Dear Pastors:
This morning the thought came to me (November 7, 2012), which Job’s wife voiced to him in Job 2:9: Then said his wife unto him, Dost thou still retain thine integrity? curse God, and die. 10 But he said unto her, Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh. What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? In all this did not Job sin with his lips.
Last evening showed us the end of the "Romney-Ryan" campaign, which I worked very hard for, and the beginning of four more years of "change" according to the present president. This morning when I got up, THE LORD GOD OF THE HEBREWS was still there for me to worship.
Additionally, according to MSNBC, my friend, Congressman Allen West,of Florida’s 22nd district, has lost his reelection bid to Democrat Patrick Murphy by a razor-thin margin. Murphy won Florida’s 22nd district by about 1,000 votes with 97 percent of the precincts reporting. How sad that a "black man" on the right side of the issues, would lose, while another "black man" on the wrong side of the issues, would win.
None of us "actors or sufferers" on earth knows anything of [the extraneous origin, purpose and limitation of] the fiery ordeal through which Job and his family had to pass. So, the LORD GOD OF THE HEBREWS, in his love and always thinking of "Good" for the sons of men gives us "the Revelation" of the book of Job to help us in our crucible, melting pot experiences.
Then, from the book of Job, we find "how far short" are the several philosophies of Job and of his friends, in accounting for the cause, purpose, or extent of the great suffering which befell Job. Hence, from Job, we learn the conclusion that "unaided human philosophy" cannot solve the problem of human life, and therefore, a "Revelation" is needed.
Previous to this occasion, brethren, I have written you what my "departed to Heaven" preacher friend, Dr. Ron Fenwick, used to preach at WHBC when I’d have him come twice a year to preach to our people for a week at a time! (Shank Sagar, his "Indian-American" servant, is marrying Rachel Means come February 15th next year!)
Ron would preach that God weighs everything about first, the spilling of innocent blood [2 Kings 24:4; Psalms 94:21; & Jonah 1:14]. Collectively as a people we cannot continue to get away with the "fratricide" of the unborn. Fratricide is defined as the "killing of one’s own flesh." Second, Ron would preach, how nations look at the Sodomites [Genesis 19:5, 12-14, Romans 1:21-28]. And then third, mistreatment of the Jews [Genesis 12:3]. And, of course, in his "Machine Gun Way of Preaching," he would bring out how we best be concerned for a) the widow; b) the fatherless; c) the stranger; d) the poor and needy; and, e), the elderly.
In Job, "the earth’s view," we find presented a pious, prosperous, and happy man. The length, extent, and unbroken character of this prosperity, Job’s ascription of it to God, the healthful effect on his piety and character, all, are simply marvelous. It had lasted all his life without a break. It gave him great wealth, a numerous and happy family, health for every member, great wisdom, extensive knowledge and power, high honor among men, and "yet did not spoil him." I have known some wealthy Christians whom I deem to be spoiled. Job was a model husband and father, successful merchant, farmer and shepherd, benevolent and just toward men, pure in life, and devout toward God.
In the story of Job, as I believe last night, Satan’s Power is manifested in four simultaneous scenes of disaster:
[1] The stroke on Job, the farmer, Job 1:14-15.
[2] The stroke on Job, the shepherd, or stock-man,
Job 1:16.
[3] The stroke on Job, the merchant, Job 1:17.
[4] The stroke on Job, the father, 1:18-19.
In light of what you and I face this morning, the cunning, malice and cumulative power of Satan’s strokes are seen, thus:
(1) The mockery of the date of all these disasters,
the elder son’s birthday, the gathering of all the
children in one house, and this joyous feasting.
[I called my Jewish friend, Cherna Moskowitz in
Florida, this morning. I am going to send her
"RENA’S PROMISE!" This is a book of two
sisters, Jewish young ladies, surviving
Auschwitz & Birkenau. I wish I could buy it for
every one of you. I cannot. However, I do
recommend it whole-heartedly for you to read.
What a story of courage is these 2 young ladies,
who were persecuted savagely, "simply because
they were Jews."
(2) The timing of Job’s reception of the news of the
several disasters shows that it was "stroke upon
stroke" without intermission. Rena and Danka’s
story shows "stroke upon stroke" at Auschwitz
and Birkenau.
(3) The sparing of one survivor alone from each
disaster, and him only that he might be a
messenger of woe.
(4) The variety, adaptation, and thorough
naturalness of these means, none of them so out
of character as to suggest the supernatural:
the Sabeans, the fire of God [a Hebraism],
the Chaldeans, the desert tornado.
Why suspect supernatural agents when the
natural causes are all possible, evident, and
credible?
(5) The refinement of cruelty in sparing Job’s wife
that she might add to his wretchedness by her evil
counsel.
(6) The making of his kindred, neighbors, friends,
servants, and the rabble instruments of torture by
their desertion, reproach and mistreatment.
(7) Knowing that Job’s intelligence must perceive that
such a remarkable series, even of natural events,
couldcnot result from chance, but must have been
timed and directed by one endowed with supernatural
power, and full of malice, he reveals the very depths
of his wickedness and cunning in leading Job to
attribute this to God.
The scenes of Job’s reception of the direful news, Job 1:14-20, is very remarkable. See the cumulative power of blow upon blow without intermission for breathing. Job’s grief is great, but his resignation is instant. He ascribes all the disasters to the divine Sovereign, without one thought of Satan, and without any knowledge of the "divine purpose." There, ends Job’s first trial in "complete victory for him." In our trials, brethren, we must attempt "wholeheartedly" to "walk victoriously."
The second scene, in Heaven, shows angels, good and bad, reporting divine and satanic judgment on Job’s piety and Satan rebuked for malice against Job but permitted a further test [2:1-6], in which he was given power over Job’s person with one limitation.
Satan’s power over Job’s person, and yet hidden from Job, may be seen by comparison of Job 2:7: So went Satan forth from the presence of the LORD, and smote Job with sore boils from the sole of his foot unto his crown, with other references in the book of Job.
The nature of this affliction is found to be elephantiasis, a form of leprosy, usually attributed to the direct agency of God. Yet, it was a well-known disease in that country, and might be explained by natural causes. So Satan’s agency is again hidden and Job has not thought of him.
When I meditate, brethren, on those 2 Jewish Girls, Rena and Danka, at Auschwitz and Birkenau, I have suffered nothing, ever, in my life, comparable to what those two ladies went through. The Law of Moses on the isolation and treatment of lepers is found in Leviticus 13 and Numbers 5 & 12.
Lew Wallace, in his book Ben Hur said this about lepers:
"Slowly, steadily, with horrible certainty, the disease spread, after a while bleaching their heads white, eating holes in their lips and eyelids, and covering their body with scales; then it fell to their throats, shrilling their voices, and to their joints, hardening the tissues and cartilages—slowly, and, as the mother well knew, past remedy, it was affecting their lungs and arteries and bones, at each advance making the sufferers more and more loathsome; and so it would continue 'til death, which might be years before them."
Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ is a novel by Lew Wallace published on November 12, 1880, by Harper & Brothers. Considered "the most influential Christian book of the nineteenth century", it was the best-selling American novel from the time of its publication, superseding Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852).
It remained at the top until the publication of Margaret Mitchell's Gone with the Wind (1936). Following release of the 1959 MGM film adaptation of Ben-Hur, which was seen by tens of millions and won 11 Academy Awards in 1960, book sales surpassed Gone with the Wind. The name "Ben Hur" derives from the Hebrew for "Son of white linen".
Thus, the Talmud:
"That is, to be a leper was to be treated as dead—to be excluded from the city as a corpse; to be spoken to by the best beloved and most loving only at a distance; to dwell with none but lepers; to be utterly unprivileged; to be denied the rites of the Temple and the synagogue; to go about in rent garments and with covered mouth, except when crying, "Unclean! Unclean! Unclean!"; to find home in the wilderness or in abandoned tombs; to become a materialized specter of Hinnom and Gehenna; to be at all times less a living offense to others than a breathing torment to self; afraid to die, yet without hope except in death!"
Therefore, I have written all this, to get to what I have written in my Bible beside Job 1 under the subject ‘WHAT TO DO WHEN TRAGEDY STRIKES.’
1st, Realize God is still in control - Romans 8:28.
2nd, Don’t ask foolish questions!
3rd, Prize your life as a "Gift from God"!
4th, Adorn your life with THE GRACE OF GOD!
5th, Acknowledge there are, unfortunately,
THORNS IN THE FLESH!
6th, Of primary importance our lives should be
returned to God with interest earned!
One has to go 24 x 7, spending time and money
which, of both, you are only "stewards" in order
to do this!
7th, Don’t get upset with the Lord as Jonah did in
Jonah 4:9!
8th, Don’t lose your focus! Proverbs 11:30:
The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life;
and he that winneth souls is wise.
9th, Pray to God for strength to get you
through this Tragedy.
10th, Press Toward the Mark for the Prize
of the High Calling in Christ! Php 3:13:
Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended:
but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which
are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which
are before, 14 I press toward the mark for the prize of
the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
And, so you have, my brethren, my thoughts for this day which has befallen us!!!!
I remain, sincerely and gratefully, your dutiful friend and obedient servant, sirs,
JIM VINEYARD
YEDIDIM OF ISRAEL
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