Today’s Podcast
Today’s Scriptures
Today’s Bible reading plans include:
Ready – Job 17
Set – Job 17; Acts 26
Go! – Job 16-17; Acts 24-26
Job 17
Job: 1 My spirit has collapsed; my days have been blotted out;
the grave is prepared for me.
2 There are mockers all around me;
my eyes are fixed on their unwarranted opposition of me.
3 Show me a sign! Vouch for me, God!
Who is there to give me his hand, guaranteeing his pledge?
4 I think no one is there because You have closed up their minds,
made them unable to see or understand;
so You will honor none of them.
5 You have heard, “Whoever denounces his friends for land
will watch his children go blind.”
6 But God has turned me into a swear word for everyone;
I have become a symbol of human darkness;
I am the face on whom one spits.
7 All my afflictions cloud my vision;
the members of my body are wasting away;
I am a mere shadow of what it once was.
8 Those of moral fiber are appalled at this;
innocent men grow indignant at the wicked.
9 Even still, the righteous embrace their way of life;
those with clean hands go from strong to stronger.
10 By contrast, I look to you, my friends, and I say,
“Come ahead, all of you; try your words once more.”
I still won’t expect to find a wise man among you.
11 Even now my days have passed me by;
My plans lie broken at my feet;
the secret wishes of my heart grow cold.
12 And yet my friends say, this loss of hope is for good,
turning my dark night into what appears to them as day.
In the pitch darkness, these broken plans and secret wishes speak to me.
They say, “There is light nearby.”
13 If I hope only to live in the land of the dead,
if I prepare for myself a bed in the darkness,
14 If I speak to my burial pit, calling it “Father,”
and to the worms in the earth, calling them “Mother” and “Sister,”
15 Then where will I find my hope?
And who will see it?
16 Will hope go with me to the place of death?
Will hope accompany me into the ground?
Today’s Devotional
From today’s background scripture God might say:
Have you noticed Job no longer blames Me for his troubles. He doesn’t know why he struggles in agony and suffers each day the loss of his children, his home, and his worldly goods. He doesn’t know why all his friends have turned against him and assume he has done evil to deserve God’s punishment. Job doesn’t understand the trials he endures at the moment, but recognizes that it isn’t punishment from Me.
Job is in deep despair, though. He has come to the end of his rope and wishes only to be rid of all the suffering. Job wants hope that there is something besides the suffering he has endured for so long.
The good news for you is I have lifted the veil that covers death’s door with My resurrection. You have seen beyond the pale of death because you know that I rose from the dead and so there is also hope in your resurrection. Because I am prepaing a place for you on this side of the great divide, you have hope beyond the grave. You no longer need to live with the despair Job and his friends suffered in their day.
Job heard of the grave and his generation heard some rudimentary teachings about life after death, but I gave you proof when I burst forth from the tomb on that first Easter morning. I promised I would come back to bring you to live with Me. I told you I would build a room for you in My house and there is plenty of room for everyone who believes in Me. You don’t need to feel hopeless. You don’t need to think this is the end. You don’t need to assume this is all there is. There is hope because I have already overcome all the suffering and sorrow and pain that accompanied Me to the cross. Now you can now your next destination and know the short suffering in this life will come to an end when you give your life to Me.
You don’t need to be in despair as Job was. You can have hope and you can know hope today by giving your life to Me. Do it. You won’t be sorry.
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