Archives

Journaling through the Bible Chronologically in 2025, Day 4

Jan4

Day 4. Reading in Job 1 – 5. 

I’m rereading God’s Word this year. And I hope to blog about it differently. Instead of writing 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 you found meaningful. We can encourage each other.

 

Job 1.

Our pastor once said that Job’s first and last chapters are great, but everything in the middle is foolishness. He said that because none of Job’s friends speak God’s wisdom.  However, 2 Timothy 3:16 says, “ALL scripture is breathed out by God and is profitable for teaching, reproof, correction, and training in righteousness,”  So let’s look for that during these dozen days in the book of Job.

.

In chapter one, we see what Job never sees or understands, which can be a great comfort to us in our suffering. We may never know why bad things happen to US, but we CAN know that God is in perfect control. He is sovereign. He ALLOWED Satan to hurt and torment Job “for His glory.”  Job’s statement in 1:21 shows total dependence and faith in his God.  This glorifies God. 

  • Shortly after reading through Job last year, I went through a scary time of breast cancer, surgery, and radiation treatment. Throughout those months, I often thought of Job. His declaration of God’s sovereignty, his emotional ups and downs, and his questions and despairs helped me when I was at my lowest.  UNLIKE Job, I was surrounded by friends who held me up in prayer, comforted, encouraged, and helped me practically in so many ways. They kept me looking to God throughout the trial, and I am very grateful.  So now, I’m reading this book from a different perspective.

We know the story.  Job was as blameless and upright as Noah before him, who feared God and turned away from evil.  God chose righteous Noah to go through a great disaster unharmed to bring Him glory. God chose His righteous servant, Job, to endure a great trial with much suffering, bringing Him praise from Job’s own lips. (Job 42). (And, might I say, a slam to Satan.)

As Job lost all his animals (wealth), his children, and even his own health, he “did not sin or charge God with wrong.”

(Well, it WASN’T God who did any wrong to him, but Satan, with God’s permission, who caused all that destruction, death, and pain, just as that old Serpent had done in the beginning in the garden of Eden. Death and pain are his specialties.)  Job was unaware of how God showcased him, or he probably would have felt pride.

  • I wonder…  As Christians, when we experience suffering, maybe we should remember that others are looking at us to see how WE respond.  Are we trusting in our God no matter what happens?  Can we give Him glory by our attitude?  In a way, these words of Jesus apply, “Let your LIGHT so shine before men, that they may see your good works (attitude in suffering), and glorify your Father in heaven.” (Matthew 5:16) 
  • For me, I often complain loudly when things go wrong. ‘Why is this happening to me?’ I fume.  It’s good that I’m rereading this book of Job.

Job’s wife DID blame God. “Oh, husband, why don’t you just curse God and die!”  Wow. A loving wife she was not. (She will get her due, having to bear ten more children in her latter years! Ha!)

Job 2.

Job is now suffering painfully, with masses of boils erupting all over his body. He uses pieces of broken pottery in the trash heap to scrape off the swollen heads and allow the pus to run out.  To his disgusted wife, he says, “Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?”

  • I wonder…did she sponge off his hurting body with cool water sometimes?  Did she apply salve to the open sores?  Did she bring and feed him a healing broth?  Somehow, I think not.

But a few of Job’s friends came to comfort him. His increasing pain was so great that, in distress for him, they wept, tore their robes, and sprinkled dust on their heads. Then, they sat silently with him in compassion for seven days and nights.

Job 3 – 5.

Then, the “foolishness” begins.

Of course, Job had the right to curse the day he was born. (I think David or King Solomon did this, too.) “Why did I not die at birth, come out from the womb, and expire?” he moans (or wails).  It’s understandable, of course, him being in so much pain.

It stirs one of his friends to speak, “Who, that was innocent, ever perished?  As I have seen, those who plow iniquity and sow trouble…reap the same.”  Thanks, Eliphaz, that really wasn’t comforting.  You’re saying I’m suffering because I sinned against God?

Eliphaz continues ‘laying it on’.  “Affliction does not come from dust, nor does trouble sprout from the ground.  As for ‘me,’ I would seek God, and to God would I commit my cause...”  And then, in what seems a self-righteous attitude, he tells Job, “Blessed is the one whom God reproves; therefore despise not the discipline of the Almighty.” 

This is true enough, but Eliphaz doesn’t know what we know. Job’s suffering isn’t discipline!  It is proof that God loves him, knows the faithfulness of his heart, and is willing for Satan to do his worst to reveal that man CAN serve God fully. 

 

 

 

 

Journaling through the Bible Chronologically in 2025, Day 2

Jan2

Day 2. Beginning with the five books of Moses, the Torah, in Genesis 4 – 7. 

I’m reading through God’s Word again this year, but I’ll write/blog about it differently. Instead of 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 in Him.

 

Genesis 4.

  • After the disaster of their sin yesterday, I’m almost despondent to begin the long history of the human race.  The triumph of Revelation 21 seems so far distant.  But God promised One would come who would be victorious over sin and Satan.  I’ll be looking for Him through the following 1,185 chapters. 

After the “multiplied pain of childbirth,” it seems like Eve thought her firstborn son, Cain, was that Promised One. “I’ve gotten a man with the help of the LORD,” she said.  But another boy, Abel, was born (and then another and many others and daughters).  I wonder if Eve remained hopeful, clear to the last son born to her. “Is THIS the One?”

Adam’s original job in Eden was tending the garden and the animals. Now, that work seems to be divided between the first two sons.  Cain worked hard in the fields, and Able had to work hard caring for the animals.  

The Bible doesn’t say WHEN offerings were first given to God. They were possibly to thank Him for the year’s success. When the time came, the men offered a portion of what they had gained.  Cain brought an offering from his produce. Able offered the firstborn of his flock.   Why did God not like Cain’s offering?

Maybe it was a heart attitude. Or, perhaps, it was the gift itself. But why? Later, God required Israel to give a tithe from their very first harvest.

It was probably both reasons.  If God required a “blood” offering (like Abel’s), and they both KNEW it, why didn’t Cain buy or trade some produce for a suitable animal?  Could it have been PRIDE that stopped him? Was that what made him so angry?

  • Lord, I sometimes begrudge giving up something I have to You or others.  And often, my PRIDE keeps me from humbling myself and asking for help from others.  Sometimes, I get angry because I don’t like feeling in the wrong.  Father, forgive me and keep me from these sins today.  Help me, like you said to Cain, “Sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for YOU, but you must rule over it.” 

Cain didn’t listen, and out of jealousy and anger, he killed Abel. I can picture him saying, YOU wanted blood: how about this? All the while shaking his fist at God.  (Maybe not.) So death entered the world like God said. And sin multiplied through Cain’s generations.

Genesis 5.

Hallelujah!  A third son was born to Adam and Eve, and it would be through Seth that the Savior would come. And look! People began calling on the Name of the LORD!  (4:26)

This chapter shows Adam’s genealogy through Seth. Notice those years!!! Notice the fruitfulness and multiplication of mankind (just as God instructed).  Then came NOAH, a savior, but not THE Savior. 

  • Father in Heaven, as I look at my son, granddaughters, and great-grandchildren, I ask that their hearts always seek You and “find favor in Your eyes.” Keep them from evil.

Interestingly, both Noah’s father, Lamech, and his grandfather, Methuselah, died the year OF the flood.  Whether IN the flood or not, we don’t know.

Genesis 6.

I thought sin in Cain’s heart was bad, but now, ALL mankind (except one) were greatly wicked. God saw that “every intention of the thoughts of their hearts was only evil continually.”  Not a minute of goodness.  But Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. Noah walked with God.  WOW! What a contrast! 

  • Oh, God, I ask that You “Search ME and know MY heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there is any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!” (Psalm 139:23-24)

  God told Noah that He’d decided to “make an end of all flesh for the earth is filled with violence through them. I will destroy them with the earth.”  

But He provided Noah and his family a way of safety (salvation). Noah had 120 years to build a giant wooden ship for himself, his family, and a pair of all the animals and birds on Earth. God promised Noah “life” as long as he was in that boat. Today, God promises that all who are “in Christ Jesus” by faith will be saved.

So Noah got to work building the boat, just like God instructed, and filling it with food.

Did those wicked people notice? Care? Did they ridicule him? Try to stop him? Did he preach to them? Or ignore them?  120 years seems long to us, but remember, people then lived 900+ years. The Bible doesn’t say that Noah ever doubted or tired of doing God’s will. He worked for 1,640 months, trusting God.

  • What about me? I have doubted God’s will and way.  I’ve gotten “weary in well-doing.”  I’ve been impatient when I haven’t seen results.  Oh, Lord, help me to be like Noah – full of faith, and faithful.

Hebrews 11:7 says, “By faith, Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear constructed an ark, for the saving of his household. By this, he condemned the world and became an heir of righteousness that comes by faith.“

Genesis 7.

The day came when God told Noah to get into the ark. He and his family obeyed, and the designated animals went into the ark with Noah.  God shut the door.

Jesus said, “For as in those days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and they were UNAWARE until the flood came and swept them all away.”

Seven days later, in Noah’s 600th year, on the 17th day of the 2nd month………………….

  • the fountains of the great deep burst forth
  • the windows of the heavens were opened
  • the rain fell upon the earth forty days and nights.
  • the waters increased and bore up the ark
  • the ark floated on the waters
  • all the high mountains were covered by 22.5 feet
  • ALL FLESH DIED THAT MOVED ON THE EARTH, birds, livestock, beasts, insects, and ALL MANKIND.
  • the waters prevailed on the earth for 150 days.

.

  • Lord, am I ready for Your second coming?  Will I be busy doing earthly things and not looking toward the heavens for You?  May the treasures my heart desires all be in heaven. (Matthew 6:19-21)