But railing against human wickedness and natural phenomena does nothing to allay sorrow. Job could have pointed to the wicked men who killed his servants (Job 1:13–15, 17) or to the natural disasters that killed his sheep and his children (verses 16, 18–19). There is great comfort and hope in Job’s perspective that it was the Lord who had taken away his family and possessions. And God is the ruler in the lives of men, sovereign over what comes to us and what is taken away. All good things come from God (see James 1:17). Job’s statement that “the LORD gave me what I had, and the LORD has taken it away” (NLT) is full of good theology. Many people focus only on the second part of Job’s statement: “The LORD has taken away.” In so doing, they miss the godly perspective that Job had even in his extreme sorrow, Job recognized God’s gifts: “The LORD gave,” he says. Some versions have translated it as directly referring to what happened to Job, such as the ESV, which says, “The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away.” Other versions translate the verse as a more universal statement about what the Lord always does, such as “The LORD gives, and the LORD takes away” (NET). There are different ways to translate Job 1:21. All that he ever had was a gift, and God is sovereign over those gifts. Basically, Job is saying that he came into the world with nothing and will leave the same way when he dies (cf. Blessed be the name of the LORD” (verse 21, NASB). The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away. He then said, “Naked I came from my mother's womb, And naked I shall return there. Ask God to examine your heart and life for hidden idolatry.Despite Job’s immense loss and suffering in losing everything, including his children and livestock, he rightly praised God as “he fell to the ground in worship” (Job 1:20). We can bow down before many of our own gods. Meyer wrote, “Are you sure this is not a true description of your own position? You pay an outward deference to God by attending his house, and acknowledging his day, whilst you are really prostrating yourself before other shrines.” Others might look at them and think, “that is someone who fears the Lord.” Despite all that, they serve their own gods.Ĭharles Spurgeon said this in 1876: “Is not worldly piety, or pious worldliness, the current religion of England? They live among godly people, and God chastens them, and they therefore fear him, but not enough to give their hearts to him.” What Spurgeon said of England is true of many more nations. – This accurately describes common religious belief in the modern world – today.ĭon’t you know many people like this? They give some respect to God, and maybe even attend church. – This accurately described the Kingdom of Israel before they were conquered and exiled. – This accurately described the pagan newcomers who re-populated Israel. Yet they also served their own gods and picked and chose among religious and spiritual beliefs as it pleased them. They gave a measure of respect to the God of Israel – after all, they did not want to be eaten by lions. This described the pagan peoples that the Assyrians brought in to populate the area of the Northern Kingdom of Israel. He did not teach it because, coming from Israel, he did not believe it.ġ Kings 17:33 says it well: They feared the LORD, yet served their own gods. Not completely.ġ Kings 17:29 says that “ every nation continued to make gods of its own.” The priest-for-hire brought in by the Assyrians did not tell the new inhabitants of the land that they must only worship the LORD God of Israel. The newcomers did what the priest told them to do – in part. So, the Assyrians sent a priest from among the Israelites removed from the land, sending him to teach the newcomers about the LORD. The LORD, Yahweh, the covenant God of Israel, sent His judgment against these newcomers for their idolatry. Then they brought in the conquered from other lands, to re-populate the now empty land of Israel.īut these foreign newcomers to the land of Israel didn’t honor the God of Israel. The Assyrians forced them to relocate to other parts of the empire. God brought His judgment against the kingdom of Israel – the ten northern tribes – through the army of Assyria. They feared the LORD, yet served their own gods - according to the rituals of the nations from among whom they were carried away. So they feared the LORD, and from every class they appointed for themselves priests of the high places, who sacrificed for them in the shrines of the high places.
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