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January 26, Sunday
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Reading A26 — Job 15 — Eliphaz’s Second Charge Audio: Job 15 (ESV)
Contrasting Wisdom — Eliphaz began his second attack on Job by questioning his wisdom: “Should a wise man answer with windy knowledge” (v. 2). He thought that Job saw himself as the only wise man, asking, “do you limit wisdom to yourself?” (v. 8). He felt that Job’s wisdom was not only showing evidence of walking away from “the fear of God” (v. 4) but also of being influenced by sinfulness, saying that “your iniquity teaches your mouth” (v. 5). In contrast to what he thought of Job’s faulty wisdom, Eliphaz proudly presented his own: “I will show you; hear me…” (v. 17). This should be a red flag for us in realizing that what we think is not always better than that of the person we are contending with. It is a natural reaction, though, because we are sinfully selfish by nature. It is like Jesus’ caution about taking “the log out of your own eye” before trying “to take the speck out of your brother’s eye” (Matt. 7:4). Eliphaz returned to his earlier theme that one’s circumstantial ruin is the evident result of one’s wickedness: “he has stretched out his hand against God and defies the Almighty” (v. 25), and that he is “deceiving himself” (v. 31). He was apparently hoping that Job would see a reflection of himself in this picture. Nope. The log was still in the eye of proud Eliphaz.
January 27, Monday
An audio recording of the following comments is available below:
Reading A27 — Job 16 — Job’s Second Reply to Eliphaz Audio: Job 16 (ESV)
Ministry of Comfort — Job began his response by calling Eliphaz and his friends, “miserable comforters” (v. 2), when comforting is what they had come to do (2:11). What would Job do if they exchanged places? He said he might attack them as they were doing to him (v. 4). On the other hand, he could do what a real counsellor should do: “…strengthen you with my mouth … assuage your pain (v. 5). Although God may not have given you the gift of mercy or encouragement, He has given all of us the responsibility of ministering to those around us who need support. We should mentally put ourselves in their place. What would we want to hear? Especially for those within the Body of Christ, we should be looking for ways to help and encourage them. Job then acknowledged that what had happened to him had come from the hand of God, even though he didn’t understand why (vv. 7-16) because he knew “there is no violence in my hands, and my prayer is pure” (v. 17). Insulted yet innocent. What does one do? Job appealed to heaven, the source of his only hope, which is true for us as well. He said, “my witness is in heaven” (v. 19). Although God was in some way his attacker, He was also his advocate. Despite our frequent sins and occasional unexplained circumstances, the Apostle John reminds us that “we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous” (1 John 2:1).
January 28, Tuesday
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Reading A28 — Job 17 — Lamenting About Giving Up Audio: Job 17 (ESV)
Hold to Your Way — In this chapter, it looks like Job had come to his end. His “spirit is broken,” he felt like his “days are extinct” (v. 1) and his “plans are broken off” (v. 11). That seems to be the attitude of many Christians today who have retired from their life’s work. It’s all over! My useful days are gone. Job even had the additional burden of being misunderstood and harassed by his friends. What should be the response of a godly person? Job said, “Yet the righteous holds to his way” (v. 9). Keep going and don’t give up hope! If Job were to just give up and wait for death (“If I hope for Sheol as my house”—v. 13), then he would also be giving up his more spiritual and eternal hope (“where then is my hope?”—v. 15). He knew there was something more, even if he didn’t quite know what it was. He knew God, though, and he was convinced of His goodness. He would be one who “holds to his way.” Our “hope” as Christians is far more defined than that of Job’s. Jesus is our realized hope. We hold to Him. If we are retired from work, we should find a ministry. The one who “holds to his way … grows stronger and stronger” (v. 9b).
January 29, Wednesday——————ACCOUNTABILITY TIME!
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Reading A29 — Job 18 — Bildad Strikes Again Audio: Job 18 (ESV)
Insensitive Insults — In his second speech, the so-called comforter, Bildad, got even more cruel in his subtle and direct attacks on Job. To a man sitting in ashes with his body covered with oozing sores, Bildad told Job that the calamity of the wicked “consumes the parts of his skin” (v. 13), and to a man who recently lost seven sons and three daughters, Bildad said that the wicked man “has no posterity .. and no survivor” (v. 19). He ended his not-so-subtle assault on this man, whom God called “blameless and upright,” with the suggestion that he was like the wicked: “Surely such are the dwellings of the unrighteous, such is the place of him who knows not God” (v. 21). Falsely accused. That is the way much of the world looks at Christians who, although they may be suffering, are trying to live righteously before God. They look through prejudiced glasses to see what they want to see, and they don’t seem to care whether their voiced opinion hurts or not. It only adds to one’s suffering. What to do when attacked with such baseless and unkind words, we will read about tomorrow in Job’s response.
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January 30, Thursday—————ACCOUNTABILITY REMINDER
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Reading A30 — Job 19 — Job Answers Bildad Audio: Job 19 (ESV)
Surviving Hope — Job continued his lament as he responded to Bildad. His greatest pain was that, although he cried out to God, “I am not answered” (v. 7). He felt isolated from the God he had loved and trusted. If we have “lost” God, we have lost all hope, which Job expressed this way: “my hope has he pulled up like a tree” (v. 10). All hope seemed to be gone for Job, except for two important verses in this chapter. In verse 25, Job said, “I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth.” He had not lost his confidence in God, His eternal nature, and His saving purpose. The word for “Redeemer,” later used of Boaz in the book of Ruth, describes one who is obligated to embrace and provide for the rights and wellbeing of another. Christians were later bought with the price of the Lamb of God so that we could become full members of the family of God. Job was convinced that God not only lived, but that He would ultimately redeem him. The second important verse of hope follows immediately: “And after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God” (v. 26). Job seems to be answering his earlier question, “If a man dies, shall he live again?” (14:14). There is hope expressed here in life after death. What Job saw dimly, we see more clearly. We see not only the death of God’s Redeemer, but also His resurrection. We also know His promise to the repentant thief on the cross that “today you will be with me in paradise” (Luke 22:43), and His promise to us that “everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day” (John 6:40).
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of today, but did not report yesterday, please click here to leave your
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January 31, Friday—————–ACCOUNTABILITY FINAL DAY
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Reading A31 — Job 20 — Zophar’s Second Attack Audio: Job 20 (ESV)
Guided by Truth — Zophar, like his friends, was guided by circumstances and theological assumptions. Also, like Eliphaz, Zophar seemed to be guided by an inner-speaking spirit. Eliphaz said, “A spirit glided by my face … then I heard a voice” (4:15-16). For Zophar, it was, “my thoughts answer me … a spirit answers me” (20:2-3). What was the source of the knowledge of God by these ancient people? If they lived in the time of Abraham, they had no Torah to read because it would be almost 600 years before Moses would write it. The theological conclusions of these three friends of Job were firm, that one’s disasters were evidence of God’s disfavor toward their sin; therefore, Job must be guilty. In this chapter, Zophar insisted that “the joy of the godless [is] but for a moment” (v. 5), and that “God will send his burning anger against him” (v. 23) and ultimately “reveal his iniquity” (v. 27). But Job knew God. How? Perhaps like Abraham did—God spoke to him. Job was obedient to whatever divine requirements he had. We have far more, not only the stories of Abraham and Job, but the whole Bible — “all things that pertain to life and godliness” (2 Pet. 1:3).
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February 1, Saturday
An audio recording of the following comments is available below:
Reading A32 — Job 21 — Job Responds to Zophar Audio: Job 21 (ESV)
“Why Do the Wicked Live?” — After hearing two rounds of arguments from his friends who maintained that God’s judgment is directly applied to evil people, Job asked this penetrating question: “Why do the wicked live…?” (v. 7a). He challenged them to look around at those people, who instead “grow mighty in power” (v. 7b) with “no rod of God … upon them” (v. 9). Those are even people who tell God, “Depart from us! We do not desire the knowledge of your ways” (v. 14). God does not necessarily punish the wicked in this life, nor is calamity always evidence of God’s judgment. Even Job was confused about God’s ways, wondering why God doesn’t “pay it out to them, that they may know it. Let their own eyes see their destruction” (vv. 19-20). Job was willing, however, to leave those questions with God, asking, “Will any teach God knowledge…?” (v. 22). It seems that, for the most part, God is willing to hold off on His judgment until the end when we all will be judged together. We are not to be guided by circumstances, either. Let the wicked prosper or fall and let the righteous be blessed or suffer. God knows while we trust and wait.
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