Job 22:23

23 If thou return [shuwb] to the Almighty [Shadday], thou shalt be built up [banah], thou shalt put away [rachaq] iniquity [`evel] far [rachaq] from thy tabernacles ['ohel]. KJV-Interlinear

23 'If you return to the Almighty, you will be restored; If you remove unrighteousness far from your tent, NASB

To 'return' is to change your entire outlook and belief pattern on life. El 'Shadday' means the all powerful, or the almighty. 'Banah' means to rebuild, to build, to sculpt, to create out of something, to form into a design, a work of art. And 'tabernacles' is plural for a multiplicity of residences, to be clear, to see clearly, to be complete, to reside entirely within.

So now Eliphaz paints us a picture of just what is expected of the Christian, or believer as it were, in their spiritual life.

First there must be a transition, a change, and return from your former ways of life, from your former pattern of thought, to that which God presents from the scriptures. You obtain this by means of a daily Bible study.

God is the source of all doctrine, of all truth, of all divine resources. He is the all-powerful, able to do anything. There is nothing which God cannot do. Anything legitimate and of truth, which you can imagine, God can do, and since your imagination is greatly limited, just as our standing on this planet is limited when compared to the universe, then there is much more which God can do of which we cannot even begin to understand or imagine.

God is the author and designer of all that is. Through doctrine in your soul, God will build you up, He will design you, He will sculpt you. The word 'banah' was used for the sculpting of Eve out of Adam's rib. And to sculpt as an artist would, means that Eve was most likely an extremely beautiful woman in every way you can imagine a woman should be.

Thus you and your life will be sculpted into something phenomenal. Into something which even you cannot comprehend until you approach spiritual maturity, and even then your life is just in the very early stages of being sculpted.

Your soul is your living environment. What you think is what you are. Within your soul a tabernacle is constructed. It is a palace, a fortress, a temple, and mansion, a home in which you take up residence.

Your tabernacle is more then four walls and a roof, it is an entire way of life. Therefore the plural of the word for tabernacles.

Within your home there is clarity of thought, clarity of understanding, discernment, knowledge built on a foundation of truth, orientation to God (which must always come first), then orientation to life, then orientation to self, then orientation to others, and so forth.

'Banah' means to sculpt, but it also implies to be accomplished to a thoroughness for a completed result.

From within your soul in which you must reside, you take up residence within the fellowship sphere. Thus the exclusion of iniquity from your life. You live your life from within the fellowship sphere. Fellowship is accomplished and maintained by means of the confession procedure. Something which you should do daily even perhaps several times a day, certainly at bedtime and when you awake in the morning.

Job practiced this by means of the confession offering, which we studied at the beginning of this book.

By studying the Bible everyday, we read, 'In the beginning Joshua led Moses wrote David was crowned Jesus was born I am the Alpha and the Omega.'

None of these words will teach us to change diapers, build a better mousetrap, start a business, launch a rocket, or anything else that seems practical in this world.

But, through these words God gives us access to a window, access to a door, through which we can see understanding, live a true life, open up phenomenal opportunities, imagine and innovate, and much, much more. The very least of which is our temporal life, and the greatest by far is our spiritual life.

And the result of spiritual growth? Well, that begins in tomorrows study.

Now is the time to post a prayer.