Participants: Kelly Mowrer
Series Code: HWAL
Program Code: HWAL000591
00:16 Hello, and welcome to His Words are Life.
00:18 I'm Kelly Mowrer, and thank you for joining with me today, 00:21 to read the story of Job. Before we start, let's pray together. 00:24 Dear God, thank you so much for the story and the lesson 00:31 that you have given us in the story of Job. Please, as we hear 00:37 these words, help us to see how in our own life you are there 00:42 for us. And you are bringing us through. And may we also say 00:46 with Job, that although you would slay us, yet will we 00:50 trust you. May our faith remain strong. Be with us now 00:54 as we read. Thank you so much for hearing our prayer. Amen. 00:57 We're in the middle of the conversation that Job is having 01:02 with his three friends who have come to comfort him, 01:05 in the loss of his family, his wealth, and his health. 01:10 And they're having a discussion among the 4 of them about God. 01:16 Each of them are putting forth their opinions. The 3 friends 01:20 are arguing that when calamity comes it is a result of sin 01:25 in our lives. Job is answering differently and yet as they 01:29 ponder these things they realize their questions they're asking 01:32 that they don't know the answers to. We're picking up 01:36 in chapter 13 of the book of Job and Job is speaking. 01:40 Lo, mine eye hath seen all this, mine ear hath heard and 01:45 understood it. What ye know, the same do I know also: 01:49 I am not inferior unto you. Surely I would speak to the 01:52 Almighty and I desire to reason with God. But ye are forgers of 01:57 lies, ye are all physicians of no value. O that ye would 02:00 altogether hold you peace! and it should be your wisdom. 02:04 Hear now my reasoning, and hearken to the pleadings of my 02:08 lips. Will ye speak wickedly for God? and talk deceitfully 02:12 for him? Will ye accept his person? Will ye contend for God? 02:16 Is it good that he should search you out? or as one man 02:20 mocketh another, do ye so mock him? He will surely reprove 02:25 you if ye do secretly accept persons. Shall not his 02:29 excellency make you afraid? and his dread fall upon you? 02:33 Your remembrances are like unto ashes, your bodies to bodies of 02:38 clay. Hold your peace, let me alone, that I may speak, 02:43 and let come on me what will. Wherefore do I take my flesh 02:47 in my teeth and put my life in mine hand? 02:50 Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him: 02:55 But I will maintain mine own ways before him. 02:58 He also shall be my salvation: for an hypocrite shall not come 03:03 before him. Hear diligently my speech, and my declaration with 03:07 your ears. Behold now I have ordered my cause; 03:10 I know that I shall be justified Who is he that will plead 03:15 with me? for now, if I hold my tongue, I shall give up the 03:19 ghost. Only do not two things unto me: then will I not hide 03:25 myself from thee. Withdraw thine hand far from me: 03:30 and let not thy dread make me afraid. Then call thou, 03:35 and I will answer: or let me speak, and answer thou me. 03:37 How many are mine iniquities and sins? make me to know my 03:41 transgression and my sin. Wherefore hidest thou thy face, 03:45 and holdest me for thine enemy? Wilt thou break a leaf driven 03:49 to and fro? and wilt thou pursue the dry stubble? 03:52 For thou writest bitter things against me, and makest me to 03:57 possess the iniquities of my youth. Thou puttest my feet also 04:01 in the stocks, and lookest narrowly unto all my paths; 04:04 thou settest a print upon the heels of my feet. 04:07 And he, as a rotten thing consumeth, 04:10 as a garment that is moth eaten. Continuing in the book of Job, 04:15 chapter 14. And this is the King James Version. 04:18 Man that is born of a woman is of few days and full of trouble. 04:24 He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down; he fleeth also 04:29 as a shadow, and continueth not. And dost thou open thine eyes 04:33 upon such and one, and bringest me into judgment with thee? 04:36 Who can bring a clean thing out of and unclean? not one. 04:40 Seeing his days are determined, the number of his months are 04:45 with thee, thou hast appointed his bounds that he cannot pass; 04:49 Turn from him, that he may rest, till he shall accomplish, 04:53 as an hireling, his day. For there is hope of a tree, 04:58 if it be cut down, that it will sprout again, and that the 05:01 tender branch thereof will not cease. Thought the root thereof 05:05 wax old in the earth, and the stock thereof die in the ground; 05:08 yet through the scent of water it will bud, and bring forth 05:12 boughs like a plant. But man dieth, and wasteth away: 05:16 yea, man giveth up the ghost, and where is he? 05:20 As the waters fail from the sea, and the flood decayeth 05:24 and drieth up: So man lieth down, and riseth not: 05:28 til the heavens be no more, they shall not awake, 05:31 nor be raised out of their sleep. O that thou wouldest hide 05:37 me in the grave, that thou wouldest keep me secret, 05:40 until thy wrath be past, that thou wouldest appoint me a set 05:44 time, and remember me! If a man die, shall he live again? 05:48 all the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change 05:52 come. Thou shalt call, and I will answer thee: 05:56 thou wilt have a desire to the work of thine hands. 05:58 For now thou numberest my steps: dost thou not watch over my sin? 06:03 My transgression is sealed up in a bag, and thou sewest up 06:07 mine iniquity. And surely the mountain falling cometh to 06:11 naught, and the rock is removed out of his place. The waters 06:15 wear the stones: thou washest away the things which grow out 06:18 of the dust of the earth; and thou destroyest the hope of man. 06:22 Thou prevailest for ever against him, and he passeth: 06:26 thou changest his countenance, and sendest him away. 06:30 His sons come to honor, and he knoweth it not; and they are 06:35 brought low, but he perceiveth it not of them. 06:38 But his flesh upon him shall have pain, and his soul within 06:42 him shall mourn. Continuing in Job, chapter 15. 06:47 This is the King James Version. Then answered Eliphaz 06:52 the Temanite, and said, Should a wise man utter vain knowledge, 06:58 and fill his belly with the east wind? Should he reason with 07:02 unprofitable talk? or with speeches wherewith he can do no 07:05 good? Yea, thou castest off fear, and restrainest prayer 07:10 before God. For thy mouth uttereth thine iniquity, 07:13 and thou choosest the tongue of the crafty. Thine own mouth 07:16 condemneth thee, and Not I: yea, thine own lips testify against 07:20 thee. Art thou the first man that was born? or wast thou 07:24 made before the hills? Hast thou heard the secret of God? 07:28 and dost thou restrain wisdom to thyself? What knowest thou, 07:31 that we know not? what understandest thou, 07:34 which is not in us? With us are both the gray headed and 07:40 very aged men, much elder than thy father. Are the consolations 07:44 of God small with thee? is there any secret thing with thee? 07:49 Why doth thine heart carry thee away? 07:52 and what do thy eyes wink at, that thou turnest thy spirit 07:56 against God, and lettest such words go out of thy mouth? 07:59 What is man, that he should be clean? and he which is born 08:04 of a woman, that he should be righteous? Behold, he putteth 08:07 no trust in his saints; yea, the heavens are not clean 08:09 in his sight. How much more abominable and filthy is man, 08:13 which drinketh iniquity like water? I will shew thee, 08:17 hear me; and that which I have seen I will declare; 08:20 which wise men have told from their fathers, and have not 08:23 hid it: Unto whom alone the earth was given, and no stranger 08:26 passed among them. The wicked man travaileth with pain all 08:31 his days, and the number of years is hidden to the oppressor 08:34 A dreadful sound is in his ears: in prosperity the 08:38 destroyer shall come upon him. He believeth not that he shall 08:42 return out of darkness, and he is waited for of the sword. 08:45 He wandereth abroad for bread, saying, Where is it? 08:48 he knoweth that the day of darkness is ready at his hand. 08:52 Trouble and anguish shall make him afraid; 08:56 they shall prevail against him, as a king ready to the battle. 08:59 For he stretcheth out his hand against God, and strentheneth 09:02 himself against the Almighty. He runneth upon him, 09:05 even on his neck, upon the thick bosses of his bucklers: 09:08 Because he covereth his face with his fatness, and maketh 09:12 collops of fat on his flanks. And he dwelleth in desolate 09:15 cities, and in houses which no man inhabiteth, which are ready 09:19 to become heaps. He shall not be rich, neither shall his 09:23 substance continue, neither shall he prolong the perfection 09:26 thereof upon the earth. He shall not depart out of darkness; 09:30 the flame shall dry up his branches, and by the breath 09:33 of his mouth shall he go away. Let not him that is deceived 09:37 trust in vanity: for vanity for vanity shall be his recompence. 09:41 It shall be accomplished before his time, and his branch 09:44 shall not be green. He shall shake off his unripe grape 09:48 as the vine, and shall cast off his flower as the olive. 09:51 For the congregation of hypocrites shall be desolate, 09:55 and fire shall consume the tabernacles of bribery. 09:59 They conceive mischief, and bring forth vanity, 10:03 and their belly prepareth deceit We're continuing in the book of 10:09 Job, chapter 16. This is the King James Version. 10:13 Then Job answered and said, I have heard many such things: 10:19 miserable comforters are ye all. Shall vain words have an 10:24 end? or what emboldeneth thee that thou answerest? 10:28 I also could speak as ye do: if your soul were in my soul's 10:33 stead, I could heap up words against you, and shake mine head 10:37 at you. But I would strengthen you with my mouth, 10:40 and the moving of my lips would assuage your grief. 10:43 Though I speak, my grief is not assuaged: and though I forbear, 10:50 what am I eased? But now he hath made me weary: thou hast made 10:56 desolate all my company. And thou hast filled me with 11:00 wrinkles, which is a witness against me: and my leanness 11:03 rising up in me beareth witness to my face. He teareth me 11:07 in his wrath, who hateth me: he gnasheth upon me with his 11:11 teeth; mine enemy sharpeneth his eyes upon me. 11:14 They have gaped upon me with their mouth; 11:17 they have smitten me upon the cheek reproachfully; 11:20 they have gathered themselves together against me. 11:23 God hath delivered me to the ungodly, and turned me over 11:27 into the hands of the wicked. I was at ease, but he hath 11:32 broken me asunder: he hath also taken me by my neck, 11:36 and shaken me to pieces, and set me up for his mark. 11:39 His archers compass me round about, he cleaveth my reigns 11:43 asunder, and doth not spare; he poureth out my gall 11:46 upon the ground. He breaketh me with breach upon breach, 11:49 he runneth upon me like a giant. I have sewed sackcloth 11:54 upon my skin and defiled my horn in the dust. 11:57 My face is foul with weeping, and on my eyelids is the shadow 12:03 of death; not for any injustice in mine hands: also my prayer is 12:09 pure. O earth, cover not thou my blood, and let my cry have no 12:15 place. Also now, behold, my witness is in heaven, 12:21 and my record is on high. My friends scorn me: 12:26 but mine eye poureth out tears unto God. 12:29 O that one might plead for a man with God, as a man pleadeth 12:33 for his neighbor! When a few years are come, 12:37 then I shall go the way whence I shall not return. 12:41 Continuing in the book of Job, chapter 17, 12:45 This is the King James Version. My breath is corrupt, 12:49 my days are extinct, the graves are ready for me. 12:53 Are there not mockers with me? and doth not mine eye continue 12:57 in their provocation? Lay down now, 13:00 put me in a surety with thee; who is he that will strike hands 13:04 with me? For thou hast hid their heart from understanding: 13:07 therefore shalt thou not exalt them. 13:09 He that speaketh flattery to his friends, even the eyes of his 13:14 children shall fail. He hath made me also a byword 13:18 of the people; and aforetime I was as a tabret. 13:20 Mine eye also is dim by reason of sorrow, 13:24 and all my members are as a shadow. 13:27 Upright men shall be astonied at this, and the innocent 13:32 shall stir up himself against the hypocrite. 13:35 The righteous also shall hold on his way, 13:37 and he that hath clean hands shall be stronger and stronger. 13:40 But as for you all, do ye return, and come now: 13:44 for I cannot find one wise man among you. 13:46 My days are past, my purposes are broken off, 13:50 even the thoughts of my heart. They change the night into day: 13:54 the light is short because of darkness. 13:56 If I wait, the grave is mine house: 13:58 I have made my bed in the darkness. 14:01 I have said to corruption, Thou art my father: 14:05 to the worm, Thou art my mother, and my sister. 14:07 And where is now my hope? as for my hope, who shall see it? 14:13 They shall go down to the bars of the pit, when our rest 14:17 together is in the dust. - Thank you for joining with me 14:23 today to read this story of Job. And as we take these words 14:27 with us until we are together again, may the Holy Spirit 14:31 bring to our hearts the same conviction that Job had 14:33 that his trust in God remain no matter what happened. 14:37 Please come again and join me next time. Goodbye. |
Revised 2014-12-17