Tag Archive | suffering

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 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.

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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. 

 

 

 

 

#2024 GOAL – Reading Through The Bible Chronologically, day 13

Jan13

Won’t you read the Bible with me this year?  (You can also listen to an audio recording.) It only takes a few minutes and you will be blessed.

Day 13 – Job 35 – 37 (Elihu continues.)

In chapter 35, Elihu continues to speak to Job (and his other three friends), and he is as far off the truth as they were.  He tells Job the reasons why God hasn’t answered him are three. First was his pride (10 & 12). Second was that Job had wrong motives (13). And the third thing was that Job lacked trust (14).  

Well, actually, those are reasons why OUR prayers are not sometimes answered too. It’s just a shame that God’s silence towards job had nothing to do with them.  (And soon – very soon – God IS going to respond. And then, Job and his friends had better listen!)

Chapter 36 starts out with Elihu claiming to speak on behalf of God. He says his own words are not false and that he is one who is perfect in knowledge.  (Cough! Choke!  Really Elihu???)  He then goes on self-righteously (in my opinion) to describe how Almighty God, his maker, deals with mankind.

He does say some truth about God’s majesty in creation, and (I like this) “God is great, and we know Him not; the number of His years is unsearchable.” (36:26)  He got that right because God IS from eternity past and will go on forever into eternity future. 

He goes on in chapter 37, proclaiming God’s majesty in nature, specifically in the elements; storms of wind, rain, ice and snow.  I love this in verse 13, “Whether for CORRECTION or for His LAND, or for LOVE, He causes it to happen.”  Think of that the next time you read about (or experience) blizzards, flooding, tornados, or heat waves. Wow.

And at the end of the chapter, he almost (unknowingly) preaches at HIMSELF!  “Therefore men fear Him; He does not regard any who are wise in their own conceit.”  (Hah, Elihu!  Remember 36:4?)

(But alas, am I not like that too?  Lord, forgive me. Thank You.)

 

On Sunday and Monday (posts together, and concludes Job), we will read God’s words to Job and his friends, in a series of hundreds of questions, the answers always pointing to God Himself.  Wow. Talk about an interrogation! 

#2024 GOAL – Reading Through The Bible Chronologically, day 11

Jan11

Won’t you read the Bible with me this year?  (You can also listen to an audio recording.) It only takes a few minutes and you will be blessed.

Day 11 – Job 29-31 (and then the words of Job ends)

 Today is the end of Job speaking until his confession in the last, short chapter. (Next up is the #4 “Friend” who waxes eloquent for four chapters!!!)

In chapter 29, Job remembers “the good old days” before all this tragedy fell on him.  It was the days when, “God watched over me,” when “the friendship with God was upon my tent,” when “my children were all around me,” and “my steps were washed with butter.”  WOW.

Job goes on to reminisce about when he was respected and honored, when, at his presence young men withdrew and aged rose and stood.  Ahhhh, those were the days, my friend; I thought they’d never end….. (You can almost hear him sigh.)

He lists all the good he did for neighbor and country. He bemoans the time when men “listened to me and waited and kept silence for my counsel.”

“But NOW… (in chapter 30 he tells how things have changed).  “now they laugh at me.”  “I have become their song, a byword to them.”  And even, “they do not hesitate to spit at the sight of me.”  What a downfall, what a humbling: to see how it is when men forsake you.

But his anquish is worse when he turns to his God.  “God has cast me into the mire….”  “I cry to You for help and You do not answer me; I stand and you only look at me. You have turned cruel to me….”

Have you ever been in such dispair?  Have you wailed against your God?  I confess, I have not. I’ve complained and whined. God has sometimes seemed silent and distant to me. But never like Job.

Then in chapter 31, it’s as if he gathers himself, straightens up a little and begins to claim his righteousness, how he is undeserving of such a fate. Beginning with verse five, he lists a dozen or more  “if-then” scenarios.  If I had done such and such… then may such and such befall me.

At one point he says “Oh, that I had one to hear me! (Here is my signature! Let the Almighty answer me!)

Whoa, Job. Be careful what you wish!

Tomorrow we will endure Elihu (4th friend) going on and on. THEN…  God will speak.