Page 153 - Job
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Reading JOB to Know God
Chapter 13 Outcome of the Lord’s Dealings
Now I used to call this the blessed results of suffering, but I found a new
title for this section, and it is from the Book of James chapter 5:10-11
“As an example, brethren, of suffering and patience, take the
prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. We count those blessed
who endured. You have heard of the endurance of Job and have
seen the outcome of the Lord’s dealings, that the Lord is full of
compassion and is merciful.”
Isn’t that a marvelous expression? “The outcome of the Lord’s dealings.”
That is what I have entitled chapter 42, taken from James 5:11 If you
have the King James version it says: “You have seen the end of the
Lord.” Of course, as you read through the book of Job you would expect
it to read “you have seen the end of Job”. But it says you have seen the
end of the Lord. That is, the purpose and desire the Lord had for Job, in
His perfect will. “The outcome of the Lord’s dealings”. And then James
adds, “He is full of compassion and merciful.” So, Job 42 is a great
revelation of the compassion and the mercy God has for the afflicted.
Our main message will be found in 42:7-17 which is the outcome of the
Lord’s dealings. But let’s first look at Job’s heart attitude now that he was
in the place where God could bless him, having seen God. The truth that
Job was now embracing was not merely theological. Job 42:5
“I have heard of Thee by the hearing of the ear.”
That’s just something he heard. His knowledge of the Lord had been by
thought process before, but now he says:
“I have heard of Thee by the hearing of the ear; But now my
eye sees Thee.”
Before this revelation, what Job knew of God was confined to the
understanding of his natural mind. As it is with so many of us, we only
know what we have been told, or what we have read. Worse of all, we
only know what we have interpreted with our feeble minds and proudly
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