Built to Last

Built to Last

· The king is the greatest in the land and yet is subject to his own laws and decrees.

· Esther found favor and was raised to prominence in a foreign land.

· We also see that there is a deceitful, crafty accuser working in the shadows

· We don’t specifically read of God’s directly intervening in their lives.

This story is ultimately told to display God’s authority, sovereignty, and protection for those who put their trust in the Lord.

John 17:14-15 ESV

14 I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 15 I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one.

As Christians we are a sojourners or aliens in a foreign land. We are in this world, but not of the world.

Permission Based Society

Biblical stories often are challenging for us to relate to in comparing to our modern, Western, democratic thinking and ways of living. Our American society is built on self-reliance and independence.

Like the writer of the poem “Invictus,” William Ernest Henley wrote, “I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul.”

Society in biblical times was patriarchal and kinship-based.

In our culture, children’s need for permission diminishes as they mature and gain independence.

· Excessive need for permission from parents, partners, or others often can reflect people-pleasing, low self-esteem, fear of rejection, or unresolved attachment issues.

· Mature individuals take ownership of decisions, accept consequences, and act with self-awareness and accountability, instead of seeking constant external reassurance.

· However, spiritual maturity involves growing in discernment so that our lives act in alignment with God’s will without constant external validation while still submitting to legitimate authority.

Permission is not passive (hands-off indifference or wishful thinking). It flows from God’s character as both loving Father and sovereign King.

We need to follow Jesus’s example and seek God the Father’s will.

John 5:19 ESV

So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise.

John 5:30 ESV

“I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just, because I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me.

John 12:49 ESV

For I have not spoken on my own authority, but the Father who sent me has himself given me a commandment—what to say and what to speak.

John 14:31 ESV

but I do as the Father has commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father.

Jesus frequently withdrew in secret to pray, seeking the Father’s face and will.

Mark 1:35 ESV

And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed.

Luke 5:16 ESV

But he would withdraw to desolate places and pray.

Jesus taught the revelation of prayer is to see God as our Father.

Matthew 6:6 ESV

But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

Andrew Murray – Lord, Teach Us to Pray

“Christians often complain that private prayer is not what it should be. They feel weak and sinful, the heart is cold and dark; it is as if they have so little to pray, and that little no faith or joy. They are discouraged and keep kept from prayer by the thought that they cannot come to the Father as they ought to or as they wish. Child of God! Listen to your Teacher. He tells you that when you go to private prayer, your first thought must be” The Father is in secret, the Father waits for me there. Just because your heart is cold and prayerless, get you into the presence of the loving Father. As a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth you. Do not be thinking of how little you have to bring God, but how much he wants to give to you. Just place yourself before, and look up into His face- think of His love, His wonderful, tender, pitying love. Just tell him how sinful and cold and dark all is: it is the Father’s loving heart will give light and warmth to yours.”

In theology, God’s secret will refers to his hidden will that has not been revealed to humanity, involving an eternal plan for the universe.

Deuteronomy 29:29 ESV

“The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.”

A common misconception of God is that He is simply letting something happen without involvement.

Theologians describe this as “actively passive”- He decides not to intercede directly in each moment while still governing the outcomes.

JOB

Job 1 ESV

1 There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job, and that man was blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil. 2 There were born to him seven sons and three daughters. 3 He possessed 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 yoke of oxen, and 500 female donkeys, and very many servants, so that this man was the greatest of all the people of the east. 4 His sons used to go and hold a feast in the house of each one on his day, and they would send and invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them. 5 And when the days of the feast had run their course, Job would send and consecrate them, and he would rise early in the morning and offer burnt offerings according to the number of them all. For Job said, “It may be that my children have sinned, and cursed[a] God in their hearts.” Thus Job did continually.

6 Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan[b] also came among them. 7 The Lord said to Satan, “From where have you come?” Satan answered the Lord and said, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it.” 8 And the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil?” 9 Then Satan answered the Lord and said, “Does Job fear God for no reason? 10 Have you not put a hedge around him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. 11 But stretch out your hand and touch all that he has, and he will curse you to your face.” 12 And the Lord said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your hand. Only against him do not stretch out your hand.” So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord.

13 Now there was a day when his sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s house, 14 and there came a messenger to Job and said, “The oxen were plowing and the donkeys feeding beside them, 15 and the Sabeans fell upon them and took them and struck down the servants[c] with the edge of the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell you.” 16 While he was yet speaking, there came another and said, “The fire of God fell

from heaven and burned up the sheep and the servants and consumed them, and I alone have escaped to tell you.” 17 While he was yet speaking, there came another and said, “The Chaldeans formed three groups and made a raid on the camels and took them and struck down the servants with the edge of the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell you.” 18 While he was yet speaking, there came another and said, “Your sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s house, 19 and behold, a great wind came across the wilderness and struck the four corners of the house, and it fell upon the young people, and they are dead, and I alone have escaped to tell you.”

20 Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head and fell on the ground and worshiped. 21 And he said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.”

22 In all this, Job did not sin or charge God with wrong.

· The author of Job is unknown. Although the text states he was in the land of Uz, no one really knows where it was located. Scholars believe it is outside of Canaan, near the desert, because of customs, vocabulary, and references to geography and natural History related to northern Arabia. – Roy B. Zuck, “Job,” in The Bible Knowledge Commentary: Old Testament, ed. John F. Walvoord and Roy B. Zuck (Wheaton, Ill.: Victor Books, 1985), 718.

· It’s debatable of when Job lived. The book of Job does not mention the Mosaic Law. Job’s daughters were equal heirs with his sons, and Job himself, though not a priest, offered sacrifices, things not possible under the Law (Leviticus 4:10, Numbers 27:8).

“sons of God” – Divine Council – a heavenly assembly of God’s being, much like a courtroom (Psalm 82:1, Job 38:5-7) – The Unseen Realm by Dr. Michael Heiser’s

“Satan” – the original text has a definite article, “the satan”. Indicating that this is a rule or function of the being. Much like a prosecutor in a court.

The satan overstepped its bounds by questioning God and what he spoke over Job. If God removed the satan, then the sons of God are left to doubt not only if Job was righteous and blameless, but if God was a liar. God possibly allowed Job to be tested to prove his word.

Psalm 138:2 ESV

I bow down toward your holy temple and give thanks to your name for your steadfast love and your faithfulness, for you have exalted above all things your name and your word.

3 Areas Satan Attacks:

· The satan attacks Job’s livestock – If he can’t steal your salvation, Satan’s tactic is to stop us from serving God.

· The satan attacks Job’s servants – Satan tries to isolate you, disconnect you from those that can help you.

· The satan attacks Job’s children – Satan tries to kill or make you lose your motivation (lose heart)

Luke 22:31-32 ESV

“Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat, 32, but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.”

1 Peter 5:8 ESV

Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.

Revelation 12:9-11 ESV

9 And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. 10 And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God. 11 And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death.

1 John 2:1-2 ESV

1 My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. 2 He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.