Job's Confession & Restoration | Job 42 1—RESPONSE (Job 42:1–6)     A—RECOGNIZE God’s wonderful ways, power and purposes (v1–4)     B—RENEWED VISION (v5)     C—REPENTANCE (v6) 2—REBUKE and RECONCILIATION (Job 42:7–9) 3—RESTORATION (Job 42:10–17) And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. To him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen. (1 Peter 5:10–11 ..read more

“Tween Age” Pastor Ben shares about discipling late youth/early teens and how to connect well with them ..read more

God SPEAKS! And God CREATED it all and CONTROLS it all, even Behemoth and Leviathan. 1-The world is more terrifying and terrible than we think (Ephesians 6:12) and utterly beyond our control. But God is infinitely more aware of the suffering/injustice/wickedness in the world than we are. We can trust HIM 2- God is so much greater than we realize. We can trust HIM 3-Submit to God’s wise plan/purposes. Reflecting on God’s wise plan and purposes, even in light of our suffering, ought to move us to trust HIM more. 4-Trust HIM, even if you struggle to do so. He is good, wise, kind, trustworthy and ..read more

As we reach Job 32, we come to a turning point. After three cycles of argumentation, Job’s three friends—Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar—have finally run out of words. Job himself has offered his final rebuttal and a searching reflection on wisdom. He has grieved the loss of his days of sweet fellowship with God and man and grieved the stark reversal of his life. And in chapter 31 he has searched his own life and laid it bare before us and God as testament to the opening affirmation of his character: Job is “a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil.” In closing, he plead ..read more

In Job’s last testimony, he longingly gazes at the past where he and those under his care flourished under the friendship of God. He bitterly glares at the present where he seems to be suffering the judgment of God, and he hopefully glimpses the future where he boldly approaches God like a prince, robed in righteousness and crowned with justice. In Jesus, we have a righteousness greater than Job’s! So when we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, we too should boldly robe ourselves in Jesus’ righteousness and approach God like a princess, fully persuaded that he will embrace us ..read more

In these chapters we see that the all-wise Creator God does not disclose all his ways to his creatures (Job 28:23). His wisdom is hidden from view, as a cloudy sky keeps us from seeing the stars. But the limits of our perspective do not limit God’s wisdom, justice, or goodness. And Job knows God, even though he doesn’t know why he suffers so.  And the apparent contradiction of Job’s life provides us with a pattern that Jesus Christ fills up in the fullness of time. Job’s suffering points us to the wisdom of God revealed at the cross of Christ. The Almighty planned for the Son of God—the o ..read more

As we study Job's conversations and musings in this particular part of the book, we find him growing in hope and confidence that God will hear and vindicate him (23:6–7, 10); we discover a man who treasures God and his Words above great wealth and fine feasts (23:11–12); and we see a godly man grappling with his own inability to fully comprehend the transcendent God (26). But we also find a man who is pained by doubts. He fears God’s purposes for him (23:13–16), and he wavers in trusting God’s justice (24:1, 12). But for all his hopes and doubts, Job is exemplary, teaching us to suffer with st ..read more

In Round 2 (Job 15–21) of the speech dialogues, we saw highlights of hope and lowlights of despair, how these chapters point to Jesus, our Redeemer and the living hope HE offers. Because our Redeemer ever lives and intercedes for us, he will be that witness who stands up for us, pleading on our behalf, testifying that we have HIS righteousness when we are IN him. He is our advocate! Job longed for vindication- and that day WILL come for believers, even if not in this life. Trust in our steadfast Redeemer ..read more

Job seeks God with his whole heart despite the many obstacles Satan plants in his path. Grief and pain obscure the way while slanderous friends darken it with poor counsel. But even in the storm of his deep trial, Job stumbles (as it might seem to our human perspective) on some deep truths about his big God—truths such as: God ordains suffering for the righteous, man needs an arbiter between him and God, and most profoundly, the truth of the resurrection from the dead ..read more

The lament that Job offers up in Job 3 can be divided into two sections by noting the parallelism in the Hebrew poetry. The first section is marked by the repetition of the word “let” throughout (verses 3-10), and the second section is marked by the repetition of the word “Why” (v.11-26). The “Let” section functions as a curse in retrospect that mourns Job’s birth; the “Why” section mourns that God has not taken Job’s life ..read more