Job 36-38

June 8

Job 36-38

Elihu misjudged Job’s character and the reason job was facing the trials he was facing, but he had a pretty good perspective on God. Elihu gave insight into God’s love for and desire for salvation for all people. "“He is wooing you from the jaws of distress to a spacious place free from restriction. (Job 36:16a, NIV)  God is wooing us from the jaws of distress. God wants to bring us out of distress, but He has given us free will so we have to decide for ourselves to follow Him. Therefore, God woos us or entices us. He tries to lead us out of the jaws of distress. Often we are so blind to what is going on around us, we miss God’s pull. We continue to walk right into the jaws of distress, but God continues to woo.

There is no other religion in which god pursues people. In other religions people have to pursue an elusive god who is fickle and it is impossible to know whether or not you have pleased him. But God loves us so much that He sent His Son to die on the cross for us. He pursues us. He loved us while we were still His enemy. While we rejected Him, He died for us.

We tend to imprison ourselves in sin, while God desires to set us free. God calls us to repentance because we are walking into a trap. The only way out is to turn from our sin and turn to God. We have a choice in our eternal future. It is not a promise that we will not face trouble in this world, we will. But God has an eternal reward for all who receive Jesus as their personal Savior, all who believe He is the Son of God, all who confess their sins and turn away from their sin and toward Him. Our choice, whether we respond to God’s wooing or reject it, decided our eternal destiny.