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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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