Sunday: By Faith and Not by Sight
Read 2 Corinthians 5:7 and 2 Corinthians 4:18. What crucial truths are revealed in these texts? How can these truths help us as we seek to be faithful followers of the Lord?
The immediate context of 2 Corinthians 4:18 is eschatological, talking about the end times, when we are clothed in immortality, a great promise that we don’t yet see fulfilled. That’s a promise we have to take by faith and not by sight, because it hasn’t come to pass yet.
Image © Lars Justinen from GoodSalt.com
Likewise, the book of Job shows us that there’s so much more to reality than what we can see. This should not, though, be so difficult a concept for people living in our day and age to grasp, not when science has revealed the existence of unseen forces all around us.
A preacher stood before a church in a large city. He asked the congregation to be quiet. For a few seconds there was no sound. He then pulled out a radio and turned it on, running the dial across the channels. All sorts of sounds came out of the radio.
“Let me ask,” the preacher said. “Where did these sounds come from? Did they originate in the radio itself? No, these sounds were in the air all around us, as radio waves, waves just as real as my voice is now. But the way we are wired, we don’t have access to them. But the fact that we can’t see or feel or hear them doesn’t mean that they don’t exist, right?”
What other real things that we can’t see (such as radiation or gravity) exist around us? What spiritual lessons can we draw from the fact that these unseen forces not only exist but can impact our lives?
| As the book of Job showed, none of the people involved really grasped what was going on. They believed in God and even had some understanding about God and His character and creative power. But outside the bare facts of reality that they could see—i.e., Job’s calamity—they didn’t have a clue as to what was happening behind the scenes. In the same way, might we not at times be as clueless as to the unseen realities around us? The book of Job, then, teaches us that we need to learn to live by faith, realizing our weakness and just how little we really see and know. |
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I disagree that \"none of the people involved really grasped what was going on.\" Not true. Job and the other characters of the Book understood the Great Controversy. They had as much understanding of sin as the Church does today. They understood the need for a Redeemer. They were looking forward to the Cross, while we are living after the Cross.
It's your right to disagree bro Mark, but for me we should grasp the concept that age and age to come yet we can't comprehend the fact that God is unreachable by sight,aside from believing that He is with us all the way... invisible
Amjahd, did you mean to say "God is unsearchable"? God is very "reachable" by any who are willing to "draw nigh" unto Him, which will bring Him close to us.
I also agree with Mark, at least in part, that the quarterly statement he disagrees with is simply too general and rather ambiguous. I think I understand what the author was trying to say, but as stated, it seems assuming and not fully true. (my comment below will elaborate further)
And I would add that He is with us all the way, not only invisible, but "in promise and promises," and promises for us even while we sojourn in the here and now before we are situated finally in the hereafter.
Although all parties believed in God and may have known that there was a Great Controversy, they (not even Job who God called blameless)did not understand how this Controversy affected the human race. As we have studied the book of Job we have learned that like today Job\'s friends believed that good people don\'t have bad things happen to them.
The friends and Job did not have access to the Council Meeting in which God pointed to the uprightness of Job and then gave Satan permission to do what he will, but don\'t take his life.
I would point out that Job's friends had accurate knowledge of Job's righteousness, since God will place such obedience where all can witness it. This is how God is glorified among those who are still lost in the deceptions of Satan. Isn't this proven by the fact that they never once present any evidence of Job being evil, but only assumed guilt due to the circumstances that befell him? What form of justice is that?! The evidence of Job's righteousness and innocence was there for all to see, but something in their own lives blinded them to it. They had the knowledge of God passed down faithfully to them and must have had the story of the flood with the 120 years of entreaty/warning, also the fall in Eden and God's admonitions to touch not the forbidden tree and the warning of death if they touched it. God never acts without warning, and yet these great calamities fell on Job as a surprise. So how could anyone blame the acts upon a just and righteous God, as they claimed Him to be?
Whatever their background knowledge(they gave evidence that it was adequate), God found them guilty of wrong speaking, which means they had enough evidence to to be found guilty. Anyone who lives in this world has adequate evidence of right and wrong (as Jesus said all would have. John 16:8), but any departure from the clear convictions, however small, will blind the soul to Satan's deceptions. The clear evidence in the story shows these "friends" to be used of Satan to assault Job's faith in God, along with his wife. Satan will use every means against us that he can use. We will be his agents too if we depart from the word of God in any way. Knowledge is not enough if we don't exercise faith through obedience to the Truth at all times. Faith is the victory that overcomes the world, and keeps us from Satan's deceptions.
Agree of that brilliant idea about sound effects. ..many instances God showed up by voice, to Abraham and many Patriarchs
And God finally showed up in human flesh where His followers could see and touch and hear him. Via Prayer and God's Holy Spirit and His every Promise in His word The Bible we can even now hear Him as if He were speaking to us personally-----Amen!
The lesson of Job is to teach us how litte we know about the character and creative power of God, there are always more to know. God declared Job rightous so sin was not the issue here. It was the conflict between God and satan. A test of faith many of us would fail and at the same time an excellent example for us to follow. Bad things happen to people of faith, to people who love and follow God, he that endured to the end the same will be saved.
My question to Bro. Mark is, if Job and his friends knew why and what was happening to Job why judge Job not knowing everything about him and if Job knew he would not ask why. Let us trust God in all circumstances, live by faith and not by sight.
May the Holy Spirit be with us as we study God's word.
Realizing our weakness is as important as realizing God's forgiving love and promise of overcoming. Being confident of this very thing; he that has begun a good work in you, will perform it unto that day. The thief on the cross didn't know many details, this one thing he knew, that he was forgive and accepted.
These two passages from 2 Corinthians are both good “instruction in righteousness” as long as we understand HOW to live by faith and not sight, while seeing those things that are hidden and eternal. Only God's Word can reveal the hidden things, and when we act in accordance with them, we walk by faith, for faith comes from “hearing” the Word of God.
While the characters in Job's story did know WHAT was going on, they didn't know WHY. This was Job's question: “WHY?!”, while his friend assumed they knew the answer: “because you are wicked!”. Job knew it was not for his wickedness, but could not find a valid reason and wanted to know why, while the friends thought he was accusing God falsely.
Today, we have the benefit of seeing the hidden details behind Job's calamity and see the workings of the evil one fully displayed. We can learn from this if willing. We are shown the steadfast faith of Job even while perplexed to the utmost concerning the awful calamities that fell upon him without warning or cause, and the great misunderstandings of his "miserable comforters" who thought their understanding about God was adequate, while they could not in truth put the blame on God for the great evils since God had given no warning or entreaties first(as He always does) and they could not name one sin of Job that would have made him worthy of such punishment. They only assumed guilt due to the circumstances as they interpreted them without any word from God to confirm their supposed suspicions.
Robert, I agree! You did a great job articulating Job's CALAMITY!!!!!
we all fall short even daily.Job and his friends knew plenty about right vs. wrong..but we only know in part.God's ways are higher than our own that's saying,He is the potter and we the clay.Jesus gave all for us and He wants us to be with Him where He is,so if He chooses to stretch us in our faith through differ trials then even so Lord Jesus come.
The book of Job provides us with a number of critical lessons about how to respond to trials and tribulations. In the midst of severe suffering Job chose faith and by doing so, he made a great choice that pleased God. The lesson here is that to place one's life in God's hands is the only sensible decision one can make in this evil world. Hebrews 4: 15 - 16 tells us that we have a faithful High Priest who was tested in all ways like us and is therefore able to empathize and give us the needed help. God is involved in every test we are subjected to and this calls for us to trust Him. Job responded to his suffering with great faith. Beyond that, Job learnt that in the time of suffering there exists an incredible opportunity. Unbeknown to him, Job was traversing a road to the most intimate encounter with God that'd lead to discover the greatest understanding of who God was.