- Job 5:17: “Blessed is the man whom God corrects; so do not despise the discipline of the Almighty.” [El Shaddai]
- Job 6:4: “The arrows of the Almighty [El Shaddai] are in me, my spirit drinks in their poison; God’s terrors are marshaled against me.”
- Job 6:14: “A despairing man should have the devotion of his friends, even though he forsakes the fear of the Almighty.” [El Shaddai] Job is doing a “push-back” here, as he wonders why his friends are so tough on him and so quick to judge. Have you noticed how when someone is down, others tend to pile on?
- In Job 13:3, Job tells his buddies that he is going directly to El Shaddai with his concerns, and that he doesn’t need them to needlessly needle him: “But I desire to speak to the Almighty [El Shaddai] and to argue my case with God.”
- In Job 22:25, one of his friends seems to finally get it: “Surely you will find delight in the Almighty.” [El Shaddai]
- Job wants desperately to hear from God and so he cries out in Job 31:35: “Oh, that I had someone to hear me! I sign now my defense-let the Almighty [El Shaddai] answer me.”
Job begged God to answer his questions. He desperately wanted to know why all these bad things were happening to him. God answered him, but the answer was not what Job expected. Instead of giving a direct response, God gave His longest speech in the entire Bible in chapters 38-41. He asks Job questions like, “Where were you when I established the heavens and the earth? Can you place the stars in the sky? Do you give the horse his strength or clothe his neck with a flowing mane? Will the one who contends with the Almighty [El Shaddai] correct Him?”
Sometimes we blast away at God when we’re broken. When we come with that kind of attitude God asks the same question to us that he asked Job in Job 40:8: “Would you condemn me to justify yourself?” Job, after getting a theology lesson, broke down and said in 42:3, 5: “Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know...My ears had heard of you, but now my eyes have seen you...therefore I repent in dust and ashes.” God is in the business of fixing broken people. He is enough when we don’t have enough. El Shaddai is more than adequate when we feel totally inadequate.
Ultimately the only answer God gave to Job was Himself. It was if El Shaddai said to him, “Job, I am your answer. Learn who I am. When you know me, you’ll know how to handle anything.” Job wasn’t asked to trust a plan but a person -- a personal God who is in ultimate control and knows what is best for us. This has been called the first rule of the
- Job 5:17: “Blessed is the man whom God corrects; so do not despise the discipline of the Almighty.” [El Shaddai]
- Job 6:4: “The arrows of the Almighty [El Shaddai] are in me, my spirit drinks in their poison; God’s terrors are marshaled against me.”
- Job 6:14: “A despairing man should have the devotion of his friends, even though he forsakes the fear of the Almighty.” [El Shaddai] Job is doing a “push-back” here, as he wonders why his friends are so tough on him and so quick to judge. Have you noticed how when someone is down, others tend to pile on?
- In Job 13:3, Job tells his buddies that he is going directly to El Shaddai with his concerns, and that he doesn’t need them to needlessly needle him: “But I desire to speak to the Almighty [El Shaddai] and to argue my case with God.”
- In Job 22:25, one of his friends seems to finally get it: “Surely you will find delight in the Almighty.” [El Shaddai]
- Job wants desperately to hear from God and so he cries out in Job 31:35: “Oh, that I had someone to hear me! I sign now my defense-let the Almighty [El Shaddai] answer me.”
Job begged God to answer his questions. He desperately wanted to know why all these bad things were happening to him. God answered him, but the answer was not what Job expected. Instead of giving a direct response, God gave His longest speech in the entire Bible in chapters 38-41. He asks Job questions like, “Where were you when I established the heavens and the earth? Can you place the stars in the sky? Do you give the horse his strength or clothe his neck with a flowing mane? Will the one who contends with the Almighty [El Shaddai] correct Him?”
Sometimes we blast away at God when we’re broken. When we come with that kind of attitude God asks the same question to us that he asked Job in Job 40:8: “Would you condemn me to justify yourself?” Job, after getting a theology lesson, broke down and said in 42:3, 5: “Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know...My ears had heard of you, but now my eyes have seen you...therefore I repent in dust and ashes.” God is in the business of fixing broken people. He is enough when we don’t have enough. El Shaddai is more than adequate when we feel totally inadequate.
Ultimately the only answer God gave to Job was Himself. It was if El Shaddai said to him, “Job, I am your answer. Learn who I am. When you know me, you’ll know how to handle anything.” Job wasn’t asked to trust a plan but a person -- a personal God who is in ultimate control and knows what is best for us. This has been called the first rule of the