JOB 30<\/b><\/p>\n
\u201cBut You have become cruel to me \u2026\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n
(Job 30:21).<\/i><\/p>\n
The root of Job\u2019s spiritual and emotional anguish in chapter 30 is that he thinks God had become his enemy. While he always recognized that God is in control of everything, even his suffering, Job accuses God of using His sovereignty to be cruel to him. Such an accusation of a merciful and gracious God is unacceptable even for a man as sorely tried as Job. Despite Job\u2019s many losses and his unparalleled trials, he had no right to harbor such hard thoughts of God.<\/p>\n
Job complained that God did not appear in his defense. He expected the Lord to intercede on his behalf, to show him mercy and comfort in the midst of his affliction. When that comfort failed to come quickly, Job accused God of being cruel. He had suffered so greatly that there was only one more thing left for God to do and that was Job\u2019s death. Surprisingly, in that consideration came his only comfort. He maintains the hope that God will \u201cstretch forth His hand to the grave\u201d and deliver him.<\/p>\n
Despite Job\u2019s former proclamations of God\u2019s justice and right to afflict sinners such as himself, he now questions God\u2019s justice. He wants God to defend him and bring him comfort, but what Job does not know is that God has already defended him. The Lord had already spoken on his behalf when Satan accused him of being a hypocrite. God\u2019s purposes, therefore, in Job\u2019s trials were not punitive but instructional not only for Job to learn more about humility and faith, but for those who would read this account of his suffering. God had not been cruel to him because even at Job\u2019s lowest point, God sustained him by His grace. And unknown to Job, God would restore him to his former position of authority, give him back his wealth, and once again surround him with the love and warmth of a family.<\/p>\n
God is merciful, and we must never think otherwise even when suffering pierces our hearts. Those who are the children of God have the comfort of knowing that He never abandons those He loves, He never forsakes His chosen ones. The only person ever to endure God\u2019s wrath and abandonment was Jesus Christ as He hung on the cross, bearing the punishment of our sins. He took our place that we might know the mercy and compassion of God.<\/p>\n
CORAM DEO<\/b><\/p>\n
Ezekiel 41\u201342<\/p>\n
2 Peter 1<\/p>\n
Do you harbor hard thoughts of God about something that happened to you in your past or is happening to you right now? If so, confess it to God and ask forgiveness of Him. Such bitterness can also be directed toward people who might have hurt you. Confess that bitterness today and forgive them that you might have peace.<\/p>\n
For further study: Ps. 22 \u2022 Eph. 4:29\u201332 \u2022 Heb. 12:1\u201315<\/i><\/p>\n
thursday<\/p>\n
november<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
JOB 30 \u201cBut You have become cruel to me \u2026\u201d (Job 30:21). The root of Job\u2019s spiritual and emotional anguish in chapter 30 is that he thinks God had become his enemy. While he always recognized that God is in control of everything, even his suffering, Job accuses God of using His sovereignty to be … Continue reading “BITTER COMPLAINTS”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12644","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12644","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12644"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12644\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12644"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12644"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12644"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}