What is God Saying Now After August 29 and September 11?” Job 42:8-17
Storms and natural disasters in the Bible are some of God’s methods to remind us to prepare for the final storm of death and judgment before God. The Master Teacher concluded His Sermon on the Mount with an illustration about the inevitable storm we all will face and urged us to build our spiritual house upon a solid Rock (Matthew 7:24-27 )
Storms come to “the just and unjust” (Matthew 5:45; Job 1:1, 19). Hurricanes or floods can be a judgment on sin as in the Flood of Noah (Genesis 6:5-7). Our response is not to question God. The proper response is to question our relationship to God and get thoroughly right with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
The Hurricane named Sin struck man in the Fall (Genesis 3:15-21). The Church is a “search and rescue” team to save dying sinners perishing without Christ.
God’s sovereignty is demonstrated in the hurricanes, floods, earthquakes, and natural disasters He permits to come our way. God’s sovereignty means that He as God will do whatever He pleases and ordains whenever and wherever He chooses and what He is pleased to do will always be right, holy, just, good, and loving for His people. Hurricanes, earthquakes, and natural disasters should first cause us to bow humbly before Almighty God, worship Him, and seek refuge at the foot of the Cross of Christ.
Job’s heart attitude after his storm struck was to “Worship.” “Then Job fell to the ground and worshipped. And he said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return there. The Lord giveth. The Lord hath taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.” Job 1:20-21
Now after the storm, what is God saying? After the Flood, God placed a rainbow in the sky. The rainbow was His covenant promise of faithful love to His earth. (Genesis 9:12-16) God is now saying to go forward with life living more spiritually, more Christ-centered, more lovingly than ever before. This is the message of the rainbow.
God sent a storm to Job’s life. Our storms are usually brief, intense, and life altering. Job’s storm forever changed him, but there came a rainbow after the storm! God gave Job “twice as much as he had before.” (Job 42:10)
What did God say to Job in the rainbow after the storm? What is God saying to America and to us after August 29 and September 11?
I. Come to Me through My Son. “Take for yourselves seven bulls and seven rams, and My servant Job shall pray for you, for I will accept him.” Job 42:8 The natural disasters, earthquakes, wars, and rumors of war were all predicted in the Bible to intensify just before the Second Coming of Christ (Matthew 24:6-8, 37-39). Christ is the only solid Rock for the storms of life and death. God is lovingly urging America to turn to Jesus Christ to be saved before the final Judgment through the sacrifice of Christ. (John 10:27-29; Romans 10:9-10) We can only be accepted by God into Heaven through His Son Jesus Christ. (John 14:16; I Timothy 2:5)
II. Pray to Me for others even for your enemies. “And the Lord restored Job’s losses and turned the captivity of Job when he prayed for his friends.” Job 42:10 Job’s friends had been “miserable comforters” and “worthless physicians.” (Job 16:2, 13:4). Yet God told Job to pray for them and forgive them. God is telling you to forgive everyone who has hurt you. We are never more like Jesus than when we forgive an enemy. Forgiveness is what we all want but rarely want to give to others. Think of someone who has hurt you. Send him or her a gift. It will surprise them and release you from the prison cell of bitterness.
III. Bring Honor to Me by opening your hearts. “Then all his brothers . . . sisters . . . and acquaintances consoled him . . . and each one gave him a piece of silver and a ring of gold.” Job 42:11 “The words of the Lord Jesus, how He said, It is more blessed to give than to receive.” Acts 20:35 Job’s family finally got mobilized after the storm. They replaced the “miserable comforters” who criticized Job, and they took up a love offering for Job. Job got well, took the love offering and re-invested in his business ventures. Now we should give also. Gifts through your Church designated to “Disaster Relief” will go for food and water in Louisiana, prescriptions for evacuees here and for assistance to Baptist Churches in New Orleans. The Southern Baptist Convention is the third largest Disaster Relief Agency in America following only the Red Cross and the Salvation Army. “He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the Lord; and that which he hath given will He pay him again.” Proverbs 19:17
How should we give?
· Share bountifully— “He which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully.” II Corinthians 9:6
· Share cheerfully— “For God loveth a cheerful giver.” II Corinthians 9:7
· Share expectantly— “And God is able to make all grace abound toward you.” II Corinthians 9:8
No one ever went broke giving to God. He will be a debtor to no man. No one can out give God.
IV. Trust Me to give you a better life. “Indeed the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before . . . Now the Lord blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning.” Job 42:10-12; James 5:11; Psalm 55:22; Romans 8:28
The rainbow after the storm is God’s promise never to stop blessing us. As long as we live, God will bless! He is that kind of Saviour and Lord. The Lord is good . . . all the time.
· Trust God surely— “And we know . . .” Romans 8:28
· Trust God completely— “That all things work together for good . . .” Romans 8:28
· Trust God personally— “To them that love God . . .” Romans 8:28
· Trust God ultimately— “To them who are the called according to His purpose.” Romans 8:28; Ephesians 3:10-11
“Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy.” James 5:11
Unfolding the Rosebud
It is only a tiny rosebud,
A flower of God’s design;
But I cannot unfold the petals
With these clumsy hands of mine.
The secret of unfolding flowers
Is not known to such as I.
God opens this flower so sweetly,
When in my hands they fade and die.
If I cannot unfold a rosebud,
This flower of God’s design,
Then how can I think I have wisdom
To unfold this life of mine?
So I’ll trust in Him for His leading
Each moment of every day.
I will look to him for His guidance
Each step of the pilgrim way.
The pathway that lies before me,
Only my Heavenly Father knows.
I’ll trust Him to unfold the moments,
Just as He unfolds the rose.
“Cast thy burden (Hebrew “Gift”) upon the Lord and He shall sustain thee: He shall never suffer the righteous to be moved.” Psalm 55:22 “Casting all your care upon him; for He careth for you.” I Peter 5:7
V. Follow Me to My Throne in Heaven. “After this Job lived one hundred and forty years, and saw his sons, and his son’s sons, even four generations. So Job died, being old and full of days.” “Thou shalt come to thy grave in full age, like as a shock of corn cometh in his season.” Job 5:26
The final message from God to America and to us after August 29 and September 11 is to look forward to and live for Heaven! Live for the next world.
Job died after a long, full, good life, departing like a perfectly matured ear of corn. (Job 5:26) He went to Heaven and saw the emerald rainbow circling the glorious throne of God. (Revelation 4:2-3) God’s covenant promises sustained him on earth and carried him to Heaven.
· In Heaven there is our Saviour— “A throne was set in Heaven, One sat on the Throne.” Revelation 4:2 {1090} “And He was as a jasper (diamond) and sardius (ruby) and a rainbow about the throne.” Revelation 4:3
· In Heaven, there are all the saints— “And round about the Throne, I saw four and twenty elders” Revelation 4:4
· In Heaven, there is satisfaction— “And they had on their heads crowns of gold.” Revelation 4:4
“As for me, I will behold Thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied when I awake, with Thy likeness.” Psalm 17:15
