Monday, April 13, 2015

If I have made gold my hope

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 31:24–32, “If I have made gold my hope, or have said to the fine gold, Thou art my confidence; If I rejoiced because my wealth was great, and because mine hand had gotten much; If I beheld the sun when it shined, or the moon walking in brightness; And my heart hath been secretly enticed, or my mouth hath kissed my hand: This also were an iniquity to be punished by the judge: for I should have denied the God that is above. If I rejoiced at the destruction of him that hated me, or lifted up myself when evil found him: Neither have I suffered my mouth to sin by wishing a curse to his soul. If the men of my tabernacle said not, Oh that we had of his flesh! we cannot be satisfied. The stranger did not lodge in the street: but I opened my doors to the traveller.”

Job continued to discuss his own attitudes and desires from life. He didn’t covet great wealth and he didn’t secretly sin against other people. He cared for the poor, the needy and the stranger. He certainly wasn’t the kind of man to take advantage of other people or bring harm to them.

Friday, April 10, 2015

If I have withheld the poor from their desire

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 31:16–23, “If I have withheld the poor from their desire, or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail; Or have eaten my morsel myself alone, and the fatherless hath not eaten thereof; (For from my youth he was brought up with me, as with a father, and I have guided her from my mother’s womb;) If I have seen any perish for want of clothing, or any poor without covering; If his loins have not blessed me, and if he were not warmed with the fleece of my sheep; If I have lifted up my hand against the fatherless, when I saw my help in the gate: Then let mine arm fall from my shoulder blade, and mine arm be broken from the bone. For destruction from God was a terror to me, and by reason of his highness I could not endure.”

Job continued to list the sort of sins that would deserve such suffering as his and called on anyone to show him where he had done any of these things. He had a holy fear of the Lord and chose not to provoke the Lord no matter what happened to him.

If mine heart have been deceived by a woman

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 31:9–15, “If mine heart have been deceived by a woman, or if I have laid wait at my neighbour’s door; Then let my wife grind unto another, and let others bow down upon her. For this is an heinous crime; yea, it is an iniquity to be punished by the judges. For it is a fire that consumeth to destruction, and would root out all mine increase. If I did despise the cause of my manservant or of my maidservant, when they contended with me; What then shall I do when God riseth up? and when he visiteth, what shall I answer him? Did not he that made me in the womb make him? and did not one fashion us in the womb?”

Job continued with his complaint concerning his current situation. He called out to other people to show that he had, in fact, sinned against the Lord or against another person. If someone could show that he had done this then he would willingly submit to the torments he was suffering.

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.