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When challenged to write about Job, I have to admit that I had a difficult time coming to grips with the task.  I felt for years that the Lord would eventually challenge me. When He finally did I knew that it was He that was calling me, and also, that I could not and would not write a word without hearing from Him for sure.

There are most likely millions of writings and commentaries about Job that have been written for centuries.  I have read a few on the web, and while they are very helpful to a point, it just seemed like something was missing.  I had heard an audio series back in 1992 on Job from Malcolm Smith, [1] which was very good and anointed.  In 2005 I purchased this series again, and it is still anointed and probably the best I have studied yet.  Many of the ideas in this booklet are from Dr. Smith's teachings.  However, I felt like God wanted to reveal something else.

 

 

First Printing Spring 2007

 Version 1.2
 Spring 2008 

Copyright © 2005 by Larry Chkoreff

Published by International School of the Bible (ISOB), Marietta, Georgia, U.S.A.

  

For information on reproducing this book contact ISOB at: 

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The ISOB web site is www.isob-bible.org.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture  quotations are taken from the New King James Version Bible Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc..  When quoted by verse with numbers, the original quote marks were left in place without editing.

Forward

When challenged to write about Job, I have to admit that I had a difficult time coming to grips with the task.  I felt for years that the Lord would eventually challenge me. When He finally did I knew that it was He that was calling me, and also, that I could not and would not write a word without hearing from Him for sure.

There are most likely millions of writings and commentaries about Job that have been written for centuries.  I have read a few on the web, and while they are very helpful to a point, it just seemed like something was missing.  I had heard an audio series back in 1992 on Job from Malcolm Smith, [1] which was very good and anointed.  In 2005 I purchased this series again, and it is still anointed and probably the best I have studied yet.  Many of the ideas in this booklet are from Dr. Smith's teachings.  However, I felt like God wanted to reveal something else.

In this short booklet about Job, I wish to point out that in no way do I claim to have any sort of "total understanding" about the life of Job and his journey with God.  When the created being attempts to comprehend his Creator, there will always be something missing.  I do believe however as we walk and talk with the Lord that He will progressively show us new things that we can apply in our own lives and share with others.  Having said that, I wish to state first that I subscribe to Job 42:3, which says, "Things too wonderful for me to try to understand."  I think that we need to approach Job this way.  However, I do believe that as we ask the Lord to show us His mysteries, as He deems them to be valuable I do believe that He will reveal many "wonderful" things to us, but perhaps not all.

Job's Journey

People, for centuries have asked the question, "Why do the righteous suffer?"

Why did Job suffer?  Many have attempted to come up with formulas about how to live or not live, and formulas about the character of God, so that they may have a neat and tidy doctrine by which to live a "safe life."

Job has several sub issues, many truths, that are not the ultimate TRUTH.  These are worth exploring, but if we explore them without first having the TRUTH, then we are missing God's purpose for the Book of Job.

I submit that there are many issues that result from God's dealings with Job.  However God has put on my heart something beyond the theology of why do the righteous suffer, and what was the cause and affect of Job's suffering, or how he  could have avoided it.  We are not gong to hit that head on like many commentators.  I hesitate to try to "explain" things.

I understand that Job is one of the ancient writings of Scripture, a primitive book.

I believe that God wanted to settle something in the beginning of Scripture; something very elementary about His dealings with man.

I submit that Job is a shadow and a reflection of mankind, yes of you and me.

I believe that what God was after in Job and in all of us is the important issue on which to focus.  That bottom line truth I submit is, God wants to replace "you" with "Him in you." One of my favorite authors, Watchman Nee, said in one of his books, "We cannot please God, but Christ has to replace us." Christ in us the hope of glory!

Quote from Oswald Chambers' book My Utmost for His Highest.

"The opposition of the natural"

"And those who are Christ's have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires" (Galatians 5:24). The natural life itself is not sinful. But we must abandon sin, having nothing to do with it in any way whatsoever. Sin belongs to hell and to the devil. I, as a child of God, belong to heaven and to God. It is not a question of giving up sin, but of giving up my right to myself, my natural independence, and my self-will. This is where the battle has to be fought. The things that are right, noble, and good from the natural standpoint are the very things that keep us from being God's best.

Once we come to understand that natural moral excellence opposes or counteracts surrender to God, we bring our soul into the center of its greatest battle. Very few of us would debate over what is filthy, evil, and wrong, but we do debate over what is good. It is the good that opposes the best. The higher up the scale of moral excellence a person goes, the more intense the opposition to Jesus Christ. "Those who are Christ's have crucified the flesh . . . ."  The cost to your natural life is not just one or two things, but everything. Jesus said, "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself. . ." (Matthew 16:24)  That is, he must deny his right to himself, and he must realize who Jesus Christ is before he will bring himself to do it. Beware of refusing to go to the funeral of your own independence.  The natural life is not spiritual, and it can only be made spiritual through sacrifice. If we do not purposely sacrifice the natural, the supernatural can never become natural to us. There is no high or easy road. Each of us has the means to accomplish it entirely in his own hands. It is not a question of praying, but of sacrificing, and thereby performing His will.

As we get into the Scriptures, I will make comments as they progress.

Job 1:1-22,

"1 There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was blameless and upright, and one who feared God and shunned evil.

2 And seven sons and three daughters were born to him.

3 Also, his possessions were seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen, five hundred female donkeys, and a very large household, so that this man was the greatest of all the people of the East.

4 And his sons would go and feast in their houses, each on his appointed day, and would send and invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them.

Apparently Job had been extremely successful as a businessman and as a man of character.