Job 3:20 Wherefore is light given to him that is in misery, and life unto the bitter in soul?
Ah mih Friends in Christ, who really knows the answers to those two questions posed by Job in our Bit eh? I guess only the Good Lord, our Creator, who still controls our world from His throne on high. Yesterday we saw how three men of great faith, Job, Jeremiah and Hezekiah, all suffered great misfortune and bore extremely bitter, complex feelings and emotions in their souls, and all bewailed the day of their birth. Job even cried out: ‘I should have been as though I had not been; I should have been carried from the womb to the grave. Are not my days few? Cease then, and let me be alone, that I may take comfort a little, Before I go whence I shall not return, even to the land of darkness, and the shadow of death.’ (Job 10:19-21) And when Jeremiah was imprisoned for supposedly prophesying lies about Israel’s capture by Babylon, here’s how he lamented: ‘Oh Lord, thou hast deceived (induced) me, and I was deceived (persuaded): thou art stronger than I, and hast prevailed: I am in derision daily (a laughingstock), every one mocketh me. For since I spake, I cried out, I cried violence and spoil (plunder); because the word of the Lord was made a reproach unto me, and a derision daily. Then I said, I will not make mention of him, nor speak anymore in his name. But his word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing (holding back), and I could not stay (endure). For I heard the defaming (mocking or slander) of many, fear on every side. Report, say they, and we will report it. All my familiars (acquaintances) watched for my halting (stumbling), saying, Peradventure (perhaps) he will be enticed, and we shall prevail against him, and we shall take our revenge on him.’ (Jer.20:7-10) Now listen to Hezekiah’s words, concerning his termination, which he wrote after he was healed. (Is.38:4-8) ‘I said in the cutting off (middle) of my days, I shall go to the gates of the grave: I am deprived of the residue (remainder) of my years. I said, I shall not see the Lord, even the Lord, in the land of the living: I shall behold man no more with the inhabitants of the world. Mine age (my lifespan) is departed, and is removed from me as a shepherd’s tent: I have cut off like a weaver my life: he will cut me off (from the loom) with pining sickness: from day even to night wilt thou make and end of me…Like a crane or a swallow, so did I chatter: I did mourn as a dove: mine eyes fail with looking upward: O Lord, I am oppressed; undertake for me: What shall I say? He hath both spoken unto me, and himself hath done it: I shall go softly (walk carefully) all my years in the bitterness of my soul.’ (Is.38:10-12,14-15) Yes Friends, these mighty men of faith felt the sore weight of tribulation and were humanly overwhelmed by it. And Cousin Sol, who has an opinion on almost everything, describes it thus: ‘The heart knoweth his own bitterness; and a stranger doth not intermeddle with (share) his joy.’ (Prov.14:10) Yeh mih people, regardless of how well intentioned others are, they can never really understand or fathom the hurt, pain and bitterness that exists in someone else’s heart, for that particular intensity of feeling can only be truly comprehended by the one who feels it. As the saying goes; ‘only he who feels it, knows it.’ However my brethren, those dark and dire times are seldom the end. Instead, they are often the beginning of something better, of a new life. And though all our great men of faith were brought to their knees by tribulation, they stood strong and steadfast in their faith. Let’s hear some of their redeeming words. Job answered his friends thus: ‘Who knoweth not in all these that the hand of the Lord hath wrought this? In whose hand is the soul (life) of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind (all flesh of man).’ (Job 12:9-10) Then he further contends: ‘Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him: but I will maintain mine own ways before him. He also shall be my salvation: for a hypocrite shall not come before him.’ (Job 12:15-16) Wow Friends! What powerful words of faith Job mustered even though his whole life was in shambles. And Hezekiah, after lamenting the early end of life that had seemed his portion, stood strong in the Lord at the end. ‘O Lord, by these things men live, and in all these things is the life of my spirit: so wilt thou recover me, and make me to live? Behold, for (my own) peace I had great bitterness; but thou hast in LOVE to my soul delivered it from corruption: for thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back. For the grave cannot praise thee, death cannot celebrate thee: they that go down into the pit cannot hope for thy truth. The living, the living, he shall praise thee, as I do this day: the father to the children shall make known thy truth. The Lord was ready to save me: therefore we will sing my songs to the stringed instruments all the days of our life in the house of the Lord.’ ( Is.38:16-20) Oh mih people! Hezekiah is certainly talking to us today too: for only the living, we believers, can indeed praise the Lord! The dead can’t do it. So let’s break out the musical instruments and sing our songs of LOVE and Praise, Hope, Joy and Heartache; whatever emotions or feelings that currently hold our hearts and souls prisoners, for whatever they are, the Lord High God Jehovah is in TOTAL control, and He’s waiting, ready, willing and able to help us in whatever state or stage of life we are. Oh Friends, time and space have again run out on us, but tomorrow, God willing, we’ll continue looking at the sad tribulation these men of faith suffered for their faith, but also at how they rebounded through the same great faith they possessed. Much Love!…let’s allow the lessons of other believers…to show us…both the fateful and faithful way…
Ah mih Friends in Christ, who really knows the answers to those two questions posed by Job in our Bit eh? I guess only the Good Lord, our Creator, who still controls our world from His throne on high. Yesterday we saw how three men of great faith, Job, Jeremiah and Hezekiah, all suffered great misfortune and bore extremely bitter, complex feelings and emotions in their souls, and all bewailed the day of their birth. Job even cried out: ‘I should have been as though I had not been; I should have been carried from the womb to the grave. Are not my days few? Cease then, and let me be alone, that I may take comfort a little, Before I go whence I shall not return, even to the land of darkness, and the shadow of death.’ (Job 10:19-21) And when Jeremiah was imprisoned for supposedly prophesying lies about Israel’s capture by Babylon, here’s how he lamented: ‘Oh Lord, thou hast deceived (induced) me, and I was deceived (persuaded): thou art stronger than I, and hast prevailed: I am in derision daily (a laughingstock), every one mocketh me. For since I spake, I cried out, I cried violence and spoil (plunder); because the word of the Lord was made a reproach unto me, and a derision daily. Then I said, I will not make mention of him, nor speak anymore in his name. But his word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing (holding back), and I could not stay (endure). For I heard the defaming (mocking or slander) of many, fear on every side. Report, say they, and we will report it. All my familiars (acquaintances) watched for my halting (stumbling), saying, Peradventure (perhaps) he will be enticed, and we shall prevail against him, and we shall take our revenge on him.’ (Jer.20:7-10) Now listen to Hezekiah’s words, concerning his termination, which he wrote after he was healed. (Is.38:4-8) ‘I said in the cutting off (middle) of my days, I shall go to the gates of the grave: I am deprived of the residue (remainder) of my years. I said, I shall not see the Lord, even the Lord, in the land of the living: I shall behold man no more with the inhabitants of the world. Mine age (my lifespan) is departed, and is removed from me as a shepherd’s tent: I have cut off like a weaver my life: he will cut me off (from the loom) with pining sickness: from day even to night wilt thou make and end of me…Like a crane or a swallow, so did I chatter: I did mourn as a dove: mine eyes fail with looking upward: O Lord, I am oppressed; undertake for me: What shall I say? He hath both spoken unto me, and himself hath done it: I shall go softly (walk carefully) all my years in the bitterness of my soul.’ (Is.38:10-12,14-15) Yes Friends, these mighty men of faith felt the sore weight of tribulation and were humanly overwhelmed by it. And Cousin Sol, who has an opinion on almost everything, describes it thus: ‘The heart knoweth his own bitterness; and a stranger doth not intermeddle with (share) his joy.’ (Prov.14:10) Yeh mih people, regardless of how well intentioned others are, they can never really understand or fathom the hurt, pain and bitterness that exists in someone else’s heart, for that particular intensity of feeling can only be truly comprehended by the one who feels it. As the saying goes; ‘only he who feels it, knows it.’ However my brethren, those dark and dire times are seldom the end. Instead, they are often the beginning of something better, of a new life. And though all our great men of faith were brought to their knees by tribulation, they stood strong and steadfast in their faith. Let’s hear some of their redeeming words. Job answered his friends thus: ‘Who knoweth not in all these that the hand of the Lord hath wrought this? In whose hand is the soul (life) of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind (all flesh of man).’ (Job 12:9-10) Then he further contends: ‘Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him: but I will maintain mine own ways before him. He also shall be my salvation: for a hypocrite shall not come before him.’ (Job 12:15-16) Wow Friends! What powerful words of faith Job mustered even though his whole life was in shambles. And Hezekiah, after lamenting the early end of life that had seemed his portion, stood strong in the Lord at the end. ‘O Lord, by these things men live, and in all these things is the life of my spirit: so wilt thou recover me, and make me to live? Behold, for (my own) peace I had great bitterness; but thou hast in LOVE to my soul delivered it from corruption: for thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back. For the grave cannot praise thee, death cannot celebrate thee: they that go down into the pit cannot hope for thy truth. The living, the living, he shall praise thee, as I do this day: the father to the children shall make known thy truth. The Lord was ready to save me: therefore we will sing my songs to the stringed instruments all the days of our life in the house of the Lord.’ ( Is.38:16-20) Oh mih people! Hezekiah is certainly talking to us today too: for only the living, we believers, can indeed praise the Lord! The dead can’t do it. So let’s break out the musical instruments and sing our songs of LOVE and Praise, Hope, Joy and Heartache; whatever emotions or feelings that currently hold our hearts and souls prisoners, for whatever they are, the Lord High God Jehovah is in TOTAL control, and He’s waiting, ready, willing and able to help us in whatever state or stage of life we are. Oh Friends, time and space have again run out on us, but tomorrow, God willing, we’ll continue looking at the sad tribulation these men of faith suffered for their faith, but also at how they rebounded through the same great faith they possessed. Much Love!…let’s allow the lessons of other believers…to show us…both the fateful and faithful way…
SCRIP-BITS 