensation. That is, the alignment of nations and so forth. There are many other indicators of our nearing an end to our dispensation - namely the population explosion, technology explosion, the rise of a troubled world and so forth. But all of our indicators are mere trends or examples of the greater troubles that will occur during the Tribulation. A dispensation from which we will be exempted, by the grace of God. Terrible as it will be.
But again we look to our own dispensation for examples of trends that will help us to identify mans spiritual status in this world, now. This does two things. First, it should reinforce our belief in God and help us in our faith. And second, it can help us adjust to life, just as we adjust to the weather.
When the weather turns cold, we put on coats. When the weather turns hot, we take them off. We buy insurance against possible storm damage. We build to protect ourselves against weather damage. We cannot always prevent damage, loss or suffering, but we know that they can occur, and we can prepare for them.
We never curse God for our loss, but thank Him for our survival.
Life will have many unknowns. Life in this life is temporary at best, and our best preparation in this life is our preparation for the next life.
Goliath did not fear God, but placed his faith in his muscles. He died. We can begin to understand much of nature through technological discoveries, but we can also learn that it was God who created and invented all of these things.
If we come to believe in the acts of nature as being nothing more than that, then we place faith in the muscles of Goliath. And we will one day be greatly surprised and very disappointed. But if we learn to place God in awe, but virtue of His hand in history (not in politicians), then we will be better oriented to life and will be better able to survive whatever storms loom on the horizon.
