Does Job repent or remain unchanged? Bible scholars have taken both sides, and John Mark Hicks supports a minority perspective that we can see both in the story: Yahweh’s first speech silenced Job (Job 40:4-5). He confessed his finitude (“I am of small account”) and promised silence (“I lay my hand on my mouth”). Yet, [...]
Archive for the ‘Job’ Category
Day 164: Job 40-42
Posted in Bible in a Year 2011-2012, Job, tagged faith, lament, life, praise, repentance, spirituality on February 11, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
Day 163: Job 38-39
Posted in Bible in a Year 2011-2012, Job, tagged chaos, environment, God, life, mission, nature, spirituality on February 10, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
As Job and his friends discuss and debate matters beyond their comprehension, the heavenly voice surprises them and reminds them of their “finitude and ignorance” (JMH) with these words addressed to Job: “Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation?” God challenges Job’s assumed understanding of the world (38:18). God shows up not just [...]
Day 162: Job 35-37
Posted in Bible in a Year 2011-2012, Job, tagged faith, God, life, spirituality, wisdom on February 9, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
Sometimes life doesn’t make sense. Bad things happen to good people, and good things happen to bad people. We pray for God to do this or that, and our prayers seem to go unanswered. Righteous ambitions fall apart. Death can come too soon. Faith can fizzle out. But God is always good, great, and gracious. [...]
Day 161: Job 32-34
Posted in Bible in a Year 2011-2012, Church, Job, Leadership, Relationships, Spiritual Disciplines, tagged community, discernment, intergenerational ministry, life, spirituality, youth on February 8, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
I’m a fan of intergenerational ministry. The church is a family in which people of various generations join together to worship and work, pray and play. Praise, service, and learning happen best when older and younger Christians collaborate in a spirit of unity. Wiser, more experienced Christians and younger, energetic, sometimes idealistic ones can strengthen [...]
Day 160: Job 29-31
Posted in Bible in a Year 2011-2012, Job, tagged abandonment, dark night of the soul, doubt, faith, life, spiritualiity, suffering on February 7, 2012 | 1 Comment »
Rejoicing in the past and suffering in the present. Maybe you know that experience. Job does. “How I long for the months gone by, / for the days when God watched over me” (29:2). “And now my life ebbs away; / days of suffering grip me” (30:16). “The movement from past scenes of joy and [...]
Day 159: Job 24-28
Posted in Bible in a Year 2011-2012, Job, tagged faith, knowledge, life, spirituality, wisdom on February 6, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
Wisdom is the ability to use and apply knowledge, or so someone once told me. Aristotle defines wisdom as “the most finished of the forms of knowledge.” The poetry of Job 28 tells us that wisdom is valuable and desirable (v. 18). People search for it but often fail to find it, and the way [...]
Day 158: Job 21-23
Posted in Bible in a Year 2011-2012, Job, tagged bad things happen to good people, faith, good things happen to bad people, life, sing and be happy, spirituality on February 5, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
Job’s friends think God blesses good people and curses evil ones. Job differs: sometimes good things happen to bad people (Job 21:7). This reminds me of a hymn from my childhood. It’s quite different from today’s popular worship music, but its words moved my ten-year-old soul. Here’s the second verse, written by Emory S. Peck: [...]
Day 157: Job 17-20
Posted in Bible in a Year 2011-2012, Job, tagged faith, life, my redeemer lives, spirituality on February 4, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
Job has a case, and he wants it heard. He wants people to listen and take note. “Oh, that my words were recorded, / that they were written on a scroll” (Job 19:23). He’s in a mess but not without hope. “I know that my redeemer lives, / and that in the end he will [...]
Day 156: Job 14-16
Posted in Bible in a Year 2011-2012, Job, tagged argument, debate, God, life, spirituality, wisdom on February 3, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
Have you ever listened to children argue? “This is the way it is. I know.” “You don’t know anything. I’m the one who knows.” “No, you don’t. You’re stupid.” “You’re stupid.” “Mom, she called me stupid!” “He called me stupid first!” That style of arguing doesn’t always stop with childhood. Adults can sound just as [...]
Day 155: Job 11-13
Posted in Bible in a Year 2011-2012, Grief, Job, tagged God, health and wealth gospel, life, spirituality, tragedy, wisdom on February 2, 2012 | 1 Comment »
Zophar returns the conversation to Bildad’s assumption that calamity in a person’s life is always due to that person’s wrongdoing. Job replies sarcasticly and calls his “friends” self-righteous, delusional know-it-alls. He reframes God’s unfathomable wisdom and continues in faithful perseverance. When we hurt, we try to figure things out. We attempt to understand. We strive [...]
