Today, I am reading and commenting on Job 38-42.

When Elihu finishes his monologue God speaks to Job.  He begins by asking Job if he was there when the world was created and if he understands where light and darkness come from.   Job responded by recognizing that he was not worthy to speak with God and had no answer for the questions which God asked of him.  Job said that he would speak no more.  It would be tempting to look at many of these questions and think that, because science has found answers to many of them, we no longer need to respond as Job did.  However, that misses the point.  However, God was not done.  He asks Job about the mightiest of the creatures which God had created and if Job could capture either of them, or even imagine someone doing so.  In response, Job says that he despised himself and repents.  Despite earlier claiming that he had done no wrong, Job recognized that he had sinned by claiming that God was unjust and had done him wrong.  God forgave his sin and called on Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar to ask Job to pray for them.  Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar thought that they were more righteous than Job, yet God told them that they needed Job’s prayers.  Rather than look down on those who are suffering let us seek their prayers.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Job 34-37.

Yesterday I commented on the fact that Elihu is the only one of Job’s friends who God does not condemn when He responds to Job in the conclusion to this book and how that means we need to pay attention to what Elihu got right.  However, I want to note that in today’s passage Elihu gets one thing wrong: he condemns Job for associating with the wicked based solely on Job’s complaint that there is no profit in pleasing God.  One could also read Elihu as saying that serving God will always lead to wealth and prosperity.  Nevertheless there is much which Elihu says in today’s passage which is correct.  He condemns Job for claiming that God denies him justice.  Elihu also points out that without God, even now after Creation, the world would cease to exist.  Further, God determines what is right and wrong.  He sets the standard.  God will not, cannot, do wrong or evil.  Elihu tells us that God does not need to hold an inquiry to investigate our guilt; He knows already of what exactly we are guilty.  God does not show partiality, and for all His righteousness and power He despises no one.  God values all people.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Job 22-28.

For all of the suffering which Job believed that God had unjustly visited upon him, Job declared that he treasured every word from God’s mouth and would not depart from His commands.  He recognized that wisdom was more valuable than all of the wealth that a man could obtain, and that the only God can reveal wisdom to mankind.  Mankind can dig for wealth such as gold, silver, or gems, or dive into the ocean for pearls and other sources of wealth, but only by seeking God can wisdom be found.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Job 16-21.

In today’s passage Bildad and Zophar once more argue that the wicked suffer, with the implication that ONLY the wicked suffer.  This is every bit as much of a heresy as the teaching that doing good is a surefire path to health and wealth.  )I want to mention that the arguments of Job’s friends in the Book of Job present a good example of why reading the Bible repeatedly is important.  If we did not know that God condemns them at the end of the book we might not realize that their arguments were wrong.)  Job responds that his experience shows that the wicked often prosper, but that nevertheless he would avoid their plans.  While Job repeatedly complains that he does not understand why God has allowed him to suffer, he says some things which as a Christian mean a lot to me.  First, he says that even now, even in the midst of his suffering, even in the midst of him accusing God of unjustly allowing him to suffer, he has an advocate in heaven pleading with God for him.  Then a little later, after speaking about how God had wronged him, he says that he knows that his redeemer lives and that even though he will die he will see God in the flesh.  That is an interesting thing for Job to declare, since he had several times expressed the idea that life is short and ends when we die.  Job’s suffering led him to wish he could die and be at the end of his suffering.  It led him to feel like the peace of nonexistence would be better than what he was experiencing.  Yet, in the depths of his misery, after experiencing the condemnation of his friends in place of comfort, he acknowledged that God would not abandon him to death and that he would see the One who would suffer so that he could experience fellowship with God.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Job 11-15.

In yesterday’s passage, Bildad made a claim which is a lot like what I call “prosperity gospel”.  In today’s passage Zophar does the same thing.  So, what do I mean by “prosperity gospel”?  As I use the term, “prosperity gospel” means that if we do the right things, if we faithfully follow God’s commands, we will be healthy, wealthy, and popular, that all of our suffering will go away.  Zophar does say some good things about God which set us up to accept what he says next.  Zophar is right when he tells us that we cannot fathom the wisdom of God, that we cannot find His limits, and that we are powerless compared to Him.  However, after saying that he tells Job that if he devotes himself to God and turns from sin all of his troubles and suffering will be a thing of the past.  Job answers the veiled accusation in Zophar’s words by asking if Zophar could withstand scrutiny by God; would Zophar be revealed as any less sinful if his life was thoroughly examined?  I know that I would not.  For all of that, Job says that he still puts His hope in God.  Eliphaz responds to Job with something which is the opposite side of “prosperity gospel”, and just as wrong.  I don’t have a term for it, but Eliphaz claims that the wicked suffer torment continuously, that they do not know a moment when they are not suffering.  This is just as mistaken as prosperity gospel.  Whatever we face in life we need to place our hope in God.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Job 6-10.

I struggle with reading the Bok of Job, partly because Job spends so much time speaking about the depth of his suffering and partly because his friends spend so much time saying things which sound good but do not actually address Job’s complaints when they are not outright wrong.  That being said, Job says to things in today’s passage which I want to write about.  Once again Job wishes he could just die.  This time he says that he wishes to die before his suffering leads him to deny God’s word.  That he has one remaining joy; that he has denied the words of God.  When we suffer we also should take joy in remaining faithful to God.  Later, after Bildad speaks, Job says that even were he innocent he would be unable to argue his case before God because God is so much more righteous, powerful, and wise than himself.  So, Job wishes for a mediator, someone who could stand between him and God allowing Job the ability to speak in God’s presence.  Today, we have such a mediator in Jesus Christ.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Job 1-5.

When Satan, the Adversary, first appeared before Gd in this account, he claimed that Job was only godly because God had blessed him.  So, God gave Satan permission to take all of Job’s wealth from him.  When Job received news that all of the things which this world says gives life value had been taken from him, he praised God while saying, “The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away.”  When God pointed out that Satan had failed to break Job, Satan claimed that Job remained godly only because he was healthy.  So, God allowed Satan to afflict Job with various maladies.  When Job’s wife could no longer take seeing her husband suffer, she told him to curse God and die (I want to note that I think the reaction of Job’s wife actually reflects how much she loved him and wanted his suffering to end).  Even here Job refused to turn away from God.  His take was that we should accept trouble from God’s hands just was we would accept good things from Him.  Then finally when Job can take his misery no longer, he cries out to wish that he had never been born, but even here he does not lose his faith in God.  I have known people whose faith allowed them to face adversity in this way.  I pray that I might follow their example if I ever face such troubles (although I pray even more that I never face them).

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.