SteemChurch:Happiness in God's Style

(Job 5:17, 18)

INTRODUCTION. Happiness in the style of God will always be a paradox for us. The standards by which God measures the joy of the Christian is diametrically opposed to the offer of the world. One of those measurements has to do with the "Beatitudes." From those that appear in the Old Testament as those brought by our Lord Jesus Christ, they come in contrasted forms. For example, does the world think that there is happiness when Jesus said "Blessed are you when they revile you and persecute you for my sake?" Jesus also said: "Blessed are the poor in spirit ..." when he referred to those who belong to the kingdom of heaven.

Does the world see poverty as synonymous with happiness? There is a beatitude that Paul picked up from Jesus that says: "It is more blessed to give than to receive." Does the happiness of the world in giving focus? This society is very selfish. His motto is to receive instead of giving. If not, why the desire for material goods and the exhibition of the things that are obtained and shown as part of their happiness? The point is that happiness in the style of the world and that which comes to us in the style of God are totally contrasted.

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While the world conceives happiness within the fleeting and fleeting, God speaks of happiness in eternal terms. The bliss that the passage of today presents to us sounds to many as extemporaneous and not applicable to what modern man seeks. But for those who see a contradiction in God's teaching, this is how it guides us and leads us to eternal life. That's what God-like happiness based on this bliss is all about. Let's see its content.

WE KNOW FIRST THE MAN OBJECT OF THIS BIENAVENTURANCE

"Behold, blessed is the man whom God punishes ..." v. 17a

1. The man whom God punishes loves him. Among the friends who came to comfort Job is one named Eliphaz. After he had declared God's judgment in a general way, he addresses Job to tell him that God has his own methods, including punishment, for man's happiness. Those who think that the punishment is severe especially because of the way the human being applies it, the punishment of God is given to us so that we are willing to fear him with all humility.

God disciplines us because he loves us (Prov 3:12). In this way we can conclude that the purpose of God in punishing us will never be a severe punishment where he does not make us feel his kindness and mercy in the process. While some may see in the punishment an occasion to resent the one who applies it, in the case of God the application of this corrective instrument brings us closer to him. This is beautiful. The majesty of God is not a cause of fear or rejection. Job did not know why he was being punished, but he did not "attribute any nonsense to God" (Job 1:22). If God applies it he will have his reason.

1. The man whom God punishes saves him. The last thing we can think about is that God is angry against us, but this is another biblical truth. We like to know that God smiles at us, embraces us, guides us and protects us. But seeing God getting angry with us for what we do does not fit into our "theology." However, what Eliphaz is telling us is that if God punishes us it is because he abhors sin and his intention is to save us from its eternal consequences. While it is true that Eliphaz takes it for granted that Job had committed a sin, and that for that reason he was being punished, the principle of his statement is maintained.

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Sin displeases God and must be punished, hence the justified discipline for whoever incurs it. God's purpose will always be to save us from sin. His intention as loving Father will be to attract us to him. The principle is that if God afflicts us by disciplining us, it is also true that he will be holding us back so that we repent and return to him. The best way to see this action of God is when he punished sin by surrendering his own Son.

1. The man whom God punishes promotes it. Eliphaz's claim involves a Christian man; His position was not to apply it to all men, especially those who have no fear of God. This raises what would be the nature of Christian discipline, its real purpose. One of the instruments that God uses to achieve his goals in his children is brokenness. The figure of the potter and his work with clay illustrates this biblical truth. The process of forming the clay pot requires a real intervention of the hands.

But the other part is made by the spinning wheel where the fresh figure is taken to give it the required shape. The final work will come when she is taken to the oven to be cooked and fortified by fire. It is the fire that will do the final work. The precious works that we later see went through a long process of testing so that it is then exhibited and sold. Who questions this process in Job's life? The permissive punishment of God resulted in a promotion that was seen in the best state Job had, even over the first. That makes the punishment divine.

II. WE KNOW IN SECOND PLACE THE BENEFIT OF THIS BLESSING
"... Therefore, do not despise the correction of the Almighty" v. 17b.

1. Because it benefits us, it should not be rejected. According to the text, we should not have the discipline of the Lord. The idea is that we do not speak ill of her. That we do not complain if we are submitted to the divine opinion. God's methods will always be strange and sometimes incomprehensible. However, if you are subjected to one of those "methods" do not reject what he may be doing. Do not ask God why or until when. Job did not sin against God. His attitude, at least at the beginning, was full of praise and recognition of God, his Maker and provider.

There are unjust punishments that must be rejected. Human justice is not always fair. Many punishments are the result of personal revenge, religious revenge or political revenge. But notice that Eliphaz speaks of a punishment from the Almighty. Because of his divine qualities, the punishment of God is the most just. The Bible tells us that if we endure discipline it is because we are his children. There are cases where the punishment of God brings death, this indicates that such are bastards. Therefore, do not reject your discipline because we are your children.

1. Because it benefits us should be applied. God is not a capricious being. All the things he does respond to an order and a certain plan. When Eliphaz says that it is good for the man of God to accept his discipline, he is leaving in his hands the application of what will ultimately do us good. It tells of a young woman, daughter of a famous doctor, who fell ill. His father evaluated his daughter's illness. He was forced to apply the famous bloodletting where the disease was, with the consequent pain that said medical practice produced.

Interrogated by her friends about the methods used by her father to heal her, she answered with these confident and exemplary words: "My father is a doctor, he knows what he is doing, I abandon myself with confidence to him because I am sure he is looking for my health and wants the best for me, my happiness is in pleasing him and thanking him with a smile ". In this regard, the sacred writer has said: "It is true that no discipline at present seems to be cause of joy, but of sadness; but afterwards he gives the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been exercised therein "(Heb 12:11). It is a blessing to be exercised in the discipline.

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III. WE KNOW THERE IN THE THIRD PLACE THE PROMISE OF THIS BLESSEDNESS

"Because he is the one who makes the wound, and he will bandage it; He hurts, and his hands heal "v. 18

1. The God who makes the wound will bandage it. There are many people dying because of lack of medicines. Humanitarian crises pose a serious problem for countries that do not have immediate access to medicines that cure the sick. Doctors are in situations where despite knowing the cure for pain, they can not always cure it. But there is a doctor who can bandage all our wounds. There are wounds more painful than physical ones. A toothache or headache lasts a short time, but the pain of the soul, or the emotional, does not have an immediate cure. It is those pains that bring anguish and make the spirit afflict.

The promise of this passage is that God is "the one who makes the wound, and he will bandage it ...". It is true that this does not apply to all cases. There are wounds that God brings to hearts that have long hardened and therefore will not be healed. God struck Pharaoh with ten plagues, but he was not healed, but destroyed. However, to your children, God bandage your wounds. Nothing gives us more confidence than being in the hands of this divine Physician. This is how Job trusted (Job 13:15).

1. The God who hurts his hands heal. This is happiness in the style of God. No one can think of a scenario where he sees that his own wound is a dose of medicine. That seems like a contrast, but that's how God works. Eliphaz has said that God "hurts, and his hands heal." This power does not have other doctors. All of them are set to heal the wound that another did. This text has a great incentive. I could well say that the size of my wound does not matter because the Lord's hands are bigger, more powerful and healing.

It is a guarantee to know that God is in control of all things. There are doctors who have to tell their patients: "I have bad news for you." It is there where a great fear invades the body of the afflicted and resigned family, because the news could be of death. But a divine "bad news" is the occasion for the power of God to be manifested. My beloved ones, the corrections that we endure could be painful in themselves, according to Hebrews 12:11), but those wounds are the methods that God uses in our pilgrimage to build our lives. To those who love God their wounds will be healing. Do not, therefore, fear his punishment. God is still working on you.

CONCLUSION: Happiness in the style of God puts the world upside down. Nobody wants to suffer. No one wants to be punished or disciplined. There is an internal rebellion that rejects everything that is seen as punishment in life. The concept of a "theology" that looks for everything positive and pulls an angry God from the stage, is increasingly popular.

An angry God does not support our soul. But Eliphaz "the friend of experience" of Job has left us one of the Beatitudes that puts us in the right place of what the punishment does in the life of the believer. "Blessed is the man whom God punishes," the text tells us. How does this sound? Do you find it hard? Well, the other part says: "... therefore, do not despise the correction of the Almighty."

What is your reaction to divine correction? And what does that statement finally look like? "Because it is he who makes the wound, and he will bandage it; he hurts, and his hands heal. " What does this promise give you? Do you agree with happiness in the style of God? The authentically happy man is a work of the hands of God.