Tag Archives: Job

Learn from Job’s experience (Job 42), November 13, 2015

Leave a reply

Today’s Podcast

Subscribe in: iTunes|Download

Today’s Scriptures

Today’s Bible reading plans include:

Ready – Job 42

Set – Job 42; 1 Corinthians 14

Go! – Job 42; 1 Corinthians 13-14

Job 42
1 Job answered the Eternal One.
2 Job: I know You can do everything;
nothing You do can be foiled or frustrated.
3 You asked,
“Who is this that conceals counsel with empty words void of knowledge?”
And now I see that I spoke of—but did not comprehend—
great wonders that are beyond me. I didn’t know.
4 You said, “Hear Me now, and I will speak.
I’ll be asking the questions, and you will supply the answers.”
5 Before I knew only what I had heard of You,
but now I have seen You.
6 Therefore I realize the truth:
I disavow and mourn all I have said
and repent in dust and ash.
7 After the Eternal had spoken these words to Job, He turned and spoke to Eliphaz from Teman.
Eternal One: My anger is burning against you and your two friends because you have not spoken rightly of Me, as My servant Job has. 8 So now, gather your friends and bring seven bulls and seven rams. Then go to My servant Job, make a burnt offering for yourselves, and he will pray for you. I will accept his prayer. Despite the fact that you have not spoken rightly of Me, as My servant Job did, I will not deal with you according to your foolish ways.
9 So Eliphaz from Teman, Bildad from Shuhah, and Zophar from Naamath went and did as the Eternal commanded, and He accepted Job’s prayer for them.
10 The Eternal restored the fortunes of Job after he prayed for his friends; He even doubled the wealth he had before. 11 All of his brothers and sisters, along with those he had known earlier, came and shared meals with him at his house. They sympathized with him and consoled him regarding the great distress the Eternal had brought on him. Each guest gave him a sum of money and each, a golden ring. 12 The Eternal One blessed the last part of Job’s life even more than the first part. He went on to possess 14,000 sheep, 6,000 camels, 1,000 teams of oxen, and 1,000 female donkeys. 13 He also fathered 7 more sons and 3 more daughters. 14 He named his first daughter Jemimah, his second Keziah, and his third Keren-happuch. 15 Nowhere in all the land could one find women as captivatingly beautiful as Job’s daughters, or as independently wealthy: their father gave them each a share of the family inheritance along with their brothers. 16 After all this, Job lived 140 years. He lived to see his children and their children and so on, to the fourth generation. 17 Then Job died, old, and satisfied with his days.

Today’s Devotional

From today’s background scripture God might say:

When Job came to know Me instead of knowing about Me, he fell with his face in the dust in repentance. He Mourned all the things he had said about Me, but I understood all the things he had said. I understood his misunderstandings and his feelings. I understood what he was thinking and why he felt abandoned by Me. He didn’t need forgiveness from Me. He did nothing wrong. I knew his heart and he still stood righteous before Me.

His testing ended and was ready to restore his health and his fortune. First, I needed to deal with his misguided “friends”. They thought they knew better than Job and tried their best to get him to confess to things he never did. They tried to get him to tell them of some hidden sin Job never committed. But Job held on to his integrity and maintained his innocence even under such extraordinary pressure. So I refused to even listen to his friends prayers. I would not accept their sacrifices. I didn’t want to hear their excuses or their confessions. I couldn’t stand to hear their voices.

I came to their informal leader, Eliphaz, and told him to gather his friends and have Job pray for them. Only then would I consider bringing them back into favor with Me. Consider the humility with which the three of them approached Job after coming to him for months looking for him to repent. Now the tables were turned and they heard My voice from heaven commanding them to plead for Job to intercede for them. Image their state of mind at that point. The three of them came to Job with their pious reasoning, their sure stand on religious principles, and now they grovel before him asking for his forgiveness so they can receive Mine.

Imagine Job’s feelings. Many would love to refuse them. To let them wallow in their misery. Many would let them continue to live in their guilt and refuse to forgive them for the pain they caused through their months of questioning and their refusal to believe in his innocence, their pious words, their cutting accusations. But Job does what he has done for a lifetime – Job forgives. He makes a special sacrifice for his three friends so they may find My grace and mercy.

I knew Job would act on their behalf because I knew Job’s character. He had suffered enough. I restored his family and doubled his wealth. Not because I had to and not because Job expected it. But because I wanted to reward his faithfulness. Learn from Job’s faithfulness. It’s not just a good story.

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.

Live a life of integrity (Job 27), November 4, 2015

Leave a reply

Today’s Podcast

Subscribe in: iTunes|Download

Today’s Scriptures

Today’s Bible reading plans include:

Ready – Job 27

Set – Job 27; Mark 15

Go! – Job 26-27; Mark 15-16

Job 27
1 Job continued.
2 Job: By God—who lives and has deprived me of justice,
the Highest One who has also embittered my soul—
3 I make this proclamation:
that, while there is life in me,
While the breath of that selfsame God is in my nostrils,
4 My lips will not let lies escape them,
and my tongue will not form deceit.
5 So I will never concede that you three are right.
Until the day I die, I will not abandon my integrity just to appease you.
6 On the contrary, I’ll assert my innocence and never let it go;
my heart will not mock my past or my future.
7 May my enemy be counted as the wicked
and my adversary as the unjust.
8 For what hope does he who is sullied and impure have
once God lops him off from life and requires his soul?
9 Will God listen to his cry
when he is overtaken by distress?
10 Will he have made the Highest One his pleasure after the fact?
Will he have marked the seasons with his calls to God once it is too late?
11 Let me show you what I have learned of God’s power.
I assure you I will not cover over the true nature of the Highest One’s ways.
12 Look, you have all seen it—seen the same things I have seen here.
Why then all this vain nonsense?
13 Indeed, Zophar, listen closely, for what the wicked of humanity will inherit from God.
This is the heritage the Highest One bequeaths to those who oppress:
14 If the children of the wicked multiply,
they meet their end at the blade of the sword.
And even if they are fat with surplus,
the descendants of the wicked will be starved for bread.
15 Those who survive will fall to disease and be buried;
many of their widows will not mourn their deaths.
16 Though he pile up money as if it were common dirt
and clothing in heaps like mounds of clay,
17 What he may prepare, the righteous will wear;
the silver he sets aside, the innocent will divide.
18 He builds his house doomed to impermanence—
like the moth’s cocoon,
like the field watchman’s lean-to that is dismantled after the harvest.
19 He lies down to sleep a wealthy man,
but never again,
For when he opens his eyes to morning,
all is gone.
20 Terrors overtake him as if they were floodwaters;
the tempest snatches him away in the dead of night.
21 Indeed, the sultry east wind lifts him up and away.
He is gone, swept off the place he knew as his own.
22 It will have blown against him pitilessly,
and he tries to flee from its fast-closing hand.
23 As a final humiliation, it claps its hands against him as a man would—
sneering, hissing at him as he leaves.

Today’s Devotional

From today’s background scripture God might say:

It would have been easy for Job to satisfy his friends by just lying to them and making up some wrong he had done. He could have gotten rid of their incessant nagging and they would have left him alone if he just owned up to something, anything. But Job wouldn’t lie and their wasn’t anything in his past he had not given to Me that needed forgiveness. His relationship with Me was pure. Job refused to admit to something he had not done. His integrity was too important to him to give it away to these so called friends.

Job also knew what happens to those who did not live with integrity. Those who practiced deceit in little or big things cannot be trusted with My sacred things. And all the material things that might seem so important now will disappear. No one takes anything with them to the grave. But all will receive their reward from Me at the judgment. Those that lived a life of integrity with Me will gain much. Those who lived without Me and without integrity will lose everything.

Job talks about that as he shares this discourse with Zophar. In this materialistic age in which most think the person with the most toys wins, you should take a lesson from Job’s wisdom. Life is short, I determine the rewards and punishments when this life is over. The things you have now will not go with you to the next. Think about what is important. You’ll find it has nothing to do with material things, but with relationships, character, integrity. Job had it right. Live a life of integrity. You won’t go wrong doing so. 

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.

Learn from Job and his trust in God (Acts 19), October 28, 2015

Leave a reply

Today’s Podcast

Subscribe in: iTunes|Download

Today’s Scriptures

Today’s Bible reading plans include:

Ready – Job 19

Set – Job 19; Mark 1

Go! – Job 19; Mark 1-2

Job 19
1 Job answered his friends in frustration.
2 Job: O how long! How long will you torture me and pound me with your chatter?
3 What is it now? Eight times? Nine times?
No, surely it’s ten times you have insulted me.
Ten times you’ve shamelessly acted to harm me.
4 Even if I have erred, my faults lie with me alone.
5 However, if you must exalt yourselves at my expense,
if you must proffer my own disgrace as evidence against me,
6 Then you ought at least to know that I have been wronged by God.
Yes, His net is closed about me.
7 Look! I cry out, “Violence!” but no response comes.
I shout for help, but justice eludes me.
8 He is a roadblock. He will not let me pass;
He has covered my roads in darkness.
9 He has stripped me of my honor,
torn the crown off my head.
10 He comes at me from all sides, but I attempt to leave;
He rips out my hope as if it were a tree in dry ground.
11 His anger burns white-hot against me,
and He considers me His enemy.
12 His militia arrives to raise a siege ramp against me
and to surround my dwelling.
13 He has driven my relatives far from me;
I am cut off from my friends.
14 My entire family has failed me;
my best friends have forgotten me.
15 Everyone in my house, including my maidservants,
treats me like an outsider;
I am a stranger to them now.
16 When I send for my servant, he does not come.
I even plead with him with my own voice.
17 My breath is strange; even my wife avoids me;
I’m loathsome to my relatives; they can’t stand to be around me.
18 Even young children taunt me,
and when I seek to rise, they mock me.
19 My closest friends can no longer bear me,
and anyone I have ever loved has turned against me.
20 I am reduced to skin and bones;
I have barely escaped by the skin of my teeth.
21 Show me your pity, my friends, show me your pity!
For truly, I have been struck by the hand of God.
22 Why do you pursue me as God has done?
Is my emaciated body not satisfying enough for you?
23 What I would give to have my words taken down,
to have them inscribed for posterity on a scroll.
24 No! More than that!
To have them chiseled with iron filled with lead—
carved in stone for all eternity.
25 Besides, I know my Redeemer lives,
and in the end He will rise and take His stand on the earth.
26 And though my skin has been stripped off,
still, in my flesh, I will see God.
27 I, myself, will see Him:
not some stranger, but actually me, with these eyes.
Toward this end, my deepest longings pine away within my chest.
28 If you ask, “How will we pursue him
since the root cause of his suffering lies in him?”
29 You ought to fear the sword yourselves;
for the sword bears fury’s punishment
in order that you might realize there is, in fact, a judgment.

Today’s Devotional

From today’s background scripture God might say:

Job laments his condition. No wonder! His friends mock him, the children run away from him or make fun of his condition. He is covered in boils and is reduced to skin and bones. His wife and family will have nothing to do with him. He’s lost everything and those who used to serve him won’t even talk to him. Job is alone on an ash heap surrounded by three men who only ask him to tell them about his unrepentant sins…of which he has none to confess.

What I like about his lament, though, is his confidence that he will have a unique revelation at the end of it. Did you hear what he said? “And though my skin has been stripped off, still, in my flesh, I will see God. I, myself will see Him: not some stranger, but actually me, with these eyes. Toward this end, my deepest longings pine away within my chest.”

Job is starting to tire, as anyone would, but he still looks toward Me as his redeemer. He still hopes to see Me with his own eyes. He still expects rescue from the suffering he faces. And Job looks to Me as his Savior. That’s where Job’s confidence lay. I could see into Job’s heart when I told Satan Job was a righteous man. He was proving Me an accurate judge. Despite all Job was going through, he still put his confidence and faith in Me as he goes through the trials I allowed Satan to press upon him.

Learn some lessons from Job. Never give up. Understand you may never know why you go through the trials you face, but I will never let you face more than you can handle. And you don’t know who else is looking at your life to watch how you weather the storms you are facing. Just keep trusting in Me. I’ll get you through it.

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.

There is hope! (Job 17), October 26, 2015

Leave a reply

Today’s Podcast

Subscribe in: iTunes|Download

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.

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.

Prayer changes things (Job 10), October 22, 2015

Leave a reply

Today’s Podcast

Subscribe in: iTunes|Download

Today’s Scriptures

Today’s Bible reading plans include:

Ready – Job 10

Set – Job 10; Acts 15-16

Go! – Job 9-10; Acts 15-16

Job 10
Job: 1I hate my life, so I will unload the full weight of my grievance against God.
Let me speak and reveal the bitterness I am harboring.
2 I will say to God: Don’t find me guilty;
just explain the charges You have against me.
3 Does it please You to oppress,
and is this why You spurn me, the work of Your hands,
and yet Your smile shines down upon the plots of the wicked?
4 Do You have human eyes so that Your outlook is short?
Do You see as through human frailties?
5 Are Your days like mortals’ limited days?
Are Your years like mortals’ limited years?
6 Is this why You seek out my faults
or You go in search of all my error?
7 You know well that I am not guilty,
yet nothing can free me from Your overwhelming power.
8 Your hands formed and made me whole,
yet now You turn to crush.
9 Recall how You molded me like clay.
Will You now render me back to dust?
10 Didn’t You pour me out like milk and curdle me like cheese?
11 Didn’t You clothe me in skin and flesh, weave my bone and sinew together?
12 Your care has saved my spirit,
and You have given me life and loyalty;
13 Yet I know what is in You,
what Your heart has always hidden.
14 If I sin, You see it, watching ever so closely,
and You do not acquit me of my guilt.
15 If I am wicked, woe is me;
even if I am innocent, I cannot take a chance and lift my head
Because I’m gorged with disgrace.
Gaze on my misery!
16 If I do raise my head,
then like a lion, You hunt me;
Like a night sky turned threatening,
You unfold Your power against me so that others marvel;
17 Like a prosecutor, You drag in witnesses against me;
You escalate Your fury against me, coming in waves to pound on me.
18 So then, why did You bother to drag me out of the womb at all?
I should have just died before any eye could see me.
19 It should have been as though I had never been:
plucked from the womb, carried to the tomb.
20 Aren’t my days almost finished anyway?
Stand back, leave me alone, and let me have a scrap of comfort
21 Before I go to the place from which I won’t return,
to the land of utter darkness and still shadows,
22 The land of deep, unending night,
of blackness and shadowy chaos
where the only illumination is more darkness.

Today’s Devotional

From today’s background scripture God might say:

You think Job might have been a little discouraged, disillusioned, and depressed as he talked with Me? Those were dark days for Job. He lost everything except his wife who told him to curse Me and die. His three best friends searched his life for his hidden sins and tried their best to get him to confess to something he didn’t do. He grieved until there were no more tears to shed and then Satan afflicted him with boils so that he could find no comfortable position to even find a moments rest from the agony he endured.

Do you think he had a reason to cry out to Me with the prayer penned here? I do. By all appearances, I had abandoned Job for no reason that he could find. Job made and inventory of his life and could find nothing in our relationship that could cause the tremendous pain he endured at this point. I listened to his prayer, but I didn’t answer this one. I listened to his next one, but I didn’t answer that one either.

It’s good to note, though, that I didn’t add to his pain when he prayed to Me. As you go through Job’s prayers in the next several days, I want you see how his prayers change over time. As you know, I never answer his question as to why he suffers. Only Satan and I and those who read his story knew that answer. But Job’s prayers will change as he prays.

Prayer changes things. Sometimes I allow your prayers to change what I do. Sometimes I let your prayers change the circumstances around you. Sometimes I want your prayers to change you. See how Job changes through his prayers as you read them over the next days.

I changed Job through his trials. I can change you, too.

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.