Acquaint Thyself

Job 22:21-30

Acquaint now thyself with him, and be at peace: thereby good shall come unto thee. Receive, I pray thee, the law from his mouth, and lay up his words in thine heart. If thou return to the Almighty, thou shalt be built up, thou shalt put away iniquity far from thy tabernacles. Then shalt thou lay up gold as dust, and the gold of Ophir as the stones of the brooks. Yea, the Almighty shall be thy defence, and thou shalt have plenty of silver. For then shalt thou have thy delight in the Almighty, and shalt lift up thy face unto God. Thou shalt make thy prayer unto him, and he shall hear thee, and thou shalt pay thy vows. Thou shalt also decree a thing, and it shall be established unto thee: and the light shall shine upon thy ways. When men are cast down, then thou shalt say, There is lifting up; and he shall save the humble person. He shall deliver the island of the innocent: and it is delivered by the pureness of thine hands.

Acquaint - To become familiar or conversant with - to gain personal knowledge of.

Familiar - Thoroughly conversant - informal - unceremonious - unconstrained.

We are talking about a relationship with God that is not based on ceremony or formality, but on a personal fellowship, a personal knowledge of His mercy, His love, and His faithfulness.

Did you know that God is not looking for ceremony or formality?

A lot of people have based their Christianity on some form of ceremony or formality. They have become acquainted with religion, but God is a stranger to them.Which is not to say that ceremony and formality should be left undone, but alone they are not enough.

There was a ceremony when my wife and I got married, but the ceremony did not keep us together. Our fellowship kept us together and our love has kept us together.

Many people take communion because they love the formality of it. It is so religious. They miss the remembrance of the body that was broken for our healing and the blood that was shed for our sin.

God is calling us to be familiar with Him, to be conversant with Him, and to be at peace.

Isaiah 32:17 - And the work of righteousness shall be peace: and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance forever.

Isaiah 54:17 - And their righteousness is of me saith the Lord.

Proverbs 18:10 - The name of the Lord is a strong tower, the righteous runneth into it and is safe.

Romans 5:17 says we have received the gift of righteousness by Jesus Christ. Because of the work of Jesus at Calvary, the fellowship between God and man was renewed. The vail of separation was rent in twain.

I am trying to say that the reason for redemption is so that fellowship can be restored.

When Jesus was born, the message of the angels was "On earth peace, good will toward man". Jesus came to tear down the wall between God and man so that we can come boldly to the throne of grace so that we can be acquainted and familiar with God, and so that we will have peace.

Our text tells us of the benefits of building a personal relationship with our Lord.

The first benefit is PEACE.

Psalms 29:11 - The Lord will give strength unto his people: the Lord will bless his people with peace.

Psalms 85:10 - Righteousness and Peace have kissed each other.

Psalms 119:165 - Great Peace have they which love thy law, and nothing shall offend them.

The Hebrew text reads: And they shall have no stumbling block.

Proverbs 3:1-2 tells us that if we do not forget God’s laws, but keep them in our heart, it will add to us length of days, long life, and PEACE.

Romans 8:6 - To be spiritually minded is life and PEACE.

If we lack these things maybe we should ask ourselves:

Have we been conversant with God? Are we familiar with our Heavenly Father? Have we, as verse 22 of our text says, placed His Word in our heart?

God is not the source of your problem, He is the answer.

If you are in this condition, if you have drifted from fellowship, verse 23 is a call to return.

Return and God will lift you up

Let’s look at the blessing of fellowship with Him. Verse 24 says you’ll have gold, your needs met abundantly, poverty destroyed. Verse 25 says the Lord will be your defence. Verse 26 says you can lift up your face to Him and come boldly as a child to his Father.

Deuteronomy 28:1-2 tells us that if we hearken diligently to the voice of the Lord, and obey, the blessing will overtake us.