{"id":7598,"date":"2023-12-19T00:01:03","date_gmt":"2023-12-19T08:01:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/?p=7598"},"modified":"2026-06-03T12:24:07","modified_gmt":"2026-06-03T19:24:07","slug":"job-2425-now-if-it-is-not-so-who-will-prove-me-a-liar-and-make-my-speech-worth-nothing-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/?p=7598","title":{"rendered":"Job 24:25: &#8220;Now if it is not so, who will prove me [Job] a liar, \/ And make my speech worth nothing?&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The arguments Job&#8217;s friends brought over and over again against him were simply not true. He had proved that and yet they persisted in their belief. His continued challenge of their theories didn&#8217;t abate their attack against him. The wicked do often prosper on this earth, and the godly, the innocent, do often suffer; but those trials and sufferings can make the believer stronger. The reality is that <em>good<\/em> things happen to both good and bad people, and <em>bad<\/em> things happen to both good and bad people. That is the reality of life all around us, every day, and no person, who is honest with themselves, can prove otherwise. But calamity doesn&#8217;t come from God. Lamentations tells us: \u201cFor He does not afflict willingly, \/ Nor grieve the children of men\u201d (3:33). God desires to be a comfort to those who are struggling and sorrowful.<\/p>\n<p>There is an ancient Chinese legend of a mother whose son died. The mother went to an old sage and asked him for a magic potion to bring her son back to life so she could get beyond her paralyzing grief. The sage said that for such a potion he needed her to bring him a mustard seed from a home that had never known sorrow or loss. So she set out to find such a seed. She went from house to house; but regardless of where she went, whether a mansion or a hut, every home had known sorrow and loss. As she heard people tell her of their losses, she thought to herself, \u201cWho better to help these grieving people than I, who have lost my son?\u201d So she spent time in each home, listening and helping those who had loved and lost. She never found the mustard seed, but it no longer mattered. Her loss changed her in a way that enabled her to help others. In a small way, this non-Christian story points us to what Jesus wants His followers to do for those who have suffered and lost. Our sufferings should first take us to the foot of the cross. Then, after we have been healed and restored, we should find ourselves better equipped to help lead others to Jesus.<\/p>\n<p><em>&#8220;LORD, please use us to bring someone closer to You this day.&#8221;<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n<p>=============================================================<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Job 24 KJV<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><sup>1<\/sup>\u00a0Why, seeing times are not hidden from the Almighty, do they that know him not see his days?\u00a0<sup>2<\/sup>\u00a0<em>Some\u00a0<\/em>remove the landmarks; they violently take away flocks, and feed\u00a0<em>thereof<\/em>. <sup>3<\/sup>\u00a0They drive away the ass of the fatherless, they take the widow\u2019s ox for a pledge.\u00a0<sup>4<\/sup>\u00a0They turn the needy out of the way: the poor of the earth hide themselves together.\u00a0<sup>5<\/sup>\u00a0Behold,\u00a0<em>as\u00a0<\/em>wild asses in the desert, go they forth to their work; rising betimes for a prey: the wilderness\u00a0<em>yieldeth\u00a0<\/em>food for them\u00a0<em>and\u00a0<\/em>for\u00a0<em>their\u00a0<\/em>children.\u00a0<sup>6<\/sup> They reap\u00a0<em>every one\u00a0<\/em>his corn in the field: and they gather the vintage of the wicked.\u00a0\u00a0<sup>7<\/sup>\u00a0They cause the naked to lodge without clothing, that\u00a0<em>they have\u00a0<\/em>no covering in the cold.\u00a0<sup>8<\/sup>\u00a0They are wet with the showers of the mountains, and embrace the rock for want of a shelter.\u00a0<sup>9<\/sup>\u00a0They pluck the fatherless from the breast, and take a pledge of the poor.\u00a0<sup>10<\/sup>\u00a0They cause\u00a0<em>him\u00a0<\/em>to go naked without clothing, and they take away the sheaf\u00a0<em>from\u00a0<\/em>the hungry;\u00a0<sup>11<\/sup>\u00a0<em>Which\u00a0<\/em>make oil within their walls,\u00a0<em>and\u00a0<\/em>tread\u00a0<em>their<\/em>winepresses, and suffer thirst.\u00a0<sup>12<\/sup>\u00a0Men groan from out of the city, and the soul of the wounded crieth out: yet God layeth not folly\u00a0<em>to them<\/em>. <sup>13<\/sup>\u00a0They are of those that rebel against the light; they know not the ways thereof, nor abide in the paths thereof.\u00a0<sup>14<\/sup>\u00a0The murderer rising with the light killeth the poor and needy, and in the night is as a thief.\u00a0<sup>15<\/sup>\u00a0The eye also of the adulterer waiteth for the twilight, saying, No eye shall see me: and disguiseth\u00a0<em>his\u00a0<\/em>face.\u00a0\u00a0<sup>16<\/sup>\u00a0In the dark they dig through houses,\u00a0<em>which\u00a0<\/em>they had marked for themselves in the daytime: they know not the light.\u00a0<sup>17<\/sup>\u00a0For the morning\u00a0<em>is\u00a0<\/em>to them even as the shadow of death: if\u00a0<em>one<\/em>know\u00a0<em>them, they are in\u00a0<\/em>the terrors of the shadow of death. <sup>18<\/sup>\u00a0He\u00a0<em>is\u00a0<\/em>swift as the waters; their portion is cursed in the earth: he beholdeth not the way of the vineyards.\u00a0<sup>19<\/sup>\u00a0Drought and heat consume the snow waters:\u00a0<em>so doth\u00a0<\/em>the grave\u00a0<em>those which\u00a0<\/em>have sinned.\u00a0\u00a0<sup>20<\/sup>\u00a0The womb shall forget him; the worm shall feed sweetly on him; he shall be no more remembered; and wickedness shall be broken as a tree.\u00a0<sup>21<\/sup>\u00a0He evil entreateth the barren\u00a0<em>that\u00a0<\/em>beareth not: and doeth not good to the widow.\u00a0<sup>22<\/sup>\u00a0He draweth also the mighty with his power: he riseth up, and no\u00a0<em>man\u00a0<\/em>is sure of life.\u00a0\u00a0<sup>23<\/sup>\u00a0<em>Though\u00a0<\/em>it be given him\u00a0<em>to be\u00a0<\/em>in safety, whereon he resteth; yet his eyes\u00a0<em>are\u00a0<\/em>upon their ways.\u00a0<sup>24<\/sup>\u00a0They are exalted for a little while, but are gone and brought low; they are taken out of the way as all\u00a0<em>other<\/em>, and cut off as the tops of the ears of corn.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<sup>25<\/sup>\u00a0And if\u00a0<em>it be\u00a0<\/em>not\u00a0<em>so\u00a0<\/em>now, who will make me a liar, and make my speech nothing worth?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The arguments Job&#8217;s friends brought over and over again against him were simply not true. He had proved that and yet they persisted in their belief. His continued challenge of their theories didn&#8217;t abate their attack against him. The wicked do often prosper on this earth, and the godly, the innocent, do often suffer; but [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7598"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7598"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7598\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16463,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7598\/revisions\/16463"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7598"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7598"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7598"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}