Study of Job 12:15

He holds back the waters, and they dry up,

   He sends them forth, and they overwhelm the land.

 

I spent some time today making sure we have logged into all our gmail accounts before google deletes them. While I was at it, I got a new apple ID so I can find my work phone if I ever lose it (again). And then I even updated another apple id to one we had not lost access to the email for. All in all, I felt productive, but obviously I have to write it all down to keep track of all of them. I think I am up to 21 email accounts now.

‘Holds back’ was also ‘withholds’, ‘blocks’, and ‘shuts up’. No technical reason for my pick. ‘Dry up’ was once ‘drought’, but the noun verb changes required were too much for me.

‘Sends’ was also ‘lets’, and ‘overwhelm’ was also ‘devastate’, ‘overturn’, and ‘tear up’. I preferred the action of send, and overwhelm carried an emotional side the others seemed to lack.

I was back up to ten computers in my office this morning. Talk about overwhelming. There is a logical explanation for each, but it is still a lot to keep up with. My mind is racing to try and connect the dots between this verse and the push of technology. I still much prefer pencil and paper, but so much of what I do is based on electrons.

One of the goals of a Christian man is to grow in maturity. I have books stacked up that discuss the goal and throw out a myriad of ideas on how to gain it. But I feel like spiritual maturity is kind of like the waters God is holding back. He controls all of what we need and sometimes we are not ready for it. I have been learning about Job for years now, but I have been doing so on a relatively microscopic scale doing so verse by verse. I have a plan to finish this first effort and use the results to study the book as a whole and then study its parts in more detail. I look at the enormous amount of knowledge my favorite source has when he made his translation and notes, and I know I will never know that much. But I also know that his purpose in life and in the book are different from mine. I continually pray that God will use my efforts for the good of others, but I know that I am reaping the benefits myself right now.

One of the topics I see repeatedly is how the results are God’s domain and the efforts are all I need to expect of myself. If I continually spend time with God, I know I will become more mature, but I have no idea of what the maturity will look like. Will it help me teach groups I struggle to be comfortable with now? Will it help me use other gifts that I am too timid to utilize? God may hold back the results of my efforts, or He may overwhelm me with a flood of them. Only He can know, but I pray that flood or drought, that I can rely on Him for survival.

 

I just realized I passed 500 posts on this format. Normally I would have paid attention and made a special note. But numbers are a result and I am glad I have focused on the effort.

 

Written 11/15/23 Posted 11/23/23 Job 268