Monday, January 25, 2016

Questioning God – Job 24

 Job 24 1 Why doesn’t the Almighty bring the wicked to judgment?  Why must the godly wait for him in vain? Evil people steal land by moving the boundary markers.  They steal livestock and put them in their own pastures. They take the orphan’s donkey and demand the widow’s ox as security for a loan.The poor are pushed off the path; the needy must hide together for safety. Like wild donkeys in the wilderness, the poor must spend all their time looking for food, searching even in the desert for food for their children.
They harvest a field they do not own, and they glean in the vineyards of the wicked. All night they lie naked in the cold, without clothing or covering.
They are soaked by mountain showers, and they huddle against the rocks for want of a home. “The wicked snatch a widow’s child from her breast, taking the baby as security for a loan. 10 The poor must go about naked, without any clothing. They harvest food for others while they themselves are starving. 11 They press out olive oil without being allowed to taste it, and they tread in the winepress as they suffer from thirst. 12 The groans of the dying rise from the city, and the wounded cry for help, yet God ignores their moaning. 13 “Wicked people rebel against the light. They refuse to acknowledge its ways or stay in its paths. 14 The murderer rises in the early dawn to kill the poor and needy; at night he is a thief. 15 The adulterer waits for the twilight, saying, ‘No one will see me then.’ He hides his face so no one will know him. 16 Thieves break into houses at night and sleep in the daytime.  They are not acquainted with the light. 17 The black night is their morning. They ally themselves with the terrors of the darkness. 18 “But they disappear like foam down a river. Everything they own is cursed, and they are afraid to enter their own vineyards. 19 The grave[a] consumes sinners just as drought and heat consume snow. 20 Their own mothers will forget them.  Maggots will find them sweet to eat. No one will remember them. Wicked people are broken like a tree in the storm. 21 They cheat the woman who has no son to help her. They refuse to help the needy widow. 22 “God, in his power, drags away the rich. They may rise high, but they have no assurance of life. 23 They may be allowed to live in security, but God is always watching them. 24 And though they are great now, in a moment they will be gone like all others, cut off like heads of grain. 25 Can anyone claim otherwise? Who can prove me wrong?”
Job 27:3 “As long as I live, while I have breath from God, my lips will speak no evil, and my tongue will speak no lies.


Have you ever said like Job?  I believe that truly speaking, we all have been somewhat to that point, where we question God and have our doubts about His presence in our lives for those challenging moments.  Or when we see injustice going like the wicked that snatched a widow’s child from her breast; when we see a homeless soaked by the rain, or lying out in the cold because he/she has no home to shelter. 

Although sometimes we can see clearly why things happened, like when people rebel against the LIGHT (God) refusing to acknowledge His ways and stay in HIS paths, other times we just have to question God, for the answer is unknown.  And no one better than God to explain to us the why’s and how’s of our doubts.
Job realizes things that are very common for us even today, like the murderer who preys on the poor and needy, and at night he is a thief; the adulterer who waits for the twilight to act, hiding his face so none recognizes him.  He recognizes that there are thieves that break into houses at night, we’ve heard about those in the TV.  Those are the ones we see around, after sleeping all morning, just walking around neighborhoods, like there’s no tomorrow, and we have no explanation to the question: “why is a grown man, just hanging out in the neighborhood in the middle of the day, does it not have a job or a school  to go to?” 

But after reflecting in these things Job recognizes that God in all His power is the One who “drags away” the rich; for no matter how loaded they are, they have no assurance of life.  Three chapters over, he continues his reflection by compromising himself that as long as he lives he will speak no evil or lies. And this is the result of meditating in God’s Words and His promises, because when we do, we will realize who is really in charge, and the One that REALLY can do something for us.

That’s my prayer for you today; that you get to meditate on God’s promises, in His Word and His ways, so afterward your heart be filled with hope and the expectation that only GOD can fill for you.  Try it for yourself and testify to the world what the Lord had showed you; I’m sure there’s someone out there that knows you, and is waiting to see what God had done for you in order for them to come to JESUS.  And that will count for you, and God will bless you!

God bless you, friends! Remember I'm praying for you!  


No comments: