And so, they go up a notch and they start telling Job that God would never do something like this. If God did this to you then, you deserved it in some sort of way. Maybe we need to talk, explore that a little bit. Let’s talk about that a little bit. And of course, Job is adamant about his innocence. So, once it becomes really, really clear that Job’s not just speaking from grief and anxiety and everything. That he’s actually trying to say he’s innocent and does not deserve this, well then, his friends have a dilemma because now they’re put in the position of defending God, and that’s Job’s problem. You guys are sitting there on God’s side defending God, but you don’t have anything to tell me that I don’t already know. And so, none of us can actually get to the end of the road. You’re despising me because I’m claiming innocence before God. But I am innocent before God and nobody, there’s no one to prove it. Like we’re all stuck here at an impasse. You are certain that you know what God is going to do and what God is not going to do, and that you know the ways of God. But you don’t know the ways of God any more than I do, and this happened to me. And so, there’s a missing piece somewhere and the only person who knows is God. But wherever I go, I can’t find Him. And this goes back and forth, and back and forth and it gets more and more intense until they are arguing and insulting each other. We might even refer to our reading from Proverbs yesterday about the mocker and say, yeah, we can see the at some point things shifted and got personal here. And so, they’re having a full-on argument and then everybody runs out of things to say. And then there’s a fourth character, Elihu, who’s been sitting there silent, and he begins to speak up and he has a lot to say, and it took a couple days to get through all that he has to say. And then, and then the Lord showed up. And He said, who is this that questions my wisdom with such ignorant words, brace yourself like a man. I have some questions to ask of you and you’re gonna answer me. Man, like I can’t come by this portion of Job, when God shows up, I just sat and thought what that would be like. I see Job’s plight. We’ve read Job’s plight and we wrestle with it in our own lives when we’re asking why, and we don’t have the answers. And so, we can see all of the turmoil in the book of Job being very, very human. Trying to figure this out and then God shows up. And I just think about that. Man, I just, that would be so like, what would, how would we describe, like overwhelming, terrifying, probably like literally mind blowing, awe-inspiring, hopeful, yet like fearful. I mean, God shows up in the storm and begins to speak. God is being heard by these people’s ears, that’s amazing. It’s an amazing scene and God does begin to ask questions and He begins to ask questions that don’t have answers. That no human being has the answers to and we’re beginning to see there’s a lot that we don’t have answers for. We start asking the questions that are existential because we’re suffering but we don’t have the answers to just about anything. We can go through our lives with all of this confidence, when we’re not feeling depressed, when we’re not feeling anxious or any of the darker emotions. We can go through with confidence like we are holding the world by the horns, we got this, we are in control. We are no more in control, then, than when we are suffering, we don’t have the answers. But Job just has to stand there and be asked questions that he can’t answer and that’s kind of where we leave things today. And we will conclude the book of Job tomorrow. And Job has gotten what he wanted. What he wanted was to find God and speak directly with God about his plight. And so, he gets the chance to say what he needs to say, and we’ll get to hear that tomorrow.
And then in Second Corinthians, we’re watching Paul defend himself. He’s been accused. Like there’s just kind of accusation that Paul made the whole thing up, that this…this Jesus thing in all the theology that he formed around it, this is his way, he like made this religion up to manipulate people, to exploit people and to control them. And Paul’s kind of responding by essentially saying look, I get what you’re saying here, but trust me on this one, if that’s what I were going for, if that were the goal, this is not the job I’d be doing. Like this isn’t what I would be doing. If I wanted exploit people and control people and manipulate people that I wouldn’t be doing a job that constantly gets me persecuted to the point of death. As we can hear from his own pen basically, from these letters. Paul believed absolutely that God was transforming humanity through Jesus Christ. His death was one thing, but his resurrection, that was the thing, the firstborn of a new kind of human, one reunited with God. This is Paul’s deep conviction. He believed that, that that which was dying would eventually be swallowed up by life, in the end. And that all that we are going through right now, all of the hardships, all the things that were saying why me about, this is part of it, this is what it looks like to see all things being made new in the world. So, Job has questions of endurance and suffering. Paul has questions of endurance and suffering. But Paul’s conviction is it’s not purposeless, this is going somewhere. So, let’s consider that as we consider our own valley seasons.
Prayer:
And Jesus, as we think, I mean, some of us are in the depths of the valley right now. We literally can’t find the sunshine anymore. We’re under such deep, deep problems, circumstances that we don’t know how to navigate. Anxiety that it’s just like a ball of rubber bands that we can’t untangle. Depression that’s like a cloud that just follows us everywhere we go. Some of us are in that place. Others of us are up at the top and we’re just walking at sea level and we’re just making our way. And then others of us are on the mountain tops right now. We’re all over the place in our stories and in our experiences, and You are in all of it. But we have a hard time interpreting the valley seasons. We have hard time interpreting lots of things; we don’t know all that we think that we know. But You have told us that there is a Comforter, there is a spirit of truth that will lead us into all truth, while comforting us on the way. And so, come Holy Spirit, and comfort us, and lead us into all truth, lead us on the way that we should go and help us to interpret our circumstances appropriately, through the lens of the fact that this is all going somewhere. It’s not purposeless. Nothing gets wasted. All things are being made new. We pray this in the name of Jesus. Amen.
Announcements:
dailyaudiobible.com, that’s home base and that is certainly a place to find out what’s going on around here. The Daily Audio Bible app will do that and a lot more, especially as we make progress on our journey through the Scriptures. So, check out the Daily Audio Bible app, that’s free and it is at the App Store that works with your phone or tablet. While you’re checking things out, check out the Daily Audio Bible Shop. There are resources there like Promised Land films, where you can kind of zoom in and actually look at the places that we’re reading about, situate yourself in those stories. Or the coffee table Promise Land, photograph addition, where you can kind of just thumb through and imagine these different stories that we’re reading about. Or different reading materials, different books to take deep dives on things. Or the coffee and tea in the Shop. Or the different categories, things to wear, things to write with and journal with. Check it out.
And if you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that at…at the same place dailyaudiobible.com, or in the app, you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner. Or the mailing address is P.O. Box 1996 Springhill, Tennessee 37174.
And as always, if you have a prayer request or encouragement, you can hit the Hotline button in the app. Or you can dial 877-942-4253.
And that’s it for today, I’m Brian, I love you and I’ll be waiting for you here tomorrow.
Prayer and Encouragements:
Hey DAB family, this is Rachel calling from Pennsylvania. I just wanted to call and pray for all the youth. Whether they be going back to elementary school, high school, college, or just recently got out. Father, I lift them up before You today and I gave thanks unto You for them. I cover them in the blood of Jesus, Lord. I cover the mind, their thoughts, their will and emotions under the blood of Jesus Christ. And I come against every spirit that would attack their mind, their identity, their purpose, like fear, anxiety, suicide. Whatever it may be that they’re struggling with, addiction. Because they all have a purpose, God. And they’re under so much more attack and adversary than previous generations. But I know they are important to You and they matter. So, Lord, I thank You for each and every one of them. And I pray that each one of them that’s listening, whatever they’re going through, that they would know that they are loved by You and You’ve never left them, nor forsaken them. God, I thank You for this generation because they are the generation that will seek Your face and help us all. I just thank You for them, Lord. Cause I feel like they need encouragement right now, cause they’re so many things coming against them. And so many people putting them down. And they are, at times, suffering in silence. But Lord, You see and You know everything that they’re dealing with. So, I give You all the glory and I thank You for them. And I pray that they all be encouraged, every single one of you. Renzo, I’ve heard you call in few times. And the one young lady who prayed for her friend Quill, who is experiencing hardships. Every single one of you, you are loved by God. And I pray that the Lord strengthens you and keep you. And I just wanted you to know that I, I hear, and I see you guys and I am praying for you. In Jesus name. Amen.
Good morning DAB family. This is Delta Alpha Foxtrot, just chiming in. I’m heading home from Erin’s home in Rocksdown, Texas to my home in San Antonio, Texas. And I just wanted to ask you guys for some prayer for my mom. She had a stroke back in December and my sisters and I have been her, been cycling through giving care. She’s getting a lot better physically. But there’s definitely some spiritual depression going on there. She gets sad and very emotional. I think its, a lot of it’s tied to my brother’s death. My brother was an addict; he passed away a couple years ago. And so, I think there’s some spiritual oppression going on there and I want to ask the family to pray against that for us and to cast that spirit of sadness, of depression into the hands of Jesus for final judgement. Thank you. God bless you. Just wanted to give a shout out to Blind Tony, I heard you playing the flute, maaaaaan. I heard the flute come on and I was like aww, this is lovely. And then when I heard your voice, I was like, that’s Blind Tony playing the flute!!! I love it. Alright folks. It’s your boy, Delta Alpha Foxtrot, calling from the south and central Texas Front. God bless you all.
Hi, DAB family, this is Single and Still and I’m calling in response to the beginning of July’s community prayer. Lord, I just lift up sons to You, sons that are grown and that are struggling with mental illness and one that was a brother that I heard about. So, I lift up son Nathan to You, our brother Nathan too, as they recover from alcoholism and there’s mental illness diagnosis and just the struggle. The struggle with drugs and how to cope and how to be able to function under these circumstances. And I pray for freedom from the dependencies of substances to try to live I guess what we call a normal or functional life. And I pray freedom and I pray healing in Jesus name. And I also pray for Jason, I think Margarie that’s your son that sometimes you know, with alcohol, that Lord, just like when one of my sisters on the DAB says, that it would be just gross that the desire would be such a letdown whenever they consume alcohol or drugs of abuse. So, I lift up our sons. I pray for healing. I pray for salvation. I pray for udder dependence on You Lord, every step of the way. Every step, of every day, and other children that are suffering and struggling through this. And Sparky, I just wanna thank you for your testimony. And others that have shared how the Lord has helped you to overcome different battles, especially with alcohol. In Jesus name I pray. Amen.
Hey, my incredible DAB fam, this is Kingdom Seeker Daniel and Lady of Victory. And family, we just want to stop by and pray for our dear sister Little Leaf. Sis, we heard you and we hear you. And our hearts are going out to you. I personally want to applaud you, first of all for pressing through an extremely hard place. And I just wanted you to know God is with you. And even in the uncertainties of your decisions, He is with you. And as you continue to lean into Him for wisdom, knowledge, and guidance, he’s gonna help you through to make the right decision. So, Father, I pray for our dear sister, Little Leaf, that You would give her the grace to wait on You, to wait and hope as You are at work in her husband’s life, who is obviously disturbed and not in his right mind. Father, we’re praying that You would bring him to his right mind. And cause, Lord God, a turn-around in this man’s heart. And I pray, that in the meantime, that You will continue to keep Little Leaf, guard her heart and walk her through, in Jesus name. We even pray, God, for the little baby and God, even the other woman, that You would turn this situation around for Your good. For their good and for Your glory. God, and we ask that You would let Little Leaf know that it’s okay not to be okay. And I too, applaud you for just standing, standing strong in the face of adversities. And you remember, when you can’t trust His hand, trusts God’s heart. He loves you. Amen.