Learning Something New - Job 22-24 and Acts 11
I have already written about the problem with trying to put God in a box, but there is something else that is associated with that problem. The fact is most people get set in their ways, and it is hard for them to learn something new. This is a very dangerous trap to fall into, because God is not limited in how He can do His will. He often changes just so we have to show that we are trusting Him and not just doing the same thing over again out of habit. I am convinced that God wants Christians to be open to learning new things all of the time. This is a part of out search for truth.
Eliphaz was not listening to Job, and he was not open to learning something new. He actually asked Job a question that proved this. He asked Job if it was because of his fear of the Lord that God had sent this trial upon him. The answer to that question was yes, but Eliphaz could not comprehend God allowing trials in a person's life, because that person feared Him. That was new to him, and he was not open to learning that. As far as Eliphaz was concerned that was ridicules, and Job must have sinned badly to be punished in the way he was being punished. This hesitancy to learn something new caused him not to listen to Job and to jump to his wrong conclusion. It will do the same thing for us today. We must be open to the possibility of God doing something new.
Look at Peter in Acts 11. He had to go back to Jerusalem and defend his actions against the hard line Jewish believers who believed that a person had to be circumcised to be a Christian. They had never heard of a Jew having fellowship with Gentiles. They were reluctant to hear him, but it does seem that some of them listened to Peter and changed their minds. Even the story of Barnabas going to Antioch to check out the work of the Lord there is promising. The believers were open to what God was doing, even though it was so different from what they were used to. God used that willingness to learn new things then, and He will use it in our lives today to do great things for His kingdom.
Tomorrow, I intend to read Job 25-27 and Acts 12.
Eliphaz was not listening to Job, and he was not open to learning something new. He actually asked Job a question that proved this. He asked Job if it was because of his fear of the Lord that God had sent this trial upon him. The answer to that question was yes, but Eliphaz could not comprehend God allowing trials in a person's life, because that person feared Him. That was new to him, and he was not open to learning that. As far as Eliphaz was concerned that was ridicules, and Job must have sinned badly to be punished in the way he was being punished. This hesitancy to learn something new caused him not to listen to Job and to jump to his wrong conclusion. It will do the same thing for us today. We must be open to the possibility of God doing something new.
Look at Peter in Acts 11. He had to go back to Jerusalem and defend his actions against the hard line Jewish believers who believed that a person had to be circumcised to be a Christian. They had never heard of a Jew having fellowship with Gentiles. They were reluctant to hear him, but it does seem that some of them listened to Peter and changed their minds. Even the story of Barnabas going to Antioch to check out the work of the Lord there is promising. The believers were open to what God was doing, even though it was so different from what they were used to. God used that willingness to learn new things then, and He will use it in our lives today to do great things for His kingdom.
Tomorrow, I intend to read Job 25-27 and Acts 12.