You must be in fellowship prior to your Bible study, so that the spiritual information you receive can become a source, of blessing to your soul and produce spiritual growth.
Job 40:3-5
3 Then Job ['Iyowb] answered [`anah] the LORD [Yahovah], and
said ['amar],
4 Behold, I am vile [qalal]; what shall I answer [shuwb]
thee? I will lay [suwm] mine hand [yad] upon [lamow] my mouth [peh].
5 Once ['echad] have I spoken [dabar]; but I will not answer [`anah]: yea, twice [shanayim]; but
I will proceed no further [yacaph]. KJV-Interlinear
3 Then Job answered the Lord and
said, 4 'Behold, I am insignificant;
what can I reply to Thee? I lay my hand
on my mouth. 5 'Once I have spoken, and
I will not answer; Even twice, and I
will add no more.' NASB
Just a quick note here. The web sites have been down since last night
(Tues. - Wed.), and hopefully that will not last long. Our sites are hosted by companies out there
in the internet world, and there seems to be server/network problems of some
kind. I don't have any control over
those computers or their function, but hopefully we'll be back in business
before too long. Sorry 'bout that.
And one more note.
Odd as it may seem, I made mention of the carbon footprint and global
warming issues these past couple of days, and lo and behold there was a news
story out today about a plan in Europe to issue to everyone, carbon usage
cards. Once you exceed your limit you
cannot buy or sell or engage in commerce, or you pay penalties, until your
carbon credits come back into some sort of norm.
Now, correct me if I am wrong, but were these words or
phrases even in our vocabulary a year ago?
I do not recall them at all, except in the recent news. And my point here is that if you recall our
Revelation study, there will be severe economic sanctions placed on people in
the Tribulation. And of course since the
Tribulation is only going to last seven years, and these sanctions will be in
place rather early on, then one can reasonably assume that these types of monitoring
devices (credit ratings, ID cards, and now carbon credits, etc.) will be in
place prior to the Tribulation. In other
words, they will have been initiated during our Church Age, which of course we
see happening right before our eyes.
And one more thought. As man rejects Bible doctrine,
man by default attempts to control his environment. Adam and Eve put on fig leaves. Their sin lost them the perfect environment
of the Garden. And now humanity is
running is hot pursuit of controlling the planet, with little or no knowledge
of how everything works.
Just food for thought.
No extra charge for these tidbits.
And no, I do not believe that the Rapture will occur anytime soon. I have always said that I believe that it
will not occur until humanity has been overwhelmed by world overpopulation,
where humanity will be totally overwhelmed by too many people on the planet. What with China trying to regulate births,
and now we seem to be trying to control carbon usage, what do you suppose will
be next on the horizon of government regulation?
Anyway, on with Jobs response to God.
God is the wisest of beings. God is omniscient. That means that He knows all that is, and He
knows all that could be. He knows all
that is possible but will never be, as well all that will be.
God possesses foreknowledge. That means that He knows all that will be,
because He saw the reality of history
before any history ever happened. He saw
it in eternity past. We call this
foreknowledge, the Devine Decrees.
So, when someone who is infinitely smarter and wiser
than you, speaks to you, then what do you suppose your response should be? How can one possibly respond to someone who
knows, literally and accurately, everything?
And Job did the right thing. He shut up.
He admitted being a nothing of an object in this universe. The word for insignificant means, when you
take a part of a drop of water, and toss it into the oceans of the world, how
could anyone possibly ever find that exact partial of a drop. Or, if you take a speck of dust and throw it
out into the heavens of the universe.
How could anyone search the universe and ever find it.
That is insignificance. And that is the proper
attitude that we should all take with God.
Instead of whining and complaining and blaming God, then we should
consider what God has done for each one of us.
We are insignificant, and yet God has created an
entire universe around us, has maintained and controlled an entire history
before and after us. And, despite
Satan's and mans attempts to ruin it all, has and will preserve us for an
inheritance in Heaven together with phenomenal significance.
Why should He do anything for us, let alone give us
the inheritance of Heaven?
God has a plan for your life, and you personally, are at
the highest of His priorities on His to-do list.
History is unfolding right before our eyes, and we may
be forced to suffer as other generations before us have suffered, but then,
that is God allowing Satan and humanity their final rebellion as they kick and
scream over their inability to control their destiny.
The conclusion of our dispensation could be minutes
away, or decades away. That timetable we
do not know. But our priority is not figuring out history's timetable, but
getting our spiritual growth and our spiritual life in order. Watching history unfold is nothing more than
a privilege, which God has given us.
That is, if we have any kind of spiritual life and have some discernment
to observe and wonder about how all of the pieces of the puzzle fit together.
And no, we are not going to stand out on the street
corner preaching the end of the world.
That is for fools. None of us
were given the gift of prophecy por a crystal ball. There is no event that will signal the end of
our age. Remember that the nation of
Israel was restored way back in 1948, but that was not the regathering prophecy
of the Bible. That regathering will
occur at the Second Advent.
Our dispensation is filled with historical trends, and
the best we can do is watch as these many trends come to pass across several
generations.
And how do we watch?
In silence.
The world is driving itself toward its final
destination. We cannot prevent it nor
change it. But we can drive our own
spiritual life. And that is far more
important for each one of us.
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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