Tag: Job

Feeling Unqualified?

Amos 7-9

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Saturday, April 15

“I was neither a prophet nor the son of a prophet, but I was a shepherd, and I also took care of sycamore-fig trees.  But the Lord took me from tending the flock and said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to my people Israel.’ (Amos 7:14-15)

 

God specializes in using ordinary people. Amos was the first prophet after the kingdom of Israel was divided by Jeroboam, preceding even Isaiah and Hosea.

Amos was just a shepherd (and a tree-tender).  He was hardly qualified to speak on behalf of the God of the universe.  But God had a job for him.  I think sometimes God calls those who seem ‘unqualified’ to do the most amazing work for him for three reasons.

  • They will give all the credit to Him.
  • They won’t question Him, assuming they know a better way.
  • They speak the language of the people and won’t talk over their heads.

Amaziah was the priest who should have been speaking God’s words.  He was the one “qualified” to be God’s prophet.  But when Amos goes to him, here’s what happens:

Amaziah says,

  ‘Do not prophesy against Israel,
    and stop preaching against the descendants of Isaac.’

Amos replies,

This is what the Lord says:

“Your wife will become a prostitute in the city,
    and your sons and daughters will fall by the sword.
Your land will be measured and divided up,
    and you yourself will die in a pagan country.
And Israel will surely go into exile,
    away from their native land.”

 

Did you get that?  The priest-boss says “Hey, knock it off. Quit saying bad stuff is going to happen” (Isn’t that a pretty common thing in the prophets?  People telling them to stop saying bad stuff was going to happen).  And Amos is like, “God says you’re all gonna die.  Mic drop.”

 

(Don’t think I don’t know that I’m too old and un-cool to use that phrase. But it fit, right?)

 

So whether you think you are qualified or not, keep your ears open for God’s call and your eyes open for His opportunity to speak truth and serve.

 

He’s got something for you!

 

-Susan Landry

 

The Intercession of a Friend

Job 39 – 42

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Friday, December 23

In today’s reading we have the conclusion of God’s rebuttal to Job.  He enumerates the detail of creation, throwing multiple examples at Job about its forethought, workings, and power.  Then, the mic is dropped.


“Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know.  “You said, ‘Listen now, and I will speak;  I will question you, and you shall answer me.’ My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you. Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes.” Job 42:3b-6

 

God gives Job a sobering reminder of who God is.  Through this God does not simply restore Job, but he also uses him to intercede for his friends.  When our prayer lives are focused on others, especially those who have wronged us, we are drawing closer to God.  We love like Him.  We forgive like Him.  We are faithful like Him.  Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar had to offer their own sacrifice, they had to pray for themselves, they had to change their ways, they had to make their own decision, but the devotion of a faithful friend saved them from their deserved punishment.

 

You too, have a friend who is interceding for you (Rom 8:34).  Jesus Christ is pleading your case before God.  You deserve not only death, but destruction, but God has listened to our Savior’s appeal.  You still have great responsibility, but he is making it easier (Matt 11:30).

My challenge for you is to find your own three friends (like Job) to pray for.  When we pray for our friends (and our enemies), acting like Job and Jesus, how much lighter can it make their burden?  What consequence might we save them from?  What healing or saving opportunity will God present them? (James 5:14-16).  Conversely, if we do not, what are we condemning them to?

-Aaron Winner

(photo credit: https://dailybiblememe.wordpress.com/2013/11/12/job-422/)

Write a Check

Job 35-38

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Thursday, December 22

Growing up and being the youngest of four, I went with my mom a lot of places.  One of the places I most accompanied her was the grocery store.  Candy was a rarity in my family (except for holidays), so when I reached the checkout and saw the limitless amounts awaiting there, I would start asking if I could have some.  On occasion, I would get my wish granted.  On other occasions, my mom would say, “I’m sorry, but we don’t have the money for that.” I would quickly appeal by telling my mother, “You can just write a check, then.” “It doesn’t work like that,” she would respond.

 

My logic: I want candy: Mom has checks: I get candy.


Reality: I want candy; Mom has checks: money in bank account: I get candy

 

For 37 Chapters, Job has been trying to make sense of what is happening.  He has been to hell and back, but has remained faithful.  He sees his situation, and he sees God, and he wants God to “write a check”.

 

His logic: God is love:  He has the power to take this away:  I will not suffer

 

Reality: God is love: He has the power to take this away: Every act of a holy and loving God is to bring me into His kingdom: I will not suffer (Rom 8:28)

 

God’s plan is eternal.  It is wrought in creation and sanctified with the blood of Jesus Christ.  It is fashioned from His desire that all men should be saved, and none should perish (2 Pet 3:9). A glimpse into the depths of God’s plan begins in His rebuttal to Job:

 

“Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation? Tell me, if you understand.  Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know!  Who stretched a measuring line across it?  On what were its footings set, or who laid its cornerstone (WOW – Eph 2:20; Psa 118:22) while the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy?” – Job 38:4-7

Suffering, pain, and death are the direct and indirect results of sin, not part of God’s design.  Does God save us from suffering?  Yes, eternally and sometimes temporarily, but we should never forget he offers comfort, peace, hope, love, and joy in the midst of every circumstance. Every action God takes is not to save a fleeting life, but to give an eternal one.  While there is nothing wrong with asking God to “write a check”, keep close to your heart the plan which he has made and paid.

-Aaron Winner

If a Tree Falls in the Woods…

Job 31-34

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Wednesday, December 21

A profound and familiar philosophical question that has repeated through many ages says, “If a tree falls in the forest and nobody’s around to hear it, does it make a sound?”  While this is a simple “yes” or “no” question you would probably get ten different explanations if you asked ten different people.  The question really is not precise enough to be answered on its own.

 

I have found the following question, heard in many theological circles, to be similar: “Does God speak today?”  Again, a question like this would be met with a variety of logic and debate because depends on interpretation of the question.

 

I feel both questions can be clarified by defining a single word. What do you mean by “sound” or “speaking”?

 

While there in a nuance between the two, I define both as an active force that travels through space or time that can/will eventually meet a listener.  God is not AN active force, but THE ever-present active force working in our lives.  While He has chosen to speak audibly to some, He has also spoken through vision, through prophets, and the ever-reverberating and active forces, His word and nature. (Heb 4:12; Psalm 19:1-6).

 

In our reading today, Elihu gives Job many examples of how God speaks not only audibly but inaudibly, through circumstance, His word, and through our brothers and sisters in Christ:

 

“But now, Job, listen to my words; pay attention to everything I say. I am about to open my mouth; my words are on the tip of my tongue; My words come from an upright heart; my lips sincerely speak what I know.  The Spirit of God has made me;   the breath of the Almighty gives me life.” – Job 33:1-4

 

“For God does speak—now one way, now another— though no one perceives it. In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falls on people as they slumber in their beds,he may speak in their ears and terrify them with warnings, to turn them from wrongdoing and keep them from pride, to preserve them from the pit, their lives from perishing by the sword.”  – Job 33:14-18

 

We may grow “deaf” because we have rejected Him, we may tune out certain frequencies because we have parts of our lives we are not ready to turn over to Him, but it does not mean He does not speak; it means, like Job, we have not listened.  There is always an audience for Him in moving and active creation. (Joshua 24:27).

God’s target audience is not the rocks; it is us.  He is constantly speaking in His word, through his pastors, in the sunrise, through his children, and yes, audibly.  Slow down.  Stop even.  Make time.  Ponder.  Pray.  Seek.  Perceive His wisdom, warnings, and wonders.  Today, make time to listen.

-Aaron Winner

Enduring Faithfulness

Job 27-30

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Tuesday, December 20

Yesterday, we tackled Bildad’s question to Job about the righteousness of man before a Holy God.   With a new frame of mind, we can answer and confidently place these words of Job in our heart:

“I will maintain my innocence and never let go of it;  my conscience will not reproach me as long as I live.” – Job 27:6

Our conscience, our friends, and our family are not our judge, only the Lord God Almighty.  If he has made us new through repentance, then that we are indeed.  Do we continue in sin? NO! (Rom 6:1).  Do we walk around saying, “You are not my judge!” NO! (Heb 10:24) We become part of the church, pray, study, do good works, give cheerfully, share His good news, not to earn merit badges for the Kingdom of God but as loving and faithful acts of a pardoned people.  No matter our past or present circumstance we must not conceal what God is/can do in us.  Today, you can move forward declare and renew your innocence through Him.

“I will teach you about the power of God;   the ways of the Almighty I will not conceal” – Job 27:11

Along the same vein, another reflection for today comes from the second half of today’s reading (Job 29 – 30).  Job essentially is contemplating the “good ole days”, before his fortunes turned south.  The power, the respect, the friends, and the wealth he once enjoyed all are gone.  While our fall might not equal Job’s, far too often when things take a turn for the worse, we quickly forget about the faithfulness of God.  We become as the children of Israel, longing to return to slavery so our belly can be momentarily filled. (Ex 14:20) We cry out, “God, why have you taken this from me?” yet we forget who gave it to us in the first place.

Your present life may not include the finite features of your past.  Death, debt, despair, and destruction may have become more commonplace; however, there is one infinite feature that is constant: the love and faithfulness of an unchanging God.  Look upon the past not to remind you of the “good ole days,” but of his enduring faithfulness; use the lamp unto your feet to know that your future is secure, no matter what life’s storms may bring.

-Aaron Winner

Maggots! And Great Grace!

Job 22-26

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Monday, December 19

Job is repeatedly told by Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar that it is Job’s actions that have brought this wicked fate upon him.  In today’s reading, Bildad poses a question to Job, but really, calls into question the righteousness of every man.

 

How then can a mortal be righteous before God?  How can one born of woman be pure? – Job 25:4

 

The truth is that Job, his friends, you, and I have all suffered from the same condition.  We have sinned: an act of contempt against our Creator.  It doesn’t matter if we strayed for a moment or a lifetime, it separates us from a Holy God, and it makes us like maggots clinging to garbage; our righteousness is like filthy rags. (Job 25:6; Isaiah 64:6)

 

There is nothing that man can do to gain the grace of God.  It is a gift that no amount of church attendance, prayer, Bible study, charity, or good work earns.  Redemption comes only through our faithful Father’s plan of salvation.  (Ephesian 2:8)

 

The inverse of this is an equally powerful message.  No man with the breath of God in his lungs can lose His grace.  You cannot be selfish enough, you cannot hate enough, you cannot deny his existence enough, and you cannot curse his grace away; it is there faithfully following and patiently awaiting confession and surrender.  (Isaiah 59:1; Romans 8:38-39)

 

A small glimpse into tomorrow’s reading reveals our new attitude because of this:

Until then,

Aaron Winner

 

Though He Slay Me

Job 13 – 17

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Saturday, December 17

Today’s reading records my favorite verse of the book of Job:

 

“Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him ”  (Job 13:15)

 

Job lived this song. The Psalms plead this song.  Because of God’s sovereign care for us, every pain in this life is producing a glory that will last forever.  A Christian’s suffering should never be meaningless. Not only is all our affliction momentary, not only is all our affliction light in comparison to eternity and the glory there. But all of it is totally meaningful. Every second of our pain, from the fallen nature or fallen man, every second of your misery in the path of obedience is producing a peculiar glory.

Job’s trust in God was not based upon emotion.  It was based upon a complete belief in God as the One who knew what was best for him in all situations.  It was based upon a complete belief that whatever God put into his life, God was still to be trusted.  Job uttered these classic words after he had gone through the worst testing that anyone has possibly gone through.  He didn’t look to what was seen, and neither should we.

Shane Barnard of the Christian contemporary music group, Shane & Shane, understands this truth too. After the untimely death of his father, he and his family desperately looked to God for comfort. They clung to God’s word, and in their deepest moments of grief, they were led to worship. The song below, “Though You Slay Me,” was born in that experience.

 

I come, God, I come
I return to the Lord
The one who’s broken
The one who’s torn me apart
You strike down to bind me up
You say you do it all in love
That I might know you in your suffering

Though you slay me
Yet I will praise you
Though you take from me
I will bless your name
Though you ruin me
Still I will worship
Sing a song to the one who’s all I need

My heart and flesh may fail
The earth below give way
But with my eyes, with my eyes I’ll see the Lord
Lifted high on that day
Behold, the Lamb that was slain
And I’ll know every tear was worth it all

Though you slay me
Yet I will praise you
Though you take from me
I will bless your name
Though you ruin me
Still I will worship
Sing a song to the one who’s all I need

Though tonight I’m crying out
Let this cup pass from me now
You’re still more than I need
You’re enough for me
You’re enough for me

 

Therefore, do not lose heart. Take these truths and day by day focus on them. Preach them to yourself every morning. Get alone with God and preach his word into your mind until your heart sings with confidence that you are new and cared for. Though He slay me, yet will I hope in Him!

-Julie Driskill

 

 

2 Things You Always Have – No Matter the Circumstance

Job 9 – 12

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Friday, December 16

In yesterday’s reading and today’s portion of the book we find Job’s friends, Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar, come to visit him. The trio sit with Job in silence for seven days out of respect for his mourning. On the seventh day, Job speaks, beginning a conversation in which each of the four men shares his thoughts on Job’s afflictions in LONG, poetic statements.

 

To summarize, Job curses the day he was born, comparing life and death to light and darkness. He wishes that his birth had been shrouded in darkness and longs to have never been born. All his bemoaning only seems to intensify his misery. Eliphaz responds that Job, who has comforted other people, now shows that he never really understood their pain. Eliphaz believes that Job’s agony must be due to some sin Job has committed, and he urges Job to seek God’s favor. Bildad and Zophar agree that Job must have committed evil to offend God’s justice and argue that he should strive to exhibit more blameless behavior. Bildad surmises that Job’s children brought their deaths upon themselves. Even worse, Zophar implies that whatever wrong Job has done probably deserves greater punishment than what he has received.

 

The one thing I wish in reading the story of Job is that God had actually given Job reasons that made sense to Job. He never did. He simply said, “I am here and I am God and you aren’t.” What I do know from personal experience and from scripture is that God has settled His love for me, regardless of my circumstances. There is no injustice, grief, pain or loss that could ever take away the love that He displayed for me, a hopeless sinner, in giving His Son as my sacrifice. Regardless of what you have lost, as believers in Christ there are two things we always have. You still have Jesus and you still have a choice. Cling to both until God brings you to a peaceful rest.

-Julie Driskill

 

 

Hold ON!

Job 1-4

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Wednesday, December 14

The book of Job is an emotional rollercoaster. Rider/reader beware when you begin to venture this wild, scary, often windingly frustrating thrill ride. Pretty much everyone in the Book of Job dies except the main characters. But this story is about more than just mass destruction. Don’t get me wrong, the mourning rituals recorded after Job’s entire family dies are fascinating, but the physical destruction in the story leads to quite a collection of major philosophical ponderings that truly stick with the reader. Heavy, confusing stuff. You were warned.

 

The prologue places us in the land of Uz, not Oz, which is located far away from Israel. The unnamed author reveals no clear historical settings, and it seems as if all of the characters, except one, Elihu, are of any Hebrew origin whatsoever. The reoccurring themes throughout seemingly volley back and forth from the idea of suffering to justice. And by the way, don’t hold your breath, those questions will never get answered. Job will be pondering, reflecting, and VERBALIZING about how fragile and meaningless human life is in repeated fashion throughout.

 

The saga opens with the author declaring how awesome Job is, “He was the greatest man among all the people of the East.”(Job 1:3)  Wow. That is quite an endorsement. From this point we are ushered into the throne room of heaven in a very odd scene of sorts. The action resembles a court scene of sorts. God, the angels, and Satan are all present arguing the integrity and faith of Job. God gives Satan permission to test Job and the story gets very dark, real quick.

 

Pain is a central part of the human experience and there is no way around it. The book of Job covers all its pain bases: rashes, boils, and blisters, oh my! Not only does he experience physical pain but also emotional pain. Round that out with a heavy dose of spiritual pain and you can begin to see why Job finds himself at breaking points time and time again asking God why.

 

By chapter 3 & 4 we are introduced to Job’s “friends.” The reader will quickly discover that with friends like these you wouldn’t really have need of enemies.  The three bullies seemingly gang up on Job doing their best to convince him non-stop that he has sinned in some manner and God is simply punishing him for it. While Job is certainly down for the count, his consistent banter back and forth with the trio is mind boggling. Give it a rest Job? Just shut up and let them move on!

 

Remember how Job renounced God and became an atheist when his entire family died? No? Oh yeah, that’s because that’s not how it goes down. Nor will it ever be. Job makes it through Round 1 pretty successfully, but we find him getting more and more feisty when he finds himself with a rash and infuriating, obnoxious friends. And neither should we. Spoiler alert: God does not owe us explanations, and the sooner we come to terms with that timeless truth the happier we will all be. Tune in tomorrow as we observe the further unraveling of our besieged hero. I promise it will be worth the ride!

-Julie Driskill