The how's and why's of Job

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earl40

Puritan Board Professor
I was pondering the sovereignty of God while discussing this topic with some rabid arminian brothers (which seem to be 95% of believers in the USA In my most humble opinion). So I started searching with the word "world" to see where it is used in the bible to see where it can mean something other than "the entire world" and came across the Book of Job and noticed how his friends gave fantastic statements of how The Lord is sovereign over all. This got me to thinking in how God does reveal in scripture that He is sovereign, but they idea that we can understand how he works all for "the good for those believe" is beyond our comprehension.

The main thing I am pondering is can we employ Job's friends discourses to show that He is soverign over all which includes evil? I hesitate because the misconception that ALL his friends said was wrong. Could it be what they said was all true concerning The Lord's sovereignty and that the why was totally off.
 
I was pondering the sovereignty of God while discussing this topic with some rabid arminian brothers (which seem to be 95% of believers in the USA In my most humble opinion). So I started searching with the word "world" to see where it is used in the bible to see where it can mean something other than "the entire world" and came across the Book of Job and noticed how his friends gave fantastic statements of how The Lord is sovereign over all. This got me to thinking in how God does reveal in scripture that He is sovereign, but they idea that we can understand how he works all for "the good for those believe" is beyond our comprehension.

The main thing I am pondering is can we employ Job's friends discourses to show that He is soverign over all which includes evil? I hesitate because the misconception that ALL his friends said was wrong. Could it be what they said was all true concerning The Lord's sovereignty and that the why was totally off.

I agree God's wisdom is beyond our comprehension, but it is helpful to read Romans 8:28 as it stands:

"And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose."

We often miss the word 'together' here. What it implies is that things don't work for our good separately, they benefit us together. It's like bread and butter -- you don't eat them separately, because they don't "work" separately. It is hard for us to understand how even our sin ultimately works for our good, because we have not enough wisdom to take everything else in consideration. But we must always keep in mind that sin or any other thing does not work for our good separately -- the benefit will come to us by a fusion of things/events. Sin + conviction --> repentance. See?

As to your latter question, we should never think someone cannot speak truth just because he/she is not Christian. Michael Jackson and Hitler could and did speak truth. The friends of Job assumed true things about God, but they also assumed a lot of wrong things about God. Anyone is capable of speaking the truth in some measure.
 
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