Honor The Sovereign Lord

Honor the Sovereign Lord (Job 42:1-13; 16-17) Sovereignty involves supreme authority, control or influence People, like Job, sometimes find it difficult to submit to the authority of God when they are experiencing difficulty, especially when they don’t know why The temptation is to “take matters into our own hands”, rather than trust God. We sometimes have illusions of personal control (1 Cor. 10:12) For example, after struggling on their own for awhile, disciples appealed to Jesus (Mark 4:37-38) Their comments to Jesus were more of an accusation than a question, “Don’t you care?” (Mark 4:38, Ps. 10:1, 22:1, 44:23, 77:7, Isa. 64:12) We can’t always control our circumstances, but we can control our response to those circumstances (2 Cor. 12:7-10) God responds to obedience with provision Do you believe this, or do you trust in yourself? Have you neglected spiritual matters in order to spend your time and energy on temporal pursuits? (see Haggai 1:5-11 When tests come, we must focus on His promises, not on explanations (Prov. 3:5, 1 Cor. 2:5) God is faithful/trustworthy (Deut. 7:9; Isa. 49:7; 1 Cor. 1:9; 10:13; Heb. 10:23; 2 Thess. 3:3; 1 Thess. 5:24; Titus 1:2; 2 Tim. 2:13; John 1:9) God clearly reminded Job of his absolute knowledge (Ps. 33:13-15), power (Jer. 32:17-25; Ps. 119:4950; Lam. 3:19-23) and sovereignty ((Ps. 22:28; 24:1; 33:10; 115:3; Isa. 14:27; 54:5; Dan. 4:17, 25, 3435; Gen. 14:19, 22; Acts 17:28; 1 Chron. 29:11; Job 12:23) God is the source of all power (2 Sam. 22:33; 1 Chron. 29:11-12; 2 Chron. 20:6; Ps. 66:7; 147:5; Matt. 6:13; Rom. 13:1; 2 Cor. 4:7; 12:9, Jude 1:25) God not only created the world in wisdom, He continues to govern it likewise (Rom. 11:33-36) His power & control should inspire us to put our hope in Him (e.g. Like Hezekiah, 2 Kings 19:15-19, see also Ps. 20:7, 2 Chron. 7:14) “This sovereignty of God is the ground of peace & confidence to all His people.” Hodge

“and wherever the doctrine of God’s sovereignty with regard to salvation of sinners were preached, there with it God sent revival.” – Jonathan Edwards The word “hope” means “to cast one’s cares on another.” In this case it means that we should throw ourselves upon the unfailing love of God. Nothing God does is unfair or capricious (though it may seem that way to us). It is absolutely essential that we believe this! There is no legitimate excuse for any man to question God’s sovereignty. We have to be careful to worship the Giver and not the gifts (e.g. Isaac) (Matt. 10:37-38) Job responded with a deep commitment to honor and obey God. He shifted his focus from vindication to humility. We need to learn to take correction with humility and a desire to do better. The rewards from God for being humble servants Grace

(Prov. 3:34; James 4:6; 1 Pet. 5:5-6) Grace means favor, mercy, undeserved kindness

Honor/Esteem

(Prov. 15:33; 22:4; 29:23; Isa. 66:2; Matt. 23:11-12; Luke 14:10; 1 Pet. 5:6) Esteem means to have a high opinion of, value greatly, have a high regard or respect for

Life

(Prov. 22:4)

Wealth

(Prov. 22:4)

Wisdom

(Prov. 11:2)

A heart that is truly submitted/surrendered to the will of God can avail much in prayer (James 5:16-18) We are encouraged to pray for others specifically (Job 16:21) “I commend intercessory prayer, because it opens man's soul, gives a healthy play to his sympathies, constrains him to feel that he is not everybody, and that this wide world and this great universe were not after all made that he might be its petty lord, that everything might bend to his will, and all creatures crouch at his feet." (Charles Spurgeon)

Witness how Job’s prayer for his friends resulted in a blessing for both them and for himself! (Job 42:10; see also Gen. 20:17) We have to be careful that when we speak about God, we speak the truth, according to His Word. We can only do this by becoming familiar with His Word and welcoming the indwelling of His Holy Spirit as a guide for us.