Job 16:19-21

19 "Even now my witness is in heaven; my advocate is on high.

20 My intercessor is my friend as my eyes pour out tears to God;
21 on behalf of a man he pleads with God as one pleads for a friend.

I don't know about you, but the moment that I read this, I think of 1 John 1:21 where John reminds us that Jesus is our advocate before the Father, defending us, advocating for us, and again in John 14:26, where John reminds us that the Holy Spirit is our advocate, reminding us of Jesus words.   Could it be that Job knew of Christ, or was this just a prophetic understanding that there is a heavenly advocate who is advocating on our behalf, pleading our case before God?  Many theologians believe that this was a prophetic word about Christ.  

The good news is that you and I have an advocate, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit and their functions of advocacy are different:

• Job (Job 16:19) refers to a heavenly advocate who will testify to his innocence against false accusations.

• Jesus Christ: Identified as the "advocate with the Father" (1 John 2:1), representing believers in the heavenly court.

• Holy Spirit: Described in Greek as the Paraclete—one called to one's side to help, comfort, or defend.  Reminding us of Jesus' words "Advocating Revelation," exposing the words of Christ to you and I

That we are not alone in this situation called life, be at the highest of highs, or our lowest of lows, we have Christ and the Holy Spirit advocating for us. This is a powerful truth knowing that Jesus is advocating, pleading our case in the Heavenly court before the Lord, and we have an earthly advocate, the Holy Spirit, who is reminding us of Jesus' words, that we might live them out..

Lord, let us not ever lose hope, knowing that we are not alone in this life, that we have you working on our behalf, advocating for us, pleading our case before the Father in heaven, destroying the arguments of the enemy, and an advocate here the Holy Spirit reminding us of your words, helping us live for you, we praise you in Jesus' name, Amen! 

Job 12:15

If he holds back the waters, there is drought; if he lets them loose, they devastate the land.

One of the major themes throughout Job is that God is Sovereign.  As Job tries to understand his suffering and expresses his frustration with it, yet he still concludes that God is good and He is in control, and that He has the power to change any situation.  It all goes back to Job's statement in chapter 1, verse 21: "Blessed be the Name of the Lord."  God is good no matter if life is bad or good, or stalled, be it happy or sad, or indifferent, when it rains or shines, God is still good.

The application here is that no matter where you are, what you are going through, if it is a difficult time, then like Job, you can tell God, you can even be mad about it, you can tell God of your frustration.   But in all things, in view of His Sovereignty, we should see that God is GOOD, no matter the place we find ourselves in.   

Remember this: 

The place I am in right now is because:

1. Choice I have made (what I sow)
2. Circumstances outside my control.
3. The result of other people's choices/influence.
4. The plans I make.
5. Blindspots in my life.
6. Self-Sabotage
7. Risk 

Most of these give us the "why" in why we encounter good and bad.  But in all this God is still good, and merciful, and gracious, "Blessed be the name of the Lord."

Lord, always as we read through Job, we may ask this question, "Why?"  But in the end, we must conclude as Job did in the beginning of His trial that you are still Good even when life is Bad.  Like Romans 8:28 you are working even the bad things out for my good. May we all overcome our struggles, our tests, our difficult times and be victorious, be people who trust you, who walk through them with you, may we rejoice in the good times, and in the bad, the highs and the lows, may we find comfort in your sovereignty, in Jesus name, Amen!

Scripture:

Job 8:11-13

11 "Can papyrus grow tall where there is no marsh? Can reeds thrive without water?
12 While still growing and uncut, they wither more quickly than grass.
13 Such is the destiny of all who forget God; so perishes the hope of the godless."

Bildad the Shuhite tells Job and reminds us that life without God is not "LIFE."   That is, if we cut ourselves off from the "SOURCE," then it quickly becomes evident. I love that he gives the example of reeds, which, although they seem to be growing on the outside, wither and die quickly once they have been removed from the source.  This metaphor is to remind you and I how much we need the Lord in our lives, that our lives to begin to suffer, we open ourselves to the enemy who only seeks to kill, steal, and destroy, which means the good in our lives quickly is removed. Things begin to die, our hope, our peace, our sense of direction.  Isaiah said it in Isaiah 40:31 "But those who trust in the LORD will find new strength."   David said in Psalm 23:1 "The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing." 

When God is my Source:

• I Find New Strength
• I Won't Get Weary
• I Won't Become Faint
• I Will Lack Nothing 

The application is simple here; don't lose your connection to the source of everything that is life.  We need the Lord; we need to seek Him while He may be found, as the word tells us.  We need to trust and put our trust in Him because He will never disappoint.  This is just as true in both good times and bad.

Lord, help us to not lose sight of our great need for you, let our hearts be near you and our eyes seek you, may our desire to be in your presence, to seek your face, to worship you with all that we have, to trust you with abandon, to lean on your understanding, to be connected to the source of our life, in Jesus' name, Amen!

Scripture:

Job 1:21

21 and said:
“Naked I came from my mother’s womb,
    and naked I will depart.[a]
The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away;
    may the name of the Lord be praised.”

There is a saying that "Everything comes out in the wash."   Meaning that when you and I are tested, the real stuff comes out, it is in how we respond.   Another saying: "What we do when no one is looking, that is what defines you." I say all that to say it is easy to praise God in the midst of good things, when life is going well, when everything fits, or is going right.   It is easy to lift your hands on the mountain tops, but what about in the low places, the valleys? Job reminds us that God is still good even in the low places, the tough times, the rough spots. He is still good, and He is still watching over our lives. He is just as good as He was on the mountain tops. 

"Blessed be the name of the Lord." 

Learning to praise no matter where life has you is the takeaway here.  Seeing God as good no matter what stage you are in, God is not the author of your trouble, but rather with you in it, walking through it, seeing you to the other side.   The application is to praise Him no matter the circumstance you find yourself in.

Lord, I praise you, you are worthy of praise on my highest days and my lowest days. I pray that we would always declare the goodness of our God, that we would trust you on the mountain tops and in the valleys in Jesus' name, Amen!

Genesis 11:6

6 The Lord said, “If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them.

"Potential," we as a church have the greatest amount of potential when we are united, speaking the same language: "Jesus."  There is nothing we cannot do "together,"  notice God's language, "if one people."  That means that when we put our differences aside and become unified in our purpose, our pursuit that nothing is impossible, when we speak the same language.  This is the same thing stated in Acts 2, having all things in common, that is, they pursued "Christ,"  if we keep Christ at the center of all we do, and are, then this commonality will be our strength.   

The application here is that our potential for greatness is not wrapped up in our single contribution, but rather our collective contribution; it is our unity that makes us great.  Whatever we decide to do “for the Kingdom” together will become possible; it is our potential together, focused on the right things, that makes us great.    The second thing is if our focus is not on our differences, but rather on what unifies us, “Christ,” then nothing can stop the Kingdom.

Lord, I pray that this year we will focus on that which draws us together, that is Christ, that our pursuit would take us places we never thought we would see, that together we would do great things for the Kingdom, in Jesus’ name, Amen!