Job 37:1-39:30, 2 Corinthians 4:13-5:10, Psalms 44:9-26, Proverbs 22:13
Today is the 31st day of August welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I’m Brian it is great to be here with you. Can you believe it? We have made it to the end of another month. With that today’s reading we’ll complete eight months consecutively seven days a week. We have journeyed long and far and unique…it’s been a unique year, to say the least, and there’s much out in front of us, much left in front of us in the Scriptures and much left in front of us in our lives this year. So, let’s get to it. Let’s finish this month strong. We’re reading from the book of Job while reading from the New International Version and today we’ll read Job 37, 38 and 39. And I just by way of reminder, so Job had three friends who came to see him, they have debated, they have conversed, they have talked, Job has pled his case, he is looking for God. Ad then there was his fourth voice, Elihu, a younger man who appears on the scene. And, so, he’s with these men listening to them but out of deference because he’s younger, he hasn’t spoken but then he feels like he can’t hold it up inside anymore, which…and he has a need to say his peace, which can be…which is common to younger men, right? And, so, he’s now saying, “okay. I’ve listened to all the wisdom of the elders. I’ve listened to Job and this is what I have to say because I can’t not say it.” And we’re…we’ve been listening to Elihu, but we’ll continue with that today in Job 37. And then Job will get what he wants because it Job 38 the Lord will show up.
Commentary:
Okay. So, we have been working our way through
the book of Job. We’ve talked a lot about the book of Job, and now we’re ending
the ending of the book of Job. In fact, as we begin next month, tomorrow, we
will conclude the book of Job in tomorrow’s reading. So, we’re almost there and
if we just kind of glance back we remember, Job began with unspeakable tragedy.
We watched this person who was a very wise, wealthy, strong, prestigious person
in the community, wherever he lived, very well respected and systematically his
entire life fell apart. He lost everything that he had. He lost everyone that
he loved. It all just went away. And, so, Job is just undone, as you can
imagine. He just is destroyed, and his friends come to see him, and they can’t
even recognize him. It’s so horrifying what has happened to Job. And Job only
wants one thing. He doesn’t believe it’s fair. Like he believes he is suffering
unjustly. So, basically at the core of it all, what Job wants is understanding.
He wants the knowledge about his situation. He wants to understand. And, so,
his friends are there trying to make him or help him understand and they’re in
this kind of circular thing where Job is holding onto his innocence and his
friends are trying to pry his fingers away from that and tell him that it can’t
be, you can’t be innocent, you can’t be righteous. Like this is happening because
of something in you, your pride, your evil. And he keeps saying, “like that’s…everything
you’re telling me I already know. There’s not a thing you could…there’s no
understanding that you have that you can impart to me that I don’t already know.
What I want is an audience with the most-high God. I want God to explain and
make me understand.” And Job claims, “I…like I’ve looked everywhere. I can’t
find Him anywhere. And of course, his friends are like, “of course you can’t
find Him. Like only the righteous can find Him. Like, you’re not gonna find Him.”
So, there’s this whole circle going on and then Elihu, the younger person, goes
on a rant on Job, just kind of goes off on all of them, and then the Lord God
shows up. Like Job gets the audience. This righteous man Job is clinging to his
innocence and looking for understanding gets what he wants. And God comes, it’s
just different than he was thinking. God says, “who is this that obscures my plans
with words without knowledge? Brace yourself like a man. I will question you
and you shall answer.” I’m telling you, if that ever happened to me, I would
pee in my pants, like…or more. Like, can you imagine that you have been having
an ongoing discussion with your friends about God, claiming…making claims and
kind of arguing and debating with each other about God and about your
understanding of what He does and does not do and His ways of acting and
working and then God shows up and is like, “who is this? Who is this that’s talking
without…like talking about things they don’t know? Brace yourself. I have some
questions of my own. Since you have all these questions for me let me ask you a
few questions.” We’re talking about the most-high God. We’re not talking about some
powerful person. We’re talking about God. It's…it’s a…it’s a wonderful thing
that God shows up but it’s a terrifying thing to think about if you put
yourself in the position. It’s like, holy cow
or holy something. I don’t know what to say. And He already knows what I have
said. And the questions that God is asking, they cannot be answered. Who could
know the answers to those things but the creator of all? And, so, as we
conclude the book of Job tomorrow, we’ll hear what Job actually finally does
have to say. We’ve listened to Job preparing his arguments for the whole book.
So, we know what he was planning to say. Tomorrow we’ll find out what he
actually has to say.
And then in second Corinthians, Paul is defending himself. This is something the that he…that he has to do often but definitely has to do with the fellowship that’s in Corinth. It appears that the kind of the accusations that are against Paul is that he’s just a shyster and that he really made this all up, he’s making this all up, he’ is manipulating people. And Paul is basically trying to push back and say like, “dude if this is what our…like if that was the plan, if the plan was to…to…to manipulate people and swindle people and do all of these things there are like way more effective ways than trying to create a way of looking at the world and spirituality that is nonsense to Gentiles and heresy to my fellow Hebrews who want to kill me. Like there are better ways to do what you’re kinda claiming that I’m doing. Like that’s not what we’re doing here at all. It’s all for your benefit.” I mean just quoting from…from second Corinthians, “all this is for your benefit so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God. Therefore, we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So, we fix our eyes not on what is seen but on what…but on what is unseen since what is seen is temporary but what is unseen is eternal.” So, even in defending himself he’s trying to say, “look higher.” And that’s just like kind of a theme that we see in his letters to the Corinthians. Like…like even in your divisions look higher…there’s a bigger story here, seriously. Do you have to make this argument, this debate, this accusation? Like is this all there is to life? Can’t you see the transformation that God wants to do in you and the way that he wants to use you to transform the world? It’s bigger than what you think”, which ironically isn’t so different than what’s going on in Job. It’s bigger than you think. And when you think you know it all you have put a ceiling on where you can go because you cannot see the unseen, you just waste away in the seen. And, so, let’s take that to heart as we close the books on another month together and prepare to go sailing into the ninth month of the year.
Prayer:
Father we thank You. We thank You for these eighth…eight months that we’ve had the opportunity to be in each other’s company every single day these months. And You have taken us through some territory this year, some serious soul-searching, some deep things. Not only in the Scriptures but in our lives. Like this has been a shaking and You have been faithful and we are grateful. And, so, as we release this month and…and allow it to become a part of our story, a part of our history we look forward to the stories that are yet to be told, the stories of the grand adventure of life in relationship with You and in relationship with one another. And, so, we stand here at the end of something, a month, and on the precipice of the beginnings of something, another month, and we worship You. We are grateful. You are glorious. You are the most-high God. There is none like You. It’s a ridiculous thing to even say that. There is none even remotely like You. You are all powerful. You are the most-high and we are Your children. And, so, we are so profoundly humbled by that. And we ask forgiveness for all of the accusations and all of the assumptions that we have made like You or made about You. We confess that we know in part, we see through a glass darkly. We don’t know what we think we know. But day by day step-by-step we are being transformed from within. You are sanctifying us. You are setting us apart and our prayer is that we just stop getting in Your way. Come Holy Spirit, well up from within and lead us the narrow path that leads to life we ask in Jesus’ name. Amen.
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And that’s it for today. I’m Brian I love you and I’ll be waiting for you here tomorrow.
Community Prayer and Praise:
Good morning Daily Audio Bible family today is the 27th of August this…this is Laura in West Palm Beach Florida. I just heard a prayer request from Michael as he’s driving to possibly another eye surgery this morning. I…I hear despair in his voice. I know he’s lost his father and his mother in the last couple years and he’s been divorced in the last two months and I know Michael needs hope. I know he said that he’s been seeking God’s face and can’t find it. Lord I know that even Job in his despair said that all that he could see about you and know about you was just a whisper of the…of the truth. Father I just pray that Michael would grab a hold of this whisper of hope and that Lord he would have a successful eye surgery. I pray Father that He would continue to seek you because your word says that if you ask and you seek you will find. And Lord I know that you’re there for him. God he is seeking, and I know you’re not going to turn Your back on him. I just pray Father for Michael’s despair to be replaced with hope and peace and trust. And may his eye surgery be successful. And Father not only his eye surgery but I pray that the eyes of his soul would seek You and find You.
Hey this is for the DABber the Michael that called in, you had…you lost your parents and you have issue with your eyes that you may have to have a surgery. I think you said another surgery. I really feel for your man and I know how it is to not feel God or not…not be aware of God around you. That happens to me a lot and I just want to pray for you this morning. Lord we ask for a strong movement of Your strength this morning Lord in Michael’s life. Michael is like us Lord, he needs You, he…he can’t do this alone and he’s asked…he wants You Lord, he’s asking for You, he’s aware of You, he’s here listening to Your Scripture. He’s a part of our group Lord and he’s a part of Your kingdom. We ask that You deliver him from this I issue Lord, that You give him complete health and restoration of any vision loss or anything, Lord that You can comfort him with this…in regard to the loss of his parents and his divorce Lord that You can help him get through that without dwelling on it and without feeling any guilt or without any misery Lord. Please deliver him from these things and begin to bring joy, comfort, and purpose and all kinds of good things into his life Lord. We know that all good gifts come from You. We ask that You just pour out joy on his life and help him to begin to live in a different way in the likeness of Job where everything was taken from him and the pain was so great but in the later part of his life You blessed him with more than he ever had. We ask that You now begin to restore Michael and bless him Lord and help them to live a long fruitful and happy life. Let him share with others what…what happened to him Lord. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.
Hi this is Bighearted Ben and radiant Rachel and Andrew from Pennsylvania. We have a prayer request. Andrew’s buddy Kevin Cranes got in a car accident, a head car collision…head on collision…he’s in a coma and he’s in a coma in the hospital and he needs a lot of prayer. He’s one of Andrews good friends. So, we’re asking that everybody pray with us for Kevin Kevlar otherwise known as…what’s his nickname…Kevlar. Alright. Dear God, we lift up Kevlar to you. We pray that you will send your Holy Spirit to him, to his hospital room. We pray that the Holy Spirit will wrap his arms around him and heal him completely Lord bring him through this so that he can continue on with his life. He was just about to retire, and we pray that he can enjoy his retirement and live a long healthy life. And is there anything else to say Ben? Andrew, you got anything to say? And thank you for this dinner, please nourish it to our bodies. Dear Jesus, please have everyone in the whole wide world even that have been praying __ even everyone in the world to have no __ and the coronavirus to go away and every virus to go away…
Hello everyone, it’s Margo from Liberia I’m still stuck in the UK, been here for over a month and we just found out that our third flight’s that we’ve booked we’ve been bumped off again. And really today I just feel desolate. I do trust God. I totally trust God but my feelings right now…I feel like I’ve got no control over my life. I’m stuck here. I’m useless to anyone. I can’t do anything. I looked into getting registered here so I can work here but I can’t do that. I…I…I’m what I’m asking for is for prayer that we can could back to Australia. My husbands supposed to be doing some training, my sons getting married. I really…I want to be there for my son’s wedding. I’m just at a loss this morning and I guess I just…I’m in need of some support and some prayer. And I’m angry because it’s Australia that’s not letting us in. There’s thousands of us stranded in other countries and the governments put these flight caps on. And, so, kind of, if you can pay business class you can pretty much get in but the flight…the costs are horrendous, and I know I’m not even speaking very well today. I’m just trying to be coherent. I do trust in God, that I know, but I also know that it’s okay to feel upset about things some time. And that’s me today. Please pray. I love you guys. Bye.
Abigail from Oregon this is God’s Life Speaker. I hear your pain for your loss for your baby. Praise God that you got to hold your baby. And I understand totally being pregnant with friends and watching them continue. That happened exactly to be where we had multiple miscarriages and I was pregnant with a friend of the same…good family friend at the same time and it was so hard. I hear you. I hear you. But continue to lift them up, continue to pray for their babies, continue just to believe and speak life that…that your baby is coming. And I can be 11 years away from that time and just tell you the blessing…the blessing is coming. I don’t know why the wait. I don’t understand the babies that we’ve lost. But they are in heaven and will get to hold them. So, Abigail don’t worry about your friend that had an abortion. Pray for her. She will see that baby if she knows Jesus. Continue to be the light and the life of these girlfriends. Know people are praying for you. Losing babies are hard. Losing anything as hard, right? Because we so want it. And to hear that God has a plan…well He has a plan as we live continuously in the places that He has put us. Just like Joe did, we press forward. So, Abigail from Oregon God bless you. Look forward, speak life into yourself into your friends and into the unknown babies that are all you to come. God bless you.
Hi, I just had a prayer request. I had a stroke a week and a half ago and I lost my mom to cancer three weeks before that and I didn’t want to cry I just miss her. I’m a single mom with four boys and I’m in the hospital right now. I just wanted…I have two older boys and two younger boys, and I think one of my boys relapsed into using drugs. It was just too much for him. And if you guys could just keep us in your prayers. My pastor’s wife came and told me about this awesome iPod thing and I’ve been listening to your series from my bed in the hospital and I can’t wait to get home and listen to my boys…have my boys listen to the kids section. If you could just, please keep my family in your prayers and help me get home soon. My little boy Mario also has a birthday coming up on September 1st and he’s pretty sad I’m not going to be able to be there because I’ll still be in the hospital…