Job 37:1-39:30, 2 Corinthians 4:13-5:10, Psalm 44:9-26, Proverbs 22:13
Today is the 31st day of August, the last day of the eighth month of the year. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. Wow, eight months on this journey, we’ve been together. Hard to believe but day-by-day, step-by-step, this is where the journey has led us. And so, congratulations. Today’s reading will conclude our eighth month on a 12 month journey through the Scriptures and we find ourselves squarely in the book of Job. We have certainly learned what happened to Job, what tragedy befell him, what he’s dealing with. We’ve definitely heard Job’s heart, we understand his position, that he will not deny God, he will trust in God even if it kills him, but he also believes he is innocent and hasn’t deserved what has happened to him. His friends have come to be around him, to comfort him, turned into a big argument because Job believes he’s innocent before the Lord and they can’t believe Job because that would have to make them consider that God is done something unjust, which they can’t do. And so, it’s been an argument and there have been some insults. And then finally, there was a pause and another person who hadn’t spoken, his name is Elihu, started speaking. He was the youngest and he said as much, like I was waiting for the elders to speak and show the wisdom but nobody seems to have it. Now I need to speak and that’s where we find ourselves right now, Elihu continues to speak. So, let’s dive in, Job 37, 38 and 39 today.
Commentary:
Okay, so we are moving our way toward the conclusion of the book of Job. We’ll actually conclude the book of Job tomorrow. And if we remember the story over the last few days, as the story opens, and we meet Job, and he’s a righteous man and then tragedy, after tragedy, after tragedy, befall him. The worst possible tragedy, like he loses the lives of his children, he loses his livelihood, he loses everything in one day. And we get to witness as the news comes into Job, what has, what is happening and what has happened and we could see Job in the shock of it all, tear his robe, throw ashes on himself, grieve, mourn, wail, fall to the ground and worship God. It’s a very striking scene. We also get to see Job’s wife kind of turn on him and say, curse God and die, are you trying to hold onto your integrity? Which, he certainly is trying to hold onto his integrity. He doesn’t know why this is happening and eventually he has friends, they come and sit Shiva with him, they sit silent for a whole week, until Job begins to speak. And once Job opens his mouth, that’s the bulk of the book of Job. Job talking to his friends, his friends talking back to Job. Job does not understand why the tragedy has fallen upon him. He believes he hasn’t done anything wrong. He believes he’s innocent and his assumption is that God is judging him but that God is not being just. God’s judging without, without cause. And so, we hear the rustling through that because this is how Job feels, but his friends can get on board with the fact that God is been unjust to Job. Right, the problem somehow has to be with Job. Job asks all kinds of questions and his friends try to answer them in defense of God because they’re trying to pull out that Job you are the one, you’re at fault here, it is your pride that is speaking here, you are condemning yourself. Job holds onto his innocence, which makes them mad. And so, there’s some insults the fly back-and-forth, as we can understand the same things would happen today. In fact, when we listen to Job’s friends speaking to Job, those are the kinds of things we say. And Job kinda fires back at them. I know all the stuff you’re telling me. I’ve told other people this like, you don’t have wisdom that I don’t already have and you’re not bringing me comfort, I know all this, I need to find God, I need to hear it from God’s mouth. I need to present my case to God and have God explain to me what is going on. So, in today’s reading, Job got what he wanted. God shows up. Every time we move to the book of Job and we get to this scene, where God shows up, it is striking to me. Because first of all, God has shown up and begins to speak. But what He tells Job is, essentially, here I am, brace yourself like a man, I have some questions for you. The reason I find that striking is, can you imagine. I mean, maybe we can imagine God showing up and speaking and that right there is unbelievable. Like it’s so powerful, God is speaking to us and we’ve longed to speak to God and pour out our story to God. And God says, brace yourself like a man. You’ve been asking a bunch of questions and I have a few questions of my own for you and you’re going to answer me. I just, I believe I would pee in my pants. And then God starts asking questions of his own. Questions that can’t be answered, questions that are far above the human paygrade like, Job, can’t answer these things. But Job has prepared is case and so now he has what he wanted. He has found God. God has come to him and Job can now present his case and get his answers. And we’ll see what Job has to say as we conclude the book of Job tomorrow. As we begin a brand-new month.
Prayer:
And so, Father, we thank You for Your word. Every day, the Scriptures speak into our lives in some way, bringing comfort or correction and we welcome it all. All of its disruption, all of the things that it makes us face, all the things that it shakes within us, so that what cannot be shaken is who we are. Thank You for this. And as we conclude eight months out of this year together, every single day, we thank You for Your faithfulness in ourlives to guide our steps through Your word and we certainly look forward longingly to all that is yet before us. So, Holy Spirit, come into what we’ve read today and what we’ve read this week. Lead us forward, as we humble ourselves and become obedient to where You are leading. We pray this in the name of Jesus. 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, well actually I’ll be waiting for you here, next month. See you then.
Prayer and Encouragements will be posted later.