Walking on the wings of the wind

In Job 26, Job, answering Bildad, makes some statements about what his understanding of creation is.

Verses 5-6 read: [5] Dead things are formed from under the waters, and the inhabitants thereof.

[6] Hell is naked before him, and destruction hath no covering.

“Notice the connection with water and dead things under the water?” asks Jordan. “There’s some people living under the water and Hell is under the water. Destruction, or those things connected with dead people and hell, are underneath the water.

“Verse 7 says, [7] He stretcheth out the north over the empty place, and hangeth the earth upon nothing.

“There’s a place up there in the heavens that’s empty; it doesn’t have a bunch of inhabitants. This place is not given to anybody. It’s an empty field and above it is ‘the north.’ There is an absolute direction for the universe.

“Psalm 75 says, ‘[6] For promotion cometh neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the south.'

“You’ll notice a lot of these verses like this one are just kind of stuck in places. People say, ‘Well, why isn’t all this stuff just laid out for you—bop, bop, bop, bop, bop?’ Well, one reason is it would be kind of boring.

"Have you ever read a scientific textbook? Did you ever take Physics? Didn’t you just get a real thrill reading through the Physics textbook? Didn’t you just go home at night and want to read it again?!

“Did you know the easiest way to learn is as a corollary to some life experience? And if your Bible was written like a theological textbook . . . I’ve studied them for 30 years and I never saw a one—I’ve read dozens of them—that I thought was good reading again.

“I’d rather read a Tom Clancy or a Robert Ludlum novel any day than to read a theological textbook. It’s like choosing between ‘Gone with the Wind’ and an Encyclopedia Britannica. Which one you want to read, you know. Why would you want a Bible written like that? It’s written in a way to captivate your interest and cause you to learn because you keep reading and studying it!

“A preacher told me just the other day, ‘You know, I just get tired of studying.’ That’s something I never have done. I’ve been studying the Bible over 30 years. Just yesterday I spent about 15 hours studying. I was researching something and I turned the phone off and went to it.

“I study at least 20 hours a week and have the personal discipline to do that and I’m fairly busy in other things. It’s the one thing I do that NEVER has been a burden to me. Now, sometimes it’s frustrating—you don’t understand something—and sometime your old flesh says, ‘Boy, I’d sure like to not do that,’ and sometime I can’t read it—I got to get closer or put it away from me, but it’s wonderful to study it.

*****

“But getting back to ‘the north.’ You’re going to find these verses in strange little places and they’re just going to be dropped in. Little explanations, little statements dropped in because the Bible is written in such a way to assume that you’re going to read all of it and pay attention to the details, picking them up as you go along. It’s meant to be a treasure hunt.

“When Psalm 75:6 says, ‘For promotion cometh neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the south,’ do you see from the Book of Job how God is put in the place of the fourth direction? He does that because that’s where God is!

“The message is, ‘Look, promotion doesn’t come from the east, it doesn’t come from the west, it doesn’t come from the south—it comes from, only one direction left. But he doesn’t tell you the direction; he tells you WHO it comes from that lives there! It comes from ‘the north,’ but Job says it comes from God because God . . .

*****

“Now you understand God is omnipresent. That’s a theological term to try and describe the immensity of who God is. He is not limited by time or space. And yet you know, although God is everywhere, as theologians would say, you know He’s not everywhere in the same sense. You know if God the Holy Spirit indwells you as a Believer, He is in you, in communion with your spirit, in a sense in which He is not in an unsaved person.

“God isn’t limited by where He can be, but He chooses to manifest the glory of His person and His personality in certain places, and the place where He has chosen to manifest for His creation, the glory and the majesty of His person, is a place located in ‘the north.’

“So when I start Genesis 1, I’m going to need to know that there is a place that God calls 'north.' Anytime you get a map out, the first thing you need to do if you’re going to get directions is find the little arrow that is always pointing north. Why doesn’t it always point south, or east or west? That’s interesting but now you know.”

*****

In Bible commentary notes below Genesis 1:2 (‘And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters’), there’s commonly a reference given to Deuteronomy 32:11 (‘As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings’), because that’s where the other occurrence for the Hebrew word that is translated “move,” lies.

“When it says that thing about her fluttering over her young, the Hebrew word translated ‘flutter’ is the same word for ‘moved’ in Genesis 1:2,” explains Jordan. “So all the commentaries say, ‘See, the Spirit of God fluttered over the face of the deep.’ Now, did that help you understand something? Well, it never did me.

“I look that word up in the dictionary and I say, ‘Flutter? The Spirit of God fluttered? What’s He doing?! What does that mean?!’

“The commentaries never made any sense to me until one day I met up with a fellow, a farmer down in Alabama, who had chickens. You learn a lot from people who just know about life.

“I was asking him, ‘Doug, what in the world is a chicken doing when it’s fluttering?!’ He says, ‘Oh, that’s no problem; she’s roosting on her nest.’

“It’s not a bird off flying all around or soaring up; its when a bird tries to sit down on its nest and get settled in on it and kind of flutters around and gets its feathers all up and you don’t know what they’re doing and she’s trying to get her brood together and sit down on it.

“I went back and looked at that verse: ‘As an eagle stirreth up her nest.’ You know what she’s doing? She’s getting her family together; she’s putting her house in order and she’s going to settle down on her nest.

“I thought, ‘Oh, that’s what the Spirit of God was doing!’ When God began to move on the face of that water, He began to give some attention to this place. He was doing the same thing a bird does, not just flying willy-nilly around, but fluttering over the nest. The nest is your home.

“So immediately in Genesis, God’s doing something that’s going to relate to some place He’s going to call home. Now, here’s His home up (in the third heaven) but He’s doing something down here that is going to have something to do with His nest.

*****

“Psalm 104 is a Millennial psalm—a psalm about the Second Coming of Christ—when Christ comes, looks back and is able to praise God for what He’s done. He’s come down and is living—Emmanuel God living with us on the EARTH.

“Psalm 104: [1] Bless the LORD, O my soul. O LORD my God, thou art very great; thou art clothed with honour and majesty.
[2] Who coverest thyself with light as with a garment: who stretchest out the heavens like a curtain:

“He’s got His curtain up there and He blocks out His light. This thing in here is all dark because the curtain keeps the light out.

“Verse 3 says, [3] Who layeth the beams of his chambers in the waters: who maketh the clouds his chariot: who walketh upon the wings of the wind.

“Tell me something--what are God’s chambers? That’s a building; that’s where He lives! There’s a particular place on the earth that He created to dwell in. That place is known all through your Bible.

“Understand, when God created this stuff, the reason He created the earth was He was creating a place to put His house and to live on.

“He created it for the purpose of bringing His chambers down here to dwell on. So God, in six days, creates an environment on the earth suitable for His chambers--His palace, the mini-mansions--to exist.”

Even as thy soul prospereth . . .

People usually think of the word “prosperity” in the sense of money, but its Bible context is more about being successful.

When Joshua took the nation Israel into the Promised Land, for example, the word “prosperous” referred to their journey for the successful overtake of the land of Canaan.

Genesis 24:21 reads, “And the man wondering at her held his peace, to wit whether the LORD had made his journey prosperous or not.”

Jordan explains, “It’s a journey where he found the wife for the boy. It didn’t have anything to do with money. In fact, it’s going to cost him money. You know, it’s like Barney Google said, ‘When I was single my pockets did jingle.’ It wasn’t a matter of making money; it was a matter of fulfilling the job that he had.”

In the same context, the Apostle Paul talks about hoping for a prosperous journey in Romans 1:10.

“Now people say based upon that verse that when you’re traveling you should pray for ‘traveling mercies,’ ” says Jordan. “I had never heard that term until I moved to the Midwest.

“Paul thought a successful journey was one having some fruit among the people he ministered to. It had nothing to do with getting somewhere on time and not losing his baggage.

*****

"In the Old Testament under Moses, it was a good thing to be rich; it was a sign of God’s prosperity. But in the earthly ministry of Christ, it wasn’t a good thing at all to be rich.

“I’ve often wondered why it is all the ‘name-it-and-claim-it’ preachers want to talk about having this blood-bought covenant with God to make you rich and prosperous, but they never discuss Jesus’ teachings about money. Didn’t He say, ‘It is easier for a camel to go through a needle’s eye, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God’?

“In this same passage in Luke 18, Jesus urges, ‘Sell all that thou hast, and distribute unto the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, follow me.’

“We’re told in Matthew 19 that when the rich young ruler heard these things from Christ ‘he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions.’

“I would suggest that the ‘great possessions’ had the young man, too, because it says ‘he was very sorrowful’ (Luke 18:23). And when Jesus saw that he was very sorrowful, He said to His disciples, ‘How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God!’

“I have never yet heard one of the prosperity preachers, I don’t care who it is, quote Luke 18. They’ll quote that verse from III John 1:2 (‘Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth’) and tell you God will give you wealth, and make you prosper in your finances just like your spirit prospers in Christ, but there’s none of them who quotes that passage from Luke 18.

“Now you tell me, from Luke 18, it sounds kind of tough to be rich, doesn’t it? ‘It’s easier for a camel to go through a needle’s eye’? That’s an impossibility, isn’t it? That’s why all the new Bibles re-translate that to ‘the gate of the city’ and all that kind of stuff. . . so the guy can wiggle through. But, no, Christ is saying it’s impossible. It’s as impossible for a camel to go through a needle’s eye as it is for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of god.

“Well, if that’s true, and He said that to the Apostle John—John was one of the people who was standing there when Christ taught that—then do you think III John 1:2 is talking about money? Being rich in material things?”

“The doctrine in the verse says that your soul would prosper in Christ. In Christ, all spiritual blessings are yours upfront, and John says, ‘I pray that you would prosper in the material realm and in health, just like your soul prospers spiritually.’

*****

“In I Corinthians 16:2, Paul says the standard for a Believer’s giving is 'as God hath prospered him,' meaning, as God has given us material wealth, therefore we should give on that proportion; on that basis.

“The first thing a reader of III John must recognize is that it was the Apostle John who wrote it. In Galatians 2:9, we’re told that John, along with Peter and James, came to understand that Christ had given Paul a new and advanced revelation over what He’d given the apostles, and they, in turn, extended to Paul ‘the right hand of fellowship,’ recognizing the further disclosures in God’s plans revealed through him.

“They recognized that Paul had been given a new ministry, with a new message to a new agency of people—the Body of Christ—and that it was different from their kingdom ministry to the nation Israel.

“John, as an apostle of the circumcision, committed the uncircumcised over to Paul. If John stood here today, on the basis of Galatians 2:9, he’d tell you III John was written to the circumcision about Israel’s program, and God’s plan and purpose for the nation Israel, and that you shouldn’t try to steal their mail.

*****

“In I Corinthians 16:2, Paul is instructing the Corinthians about their giving to the ‘poor saints who were in Jerusalem,’ and was telling them they were to give systematically—‘as a man purposeth in his heart, let him give.’

“It was to be a thoughtful, determined kind of a thing, systematically. They were to give sacrificially. But they were also to give proportionately as God hath prospered them. That is, according to their sense of God’s goodness toward them.

“Now, how does God prosper us? How does He make us successful in material ways? There’s two ways. One is what I call the natural things. We read in I Timothy that He’s ‘given us all things to richly enjoy.’ God gave you creation, folks, to make you rich so that you can richly enjoy the bounty of creation.

“God has fixed a creation out here that provides for your needs whether you’re a believer or an unbeliever. Jesus said in Matthew 5 that He ‘causes the rain to fall on the just and the unjust alike.’

*****

“In I Timothy 6:17, Paul writes, “Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not highminded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy.”

“When he says ‘charge them that are rich,’ that means, ‘Put them under orders, those that are rich—those that abound, those who have financial prosperity and are rich in this world with physical things—that they be not high-minded.’ They’re not to look down at people who don’t have wealth nor trust in uncertain riches.

“People will tell you God gives them to you for certain if you do certain things, but Paul thought that wasn’t true.

“You remember in Deuteronomy 28 when God said, ‘I’m going to make you the head of the nations and not the tail. I’m going to make you prosper and everything you touch is going to turn to gold. You’re going to have the Midas touch and you’ll have more than you can spend.’

“God said, ‘I’m going to give you that money,’ and yet to the same people later on, in Jesus Christ’s ministry, He says, ‘It won’t be good for you to have any money because if you do, you’re going to miss the kingdom.’

“Do you understand why if you don’t ‘rightly divide the word of God’ you’re never going to get that straight? That’s God promise to Israel about the future abundance in her kingdom, but He said, ‘Right now, seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.’

“Israel had to find God’s righteousness before they were going to get the things God was going to give to them. You better be careful about quoting Matthew 6:33 yourself because, while it’s a good thing to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, you’ve got no guarantee that those things are going to be added unto you.

“In fact, the instructions to you (in this Dispensation of Grace) are, ‘Don’t expect them to be added—get a job!’ Go back to Matthew 6 and see that He told those people, ‘Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin.’

“There’s going to be a time in the future of the nation Israel, where in order to be a child of God you won’t take the ‘mark of the beast,’ and, as a result, you won’t be able to buy, sell, have a job, do anything.

“And God said, ‘When that time comes, Israel, I’ll take care of you; you don’t worry about it. You just trust me, and if you’ll seek me and my righteousness, you won’t need to worry; all that other stuff will be added to you.’ "

Tribulation exactly what you should want!

In Deuteronomy 28 is a theology of suffering you won’t hear preached. God gives Israel a list of 60-plus bad things He’ll let happen to them if they don’t keep their covenant with Him.

Among the pure misery promised the Jews: “If thou wilt not observe to do all the words of this law that are written in this book, that thou mayest fear this glorious and fearful name, THE LORD THY GOD;
[59] Then the LORD will make thy plagues wonderful, and the plagues of thy seed, even great plagues, and of long continuance, and sore sicknesses, and of long continuance.
[60] Moreover he will bring upon thee all the diseases of Egypt, which thou wast afraid of; and they shall cleave unto thee.
[61] Also every sickness, and every plague, which is not written in the book of this law, them will the LORD bring upon thee, until thou be destroyed.
[62] And ye shall be left few in number, whereas ye were as the stars of heaven for multitude; because thou wouldest not obey the voice of the LORD thy God.”

“That word ‘wonderful’ in the passage means something to wonder at, such as, ‘Man, how much sicker can we get?!’ ” explains Richard Jordan. “God promises, ‘I’ll smite you with the botch of Egypt.’ I'd just as soon not know what that is! He even promises every sickness and every plague which is not written. I mean, He’s going to give them all the ones that are written and then, ‘With the ones I didn’t put in, I’m going to give you those too! And ye shall be left few in number.’

“The trouble that came to Israel gave them an idea about God’s attitude toward them. He says, ‘If you’re not keeping my covenant and you get sick it’s because I made you sick! I’m going to put diseases on you and while you’re laid up in bed trying to recover, I’m going to let the Gentiles swoop in and steal your crops!’

“He says, ‘You’ll be too sick to go out and fight but, if you keep my covenant and a Gentile even pokes his head into your field, one errand boy with a stick can make a thousand of them flee!’

*****

“Health and wealthers” hate it when you remind them of Jesus’ famous saying, “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.”

As Jordan explains, “Israel was under the curse of those curses back there in Deuteronomy 28 and the wealthy people were violators of God’s Word while the poor people were God’s people. That’s why He said ‘sell all that you’ve got and give it to the poor and I’ll give you the blessings in the kingdom.’ Little different kind of economy than today, huh?

“Now, if you lived in that economy, or thought that’s where we are today, and you got sick, you would have to think, ‘God made me sick and is trying to teach me something through my suffering. He’s telling me I’m out of the will of God.’

*****

“Under today’s program, Paul says tribulation is designed to work patience and is actually the context for Believers to apply the Bible doctrine that gives them the capacity to gain experience. This is why unbelievers often don’t get why a loving God allows suffering.

“Tribulation will teach you that you better stay by the doctrine because that’s all that works. The only thing going to work in your life is who God’s made you in Christ, and when you stay with that, and you have that patience just to stay with the truth, you get some experience and that experience gives you hope.

“You know, I’ve asked myself this question many times: ‘Why would I want to know about all this information in Scripture if I never had a time in my life when I needed it and could see it live in me?’ And all of a sudden, when you think about it that way, the tribulation isn’t tribulation so much.

“The justice of God can give you peace, but it can’t give you patience. He can give you access, but He can’t give you experience. Patience comes from the experiences of life. You develop persistent fortitude; the unwavering endurance by just sticking with the Word.

“In Galatians 2:20, Paul says the only thing you’re ever going to learn in life, you’re just going to learn it at different, deeper levels, is, ‘I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.’ ”

In their heart rang a melody . . .

The other week I was rearranging storage boxes in my apartment when I inadvertently opened a box I thought was filled with LP stereo components of my dad’s, inherited after his death.  

Turns out the box contained a hodgepodge of really old family mementos, including an original blue cloth-bound and gold-stamped church hymnal published at 218 S. Wabash Ave., Chicago, in 1925. Inside the cover was a black-and-white photo of Billy Sunday with his signature and cursive writing of II Timothy 2:15.

Indeed, the second song of the book was one I’d never heard before, entitled Steal Away to Jesus. The lyrics are:

1.      Steal away to Jesus, to the secret place of prayer; Steal away to Jesus, for that fellowship so rare; He has tasted our life’s grief, He can give you full relief: Steal away to Jesus, His own peace will greet you there.

2.      Steal away to Jesus, sorrow-crowned His life has been; Steal away to Jesus, His blood covers ev-’ry sin; He has ever loved you so, there the peace of God you’ll know. Steal away to Jesus, healing grace you’ll have within.

3.      Steal away to Jesus, with the vexing cares that fret; Steal away to Jesus, where your trials you’ll forget; He your soul is ever near, to his heart your life is dear; Steal away to Jesus, where the banquet feast is set.

The song was written by Samuel M. Glasgow and considered a Scottish hymn by roots. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find its lyrics online, reminding me of how my pastor often laments that many of the great old hymns representing our Christian heritage have been all but lost. Younger generations have no idea they ever existed.

For me, someone tremendously blessed to have grown up with LP records of hymns playing in our home (and even on cassette for car excursions), the lyrics lend precious insights into the hearts of the writers; lyrics I often find so intimate and encouraging given their sincere relaying of personal struggles and shortcomings, godly desires and yearnings, victories and enlightenings, repentings and reprovings, on and on. It’s like you’re reading their love poems to Jesus Christ and God’s Word. Often their command of the King James Bible is readily apparent in the usage of verses and stories.

On page 10 of the song book, for example, is Jesus, Rose of Sharon, written by Ida A. Guirey in 1922. The lyrics include:

1.      Jesus, Rose of Sharon, bloom within my heart; Beauties of Thy truth and holiness impart, That where-e’er I go my life may shed abroad Fragrance of thy knowledge of the love of God.

2.      Jesus, Rose of Sharon, sweeter far to see That the fairest flow’rs of earth could ever be, Fill my life completely, adding more each day Of Thy grace divine and purity, I pray.

I thought for fun I would casually combine some great lines from a number of the songbook’s hymns, circa early 1900s, that I myself have never heard before. Here are some, taken as I flipped from page to page and then separated by ellipsis’:

“All my life was wrecked by sin and strife, Discord filled my heart with pain, Jesus swept across the broken strings, Stirred the slumb’ring chords again . . . O Savior Thou art patient still, Tho’ I have grieved Thee sore, Have slighted Thee, betrayed and Denied Thee o’er and o’er; Yet in Thy mercy wide and deep Thou hast not turned away . . .Sweet secret prayer, comfort divine, There do Thine arms, Lord, round me entwine, There do I feel I truly am Thine, Rivers of love and mercy there flow, Balm for all sorrow that mortal can know . . .  Dear Lord, take up the tangled strands, Where we have wrought in vain, That by the skill of Thy dear hands Some beauty may remain, Transformed by grace divine, The glory shall be Thine; To Thy most holy will, O Lord, We now our all resign . . . I left it all with Jesus, The myst’ry of my pain, The meaning of my sorrow—Some day He’ll make it plain, I left it all with Jesus, And now I am at rest, My all is in His keeping, And what He wills is best . . .

Go out on the streets and highways, Go out with the message of love; Go tell in the corners and byways, Of Jesus, the Friend from above, Go forth in the strength of the Master, Fear nothing, for He is your Guide; Go rescue their souls from disaster, The Savior will stand by your side, For he that is wise winneth souls . . .Work, for the night is coming, Work thro’ the morning hours; Work while the dew is sparkling, Work ’mid springing flow’rs; Give every flying minute Something to keep in store; Work, for the night is coming, When man works no more . . . He calls you, for He loves you With a heart most kind, He whose heart was broken, Broken for mankind; Now, just now He calls you, Calls in accents clear, Will you be enlisted As a volunteer? A volunteer for Jesus, A soldier true! Others have enlisted, Why not you? Oh, why not? . . .

In a flood of light supernal, While the angel chorus sings, With the hosts of heaven watching, Trumpet sounds and joy-bell rings, Oh, the glory of His coming, From the throne in heav’n above, Bringing down from realms eternal Wonders of God’s love. Till the day dawns and the shadows flee away, Guide me, O Thou dear Redeemer, Keep me faithful all the way . . . What purpose burns within our hearts That we together here should stand, Pledging each other mutual vows, And ready to join hand in hand? . . . Blessed Lord, Thee is refuge, Safety for my trembling soul, Pow’r to lift my head when drooping ’Midst the angry billows’ roll. I will trust Thee, I will trust Thee, I will trust Thee, All my life Thou shalt control, All my life Thou shalt control . . . Upon a wide and stormy sea, Thou’rt sailing to eternity, And thy great Adm’ral orders thee:--‘Sail on! sail on! sail on!’ . . . See the glorious banner waving! Hear the trumpet blow! In our Leader’s name we’ll triumph Over ev-'ry foe. ‘Hold the fort, for I am coming,’ Jesus signals still; Wave the answer back to heaven, ‘By Thy grace we will.’ ”

Here is a hymn I have definitely heard before but wanted to share:

Jesus, lover of my soul, Let me to Thy bosom fly, While the nearer waters roll, While the tempest still is high: Hide me, O my Savior, hide, Till the storm of life is past; Safe into the haven guide; O receive my soul at last.
2	Other refuge have I none, Hangs my helpless soul on Thee; Leave, oh, leave me not alone, Still support and comfort me. All my trust on Thee is stayed, All my help from Thee I bring; Cover my defenseless head With the shadow of Thy wing.
3	Thou, O Christ, art all I want; More than all in Thee I find; Raise the fallen, cheer the faint, Heal the sick and lead the blind. Just and holy is Thy name, I am all unrighteousness; Vile and full of sin I am, Thou art full of truth and grace.
4	Plenteous grace with Thee is found, Grace to cover all my sin; Let the healing streams abound; Make and keep me pure within. Thou of life the fountain art, Freely let me take of Thee; Spring Thou up within my heart, Rise to all eternity.

Unshakeableness when Christ is all in all

The great old hymn, Christ Is All, includes the stanza:

“I saw a martyr at the stake,
The flames could not his courage shake,
Nor death his soul appall;
I asked him whence his strength was giv’n;
He looked triumphantly to Heav’n,
And answered, Christ is all. Christ is all, all in all,
Yes, Christ is all in all;
Christ is all, all in all,
Yes, Christ is all in all.”

A very famous verse even unsaved people love to cherry-pick from Paul’s epistles is Philippians 4:13: “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me."

Just off the top of my head, I can think of two superstar athletes--Stephan Curry and Tim Tebow--who use Philippians 4:13 as their motto. What's so fascinating, though, is the testimonial Paul gives beforehand that leads him to his conclusion.

Paul writes in Philippians 4:10-12, [10] But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly, that now at the last your care of me hath flourished again; wherein ye were also careful, but ye lacked opportunity.

[11] Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.
[12] I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.

*****

“Contentment is that peace of God,” explains Jordan. “Contentment is that emotional stability that comes from that renewed mind that’s dependent on Christ being enough. It’s that strengthening of your inner man by His spirit to give you peace in the circumstances of life. It’s that emotional stability.

“Now, you notice how Paul got it? He says, ‘For I have learned.’ How do you learn? Verse 12 tells you.

“Paul was instructed in some sound doctrine that allowed him to have emotional stability in whatever circumstances there were. Abounding and suffering need; having overabundance and having nothing.

“The circumstances of his life were not what controlled his inner contentment and strength. He learned, meaning he took in some sound doctrine and had an edification that produced a maturity that gave stability.

“It doesn’t come because you pray for it; it comes because the doctrine produces a mindset that then you can apply to the details of your life. It doesn’t come automatically; it comes through the faith application of His Word.

“Paul made an adjustment on the INSIDE, based upon some doctrine, that produced inner strength and gave him the ability to deal with the outside.

“When you find the outside to be a challenge, the way you deal with it is make that internal adjustment that gives you the contentment.

“That’s why verse 13 says, ‘I can do all things through Christ who strengtheneth me.’ That ‘all things’ is the ‘all things’ in verses 10-12.

“I can abase; I can abound. I can have people love me; I can have people hate me. I can be rich; I can be poor. I can be hungry; I can be fat. I can live in whatever circumstance through Christ who strengthens me. That’s spiritual strength that comes from having Christ be everything.

“If you follow down through the rest of the chapter, what that did is it produced and resulted in a visible ministry.

“If you look at verse 14 and on, there’s something spiritual going on there: [14] Notwithstanding ye have well done, that ye did communicate with my affliction.
[15] Now ye Philippians know also, that in the beginning of the gospel, when I departed from Macedonia, no church communicated with me as concerning giving and receiving, but ye only.
[16] For even in Thessalonica ye sent once and again unto my necessity.
[17] Not because I desire a gift: but I desire fruit that may abound to your account.

“There’s an activity inside of you that’s producing some life outward. Where did this outward working come from? They weren’t trying to gain something from God; they were just being a part of who they were.

“Paul writes in verse 18 and 19, ‘But I have all, and abound: I am full, having received of Epaphroditus the things which were sent from you, an odour of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, wellpleasing to God.
[19] But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.’

“God’s going to supply everything they need. It doesn’t say needs plural—it’s not talking about your physical stuff. It’s talking about God gives you everything you need according to His riches in glory.

“Everything you need to be everything God’s ever made you to be, He’s made available to you, whatever the work of the ministry is, whatever the outreach. He strengthened you with MIGHT in your inner man because you can do ALL things through Christ.

“God has revealed the mystery and you’ve learned it; you’ve got the material. That material will develop maturity as you keep your eyes on His majesty. It will result in an unshakeable motivation to be, in all the details of your life, just who God has made you to be and to have God’s Word 'work effectually' in you that believe.

"Praise God for that and the privilege to be a recipient of such love. Just relax and let God love you and let that be enough.” 

BEST seller right out of the box

Thomas Carlyle once said of the Book of Job: “There is nothing written, I think, of equal literary merit.”

Victor Hugo once wrote, “The Book of Job is perhaps the greatest masterpiece of the human mind.”

Alfred Lord Tennyson called Job the “greatest poem of ancient and modern times.”

William Safire pontificated in his syndicated column with the New York Times:

“Forget the so-called ‘patience of Job’; that legend is blown away by the shockingly irreverent biblical narrative . . . Indeed, Job's demand that his unseen adversary show up at a trial with a written indictment gets an unexpected reaction: in a thunderous theophany, God appears before the startled man with the longest and most beautifully poetic speech attributed directly to him in Scripture . . . Frankly, God's voice ‘out of the whirlwind’ carries a message not all that satisfying to those wondering about moral mismanagement. Virginia Woolf wrote in her journal ‘I read the Book of Job last night -- I don't think God comes well out of it.’ ”

*****

Preacher Richard Jordan says not only does the Book of Job “represent an unrivaled textbook in human psychology; it’s full of humor.”

He explains, “The conversation Job has with his so-called friends from chapter four on down to chapter 35, along in there, is hilarious; I mean, it's a hoot. They go back and forth at each other and they don't leave any dig undone.

“Just look at the discourse Job has in Job 11. They're called his friends but he calls them ‘miserable comforters, forgers of lies.’ That's what friends get to be some times when they're trying to explain life to you.

“Zopher is actually trying to talk Job into not appearing as if to try and justify himself. He says in verse 2, ‘Should not the multitude of words be answered? and should a man full of talk be justified?’

“Zopher’s saying, ‘Job, you're just a big talker.’ Later he comes back at him and says, "You're just full of the east wind.’ That's a way of saying, ‘You're just full of hot air. You're a windbag.’

“In Job 11:3, Zopher goes on to say, ‘Should thy lies make men hold their peace and when thou mockest, shall no man make thee ashamed?’

“He’s saying, ‘Job, you're a liar. You're just a fast-talking liar.’ Drop down to verse 6 and he says, ‘And that he would shew thee the secrets of wisdom, that they are double to that which is! Know therefore that God exacteth of thee less than thine iniquity deserveth. Canst thou by searching find out God? canst thou find out the Almighty unto perfection? It is as high as heaven; what canst thou do? deeper than hell; what canst thou know?’

“Really, that's pretty good counsel. When you think you know everything, well, the Queen of Sheba said it to Solomon: ‘The half hasn't been told.’ There's twice as much as you're ever going to know out there to know, and when it comes to your sin, and you trying to justify yourself—and Job, he certainly was doing that. . .

“The problem with Job is he was the most righteous man you'll ever meet. You look at the way he describes his conduct. There's not a person, man or woman in this room, who could live up to the kind of conduct that Job could publicly stand up and say, ‘This is the way I've lived; the covenant I've made with my eyes and my mind about what to think about, what to look upon, where my hand's are to go, the way I've treated people.’ And he's saying that in a public forum where anybody could contradict him!

“Even so, Zopher tells him, ‘God exacteth of thee less than thine iniquity deserves.’ You know, man even in his best state is altogether vanity.

*****

“Now, the problem with what Zopher's doing here is not that it isn't good advice, but he's saying, ‘The reason this is happening to Job is because he’s a sinner,’ and that wasn't why it was happening. There was an angelic conflict going on that Zopher didn’t know about. Zopher doesn't take his own advice!

“When Zopher says, ‘Canst thou by searching find out God?’ the answer is ‘No.’ Job, on his own, just like you and me on our own, could never find God.

“Zopher says, “It is as high as heaven, deeper than hell." In other words, God is so big and so vast and this issue is so much, you can't find it out. You can't search Him out by your own intellect; by your own wisdom, by your own seeking.

“People say, ‘God's so vast you can't know Him. God's so high you can't get up there. It's so deep you can't get down there. It's so long you'd never be able to get around it. It's so broad you'd never be able to fathom it. You'd just never find God.’

“The problem with that is that's the first book in the Bible. That isn't all the Bible has to say.

“Verse 7 says, ‘Canst thou find out the Almighty unto perfection?’, but do you remember what II Timothy 3:16-17 says? ‘All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.’

“God's Word gives you the capacity to search something out and to find it out unto perfection. As the Apostle Paul makes clear, without God revealing Himself, you'd never know Him, but the good thing is God has revealed Himself! That's the point!”