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Job 24:1
1 Why, seeing times [`eth] are not hidden [tsaphan]
from the Almighty [Shadday], do they that know [yada`] him not see [chazah] his
days [yowm]? KJV-Interlinear
1 'Why are times not stored up by
the Almighty, And why do those who know Him not see His days? NASB
Jobs friends have suggested that the times of the
righteous are not interrupted, and the times of the wicked are. And, all of these events occur in this
lifetime at some time prior to ones death.
Job disagrees, and Job is going to list many instances
where this is so. In doing so he will
also teach us that even though there are folks who know substantial amounts of
doctrine, when their life resides outside of the spiritual sphere, their
conclusions in life can and will be wrong.
This is the case of Jobs friends. They have substantial academic knowledge, but
lack wisdom and therefore cannot match their knowledge with the real
world. They see only what they wish to
see. They are blind to the facts of
life, which as Job will illustrate, are all too obvious for all to see and
nearly impossible to miss, unless of course, you do not want to see them.
And for folks who function in life, but outside of
their spiritual life, seeing only what they want to see becomes the norm. It isn't that they cannot see truth, they
just have other priorities or agendas, driven by there adopted beliefs or
desires or motivations, which lead them to errors in their perceptions. And sometimes these errors are intentional
deceptions aimed at misleading others.
God operates on a timetable which we do not have
access to. God possesses foreknowledge
and therefore knows many things, actually everything that will occur in
history. Many folks in history will be
evil, and yet they will live prosperous lives.
Many folks in history will live good spiritual lives, and yet they might
have more problems than seems fair.
But God looks not only at the individual events in a
persons life, but also at all of the current events as well as all future
events. Many generations will follow
ours, and those generations will be affected by the patterns of history which precedes
them.
You and I cannot figure it all out. No super-computer can fabricate algorithms to
predict the future. But God knows all of
the facts, and He has known them since eternity past.
God could gather up everyone into an assembly say the
week before Christmas, and judge those who have been naughty, and give gifts to
those who have been nice. But then if
that day were known, then wouldn't everyone be nice? And likewise, many months prior to that date,
wouldn't folks try to take advantage of the delayed evaluation?
Just as with the Rapture, if that date were known,
then those folks who lived in prior generations would not try quite as hard, as
those folks of the actual Rapture generation.
That date is therefore always imminent and also unknown.
Likewise, too, your life span is an unknown
quantity. Most folks believe that they
will live to the see or beat the averages.
And since those years are generally far off, people have a tendency to
ignore them until they have a major injury or at least get old.
Unfortunately, when that time comes along, their
spiritual neglect might very well have shut down all of their spiritual
perceptive abilities. Their indifference
has taken hold and they just ignore the repercussions.
So, Job states flat out, that God does not set an
assembly date for all to see and be judged.
And yes, there are many folks who will live their entire lives with
little or no observable punishment during this life.
But as we all know, no one gets away with
anything. And whether or not you live a
charmed life now, when you advance into the next phase of your life, life after
your death, you will come face to face with Christ, and that is when everyone
will get their due.
Now is the time to post a prayer.
End Of Lesson
Study to show thyself approved (mature) unto God, a workman that needs not to be ashamed, rightly dividing (studying/discerning), the Word of truth.
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