Job 13:16

16 He also shall be my salvation [yashuw`ah]: for an hypocrite [chaneph] shall not come [bow'] before [paniym] him. KJV-Interlinear

16 'This also will be my salvation, For a godless man may not come before His presence. NASB

Salvation here, means an advantage, prosperity, deliverance, rescue, escape, or recovery. Salvation can be deliverance from this life's difficulties, or in the next life, from the Lake of Fire.

A hypocrite is one who deceives, a charlatan, a fraud, a pretender, a counterfeiter, a liar, and perhaps several other similar descriptive terms. A hypocrite or a godless person in this life, can be a negative believer, or one who lives outside of the fellowship sphere, and certainly it refers to all unbelievers.

Job sets up a contrast between those with whom God will deal, and those with whom He will not deal. There are folks in this world with whom God will have a relationship, and those with whom He will not.

Jobs situation went down hill on a fast track. He first lost his wealth and children and then his health. Even his wife poured lots of salt into his wounded situation, because she was negative toward his attitude toward God. She blamed God for their situation, and she blamed Job for even thinking of trusting in God. Moreover, in her mind, this was obviously all Job's fault, and besides he was handy for her to yell at.

His friends came by to give him some encouragement and even that has turned south for him.

Job was feeling bad. He had to have been. His health was not a pretty sight. Just being around him turned up the noses of those present, because he had a really bad odor about him. Not to mention his disgusting appearance.

Job believed that he was on the path to death, and for good reason. Just look at what has happened to him in just a few short months. He has fallen from the highest and most honorable positions in his entire region, to a reject of society. Bums living under a bridge were better off.

But still, Job looked to God. Whether his present situation would turn even worse, or get better. Whether his life would continue in misery for an extended period or end in his death. It did not matter to Job, because he looked to God as his way out of this situation, or even out of this life.

Job looks to God as his savior both in this life, and in the next. In this life, God is a redeemer, a restorer, a relief from the problems of this world, a stabilizer of ones life against the hardships that the world can throw against a person, a defender, and a protector.

In the next life, God is all of those things and a great deal more.

Job has already considered his options. God will either relieve his situation and continue his life, or God will relieve his situation by removing him from this life. In either case, Job will be with God.

Job has expressed his physical and mental heartache. He has already wished to have all of this trouble removed from his life, even to the point of never having existed, or at the very least, having died in childbirth.

And by the way, when one does not have God in the life, then life in this world is nothing but a heartache. Your situation, whatever it may be, is irrelevant.

But these lessons served to give us all some insight into exactly what life is, not to mention that Job understood life, even way back in his ancient day.

But now Job goes on to explain to us all, that God deals with believers in fellowship, and not anyone else.

If you think that God will have a meaningful relationship with unbelievers, or even negative believers, you are mistaken. All blessings come into this world because of one thing, the existence of mature believers. History is for their benefit only and for no other reason.

God can look down through the tunnel of time and see everyone who will believe in the Savior, and therefore be saved. If no one was going to believe, then history would have no point. God likewise can look down through the tunnel of time and see all who will advance a little or a lot in their spiritual lives, thus blessings are prepared and issued to them. Even discipline, which can be a form of blessing when it serves to keep the believer on the right track in life.

God will even sustain an evil generation because he sees descendants who will be positive. The evil generation may boast, but Gods target is really someone who has not even been born yet.

When it is all said and done, God deals with and establishes meaningful relationships with believers in fellowship, only.

Anyone who wishes to advance into Gods inner circle, is sadly mistaken. That is what all religions are about. Man working on his own to gain Gods acceptance. And in the spiritual life, mans works are rejected.

'For by grace are you saved, through faith, not of works, lest any should boast.'

And Job also teaches us that he understood this principle. Life in this life, depends on God, regardless of your circumstances. Life in the next life, life after death, also depends on God, because Job knew that there was a next life, and that God was also in charge of that life as well.

Both in this life and in the next life, God deals with believers only.

In this life, God serves up discipline and judgment to those who ignore or reject Him. In the next life, He serves up the Lake of Fire to those who reject Him.

Now is the time to post a prayer.