Job 12:6 The tabernacles of robbers prosper, and they that provoke God are secure; into whose hand God bringeth abundantly.
7 But ask now the beasts, and they shall teach thee; and the fowls of the air, and they shall tell thee:
8 Or speak to the earth, and it shall teach thee: and the fishes of the sea shall declare unto thee.
9 Who knoweth not in all these that the hand of the LORD hath wrought this?
10 In whose hand is the soul of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind.
11 Doth not the ear try words? and the mouth taste his meat?
12 With the ancient is wisdom; and in length of days understanding.
13 With him is wisdom and strength, he hath counsel and understanding.
Reality is much different than fiction. Job’s three friends believed that if a person honours God, they will prosper. If a person despises God, that person will suffer. Job pointed out that even wicked people prosper. God does not strike the wicked dead immediately. Asaph noted that the wicked seems to do quite well but the righteous don’t always fare so well.
Job’s friends were false teachers. They despised the true God. They had an imaginary god. The good news is that Job did not fall for their lies. Job had some discernment even though he was suffering with pain and loss of family.
In verses 7-8 Job talked of some of God’s other creation. Even the beasts know that Job’s three friends were wrong. There are very aggressive animals that do well. There are weaker animals that have a difficult time to survive at times.
It is interesting that parts of these verses are used by the evolutionists at a major dinosaur museum in Canada. Of course they only let the animals speak according to their assumed words and language. Any honest person that examines the animals, knows they did not evolve from some soup. They did not evolve from land creatures to sea creatures or vice versa. Evolution is a wicked lie. Sadly, many people believe in evolution.
Over the past week we have heard of at least four invasive objects that entered North American air space. There are people who wonder if some of these vehicles came from aliens. There are too many people that believe there is life on other planets. That whole way of thinking is the result of the evolutionary lie. The Bible tells us that God populated the earth. There are angels in heaven. There are fallen angels some of which are locked up now and some are moving around as servants of the devil. There are no “martians” or green creatures, etc. We can know this if we believe the Bible.
We need to let the earth speak to us. The earth will tell us that there was a catastrophic flood sometime in the past. It will tell us that large numbers of creatures were destroyed in that flood. It will tell us that the topography of the earth was changed as a result of this flood. When we take God’s Word as truth and we look at the earth from that perspective, we can get some fairly accurate dates as to the creation of the world and the time of the flood. We can know that this earth is not billions of years old. We can know that man did not come from the monkey or any other creature. We can know many things if we listen to God and follow Him.
Job was seeking understanding from God. He was not interested in the lies of his friends. He had no interest in pursuing some false god. He knew that was pointless. Even when we do not understand what is going on, it is foolish to pursue false doctrine.
I read recently that the J.W.’s claim that many of their converts come from the Baptists. The person making that statement noted that if Baptists were saved and taught properly, they would never turn to the J.W.’s for help.
It is important to note that just because a person claims to be a Baptist, does not mean they are Christians. The key is to be born again. The key is to turn to God in repentance and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation. Easy believism and quick prayerism will not work in the long run. It might be good for popping a few buttons of the shirt or getting a plaque for being a “great soul winner”, but it does not help the persons who are deceived by such shallow methods.
The Bible teaches that when a person is born again, they are held in the Father’s hand. Those who are in the Father’s hand, will not fall for the lies of the J.W.’s or any other cult. They may have questions and they may be deceived for a time, but if they are held in the Father’s hand, He will be sure to help them to know the truth.
In verse 9 of our text we see that all those who are honest and humble will know that God created all things and He created all things for His glory. In verse 10 we are reminded that God gives life to all living things. Nothing would have life if it were not given them by God. The life and breath of every creature comes from God.
Therefore as we see in verse 11, the ear does not just take everything it hears and accept it. The ear tries what it hears. One of the dangers we are finding in our world today is that our so-called educational system has dumbed down many people. Many parents are too lazy and too greedy to take the time to raise their children. They expect the state to do that for them. Some of them will complain a little when they hear of things they do not appreciate their children learning. But overall, many parents just roll over and accept what is going on because they are far too busy chasing after things.
God directed Job to write that the ear tries words. The mouth tastes meat. The mouth does not eat tar or road kill. The mouth has taste buds and there are things that the mouth knows not to eat. The point here is that God has given man the ability to discern things. Man does not need to be gullible. Job was not going to accept the lies of his friends. God gave him wisdom and understanding. He knew that what they were saying did not make sense. Thus he was not going to fall for it.
God gives man a conscience and a brain. We have mentioned before that Catholicism is full of so much heresy, it is amazing that anyone would fall for that religion. Yet there are many Catholics today. They accept the lies given them and they live with the fear of death and the empty hope that the Catholic priest can pray them through purgatory and into heaven, if they pay them enough money. They believe this even though it is utter nonsense.
I know some business minded people who are staunch Catholics. They refuse to read the Bible because their priest has told them not to. One of them had a nervous break down because he did read some of the Bible. He was under conviction by the Holy Spirit and rather than accepting the fact that he needed to be saved, he ran to his priest who told him to stop reading the Bible or he would go completely crazy. How sad indeed.
God has made man with the ability to think and reason things out. Don’t avoid the truth and try to reason things out from your fallible mind. Ephesians 4 tells us that God has given us all that we need to be able to be well grounded and stable.
Ephesians 4:11 And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;
12 For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:
13 Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:
14 That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive;
15 But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ:
16 From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.
You can know the truth today if you will take God’s Word as your authority. Get to know a godly pastor and learn God’s Word with his help. Get saved and then God will help you to know if the pastor is a godly man or not. The Holy Spirit will work in your heart to show you what the truth is. God is good. He does not want any person to perish. He wants all to be saved and know His blessing.
Those who are deceived, like Job’s three friends, have chosen to reject God’s truth and have chosen to imagine things that are not true. Don’t be like that. Know God and follow Him.
Pastor Bartel
