With Whom Will You Be Counted Among Part 3

JOB

“There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job, and that man was blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil.” The Lord Himself spoke of Job to Satan saying, "Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil?" Job was the kind of person that carnal minded people would say did not deserve any evil or misfortune in his life because of how good of an individual, father, husband citizen and role model of society he was. But God doesn't think, see or judge like men. "For the LORD sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart.”

When Satan said to God, "Does Job fear God for no reason? Have you not put a hedge around him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. But stretch out your hand and touch all that he has, and he will curse you to your face.”…the LORD said to Satan, "Behold, all that he has is in your hand. Only against him do not stretch out your hand." God used Satan to rob Job of his wealth and to kill Job’s animals, servants and children. And what was Job’s response to the evil God sent onto him?

“Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head and fell on the ground and worshiped. And he said, "Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD." In all this Job did not sin or charge God with wrong.”

Again Satan came before God, “and the LORD said to Satan, "Have you considered My servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil? He still holds fast his integrity, although you incited Me against him to destroy him without reason." Then Satan answered the LORD and said, "Skin for skin! All that a man has he will give for his life. But stretch out your hand and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse you to your face." And the LORD said to Satan, "Behold, he is in your hand; only spare his life." So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD and struck Job with loathsome sores from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head. And he took a piece of broken pottery with which to scrape himself while he sat in the ashes. Then Job’s wife said to him, "Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and

die." But he said to her, "You speak as one of the foolish women would speak. Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?" In all this Job did not sin with his lips.”

Even though the Lord God Himself described Job as “blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil”, the Lord still had some things to teach Job and some work to do in him. The Lord taught Job that he Job was the created...and that He God was the all wise, all purposing, all just, all powerful and all knowing Creator. The Lord had to cleanse, refine, conform and perfect Job in accordance to His will and purpose for Job's life. The Lord accomplished all this through the needed discipline and counsel He afflicted Job with. At the end of Job’s tribulations and after being confronted and questioned by God, this “blameless and upright” man, “who feared God and turned away from evil” said these last words to the Lord…

"I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted..."

"Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know."

"I had heard of you by the

hearing of the ear,

but now my eye sees you;

therefore I despise myself,

and repent in dust and ashes."

"And the LORD restored Job...And the LORD gave Job twice as much as he had before...And the LORD blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning."

And the word of the LORD came to me: "Son of man, when a land sins against me by acting faithlessly, and I stretch out my hand against it, even if these three men; Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they would deliver but their own lives by their righteousness, declares the Lord GOD.”

..............................................................................................

So that’s a look at Noah, Daniel and Job…now to us…now to you…

When the Lord brings evil onto us, onto you… and your family, community, town, city, nation and your world as you know it...

through Satan...wicked men, pestilence, famine, sword, beast, earthquakes, tsunamis, tornadoes, floods or however He determines it…

for He has asked, "Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that good and evil come?" Lam 3:38

...and He has said," I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things." Isaiah 45:7

Therefore when the Lord visits, will you be counted among the remnant, the few Noahs, Daniels and Jobs that “would deliver but their own lives by their righteousness”?

Or will you be counted among their many sons and daughters, and wives and husbands, and friends and family that would not be delivered becuase of their unrighteousness?

With whom will you be counted among?

Will you be counted among the few Noahs, Daniels and Jobs that will remain in land or the many that will be cut off from it?

It is written “For the upright will inhabit the land, and those with integrity will remain in it, the blameless will be spared. But the wicked will be cut off from the land, and the treacherous will be rooted out of it.”

And “The righteous will never be removed, but the wicked will not dwell in the land.”

With God, “mercy triumphs over judgment”. But how can there be mercy when there is no repentance?

"O LORD, I have heard the

report of you, and your work,

O LORD, do I fear. In the

midst of the years revive it;

in the midst of the years

make it known; in wrath

remember mercy."

Give ear you righteous ones that have fallen into sin!!...

Give ear you sinners that have not turned to righteousness!!…

"And behold, the LORD

passed by, and a great and

strong wind tore the

mountains and broke in

pieces the rocks before the

LORD, but the LORD was not

in the wind. And after the

wind an earthquake, but the

LORD was not in the

earthquake. And after the

earthquake a fire, but the

LORD was not in the fire. And

after the fire.....

the sound of

a low...

whisper.

“When you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts.”!!!

With whom will you be counted among???