Today’s Podcast
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.