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#2024 GOAL – Reading Through The Bible Chronologically, days 7 & 8

Jan8
       Day 7 & 8 — (I combine Sunday and Monday reads.)  Won’t you read the Bible with me this year?  You can also listen to an audio recording. It only takes a few minutes.
Job 14-16
Our guy Job begins the chapter with, “Man who is born of a woman is few of days and full of trouble,” and you might agree with him.
Did you know Moses agreed too?  Psalm 90:10 says, “The years of our life are seventy, or even by reason of strength eighty; yet their span is but toil and trouble; they are soon gone, and we fly away.”
Next in this sad saga, old Eliphaz (Friend #1, in this second round) comes back with more unkind and mistaken condemnation of Job (15). Job (16) says Eliphaz is not much of a friend. He calls him a “miserable comforter,” a blow-hard talking about what he knows nothing about!!
Then Job laments more about his suffering. He accuses God of shattering, shaking, shooting at, and slicing him.   (Just imagine his pain from that horrible skin ailment, that he must constantly scrape scabs/puss away with broken pottery.)
And I complain about a bit of arthritus or allergy! God forgive me.
Job 17-20
(Yes, I know it’s Monday. It’s been a  whole week since we began. We are still in Job! And it’s depressing!  Oh, please don’t quit. Carry on.  Persevere. Endure to the end (of Job, and the Bible!!)
Job is again thinking of death (Wouldn’t YOU if you were enduring all this and without compassionate understanding?). But if he dies, then he asks, “Where then is my hope?”  Oh, Job, remember your words in chapter 13! “Though He slay me, I will hope in HIM,“
Then Bildad (friend #2, in this second round) takes the “podium” and accuses Job of more badness. He asks why Job thinks they are “stupid” in his sight. (Well, duh!)  Bildad waxes eloquent about the “wicked” intimating that this is what poor Job is, ending that it is just the place of the person who knows not God.  (Don’t you wish he could review those first verses in the book that describe Job as upright and blameless?)
Job fervently answers his accuser(s) in chapter 19, “How long will you torment me and break me in pieces with words?”  Yeah! What happened to the concept – “weep with those who weep”?  (Romans 12:15)  But as in a few other places, Job’s soul rises to God and he exclaims, “For I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last He will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh shall I see God,” (19:25)  Wow.
Despite, Job’s gasping faith, his third friend, Zophar, cuts him down with, “The wicked will SUFFER!”
We’ve not heard the last of these three “friends,” and even a fourth one will appear in chapter 32 who at first rebukes the others, but then hammers down on Job too.  (Oh, just wait and see how God will treat these guys at the end of chapter 42.  (You can peek at it now, but it will be more satisfying when we get there.)
KEEP READING! Remember the blessing God promised to those who read His word.

#2024 GOAL – Reading Through The Bible Chronologically, day 6

Jan6
Day 6.  Won’t you read the Bible with me this year?  You can also listen to an audio recording. It only takes a few minutes.
Job 10-13
(Keep faithfully reading. We are 1/4 the way through Job.)

Do you ever cry out to God and complain about things that are happening in your life?  “It’s NOT FAIR,” I’ve said many times. “Why did You DO such and such?” Or, “Why did You LET that happen???”

I think if we were actually standing before God Himself, we would be more like Isaiah (chapter 6) who fell on his face before the Almighty, like a dead man.  But, we, like Job, cry out our complaints to God and He doesn’t strike us dead.  He loves us!

“Why did you bring me out of the womb?” Job cries in pain and despair in 10:18. “Would that I had died before any eye had seen me.”  (Before you judge him, remember that he has lost ALL his children, ALL his wealth, ALL his health. And his wife wishes him dead.)

Then Zophar (friend #3) starts in on him, the worst “friend” so far.  He basically tells Job that he is even WORSE than he thinks. “Know that God exacts of you LESS than your guilt deserves,” 11:8.

WOW!  That’s LOW.

In 11:12, Zophar calls Job “stupid” and a “wild ass.”  Yikes!

In his response in chapter 12, Job gets a bit sarcastic. “No doubt you,” he says to his friends, “are THE people and wisdom will die with you.”  He’s amazed that he is a ‘laughingstock” to them. He, who has called to God and God answered him, a “just and blameless man.”  “Am I a laughingstock?” he asks.

Then Job goes on in that chapter to praise God and His absolute sovereignty in everything.

In 13:15 Job speaks those magnificent words of trust, “Though He slay me, I will hope in Him.”  WOW

A roller-coaster, that is Job in this book, in his pain, among his friends. He will get lower. He will go higher before he actually confronts the living and Almighty God. Then we will see Job truly humbled AND lifted up.

So, don’t give up, keep reading each day!

#2024 GOAL – Reading Through The Bible Chronologically, day 5

Jan5
  Day 5.  Won’t you read the Bible with me this year?  You can also listen to an audio recording. It only takes a few minutes.
Job 6-9

(yes, I know, it’s hard).

Job’s friends who were so saintily silent, commisserating with Job in his misery and sorrow, now speak. (They shouldn’t have!!)

Job had indulged in a hopeless monologue, wishing he hadn’t been born. (Have you and I ever felt like that in a really tough situation of loss or extreme pain?)

When Eliphaz (friend #1) finally speaks, it’s not with compassion, but with a bossy tone, saying Job MUST have done something really bad, because, you know, God BLESSES the “innocent”……

Um, not always so, Eliphaz. The righteous DO suffer.

And Job actually points to something else. “Behold, BLESSED is the one whom God reproves; therefore despise not the discipline of the Almighty.” (Reminds you of Psalm 94:13-14 and Hebrews 12:5-6, doesn’t it?)

Job also says something seriously that reminds me of some of MY nights, “But the night is long, and I am full of tossing till the dawn.” He, however, is suffering immensely, whereas I am NOT.

Yes, he is depressed. Wouldn’t YOU be? And yet his “friends” keep at it. Bildad (friend #2), tells Job that his days will be good again, he just needs to REPENT of his sin. (Huh? godly & blameless Job?)

I know NONE of us are sinless, but these horrors did not happen to Job BECAUSE he sinned. They are ultimately for God’s glory. (Kind of like the story of the man born blind that Jesus healed in John 9:3)

In chapter 9, Job first praises God Amighty, then yells at Him, and then in horror, backtracks.

Poor guy! Remember, HE doesn’t know what WE know. We saw that diabolical deal the devil made in Heaven’s courtroom with the holy, righteous God; that deal to ruin Job, and dishonor his God.

Don’t give up, keep reading tomorrow!

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#2024 GOAL – Reading Through The Bible Chronologically, day 4

Jan4

Day 4. Won’t you read the Bible with me this year?  It only takes a few minutes.

Read Job 1 – 5.

“There was a man in the land of Uz….” It begins almost like a Fairy Tale.

Look at the FOUR THINGS verse 1 says about Job’s character?

Wow! He was blameless. He was upright. He feared God. He turned away from evil.

Notice his WEALTH!  Today he’d be a millionaire (or even a billionaire).  A godly man whom God blessed tremendously.

Riches = righteousness, right?  Wrong!  When Jesus told His disciples that it was very hard for a rich man to enter heaven, they were aghast.  “Who then can be saved?” they cried. This was after a rich, young, ruler asked Jesus how he could be saved. (Matthew 19:16-26)  Jesus told him, and later the disciples, that the answer was to come to Him and follow Him.

It seems Job was on the right track – watch what happens when he later  loses it all.

Also notice Job’s HEART for his children. Daily he would “atone for their possible sins” by sacrificing. Hmmm. Do I even PRAY daily for my kids, grandkids, and great grandkids? Do you?

Then, by Satan’s hand, and God’s sovereign and limited allowing, the UNTHINKABLE happens to job, from both (1) evil people and (2) nature. (Did you see which did what?)

What are YOUR thoughts about God’s sovereignty in the acts of evil men and unanticipated acts of nature (lightning strikes, tornados, earthquakes, tsunamis, etc.) that harm and even kill people?

How did Job think about it?  Verses 1:20-22 are AMAZING!!

Of course things get worse. (Satan is never happy until he kills us or makes us deny our God.) Job’s own body and his own wife betray him. What was his response? See 2:10  This man is amazing. His heart was toward God.

OK, then come Job’s “friends.” In 2:11-13 what GOOD things did they do? If you wonder how you can help someone sick or dying, in the hospital, or who has lost a loved one… THIS is the answer.

In chapters 3-5 (and beyond) things get “poetic” and kind of depressing, both from Job and each of his friends. (Tough reading, but look for real emotions, true wisdom, and VERY BAD conclusions/counsel.)

YOU are BLESSED when you read God’s Word! (Rev. 1:3) Don’t give up on it, or Job.  Keep reading.

#2024 GOAL – Reading Through The Bible Chronologically, day 2

Jan2

Day 2.  Won’t you read the Bible with me this year?  You can also listen to an audio recording. It only takes a few minutes.

Genesis 4-7
In the story of Cain and Able, we see some  fruit of their parents’ sin. Cain’s feelings of inadequacy, jealousy, anger, a refusal to listen to God’s warning, and ultimately murder, caused him to be cursed by God.
Could righteous Able be a foreshadowing of the death of Christ in some ways?
Adam and Eve experienced the loss of both their sons, because God sent Cain away. But see how faithful He is to the grieving parents with the birth of Seth, the progenitor of the Messaiah, the eventual One who will crush the serpent’s head.
People sometimes wonder where Cain got his wife and, for that matter, where all of Adam & Eve’s other children got their spouses. For the answer, see Genesis 3:20. (And remember the early people were fresh from the hand of God, lived hundreds of years in comparable health, and did not have all the DNA problems we have today.) Incest was not forbidden until God gave Israel the law at Mt Sinai. (Leviticus 20:17)
And look closely at the ages of Methuselah and his son, Lamech.  They died the year of the flood….possibly IN the flood. (God’s mercy or judgement?)
Lastly, do you ever wonder why only the air-breathing land creatures were annihilated in the flood, and not all the sea creatures too?  I have an idea…. think of all the corpses of men and beasts.  Shark fest!! Cleaning up the corruption!
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2024 GOAL – Reading Through The Bible Chronologically

Jan1

Day 1.  Won’t you read the Bible with me this year?  I use the ESV (English Standard Version), but you read in the one you love. You can also listen to an audio recording.

Begin with Genesis 1-3.
This tells the story of our magnificent, all-powerful, all knowing, forever existing, triune God creating everything – including all the building blocks that even impact our society today in a matter of six days.  And He did it with just His words. (Jesus is THE Word, He was part of creation. Also see in the beginning verses that the Holy Spirit had a part.)
God created mankind too with his hands and breathed into him the breath of life. Then he took a part of Adam and made a woman. (Adam was very wowed when he first saw her!!)  God placed this pair in the Garden of Delight (what Eden means), to easily take care of it and to eat all the fruit, veggies, and grains that they wanted – just by picking it.
Two special trees were in the garden. The tree of life – which the design of the menorah in later history pictured – and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. (NOT evil itself).  And you know “the rest of the story.” Before they hardly got started living there…. before they had any children…. they disobeyed, and now we all bear the imprint of their sin.
I saw a curious fact in their temptation. Compare 1:26-27 with 3:5. How did the serpent twist what Adam and Eve already were?
Oh, LORD, keep me from sinning with my heart, my eyes, and my words today.  You have given me all I need for life and godliness.
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STOP SIGN Wisdom

Jun17
Next time you come to a stop sign while driving, stop of course, but also take a minute while you look each way, to STOP worrying, procrastinating, making excuses, and letting little things bother you. Your GOing will be so much smoother. Good idea??
(See Proverbs 3:5-6)
(Photo by Will Porada)

Prayer for the Unconverted

Oct27

Buried deep in an old, mostly-forgotten anthology of poetry, I found this little gem from Newman Hall—a poem that expresses in rhyme and meter the longing of many a Christian heart. May it give you words to pray for “those who do not pray, who waste away salvation’s day.”

We pray for those who do not pray!
Who waste away salvation’s day;
For those we love who love not Thee—
Our grief, their danger, pitying see.

Those for whom many tears are shed
And blessings breathed upon their head,
The children of thy people save
From godless life and hopeless grave.

Hear fathers, mothers, as they pray
For sons, for daughters, far away—
Brother for brother, friend for friend—
Hear all our prayers that upward blend.

We pray for those who long have heard
But still neglect Thy gracious Word;
Soften the hearts obdurate made
By calls unheeded; vows delayed.

Release the drunkard from his chain,
Bare those beguiled by pleasure vain,
Set free the slaves of lust, and bring
Back to their home the wandering.

The hopeless cheer; guide those who doubt;
Restore the lost; cast no one out;
For all that are far off we pray,
Since we were once far off as they.

May 4, 2021 – #4 of 31 Days of Biblical Women

May4

Esther ~~

Esther, chapter 2

A beautiful girl chosen by the King of Persia to be his new Queen, unbeknownst to him, a Jewess. Pampered and Primped in the king’s haram spa until she was fit to be called to spend a night with Him. She found favor.

Meanwhile, a proud and pompous descendant of the Amaekites approached the King with a wicked plan. He hated all Jews and tricked the King into agreeing that a “subversive people group” needed purging from Persia.

Esther got wind of the plot from her uncle Mordecai. He asked her to save her people by doing the impossible – going into the king’s inner court without first being called to beg his favor. The law stated that the one who did so was to be put to death…. unless the king held out the golden scepter.

Her uncle’s words, “Do not think to yourself that in the King’s palace you will escape any more than all the other Jews. For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish.  And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”

While the Jews in capitol city fasted and prayed – Esther and her women as well – Esther made a plan.  She went in the strength of Almighty God with the simple, yet sly plan, to see the King.

And miracle of miracles King Ahasuerus held out the scepter!

Twice the King and the Amalekite were invited to Esther’s private quarters for a sumptuous meal. During the second, when the King was sated with rich food, Esther told him about the Amalekite’s plot to kill her.

In a rage, the king ordered his death by hanging, and since the Law of the Persians could not be cancelled, he ordered that the Jews could fight and defend themselves when the henchmen came.

After that, a great celebration was held to honor the Jews’ victory. It’s called Purim, and is celebrated today.

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PS: The whole story of Esther in the Bible is a delightful, intriguing read.  I’ve left out many of the unbelievable details. But read it on your own. It almost sounds like an episode of the Keystone Cops.

 

 

LORD, help me to be willing to stand up against evil and proclaim the righteousness of God and the Son regardless of my own safety.

JH

May 3, 2021 – #3 of 31 Days of Biblical Women

May3

Sarah ~~

Genesis 18:1-14

Sarah had followed her husband from Ur of the Chaldees (modern day Iraq) to Canaan (later to be Israel) along with his father, brother, and nephew. A long journey because God had called her husband – a man of faith – to this new land. God had promised it would be theirs forever.

Then, walking from one end to the other of this long strip of “promised” land at the Eastern side of the Great Sea, camping in tents, till the pasture ran out, then moving on, making do.

And then a famine, no crops, no water for the animals, and another long journey to Egypt. “Say you are my sister, Sarah,” her husband whispered as they entered the well-watered land.

And of course she did, because she always obeyed him, and after all, wasn’t she his “half” sister? But who knew that Pharoah would desire her and take her. Sarah looked at her husband with pleading eyes as she was led away. “Tell him the truth, husband!” But he was silent.

Sarah was a woman of faith. She prayed to God and rested in the peace He sent as she settled in the kings harem. And then tragedy struck Pharoah’s palace; women began miscarrying babies, infants who were born died, and not one woman could conceive. And God spoke to Pharoah in a dream. “That woman you took is another man’s wife. Return her to him.”

This Pharoah listened to God. He took Sarah and returned her to her husband, along with food, livestock, servents, gold and silver.

“Your God spoke to me, why didn’t you?  What’s wrong with you, man? What, you were afraid?  Give me a break!  You are lucky, I could have defiled her…. and then what would your God have done to me. BE GONE!”

And yes, reader, that happened again with King Abimilech. But this time she was a few weeks pregnant with a promised son. “Tell him you are my sister,” he’d said, and Sarah didn not even look back. She trusted God. She knew this king would not defile her. God would protect that promised seed growing within her – the One by whom the whole world would be blessed, the One who would come to save His people. Hadn’t He promised it?

Sarah remembered a few months earlier, when three strangers had come to their tent. They looked like angels, Sarah thought! She had hid inside, right at the flap of the tent and listened to them.  And her laugh of… of what? Joy? distain? unbelief?  She knew not which. But the One had said that in a year she would bear a son!  Ha! She was 75 and her husband 100.

But it had happened, so Sarah KNEW the Holy One would protect the small speck of humaness in her by the power of His Word.

And the son was born. He was named Isaac, which means “he laughs.”  Yes, he was a good, happy baby. But Sarah knew that the Holy One had heard her laugh, and had His own joke with the boy’s name.

 

 

LORD,  that I might have patience and faith to trust You in my trials, and joy in all  Your promises.