Job 8 … Consider Him Who Rouses Himself for Us

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Originally posted: 8/14/2020

“If you would seek God
And implore the compassion of the Almighty,
6 If you are pure and upright,
Surely now He would rouse Himself for you
And restore your righteous estate,” (8:5-6).

A new counselor speaks. Lucky Job. However, we have to admit there is a lot of truth in what Bildad says.

God never perverts justice or what is right (8:3); He does hear and answer petitions of the pure and upright (8:6-7); we are unable to explain His ways (8:8-9); the hope of the godless will not endure (8:13-15); God is just in His judgment of man (8:20); God will bring joy to the righteous but the wicked will perish in shame (8:21-22).

But Bildad’s insinuations seep out between the lines… “Hey Job, your life is a billboard of humiliation and shame; you must not be pure and upright. So, no matter how much you plead for mercy, Almighty God is certainly not going to be motivated into action on your behalf.”

But I was reminded of the day I met Jesus. Pure and upright? I was about as far away from that as one could be. But after hearing the truth of the gospel and realizing the reality of my condition and the eternity that awaited me, I didn’t have to beg. He was asking me to come!

“I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot; I wish that you were cold or hot. 16 So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth… 20Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me,” (Revelation 3:15-16, 20).

He Roused Himself for me!

Rouse: “5782. עוּר ʿûr: I. A verb meaning to stir, to arouse, to awaken. It is used of raising something or someone to action, of agitating someone, of motivating him or her. It is used of stirring oneself to action… especially of the Lord’s arousing Himself or His arm….” Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance

He Roused Himself to call me, to ensure I would hear the truth of His Scripture. He Roused Himself to grant me a glimpse of my future apart from Him. He Roused Himself to knock on the door of my heart. He Roused Himself to love me before I ever had one thought of loving Him.

We love, because He first loved us, (1 John 4:19).

He Rouses Himself because He loves us to the point of His own death, even when we are anything but pure and upright.

But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us, (Romans 5:8).

And He Rouses Himself because in truth, He is our only hope. He Rouses Himself for every one of us, because we are totally and completely helpless.

For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly, (Romans 5:6).

His unconditional love Rouses and stirs Him into action, like the eagle that stirs ups its nest over its young, to spread His protection and provision over us.

“Like an eagle that stirs up its nest,
That hovers over its young,
He spread His wings and caught them,
He carried them on His pinions.
12 “The Lord alone guided him,
And there was no foreign god with him, (Deuteronomy 32:11).

Consider Him Who Rouses Himself for Us

I invite you to prayerfully consider Him in the following verses (there are twenty), to see Him stirred up and motivated into action… for us!

  • He Rouses Himself to Reassure us
    • and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water, (Hebrews 10:21-22).
  • He Rouses Himself to Receive us
    • “All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out,” (John 6:37).
  • He Rouses Himself to Reconcile us
    • And although you were formerly alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds, 22 yet He has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death, in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach, (Colossians 1:21-22).
  • He Rouses Himself to Recreate us
    • Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come, (2 Corinthians 5:17).
  • He Rouses Himself to Redeem us
    •  Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”— (Galatians 3:3).
  • He Rouses Himself to Refine us
    • “For the sake of My name I delay My wrath,
      And for My praise I restrain it for you,
      In order not to cut you off.
      10 Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver;
      I have tested you in the furnace of affliction,”       (Isaiah 48:9-10).
  • He Rouses Himself to Regenerate us
    • He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, (Titus 3:5).
  • He Rouses Himself to Release us
    • But now we have been released from the Law, having died to that by which we were bound, so that we serve in newness of the Spirit and not in oldness of the letter, (Romans 7:6).
  • He Rouses Himself to Remake us
    • Then I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was, making something on the wheel. 4 But the vessel that he was making of clay was spoiled in the hand of the potter; so he remade it into another vessel, as it pleased the potter to make, (Jeremiah 18:3-4).
  • He Rouses Himself to Remind us
    • “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you,” (John 14:26).
  • He Rouses Himself to Rename us
    • The nations will see your righteousness,
      And all kings your glory;
      And you will be called by a new name
      Which the mouth of the Lord will designate,       (Isaiah 62:2).
  • He Rouses Himself to Renew us
    • and have put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him— (Colossians 3:10).
  • He Rouses Himself to Rescue us
    • For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, (Colossians 1:3).
  • He Rouses Himself to Restore us
    • “Also I will restore the captivity of My people Israel,
      And they will rebuild the ruined cities and live in them;
      They will also plant vineyards and drink their wine,
      And make gardens and eat their fruit,”       (Amos 9:14).
  • He Rouses Himself to Resurrect us
    • Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, (1 Peter 1:3).
  • He Rouses Himself to Return us
    • “I will give them a heart to know Me, for I am the Lord; and they will be My people, and I will be their God, for they will return to Me with their whole heart,” (Jeremiah 24:7).
  • He Rouses Himself to Reunite us
    • For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord, (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17).
  • He Rouses Himself to Revive us
    • For thus says the high and exalted One
      Who lives forever, whose name is Holy,
      “I dwell on a high and holy place,
      And also with the contrite and lowly of spirit
      In order to revive the spirit of the lowly
      And to revive the heart of the contrite,”       (Isaiah 57:15).
  • He Rouses Himself to Reward us
    • Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men, 24 knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance. It is the Lord Christ whom you serve, (Colossians 3:23-24).
  • He Rouses Himself to Root us
    • “I will also plant them on their land,
      And they will not again be rooted out from their land
      Which I have given them,”
      Says the Lord your God,       (Amos 9:15).

How do we respond to Him Who Rouses Himself for Us?

Wherever we find ourselves today, whatever need we have, we can be comforted and assured, knowing that His love and compassion stirs Him to action on our behalf. He Rouses Himself… for us!

But, as we well know, that doesn’t mean life will be a cakewalk. And when life throws us a curve ball, we can actually take Bildad’s advice.

“If you would seek God
And implore the compassion of the Almighty,
6 If you are pure and upright,
Surely now He would rouse Himself for you
And restore your righteous estate,” (8:5-6).

When we belong to Christ through faith, we can absolutely seek the compassion of our Almighty Father, as those who are pure, upright and blameless, in Him.

 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him, (Ephesians 1:4).

The Psalms are filled with prayers asking God to Rouse Himself and act.

Arise, O Lord; save me, O my God!
For You have smitten all my enemies on the cheek;
You have shattered the teeth of the wicked.
8 Salvation belongs to the Lord;
Your blessing be upon Your people! (Psalm 3:7-8).

Arise, O Lord, in Your anger;
Lift up Yourself against the rage of my adversaries,
And arouse Yourself for me; You have appointed judgment, (Psalm 7:6).

Arise, O Lord; O God, lift up Your hand.
Do not forget the afflicted, (Psalm 10:12).

Stir up Yourself, and awake to my right
And to my cause, my God and my Lord, (Psalm 35:23).

For our soul has sunk down into the dust;
Our body cleaves to the earth.
26 Rise up, be our help,
And redeem us for the sake of Your lovingkindness, (Psalm 44:25-26).

For no guilt of mine, they run and set themselves against me.
Arouse Yourself to help me, and see!
5 You, O Lord God of hosts, the God of Israel,
Awake to punish all the nations; (Psalm 59:4-5).

Let us learn from the Psalms. He wants us to ask Him. We actually bring Him glory and honor when we ask in faith.

“Call upon Me in the day of trouble;
I shall rescue you, and you will honor Me,” (Psalm 50:15).

Not only does it glorify the Lord when we call out and ask Him to Rouse Himself for us, Jesus told us when we ask, we will receive.

“So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks, receives; and he who seeks, finds; and to him who knocks, it will be opened,” (Luke 11:9).

Right before Jesus told us to ask, seek and knock, He told a parable (remember parables are always intended to bring home a spiritual truth). Jesus told a story of two friends. It’s midnight when one friend knocks on the other’s door to ask to for some bread to feed an unexpected guest. But the guy is in bed already, and basically tell his knocking neighbor to take a hike. And then Jesus brings it home.

“I tell you, even though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence he will get up and give him as much as he needs,” (Luke 11:8).

The sleeping friend rouses himself to help… because of his friend’s persistence.

So, in response, let’s not give up! When we are in Christ, we have been made pure and upright through the blood of Jesus, and we can be confident… He will Rouse Himself and prevail against the enemy… for us!

“If you would seek God
And implore the compassion of the Almighty,
6 If you are pure and upright,
Surely now He would rouse Himself for you
And restore your righteous estate,” (8:5-6).

The Lord will go forth like a warrior,
He will arouse His zeal like a man of war.
He will utter a shout, yes, He will raise a war cry.
He will prevail against His enemies, (Isaiah 42:13).

“These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world,” (John 16:33).

Let’s Grow Together!

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