Job 36a

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They've almost wore each other out. And then Elihu comes in. And in a sense, he's a fresh voice.
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But at the same time, he has a better understanding of things at times than his friends,
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Job's friends, did. And even in that sense, partially of Job. And so he's trying to act as a mediator, as an umpire.
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Remember, that was Job's great desire, right? Job's desire was that somebody, and we've read that in,
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I think it was chapter 9, where Job really just wanted somebody to help him to understand the situation that he found himself in.
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And Elihu comes closer. But then again, ultimately, it isn't until God comes that there will be better understanding.
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And even in that, ultimately, Job is blessed by God. And then he has to continue on.
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So chapter 36. Good morning, brother. Elihu also proceeded and said, bear with me a little, and I will show you that there are yet words to speak on God's behalf.
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I will fetch my knowledge from afar. I will ascribe righteousness to my maker.
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For truly, my words are not false, and one who is perfect in knowledge is with you.
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Behold, God is mighty, but despises no one. He is mighty in strength of understanding.
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He does not preserve the life of the wicked, but gives justice to the oppressed. He does not withdraw his eyes from the righteous, but they are on the throne with kings.
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For he has seated them forever, and they are exalted. And if they are bound in fetters, and held in the cords of affliction, then he tells them their work and their transgression, that they have acted defiantly.
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He also opens their ear to instruction, and commands that they turn from iniquity.
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And if they obey and serve him, they shall spend their days in prosperity, and their years in pleasure.
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But if they do not obey, they shall perish by the sword, and they shall die without knowledge.
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But the hypocrites in heart store up wrath. They do not cry for help when he binds them.
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They die in youth, and their life ends among the perverted persons. And he delivers the poor in their affliction, and opens their ears in oppression.
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Indeed, he would have brought you out of dire distress into a broad place where there is no restraint.
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And what is set on your table would be full of riches, but you are filled with the judgment due to the wicked.
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Judgment and justice takes hold of you. Because there is wrath, beware, lest he take you away with one blow, for a large ransom would not help you avoid it.
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Will your riches or all the mighty forces keep you from distress? Do not desire the night when people are cut off in their place.
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Take heed, do not turn to iniquity, for you have chosen this rather than affliction.
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Behold, God is exalted by his power. Who teaches like him? Who has assigned him his way?
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Who has said you have done wrong? Remember to magnify his work on which men have sung.
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Everyone has seen it, man looks on it from afar. Behold, God is great. We do not know him, nor can the number of his years be discovered, for he draws up drops of water which distill his rain from the mist, which the clouds drop down and pour abundantly on men.
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Indeed, can anyone understand the spreading of the clouds, the thunder from his canopy?
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Look, he scatters the light upon it and covers the depths of the sea. By these he judges the people.
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He gives food in abundance. He covers his hands with lightning and commands it to strike.
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His thunder declares it, the cattle also concerning, the rising storm. And so, as Elihu continues, and just a couple of thoughts, he seems to be dealing with, trying to deal with both
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Job and his friends at the same time and pointing out to them their, whether you want to call them flaws or their misunderstanding.
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But nevertheless, he's seeking to be objective. And I know we've talked about this.
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It's important for us to try to be objective because I think it's easier and it's more dangerous when you're subjective.
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Agree, disagree, understand objective versus subjective, okay, so if you come with, if you already come with preconceived thoughts, well, then you're really gonna be subjective.
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If you come and you just wanna listen to, if you will, the facts and then make a judgment, well, then you would be more objective.
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And so, certainly, I say that even in the realm of how we handle one another.
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In other words, we should always be those who seek to be desirous not to make a presupposition, not to make a prejudgment, not to make, have something already set in our mind because then it's very difficult to break.
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Sir? What about the things that we know that are absolutely true in the Bible and they're not up for debate?
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Is that subjective or objective? No, I don't, I, I, Or does that not apply?
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Yeah, I think we're talking about two different things, at least in my understanding of it. So, in other words, take it in the sense of an arbitrator.
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Okay, now, there's certain facts that an arbitrator knows and whether it's he knows the rules that are in place for settlements or whatnot, so in that sense, facts are very, facts are not the same as the arbitrator coming and already saying, you know what,
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I know so -and -so is a creep and I know this other one is, isn't, or they appear to be the agitator in it, so I'm already partially siding with the other side.
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So I don't think, it's got nothing to do with facts in that sense, but it's got to do with, again, us coming with prenotions.
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And it follows what James says. I think maybe that's the example we could look at, where someone comes in, they got the three -piece suit on, and what do we say to them?
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Sit up front. Other dude comes in and he's not looking too good, looks a little shabby, and so what do we say?
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Get to the back. And again, we've already made a prejudgment, we've already come, and so Elihu's seeking to be more objective, and that's why he says in the first couple of verses, right?
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Elihu also proceeded and said, bear with me a little and I will show you that there are yet words to speak on God's behalf.
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And I will fetch my knowledge from afar, and I will ascribe righteousness to my maker for truly my words are not false, and one who, the end of verse four gets me a little bit.
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Truly my words are not false, and one who is perfect in knowledge is with you. Now, I thought about his friends, and to me his friends were a little bit arrogant, if you think about it, because they already had said, what was their main thesis, if you will, about Job?
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He was wicked, and he was getting what he deserved, right? What was
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Job's main thesis? I have sought to live for God and serve
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God, and yet God is still hunting me down, because he used that word, that God was hunting him. But I do think in these opening verses, this is me now, my understanding, verse four to me, maybe you don't agree, almost sounds a little arrogant on the part of Elihu, where he says, my words are not false, and one who is perfect in knowledge is with you.
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Anybody have a different translation than the New King James, because I didn't look it up. Anybody read the
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Ants B? Says same thing? Yeah. New Living Translation says,
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I am telling you nothing but the truth, for I am a man of great knowledge. Yeah, and that's probably true.
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I do think he has a good understanding of things. We read that in chapter 35, didn't we?
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When he said, remember we spent the time last week, we talked about God's essential glory, and God's manifested glory, and that nothing that we can do, nothing we do can either add to God or take away from God.
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God doesn't increase, God doesn't decrease. And we talked even about impassibility, that God, in that sense, does not suffer from the outside in, like us.
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We certainly are moved in many ways. But it does seem a little bit arrogant to me that he would say that in that way.
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But again, I remember now, he's been listening to all this conversation all along.
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I don't know how long this took, by the way. I've not seen anything or read anything about how long
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Job's suffering went on. I don't think it was a week. I think it was an extended period of time.
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And this conversation, I don't think they sat down and had this whole conversation all at once.
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This was over a period of time. And remember, there's other people who have taken part in this.
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And Elijah's been sitting there, and maybe he's not being arrogant, maybe he's just frustrated.
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Like, I've been listening to you all along, and listen, I'm gonna set this,
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I'll clear this up for you. Maybe he's saying it that way, I'm not sure. But nevertheless, he still has a good understanding of it, and let's just walk through the verses and see how it kind of unfolds.
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So he says that in verses one through four, and again, I think he's talking to both of them, but at times he seems to have more emphasis on Job, and over time, more emphasis on the friends.
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But nevertheless, this is read five and six, it says, behold, God is mighty, but despises no one.
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He is mighty in strength of understanding. He does not preserve the life of the wicked, but gives justice to the oppressed.
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So I wanna just stop there for a minute and ask us to think about a couple of things. Is that true? What he says in verse, particularly in verse six, he does not preserve the life of the wicked, but gives justice to the oppressed.
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True or not true? Okay. But it doesn't always take place right away, does it?
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Look, in other words, God is mighty, but despises no one.
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So in that sense, is God partial? Does God show partiality? No, and even
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James says God's not partial. But at the same time, there are certain truths, and that's the truths of God's character and his person that is always before him.
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Yet he bases his dealings with men strictly upon what they do.
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Now, a couple of things. Is that a teaching that would promote salvation by works?
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Look, in other words, if God beholds and looks and sees the actions of men and judges according to the actions of men, is that a teaching that would support salvation by works?
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Like, in other words, if a man does good, he will prosper. And if a man does evil, he will suffer.
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Is that true? It will, it will. Yeah, I mean, it's a truism, right?
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And it's based on the fact that God is right in all his ways and holy in all his works, and God never changes.
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And even as he says, God is mighty, but despises no one. But also ask us to think this.
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What he says in verse six does not always immediately take place, does it?
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And that's the confusing part. And that's where I think part of Job's issue enters in.
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In other words, Job has said that he was, Job never said he was sinless, right?
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But he said he was, he maintained his integrity, that he served God. And yet,
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Job is in the midst of almost what is taking place in the second part of verse six, that he gives justice to the oppressed, but he doesn't preserve the life of the wicked.
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In other words, Job is suffering, and he can't figure out why he's suffering. And we've talked about this a number of times, not only in Job, but throughout all of our thinking together, that the prosperity and the judgment do not always display themselves in a, almost like in an immediate way, right?
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Because there are many people who are as wicked as wicked could be, and it seems like no matter what they do, they never fall into judgment, right?
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And then there are people who are seeking to please God, seeking to follow
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God, seeking to serve him, and it seems like everything that they do falls apart. And so again, when he says this, and that he doesn't preserve the life of the wicked, that's not always the case.
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He does many times preserve the life of the wicked, doesn't he? At least for a period. So I guess what I'm trying to say is, we have to look at things in the big picture, right?
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We have a tendency, well, I'll use myself, I have a tendency to fall suspect or subject to what's happening today, right?
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In other words, what's right in front of me? Am I having a good day?
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Am I having a bad day, right? And that, sometimes we almost allow that to determine our relationship with God.
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Now again, maybe it's just me, so I mean, I don't wanna accuse you. Do you not think at times that you're having a better day than others?
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And it might truly be having a better day as others. I think Larry had said a couple weeks ago, you fall off the roof, right?
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That was not a good day, no. I mean, I went fishing yesterday.
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I was excited about having a good day. I caught one fish. I didn't think it was that good a day.
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And it's really strange, cause I fight the, I fight at times when
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I'm fishing, saying to Lord, Lord, can't I just catch a big fish?
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It's almost like, well, can you bring a couple my way? If you,
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I really love you, Lord. Catch your net on the other side of the boat. Yeah, I know.
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And even down at the beach yesterday, anyway, I don't wanna go through the whole story, but we went down to Little Talbot Island, had a little bit of a fishing gathering.
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It was two or 300 guys there. Everybody had six poles each in the water, whatever it was.
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And we couldn't catch nothing. And some guy walked by and he said, the guy down at the other end, not too far away from us, maybe a quarter mile, he had already maxed out on reds and drums.
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And the other guy that was a little further north, he had maxed out on pompano, and he had these huge pompano.
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And I'm thinking, Lord, what did I do wrong? Yeah. Oh, I thought you said something.
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The wrong bait. No, no, no, no. I mean, everything was the same. Don't get any started.
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Yeah, don't get me started. But when you think about it, the reality is that God does not preserve the life of the wicked, but he gives justice to the oppressed.
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But that needs to be understood in the realm of our whole life, and then on out afterlife, versus just, if you will, a pinpoint in our life.
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Because if you start doing it that way, again, you fall into the trap of thinking, what did
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I do wrong? Or asking God for things that you ought not to ask for. I mean,
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I'm not saying you shouldn't ask God to catch a fish, but it shouldn't be like,
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Lord, you should give me this fish, right? Because that's a different subject.
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But I would have been happy if he did. I just wanted to get that in. But anyway, think about that.
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So he makes that statement, and again, he exalts God in verse five.
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God is mighty, but despises no one. Pretty much what Elihu has been stating is that God is, if you will, the great other.
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He's outside of the realm of man in that way, and he doesn't preserve the life of the wicked.
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He does give justice to the oppressed. And in verse seven, he does not withdraw his eyes from the righteous, but they are on the throne with kings, for he has seated them forever, and they are exalted.
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Now, that's pretty cool, if you think about it. If you put that in a
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New Testament understanding, a New Covenant understanding, and yet he says that at this point in time, that God does not withdraw his eyes from the righteous, but they are on the throne with kings.
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And you think about what the New Testament and the New Covenant brings us, and what
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Paul says, like in Philippians, remember what he says in Philippians? Where are we seated? Paul says we're seated in heavenly places.
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Doesn't that, the New Testament say, our citizenship is where? Says our citizenship is in heaven.
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So if you think about it, and again, this is that same truth of whether we're gonna look at things as points, or we're gonna look at it in totality.
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Are we not reigning with Christ now? Everybody do this, okay.
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Does everybody think they're reigning with Christ now? And then sometimes I wind up doing this.
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Because again, what are we dealing with? We're dealing with life's issues, and when life's issues come, they have a way at times to tarnish or cloud the reality that if God be for us, who could be against us?
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And again, this is really what Job is struggling with in a great way is he can't understand why
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God is after him. And he says that, and there's one point, and I don't remember exactly which chapter it was, where he says, basically,
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God, get off my back. Stop hunting me down. And I know that we've,
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I think I could say this and be pretty well spot on.
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Every one of us go through bouts where we think that everything is against us, or a lot is against us, or we're getting piled on.
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And then what does that lead us to? To think, well, God, what are you doing? It was funny, because Steve, who used to come to this study, and wasn't too long ago, he said that to us, and he said it to a couple of other people.
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He had, he was borrowing his father's car, and he rear -ended someone else and totaled out his father's car.
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And he was struggling at work, and he was having all kinds of issues. And he came up to me one day and said, hey, brother, how you doing?
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And he said, I'm having a Job event. So when you think about it, do we not all at times think we're having a
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Job event? And the reality is, if you read what he says here in verse seven,
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God never withdraws his eyes from the righteous. They are on the throne with kings, and he has seated them forever.
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There's many scriptures that we could use to help us understand it, like in 2 Chronicles, it says, for the eyes of the
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Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, beholding the good and the evil.
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And if you think about it, remember what it says in Isaiah, it's Isaiah 49, where God says,
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I've written your name, where? On the palms of my hands. And then of course, what it says specifically in the
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New Testament, I will not leave you, nor will I forsake you. And so when you think about that, and you think about what he's saying in relationship to God and the relationship that God has with his people, you and I should be able to take great comfort from this, that he does not withdraw his eyes from the righteous, but they are on the throne with kings, and he's exalted.
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He has seated them there forever, and they are exalted. But the negative is also true, isn't it?
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In other words, God's eyes are on the wicked too. So again,
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God is mighty, and God sees it all, and God knows it all.
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And does God ever forget? No. It says
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God is not on, God is righteous, and he doesn't forget. God never forgets.
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God forgives, but God never forgets. So people who think, in either setting, whether you're righteous or not.
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Let's just, let me see if I can find that verse. Go to Hebrews six for a minute. I think it's worth looking at.
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Hebrews six. I believe this is where it is.
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I could be wrong. Yeah, there it is.
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In Hebrews six, let's just read it from verse nine. Hebrews six, nine says, but beloved, we are confident of better things concerning you.
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He was talking about falling away. Yes, things that accompany salvation, though we speak in this manner.
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Look, for God is not unjust to forget your work and labor of love, which you have shown towards his name.
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And how is that demonstrated? In that you have ministered to the saints and do minister.
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And we desire that each would show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope until the end.
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Now, I don't wanna go off what we're talking about this morning, but that verse 10 is pretty powerful, right?
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How is it that God sees our labor? Well, in a great way, it's how we minister to the saints.
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That puts a lot of responsibility on us, doesn't it? I mean, it's not just a matter of I don't do this and I don't do that,
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I don't drink, I don't steal, all those I don'ts, but a lot of what is important for us is to understand it's not always what
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I don't do, it's also what I do do, or what I don't do, which
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I should do, right? Again, and so when you think about it, and that reality of that God does not withdraw his eyes, and those are pretty powerful words, and you and I should take them seriously, that God sees us in public,
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God sees us in private, God knows the thoughts and intents of our hearts, God says,
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I know the things that you think even before you think them, I mean, you know, friends, you and I would just think about the character of God, it blows our minds of how, not only how big he is, and not only how infinite he is, but how intimate he is, and then there's a lot of scriptures that support that, right?
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I know that very hairs on your head, although there's less hairs on the head, with some of us than others, but God knows them, he sees them, and he doesn't forget that, and so you and I ought to keep that present in our mind, that whether we're having a good day or a bad day,
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God sees us, right? And that God is not gonna forget us in that what we do to please him, but at the same time,
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God's not gonna forget what we do to rebel against him, and many, many people, wouldn't you agree, many, many people think that's the very thing that's gonna save them, that either
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God doesn't see them in their sin, or God's gonna forget it, and God does neither of those, he always sees, and he never forgets.
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So he continues on, and he says, and then verse eight, and this is where I think we could spend a minute or so thinking.
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It says, if they are bound in fetters, held with cords of affliction, then he tells them their work and their transgression, that they have acted defiantly.
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He also opens their ear to destruction, and commands that they turn from iniquity.
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Then look what he says, if they obey and serve him, they shall spend their days in prosperity, and their years in pleasure, but if they do not obey, they shall perish by the sword and shall die without knowledge.
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And again, going back to that same thing we said before, and also, and we've done this a number of times, and this, everybody doesn't always agree, certainly a lot of people don't agree with what
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I say, at times, but I want to ask you to think about this. Punish and chasten, are those identical?
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Barry, you kind of did one of those. No? What would you say would be the difference, bro?
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Chasten is discipline. Okay, so we would say that this is, I'll sit back with this.
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I don't even know if I'm supposed to. We know what it means. Okay, and this is, what would you say this is,
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Barry? Yeah, or, in that sense, now, like I said, a lot of people don't agree with my thinking on this, but I think there's a distinct difference how
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God treats, I would say, in many ways, this is for the unbeliever, let's just put it that way, and that this is for the believer, that God, how could
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God, how could God cast judgment on us if our judgment was put on Christ?
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Remember what it says in Hebrews? Whom he loves, he also, what? Chastens. For our good.
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There's a distinction, I think there's a distinction between punishment and chastening. I mean, yeah, between punishment and chastening, and what he's saying here, what
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Elihu is saying is, okay, let's just say you are following God, or let's just say, although you're following God, you move away from following God, and I think that's what he's actually accusing
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Job of, in part. He's really saying, Job, you should have never said the things that you said about God, because Job has said some bad stuff, and Job's not spotless, he's not, and I think what he's saying here, this is how
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God deals. He, at times, opens our ears for instruction, chastens, if you will, punishes, and again, this is not always an eternal judgment, but the unbeliever is being judged for his life in rebellion, right, with the end of what, what's the end of that?
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Well, certainly, God doesn't take any pleasure in the death of the wicked, right, that's what it says, but that the wicked would do what?
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Turn, look unto the meeting from all the ends of the earth and be saved. So if God is chastening us, if I understand this correctly, if they obey him, in verse 11, they shall spend their days in prosperity.
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Now, again, within the big picture of things, but God deals with his children differently than he deals with unbelievers.
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I hope we understand, I hope we agree with that, that there is a distinction to be made.
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Again, for whom the Lord loves, he chastens, and then we can get into a discussion, although I don't really want to.
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Does God love everybody? Does God love everybody?
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Please raise your hand so we don't get confused with everybody speaking at the same time. Does God love everybody?
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Well, does it depend on how you define love? In what way does
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God love everybody? Would you agree with me that God does love everybody? Yeah, exactly,
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Jackie, right? It's like, it depends how you understand love, right? If it is that we're saying
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God loves us because we're made in his image, then God indeed loves everybody, right? We're his creatures, he takes care of us.
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He feeds, he sends rain on the, who? The just and the unjust. Is that not an act of love and compassion?
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Yes, so God does love everybody, and people will say that, well, God loves us all, we're all
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God's children. Are we all God's children? No, no. Does that mean that God doesn't love those that don't love him?
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God does show great compassion and kindness and mercy. But there's a distinction to be made in that God loves his own in a very special way, right?
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Because he loves them in Christ. See, that's what it says. It says, what shall separate us from the love of God, which is where?
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Which is in Christ. So there's a distinction in love between being in Christ and out of Christ.
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And as Elihu's talking, I think what he's saying is, listen, in one sense, it doesn't matter where you are.
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If you turn, you will prosper. Would we not say if the unbeliever turns, he prospers?
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Will we not say if the believer is chastened by God and he turns, will he not prosper? Absolutely.
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Another distinction is, at times, the judgment is passed out or passed out by God.
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This one, God never gives up on us. Now, does that mean that at times he doesn't take
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Christians' lives because they refuse to follow? Remember what it says even about the
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Lord's Supper, right? We say it every Sunday. Because you didn't take it in a worthy manner, some of you are what?
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Sick. It says even some of you fall asleep. So there's a reality.
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And I think what he's trying to say is, listen, God is objective. God deals with us according to the way in which we live our lives.
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And if we will listen to instruction and the commandments, then we will prosper.
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And our years will be lived in pleasure. But if we don't obey, they shall perish by the sword and they shall die without knowledge.
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Let's just see if we can get any, a little bit further. But look at verse 10. Can I say something real quick? Yeah, yeah, brother. So since we don't know who
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God's elect are, right? And since he's sovereign and he knows who he's gonna choose, right?
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Could we see that maybe there's a chasing happening to people that we think that are unsaved but because we don't know?
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Yeah, absolutely, yeah. I mean, because God is seeking to turn them from their wicked way to serve him, right?
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The only thing I would say, and again, this is my understanding, is it's still an act of judgment.
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But in other words, the unbeliever can't please God, can he?
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Says the natural man, he cannot please God. That doesn't mean that God doesn't do acts of kindness, acts of mercy and acts of instruction to turn them so that they can please him.
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So yeah, I would absolutely agree. And again, the thought is, how shall we treat this group?
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Any different than this group? Not really, not with the gospel.
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But in other words, isn't that the story of the good Samaritan? Priest walked across the street.
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With the good Samaritans, the guy was the one who helped the guy. So I would agree to that, brother, as long as we understand that the wrath of God abides on the unbeliever, right?
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God desires that that wrath would turn into relational love.
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But for this group, God never ceases to deal with us in a loving kindness way, right?
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And again, God has no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked way. Does that answer it a little bit?
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Okay, look at verse 13. And then he makes this contrast. But the hypocrite in heart stores up wrath.
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Listen, God is good. He sends rain on the just and the unjust. God is kind,
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God is patient, God is compassionate. But guess what? God's mercy runs out here.
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God's mercy never runs out here. And if you continue the course that you're on, what is he saying?
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The hypocrite in heart, he stores up wrath and they don't cry for help when he binds them and they die in youth and their life ends among the perverted persons.
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Again, I think he's drawing this contrast of what we've just been thinking about. But if you will, he delivers the poor in their affliction and opens their ears in oppression.
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Indeed, he would have brought you out of dire distress. I think he's talking specifically a joke.
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Into a broad place where there is no restraint and what is set on your table will be full of riches, but you're filled with the judgment due to the wicked judgment and justice take hold of you.
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We should be always willing to see other people prosper.
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Agree? Whether we understand what's going on behind the curtain or not, our instruction is to love all men.
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But I do think there is a special kind of love that we ought to. I think that's what he said in Hebrews six, unless I misunderstood it.
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He said, God is not unrighteous, forget your labor of love. And what was the labor of love? That you minister to the saints.
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It's interesting that he uses that wording, right? Minister to the saints. Remember Matthew 25, when
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Jesus said, when he welcomed people into the kingdom and they couldn't understand how he said they had visit, they had visited him and they came to his aid when he was sick and they came to prison when he was cast into prison.
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And remember what he said, as much as you did it to who? The least of my disciples, you did it to me.
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There's this very special relationship between the people of God. And we ought to be very careful about it.
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And again, if I had time, I would go back to first Corinthians 11 about the
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Lord's supper. I believe that discerning when it says, if you don't deserve the
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Lord's body correctly, or you take it in an unworthy manner, is what it says.
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I think there's a great emphasis that we do not take the body of Christ right.
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Not necessarily just him, but his people. And if you read it in that context of first Corinthians 11, remember what the problem was?
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Some of them came early. Some of them got drunk. Some of them ate all the good food and they didn't wait for the other people to come.
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They just took care of themselves. I think that there is at least partial understanding that taking the
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Lord's supper in an unworthy manner means not handling the people of God correctly. Not just, did
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I sin this week? And again, I'm not trying to undermine that. And that's why
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I think let every man examine himself. How have I handled what opportunities
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I had to minister to God? And how do I minister to God? In a great way, I minister to God through ministering to his people.
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Brother? I think it's important to note, you were talking earlier about sometimes we feel closer to God than others and go through ups and downs.
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God's word says that if we draw nigh to him, he'll draw nigh to us. So we have a responsibility,
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I believe, to do that. So I think in that way, if we examine, even if it's on a day -to -day basis, you were talking about how we feel that day or whatever, are we drawing nigh?
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Are we drawing, what is our walk like? Yeah, I mean, self -examination is drawing nigh to God.
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If we're doing it in the right way, right? Many people will self -examine themselves and come away with a wrong thought.
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But yeah, I mean, I go back to my silly fishing thing. There's been times where I've said,
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Lord, I've been praying for five minutes, don't you think it's time to catch a big fish? And you can laugh at me all you want, but you do it too.
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You might not do it with fish, but you do it. There are times when we say, Lord, I'm drawing nigh to you, but you're not, apparently you're not listening or you're not drawing nigh to me.
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And again, in the situations of life, that's why I said to be careful about pinpoints of events, take it in the launch pitcher.
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And so. Sometimes we can't just, a lot of people do this, right?
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When they get in trouble or they're in some kind of desperate situation, they'll draw nigh or turn to God or whatever.
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And all they're really doing is rubbing the belly and thinking that they're gonna get some kind of blessing because they're in this certain situation at this time.
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And my saying like to, it doesn't matter who it is, is time will tell. Time will tell.
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Always, time will tell. Yep, it's, again, Christianity, true
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Christianity is the long haul, not the short haul, right? And many people, just like that saying goes, there's no atheists in foxholes, right?
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And how many people have cried out to God when they jammed up, only to forget God when they're not jammed, right?
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And so, again, we need to think about these things and we'll finish the chapter next week and get into chapter 37.
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But again, I'll just leave you with this thought. If we will just read, there are differences between the
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Old Testament and the New Testament, right? Absolutely. There are things that we don't carry over, like taking people out and stoning them to death.
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But there is so much in God's word. And I do think this is where Job has a lot of practical teaching for us.
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And although it's repetitive, I think if we will stop and drill down into what's being said, that there's a lot of merit and a lot of worth in it.
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So, all right, Brother Gary, why don't you close us out and we'll be on. Dear Heavenly Father, we come to you today.