by Lynn Squire
1. Can you cover your own guilt? Read II Samuel 11 and 12. Was David able to hide his sin? Even when we try to make things right, the consequences of our sin remain.
2. If you still suffer consequences for your sin, why seek forgiveness? Read Romans 5:1–11. Study Ezekiel 33:1–20. What is the ultimate consequence for sin which can be put off? Read Romans 6:23.
3. The telegraph man quoted John 8:32, “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” In John 8:31–36, how did Jesus say you can know truth?
Chapter 36 Discussion Questions
Read Job 25:4–6.
1. Do our excuses make us guilt free? When we make excuses for the mistakes or wrongs we have done are we justified?
2. It has been said that troubles exist in our world in judgment of the sin of mankind. Can freedom from judgment be found through one man? Study Romans 5:12, 15–19.
3. Knowing that we are guilty of sin, knowing that we are “worms,” how can we ever stand before God? How can we find value for our life that would enable us to live in joy? Read I John 3:1–5 and Hebrews 4:14–16.
While we can understand our wretched state before we were saved—and when we have been pierced asunder by the two-edged sword of God’s Word—we who believe can be bold and find value in our lives because God valued us enough to send His Son to take away the disdain of our lives.
No longer do we need to view our day-to-day living the way the world does, seeking to please ourselves so as to “live life to the fullest.” When we recognize that God sacrificed His Son so that we can be with Him, when we see He placed great value on our lives, then we can know we ought to live for Him in the manner in which He finds value. Our purpose changes from self-seeking, to God-pleasing. Our desires become directed by His purpose for us: to glorify Him.
If we attempt to approach the throne of grace on our own merit, to seek our own desires, even to try to appease our own conscience, we are not going with the right purpose. We are to go boldly to the throne of grace “that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.”
Mercy is God’s compassionate withholding of the judgment we deserve. Grace is the freely given favor of God toward us.
Our joy is found not in seeking value in the eyes of the world but in the eyes of God.
A thought that brings great comfort to me is this: as the flower on the side of a mountain never seen by man’s eyes brings God pleasure, so I can bring God pleasure even when the world chooses not to see me for who I am—a child of God, a citizen of a heavenly kingdom, a daughter of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
Chapter 37 Discussion Questions
Read Job 42. How is Job a picture of Christ in this chapter?
1. Are there many ways to enter into a relationship with God and away from eternal condemnation? Read John 14:6 and Acts 4:12. No religion, in itself, can bring you into a right relationship with God.
2. Who did Pastor Perkins say Dixon was like? Read Acts 9:3–6.
Did Saul (later to be known as the Apostle Paul) know who God was before Jesus met him on the road to Damascus? Did that knowledge save him? Read Hebrews 12:1–2. To whom should we look to help us in our faith?
3. Could Dixon have been saved if he had not called upon the name of Jesus? Read Acts 16:30–31 and Romans 10:13–14.
While it may be true that God reveals Himself to a person bit by bit through the course of a person’s life, you cannot obtain new life without first coming to Jesus Christ. A person may experience great emotion, a fervor and stirring, and yet, if that person does not call on the name of Jesus, he can’t be saved. An emotional experience does not bring salvation.
In the above verses we see that calling on the name of the Lord is imperative to salvation. Yes, we must believe, but in James 2:19 we see that even the devils believe in God. Are the devils saved? No. Calling on the Lord Jesus is an act of faith, a faith that leads to salvation.
Beware of people that tell you an emotional experience quickens you or makes you a new creature and gives you new life. You cannot be made new unless you first come to Jesus Christ. Read II Corinthians 5:17.
There is only one true Gospel. If someone tells you that you must first experience “this or that” before you are saved, or that you must perform some ritualistic act, or that you do not need to repent (turn away from) your former beliefs, then they are not giving you the true Gospel. Read I Corithians 15:1–4.
Final Questions
What did Ruth give Dixon for Christmas? How important is reading the Bible? See Acts 17:10–12; Romans 15:4; II Timothy 2:15, 3:16–17.
Dixon lived in the Blacks’ barn and was influenced by Joab. How important is good Christian fellowship for the growth of a Christian? Hebrews 10:25; Acts 2:40–47; I John 1:1–4.
Dixon asked for God’s guidance. How important is prayer in a Christian’s life? Read Matthew 6:5–21, 17:15–21, 21:21–22; Romans 8: 26–27; I Thessalonians 5:17; Psalm 5.
Concluding Remarks
When You Feel You’re like Job, and God Isn’t Answering Your Prayer
“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Hebrews 11:1
How often have you prayed, forcing every part of your being to believe that God would grant you your request, only to be disappointed? How often have you placed all your treasure in the hope of such and such a thing only to lose it all and embarrass yourself?
Just because we believe in something doesn’t make it truth, and just because we strongly desire for something doesn’t mean we’ll get it. So where, then, does faith enter in?
“And the LORD said unto Moses, I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiffnecked people: Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consumed them: and I make of thee a great nation.” Exodus 32:9–10 Moses interceded on Israel’s behalf, and God turned from His plan to destroy them.
God saw the wickedness of Nineveh and sent Jonah to prophesy against them, to tell them that in forty days Nineveh would be overthrown. But the people of Nineveh repented, fasted, and cried out to God. “And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not.” (Jonah 3:10) Nineveh was not destroyed, despite what Jonah thought should be done.
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego did not bend down to the image Nebuchadnezzar built. When faced with the fiery furnace, they replied: “O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter. If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king. But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.”( Daniel 3:16–18)
They didn’t know for sure God would deliver them, only that He was able. And yet they obeyed God rather than man. Their faith wasn’t placed on a prayer for deliverance rather on the God of gods. They willingly chose obedience, without the promise of deliverance, over safety. That takes faith. And that faith is founded not on what they could get from God, but rather on who God is.
David prayed that his baby boy would not die. He fasted and pleaded while the boy was alive. When the child died: “Then David arose from the earth, and washed, and anointed himself, and changed his apparel, and came into the house of the LORD, and worshipped: then he came to his own house; and when he required, they set bread before him, and he did eat.” (II Samuel 12:20)
David didn’t get what he prayed for but that didn’t stop him from worshiping God. When asked why he stopped fasting and praying he answered: “While the child was yet alive, I fasted and wept: for I said, Who can tell whether GOD will be gracious to me, that the child may live? But now he is dead, wherefore should I fast? can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me.” (II Samuel 12:22–23) David’s faith did not rest on his desire. If it had, he could not have worshiped God when denied his wi
sh.
Before my sight, God has performed miracles. I’ve experienced His healing hand. I’ve seen a man liberated from the demons that possessed him. I’ve seen God’s protection, experienced His salvation, and have known His amazing peace in times of trial. I know God answers prayer.
But I will admit that the greatest test of my faith is when God doesn’t answer prayer the way I want Him to. In those times my focus must be as David’s—on eternity. Do I doubt my salvation when God doesn’t give me what I want? No. That is a sure thing.
The unanswered prayer doesn’t test what God has already done, the saving of my soul from the consequences of my sin. The unanswered prayer tests my faithfulness to move forward in love and obedience. Will I be as David and pick myself up, clean myself off, change my outward appearance, and worship God?
To become angry at God and decide to forgo church attendance and all aspects of worship doesn’t change who God is. God is still there. God still saves souls. God still loves me. Such negative reactions against “my faith and my God” only reveal my faithlessness and how stubborn and wicked my soul is.
True faith does not rest on receiving the desires of my heart. True faith is revealed by what I do after my prayer has been denied. Like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, I need to recognize that God is able and be willing to obey His commandments even if He chooses not to give me what I want.
And there lies the key to faith: obedience. Faith dependent upon receiving desires is not faith in God. That is misplaced faith. But faith set on eternity, on an understanding that, yes, God is able and He is sovereign—that kind of faith God counted the heroes of the Bible as having. Read about them in Hebrews 11. And that kind of faith is what keeps you marching forward in your walk with God even when it seems you’ve lost all your worldly treasures.
My faith is not founded upon what I receive today, but on what God has promised for my tomorrow—an eternity with Him in Heaven. I believe God answers prayers. I believe He can be swayed to turn from His intended course through prayer. But I cannot allow my faith in His goodness, His sovereignty, His love, His mercy, His grace, His righteousness, His judgment, and all that He is, be dependent upon whether my prayers are answered the way I want them to be.
I pray God has blessed you with this story. I pray that if you have not called upon the name of the Lord, Jesus Christ, to be saved, that today you will. I also pray that if you have suffered, that you will find the peace, joy, and comfort God provides when you turn to Him in the midst of your storm.
May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you now and forevermore.
Yours prayerfully,
Lynn Squire
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