January 23 - Job15:1-18:2

Good morning everyone,

Today our reading begins with round two of the talks between Job and his three friends. They will speak in the same order, Eliphaz leading off and while saying nothing new, this time he is a little more intense, more threatening. He began by saying Job’s words  are empty, useless and reiterates that Job must be a great sinner. Eliphaz is a pretty arrogant guy, he assumed his words were as true as God’s own. Do you think that perhaps there was a bit of fear behind Eliphaz’s words? I mean to say that, here we have Job who by all accounts is a righteous man, who promises his friends that he does not sin, however he is clearly going through a great deal of suffering which according to Eliphaz is a direct result of Job sinning. Now Eliphaz is an elderly fellow who also is a man of God and we can take from his conversation that considers himself sinless. So I am sure Eliphaz doesn’t want to believe that such sufferings can happen to a man who “plays by the rules” because if that is the case then this same thing could happen to him too, and quite frankly seeing Job, smelling Job, just plain witnessing the state Job was in would most likely scare the daylights out of any one of us, right?! So it causes Eliphaz to instead of “doing the right thing” to “want to be right”, huge difference.

When next Job speaks he will tell his friends what miserable source of contentment they are. He tells them that in a similar situation he would strengthen and comfort them. He also speaks to God. Though he feels God has abandoned him Job pours out his heart out to God about his sufferings, being adamant that his sufferings are not payment for sin saying “I have done no wrong, my prayer is pure”. In 16:19 Job says “ Even now my witness is in heaven, my advocate is there on high”. He has no hope of anyone on earth ever believing him innocent, he is placing all his hope for a fair defense on God in heaven. Do you ever feel that way? I do sometimes when I will do or say something, anything, it could be as simple as just voicing my opinion or walking into a room. I will see someone roll their eyes, or laugh out loud and 99.9% of the time it has nothing to do with me BUT immediately the enemy starts working on my mind filling it with doubt and fear causing me to want to shrink away. Well, it is at those times I look straight to God to to be my judge, search my heart O Lord, and if He comes back and says “you’re all good” then I just go on putting one foot in front of the other, knowing that at the end of the day it is God and God alone that I am here to please. He is also quick to let me know if I am in need of apologizing to someone, and I will do that too.

In 16:21 Job says “ I need someone to meditate between God and me, as a person mediates between friends.” As a Christian we have have that person in Jesus Christ. It is such a gift to us to have Jesus as our mediator, our friend. That verse immediately took me to a song that first I heard a long, long  time ago sung by Tennessee Ernie Ford, called ‘What A Friend We Have in Jesus’, I know you all know it, and that’s what I’ll leave you with today,

What a friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and griefs to bear! What a privilege to carry, everything to God in prayer! O what peace we often forfeit, O what needless pain we bear, all because we do not carry everything to God in prayer. Have we trials and temptations? Is there trouble anywhere? We should never be discouraged; Take it to the Lord in prayer. Can we find a friend so faithful who will all our sorrows share? Jesus knows our every weakness; Take it to the Lord in prayer.

I pray you have a very good day.

God bless you all …

January 22 - Job 12:1- 14:22

Good morning everyone,

This morning we begin with Job’s reply to all the observations, counseling and advise his three friends have given him. Again, I urge you to remember the condition Job is in, close your eyes for just a moment and picture this man first as a wealthy, happy rancher with regular routines of praying and presenting sacrifices to his God, gathering with his family over meals, laughing it up, kind of like the Ben Cartwright of Bonanza, if you’re old enough to remember that television show. Life is great for Job. Now, close your eyes again and see this same man but now broken, instead of long hair his head is shaved, he has sores all over his body, open wounds in fact, oozing with puss. His bowels are boiling, he has diarrhea, his skin is black, his breath is so foul it is said to be like death, he is depressed, desperate and more than a little bewildered by all that is happening to him. Can you see that? Can you just for a moment put yourself in his place? How does that feel to you?

You know that Job has been sitting there since this whole thing started, racking his brain, pondering, going through the mental check points trying to figure out the “why” of it all, he had already thought of everything they have been telling him. Also, he recognizes that he is a laughing stock, people pointing fingers at him because of his misfortune. They are not telling him anything he has not already thought of so finally, Job, while sitting on the heaps of ash has heard enough of their whys and wherefores, he looks up, and in the greatest form of sarcasm rips into his friends. Is this godly behavior? Absolutely not, but it serves to show us how utterly confused and disorientated with life Job really is. He says to them, (and say this with attitude) “ I’m sure you think you are the only wise people left. You think that when you die, wisdom will be gone with you.”, then he tells them that his mind is good, and they are not any smarter than he is. 

I like how Job argues that if those who openly sin against God or have no relationship with Him do not suffer as Job is suffering, then how can suffering be said to be caused by sin. - That is to say that, yes, in life there is consequence of choice and if you choose to sin you very may will suffer, however, just because you suffer does not mean that you are being punished for a sin. Make sense? In the case for Job, as with many, it is simply an attack of the enemy. 

I loved Job’s reminder to them in 12:13 that true wisdom and power are found in God and we read in chapter 13:20 that Job breaks from speaking to his friends and turns to speak to God. The solid Rock, though he can no longer feel God, it the one place that has always been a constant, the one place he knows to turn. He asks two things; first, that his suffering will stop. He is feeling abandoned and lonely I am sure he totally misses being with God, don’t you when you are away from His word? Second, that God would show him his sins if he’s committed any. He feels adrift, like a boat with no port in a storm. You see, even in Job’s despair he knows that God will be his salvation. When all else failed Job relied on his basic foundation of faith. Faith in God’s perfect plan is what will always see us through.

I pray you have a most awesome day.

God bless you all …

January 21 - Job 8:1-11:20

Good morning everyone,

Well, as we begin reading this morning, we’ll remember Job is in a very miserable state. He has lost all his worldly possessions and family with the exception of his wife, and his health has deteriorated to a point where the man questions why he was even born. His three friends traveled a great distance to be with him in his time of trouble and for seven days sat quietly while he mourned. Finally, Job spoke which opened the door for his friends to give their council. Yesterday we heard from the first of the three, Eliphaz, and Job’s response to that. This morning we will read what Bildad and Zophar have to say to Job.

While I feel Bildad could have shown a bit more compassion for his friend I really liked the analogy he made in 8:11-13 “Can papyrus grow tall where there is no marsh? Can reeds thrive without water? While still growing and uncut, they wither more quickly than grass. Such is the destiny of all who forget God; so perishes the hope of the godless.” I camped out on this for a bit. We all need God’s word to keep us going, the daily nourishment, encouragement, water to help us grow. You know as well as I do what a struggle it can be out in the world, how it can drain you of all our strength. I saw this passage and immediately thought of Jesus telling the woman at the well “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I  will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” Eternal life! Oh, such a great promise.

Zophar, was the last to speak, probably making him the youngest and as young people can be a little more “matter-of-fact-ish”, if you know what I mean. Again, these three guys obviously loved Job, they traveled a great distance to be with him so however crass or “cowboy up” their words sounded, I am confident their hearts were in the right place.

While reading these chapters where Job is having dialog with Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar it is important for us to remember that it was not God who inflicted any of this mayhem on Job. It was Satan. Satan had challenged God saying the only reason Job was so righteous and loved Him was because of all his success, but God believed in Job. God knew Job to be the man He claimed him to be and because Job never once cursed God, he was able to silence the voice of the enemy. We too have the ability to silence the voice of the enemy when we choose righteous,  when we choose God. You see, Job didn't have the opportunity like we do to read the book of Job, to know how the enemy can work in us and on us. Job didn’t get a heads up on what can come our way, the chance to be aware and prepare. He had to ride it out all on his own, he didn’t know the rewards he would receive for being faithful to his God, our God. We, on the other hand, have resource after resource and the Bible to help us know God’s voice and way. To see what can be lurking around the corner ready to pounce on us, we are in-fact, provided with the armor to fight the enemy with.

We will all be tested, put through the fire the question is, how will we what will we do with it? Job sits in heaven today not thinking “why did I have to go through all that”. No, no, no, he sits there probably front row center praising the God who loves him. That’s where I want to be! And that’s where I hope to see you too.

Just as a side note that has nothing to do with anything, it was so hard for me to, while writing today, not say something to the effect of “Zo phar (so far) we have been reading …. (you know that’s kind of funny), I did kind of restrain though :-)

I pray your day is incredibly awesome.

God bless you all.

January 20 - Job 5:1-7:21

Good morning everyone,

As we take a look at today’s verses I want you, for a moment, to stop and really consider the state of mind Job was in. This man had been a wealthy man in material objects, family, and health. He also had a close relationship with God, could feel His presence, we are told he was a righteous man and now in a very short span of time all of that is taken away. Everything Job knew and was familiar with in the way he lived his life, had changed. He is now in a broken physical and mental state trying to figure out what to do next, not to mention he is dealing with the grief of loosing his children. Let’s not underestimate any of that, put yourself there, visualize this. What would you do? What would your response to this be? In 1929 on Black Tuesday with the crash of Wall Street people were throwing themselves out of windows, putting guns to their heads, killing themselves because they’d lost all their money they felt they’d lost it all. Yesterday we read that Job wanted God to take his life away, he even cursed the day he was born, but not once did he contemplate suicide or curse God.

We read that three of Job’s friends traveled a great distance to be with him in his time of grief which was so touching. You want to know who your friends are? They are the ones who are with you through thick and thin, so here these Job’s friends are and for seven days they did THE best thing I believe that they could have done, they sat silently. While in a time of loss, being reminded of God’s promises in scripture, and being assured God loves you and that there is a reason for everything is all really thoughtful and nice, sometimes that person who is grieving just needs someone to be there quietly, so they don’t feel so alone and yet can have their own thoughts with the freedom to speak or not speak when they are ready. Ancient Jewish tradition calls for the mourners to remain quiet until the person in mourning speaks, so when Job cried out to God that gave the friends a green light to express their thoughts, and sadly that’s what they did. Eliphaz was the first to speak up and while his view of Job’s situation represented well known ways to deal with suffering, Job was not comforted but rather felt condemned.

There are a couple of things I think what we need to take from this; one, is that when we do try to comfort someone we should consider empathy before explanations. We can not just assume, unless we have traveled that road ourselves, that we know how they feel; we could be adding insult to injury. Another is, we do not always have the answer to “why” only God always does and that will be revealed in His time.

In reading today’s scripture, over and over I kept thinking of how alone Job must have felt while his seemingly being abandoned by God. How seemingly abandoned Jesus cried out from the cross when God had to turn His back on Him when Jesus wore all our sins. How seemingly abandoned I am, we are, when we can not feel God’s presence in the times when we are called to walk by faith, but God is always right there. David in the 23rd Psalm said “ Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.” 

If you know nothing else in this crazy world we live in, you must know that as a Christian you are never abandoned by God, you must know that God is always there with you, He loves you! God loves you!! Oh how He loves you!

Have a super good day.

God bless you all …

January 19 - Job 1:1-4:21

Good morning everyone,

Today we come to the book of Job. Now, the Old Testament is divided into 5 parts; the Pentateuch, History, Poetry or Writings, Major Prophets, and Minor Prophets, we will find Job in the third part with poetry. You’re saying what? Poetry? It’s true. The book of Job is the oldest book in the Bible being penned somewhere around 2000 BC, quite possibly making it one of, if not THE, oldest book ever. The author is, though unknown, believed to be an Israelite since the covenant name Yahweh is used for God. 

Job doesn’t seem to be a member of God’s chosen family line but he was a very godly man who  not only knew God but deeply believed in God, not just as a passing statement you might hear someone say today that could sound like “Well sure, I believe in God”. Job truly believed in and had faith in God’s decisions and the ways of God. He knew right from wrong and spent a lot of time burning sacrifices to God on behalf of his children whom he feared may curse God at their family gatherings, his fear being justified as we will see later the heart of his wife.

Often people will say “Why do bad things happen to good people?” Recently I heard a reply to that, that quite honestly I plan to use a lot, it was, “ That’s easy, there are no good people. Romans 3:10 tells us ‘There is no one righteous, not one.’ So the better question would be, why do good things happen to us, we are all sinners?” The answer of course is Jesus, He died His blood covering our sins. We will see that though Job was a righteous man in the end he was a sinner just like you and me and will repent before the Lord and all his riches will be restored.

One thing that I do want to point out here from the first couple of chapters is that Satan, though God tossed him from heaven, he still, along with all the angels living in heaven, has to make an account to God of what he has been up to, and ….  this is a VERY big “AND”, he does not get to do anything to us unless he has God’s permission, 1Corinthians 10:13 tells us “we will not be tempted beyond what we can bear”, why?? because it is all in God’s control. God knows us so well, so very, very well and He “agape”, unconditionally, loves us more than we could ever fathom, so He will allow us to be tempted to strengthen us, to give us not only confidence in ourselves but faith and confidence in the almighty God himself, our Abba Father. Like Job, we too must trust God when we face hard times, bad days, cranky people, financial difficulties, health issues, you name it;  staying strong in our faith even when someone may say to you, like Job’s wife said to him, “are you still trying to maintain your integrity? Curse God and die.”  Now in all fairness, maybe she was just wishing him to die to put him out of his misery, I don’t know, but given the fact that Job would make regular sacrifices to God for his kids I am thinking that maybe her faith was not as strong as Jobs. What I do know is God loves me, He loves you very much, and like I’ve said before, He’s got a plan, and His plan is perfect.

Oh gosh, there is so much more I wanted to say today, these first few chapters were incredibly  full of hope and encouragement. I pray you will all just let the wealth of information and wisdom soak into you from this book of Job. Feel the depth of God’s love and let it carry you through each and every moment this week.

I hope you have a really good day.

God bless you all

January 18 - Genesis 47:28-50:26

Good morning everyone,

Today we will finish up the book of Genesis and what a great read it has been. We open up this morning with Jacob knowing that his time to die is drawing near, calls for Joseph asks him to promise to take Israel to be buried with his ancestors, after he dies. I liked how Jacob made sure he had Joseph’s undivided attention by placing Joseph’s hand under his thigh, he would have to look him in the eye, understand what was being said. How many times do you feel like you need to ask someone to look up from their phone or other electronic to get their attention. Imagine their surprise if you took their hand and placed it under your thigh. :-)

Not long after that Joseph would get word that Israel was failing rapidly and take his two sons Manasseh and Ephraim up to visit him. While there Israel would give the boys their blessings and once again just like with, Able not Cain, Isaac not Ishmael, Jacob not Esau, Joseph not Rueben, Moses not Aaron it will be Joseph’s younger son Ephraim  not Manasseh who will receive the greater blessing. Joseph was a little upset by this but Israel reassured him that although Manasseh will become a great people, his younger brother will become even greater and his descendants will become a multitude of nations. It is so like God to use the “lesser” to achieve the greater even to the point of sending His son into this world with nothing.  

I love in chapter 48:15-16 it says: Then he blessed Joseph and said, “May the God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked faithfully, the God who has been my shepherd all my life to this day,the Angel who has delivered me from all harm —may he bless these boys. May they be called by my name and the names of my fathers Abraham and Isaac, and may they increase greatly on the earth.”  Jacob, Israel, spoke of God as his shepherd throughout his life. In his old age he could see his dependence upon God all of his life, what a remarkable change from the Jacob of old. The scheming, dishonest Jacob who tricked his brother out of his birth right and blessing instead of waiting on God to provide it for him. When we chase after things that we want and want now, we’re often willing to do anything, even if it is wrong in order to get it. The wrong doesn’t have to be as drastic as murder or stealing it could be abusing your credit cards, not using wisely the allotment God has given you. Sin is sin, wrong is wrong but to follow God and do as He commands is right. It is better to trust Him and realize all the good that comes from that.

Well, Israel dies then later at the age of 110 Joseph dies too but before he does he does he tells his brothers, “ God will surely come to help you and lead you out of this land of Egypt. He will bring you back to the land he solemnly promised to give to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob.” Great promise!!

I loved that you read through it with me, tomorrow I look forward to beginning the book of Job.

I pray you have a great day today.

God bless you all.

January 17 - Genesis 45:16-47:27

Good morning everyone,

Today begins with the news of Joseph’s brothers reaching Pharaoh. He is happy for Joseph and  gives wagons and provisions for Jacob, who is now called Israel,  and all of his family to travel to Egypt and settle in the land of Goshen to be nearer to Joseph.

Imagine, if you will, the shock of finding out that your son, the son you loved most and thought dead for the last 20 years is now alive. All the emotions you would experience, the disbelief, the joy, excitement, the anticipation of once more being able to wrap your arms around him and whisper those words “I love you”, it all had to be a bit overwhelming. And what about the brothers? Yes, Joseph has forgiven them for the way they treated him all those years ago when they were young and did a really dumb thing as young people often do; but now dad, Jacob is going to find out the truth of their foolish behavior, how ashamed they must have felt when the truth came to light but the father just loved them. Very beautiful.

So they set out for Egypt but along the way stopped at Beersheba where Jacob offered sacrifices to God, after the experience Abraham had in Egypt I’m thinking Jacob wanted to be sure that this was all good with God, and it was. God told Jacob to not be afraid to go to Egypt that there He would make his family a great nation, and so they did. We read in vs 29 that “Joseph had his chariot made ready and went to Goshen to meet his father Israel. As soon as Joseph appeared before him, he threw his arms around his father and wept for a long time.”

Though all those years apart were hard on both, I do not believe the absolute joy, the moment of suspended time could adequately be put into words. These are gifts from God. 

One more thing I just want to make note of, in 46:17, one of the sons of Issachar is Jashub, if you are reading this in the King James Version you will read Job. Most biblical scholars will agree that this is THE Job, the book in the Bible, Job. I really don’t have a whole lot more to say about that only that it is another time that the I have said “cool” while reading a genealogy.

Have a most wonderful day.

God bless you all