“Seek Intently”

Scripture: Job 5:1-27

During this month, we have been considering some of the attributes, as well as the struggles that may be associated with each, that a Christian should strive to adhere to.
First, we discussed how important the gospel message is for each of our lives, and how it can remold us into the image of Christ.
The next step was one that leads us to trust in all that scripture and the Holy Spirit calls us to be as disciples of Jesus Christ. And last week, we considered the need to find joy in Christ, even as we are traveling though some difficult, and even oppressive, times in life.

Today, we consider God’s call on our lives to actually seek out the Lord and his ways, and not to simply sit back and wait for him to “show up”. Our test is from the book of Job, and the words come from one of his “friends” who tried to prove to Job that the torment and loss that he was experiencing was all because he had failed the Lord in some way.

This man, Eliphaz the Temanite, would be the first of 4 who would approach Job in an attempt to get him to confess whatever it was that he had done to “anger” God, and to repent of that sin. At first, he admits that Job had done a great many good things throughout his life, but then, his attitude changes, when he says "Who, being innocent, has ever perished? Where were the upright ever destroyed?” (Job 4:7) He was saying “Job, you must have done something wrong! Confess it and move on.” And later in chapter 4, and continuing through the beginning of chapter 5, he claims that he has received some secret message, presumably from the Lord, that condemns Job. (Job 4:12-21)

But even as Job sits there, listening to these words that actually have no relevance whatsoever to his life, he begins to hear words that he did need to hear, words that would strengthen his trust in the Lord, and would remind him to never give up seeking the Lord’s understanding for his life.

Read Job 5:8-16

So far, Eliphaz has been talking about the sinfulness that resides in the human spirit, and it is that very nature that causes us to travel far afield from the Lord’s presence. But now, he begins to focus on the divine nature, that which is far greater than our own, the one who is more capable to rescue us from sin than we can ever know, the one who will always stand ready to protect us from the wiles and ways of the wicked, and the only one who can expose the lies that the supposedly “wise” tell about us.

Eliphaz shares these thoughts with Job, presumably to bring his “disoriented and lost” friend back into God’s mercy and into the holy reality that still waits patiently for him. But for Job, I believe, it is more of a reinforcement of his lifelong belief that God has always been there for him. Job was a man who looked to the Lord for guidance in his life, and was constantly seeking him out for help in all aspects of his life.

Eliphaz is trying to call his afflicted friend back to the hope and promise of God, even though Job has never lost the divine hope that has sustained him throughout his life, and which would continue to see him through this time of torment.

Read Job 5:17-27

Eliphaz offers sage advice to Job, but we have to be careful about taking each of these situations literally. Instead, read verse 17 as the focus that the rest should be taken in. Does God actually wound us? No, but we are “wounded” in many different ways when we stop walking in the Lord’s way. And during those less than faithful times, the Lord allows us the leeway to give our own ways a try, and as we all know, our way never seems to work out as well as we had hoped! (Amen?)
And the troubles that we find ourselves in aren’t the Lord’s fault – they are the result of our own follies. God allows us to fail in life, while, at the same time, offering us the opportunity to get right with him once again - this is the Lord’s unique form of discipline.

Discipline, itself, is more than simply a form of punishment – it is the truest form of love, and most effective form of correction. The Lord wants us to understand just how destructive our personal planning and decision making really is. But even while we are making that discovery, he is still with us, holding out hope, prepared to welcome us back into the greatest way - the one that only exists in him.

When we are “wounded”, whether in physical, or emotional, or relational, or spiritual ways, he will bring healing to our brokenness - when we let him.
No matter how often we find ourselves immersed in misfortune and hardship, he will be there to rescue us - as soon as we come to his truth for our lives.
When starved for nourishment in our life, especially the spiritual and emotional kind, he is the Life that is offered in a generous and compassioned way – a way that we don’t always recognize as the answer for the issue we are dealing with.
When we are hated and verbally abused, he frees us from the fear of those attacks.

Whenever we look to him for guidance, we will experience the blessing and peace of all creation, and will come to know the divine assurance that is the source of all peace and comfort. Even the specter of death will become a sign of fulfillment in God’s presence, and our fear, and trembling, and that sense of finality will become thoughts that no longer exist within us.

And this may be the greatest aspect of healing that God can bring to our lives – that of destroying our fear and anxiety over the world’s painful ways. Job had that assurance and strength in his life, even in the face of all that Satan was bringing against him.

God is a power unlike anything else in all creation, and the abilities that Satan has, and the troubles that trust in the world can bring, are nothing compared to what the Lord is prepared to work on our behalf. God’s way isn’t one that eliminates all the trials and wickedness that come against us – his way is one of helping us to endure and survive those hardships.

In Isaiah 9:4 we read “.. you have shattered the yoke that burdens them, the bar across their shoulders, the rod of their oppressor.” This was written just 2 verses before the prophecy of Jesus’ birth (Isaiah 9:6-7), and Matthew 11:29-30 calls us to take on Christ’s yoke as a replacement for the world’s broken burden. So what does a yoke say to us who have never worked with a yoke, let alone have never even seen one!?

A yoke, as you may know, is a devise that harnesses animals, usually oxen, to a plow, or wagon, or some other heavy load. The Isaiah passage, then, is about our having to pull a burden that exceeds our strength and stamina. For Israel, it was about the slavery they experienced in Egypt, as well as the ways they had created when they denied God and began worshipping the idols and gods of Canaan.
But on the other hand, the yoke that Matthew was describing was connected to the same troublesome earthly burdens, but it was no longer our own weakness that was subjected to the terrible loads of life. It was God’s plan for humanity that allows us to be yoked with Christ by faith, to be paired up with the One who can carry all burdens, but who will help us with the ones that we are saddled with. And as Matthew 11:30 tells us, “For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

It is ours to seek the faith that is sufficient to overcome all of our problems - that by faith in Jesus Christ, the effect that the burdens of life can have on us will be reduced to nothing more than minor inconveniences! Christ doesn’t destroy our problems, but by faith and trust in him, they will be lighted to the point that we can easily deal with them. Philippians 4:13 – “I can do all things through him who gives me strength.”

This may possibly be our greatest obligation when we choose to be a disciple of Jesus Christ. Seeking and understanding his ways, seeking his truths for our life, seeking the living path that God has created for us, seeking and receiving the yoke that Christ has prepared for us and is already wearing in great anticipation of our arrival.

And we must always remember that the first move toward a relationship is ours. In Matthew 7:7-12, Jesus tells us that if we “Ask”, we will receive, if we “seek”, we will find it, and if we “knock” at the door of his presence, he will lovingly open it for us and welcome us in. But in every instance, we are the ones who must first ask, and seek, and knock.
And then, we can let him break the yoke that the world has placed on our shoulders, and invite him to remove it, piece by piece, until we are truly free of that burdensome influence.

Are you ready to be free in Christ, or does the world’s yoke still have a death grip on your life? Jesus is the answer, you know.