Thursday, April 9, 2015

I made a covenant with mine eyes

http://youtu.be/NK8VWcw8BOM “The Science is in!”
Would you like to read James McNaught’s novel Sinking Sand”? click here: Sinking Sand
(The views expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)
Job 31:1–8, “I made a covenant with mine eyes; why then should I think upon a maid? For what portion of God is there from above? and what inheritance of the Almighty from on high? Is not destruction to the wicked? and a strange punishment to the workers of iniquity? Doth not he see my ways, and count all my steps? If I have walked with vanity, or if my foot hath hasted to deceit; Let me be weighed in an even balance, that God may know mine integrity. If my step hath turned out of the way, and mine heart walked after mine eyes, and if any blot hath cleaved to mine hands; Then let me sow, and let another eat; yea, let my offspring be rooted out.”

Job was still convinced of his innocence and he refused to acknowledge that his friends were right when they told him that he deserved everything that he was suffering. He had lived a good life and said that he would happily accept any suffering that came his way if it could be proved that he had done something to deserve it.

Terrors are turned upon me

http://youtu.be/NK8VWcw8BOM “The Science is in!”
Would you like to read James McNaught’s novel Sinking Sand”? click here: Sinking Sand
(The views expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)
Job 30:15–31, “Terrors are turned upon me: they pursue my soul as the wind: and my welfare passeth away as a cloud. And now my soul is poured out upon me; the days of affliction have taken hold upon me. My bones are pierced in me in the night season: and my sinews take no rest. By the great force of my disease is my garment changed: it bindeth me about as the collar of my coat. He hath cast me into the mire, and I am become like dust and ashes. I cry unto thee, and thou dost not hear me: I stand up, and thou regardest me not. Thou art become cruel to me: with thy strong hand thou opposest thyself against me. Thou liftest me up to the wind; thou causest me to ride upon it, and dissolvest my substance. For I know that thou wilt bring me to death, and to the house appointed for all living. Howbeit he will not stretch out his hand to the grave, though they cry in his destruction. Did not I weep for him that was in trouble? was not my soul grieved for the poor? When I looked for good, then evil came unto me: and when I waited for light, there came darkness. My bowels boiled, and rested not: the days of affliction prevented me. I went mourning without the sun: I stood up, and I cried in the congregation. I am a brother to dragons, and a companion to owls. My skin is black upon me, and my bones are burned with heat. My harp also is turned to mourning, and my organ into the voice of them that weep.”

Job continued to talk about his situation. He was troubled with fear day and night as he saw all the good things from his life disappear. Pain had taken over his thoughts day and night because he couldn’t escape from it. The Lord had forced him out of his comfort zone and he longed to die so that he could escape all the terrors. Even though Job cared for other people when they suffered, there was no relief for him from his pain. He stopped enjoying his life and began to weep instead.

Wednesday, April 8, 2015

But now they that are younger than I have me in derision

http://youtu.be/NK8VWcw8BOM “The Science is in!”
Would you like to read James McNaught’s novel Sinking Sand”? click here: Sinking Sand
(The views expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)
Job 30:1–14, “But now they that are younger than I have me in derision, whose fathers I would have disdained to have set with the dogs of my flock. Yea, whereto might the strength of their hands profit me, in whom old age was perished? For want and famine they were solitary; fleeing into the wilderness in former time desolate and waste. Who cut up mallows by the bushes, and juniper roots for their meat. They were driven forth from among men, (they cried after them as after a thief;) To dwell in the clifts of the valleys, in caves of the earth, and in the rocks. Among the bushes they brayed; under the nettles they were gathered together. They were children of fools, yea, children of base men: they were viler than the earth. And now am I their song, yea, I am their byword. They abhor me, they flee far from me, and spare not to spit in my face. Because he hath loosed my cord, and afflicted me, they have also let loose the bridle before me. Upon my right hand rise the youth; they push away my feet, and they raise up against me the ways of their destruction. They mar my path, they set forward my calamity, they have no helper. They came upon me as a wide breaking in of waters: in the desolation they rolled themselves upon me.”

Job finished looking back and started to consider his current position. While he had been highly respected before and people were willing to listen to his opinion now everyone treated him as though he were an outcast. Even people who had been forced out of society because they were unable to live peacefully among normal people treated Job with disdain. They even sang songs about him that made him seem like an evil man. Young people pushed him out of the way and stopped him from doing what he wanted to do.

I shall die in my nest

http://youtu.be/NK8VWcw8BOM “The Science is in!”
Would you like to read James McNaught’s novel Sinking Sand”? click here: Sinking Sand
(The views expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)
Job 29:18–25, “Then I said, I shall die in my nest, and I shall multiply my days as the sand. My root was spread out by the waters, and the dew lay all night upon my branch. My glory was fresh in me, and my bow was renewed in my hand. Unto me men gave ear, and waited, and kept silence at my counsel. After my words they spake not again; and my speech dropped upon them. And they waited for me as for the rain; and they opened their mouth wide as for the latter rain. If I laughed on them, they believed it not; and the light of my countenance they cast not down. I chose out their way, and sat chief, and dwelt as a king in the army, as one that comforteth the mourners.”

Job continued to look back at his life. Before he suffered his setback everything seemed fine to him and he thought that nothing would ever change. He was satisfied with his life and was treated with respect wherever he went. Everyone treated him with respect and he comforted others even though no one wanted to really comfort him now.

Tuesday, April 7, 2015

When I went out to the gate

http://youtu.be/NK8VWcw8BOM “The Science is in!”
Would you like to read James McNaught’s novel Sinking Sand”? click here: Sinking Sand
(The views expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)
Job 29:7–17, “When I went out to the gate through the city, when I prepared my seat in the street! The young men saw me, and hid themselves: and the aged arose, and stood up. The princes refrained talking, and laid their hand on their mouth. The nobles held their peace, and their tongue cleaved to the roof of their mouth. When the ear heard me, then it blessed me; and when the eye saw me, it gave witness to me: Because I delivered the poor that cried, and the fatherless, and him that had none to help him. The blessing of him that was ready to perish came upon me: and I caused the widow’s heart to sing for joy. I put on righteousness, and it clothed me: my judgment was as a robe and a diadem. I was eyes to the blind, and feet was I to the lame. I was a father to the poor: and the cause which I knew not I searched out. And I brake the jaws of the wicked, and plucked the spoil out of his teeth.”

Job remembered the time before he was under attack. He was highly respected in his community and everyone treated him with respect. He was the first to help people who were in need or those who were helpless. He was the one to defend the poor, the widow and the orphan against their enemies but now those people were telling him that he was wrong.

Oh that I were as in months past

http://youtu.be/NK8VWcw8BOM “The Science is in!”
Would you like to read James McNaught’s novel Sinking Sand”? click here: Sinking Sand
(The views expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)
Job 29:1–6, “Moreover Job continued his parable, and said, Oh that I were as in months past, as in the days when God preserved me; When his candle shined upon my head, and when by his light I walked through darkness; As I was in the days of my youth, when the secret of God was upon my tabernacle; When the Almighty was yet with me, when my children were about me; When I washed my steps with butter, and the rock poured me out rivers of oil;”

Job longed to go back to the good times that he knew before he suffered his serious setback. He wanted to get back to the time when the Lord blessed him day by day. The Lord had kept him for many years but now he was in trouble and longed to be relieved of all these problems and the hardship he was suffering. Anyone who goes through really hard times longs to get back to the time when things were much better.

Monday, April 6, 2015

Whence then cometh wisdom?

http://youtu.be/NK8VWcw8BOM “The Science is in!”
Would you like to read James McNaught’s novel Sinking Sand”? click here: Sinking Sand
(The views expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)
Job 28:20–28, “Whence then cometh wisdom? and where is the place of understanding? Seeing it is hid from the eyes of all living, and kept close from the fowls of the air. Destruction and death say, We have heard the fame thereof with our ears. God understandeth the way thereof, and he knoweth the place thereof. For he looketh to the ends of the earth, and seeth under the whole heaven; To make the weight for the winds; and he weigheth the waters by measure. When he made a decree for the rain, and a way for the lightning of the thunder: Then did he see it, and declare it; he prepared it, yea, and searched it out. And unto man he said, Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding.”

If wisdom is so rare and precious then, where does it come from, how can a person find it? If it is kept secret from the animals and the birds and even death doesn’t know it source, who can understand wisdom? Wisdom belongs to God, comes from God and only God really understands it. God, in His wisdom, created the earth and continues to the constant recycling of matter that allows the earth to continue. He knows how much water there is and the amount of the other resources as well. If a person wants to find wisdom then he should depart from evil and fear the Lord instead.