Job 1:1-3:26, 1 Corinthians 14:1-17, Psalm 37:12-29, Proverbs 21:25-26
Today is the 21st day of August, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible, I am Brian. It is wonderful to be here with you today as we bring to the close another one of our weeks together and even as we do that, we’re opening the books on a brand-new book, and some brand-new territory that we haven’t been in yet. So, we wound our way all the way in the book, from the book of Genesis and met Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all their children and the tribes and we’ve gone the journey with Moses. We have learned of the kings, we have met some of the prophets, we have learned of the exile, we have even learned of the return from exile and we have moved through the short story, but the potent story of Esther which we finished up yesterday and so now were turning into a new genre and some new territory.
Introduction to the Book of Job:
We’re moving into the book of Job, and Job is a part of a collection of books in the Bible, known as wisdom literature underneath its narrative are lessons for us to mind and meditate upon and this territory that we’re going into deals with some of the more difficult things that we face in life be, unexplained things. The things that leave us going, why? Why me and how is this just and how is this fair. And if God is all-powerful and why can this kind of evil exist? Theologically, this is known as the Odyssey, like the defense of the goodness and the power and might of God in the face of evil, unspeakable evil. And, this has obviously, since this is very old texts, then wrestled with for thousands and thousands and thousands of years and we continue to wrestle until today in an attempt to understand and even as we moved through Job, we still end up with plenty of questions about plenty of things but we’re given perspective and a place to aim our hearts in these situations. But as tragic as some of the story of Job is, is it is still considered one of the most beautiful pieces of literature in the Bible for sure, but it’s well-respected external to the Bible as well. And for as important of a topic where this text came from is disputed, mostly because there's…there’s not a lot, I mean, there’s plenty in the book but there’s not a lot of historical context, and there’s not a lot of names, there are names, but they’re hard to find historically to pinpoint, to have something to hold onto historically, which then leads to a lot of conjecture which happens so often in so many different parts of the Bible. So, some scholars accept that Job could be one of the more ancient books in the Bible if not the most ancient book in the Bible. But even in the Hebrew Jewish tradition, the opinions are varying. Some think that there’s archaic Hebrew being used, and so it’s very, very ancient. A lot of words are used in the book of Job. Hebrew words that aren’t found anywhere else in the Bible. So, some have concluded maybe this is old as Abraham. This is a story that goes back that far. Then there are other scholars that believe this was probably written from the exile, or just after, like a returning exile who…who didn’t speak Hebrew, might’ve been a Hebrew person but had grown up in exile and so didn’t speak Hebrew as native tongue. And so, that would explain this…this word use. Other scholars will hold to the tradition that Job was collected, or are even written by Moses and if that were the case then maybe he was writing down oral traditions like a story that had been passed down orally throughout the generations to deal with the issue of unexpected suffering and tragedy and evil. There aren’t a ton of characters in the book of Job, so we’ll meet the people as…as they, as they come to the story. We’ll meet some friends of Job who traveled pretty distant to comfort their friend who has really gone through worst things pretty much any of us ever, ever will. So, the bulk of the narrative really is a conversation between Job and his friends. And, Job will insist until the very end that he has done nothing wrong and that this is not just, and that he needs an explanation and he doesn’t want an explanation from his friends. He doesn’t want an explanation from another human being for that matter, he feels like he’s a human being and he’s not stupid, he’s wise, he’s always been considered wise and so he knows as much, as his friends who are also wise, have to tell him, and it’s not sufficient. He needs an answer from God and he doesn’t know how to get that or even what he would do if he did get that. And, his friends are counseling him and we’ll notice that the things that they say they don’t, it doesn’t seem like they’re crazy, it’s the kind of stuff that we might find ourselves saying as well, but it does get contentious and argumentative. Because Job will not relent that he is innocent and they can’t find any grid that would allow him to be innocent and his stories still make sense. And so, with all of that we dive into this new territory. Job chapters 1 through 3 today.
Prayer:
Father, we thank You for Your word, we thank You for bringing us through another week successfully together and as we turn into this new territory and Job, we invite Your Holy Spirit to come, speak to us, guide us, direct us, correct us, comfort us, lead us forward into all truth, we pray in the mighty name of Jesus we ask expectantly. Amen.
Announcements:
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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.
Prayers and Encouragements:
This is Protected by His Wings in Eastern Tennessee. Dear heavenly Father we pray for the country of Afghanistan today. Lord, we plead Your hand of mercy upon the people of Afghanistan who are fleeing for their lives. The government and security forces who are fleeing. Those who were assisting and helping Western governments and militaries in the past decades who now are in fear of their lives. If not, who are already fleeing for their lives. Lord, we ask Your hand of protection over these people. May Your will be done on earth as it is heaven and the country of Afghanistan. Lord, we pray that the countries of the world, including Afghanistan would seek Your face for the answers to the questions that they have on what to do next and how to rule such a country. Lord, protect Your people, provide a way where we see no way, provide a way, provide hope where we don’t see any hope. We pray this in Jesus precious name. Amen.
Hi this is Bonnie from Virginia. Today is Saturday August 14th. I just listened to the prayer request that Jonathan from Denmark called. I was so amazed to hear someone who is only 20-years-old and being so honest, expecting and requesting prayer from the group. And he said he has only started listening to DAB for about a month or over a month. But thank you for trusting us and requesting for your praise. We will be praying for you, my son. There are so many young adults or kids of your age who are still ___ and not realizing their sin or mistake. But you are at the right place now everyone will be praying for you and thank you for being honest. God loves those children. So, every time if you are being tempted to look at the pornography just think about God saying to that prostitute lady when pharisees brought her over to Jesus and told Jesus to stone her but Jesus did not stone her and told her that go and do not sin anymore. So, you just think of those words also anytime you get tempted. And I hope that will help you. We will be praying for you.
This is a word of encouragement for Dr. John. I am a Dr. John in Illinois and I pray for my brother; I pray for my fellow DABer and I ask Lord that he provide you supernatural healing restoration in your eyes. I pray for peace, sometimes even we grow weary and working with our patients, always being in the business of trying to help others and sometimes neglect of ourselves. So, I asked fellow DABers let’s stand together for our brother-in-the Lord, for this doctor. So often he has called in and prayed for the needs and concern for the needs of others in his practice and just in the business of supporting us. So, let’s lift our brother up and I say to you, Dr. John, God Bless you brother for your gifts that you willingly give to the Lord in your heart that you give to us and I pray the Lord will make you well from the top of your head to the tips of your toes. He provide you freedom from fear and freedom from pain and misery and that He can do all things. His timing is perfect in His ways are right so we trust in that above all else. God bless your brother and know that there’ll be a lot of __ praying for you daily and we pray for a good report. And we ask all these things in the name of Jesus and for His sake. Amen.
Hi, it’s Deborah, Sheltered in Maine. Oh, my word. So, I did not listen to the Daily Audio Bible for almost four months. A little intermittently in between. About five days ago I realized that I felt empty, I was empty. So, I started back listening and I tell you I am so grateful for this…this place because I felt like I was coming home. This is where is home. You guys, you…you…you help to fill me up. I don’t even know how to explain it. Jessica from California, God Bless you, my sister. I so love you; you are like, I don’t even know how to explain how I reacted to your message. I’m just so proud of you and so proud of what God is doing in you. And I pray my sister that you would continue in your walk and rejoice in all that He’s given you. Thank you, my family. You are wonderful. And I don’t think I’m gonna be able to leave this again for a very long. Praise the Lord in all you do, rejoice and be glad in Him. Thank you.
Good morning my DAB family. This is…I was getting ready to say DAB-C…good morning my DAB family, this is Lady of Victory. And it is Tuesday morning August 17th about 6:37 central standard time. Just wanted to come on, I know it has been way, way, way, way long. But I wanted to come on just to thank all of the DAB-Cs and the DABers for just all of your love, your prayers, your support. During a very, very, very, very difficult time for myself and Kingdom Seeker Daniel at the loss of my son on July 10th unexpectedly. And, just wanted to say I could not have and cannot walk this journey without your guy’s prayers and so I appreciate them. The support, the love and the care that you guys have expressed to Kingdom Seeker that he has expressed to me the journey is still long it’s only been about 6 weeks. Three weeks since we actually funeralized him on July 24th, so the journey is very, very long, very, very fresh. And so, I still need your guy’s prayers and just want you to know how much I appreciate you. Don’t want you to think that it’s gone unnoticed even though I have been MIA. Certainly, you can understand. But again, thank you so much for all of your prayers, your support and your concern and we appreciate you guys more than you’ll ever know. Be encouraged. And God Bless you.