As soon as she faints and wakes up, she will REACT with kindness.
Illus: For example, if you ladies want an UNKIND REACTION from your husband, when he comes home from a hard day’s work tomorrow, hit him with all the bad news you can hit him with.
Such as:
• Little Johnny tried to flush the cat down the commode.
• The washing machine broke and poured water all over the new carpet and destroyed it.
• You had an electrical storm, and the brand new television got struck by lightning and burned out.
• You received a letter from your neighbor about the tree from your yard fell on their car, and they are suing him.
• Five checks bounced, and the bank is threatening to have him locked up.
• You are not sure that you love him anymore!
You ACT this way as soon as he walks into the house, hit him with all the bad news you can hit him with. You will get a REACTION from him; however, more than likely you are not going to like his REACTION.
For every ACTION there is a REACTION.
With this thought in our mind, I want to bring to your attention that God is ACTING in our lives daily.
That is, GOD IS ACTING AND WE ARE REACTING!
Each day we are REACTING to the things He is doing in our lives.
Illus: Life is like playing checkers. The person you play with ACTS, and based on that person’s ACTIONS you have to REACT!
Let me illustrate….
The fact is, God ACTED in Job’s life in a certain way and Job had to determine how he would REACT to God’s ACTIONS in his life.
Let’s look at some of the ways he REACTED to God’s ACTIONS in his life.
I. HE HAD TO REACT TO GOD’S POWER
As you read the book of Job, you can see that almighty God had just stripped Job of everything he had.
• I want to remind you that when a poor man loses everything he has, he has not lost much because he did not have much to lose.
• But Job was a very wealthy man, and almighty God by His power had taken everything he had.
Job had thousands of sheep, oxens, camels, 7 sons and 3 daughters and lost everything in one day! He was a rich man with a good reputation.
God ACTED and now look how Job REACTED!
Look at verse 42:1-2, we read, “Then Job answered the LORD, and said, I know that thou canst do everything, and that no thought can be withholden from thee.”
In this verse of scripture, Job is acknowledging something.
What?
He acknowledges that God is a powerful God.
Basically Job was saying, God, you are a powerful God. You can do anything you choose to do because you have the power to do it, and no one can stop you. NO ONE!
But Job was not only acknowledging something, he also had to deal with something!
What?
The almighty God had taken His power and wiped out everything that he loved and cherished.
God has the power to destroy in a moment everything we have spent our whole lives trying to accumulate.
We see the “awesomeness” of His power in the day of the Lord.
One day God’s AWESOME POWER will be demonstrated before the whole world in two ways.
Look at 2 Peter 3:10. We read, “But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; (1) in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, (2) and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.”
On the day of the Lord, everything you see is going to be burned up.
God almighty is a POWERFUL GOD. There is nothing on this earth that can come close to the power of almighty God.
Illus: We have all seen television documentaries of atomic and nuclear bomb explosions. Once the bomb exploded, we saw the large mushroom cloud of dust rise miles and miles into the sky.
We have seen the power of that explosion sweep across the land, destroying everything in its path. As we think about the power of that explosion, I want to remind you that all the bombs in the world are not a drop in the bucket compared to the power of almighty God with a great NOISE!
God uses His power however He chooses, and there is not a thing anyone can do about it.
• There are times when God ACTS and wipe out things in our lives that we love and cherish.
• But also, God uses His power to open doors for us that only the power of God can open.
Illus: Dr. James Dobson wrote a book entitled When God Doesn’t Make Sense, and, in his book, he shared an illustration that is very applicable to the point being drawn from this particular verse.
He stated in 1945, a young associate pastor named Cliff married his fiancé, Billie.
They had very little money but scraped up enough to take a honeymoon. When they arrived at the hotel, they were told it was now a rehabilitation center and not available to overnight guests.
They hitchhiked to a grocery store several miles down the road. The owner was sympathetic to their situation and let them stay in a room over the store. The owner quickly caught on that they were Christians and he referred them to a friend with a nicer place to spend the rest of their honeymoon.
During the week their host invited them to attend a youth rally at a nearby Christian
conference center. The regular song leader was ill that night, so Cliff was asked if he might take charge of the music service. He consented and led the music, before a young evangelist named Billy stepped up to preach.
Cliff Barrows met Billy Graham that night and formed a ministry team that has preached the gospel throughout the world for fifty years.
God ACTED AND CLIFF BARROWS ACTED.
But it is those times; when God uses His power to wipe out things in our lives that we love that make it hard for us to humble ourselves before God.
Look at Job 1:21, “And said, Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither: the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.”
Job certainly REACTED in a way that was pleasing to the Lord.
But everyone does not REACT this way when life turns sour on them.
There are people who are angry with God.
They know He is a powerful God, and that He used His power to strip them of things in their lives, and they are angry with God.
Illus: A father loved his little boy, and he loved God. But the God, who gives life, saw fit to take the life of his son. For years now, this father has been very angry with God, and refuses to attend church or worship a God who would take his son from him.
But did you know that this can be a reaction of anyone who has lost a loved one?
Illus: Suppose everyone who lost a loved one acted like this!!!
What we have to remember is this; everything we have actually belongs to God.
We say:
• These are my children
• This is my home
• This is my car
• This is my body
But the fact is, everything we have and see belongs to the Lord.
And sometime God, by HIS ALMIGHTY POWER will ACT and strip us of these things. That should be a reminder to all of us; IT ALL BELONGS TO HIM TO START WITH.
HE IS GOD, AND EVERYTHING WE CAN SEE IS HIS CREATION!
He is perfectly within His rights to do as He sees fit. But when he ACTS, we need to pray and ask the Lord to help us to REACT in a humble way like Job did.
WE HAVE TO REACT TO HIS POWER and …
II. WE HAVE TO REACT TO HIS KNOWLEDGE
Look at verse 2-3 again. We read, “I know that thou canst do everything, and that no thought can be withholden from thee. Who is he that hideth counsel without knowledge? Therefore have I uttered that I understood not; things too wonderful for me, which I knew not.”
Have you noticed that God does not turn to us and ask us what we think about certain things?
Illus: Now that does not apply to television preacher Jesse Duplantist who claims God caught him up to the third heaven and God was explaining to him he had a problem he did not know what to do with.
And God asked Jesse what he felt should be done.
We know this is not true!!!
Why?
Because God has ALL KNOWLEDGE, and there is not one of us here who can tell Him anything He does not know. He knows exactly what needs to be done in all the situations of life.
He does not ask us for our ADVICE, He asks us to trust in the God of ALL KNOWLEDGE!
Job acknowledged that God knows all things, and even knows what we are thinking.
For example: (Humor) some of you ought to be ashamed, because you have come to the house of God to worship God, and He knows right now you are thinking:
• About that pot roast at home that is cooking.
• Wanting the preacher to hurry up so you can be the first in line at Ryan’s Steak house. You ought to be ashamed!
When it comes to our thoughts He knows everything we think.
Did you know that when it comes to God, YOU HAVE NO PRIVACY? Absolutely, none! He knows your every thought and ACTION!!!
Someone might say, “I do not like that!”
Do you know that God does not care about what you like or dislike? HE IS THE POTTER AND WE ARE THE CLAY!!!
HERE IS THE PROBLEM. We try to make God like us and place Him in the same kind of relationship that we mortals have with each other.
We mortals have to respect each other’s privacy. But God is not like us. GOD IS GOD, AND GOD IS THE CREATOR OF ALL OF US, AND THERE IS NOT ONE THING ABOUT YOU AND I THAT GOD DOES NOT KNOW! NOT ONE THING!
Psalms 139:1-6, we read, “O LORD, thou hast searched me, and known me. Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off. Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O LORD, thou knowest it altogether. Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it.”
• There is not a place you can go that God is not there waiting for you.
• There is not a thought that you can think that God is not aware of.
Every day God is ACTING in our lives in such a way that He knows everything we DO and THINK!
He wants us to know that we are accountable to him with all of our THOUGHTS and DEEDS. When we stand before Him on the Judgment Day,
He will say:
• You used the mind I gave you to think these kinds of thoughts
• You used the ears I gave you to listen to these kinds of things
• You used the hands I gave you to do these kinds of things
• You used the feet that I gave you to go to these places
We need to reach the place in our lives where we can say, "God we don't know the answers anymore; we need you to GUIDE us in the right paths!”
Illus: There used to be a television program called, “Father knows Best”.
When it comes to our spiritual Father we must never forget that HE KNOWS BEST!
Job said, “God, you have taken everything I loved and cherished. I do not understand what is going on, but I know you do.”
Look at verse 6. Job said, “Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it.”
I.WE REACT TO GOD’S POWER
II.WE REACT TO GOD’S KNOWLEDGE.
But also-
III. WE REACT TO GOD'S GREATNESS
Look at Job 42:5-6, we read, “I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee. Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.”
God cannot help being who He is, that is, A GREAT GOD. And God has never ACTED in any way other than being a GREAT GOD!
Job told God that there was a time in his life when he had heard about Him.
We read, “I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear:”, but now he said, “…But now mine eye seeth thee…”
There is a difference between knowing about God and KNOWING God.
God’s churches are filled with people who know ABOUT GOD but do not KNOW GOD!
Job said, "I used to know about you, but now I really KNOW you."
Illus: Many of us can say the same thing. We grew up in a church that taught us about God and we have come to KNOW HIM!
MANY KNOW ABOUT GOD BUT DO NOT KNOW GOD!
WHY DO WE SAY THAT?
Because when you know God your life will produce a certain kind of REACTION.
Notice the reaction that Job had once he knew the Lord.
Look at verse 6, “Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.” Once Job saw the greatness of God he saw himself in a different fashion.
We live in a society where people think MORTALS ARE GREAT, NOT GOD!
• It is difficult today to get sinners to publicly lays aside their pride and come and kneel at an altar for salvation.
• It is difficult in this age of PRIDE to get up out of their seat and come and kneel at an altar to pray for sin in their life.
• It is difficult in this age of PRIDE to get people to follow the Lord in believers baptism
In fact, their attitude about themselves is this: they think they are doing God a favor if they go to church on Sunday and give Him a couple hours of their time.
For God to meet with us, He is doing us a favor, for us to be here in His presence is our privilege.
When Job came to know God and saw himself compared to the greatness of God, he said in verse 6, “Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.”
When we KNOW God, we can’t help but be like Job, who felt compelled to fall on his knees in repentance.
Conclusion:
• The question today is not, “Will God act?", but "How do we react to God?"
• Job didn't have to react in the way he did, but he did have to react
God acted upon Job's life, and God is acting on your life today.
What is your reaction to God?
Remember, the reason there is going to be a judgment one day is because of our REACTIONS!
What is your reaction?
I. TO HIS POWER
II. TO HIS KNOWLEDGE
III. TO HIS GREATNESS
