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Journaling through the Bible Chronologically in 2025, Day 18

Jan18

Day 18. Reading in Genesis 19 – 21. 

I invite you to read the scripture for the day and meditate on it. Then, share your thoughts in the comments.

 

Genesis 19.

I wonder if Abraham kept praying for his nephew Lot after plea-bargaining with God for Sodom and then going home.

When the two angels with the Lord at Abraham’s tent went down to Sodom, they found Lot sitting at the gate.  He’d gone from camping “near” Sodom to living “in” the city to now being an important man sitting as a judge “of” the city. 

Lot immediately knew the problem these two handsome angels would face in his wicked, immoral city. He begged them to stay at his house instead of in the town square. (He had to press them hard before they finally agreed.)

After dinner, a loud banging was heard at Lot’s door. The homosexual men of the town “wanted” the two men (angels) who were inside.  They were about to break the door down when Lot went out and offered them his two virgin daughters instead.  In their wicked lust, they refused and began forcing the door. One of the angels blinded the men and pulled Lot inside. BUT STILL, these blind homosexual men struggled to break the door down.

The angels urged Lot, his wife, and two daughters to evacuate the city, saying, “We are about to destroy this place because the outcry against its people has become great before the LORD, and He’s sent us to destroy it.”

At dawn, the family still refused to go, so the angels grabbed the four of them and brought them outside the city. “Escape for your life! Do not look back or stop anywhere in this valley. Escape to the hills unless you are swept away!!”

Lot dared to argue with them, saying he couldn’t reach the hills (too citified or too out of shape?) and begged to go to the next little town. The angels agreed to spare that city, but Lot had to get there quickly.  They ran (waddled?) toward Zoar, but Lot’s wife turned longingly for one last look at her beloved city.  

At that moment, the LORD rained down sulfur and fire from heaven and overthrew the inhabitants of the cities, all the valley, and all that grew on the ground.  And Lot’s wife was turned into a pillar of salt.

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Abraham awoke to a towering plume of black smoke (as from a furnace) billowing up from the valley. 

Whether Abraham ever saw Lot again, we don’t know. His nephew’s life spiraled down him from there. He and his two daughters lived in a cave. He became a drunkard. His daughters became pregnant through incest with him. Their descendants became the Moabites and Ammonites.  All because of his choice to go to the rich, green, luscious Sodom.

  • Oh, Father, keep me attuned to Your will. Keep me from horrible choices in my life. Thank you for the ones in my past that you’ve forgiven. Help me to remember this story.

Genesis 20.

And lest we think Abraham is immune to temptation, we see him and Sarah journeying southward again. He stops in Gerar, the territory of King Abimelech, a Philistine.

“She’s my sister,” Abraham casually says, even though Sarah might already be carrying the embryo of Isaac in her womb!! 

Abimelech took Sarah as Abraham expected. BUT GOD came to him in a dream. “YOU ARE A DEAD MAN if you touch her. She is another man’s wife!”  God kept him from sinning and the king immediately gave Sarah back to Abraham.

“What have you done to us? How have I sinned against you that you did this to us?” the king demanded of Abraham.

“I-I did it because I thought you would kill me because of my wife since there is no fear of God here,” Abraham weaseled. “BESIDES, she IS my sister, well, my half-sister.”

Abimelech gives Abraham a lot of stuff, then says to Sarah, “I’ve given your brother a thousand pieces of silver as a sign of YOUR innocence in the eyes of all with you. Before everyone, YOU are vindicated.”

A good thing!  Some might have thought later that Abimelech was the father of Sarah’s baby.  OH, ABRAHAM, HOW YOU MIGHT HAVE MESSED THINGS UP!!!  Praise God for looking out for His stupid children!

  • Yes, yes. I have done some pretty foolish, thoughtless things, too. Thank You, thank You, Father, for protecting me!  You are so good! And I am so undeserving.

Genesis 21.

At last! At last! “Laughter” is born!! 

On the baby’s eighth day, Abraham officially named him Isaac and circumcised him.  And Sarah said (perhaps even sang), “Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have born him a son in his old age.”  Abraham was 100 years old. 

Several years later, at Isaac’s “official” weaning (3 years), Sarah catches Hagar’s son Ishmael LAUGHING at her son. (Ridiculing him)

“Get rid of this slave woman and her son. He will NOT be heir with my son, Isaac,” she demanded of her husband.

Abraham was grieved because he loved Ishmael, too. But God backed Sarah.  And, giving Hagar and the 17-year-old Ishmael food and water, he sent them away.  (What a shock to the former prince, Ishmael.)

God met with Hagar again when they ran out of water. He showed her another well and promised to bless her son into a great nation. Ishmael grew up to be an expert with the bow and arrow. They lived in the wilderness of Paran (Arabia today), and his mom got a wife for him from Egypt. 

(Seventy years later, when Abraham died, Ishmael returned briefly, and the two half-brothers buried their father in a cave near Hebron.  Genesis 25:8-9)

  • And so, from Adam and Eve, through Noah and Shem, and now through Abraham and Isaac, God clears the way and establishes the “seed line” for the promised One who will defeat death and the devil forever.

 

 

Journaling through the Bible Chronologically in 2025, Day 15

Jan15

Day 15. Reading in Job 40 – 42. 

I invite you to read the scripture for the day and write “in the comments” what was meaningful to YOU. We can encourage each other in Him.

Job 40.

.This is a terrifying moment for Job.  He’s been calling to God to answer his questions, to come and hear his case, but now it is God asking the questions. And now, God faces Job directly with severity.

“Shall a faultfinder contend with the Almighty?  He who argues with God, let him answer.“

Can you see the fear in Job’s eyes as he begins to speak? Perhaps he cleared his throat and swallowed hard.  “Behold, I am of small account; what shall I answer You? I lay my hand on my mouth. I have spoken once, and I will not answer; twice, but I will proceed no further.”

  • Yes, our God loves us and is patient with His children. But sometimes, I just think I NEED to see Him as the Eternal, Almighty God of the Universe, who holds the whisper of my life in His hands. I need to tremble sometimes. 

Then, beginning again as He did in chapter 38, God speaks out of a whirlwind and tells Job to stand up straight and answer.  He asks Job if he thinks he’s like God, “Have you an arm like God? Can you thunder with a voice like God?”  I can picture Job, his hand still across his mouth, wide-eyed, shaking his head.

Job 41.

God then showcases two magnificent creatures He’s made, the Behemoth and the Leviathan.  They truly ARE wonders that probably (thankfully) don’t exist today. 

The grass-eating Behemoth, with iron-like legs and cedar-like tail, bones like bronze, must be a dinosaur of some kind, maybe a brontosaurus. (You know, the beasts with long, thin necks chomping on treetops and a massive body with a huge muscular tail.)  It could “swallow” the Jordan River with no problem, God says!!  He also states it was the foremost (biggest) of His works. 

Next, God reminds Job of Leviathan, another of His massive creatures, only this one “plays in the sea.”  With the descriptions, you really must consider it a fire-breathing, scaled sea serpent dragon. Tell me what YOU think.

No fisherman or whaler could harpoon this creature. “His back is made from rows of shields, tightly fit together.” “His “sneezings” flash forth light.”  “Out of its mouth go flaming torches; sparks of fire leap forth. Out of his nostrils come forth smoke as from a boiling pot and burning rushes. His breath kindles coals, and a flame comes forth from his mouth.”  WOW!

“Though the sword reaches him, it does not avail, nor the spear, the dart, or the javelin. He counts iron as straw and bronze as rotten wood.”  (Arrows, stones, and clubs are like stubble.)  God says there was none like Leviathan on earth, a creature without fear.

SO GLAD these creatures do not exist now, but God must have had fun making them!

Job 42.

Job is genuinely shaken and put in his place, and he voices his contrition. “I know that YOU can do all things and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.” (You are Sovereign.)  “I have uttered what I did not understand.”

  • Job says, “I had heard of You by the hearing of the ear, but now my “eyes” see You; therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes.“
  • God has been so patient with me when I’ve cried out (okay, demanded) answers to my questions, but as I review these scenes in Job, I tremble at my gall.  Wow.  HE IS God Almighty, Creator of Heaven and Earth.  How dared I?  I, too, repent and confess my sin.

Job had not sinned in the ways Satan or his “friends” had accused him.  But he HAD sinned in presuming on God, accusing Him of unfairness, and demanding that He come and answer him.  At this realization, Job hated himself and confessed profoundly and honestly.  He had a “broken and contrite heart,” and God will not “despise” these. 

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THEN, GOD TURNS TO Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar.  (Ah-oh!)  “My anger burns against you, for you have not spoken of Me what is right, as my servant Job has.”

He tells them to take seven bulls and seven rams to Job and offer up a burnt offering (sin offering) for themselves.  “My servant Job will pray for you. I will accept his prayer not to deal with you according to your folly.  You have not spoken of Me what was right.” 

They obeyed, Job prayed, and God accepted Job’s prayer.

  • (Father, please keep me from speaking about You wrongly, here in these studies, or anytime in my life.)

Job never discovers WHY he experienced such suffering, pain, loss, and verbal abuse. He never found out what WE know from the first chapters of how Satan was “allowed” to afflict him for a purpose.  He had held steadfast in his faith in God’s character.  

Now, God restored Job’s fortunes – the ones Satan was allowed to strip from him.  The LORD gave Job twice what he had before in possessions.

All his family came to him again and fellowshipped with him. They (NOW) showed him sympathy and comforted him. And – perhaps out of guilt that they had not supported him before – each gave him a piece of money and a gold ring. (Huh!)

God gave Job twice as many sheep, camels, oxen, and donkeys as before.  God blessed Job with his once complaining wife, by giving him SEVEN sons and THREE daughters.  Also, HIGHLY UNUSUAL is the fact that he NAMES his three beautiful daughters – Jemimah, Keziah, and Keren-happuch – and gives them each an inheritance along with their brothers. 

Job lived 140 more years and saw his grandchildren and great-grandchildren for four generations.  Then he died, old and full of days.  Did he EVER imagine all this in those weeks of sorrow and pain?

 

It’s a bit of a picture of our devilish struggles on Earth and then our future home and joy in Heaven. 

  • Lord, thank You once again for this study in the Book of Job. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Journaling through the Bible Chronologically in 2025, Day 11

Jan11

Day 11. Reading in Job 29 – 31. 

I invite you to read the scripture for the day and write “in the comments” what was meaningful to YOU. We can encourage each other in Him.

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Job 29.

In this whole chapter, Job remembers how “it used to be…”  when God’s “lamp shone on my head….”  when ” the friendship of God was upon my tent… when the almighty was yet with me… when my children were all around me.” He remembers sitting at the gate and both young men and nobles respected him and called him “blessed.”  He helped all in need; the blind, lame, poor, and persecuted.  Men listened to him and waited in silence for his counsel. “I chose their way and sat as chief.”

  • Lord, I have been there too. I’ve gone through periods when I would reminisce “how it used to be.” and long for those ‘good old days.’  I feel like such a “fair weather friend” sometimes, receiving blessing as if it was my due, and bemoaning when tough times come.
  • It’s good for me to remember Your blessings, Lord, and be thankful. But do You love and care for me any less in times of sorrow or pain? No, I’m the one who looks away from You. I hope I can remember Psalm 23:4. “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for You are with me…”

Job 30.

Job showed us his “glory” in the previous chapter. Now he shows us what his life has become (at least, from his perspective).  “NOW they laugh at me, men who are younger than I.”  “Now I have become their (jeering) song; I am a byword to them. They abhor me; they keep aloof from me…..they do not hesitate to spit at the sight of me.”  WOW.

He describes what his favored life in the sunshine has become. “NOW my soul in poured out within me; days of affliction have taken hold of me. The night racks my bones, and the pain that gnaws me takes no rest.”  He feels he’s been thrown into the mirey clay and become like the mud, dust, and ashes he lies in.

And NOW, the worst of it. Job feels God has deserted him. “I cry to You for help and You do not answer me; I stand, and you only look at me.”

  • It takes a very dark time of depression and despondency for a believer to feel that God has truly deserted him.  I mean, where can you go if God is silent?  Many times it’s here that the devil comes to cause further doubt and fear. “Has God really said that He loves you…?  How can a sinful, despicable person like you think that God has saved you…?  God’s has turned His back on you. You’ve sinned one too many times. YOU ARE LOST!” 
  • What to do in times like this?  Praise God, we have His Word. A tiny spark of faith in all that darkness can be whipped into flame by his powerful, living Word.  Pick it up, read it aloud, pray it, meditate on it.  You can speak it back to that taunting devil…just as Jesus did in the dessert.  Resist Satan with the WORD. (It is a sword, after all.) Read gospel passages. Pray them. Believe them.  God does not lie. “Faith comes by hearing the Word of God.” Romans 10:17  Doubts and the devil must FLEE God’s word.

Job didn’t have the written Word of God, but when his soul rises in faith, it’s when he proclaims God’s promises.  “Though He slay me, yet will I hope in Him.” (13:15)  “For I know that my Redeemer lives and at the last He will stand upon the earth….and in my flesh I shall see God.” (19:25-26) “But He knows the way I take; when He has tried me, I shall come out as gold.”  “I have treasured the words of His mouth more than my portion of food.”  (23:10, 12)

Job 31.

Job is now more bold as if he stands in court to proclaim his integrity.  Notice the many “if… then let” statements he makes. If I’ve sinned in this way… then let punishment come. 

Example:  “If I have raised my hand against the fatherless…. then let my shoulder blade fall from my shoulder, and let my arm be broken from its socket.”  

Or, “If my land has cried out against me and its furrows have wept together, if I have eaten its yield WITHOUT PAYMENT and made its owners breathe their last…..let thorns grow instead of wheat and foul weeds instead of barley.”

And so, “The words of Job are ended.”

 

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Journaling through the Bible Chronologically in 2025, Day 10

Jan10

Day 10. Reading in Job 24 – 28. 

I invite you to read the scripture for the day and write “in the comments” what was meaningful to YOU. We can encourage each other in Him.

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Job 24.

Job continues to refute Eliphaz’s statement that the wicked are punished for their sins and suffer (i.e. himself).

LOOK at the rich, he says, they do NOT suffer! They prosper, even though they do the very things God hates (mistreatment of the poor, widows, and orphans as well as freely committing murder, theft, and adultery). They grow richer, more powerful, and successful. 

Job’s accusation to God is quite bitter in verse 12. “…God charges no one with wrong.” But in verse 24 he seems to renege. “They (wicked) are exalted a little while, and then they are gone; they are brought low and gathered up like all others.”

  • I often vacillate like Job, thinking all the millionaires and billionaires of the world just keep getting richer and do not suffer for the way they cheat and treat others.  But, when I study Revelation, I also see God’s wrath.  He will judge, we can be sure of that!  But right now, he is “patient, not willing that any perish.” 
  • And who am I that I should escape judgment. ONLY BY HIS MERCY and GRACE in “His looking at Jesus and forgiving me” do I have hope.

Job 25.

Bildad’s third comeback is brief. “Dominion and fear are with God. He has might. He is Light.”   “How can man, who is a maggot, and the son of man, who is a worm.” …be right before God?

Job 26.

A brief reply by Job magnifies the Lord God, showing His power and wisdom in creation. Job even states two modern truths 1) the earth “hangs” in space. It’s not held up by an elephant or the shoulders of Atlas, and 2) the earth is a circular globe and NOT FLAT. (vss. 7, 10)

 (This chapter is only a portion of his reply to Bildad (and the others) that covers chapters 26-31.)

Job 27.

Curiously, Job here defends his own integrity. He says nothing he has done has caused this great calamity to come on him. (And he is correct.)  Not bragging in himself, nevertheless he says “I hold fast my righteousness and will not let it go: my heart does not reproach me for any of my days.”

  • This is actually how we should resist the devil when he comes to us with accusations. If we have confessed and repented of our sin, his accusations are not valid. We should “resist him.” The Holy Spirit will “convict” us of sin and send us to the cross of Christ. But Satan “accuses” us of sin and offers no hope.

In contrast, Job asks, “What is the hope of the godless when God cuts him off, when God takes away his life?” 

  •   Job 27:19-23 says, “He goes to bed rich, but will do so no more; he opens his eyes, and his wealth is gone. Terrors overtake him like a flood; in the night a whirlwind carries him off. The east wind lifts him up and he is gone; it sweeps him out of his place. It hurls at him without pity; he flees from its power in headlong flight. It claps its hands at him and hisses at him from its place.” 

WHOA!   These verses emphasize to me to speed with which our “stuff” can be gone.  These remind me so much of the catastrophe which has hit the Los Angeles area just this week, where, in just hours, thousands of people have lost all they have in wind-blown fires.  The Palisades Fire completely burned up a very high-end, wealthy neighborhood over night with 100 MPH winds whipping flames out of control.

  • Father, give me compassion for all these people!  And keep me from holding my “stuff” tight and depending on it.  May I look ALONE to You, God, from where everything comes, even my life,

Job 28.

Job now tells his “friends” about wisdom. (His is no less that what they claim theirs to be.)  Their advanced ages do not automatically produce wisdom.  In verses 12-18, he asks twice, “Where shall wisdom be found? From where does wisdom come?

In these verses, he sounds like Solomon in Proverbs 1:7 – 2:9.  Wisdom is worth more than silver and gold. It’s more precious than onyx, sapphire, and other precious jewels. It’s price is above pearls, crystal, coral, and topaz.

So where can one get such a precious commodity? Job tells us in verse 29. “Behold, the FEAR OF THE LORD, that is wisdom, and to turn away from evil is understanding.”  (See Psalm 111:10, Proverbs 1:7, 9:10, Ecclesiastes 12:13-14

 

Journaling through the Bible Chronologically in 2025, Day 9

Jan9

Day 9. Reading in Job 21 – 23. 

I invite you to read the scripture for the day and write “in the comments” what was meaningful to YOU. We can encourage each other in Him.

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Job 21.

Job’s turn.  All along, his mocking friends have claimed that his suffering is caused by his wickedness and that he should repent. 

Job (perhaps) clears his  throat and says, “Bear with me, and I will speak, and after I have spoken, mock on.” He describes wicked people from his point of view.  They DO NOT suffer (like Job).  They…

  • live to an old age and grow mighty in power
  • their offspring are established
  • their homes are safe from fear
  • no “rod of God” is upon them
  • their livestock multiply 100%
  • their children dance, play, rejoice, and sing to the tambourine, lyre, and pipe
  • they spend their days in prosperity 
  • they go to the grave in peace
  • they boldly say to God, “Depart, we don’t want Your knowledge, why should we serve You? What profit do we get if we pray?”
  • One day, they die in full vigor, being wholly at ease and secure, with their “pails full of milk” and their bone marrow moist. 

Does this look like me? Job seems to ask.  “How then will you comfort me with “empty nothings”? There is nothing left of your answers but falsehood.”

Job 22.

Unable to stay silent, Eliphaz arises to speak a third time. And he gets rather nasty with Job.  “God doesn’t really care about you at all, Job!  He takes no notice of you.“

Then, he lists various sins against humanity as the reason for Job’s trouble, saying that he’s treated his brothers, the needy, the widows, and the orphans foully, sending them away empty and crushed.

Next, Eliphaz gives Job advice that is good in itself but not in the way he says it. “Agree with God about your sin. Receive instruction from His mouth and keep His Words in your heart. Return to the Almighty, delight yourself in the Almighty, and lift your face to God.  Make your prayer to Him, and He will hear you.” (vss. 21-23, 26-27

Eliphaz seems to relate these good things as acts of penance or as good works done to appease God, INSTEAD of heart acts of love towards a Heavenly Father. 

Job 23.

It’s almost in meekness that Job answers.  It’s as if he’s talking to his own heart.

  • “Oh, that I knew where I might find Him, that I might come to His seat! I would lay my case before him.”   “I would know what He would answer me and understand what He would say to me.”  “Would He contend with me in the greatness of His power?  No, He would pay attention to me.”  “I would be acquitted forever by my Judge.”

I love Job’s confidence in God. He’s obviously had a sweet relationship with Him before all this happened, and he KNOWS he stands “acquitted” before God. 

  • In Christ, we can have that same confidence when we stand before God in “the final courtroom.” (“And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. Whoever has the Son has life…” 1 John 5:11-12)

Job may be in a humbled state right then. It may seem he can’t find God to talk to Him how he desires.  But in faith, he can say, “He knows the way I take; when He has tried me, I shall come out as gold.”   “I have not departed from the commandment of His lips; I have treasured the words of His mouth more than my portion of food.” (vs.12)

Yes, Job knows God is sovereign in all His ways (“He is unchangeable, and who can turn Him back? What he desires, that He does. For He will complete what He appoints for me…” vs. 12-14)  Job may be “terrified at His presence,” but he stands in the knowledge that “though God slay him, yet will he trust Him.”

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Sadly, tomorrow, we will see Job back in his former mood. “The unrighteous prosper.”  That leads to a terse comeback from Bildad.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Journaling through the Bible Chronologically in 2025, Day 8

Jan8

Day 8. Reading in Job 17 – 20. 

I invite you to read the scripture for the day and write what was meaningful to YOU “in the comments.”  We can encourage each other.

Job 17.

Job seems at his very lowest point in this chapter. ‘My spirit is broken.“

Even though Job is surrounded by “friends” (mockers, vs. 2) (unwise, vs. 10), he must feel terribly alone. When a person is in deep pain or sorrow, it’s hard for them to imagine how anyone can know what they feel.

  • How can we help them?  I think, the way these men surrounded Job in silence at the beginning is best.  For women, maybe a good hug too. (But would anyone have wanted to hug a man covered with oozing boils?)
  • Oh, God! Give me a heart of mercy, like Yours. Even in Your suffering on the cross, you asked for your persecutors to be forgiven. You took care of your grieving mother. You gave grace to the repentant thief.

Job 18.

Bildad speaks again. He chafes at Job’s unkind (but true) words about them. “Why are we stupid in your sight? YOU who tear yourself in your anger, shall the earth be forsaken for YOU??”  He insinuates that Job is WICKED and then explains in gory detail what happens to wicked men who do not repent. After describing the horrors of the wicked, Bildad ends his speech with the whiplash accusation of a scorpion, no doubt glaring, or even pointing at Job. “…SUCH is the place of him who KNOWS NOT GOD.”

Job 19.

(Remember chapter one?  God describes Job as “blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil.”  SURELY Job is a man who KNOWS God.)

And yet under the “torment” of his friends, Job slides deeper into doubt. He tells the men around him that their opinions of him don’t matter, but, yes, now he begins to feel that God has forsaken him. ‘He has kindled his wrath against me and counts me as His adversary.”

Job even cries out to these miserable men, “Have mercy on me, have mercy on me, O you my friends, for the hand of God has touched me.”  Then, faith seems to well up in him. “I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been this destroyed, yet IN MY FLESH…..I shall see God.”  (This is prophecy.)  What faith!

WOW!

  • Did you notice how Job’s prayer in verse 23 has been answered, even as you read the words? He prays, “Oh that my words were written! Oh that they were inscribed in a book. Oh that with an iron pen and lead (a printer?) they were engraved in the rock forever!” 
  • WE ARE READING the answer to that prayer.   WE KNOW that Job has not sinned according to the magnitude of his suffering.  WE KNOW what was happening in heaven concerning Job.
  • WE KNOW that when suffering comes to US, that God is in sovereign control and has us always in his hand and power. Satan can go THUS FAR and no more, to harm God’s children.  Help this to be not only “head” knowledge, but “heart” assurance.

Job 20.

Then, the third and youngest, Zophar, rises for the second time to place his hand across his chest and “wax eloquent” before the others. (You want to laugh, or gag as you read this, especially as he aims his deadly word-arrows towards Job.)

Zophar is aghast at Job’s wonderful claim of faith about seeing His Redeemer one day.  HOW DARE HE SAY HE WILL SEE GOD!?   He tells Job, “Don’t you know this from old, since man was placed on earth, that the exulting of the wicked is short, and the joy of the godless but for a moment? Though his height mount up to the heavens and his head reach to the clouds, he will perish forever like his own dung?” 

And Zophar goes on, yada, yada, yada, ending with, “This is the wicked man’s portion from God, the heritage decreed for him by God.”  (And NOT seeing Him face to face, Zophar implies.)

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Eliphaz and Bildad get at Job a third time tomorrow. After that, a newcomer will try his hand. Eventually GOD HIMSELF will answer Job.  Stay tuned.

Journaling through the Bible Chronologically in 2025, Day 7

Jan7

Day 7. Reading in Job 14 – 16. 

I’m rereading through God’s Word again this year, but I’ll write/blog about it differently. Instead of only an overview of the text, I want it to be more personal.

I invite you to read the scripture for the day and write “in the comments” what was meaningful to YOU. We can encourage each other.

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Job 14.

As a lawyer before God the judge, Job pours out his frustration. Some of it is not pretty. He knows that even a newborn infant is born with sin and will die at God’s discretion. He knows he will die and asks God to leave him alone so he can enjoy his time left. 

Then, Job seems to vacillate between believing and not believing that there is life after death.  Even an old tree that’s been cut down hopes to sprout again at the taste of water. But where is a man after he’s laid in the grave?   

Job asks God to “hide him in the grave” until His wrath passes. To appoint a set time to remember him. “If a man dies, shall he live again? (His answer seems to be Yes.) “All the days of my service, I would wait, till my renewal should come. You would call, and I would answer You.”

  • There are times of stress and anxiety when I would just like to go to sleep and stay there till the troubles are past.  I don’t want to face, endure, or deal with problems. I can sympathize with people sunk in extreme troubles who numb themselves with sleeping pills, alcohol, drugs, etc.  To a tiny degree, I understand what they and Job are experiencing.   
  • Oh, Lord, help me to cling to you for my strength and to be compassionate towards others.

Job 15.

Old Eliphaz is back. He’s now condemning Job for attacking God!  “Why does your heart carry you away, and why do your eyes flash, that you turn your spirit against God and bring such words out of your mouth?”

He condemns Job for thinking he knew more than “the old men of wisdom” who were there with him.  Eliphaz says, “What do YOU know that WE don’t know? Both the gray-haired and the aged are here, (we are) ones older than your father.”   

  • What he says is NOT TRUE. I have white hair, I am “aged,” but I am certainly NOT WISE! Age does not automatically equal wisdom. You’ve heard of ‘old fools’?”

Then (nose in the air, I picture) Elephas berates Job. “I (a gray-haired wise one) will show you. Hear me, and what I have seen, I will declare.” Then he explains how it’s the WICKED MAN who writhes in pain, who hears dreadful news, whose prosperity is destroyed, who does not believe he will return from the dead.  (Yep, he’s pointing at Job.)

The next part is funny because WE know what happens to Job in the last chapter.  Eliphaz says that a wicked man’s (Job’s) wealth will not return, he won’t depart from darkness, and emptiness will be his final payment.  HA!  Just you wait, Eliphaz!

Job 16.

I don’t know how Job can keep coming back. Under such a hostile barrage, I would be squirming, face in the mud, unable to open my eyes.  But Job (you have to cheer for him) speaks back.

He calls these wise men “miserable comforters” with “windy words that have no end.” Job says, Yeah, if he were healthy and “wise” like them, HE could speak like they do.  “I could join words together against you and shake my head at you. I could strengthen you with my mouth, and the solace of my lips would assuage your pain.” (He’s being sarcastic.)

But then, Job slips into depression and laments what God has done to him. (Don’t blame him for this. Think of his loss, sorrow, pain, and miserable, finger-pointing friends. Even JESUS, on the cross, cried out, “My God! My God! Why have you forsaken me?)

  • Surely, now God has worn me out
  • He has shriveled me up
  • He has torn me in His wrath and hated me
  • He has gnashed His teeth at me
  • I was at ease, and he broke me apart
  • He seized me by the neck and dashed me to pieces
  • He set me up as His target; His archers surround me.
  • He breaks me with breach upon breach
  • He runs upon me like a warrior.

(These could almost describe his friends!)  And yet… OH, SEE HOW JOB TRUSTS!!! 

“Even now, behold my witness (advocate) is in heaven, and He who testifies FOR me is on high. My friends scorn me; my eye pours out tears to God that HE would argue the case of a man with God, as a Son of man does with his neighbor.”

  • Yes, let me remember too that I have an “advocate in Heaven,” one who pleads my innocence before God because of His own shed blood. (Like the song says, God looks on HIM and pardons ME.) And I have the Holy Spirit who dwells in me and comforts me.

2024GOAL – Reading Through The Bible Chronologically, days 363-364

Dec29

   Day 363-364—We are in the LAST month of Bible reading for the year, studying the LETTERS of the Apostles.

NOTE: USUALLY, Sunday’s and Monday’s studies are posted TOGETHER,  but because these readings are so long, I’ll post them SEPARATELY, today AND Monday. 

Day 363, Part A – Revelation 6 – 11 (Aspects of the Great Tribulation, the seven seals, 144K of Israel sealed, seven trumpets, two witnesses)

Revelation 6.

When Jesus, the Lamb, opens the first seals on the scroll, we see the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse emerge, one after another, bringing antichrists, war, famine, and death to the earth. The fifth seal reveals those who had already been martyred, crying for God to avenge their deaths. The sixth seal brings great earthquakes and changes in the heavens, causing the people on Earth to cry and hide in terror.

Revelation 7.

Then there is a pause while an angel of God descends and “seals” 144K of Israel (12K from each tribe) to give them authority and protection to proclaim salvation saved in the Tribulation, having “washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.”

Revelation 8.

When Jesus, the Lamb, opened the seventh seal, there was absolute silence in heaven for a half hour. Then, an angel came to stand by the altar with a gold censer filled with incense and “the prayers of God’s people.” The smoke from it rose before God.  Then, the angel filled the censer with fire and hurled it on the Earth. There were peals of thunder, flashes of lightning, and an earthquake.

Next, angels with seven trumpets began to blow them, one at a time. At the first trumpet, hail and fire (and blood) were thrown onto the earth burning up a third of the vegetation. The second blast sent a vast burning mountain into the sea, turning a third into blood and killing a portion of sea creatures. With the third trumpet, a great star fell like a torch onto a third of the rivers, poisoning them. At the fourth trumpet, the sun, moon, and stars lost a third of their light.  “Woe, woe, woe to those who dwell on the earth!“

Revelation 9.

At the fifth trumpet, John saw a star (angel) who was given the key to the shaft of the bottomless pit.  He opened the shaft, and there arose from it smoke like a great furnace that darkened the sun. And from it came creatures like locusts and scorpions to kill and torment the people on earth for five months. (the 144K were spared this)  People longed for death but couldn’t. These creatures had a “king.” It was Apollyon himself.

At the sixth trumpet blast, God released the four angels, bound up at the Euphrates River. They were released and went in four directions, killing a third of mankind with plagues. 

“But the rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, DID NOT REPENT of the works of their hands, or give up worshiping demons and idols, nor did they repent of their murders, sorceries, sexual immorality, or thefts.”

Revelation 10.

After that, a mighty angel descended from the clouds and set his right foot on the sea and his left foot on the land. In his hand was a little scroll, opened.  And he roared like a lion or many peals of thunder, reading from the scroll.  But a voice told John NOT TO WRITE DOWN what it said.  Then the voice told John to go over, take the scroll, and eat it (like Ezekiel did in 3:1). It would be sweet in his mouth but bitter in his stomach.  John obeyed.  

Revelation 11.

John is then told to measure the temple of God, the altar, and those who worship there.  He is also told about God’s TWO WITNESSES, clothed in sackcloth, who will prophesy for three and a half years.  No one can harm them for that time. They will have the power to stop it from raining during that time, turn the earth’s waters into blood, and strike the Earth with all kinds of plagues. 

(Many people believe, from the description of their powers, that these two men are Elijah and Moses.)

At the end of those 3.5 years, the “beast that rises from the bottomless pit” will kill them.  All the world will see. Their dead bodies will lay in the street. People will refuse to bury them but rather rejoice over them, make merry, and exchange presents at their death BECAUSE they had been a torment to them. However, after 3.5 days, a breath of life from God will enter them and they will arise.  And God will call them from Heaven, “Come up here!”  And they will go up to heaven in a cloud as their enemies watch. 

At that, a great earthquake will cause a tenth of the Great city to fall, killing 7K people and terrifying the rest. 

Finally, the seventh trumpet is blown. And, as a prelude, loud voices in heaven proclaim, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, an He shall reign forever and ever!”

Everyone falls on their faces and worships God, “We give thanks to you, Lord God Almighty, who is and who was, for You have taken Your great power and begun to reign….” 

Then….. God’s temple in heaven was opened. The Ark of His covenant was seen within His temple!

And there were flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, an earthquake, and heavy hail. And a great sign appeared in heaven……….

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Day 364, Part B – Revelation 12 – 18  === See tomorrow.

2024GOAL – Reading Through The Bible Chronologically, days 356-357

Dec23

   Day 356-357—We are in the LAST month of Bible reading for the year, studying the LETTERS of the Apostles.  NOTE: Sunday’s and Monday’s studies will be posted on MONDAY,

Day 356 – Hebrews 7 – 10 (Melchizedek, Better Covenant, Redemption, Sacrifice, Faith)

Read a quick review of Melchizedek and Abraham in Genesis 14:18-20.

Hebrews 7.

The author discusses Melchizedek, king of Salem (peace), king of righteousness (zedek) and a priest of the Most High God. He tells how Abraham, coming home from rescuing his nephew Lot from an invading army, gave this priestly/kingly man a tithe (10th) of the loot. And Melchizedek blessed Abraham.

This was WAY before Israel’s priesthood was set up on Mt. Sinai, with Aaron, the Levite, as High Priest.  In a way (the author of Hebrews says), Aaron, the High Priest, paid tribute to Melchizedek, “being still in Abraham’s loins.” (He had no children at that point.)

Melchizedek is also said to have had “no beginning of days nor end of life” as a priest forever. He was a priest not based on the law (like Aaron) but on the power of an “indestructible” life. The author compares Jesus to this mysterious man, without beginning or end of days, but HIS ministry is much more excellent.  

The first covenant of law could make nothing perfect, so a new one was needed, allowing us to draw near to God. “Consequently, Jesus can save to the uttermost, those who draw near to God through HIM since He always lives to make intercession for them. 

Jesus is a high priest, holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens.  HE HAS NO NEED TO OFFER SACRIFICES DAILY like other priests, first for their own sins, then the people.  Jesus did this ONCE FOR ALL when he offered up HIMSELF.

Hebrews 8.

Jesus, as High Priest, is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven, a more excellent ministry than the old one.  He can mediate better because the new covenant has better promises and is faultless. In this new covenant, God says He will put His Law on their hearts and minds, not stone tablets, and His people will know Him.

He will be merciful toward their iniquities and will remember their sins no more!

Hebrews 9.

The author then reminds readers how the old covenant worked, with the Holy and Most Holy places in the “tent of worship.”  Behind the second curtain was the ark of the covenant and God’s presence.  No one could go into this place except for the High Priest, and that only once per year… carrying the blood of the sacrifice. 

But Christ, as high priest, entered ONCE FOR ALL into the most holy place through HIS OWN BLOOD. Doing this, he obtained ETERNAL REDEMPTION.  He appeared ONCE FOR ALL to put away sin by sacrificing himself. 

Hebrews 10.

Under the old covenant, the sacrifices were a reminder of sins every year. “For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.”  Now, we have been sanctified (made clean, holy) through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ ONCE FOR ALL.

When Christ had offered FOR ALL TIME A SINGLE SACRIFICE FOR SINS, He sat down at the right hand of God. “For by A SINGLE OFFERING, He has perfected FOR ALL TIME, those who are being sanctified.”

Jesus. the perfect, sinless High Priest, offered Himself a spotless sacrifice and opened the new and living way for us through the curtain so that we can now “draw near (to God) with a true heart in full assurance of faith.” 

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Day 357 – Hebrews 11 – 13 (the FAITH chapter & heroes of the faith, witnesses for us to endure too, discipline as sons, acceptable worship, final instructions)

Hebrews 11.

Hebrews 11 is called the “Faith Chapter” or the “Saint’s Hall of Fame.” In it, the author defines faith and how it’s to be used. He lists heroes of faith from the Old Testament, sixteen by name (including women), and many others by deeds or means of death. These all have served and glorified God.

DEFINITION: “Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” (verse 1)

WHAT IT INVOLVES: “Without faith, it is impossible to please God, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who seek Him.” (verse 6)

From righteous Abel to the prophet Samuel, men and women have lived and died for God, loved and obeyed Him, trusted and spoke for Him without shame or fear, and many paid for it with their lives. 

These heroes “conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, were made strong through weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to fight, and some women received back their dead by resurrection!! 

(I can think of some names that come to mind here, can you?”

Others were tortured for their faith, suffered mocking and flogging, even chains and imprisonments, stoning, beheading (killed by the sword), and even being sawn in two!  They were destitute, afflicted, mistreated, and lived in deserts, mountains, dens, and caves.  OF WHOM THE WORLD WAS NOT WORTHY!

And YET, they did not “see” the promised Messiah they spoke about and waited for like WE HAVE!  (How totally blessed we are!)

Hebrews 12.

“Therefore, SINCE we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses (those heroes listed above), let us also lay aside every weight and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the founder and perfecter of our faith.  He, for the JOY that was set before Him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated now at the right hand of the throne of God.”

Jesus, as God’s Son, endured much hostility against Him. And so we, as God’s children, must endure “discipline” too.  God disciplines us (through suffering/persecution) for OUR GOOD, so we may share His holiness.  It doesn’t seem pleasant at the moment, but later, it “yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness” to those trained by it. 

So…. lift your drooping hands….strengthen your weak knees….and make straight paths for your feet.   And “let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken (by persecution or death), and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire.”

Hebrews 13.

The author encourages readers to continue in brotherly love, hospitality to strangers, and prayer and support for those imprisoned for their faith.  They are to be faithful in marriage, not love money but be content with what they have.

They are to “remember their leaders (in prayer and financially), the ones who first spoke the Word of God to them.”  They are to consider the fruit of those men’s ministry and imitate their faith.  They are to pray and support their leaders and also to submit to and obey them (for THOSE MEN will have to give an account one day).

He ends with a doxology. ‘Now may the God of peace, who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant….equip you with everything good, that you may do His will.

To Jesus Christ be glory forever and ever. Amen”

 

2024GOAL – Reading Through The Bible Chronologically, day 351

Dec17

   Day 351—We are in the LAST month of Bible reading for the year, studying the LETTERS of the Apostles.

Day 351 – Philippians 1 – 4 (Greetings & prayer, exhortations, two fellow workers, warnings, two women, encouragement)

Paul writes this letter while still in prison in Rome. It’s towards the end of his two years. He says his case will soon be tried before Caesar, and he hopes to be released.

The Philippian church first began in Lydia’s home. Philippi is where Paul and Silas were imprisoned for releasing a fortunetelling girl from demons. They were singing when an earthquake set them free. The Jailer and his household believed in Christ.

Philippians 1.

Paul and Timothy greet the church, thank God for them, and encourage them by praying for them. He tells them that his time in prison in Rome has “served to advance the Gospel so that Christ has become known throughout the whole imperial guard.” He thanks them for their prayers and offerings.

In all things – life or death – Paul’s only desire is that Christ be honored in his body. “For me to LIVE is Christ, and to DIE is gain.”  “My desire is to DEPART and be with Christ, for that is far better. But to REMAIN in the flesh is more necessary on your account…for your progress and joy in the faith.”

He tells them that persecution is to be expected.  “For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ, you should not only believe in Him but also suffer for His sake, engaged in the same conflict you see me in.”

Philippians 2.

He encourages them by setting up Jesus as their example of suffering. “Have this mind in you, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though He was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made Himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on the cross.

And he, like they, will be rewarded. “Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on Him the NAME that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is LORD, to the glory of God the Father.”

Paul then tells the church that he hopes to send them his beloved Timothy, who has been genuinely concerned for their welfare. (He hopes to come to them himself soon.)  Paul is also sending back Epaphroditus, a fellow worker and soldier.  This man had brought an offering to Paul from them but had gotten ill and nearly died. But God had mercy on him, and now he was well.

Philippians 3.

Paul exhorts the church members to always REJOICE IN THE LORD.  They are to look out for evil doers and those of the circumcision who put confidence in the flesh.

Paul then tells them that HE – if anyone – has reason to boast in the flesh, having been a Jew from the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews concerning the  law, a Pharisee, a persecutor of the church, under the law, blameless!  BUT.. “I count it as LOSS for the sake of Christ…because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as trash so that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law but that which comes through faith in Christ. 

“One thing I do is forget what lies behind and strain forward to what lies ahead. I press on toward the goal of the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” Then Paul challenges them to JOIN IN IMITATING HIM in this goal.

Philippians 4.

Paul’s last words are exhortation, encouragement, and prayer for them.  He writes to Syntyche and Euodia to not fight and come to an agreement. 

He tells them to rejoice in the LORD continually, not to be anxious about anything, but to pray about everything so God’s peace will guard their hearts and minds. 

“Finally, brothers, whatever is TRUE, whatever is HONORABLE, whatever is JUST, whatever is PURE, whatever is LOVELY, whatever is COMMENDABLE, if there is any EXCELLENCE, if there is anything worthy of PRAISE……………..think on these things, practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.”

Paul thanks them again for their generous offerings; they are a fragrance, a sacrifice acceptable and pleasing to God. He’s learned the secret of being content in every circumstance. “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.” 

He ends by sending greetings. “All the saints greet you, especially those of Caesar’s household!”