There is a theme that runs through the book of Job that his friends believe: you reap what you sow. Is this biblical and is it always true? Listen to gain clarity and wisdom!

Today's Scripture: Job 11-15

Verses Referenced:

Various verses from Job 11, 12, 13

Galatians 6:1-10

Find our free Bible reading plan at www.entrustedministries.com/podcast or click here.

Welcome to the Dwelling Place

from Entrusted Ministries.

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I'm Stephanie Hit Cox, and we're going

through the Bible chronologically.

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We're in the middle of job right

now, and you can find our free

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Bible reading resources on our

podcast page on our website, which

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I've linked in the show notes.

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If you've already listened, then please

leave a review so that other moms can find

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encouragement from God's word as well.

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Today as we continue looking at Job

in chapters 11 through 15, we'll see

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Job defend His righteousness While not

claiming he's perfect, he maintains that

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if he were in a court, no one would be

able to convict him of a crime worthy

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of the suffering that he's experiencing.

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Still, his friends continue accusing

him, saying, this is how the world works.

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You sin and you suffer consequences.

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You do good and you're blessed.

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This is often referred to as

the law of sowing and reaping,

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and we'll talk more about that

after I read God's word over you.

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And of course, we'll end in prayer.

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So far, the neite kicks off

the accusations in chapter 11.

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This is even a more targeted

attack than the first two friends.

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Zohar tells job God is unsearchable.

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How can you claim to understand

his ways and then reiterates?

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This is obviously a

result of your own sin.

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Zohar needs to apply that

reasoning to himself.

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If God is so unsearchable,

why does Zohar think that?

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He knows why Job is suffering.

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In chapter 12, job begins a powerful

defense, and I think that's incredibly

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impressive because these are the, some of

the physical symptoms he's experiencing

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he has oozing boils from head to toe.

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His skin is decaying,

shriveling up and turning black.

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He can't sleep.

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He has heartbreaking

grief, severe itching.

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His flesh is infested with dust and worms.

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Some of his teeth are flying out.

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He's in constant agony and pain

is losing weight and has a fever.

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In chapter 12, job ban answers.

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No doubt you are the people and

wisdom will die with you, but I

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have understanding as well as you.

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I am not inferior to you who does

not know such things as these.

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He goes on to say that even the

animals can tell that the hand

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of God has done this to him.

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And then he rightly attributes

God with all wisdom.

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Beginning in verse 13, with God

our wisdom and might, he has

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counsel and understanding if he

tears down, none can rebuild.

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If he shuts a man in, none can open.

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If he withholds the waters, they dry up.

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If he sends them out, they

overwhelm the land with him.

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Our strength and sound wisdom, the

deceived and the deceiver are his.

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He leads counselors away,

stripped, and judges.

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He makes fools.

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He looses the bonds of kings and

binds a waist cloth on their hips.

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He leads priests, a waist stripped

and overthrows the mighty.

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He deprives the speech of those

who are trusted and takes away

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the discernment of the elders.

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He pours contempt on princes and

looses the belt of the strong.

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He uncovers the deep set of darkness

and brings deep darkness to light.

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He makes nations great

and he destroys them.

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He enlarges nations and leads them away.

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He takes away understanding from the

chiefs of the people of the earth and

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makes them wander in a trackless waste.

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They grope in the dark without light, and

he makes them stagger like a drunken man.

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Behold, my eye has seen all this.

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My ear has hurt and

understood it, what you know.

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I also know I am not inferior to you,

but I would speak to the Almighty and

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I desire to argue my case with God.

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probably the most well known verse

in all of job, is Though he slay me.

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I will hope in him.

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Yet I will argue my waist to his face.

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This will be my salvation.

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Job isn't handling his

suffering perfectly.

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But he's saying.

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Even though he has no idea why

God is allowing this in his

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life, he's going to trust him.

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He knows that God is

sovereign and in control

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What a lesson for us that we can choose

to submit to God's plans and God's

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will for our lives over our own plans.

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I think it's important that we confront

the reap what you sow mentality.

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It is a biblical principle and it's just a

reality in life that often what you plant,

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you get to harvest, you reap what you sow.

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For those of you that would like a

refresher reaping is literally casting

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seed on the ground or digging up

holes and planting the seed there.

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And the sowing is the harvesting.

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You wait until the plants and

the food has actually grown

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and then you pick it whether by

hands or with a tool or machine.

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When people say you reap what

you sow, often that's true.

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You study for a test, you do well on it.

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You exercise a need healthily.

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You often maintain healthy weight.

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You invest in great friendships.

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And often it's returned,

but it's not always true.

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I find that often my understanding

of scripture requires

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that I balance two ideas,

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and it requires that I embrace

an idea, but not to the exclusion

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of another idea in scripture.

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It reminds me of the time that my

junior high basketball coach told

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me, Stephanie, you take everything

I say and act like it's gold.

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And I'm sorry to say, but in my

know-it-all middle schooler mind, I

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thought, then give me better advice.

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But now I understand what he was saying.

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I lacked the wisdom to know when

to apply what he was telling me.

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And I don't wanna be the

same in looking to my Bible.

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Here's why I think that the

law of sewing and reaping is

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really motivating and helpful.

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But it can be problematic if

we take it to an extreme first.

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If we believe that we truly do

reap everything that we sow and

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that every blessing we experience

is the work of our own hands.

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Then we're taking credit for the

favor and blessings of God instead

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of giving him the glory and praise.

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It also means that when we see pain

in other people's lives, that we'll

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look at them and think it was their

fault just as job's friends did.

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But let's say we completely detach

ourselves from the responsibility of

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planting so that we can harvest later.

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What does that look like?

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It can be a victim mentality

that thinks that everything that

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happens is beyond our control.

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It can be a lifetime track record

of rushing out the door, believing

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that things just always happen to us.

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It's the kid that refuses to study

because tests are always hard.

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We need to believe that there are

benefits of persevering and diligence,

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but we also need to know that

results aren't guaranteed and aren't

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always the fruit of our actions.

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This one strikes a little bit of a chord

for me right now as I'm fresh off a

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super encouraging dentist appointment.

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If I may borrow job's,

sarcastic tone for a moment,

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I'm one of those people

that flosses religiously.

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My husband, on the other hand,

probably has no idea where

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our dental floss is right now.

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Regardless.

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When my husband goes to the dentist,

every time they tell him, keep up.

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The good work looks great but

when I sit down in the chair,

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it seems they're continually

recommending that I buy a new mouth.

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Sometimes we don't reap what we sow.

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But what if I embraced a

complete victim mentality that

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said, none of this is my fault.

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I'd give up flossing and brushing

and trying to eat healthy and throw

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on the towel and it would get worse.

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Instead of me pressing in

and saying, you know what?

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This is actually an opportunity for me

to build faithfulness and character.

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I have plenty of other

blessings the Lord's given me.

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This is just a bit of a struggle in my

life and I can trust God to provide.

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Even if I need to buy a new mouth, and

if I went to the other extreme, I might

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take credit for the other blessings in

my life that were just the grace of God,

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that I really didn't have to work for

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Even if the result isn't

guaranteed, we wanna teach our kids.

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That responsibility is good, and

diligence is often blessed while also

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training them that sometimes hard

things happen on the earth and it's

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not an excuse to completely slack off.

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We also want them to be people

who have compassion toward

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others when they're suffering.

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You don't want your children driving by

someone homeless and thinking, well, I

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wonder what they did to get there, or

judging others in difficult situations.

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them to persevere in

character and diligence.

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Since I knew that this thread of

reaping and sowing is woven throughout

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scripture, I wanted to look up other

verses that talk about it, and one

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of the key passages is Galatians six.

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This is a letter Paul wrote in

the New Testament, and it can give

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us a unique perspective when we

apply it to the situation of job.

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It begins, brothers, if anyone is

caught in any transgression, you

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who are spiritual should restore

him in a spirit of gentleness.

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Keep watch on yourself.

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Lest you two are tempted, bear one

another, burdens, and so fulfill the

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law of Christ for if anyone thinks

he has something when he is nothing,

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he deceives himself, but let each

one test his own work and then his

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reason to boast will be in himself

alone and not, and his neighbor.

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And a few verses later,

do not be deceived.

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God is not mocked for whatever one

sows that will he also reap for

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the one who sows to his own flesh.

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Wolf from the flesh reap corruption, but

the one who sows to the spirit, wolf from

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the spirit reap eternal life and let us

not grow weary of doing good for in due

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season, we will reap if we do not give up.

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This begins talking about if someone is

sinful, restore them In gentleness, we're

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encouraged to carry each other's burdens.

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Clearly, this is not what job's friends

were doing, so even if his great suffering

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was the cause of some heinous sin that

he had committed, they should have

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restored him in a different way instead

of accusing him in the midst of his pain.

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Still, we are told that we will

reap what we sow, especially

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in terms of eternal things.

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And this is where I think

the law holds up most.

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If you've been trying to share the

love of Christ with others and you're

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not seeing fruit, don't give up.

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Often there is fruit

produced that we can't see.

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If you've been consistently parenting and

you're still not seeing benefits, whether

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it's the kid that can't keep his draper

dry, or the reading that won't click,

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or the constant battle for obedience.

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Don't give up.

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Don't fall into a victim

mentality, but also don't take

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it all on your own shoulders.

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Ask the Lord for help so that together

you can reap an eternal harvest

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because that's the one that matters.

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Lord God, we thank you that all

wisdom and understanding are with you.

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We thank you that the fear of

you is the beginning of wisdom

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and that you offer that to us.

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We come before you asking that

even when we don't understand what

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you're doing, that you would give us

clarity about how to obey your word

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I pray we would faithfully reap for things

that matter for eternity in our families.

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And in those you're calling us to love,

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help us to faithfully train and

love our children, but not take

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it all upon our own shoulders.

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May we understand that you help us.

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Lord, we thank you that if you

tear down, none can rebuild.

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We also know that means what

you build, no one can tear down.

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So we ask that you would build

something for your glory in

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our homes and in our hearts.

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We love you, Jesus.

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In your name we pray, amen.