Genesis 16:1-17:27

It's amazing how after one of your best moments, you can turn around and have one of your worst.  Abram has just received God's covenant.  But, Sarai is barren.  And apparently not predisposed to believing God quite as much as Abram.  Instead, she gives Hagar to Abram, thinking she could claim the child as her own and through this child the inheritance would come.  I know it was a different time, and a different culture, but sharing your husband with someone just seems like a bad idea.  What good did it ever do Jacob and Leah and Rachel?  Not a whole lot (besides a passel of children).  Here, the reprecrussions are still reverberating today.  Because from Hagar, Sarai's Egyptian slave and mother of Abram's oldest son, came Ishmael and the Middle Eastern tribes.  And Muslims date their lineage to Abram through Ishmael, not Isaac as the Jews.  It seems it's a family feud that has never stopped.

One thing I noticed though: God takes care of Hagar.  Ishmael, though he is not chosen to carry the covenant, is important to God.  His descendants are important to God.  When Hagar flees from her mistress's mistreatment, God speaks to her.  And He will do it again later.  We should never underestimate that.  God saw Hagar, as we will see later.  He heard her cries and He responded.  God showed her His love.

After Ishmael is born, then, God reestablishes His covenant with Abram.  Not only confirms it, but seals it with Abram's circumcision and renaming him: Abraham, the father of a multitude.  And Isaac's birth is promised.  Though Abraham now has a son, Abraham now has a potential heir, God is making it clear that Ishmael was born by the will of man.  Abraham's heir will be born by the will of God.  Only.  Years will pass before this happens, and it proves that it is by God's will and none other, because by all accounts, Sarah and Abraham should never have had children.

This makes me think: sometimes we have to be patient to see God's will.  Because God is apparently willing to wait to make it clear that things are happening by His will and no one else's.  I wonder how many things I have interfered with, trying to bring them about on my own, and it has interfered with God's work?  I cannot stop God's purposes, but I could see how I might delay things because He is willing to wait for His glory and His only.  God's timing is perfect, of course.  He does things at just the right time, so maybe I have little affect after all.  But I see here that I really don't want to be in the way.  I don't want to make things work for me and by them make things more difficult for someone else (we shall see later how Sarah's decision here affects Hagar for the rest of her life).  Better to be within the will of God and serving Him in His work than being a hindrance or left out altogether.

Tomorrow's Reading:  Genesis 18:1-33

Genesis 14:1-15:21

Have you ever wondered why some of the stories that are in the Bible are there?  Take the story of Abraham rescuing Lot for instance.  Why is it there?  Is it just to serve as a illustration, a foreshadowing, of Lot's foolishness (which will become epic foolishness in the years to come), that Abram had to go to rescue him?  Is it a random story to demonstrate Abram's honor and familial ties?  Abram's dedication to the Lord through his tithe?  Maybe it's all of these, and more.

For the first time I noticed three little words at the beginning of Ch. 15: "After these things".  Before I had always taken them for granted.  I thought it meant, "Sometime, after these things, awhile after, chronologically coming behind", etc.  That's not what those words are really getting at, I'm thinking.  In recent years I've become more aware of how things are juxtaposed in Scripture for a purpose.  Case in point: a d-group lesson I taught some time ago.  It was on John 6, which tells both of the feeding of the 5,000 as well as Jesus teaching on the Bread of Life.  The people were following Jesus around, very closely and in huge throngs, because the miracle He had performed in the feeding of so many people.  (Imagine, this is a people who often lived from one meal to the next, so to see a man just "magically" produce enough food for 5,000 and then some would be an enormous and incredibly impressive miracle.)  Because of this very circumstance, Jesus had the opportunity to speak truth to them, what turned out to be a very hard truth for them to accept.  What that truth is is not the point of this post (go look up John 6 and read about it.  It's good!).  Rather, my point is that often times in Scripture things are set down the way they are for a point.  And, that got me to thinking about this passage.

Two significant things happen in this passage, one perhaps seeming not-so-significant.  First, Abram rescues Lot when he is taken as part of the booty from Sodom.  Then, Abram takes a tithe of what he rescued from the enemy and gave it to the Lord, through Melchizedek (who only appears again in Hebrews), and then the Lord appears to Abram and makes His covenant, fleshing out the promise of blessings from Ch. 12.  Perhaps, Lot being rescued might not have seemed so important in another setting, but it is because of the "spoils" of war that Abram brought back that he made a tithe.  That tithe set up two things: first, the mysterious appearance of Melchizidek, who was both priest and king, who was a type for Christ, and whose order of priesthood has been set aside for Christ's priesthood (very important and different from the Levitical priesthood of the Old Testament).  It also showed Abram's devotion to God: he could have kept the spoils.  But instead, he made a tithe of everything, and the rest he allowed his allies to take or return to the kings; he would have none of their things lest it seem these foreign kings had made him rich and not the Lord.  And after this, God told Abram:  "Fear not.  I am your shield; your reward shall be great."  And his reward?  God's covenant.  His blessing.  The promise that Abram would have a son, even in his old age, and that through this son would come a nation, and through that nation, the Messiah.

One last interesting thing about this passage: had you ever noticed before that God tells Abram that his descendants would be enslaved but that after that time they would inherit the very land where Abram was a sojourner?  Pretty cool, huh?  Totally sets up Exodus, doesn't it?

Tomorrow's Reading: Genesis 16:1-17:27

Genesis 12:1-13:18

Abram.  This is probably one of the most well known stories in the Bible: when God called Abram out from among the Chaldeans and sent him wandering.  God had a plan from the beginning, even before Adam and Eve, and there were hints of it even after the Fall.  But here we start seeing the plan go into motion.  God has chosen one man, and from him will come a nation, and from that nation will come the Savior.  And through Abram all peoples will be blessed because from him, eventually, down the line, will come Jesus.

Can you imagine being 75 years old and the God of the Universe comes to you and says, "Get up, leave your country.  Go wandering, and I'll show you the land I have promised you."?  Wouldn't you be thinking, "I'm in retirement!  I'm in my dotage!  I'm supposed to be settled down and enjoying the time I have left."  But not Abram.  God told him to go.  And he did.  And he moved around quite a bit.  In fact, he passed through and often camped in the land that God promised his descendants and yet he never possessed it.  It was always on loan, and he had to bargain for a place to bury his family.  Again, it's difficult for me to imagine being Abram, who believed the Lord at 75, at 90, at 100 that God indeed would bless him and from him would be a mighty nation.  He had lived a lifetime already, and suddenly God brought him a new one.  Of course, Abram's not perfect, as we see from the jaunt he and Sarai took down to Egypt.  (How could he let it go so far as to let Pharoah take Sarai for a wife?)  Thankfully, the Lord intervened, and Abram left Egypt richer than he'd ever been.  Kind of a foretelling of what the Israelites will do to the Egyptians when they finally take off...

Tomorrow's Reading: Genesis 14:1-15:21

Job 39:9-42:17

 And so ends Job.  Seriously, I feel like I should have a deeply reflective post on the book as a whole, the themes, what Job learned, what God had to say... but my mental capacity is seriously diminished.  This is perhaps the flaw in writing every day for "publication" rather than working over time and having the ability to go back and reflect and tweak and rewrite.

This is the coolest passage in Job.  In fact, I'm kind of thinking it's one of the coolest passages in the Bible.  God is speaking.  Speaking directly to a follower (and make no mistake, Job followed God!) who is in need of God's Word.  The things He talks about: His Creation and how intimate He is with it.  These massive and might creatures, the behemoth and the leviathan, which we may not even have today, their power and majesty and wildness and how God is their master and friend.  It's amazing.  It kind of makes you want to step back and say, "Wow.  This is the God I serve."

Job's response?  Well, in light of the fact that he was calling God down to have a face-to-face, and that it definitely isn't going the way he wanted it to, I'm not sure his response is surprising.  God challenges him, asking if he understands creation, can command it, if he has the infinite powers that God has and what his wisdom is in the face of it....  And Job knows he doesn't.  In fact, Job says, "You know what, I'm just going to shut my mouth."  Is Job insolent at this point?  He doesn't in fact fall down at this moment and say, "Go away from me for I am a sinner!" as Peter did with Christ.  I don't think he was.  He ackowledged that he was of small account, that before the Almighty God, he was insignificant.  However, he had said "his piece" and concluded he would speak no more.  He was humbled to the point that he saw he was insignificant when compared with the Almighty God. (Again, contrast, not in essentials), but he wasn't repentant.  So, God begins again.  Here are the passages on the behemoth and the leviathan.  How AMAZING might these creatures have been that man cowered before them?  Especially the leviathan!  I can imagine that maybe the leviathan is something like the whale or a shark, but he seems so much... more.  God alone can contend with him, and not only contend with him but tame him.  A-MAZ-ING.  And finally Job is not only humbled but repentant.

Does God hold anything over Job's head?  No.  As soon as he repents, God calls him His servant again.  In Job's repentance he finally admits who he is, and who God is.  God is the Creator, the Master, the Mover and Shaker.  The world, and everything in it and everyone upon it, is God's.  He is sovereign.  Whatever He decides to do in respect to His creation is His right.  Just as potter may cast the pot into any shape, size or color, or destroy it, God may do.  Do you notice that God never tells Job why everything happened?  Job never receives the answer he was looking for!  But he received the answer that he needed: that whatever happens, God is in control, and God is good.  Job has at last seen God.  Before, he had only heard of God by the hearing of the ears, but now at last he has seen with his own eyes.  What more should we want?  What more can we want?  To see the True and Almighty God?  Both terrifying and wonderful.  I think that may have been more than all the riches and blessings Job received afterwards.  I think Job would have been content without them, but God in His goodness chose to bless Job further.  

I think it's a wonderful example of healed relationships and the blessing of submission to God.  If we submit, if we seek Him out, we will find Him; we will see Him.

Tomorrow' Reading: Genesis 12:1-13:8

Job 38:1-39:8

God at last speaks.  Job has been saying again and again that he cries aloud to God and that God does not answer.  And now God does.  Who is it that darkens His counsel with words void of knowledge?  Notice.  God does not answer Job.  God does not enter saying, "Now, Job, really, all this talk and so many accusations.  Let's talk about this."  He doesn't say, "Now, listen here, this is the way it is..."  He doesn't answer Job at all.  Instead, He tells Job to gird up his loins, prepare to stand as a man!  Because God Himself has some questions for Job and let us see if he can answer Him.

What does God want to know of Job?  Nothing.  Notice that all of God's questions are rhetorical.  Had Job really been there when the Lord laid the foundations of the earth?  Had Job ever seen where snow came from?  Rain?  Did he set the perimeters for the sea: not just where it would be bounded but how it would behave?  Did he cause the sun to rise in the morning or to go down at night?  Did he create light?  Was he even there when God created light?  Could he see the home-places for the stars in major constellations?  Could he provide the food for wild animals?  Could he contend with them? 

We all know the answers to those questions, as well as Job, as well as God.  It is only in the last few decades that man has gained the technology to probe more deeply into some of these issues: the Hubble Telescope brought us amazing pictures of stars and galaxies far, far away that are only pinpoints of light in the sky to us on earth.  Advances in meteorology have helped us to understand the processes God created to make precipitation.  They are even trying to create simulations of it.  But we still do not create it in our every day lives.  God didn't need the answers to the questions.  Perhaps the Lord only wanted to establish Job's response.  Even more, God wanted Job to understand who was God and who was Master of the Universe (and no, it's not He-Man).  

Tomorrow's Reading: Job 39:10-42:17.  We finish Job!

Job 34:1-37:24

Note: I'm still puzzling over Elihu's speech.  I'm calling in reinforcements. I hope to have something to write by late tonight, so if you don't see a post at your normal time of checking, that is the reason.  I will certainly update, but for now I feel the need to discuss.

If you've read the chapters let me know what you think: is Elihu's speech really representative of God and the truth?  Or is he a sneaky-sneaky truth-twister?  Let me know!

UPDATE:
In truth, I'm not sure I will have the "Elihu: Villain or Hero" question completely figured out any time soon.  Though, I am taking up my youth minister on borrowing his book "Sitting with Job" as I am very intrigued how it changed his perspective on the matter (shout out to Travis!).  So, here's the run-down of the issues as I know them, and my take.  But be forewarned: I might change my mind, even in the foreseeable future.

1. Many commentators look at Elihu as a positive force in Job.  The Bible Knowledge Commentary, Warren Wiersbe's Be Patient, Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible name just a few.  While they do not think Elihu is perfect (and besides God, who really is?), they do say that Elihu made real points: mostly that God uses pain and suffering for other reasons than to punish.  Job's friends had represented God as mostly retributive and punitive; but that is not the case.  God sometimes will use suffering as a warning, according to Elihu, and sometimes as a means to draw us closer to God.  And how many of us can deny that?  Do we not often observe that it is during the rough times that we tend to reach out for the Almighty most?  Also, Elihu rebukes Job for his sin.  We'll get to that in a minute.

2.  On the other side of the coin is my professor, who views Elihu as another attack from Satan: to get Job to sin through spiritual deception.  He maintains that Elihu's views are false and his claims faulty.  And that he attempts to back them up from nature.  My professor contends that Elihu dwelt on the punitive nature of God just as much as the others and that it was Job's sin that brought misfortune upon him.  Elihu is a brash, arrogant speaker who will only lead Job astray.

Notice, both camps do admit that Elihu reflects on Job's sin.  The question is: had Job sinned and when did he do it?  I have to admit, over the past few days of reading, I think we can see Job has sinned: his comments on God are downright disrespectful, bordering on defiant and insolent.  He has displayed pride and anger that his pride has been injured.  The question is, is Elihu addressing Job's sin as from the comments he's made in the past few days or the reason for his suffering?  If it is the reason for Job' suffering, than Elihu is just as faulty as Job's other friends, because we know from earlier in the book that Job did not suffer because of sin but because of a conversation between God and Satan.  God was allowing Job to be tested.  However, if he is rebuking Job for his sin since he had opened his lips, then that is another matter: he explains to Job reasons why God might allow someone to suffer, and then rebukes Job for his pride and sin in his response to his own calamity.

I rather think that I sit on the latter camp's side of the fence.  Job has certainly sinned since he began to speak.  I think that very likely, this is what Elihu spoke to.  And Elihu has a very good point: we know from other Scriptures that God does in fact use suffering for a variety of reasons, one including character building as I've already referenced in another post.  (Man, I almost feel a Calvin and Hobbes comic strip coming on...)  But you can also check out 2 Corinthians 12:7-10 and Hebrews 12:1-11, as recommended by Warren Wiersbe.  And that's where I'm at.  Let's see what that other book has to say, though, and see if it sways me another way.

Tomorrow's Reading: Job 38:1-39:8  (We get to hear God speak!)

Job 32:1-33:22

Today we meet Elihu, a young, until-now silent bystander.  He was not mentioned with Bildad, Eliphaz, and Zophar when they first arrived, so we can't exactly be sure when he came on the scene.  But he has definitely been privy to the conversation, and it's made him angry.  He held his silence through three rounds of speeches until Job's friends had been silenced, and now he will respond with his opinion. 

I can remember reading through Job as part of my first Bible-in-one-year reading plan.  I remember rolling my eyes and Job's friends, but when Elihu came on the scene I began cheering that he stood up to God.  I thought Elihu was a hero in the book.  However, when I went to Bible college and took Old Testament, I was aghast to find out that my professor, who certainly knew more than I did, stated that Elihu was just as wrong as the other three friends, and that his arguments were the worst because they were sounded deceptively true.  I can't remember all his arguments (maybe I should dig out my OT notes?), but I remember thinking that his points made sense.  Had I been wrong about Elihu?

The next two days we'll be reading Elihu's speeches.  I intend to look deeper into this because even now I read his arguments and think, "Yeah, that sounds about right."  Am I still gullible to Elihu's wily ways?  What if Elihu actually has something worthy to say?  It's time I found out for myself.  I'll let you know what I think when I get the reading done tomorrow.  Until then, I think I'll hold comment.

Tomorrow's Reading: Job 33:23-37:24

Job 28:7-31:40

When I was in high school, I was part of the choir.  For state one year, we split into men's choir and women's choir, as well as going as a mixed group.  For the women's group, we sang a song called "Whence comes wisdom?"  I remember because it was a very technical song and sounded... just weird.  Many of the chords were discordant, the tempo choppy and fast, and some of the notes unpleasant to a woman's voice.  At least that was my opinion.  I think we ranked fairly well.  But I can still sing portions of that song.  I never realized until today that the song is taking from the 28th chapter of Job!  But that's a side note.

I begin to think that Job's real sin throughout all this is pride.  Chapters 29 and 30 really seem to suggest that in his defense of himself, Job has become prideful.  Chapter 29 details (or maybe extolls is a better word) the position that Job once had as an elder, a benefactor, an upright man.  And then Chapter 30 takes a turn for the worse.  Before he was struck, even princes would hold their speech in his presence.  Now, young men laugh at him: young men whose fathers he would not deign to treat as well as his animals!  He's a laughing stock, a byword.  His friends and family and enemies are all horrified by his presence.  Job goes on to say that if he has indeed done anything wrong, then may it truly be visited upon him: may others prosper from what he has done and may his rewards dry up.  If he has turned anyone away, failed to show mercy, been unfaithful, if he has cheated or harmed anyone, then may he be justly punished.  Until then, God should know his righteousness.  Unless I missed it, I didn't see where Job said, "If I have proved to be prideful..."  Perhaps this is what the Lord will be speaking to him about when the Lord finally speaks.

The last portion ends with "The words of Job are ended".  Job has at least rested his case.  He will have nothing more to say because our new character will speak next and then God Himself will answer.  Has Job made a good case?

Tomorrow's Reading: Job 33:1-32:22

Job 26:1-28:6

You know what's ironic?  That for Job to agree that he has sinned and that his calamity is his just punishment would actually require him to sin.  At least, that is what Job says.  In Ch. 27, he insists that he will cling to his integrity.  He could lie, certainly, and say, "Yes, I have done great wrong for which God is punishing me now," but Job knows that before this he was blameless and upright and that it was certainly nothing he had done then that gave him his troubles now.  He says that as long as he draws breath and the spirit of God is in his nostrils (a hearkening back to when God breathed life into man at the creation), he will not let go of his integrity, he will not let go of what he knew to be true about his character.  Job had not sinned to bring this horrible situation to come to pass.  And so, for him, he would have to sin, to lie in order to confess what was not true.

At some point I would like to sit down and map out the progression these speeches have taken.  More than just a "Bildad spoke here" or "Eliphaz blows a mighty wind here," but to look at the arguments and see how they evolve, or prove to be utterly false.  We're nearing the end of the speeches.  Zophar doesn't even speak in this round.  Job has his say: quite a lot of it, actually.  And then an entirely new character we haven't met before enters into the fray.  What will be his response to all of this?  (Though I admit, I am most eager for the Last of All to speak!  What is His response??)

Tomorrow's Reading: Job 28:7-31:40

Job 25:1-6

Good thing today's is a short reading, and therefore a short posting!  Except for a brief period of shared time on the internet this morning, I haven't had it all day.  (And yes, I had to share with Nick, which isn't amenable to blog-posting.)  I keep telling myself it's only a matter of months until we move into our apartment in what will one day be our renovated home... but until then I will just continue to practice patience as I try to work around everyone's needs to work on this project. :)

Bildad's brevity is not a sign of gaining wisdom and learning to choose his words carefully.  No, instead, it's a sign he's running out of things to say.  His theme is basically that God is Great and that in the face of His sovereignty no man is worth much.  In fact, he calls us all maggots.  How nice. Eliphaz and Bildad paint quite the bleak picture of humanity, don't they?  I just makes me so eager to hear what Zophar would say!

But it got me to thinking: what if I was sitting with Job?  What would I say?  What would you say?  Seriously, what would you say to Job if you were talking with him at this time and listening to his arguments about injustice and the distance of God.  What would you say to him?  I'd like to know.

Job 23:1-24:25

Anyone else feel like saying, "Yeah, I hear ya, Job!" when reading these chapters?  Job laments that he looks for God and can't find Him, that he feels absolutely no response from the Almighty.  Haven't we all had times during prayer or worship or study or just daily life where we feel like everything we say and do hits the ceiling and goes no further?  (Which, really, doesn't matter, does it?  As God's omniscient, our prayers don't even necessarily go towards the ceiling....)  I wanted someone else's take on these verses, so I turned to the Bible Knowledge Commentary by Walvoord and Zuck (good stuff).  I liked what they said about God posting His schedule on a universal bulletin board so that we knew when and where to find Him.  That's what we want, isn't it?  Like our professors in college who post their office hours outside their door.  This is when they're available, otherwise, good luck.  That's how we feel, isn't it?  But this is truly one of those instances where man makes God to be a man.  God is not a man.  He does behave as human beings do; He doesn't have motives as human beings do.  He does not think or reason or respond as we do.  He is everywhere, omnipresent.  Which means, no matter how we feel (and let's face it, feelings are often deceiving), He's right there, right with us, whether we feel it or not.

So what about Job's other complaint?  That it seems at times that sin goes unpunished and justice unrewarded?  You might remind Job that God's thoughts are not ours; His ways are not ours.  We, really, don't always understand them.  But God knows what He's doing and knows far better than us.  God is just as well as compassionate.  He is patient as well as jealous (as in, He desires for us to love Him and serve Him before all things, which is His due).  You might.  But Job already knows it.  Here again he displays a great faith that the wicked will in fact, someday, be punished and that the Lord's justice will reign.  His friends claim that it is immediate, but Job says that it will happen at the right time: at the end of their life, if necessary, at the Great Judgement, but God will have justice when He will have justice, not according to our time tables.

It's a great thing to remember, especially for the flipside of the coin.  Just because we don't see God moving on a daily basis doesn't mean God isn't moving.  Just because we can't feel Him, doesn't mean He's not at our elbow.  God is not defined by our feelings or expectations, but by His Truth.  Which, thankfully, means that even when we are floundering, He is constant.  He is dependable.  We can trust Him.

Tomorrow's Reading: Job 25:1-6  (Yes, I'm serious!  We'll be making up for it soon.)

Job 22:1-30

Eliphaz's speech here begins a third round of speeches.  They have followed a pattern:

1. Eliphaz speaks.
2. Job refutes.
3. Bildad speaks.
4. Job refutes.
5. Zophar speaks.
6. Job refutes.

This happens three times.   In the first round of speeches, Job's friends imply that this must surely have happened because of some sin Job may have committed and they warn him to repent.  When Job defends himself and assures them there has been no sin, they take another tack: they warn him of the ways of the wicked, implying that he has gone such a way.  So far, he has done his best to refute his friends' attacks.  Now, when it seems Job is unwilling to listen or heed their "advice," they amp up their arguments.  Now it's not general hints or warnings: it's a full-on character attack.

Eliphaz begins with an oh-so encouraging theme: that God does not benefit from man in any way; our goodness or lack of it does not sway God one way or the other; therefore, why would God punish Job unless he was sinful?  Eliphaz lays several charges at Job's door, all of them harmful to his fellow man.  He accuses him of being greedy, uncaring, withholding mercy from those in need; he is as bad or worse than those swept away in the Flood.  Add to this Job's defiance of God's wisdom in punishing him, and Eliphaz is glad to mock Job's misfortune as justice has been served!  (After all, Job did say they could "mock on" after he spoke his peace...)

Here we see Eliphaz willing to falsely accuse Job in his desire to be proven right.  Eliphaz is going to push his suit even to making unreasonable claims.  What he does not seem to realize, in his self-righteousness, is that he is doing the very thing God hates!  He is a "false witness who breathes out lies"!  (Check out Proverbs 6.)  Job is a blameless and upright man.  We know this.  How could he be blameless if he is depriving widows of food, letting debtors go cold and without clothing, denying the weak and hungry nourishment, and weighting down orphans?  That does not speak "blameless" to me, nor should it have to Eliphaz, who knew Job. 

What is it about our need to be right that tempts us down these kinds of paths?  Why would we (as people, human beings) be willing to cling to what we know is not true just to be proven "right"?  Is it our pride?  Do we lack humility?  Common sense?  I don't know.  I know I used to do that when I was a kid, but I hope I have learned humility since then.  I have had to admit numerous times that I might not know something for sure, but this is what I had thought.  Perhaps I'm not right.  The older I get the more "not right" I seem to be!  (And there are people, I've found, who are more than plenty glad to let me know about it, too.) 

Job, I tell you what: I don't want to be like your friends.  I'm sorry they were this way for you, but they are teaching me a great deal about what I don't want to be.  Unfortunately, they are proving to be Dr. Rushing's "Bad Example" in a number of ways.  It is my prayer that I can learn this lesson without having to learn it through the "hard way" of experience.

Tomorrow's Reading: Job 23:1-24:25.

Job 21:1-34

Job's friends have been accusing him of sin and wrongdoing as the reason for his downfall.  Job, understandably, is growing less and less patient with his friends as they continue their speeches.  Zophar has said that the wicked may prosper for a time but will ultimately meet their doom.  Job, in returns, counters that if they will only listen to him, let him speak his piece, he'll then be silent and they are free to mock on (Zophar in particular).  Job contends that the wicked prosper without impunity, not for a time, but even until death they are happy in their sin, refuse to give God any due, and go to the grave in peace (what comes after is another matter).  But, in v.16, Job makes an important point: however well off the wicked are, their prosperity is not in their own hands!  Instead, it comes from God, whom they reject, and Job sees the folly of this.  In fact, here he says that the counsel of the wicked is far from him; he'll have nothing to do with it.

In this instance Job perhaps sees further than his friends.  We could name numerous accounts of people who scorn God and yet lived fully and wealthy lives (how many believers are in the Fortune 500, I wonder?).  Many never see any reason to turn to the Lord.  And many die very rich, though happy may be a completely different story.  Happy or not, they don't experience the trials Job has faced.  Still, Job knows better than to take their counsels or try to mimic their decisions.  He knows good or bad, God is sovereign.  Truth is, some die young, some die old; some die rich, some die poor.  But they all die: all meet the same end, and after that Judgement.  There is where we will see God take the true measure of a man, not before.  God, as inscrutable and difficult to understand to us humans as He is, does as He sees fit with our lives on earth.  How long did God allow wickedness to reign before the Flood?  And then, when He deemed the time right, He wiped it out.

In the end, Job tells his friends to their faces that their consolation has been bitter and fruitless.  They are neither friends nor sympathizers.  They've been feeding him lies about the nature of suffering and he gains nothing from them.

I don't know about you, but it seems to me that so far the Book of Job has been pounding the theme that God's sovereignty is at work whether good men prosper or fail, whether evil men prosper or fail.  I know we've used this term "prosper" several times, but that really seems to be the issue here: wealth and good fortune.  Job really seems to fly in the face of those who would preach the Gospel of Riches: be a good person, be a good Christian, and you will have wealth coming to you.  It will be your due.  If anyone is due wealth and riches, it was Job: a blameless and upright man!  But Job had these things only for a time.  It was God's sovereign choice to allow Job to experience suffering, pain, and destitution.  And horrible friends on top of that.  We as believers are guaranteed only this much for our faith: inheritance in the Kingdom of God in the next life and help to endure this one.  If you don't think that is very much, I can't agree with you.  In the end, that delivers riches far beyond just monetary value!  I'd rather have the true gospel than that preached by some televangelists.

Tomorrow's Reading: Job 22:1-30

Job 20:1-29

You know, sometimes the stuff Job's friends say sounds pretty right on track.  Here, Zophar has three main points for Job: the wicked enjoy riches or prosperity only for a short time, eventually the wicked will be reduced to dust and begging on the streets, and that the wicked will feel the full brunt of God's anger.  At times, his statements seem to ring true: that evil, though sweet in the mouth, will turn to venom in the stomach.  Evil can kill.  The Bible would even back him up in some things: check out Psalm 37:35-36, for example.  Job's friends take a sliver of truth to disguise the whole of the message that they are preaching.  Zophar's is that God is angry with Job and that is why Job is not prospering.  And if things continue in this vein, Job can expect worse.  But we already know that God is not in fact angry with Job.  Quite the opposite, up to this conversation.  Rather, God allowed this to happen to prove a point, both to Satan and to Job, and well, actually, to us.  His purposes for pain are not always to punish.  Nor are riches and prosperity always a reward.  Nor, if we are rewarded, will we always be rewarded with prosperity.  We'll see this play out more at the end of Job.  But for now, these friends who speak with so much assurance and so much self-righteousness, just might be stacking up God's own anger by presuming to speak for Him.

Tomorrow's Reading: Job 21:1-34

Job 18:1-19:29

Do you get the distinct feeling Bildad is talking about Job, though he used the term "the wicked"?  Here, he snarks at Job for being harsh and self-righteous, and then embarks on another caustic diatribe against the wicked [i.e. Job].  The wicked is thrown down, trapped, terrorized, famished, a horror to others; he is futile.  In the end, Bildad says, the wicked [again, i.e. Job] does not know God at all.

Job's response shows how low he's been brought by his friends words.  He is discouraged, disheartened, weighed down and defeated by his friends.  They are perhaps the worst calamity he has encountered.  He speaks of being tormented by them and broken to pieces by their words.  Job earnestly feels that God has turned animosity towards him.  He feels walled in so that he cannot go forward to meet his God; in fact, he feels as if God has armed Himself against him and launched an attack.  Not only is God distant, but so are family and friends (and the only ones who bothered to come near only came to condemn). 

Interesting that he cries out, hoping his words would be written down and that everything would be written in a book.  I wink here at you, friendly reader.  We know that they are, perhaps Job knew they would be.  (After all, we don't know who wrote it, but Job himself is an option.)  And here we have the most famous statement Job ever made: "I know that my Redeemer lives."  We ourselves sing that phrase in several worship songs.  Despite Job's apparent despair, despite the fact that he knew he was abhorred and abjured on every side, Job displays an amazing faith.  Not only is he sure that his Redeemer, a savior and advocate, lives but that someday he would see Him with his own eyes, not just hear the report of Him.  Even though he feels that a separation from God he's never experienced before, he does not doubt that there will be a reconciliation, even if it must come after he is dead and decomposed.  This is the kind of faith that we as believers should embrace: that despite the adversities, God is standing there waiting to redeem us and bring us into His fold.

Tomorrow's Reading: Job 20:1-29
And hopefully the next few days won't be as busy and access to internet will be easy!

Job 16:1-17:16

This is only a small thing among all the things that Job said in response to his friends, but he mentions that he has become a byword or a proverb among people.  Here, in his speech, he suggests the proverb is negative as people spit at him and others are appalled at his countenance, to be in his presence.  However, Job still is a proverb!  I'm sure you've heard the saying about having "the patience of Job," except this is nothing to spit at.  It is considered good if you do possess the "patience of Job" and that gaining it can be a positive among trials.  This proverb plays on a specific aspect of the definition of patience.  This is not the patience we usually think of: being able to put up with a delay or mild nuisance.  Instead, the proverb emphasizes the idea of patience as bearing with great misfortune or pain without complaint or irritation or the like.  Does Job really deserve that epitaph?  If you only paid attention to Job for the first few chapters, I would be able to say yes without hesitation.  But in these past few readings has not Job complained a lot?  Justifiably, about his friends.  Asking for death and wondering what the delay was.  Job has actually complained a lot.  He has been angry, indignant, and sarcastic.  But I don't feel we can quite write him off his proverb yet.  Don't many of us get irritable and sarcastic, even indignant, when we begin to have difficult circumstances?  We would have to watch the entire evolution of this account before we could decide.  And we have several chapters to go.  Maybe they're all a little long-winded.

Tomorrow's Reading: Job 18:1-19:29

Job 15:1-35

What a busy day!  With graduations and a host of things, I am afraid I might not be able to post.  I have read the selection and am working on it, but it might not be up until later today or tomorrow (hopefully today, if sharing the internet works out).  Just FYI.

Updated:
Graduation weekend is a doozy when you're a youth sponsor with twenty some kids in the church graduating.  I didn't make it to all of them, not even close.  But not for lack of trying.

Here are some observations I made about Eliphaz's rejoinder to Job: 

• He's pretty teed-off with Job's response, accusing him of undermining faith and respect for God, for "hindering meditation" before him
• He basically thinks Job is a fool, asking him if he was the first to be born, the one with the most experience, which apparently, from Eliphaz's sarcasm, even between these friends Job is not.
• He delivers a warning to Job: straighten up or even worse will come upon you.  His long soliloquy basically entails the life of a man who insists upon pursuing wicked: living amongst ruins, searching hopelessly for food, his hand against the Almighty and the Almighty turned against him.  The wicked man will be paid for his deeds, and will be stripped away like the unfruitful branches of the vine.

I find it interesting that Eliphaz accuses Job of being windy with contempt, and yet Eliphaz is windy himself. He doesn't really add to the conversation, except to continue to wax on about the fate of the wicked (and to rather pointedly intimate that Job will share this fate).  He says the same things over and over again and then is offended when Job stands up for himself.  His description of a wicked man sounds alarmingly like a description of Job: he would school Job in wisdom, but this man himself lacks wisdom and tact.  As Proverbs says, a wise man would turn away wrath, but Eliphaz words are only going to make Job more angry.

Tomorrow's Reading: Job 16:1-17:16

Job 12:1-14:22

Wow!  Where does the day go?  I got my reading done earlier and started work on this post, but then the day got away from me and I never got to finish and publish.

Here are some observations I take from this passage on Job's response:

1. Job is getting fed up with his friends: here he actually responds scornfully and directly to their attacks, calling them "the people" and suggesting that wisdom will die out when they go.  He acknowledges he's the laughing stock of his friends, but he reminds them that he is not inferior and that it's easy for them to judge from their easy positions.  Essentially, Job is getting fed up, and who can blame him?  These friends have shown their true colors.
2. Job does not deny and even defends the sovereignty of God.  He has never argued this point or that God will act as He sees fit.  However, we're beginning to see that Job is starting to assert more the aspect that God does not discriminate based on status, fortune, or character: He will bring calamity to whom he will: good, bad, or indifferent.  Still, Job also asserts God's sound wisdom, so who is to question?
3. Job is again talking about preparing "his case" (ch. 13).  Have you noticed that he often uses legal jargon when referring to the discussion that he hopes to have with God?  He would argue his case with God (13:3, 18).  What does he really want to argue?  Why this happened.  Why did God allow this disaster to befall Job, he who has always been upright in everything he said and did?  He wants to know what his sins might have been that he would be judged like this, because he still holds to his integrity.  What does God have against him?
4. Yet Job has little hope that he could defend himself before the Almighty.  In 14:13 he hopes that God might come to remember him at some point, but that hope is giving way to despair.  At the end of chapter 14, he talks about how a man will pass away, come to honor and then to ruin, and God does not seem to regard at all.

Aren't we often like that?  Don't we come across some misfortune and wonder why it had to happen?  Why did we have to lose our job?  Why did we have to move?  Why did our loved one have to become so sick?  Why is life not fair?  We want to know why God has brought us to various calamities and we become frustrated when the answer is not readily obvious, even doubtful.   Trials have a specific place in the life of the believer, though, even if we don't always know the specific why's and wherefore's of each one.  Romans 5:2-5 says, "Through Him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace which we stand, and we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.  More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us."  (Emphasis mine.)  Yes, folks.  Believers are supposed to rejoice in their sufferings, and this isn't the only place where we hear about that.  We're not guaranteed a packaged, happy little life.  Quite the opposite.  When the hard times come, though, we have a greater hope: these trials will produce in us good and hope, and our hope does not disappoint.  I recently experienced with my husband some financial difficulties that stressed. Me. OUT.  I knew we'd been led into them by God and there were times I wondered if the blows would never stop.  But I know what that time did for me: I have never been more deeply rooted in prayer, more expectant in watching God work, or even more vigilant in waiting for Him to do so.  And He did!  And He's still working.  And, hopefully, I've gained in endurance for when the next trial hits.

Hang in there, Job.  We all know how this ends, even if you don't, yet.  Your day is coming.

Tomorrow's Reading: Job 15:1-35

Job 11:1-20

It's not possible to read the Bible from cover to cover and never find anything that might admonish you or reprove you or rebuke you.  Let's face it: we sin.  We mess up.  And we can do better, with the Lord's help.  It would have been foolish to think that after two years of reading I would never have anything to say or think in regards to myself.  This blog isn't a commentary, though it would be tempting to make it so.  It's my thoughts and reactions.  So here is what I've learned from this passage:

Zophar is the third friend to address Job, and he shows Job no mercy.  He is angry with Job's harsh words and complaints.  He asks, "Should a man full of talk be judged right?  Should your babble silence men?"  He longs for God to address Job and give Job his just desserts!  He says, "Know that God exacts less of you than your guilt deserves!" (v. 6).  He goes on to remind Job that the Almighty is above all men, beyond our understanding, and that he does not let the wicked go unnoticed, emphasizing his points with the proverb that as stupid man will become wise when a donkey bears a man.  (Like that's gonna happen.)  Ouch!  He sums up by telling Job, again, as his friends had before him, that if he would just admit to his sin and put it away from him, things would start to get better.

Zophar's response is an impassioned one.  He's angry with the things Job has said.  He's indignant that Job would dare to question God on His sovereign choice to bring Job into the world and treat Job in any way He sees fit.  (And if you think such a statement depicts God as an ant-bully, you have entirely misunderstood God's character as well as His role as Creator.)  Sadly, I know what it is like to feel such an anger.  Dispute is always an easy place to get your passions roused, but when it refers to God, whether you're a firm believer or not, somehow we earthly beings get even more riled up.  I have a friend who in difficult circumstances will begin to ask hard questions; she can be, in many ways, like Job, never forgetting that Job was blameless and upright.  Nothing made me angrier than to hear a suggestion that God was less than gracious and loving because circumstances were difficult.  At times, in my ire, I was sharp.  And I think I made some fatal mistakes that Zophar did:

1. He spoke in anger.  Never do that.  Becuase inevitably, the ugliness of the tongue will raise it's hideous head, and the tongue doesn't need such arousal.  Don't believe me?  Read James 3.
2. Zophar forgot the character of Job, which he should have known well.  He was his friend: he should have known that he was blameless and upright.  Remembering who your friend is will help you keep perspective on their mood.  He accuses Job of being a great talker, a slanderer, and even stupid.  But Job was known for his blamelessness.  He was known for his uprightness, and sadly his friends should have been the first to remember that.  In my alarm at what was said, I began to wonder if my friend was changing.  And she was, but the end result was that she put to rests any attacks from the enemy against her faith and answered those hard questions.

I'm humbled by such a comparison.  It has been some time since I've had such a conversation with any friend, as I began learning this lesson awhile ago.  In fact, even the last time this friend asked hard questions, I knew she was trying to work through some things and that her faith was firmly intact.  And indeed, her faith continues to grow.  And should another such conversation come up, I hope I will do even better.  Thankfully, there are a few other mistakes Zophar makes that I hope I will also be mindful of in the future:

1. He charges Job with things he's never said.  Job never said he was completely perfect, but he does remind his friends that they knew his character from before (10:7).  They should know him better.  But Zophar twists his words.
2. He wishes that God would punish Job further, because he clearly thinks Job got off too easy!  Far be it from me to ever hope my friends' would have a harder time!  That would make me no friend, indeed.

 Let's face it: faith is not easy.  It's not a crutch for us to lean on in hard times because hard times test our faith.  And, as it says, trials of many kinds will refine and purify our faith, our character.  Check out 1 Peter 1:3-11.  You should really read this for yourself, even if you're familiar with it.  It will be a good reminder.

Tomorrow's Reading: Job 12:1-14:22

Job 9:1-10:22

Job does not deny that God is almighty and powerful.  He says of God, "He is wise in heart and mighty of strength, He who removes mountains... who shakes the earth out of its place... who commands the sun... who alone stretched out the heavens... who does great things beyond search out."  These are things Job knows about God.  He knows that He is powerful, Creator, and frankly, beyond our ability to comprehend in all that He is.  This, for Job, proves his point all the more: if God is so amazing and transcendent, then what is man to Him?  How could any man stand righteous before God?  All would be condemned.  So, then, though Job is blameless, of course he is found perverse before such a God.  Job's issue, he feels, is there is no one to speak for him.  He can call out to God all he wants, but God does not turn back or pay mind, who, even, could catch his attention?  What Job wants is someone to stand between him and the Almighty, someone who would "lay his hand on us both."  Then, Job, feels, he could bring his complaint before the Lord.

This complaint, essentially, is essentially why he was born to only have God contend against him.  Job has been blameless and upright, but what did that matter?  Job acknowledges that God saw fit to bring calamity on him, and that is God's prerogative.  But Job would rather have never been born than to suffer as he has.  Job has still not cursed God, but he does acknowledge a bitter spirit and a longing to be released from his sufferings through death.  He acknowledges he could put on a happy face, but what good would it do him?  He would still suffer, and he feared his cheerfulness would only bring further disaster.

Here we see the case throughout the Old Testament: that the were no arbiter, no go-between for man and God.  In the Garden, man had walked with God side by side, but not now.  After the Fall and sin had entered the world, our face-to-face connection with God was severed.  God might appear to men in visions, dreams, or send messages, but there was no one to stand before the Almighty in Heaven and plead our case.  At least, not yet.  Throughout the Old Testament there are hints of the Messiah, the Christ who is to come and of the expanded function of the Holy Spirit, His permanent in-dwelling of God's people.  We will see some of those hints later on in Job.  But this passage makes me all the more grateful that I have Christ now.  I do not have to wait, I don' t have to look in the future and reassure myself, "Someday".  Even now, the Holy Spirit speaks on my behalf before the throne of God with groans too deep for comprehension.  I'm so glad that He does!

Tomorrow's Reading: Job 11:1-20

Job 8:1-22

It's Bildad's turn to speak, and he doesn't waste time mincing words.  At least in the beginning.  Something Job said must have angered Bildad, because he starts off pretty strong, calling Job a mighty wind and asking him how long he intends to bluster.  By questioning Job, he infers that Job has accused God of perverting justice by bringing this calamity upon him, because surely it would not have happened if only Job were righteous!  Bildad appeals to the example of history, reminding Job that they are only of a moment: their lifespan is nothing in the course of history (and they lived to be well over one hundred!  Consider people today).  Consult the time gone-by: did not the wicked perish and the righteous prevail?  Or, look to nature: the wicked are like weak plants that wither easily, or a spider's house that can be batted away by a larger, more powerful hand.  He insists that God will not reject a blameless man, that God would not strike down the righteous, but He would the sinner.  Hadn't Job's children been struck down because of their sin?  So, the same with Job.

It begins to strike me that we will be reading a lot of this similar material as Job's friends accuse him, coming at different angles, badgering him over and over to confess that he is a sinner.  And Job, in his blamelessness, will be battered and bruised before he finally encounters God.  I admit, the more I read the more angry I become with these "friends" and their arguments.  They seem to speak more from stereotype than from understanding.  More from assumption than knowledge.  God does deal with the wicked and the righteous, and each does meet his just end, but in the interim God does many things in the way we humans wouldn't expect to work out His good purposes.

Which brings in advice from the New Testament.  Job is an excellent book to discuss when you're pondering that question: "Why do bad things happen to good people?"  The answer is later in the pages of Job.  Right now, his friends are taking the stance that bad things don't happen to good people.  But passages in Romans , Corinthians, and James suggest otherwise: Consider it all joy, brethren, when we encounter trials of all kinds; we are hard pressed, crushed, but not abandoned or destroyed.  Difficulties produce perseverance, character, and hope, and hope never disappoints.  (Paraphrases all.)  We as Christians should expect difficult times.  We should expect calamity and persecution.  And use them as opportunities.  I know how hard that sounds: I've experienced difficulties and trials recently, and we're still recovering.  But you now what?  They've also been amazing opportunities to see God work.  Even to see some miracles.  What will God bring to Job in the midst of his trials?

Tomorrow's Reading: Job 9:1-10:22

Job 6:1-7:21

I have to say, I have never experienced anything like Job's ordeals.  I have lost family members, but not so many, and not at once.  I've never had a horrible, painful, wasting disease.  And, praise be to the Father, I've had very few friends like Job's friends.  I think Job has a pretty understandable response: "I am so miserable, I cannot find comfort anywhere, except in depth.  Not even in you, who calls yourself my friend!  You've attacked me, accused me of wrong, and this is your comfort?  Go away!  Soon, hopefully, I'll die and you won't bother me then."  Or, at least that's how I take Job's words.

Job's response to Eliphaz is a masterpiece of sarcasm.  Am I a monster, he asks, that you have to guard me?  You come, scaring me with tales of visions and ghosts so that I would want to die ever more.  Why do you care so much about me that you would come and sit with me and test me?  How long are you going to stay?  He calls Eliphaz "you watcher of mankind" and asks him why he's made Job his mark, why has Job become such a burden.  After all, Eliphaz doesn't have to stay.  Eliphaz can go.  Why bother to stick around if he's only going to accuse Job?   Job would rather have the cold comfort of a grave.

Part of me bubbles with nervous laughter reading this.  I feel like the proverbial fly on the wall, eavesdropping on these friends' conversations and wishing, rather, that I didn't.  It's like being a witness to an ugly argument and wishing you could really not notice it rather than pretending to.  It's painful to listen to Job's friends accuse him of sinning and telling him that he is suffering because of sin, and then to hear Job's sharp, sarcastic response.  If you learn nothing else from these chapters, you can at least see how not to comfort someone.  I had a professor in college that liked to say, "No man is ever a waste: he can at least be a bad example."  No one ever wants to only serve as a bad example.  Maybe Eliphaz, Bildad, Zophar, and Elihu weren't only bad examples, but we can learn some things from them for our "not to do/not to say" list.

Tomorrow's Reading: Job 8:1-22

Job 4:1-5:27

At last, Job's friends speak!  If only they'd been good enough to keep their mouths shut.

Eliphaz the Temanite is the first to address Job. Likely, he was the oldest and most important as he is the first to be mentioned and the first to speak (everything has its order, you know).  His message to Job?  His comfort, if you can it that.  "Job, you must have sinned, because God does not punish the righteous.  But you, my friend, are obviously being punished.  So, repent, turn away from your sin, God will bind you up and keep you from further trouble."  Great friend, right?

Did anyone else notice that interlude in the middle half of chapter four?  Eliphaz speaks of a night vision, of a spirit gliding past his face and speaking to him.  Does anyone else sniff a spiritual intervention, and not one of the positive or righteous kind?  There are a few things that suggest this to me: a) the vision terrified him; it brought dread and trembling upon him as well as making his hair stand on end! And b) his opening words do not paint a positive light of the Lord: he intimates that no one can stand righteous before God (which is in part, true.  Of ourselves, we cannot!  But, by the grace of God and our Savior, we're covered!).  He also brings up this interesting point: the spirit charges that God does not trust his servants, angels, and that He charges them with error!  Only one group has that been true of: Satan, the antagonist of the Job story, and those that chose to follow him.  I've read some commentaries, and no one makes a similar observation, so maybe I'm off-base here.  Many say that Eliphaz is using this spiritual message to support his argument against Job, and I agree.  But some seem to suggest that Eliphaz may not be entirely trusted in actually having the vision he claims.  Perhaps he was just trying to add weight to his argument.  But it seems to me that Satan would not simply end his efforts with striking Job down.  We are told he is the Father of Lies.  Could it be possible that he continued his stratagems in a Screwtape Letters style?  I cannot pretend I know, but is seems plausible.

Whatever the case, Eliphaz's opening words aren't exactly the comfort you might desire from a friend.  Instead he comes before Job with accusations that he must have sinned somewhere, and he'd best repent if he wants to experience God's blessing again.

Tomorrow's Reading: Job's response, Job 6:1-7:21

Job 3:1-26

I got my reading done yesterday, but didn't have the internet to publish.  That is one of the pitfalls of having to share the internet with other people (internet that only hooks up to one computer at a time).

At the end of chapter two, Job's friends arrive.  They don't recognize and when they do, they go through the ceremonial acts of mourning you often find in the Old Testament: tearing their clothes, weeping and crying loudly, sprinkling dust on their heads.  Then they sat down with Job in the ashes and no one spoke for seven days.

Job is finally the one to break the silence and from his mouth comes the bitterness that must have been building inside of him. He wishes he'd never been born; he curses the day that he was, wishing he'd been stillborn.  And since he wasn't still born, why could he not simply die now?  It is clear that Job loathed his life.  Is there a stronger word then loathed?  Abhorred?  Despised?  He wished for darkness and that death that makes the princes same as the poor, where people cease to trouble, where slaves are free. 

Notice Job says in v. 25, "For the thing that I fear comes upon me, and what I dread falls upon me."  In the beginning of the book, Job sacrificed from a healthy, respectful fear of the Living God.  When he sacrificed for his children, it was in the concern that they may have sinned.  But he never says, "Lest they have sinned and God strikes them down."  He did not seem concerned for their demise.  Yet, as his trials begun, it is likely he began to fear more and more another one coming.  And on such a day as he had when the second calamity struck on the heels of another, how could you blame him?  During that interim time between the first strike, taking his wealth and family and leaving him with a bitter wife, would Job have not begun to fear that things perhaps could get worse?  After all, he did have his health.  What if it was taken, too?  And now it had been.

Aren't we often like that?  Something horrible happens and we begin to wonder, what next?  What else can happen?  We hope, surely, nothing.  After all, what we just had was enough, was it not?  And yet we still fear.  Job acknowledged that the Lord gives and the Lord takes.  He asked his wife, "Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?"  God is sovereign.  I believe it was Tree63 that first produced "Blessed Be Your Name", correct me if I'm wrong.  It says in the bridge, "You give and take away, my heart will choose to say, Lord, blessed be your name."  How easy it is to sing that song without taking in the words!  But I was suddenly faced with that after I had my daughter.  God gave me this beautiful little girl to love and raise.  What if He took her away?  Would I still be able to say, Blessed be Your Name and still mean it?  It was hard to do just thinking hypothetically.  But I could not, would not sing the song if I didn't mean it.  I hope and pray that if that ever happens (and I hope and pray it never will!), that I might still be able to honor the Lord with my lips and my heart.

Today's reading: Job 4:1-5:27

Job 1:1-2:13

There are four descriptions of Job in the opening chapters: he was blameless, upright, feared God, and turned away from evil.  Job was also incredibly wealthy, being the greatest of the people of the East (which is saying something as the people of the East in general at that time were considered very wise and rather well-to-do).  This juxtaposition led to a very interesting "battle of wits" in Heaven.  Or maybe, even a scientific experiment.

1. Investigator: Satan
2. Overseer/Higher-Up: God
3. Question: What is the motivation for Job's faithfulness/uprightness?
4. Background Research: Job is healthy, wealthy, and wise.  He fears the Lord, and he ain't playin'. (Or is he?)
5. Hypothesis: Job will curse God to His face if you take away God's protection to Job.
6. Test/Experiment: Remove God's protection for Job's wealth and family, only Job's physical being saved.  I.e. All of Job's possession are destroyed or taken, his servants murdered, and his children dead in a freak natural catastrophe.
7. Analysis/Results: Job does not sin or charge God with wrongdoing.  (FAIL)
8. Reevaluate!!: Take away Job's wealth, he'll curse God.  (Fo' sho'!)
9. Test/Experiment: Strike Job's with the following symptoms: inflamed, runny, wormy, scabby sores, itching, degeneration of the face, loss of appetite and strength, constant pain and restlessness, decaying and discolored skin.
10. Analysis/Results: Job does not sin with his lips.
11. Conclusion: Job is upright in that he never curses God to his face.  Experiment proves hypothesis FALSE.

(Never knew the entire scientific method was in the Bible, did you?)

Two things strike me about this passage.

One, the Scriptures do not actually refer to time passage.  After Job is struck with the first calamity, it merely says, "Again there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord".  We don't know how much time has passed.  How much time, then, might Job have had to mourn and reflect on what has become of him?  Was it just days after that Satan went back before the Lord to accuse him again?  Did it linger into moths, even years, to give him time to grow bitter and curse God?  Did he have time to start healing?  We don't really know.  I rather wonder if it was months between times, long enough for Job to have the tragedy weigh on him a bit, but still enough time when the second calamity strikes, the first one is fresh enough to still sting. 

Second, it says Job "did not sin with his lips."  So, Satan lost, definitely: Job did not curse God to His face as Satan had predicted.  But what about Job's heart?  Was he growing angry and bitter there?  Was he silently stewing, questioning in his mind?  You have to admit, Job had ready answers when his friends came to accuse, er, comfort him.  Or was Job not yet angry?  Did it take the goading of his supposed friends to take him there?  (Some have said that this is the final test of Satan against Job.  We shall see as we read.) We know that eventually there is some bitterness in his heart about what is going on.  God's conversation with Job shows that.  And we'll get to that eventually.  But for now, Wow, Job.  I don't think I would have handled the first calamity as well as you.

Tomorrow's Reading: Job 3:1-26

Genesis 11:1-32

The Tower of Babel.  It's rather ironic, isn't it?  The very purpose for building that city was to keep themselves from being dispersed across the face of the earth.  And what happened?  The Lord dispersed them across the face of the earth.  The Lord had commanded man after the flood to "teem on the earth and multiply in it".  The word teem means to abound or swarm.  He had commanded them to fill it.  They could in fact have teemed and multiplied in one place, but they couldn't have filled the earth from there.  The rebellion at Babel, however, was not just one of disobedience, but pride.  They said, "Let us make a name for ourselves."  "Let us build a city whose towers reach to the heavens."  It seems that in their arrogance they sought to equate themselves with God.

But that's not really what I was thinking about when I was reading this passage.  Notice that God didn't decide to confuse their languages because of disobedience and pride directly.  The reason He states is that because of their unity in language and thought, they were able to mount this massive project.  It was not only that they were prideful and disobedient, but that they could band together to do it.  Because of their unity, they could have pulled off what was likely an engineering feat!  And they committed one massive, communal sin.  So, the Lord confused their languages; suddenly one neighbor could not understand the next, and they left off.  Language group pulled to language group and they dispersed across the earth.

Now, the Lord tells us throughout the New Testament to be "of one mind". (Philippians 2:2, 1 Corinthians 1:10, for example).  As believers, we are called to unity.  In this day, it does seem difficult because many who call themselves Christians cannot or do not agree on matters of doctrine and theology, which puts barriers between us.  But what if we all "spoke the same language"?  What if we all agreed?  What if we really were united, as Christ intended, standing firmly on His Word and on the foundation of faith He intended?  What could we accomplish?  That was the very thing the Lord proposed at Babel: Nothing we could do would be impossible for us, especially as we can "do all things through Christ who strengthens" us (Phil. 4:3).  I wonder what the Lord would say to us on this matter.  And do we really have to wait until Heaven to hear it?

Tomorrow's reading: Job 1:1-2:13

Genesis 9:1-10:32

I bet Genesis 10 is one of those chapters that is hard to read.  Not so much Gen. 9: here you have the end of the story of the flood, the covenant of the rainbow, and something that's not often given much attention: the first time God gave man permission to eat meat.  (That's right, meat-lovers.  Before the Flood, man was vegetarian.  And... that's right, vegetarians!  Meat is God-given to man to eat.  But that's a whole other post we'll likely not get to until the New Testament.  That's a few years in the making...)

Genesis 10, however, is another of the lineage chapters that make parts of several Old Testament books difficult to read: namely Numbers and Joshua, but also Genesis and Exodus.  Here Japheth begot Gomer, Magog and Madai; Ham begot Cush, Egypt, and Canaan; Shem begot Elam, Ashur, Arpachshad...  And those are just a selection.  One thing to remember, though, is that this is chronicling how one small family managed to repopulate an earth devastated by flood waters.  And if you saw the Midwest after the flood of the early 90's, or even Tennessee and its neighbors after the past week, you can see that restoring after a flood is a lot of work!  Now, consider that when there are only eight of you!  From these descendants of Noah's sons came the nations.  It kind of makes me want to break out a map and a few commentaries (because those people are more educated than I am and know where these tribes settled and who they are referring to on the world history stage) and figure it out.  Japheth had the northern tribes, which as time went on likely migrated then into Europe, namely Greeks, Crete, even western Spain.  Ham had the more southerly tribes across North Africa and Arabia from which the empires of Egypt, Cush, and even, eventually, Babylon came from (as some of these descendants apparently moved into that territory).  Shem's descendants ranged across modern Palestine and into areas of Persia and beyond.  From my reading I understand that the Assyrians, some tribes of Arabia, and Lydia (Turkey) come from Shem.  As well as... Israel.  In fact, Semitic is the term referred to the languages of the descendants of Shem, of which Hebrew is part of the Semitic language family, and where we get the term antisemitic. 

This constitutes most of the civilizations we know from the Ancient World on that side of the globe!  They stayed in and around that area until... well, until they were forced to move farther out.  After all, the commandment was to populate the face of the Earth, not the Fertile Crescent.  But that... that is tomorrow.

Reading for tomorrow: Genesis 11:1-32

Genesis 6:1-8:22

150 days.  150 days the waters prevailed upon the earth.  Can you imagine?  Can you imagine being stuck in the ark for what was likely more than 150 days, as they entered and then it began to rain and the waters began to flood.  But, that seems that was just until the tops of the mountains could be seen.  In Chapter 7 it says that the flood waters reached to heights to cover the mountains.  How high the water rose!  Can you imagine water reaching high enough to cover Mt. Everest?  Now, what's interesting is that the Hebrew term for "prevail" (as in "the waters prevailed over the face of the earth") has the same root as when speaking of a mighty man (or warrior or arms bearer) having might or prevailing battle.  This has suggested to many that the flood really did a number in churning up the earth as "the fountains of the deep burst forth" and perhaps even as it receded, and made the face of the earth completely over.  So, was there a Mt. Everest before the flood?  We may never know.  Until we get to heaven.

But back to the original thought: 150 days the waters covered the earth.  Then, it took an additional 150 days for the waters to recede.  After that, an additional 77 days before the earth sufficiently dried out enough to set loose the ark.  377 days inside the ark.  Now, I've been on a wonderful European cruise for a week, and at the end of it I thought I really could stay a bit longer.  The bed was comfortable, the shower was nice, the food was good, it was huge, you walk all over.  The pool, the hot tub, being some place new every day.  What's not to love, right?  But imagine being on that cruise ship for 377 days and not being able to get off.  After awhile, Cruise Director Ron wouldn't be so funny anymore.  The food would get old.  Seeing the same people over and over and over could lead to some interrelational disputes.  Noah and his family didn't have bowling alleys or gyms or climbing walls, probably not even deck-siding seating.  More than a year inside the ark (the Hebrew there is boat or basket, interesting, huh?), taking care of the animals, disposing of waste, working and waiting, and I'd bet a lot of praying.  Enforced family time and alone time with the Lord.  And of course, when you get off the ark, it's still the same people.  You have to wonder what this did for your relationships.  Maybe it's no wonder at all that in the next chapter, Noah is so offended by Ham's actions.

Reading for tomorrow: Genesis 9:1-10:32

Genesis 4:1-5:32

I want to be like Enoch.  This is what the Bible says about Enoch:

Enoch walked with God after he fathered Methuselah 300 years and had other sons and daughters.  Thus all the days of Enoch were 365 years.  Enoch walked with God, and then he was not, for God took him.

365 years when the generations before him ranged from 895 to 962 and his own son lived to be the longest-living individual in the Bible at 969 years (yes, even longer than Adam as the Bible says that all of Adam's days numbered 930 years, not just the days after the Garden).  That's like dying at 30 in today's terms.  (Scary.  I'm 30 now.)  Enoch walked with God, and then at 365 he was not.  The Septuagint says "he was not found".  That makes Enoch one of the only two people who never died (the other being Elijah) because they were taken into heaven before they died.  They were just taken.  Like an alien abduction.  Ok, definitely not.

When I was in high school an intern we had named Mayah put it this way (sorry, Mayah, if I don't spell it right...):  she always imagined that Enoch walked out each day, met the Lord, and then they would go walking together.  And each day they went farther and farther until one day, the Lord said, "Why don't you just come home with me?"  I've always loved that.  Walking so close with the Lord that heaven is closer than going home.

I want to be like Enoch.  I want to walk with the Lord for 300 (or 30 more) years and then go Home with Him.  I want that the best thing that can be said about me was that I walked with the Him.  We know no more than that about him, but don't we hold Enoch in high regard?  Do we not esteem Him?  I have a long way to go.  I'm so imperfect.  If not for Grace, I would be lost, as I've certainly never deserved God's regard.  But then, that is the nature of our God.  So exacting and holy, and with higher standards of my own, if you can believe it, and yet so graceful, so merciful, so loving and good and kind.  Oh, that I were more like Him!

Reading for tomorrow: Genesis 6:1-8:22

Genesis 2:4-3:24

"...but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die."  (Gen. 2:17)

Anyone else think that Adam and Eve took Him literally: that as soon as they eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, they'd drop dead right there?  I always thought so: eat and you drop dead right there.  But that's not what God had planned: death would in fact come upon them, because up until that time it was a rather foreign concept.  But after they ate it, they were looking death in the face.  For the first time, death was a certainty.  Because of their actions, God cut them off from the tree of life, their sustaining source, and escorted them out of Eden.

But, in a way, you can in fact look at it that they began to die that day.  A really good movie (but an older one) is Renaissance Man.  Anyone seen it?  I like it.  In it, a washed-up ad man takes a job from Unemployment Services to be a teacher for struggling Army recruits in boot camp.  At first, he doesn't take it seriously and wastes a lot of time, but for a lack of anything better to do, he begins to teach them Shakespeare's Hamlet.  At the end, he gives them a test.  And one of the recruits makes a very interesting observation in regards to the gravedigger who went to work the day Hamlet was born: he said, "If you think about it, the day you were born, you start to die."  Can you see the truth of it?  Though you are just born and fresh in the world, you are one day closer to your death.  Adam and Eve faced just such a moment in eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  At this point, they had sinned in disobeying God, and also becoming aware of what evil was and able to choose it or desire it.  Before, they were free from evil, innocent, and free to take from the tree of life.  But once they had sinned, they were separated from God: physically and spiritually.  No longer could they walk in the Garden with the Lord, and death was the punishment, even spiritual punishment.  The day they sinned, for the first time they were one step closer to their death.

It might seem harsh that God threw them out of the Garden and condemned them to death.  That it wasn't the tree of the knowledge of good and evil that was the direct result of their death, but instead being cut off from the tree of life that eventually killed them.  Remember, though, that sin spiritually separates us from God.  If God had allowed man to continue to eat of the tree of life, to continue to live and live and live in their sin, there would never be payment for our sin.  And we'd be permanently separated from God.  Because death was allowed to come into the world through Adam, Christ was able to die, and eventually bring life back into the world.  Check it out: it's all in Romans.

Tomorrow's reading: Genesis 4:1-5:32

Genesis 1:1-2:3

Have you ever thought about the void that existed before the world was created?  The Scriptures say, "The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep."  Imagine (I looked up the Hebrew for void and it is tohuw): emptiness, without order, formlessness, confusion, nought, nothing.  Unreality.  It is perhaps beyond my mind to comprehend or imagine.  The best I can do is imagine a black, empty space where you might float.  But then, if you are there, it is not empty.  And amidst this, God existed.  He is eternal: forever past, forever present, forever future. I try to imagine what it might be like to be God at that time and I can't.  Then again, I really can't imagine what it would be like to be God.  Perhaps I should just say, I can't imagine what it would be like to exist in such a void.

And then, a voice speaks.  The voice of God (not James Earl Jones).  And He says, "Let there be light."  And suddenly, into this dark void, there is light!  All encompassing, all-penetrating light!  I wonder if, when we get to heaven, we will be able to see the Creation played back for us as on a movie reel.  Would He let us do that?  I'd love to see it: the void, the sudden light.  God separating the waters to create the sky, separating the waters beneath the sky to form dry ground (and indeed, that's a small but definite detail).  Did the vegetation just suddenly burst from the fertile earth?  Did God grow it within the day as if watching a time lapse or sped-up animation?  The Scriptures say that each plant produced seed according to its kind and each tree fruit according to its kind, so you know that by the end of the day, they were mature.  Imagine, within a matter of days transitioning from a dark, formless void to a bright, colorful, inhabited world.  What a wonder!  And it was a world teeming with life.  The Bible says, "Let the waters swarm," and "let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of heaven," beasts and livestock, and everything that creeps along the ground.  A world full of life, when days before there had been nothing, chaos and emptiness. Yes, indeed, I'd love to see it.

And yes indeed, I believe it happened in days.  I know there are some that interpret each day to be an age within which God worked, but the Hebrew there is yom (with an accent ague over the "o"), and when it is used with cardinals (first, second, third) as it is here, it is talking about a 24-hr period.  To me, that says that God worked His creation within the period of a 24-hr day, there was evening and there was morning.  God is GOD, after all.  He is more than perfectly capable to do it.  Again, what a wonder.  It makes me want to go watch Earth and Oceans and things of that nature just to marvel at God's creation.


Reading for tomorrow: Genesis 2:4-3:24