Page 23 - Reading Job to Know God
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into your life. See your feelings. See your motives. That is against the
Bible. The Bible does not tell you to do that. The Bible says look to the
Lord, and then you will see your heart. Otherwise, you will get
discouraged. There is a cesspool down there. It is not pleasant at all to
look inside your heart. It frustrates. It drives people to buildings and
bridges.
David cried out in Psalm 139:22-23,
“Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my
thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the
way everlasting”.
Let the Lord who is infinitely more wise and kind than you do the surgery.
The enemy will help you dig and find all kinds of stuff the Lord is not quite
ready to deal with. “When you see Him, you will be like Him.” Did Job see
his self-righteousness? He sure did. But not, by discussions on human
depravity. Nobody sees their self-righteousness by discussing theology or by
psychological examination. Job saw his self-righteousness when he saw his
God. Now he says, “My eyes seeth Thee; therefore I repent.” And now I
see myself, but through Your eyes.
After he saw God, two things changed. He did not say I do not deserve this,
and he did not say God is my enemy. You see, after he saw the Lord he
realized that God was the best friend he ever had. God was the bridegroom
of his soul. God was the lover of his heart. So the answer to the mysteries of
life, God’s full answer, is not to make you patient. It is not to show you how
vile you are, to teach you depravity, to show you the possibilities and the
propensities of your wicked heart. Not at all! And it is not even to prove
some silly thing to Satan. That is not the purpose of Job. The purpose of Job
is to reveal El Shaddai. To see the love of God.
You can apply it in a million and one ways. God will never allow anything
in your life for a better reason than that you might know Him. Know Him
as the God who is more than enough. Galatians 3:7-8
“But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as
loss for the sake of Christ. More than that, I count all things to be
loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my
Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them
but rubbish so that I may gain Christ,”
He always presents Himself as the God who over answers prayers
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