The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Wednesday August 26, 2020 (NIV)

Job 20-22

20 Zophar the Naamathite reiterated his concern for Job.

Zophar: My anguished thoughts force me to respond
because I feel an urgency within myself.
I caught wind of your words that dishonor me,
but I am prompted to answer based on my own spirit and understanding.
Don’t you know how it has always been?
Since humankind was first put here on the earth,
The celebrations of the wicked have been brief,
and the joy of the profane lasts only a moment.
Even if he were tall enough to reach into the heavens
and his head were to reach to the clouds,
He would still perish forever, like his own excrement;
those who once looked upon him would wonder,
“Where has he gone?”
Like a dream, he flies off where no one can find him;
he is chased away only to vanish into the air like a vision of the night.
The eyes that saw him before see him no more;
his home doesn’t ever welcome him again.
10 His children beg at the door of the poor;
his hands render his wealth back to them.
11 The vigor of youth had a home, a residence in his bones,
but it lies down in the dust with him.

12 Though his wrongdoing is sweet in his mouth,
though he hides it under his tongue,
13 Though he holds it close and will not let it go
(but must keep it in his mouth),
14 His food will be transformed within him
into the bitter venom of the asp.
15 The wealth he has swallowed will be poison.
He will vomit it up—God will cast it out.
16 It is as they say, “He sucks the venom of asps
and is slain by the tongue of the viper.”
17 Never again will he gaze at the brook’s edge
or see streams that flow with milk and honey—
18 The food for which he worked he vomits up or cannot swallow,
and the gains of his trading, he can never enjoy.
19 After all, he’s an oppressor;
he’s crushed and forsaken the poor;
he made his home in a house he stole from another,
a house he did not build himself.

20 Because he’s never known inner peace,
he has seized everything he’s ever craved.
21 Because he consumed all he could see, nothing is left;
his prosperity cannot last.
22 When he is fat with satisfaction,
the belt of distress will tighten around him
and the hands of the downtrodden will rise up against him.
23 When he has filled up his belly,
God will visit him with His ferocious anger;
it will rain down on him while he is eating.
24 Let him attempt to escape the iron weapon.
Instead, a bow of bronze will send death to tear into him.
25 When the arrow is drawn it comes out of his back,
and the shining arrowhead comes out of his organ,
bringing terror upon him.
26 A great darkness waits for and stalks everything he values.
A mysterious fire—unstoked yet burning hot—will consume him
and devour everything and everyone left behind in his tent.
27 The skies will tell on him, exposing his wrongdoing;
the earth will rebel against him.
28 All that he labored to build will be carried off,
washed away in the day of God’s furious anger.
29 This is how it will be for the wicked of humanity before God;
this is the inheritance God bequeaths them.

21 Then Job answered Zophar.

Job: Listen carefully to what I’m about to say,
and let your listening be the consolation you give me.
Suffer me to speak to you,
and after I’ve said what I need to say,
you may commence mocking.
Is my complaint addressed to humanity, or has it ever been?
Why shouldn’t I, by this point, be impatient with all of this?
Stay with me, and be stunned at what has happened to such a righteous person;
cover your gaping mouth with your hand.
When I think back upon everything that has gone before, I’m terrified;
my body is overtaken with trembling.
Why do the wicked live
on an ever-upward path to long life and riches?
Their children become well-established in front of them;
their offspring are guaranteed to grow up before their very eyes.
Their houses are immune to approaching terrors;
the rod of God is not on their backs punishing them.
10 Their bulls are consistent breeders;
their cows deliver healthy calves without miscarrying.
11 They produce flocks of children and send them all out into the world;
their young ones dance around free of care.
12 They still participate in celebration,
raising their voices to the song of the tambourine and the harp;
delighting in the sound of the flute.
13 They pass their time in the lap of abundance,
and they are even permitted to pass quickly to the land of the dead,
instead of lingering with chronic pain.
14 They tell God, “Leave us be.
We have no interest in You or Your ways.
15 Who is the Highest One[a] anyway,
and why should we serve Him?
What can we possibly gain by asking favors of Him?
Isn’t He generous enough already?
16 Look, don’t you see?
The wicked do not control their own wealth, God does;
I am a long way from understanding the plan for the wicked.

17 Bildad claims the flame of the wicked is blown out.
But how often is their lamp extinguished?
How often does disaster strike them or does God give them pain
because of His anger at what they’ve done?

Throughout the Bible, God is called by many names. One of the most frequent in the Old Testament, Shaddai, was a favorite name of God for patriarchs such as Abraham and Moses. Based on the etymology of the name, many suggest Abraham brought that epithet with him from Mesopotamia, so it is logical that Job (another patriarch from outside of Israel) could often refer to Him the same way.

El Shaddai, which translates to “God of my mountain” or possibly “God of might,” aptly describes many characteristics of God. He is strong and high above everything, just like the heights of a mountain. He is a protector, just like the rocky crags in the side of a cliff. And certainly God associates Himself with mountain ranges—having Abraham bind Isaac on Mount Moriah, giving the Israelites the law from Mount Sinai, and placing His sacred temple on Mount Zion. Whether speaking to humanity from the top of a mountain or the heights of heaven, the Lord is certainly the Highest One; no one is above Him.

18 How often are they as straw in the wind
or the chaff separated from the grain by fierce winds?
19 It is said, “God stores away a man’s misdeeds
and delivers them to his children.”[b]
Let Him repay the man Himself, so the man can know it.
20 Let the wicked see his ruin with his own eyes
as he drinks down the wrath of the Highest One.
21 After all, once he’s dead and gone and his time is up,
what will he care for his household and family?
22 Now who dares impart knowledge to God
since He stands as judge over the most powerful?
23 One person dies when he is fit and strong,
completely secure and totally at peace;
24 His body[c] is vigorous and well fed;
his bones are strong and moist.
25 Another person dies with a bitter soul,
having never even tasted goodness.
26 But they lie down together in the same dust,
covered by the same blanket of worms.

27 I know how your minds work, my friends,
and how you plan to wrong me—your thoughts of retribution.
28 You will counter, “Show me!
Where is the palatial estate?
Where are the vaulted tents of the wicked?”
29 But I say, have you never consulted with those who travel this world?
They can tell you the complexions of many lands.
But you’ve never permitted their witness
in your courts of opinion, have you?
30 Well, if you had, you’d have heard
that when disaster strikes, the wicked are spared;
On the day of fury,
they are escorted safely through.
31 Who challenges them openly regarding their actions,
and who repays them on account of all they’ve done?
32 When death finally comes and they are laid in their graves,
guards stand watch over their tombs, fending off grave robbers.
33 Laid to rest beside the stream, clods of earth cover them kindly;
while countless souls have gone before, all of humanity follows after.
34 So, my friends, how can you continue trying to comfort me with these empty consolations?
So far, your answers have been only thinly veiled lies!

22 Eliphaz the Temanite made suggestions to Job.

Eliphaz: Can a strong person be of any use to God?
How about one who is wise? Can he help himself?
Is the Highest One[d] made happy if you are righteous?
Does He profit from your perfect ways?
Do you really think He takes you to task because you revere Him too much?
Is this why He brings allegations against you?
Is it not possible that you are, in fact, great with wickedness
and endless in your wrongdoing?

When your relatives came to you needing money,
for no good reason you took their clothes for collateral
and left them naked.
You have never given so much as a cup of water to the thirsty
or a crumb to the hungry.
You must think only the powerful and privileged possess the land
and can live in it any way they wish.
You have sent away widows who were wanting,
and you have obliterated the only support of orphans.
10 This is why you are surrounded by snares,
why you are overcome with dreadful fears,
11 Why you’re in the dark, without a glimmer to help you see,
sunk beneath the rush of flooding water.

12 Is not God up there at the crown of the highest arc of heaven?
And the highest stars!
See how lofty they are!
13 But you—you say, “What does God know?
Can He send His judgments through such thick darkness?
14 Those clouds are just a veil for Him so He does not have to look upon us
while He saunters, oblivious, through the chambers of the sky.”
15 Job, are you now guardian of the ancient road
where the wicked have traveled?
16 The wicked, who are captured
and taken off before their time,
their foundations washed out by a flooded river,
17 They are the ones who tell God, “Leave us be.”
They say, “What can the Highest One do to us?”
18 How are they repaid for their insolence?
You say, “He stuffs their homes with goodness,”
Then you shake your head and mutter,
“Far be it from me to understand the thoughts and plans of the wicked.”
19 The righteous would look upon their ruin and laugh for delight;
the innocent would taunt
20 By saying, “Sure enough, our enemies have gone to their annihilation,
and what they’ve left behind feeds a hungry fire.”

21 Now be of use to God;
be at peace with Him,
and goodness will return to your life.
22 Receive instruction directly from His lips,
and make His words a part of you.
23 If you return to the Highest One,
you will be restored;
if you banish the evil from your tents,
24 And consider your gold as common as earth’s dust
and Ophir’s refined gold as plentiful as stones in rock-lined streams,
25 Then your true treasure will be the Highest One—
worth more than gold and silver beyond measure.
26 For then, at last, you will find pleasure in the Highest One,
and you will finally be able to show Him your face.
27 When you approach Him, He will listen;
you will make good on your promises to Him.
28 You will pronounce something to be,
and He will make it so;
light will break out across all of your paths.
29 God will humble, but you say, “Raise them up.”
He will save the downcast.
30 He will even consent to deliver those who are not innocent
through the purity of your then-washed-clean hands.

Footnotes:

  1. 21:15 Hebrew, Shaddai
  2. 21:19 Exodus 20:5
  3. 21:24 Meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain.
  4. 22:3 Hebrew, Shaddai
The Voice (VOICE)

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.

1 Corinthians 1:1-11

Paul, called out by God’s will to be an emissary[a] for Jesus the Anointed, along with brother Sosthenes, to God’s church gathering in the city of Corinth. As people who are united with Jesus, the Anointed One, you have been set apart for service. You are all called into community to live as saints with all who invoke the name of our Lord Jesus, the Anointed

I pray that God our Father and the Lord Jesus, the Anointed One, will shower you with grace and peace.

I am continuously thanking my God for you when I think about the grace God has offered you in Jesus the Anointed. In this grace, God is enriching every aspect of your lives by gifting you with the right words to say and everything you need to know. In this way, your life story confirms the life story of the Anointed One, so you are not ill-equipped or slighted on any necessary gifts as you patiently anticipate the day when our Lord Jesus, the Anointed One, is revealed. Until that final day, He will preserve you; and on that day, He will consider you faultless. Count on this: God is faithful and in His faithfulness called you out into an intimate relationship with His Son, our Lord Jesus the Anointed.

10 My brothers and sisters, I urge you by the name of our Lord Jesus, the Anointed, to come together in agreement. Do not allow anything or anyone to create division among you. Instead, be restored, completely fastened together with one mind and shared judgment. 11 I have heard troubling reports from Chloe’s people that you, my siblings, are consumed by fighting and petty disagreements.

Footnotes:

  1. 1:1 Literally, apostle
The Voice (VOICE)

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.

Psalm 40:11-17

11 Please, Eternal One, don’t hold back
Your kind ways from me.
I need Your strong love and truth
to stand watch over me and keep me from harm.
12 Right now I can’t see because I am surrounded by troubles;
my sins and shortcomings have caught up to me,
so I am swimming in darkness.
Like the hairs on my head, there are too many to count,
so my heart deserts me.

13 O Eternal One, please rescue me.
O Eternal One, hurry; I need Your help.
14 May those who are trying to destroy me
be humiliated and ashamed instead;
May those who want to ruin my reputation
be cut off and embarrassed.
15 May those who try to catch me off guard,
those who look at me and say, “Aha, we’ve trapped you,
be caught in their own shame instead.

16 But may all who look for You
discover true joy and happiness in You;
May those who cherish how You save them
always say, “O Eternal One, You are great and are first in our hearts.”
17 Meanwhile, I am empty and need so much,
but I know the Lord is thinking of me.
You are my help; only You can save me, my True God.
Please hurry.

The Voice (VOICE)

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.

Proverbs 22:2-4

Rich and poor have something in common:
both are created by the Eternal.
Prudent people see trouble coming and hide,
but the naive walk right into it and take a beating.
A humble person who fears the Eternal
can expect to receive wealth, honor, and life.

The Voice (VOICE)

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.

08/26/2020 DAB Transcript

Job 20:1-22:30, 2 Corinthians 1:1-11, Psalms 40:11-17, Proverbs 22:2-4

Today is the 26th day of August welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I’m Brian it is a wonderful to be here with you today as we continue our journey step-by-step day by day, week by week, month by month through the entire Bible in a year. And traveling a year together in each other’s lives as we go through this in community is…it is an awesome thing that we get to be alive at this time on the earth to share and fellowship and be the body of Christ all over the world. And, so, what a joy to come around the Global Campfire today together and take that next step forward. So, we are continuing to work our way through the book of Job and we concluded first Corinthians yesterday, which will bring us to second Corinthians when we get to the New Testament reading today, but we’ll talk about that when we get there. First, Job chapters 20, 21 and 22. And we’re reading from the Voice Translation this week.

Introduction to the book of second Corinthians:

Okay. As…as we said at the beginning, we…well as we knew yesterday probably, we concluded first Corinthians, a letter of Paul to the church at Corinth yesterday which brings us to the letter that we know as second Corinthians. And this is probably not the second letter the Paul wrote to the Corinthians. Like, it’s probably at least the third because there was a first one referenced in first Corinthians. Like in first Corinthians there was a letter referenced that was previous to that one, but that one’s probably not preserved or discovered but we’ll talk about that in a second. Pretty much among biblical scholars the authenticity of this letter is generally undisputed. And you may be like, “undisputed? This is the Bible. Of course Paul wrote it.” But there have been disputes ongoing…ongoing all the way back into the early church era about whether or not Paul wrote certain of these letters, which isn’t to say that they don’t belong in the Bible. They’re just certain letters and certain linguistics and certain things in letters that seem as if they…they happened at a later time because of the development of the church structure, things that wouldn’t have existed in Paul’s time or…or didn’t because they hadn’t been formed or fleshed out yet. And that used to bother me a little bit. It’s like, “well then that calls into question lots of things” but it doesn’t. I mean the author of the book of Hebrews has been unknown for a very long…there was a time that it was attributed to Paul, but there’s like no biblical scholars today pretty much that would say Paul is the author of Hebrews. So, the author is unknown and that’s what we get here when we come through some of these letters of Paul. They are Pauline for sure. And there are all kinds of explanations for why Paul may or may not have written a letter. Some of the explanations would be like, Paul dictated his letters, and somebody wrote down what he said. And, so, if he was using a different secretary a different scribe, somebody else to write down a different letter than the language would be a little bit different because it’s being written down by somebody else or as was common in the emerging early church schools around certain teachers and people would form. So, like maybe there was a Pauline school. Paul spent a lot of time in places like Ephesus where he’s doing the good work, where he’s teaching people in an ongoing way. And, so, they are being raised up in this kind of Pauline theology, this thought…the way that he sees things, the way that he received things from Christ and taught those things. And I guess this is a good time as any to just kind of go through those. This…this letter that we’re about to go into, second Corinthians, this is…this is an undisputed authentic letter of Paul. So is first Thessalonians and Galatians and first Corinthians, which we just read, as well as Philippians and Philemon, and Romans, which we already read. These are undisputed letters of Paul. And then there are the…kind of the disputed letters where scholars don’t agree, where there’s vigorous…and has been…like this isn’t new, this kind of biblical scholarship isn’t new at all. It’s very very old. Like it wasn’t invented in the year 2000 and we’ve been debating these things for the last 20 years. It’s ancient scholarship. This has been going on a long time. And, so, the letters that scholars aren’t in complete agreement that Paul actually authored although they’re Pauline in the thought would be, Ephesians, Colossians and second Thessalonians. And then the pastoral letters of Timothy – first, second Timothy and Titus – I mean they’re very few biblical scholars or historians that would…that would affirm that Paul wrote those letters, specifically there’s church structure etc. etc. in those letters that a historian could say like, “that hadn’t developed yet in Paul’s lifetime. So, this is of Paul’s thinking, but Paul probably didn’t write this.” So, does that make something not have any authority anymore in the Scriptures? Not to me, not to me at all. But I’m sharing these things because we’re going through the whole Bible together and we’re trying to get as much of the story, as much of the context of what’s being said as we possibly can so that we come out of a year in the Bible basically going like, that was the tip of the iceberg, I’m diving in so that we develop a relationship with the Scriptures throughout our lifetimes. So anyway, back to second Corinthians one of the authenticated letters of Paul. It’s just that second Corinthians has a few complexions to it. It almost seems like maybe more than one letter was stitched together to create this a cohesive thing that could be read among the churches. So, could be that this first letter that Paul is referring to in first Corinthians is actually stitched in…is a part of second Corinthians as well as…I mean some scholars think there’s almost up to like five different pieces of letters or notes or something that…that has been consolidated into second Corinthians. Others think it’s maybe a couple…a couple of different letters that were put together and consolidated so that they could be…they could be read. Nevertheless, Titus who was a son in the faith of Paul had visited the Corinthians and then later on met up with Paul during his travels, as he’s doing his missionary journey, and Paul then was able to hear from Titus some feedback on what was going on in Corinth and even some of the impact of his previous letter, which is what we just read. And, then, so Paul writes another letter, which we’ll begin today. And let’s not forget what we’re talking about. We’re talking about a cosmopolitan urban city in the Roman Empire and a church within that city. So, Corinth has everything that a big city has. It’s a sensual Roman city - many ideas, many persuasion…persuasions, it’s is a secular society, rebellion in a lot of ways - and as part of the culture some of these feelings, some of these persuasions they found their way into the church. And we can wonder like, “how would that happen?” And all you got to do is go to any church today and see that it’s the same…like we are informed by the culture that we live in. So, we live in one part of the United States, we’re gonna have certain convictions and certain persuasions because our culture is that way. And we can go to a different part of the United States and find that our brothers and sisters think very differently about things. And then we can go to another country and find out that the experience of Jesus is…isvery different because it’s contextualized in the culture, into the way we can understand things. And, so, some of this is coming into the church at Corinth. And we remember when we read first Corinthians, division was a big issue. And this big issue has not dissipated. And, so, there…there were members in the…the Corinthian church as we remember from first Corinthians who were like, “I’m of Paul. I’m of Cephas. I’m of Apollo’s s. I’m of Christ. So, there’s like these divisions and some of that has continued to the point that there are certain people trying to kinda take over. So, like church politics existed in the early church. So, some people are taken over, trying to take over, get power, even questioning Paul’s authority at all, even though he founded the church. They’re questioning his leadership, his rules, whether he’s really an apostle, even his gospel, even the gospel itself. And, so, Paul’s addressing these kinds of things and they are not unfamiliar. It’s just a different time. They just wore different clothes. They just had different technology. But the heart of the matter…yeah…the heart of the matter is still with us today. And, so, with that we begin second Corinthians chapter 1 verses 1 through 11 today.

Prayer:

Father, we thank You for Your word. We thank You for its ability to do what it says, to keep at the very low level of our identity and speak to us there and we need that and we are grateful for that because we’re searching for identity and we search at superficial levels. We search for an identity by seeing how well we’re doing compared to somebody else when Your word can speak identity into the depths of our souls. And, so we are grateful and we invite Your Holy Spirit to plant the words spoken each day into the soil of our hearts, that we may be fruitful, that we may bear the fruit of the spirit bountifully, overflowing, a harvest so rich that it spills out of our lives and touches everyone around us. This is our work. and this is accomplished by surrendering to You. Come Holy Spirit we pray. In the name of Jesus we ask. Amen.

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And that’s it for today on Brian. I love you and I’ll be waiting for you here tomorrow.

The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Tuesday August 25, 2020 (NIV)

Job 16-19

16 Then Job reiterated his innocence.

Job: All the things from you sound the same.
You are all terrible as comforters!
Have we reached the end of your windy words,
or are you sick with something that compels you to argue with me?
If we were to trade places,
I could rattle on as you do.
I could compose eloquent speeches as you do
and shake my head smugly at you and your problems.
But I believe I would use my words to encourage you;
my lips would move only to offer you relief.

And yet, I am not you, you are not me,
and my words are of no real use:
When I speak, my pain is not relieved;
if I remain silent, it does not go away.
God has drained me utterly;
He has made those near to me desolate—killed my family and my servants.
You have shriveled me up;
my withered form stands as a witness against me;
my body, haggard and thin, testifies to my face.
In anger He hunts me down and tears at me;
in rancor His teeth grind on my flesh;
His eyes are locked on me as a foe,
eager to destroy still more of me.
10 My foes taunt me, their mouths gape in derision,
they slap my cheek in disgust, and they conspire against me.
11 God has forsaken me to young thugs
and flung me into the hands of evildoers who lie in wait for me.
12 I was living a good life—a quiet, peaceful life—
when He began to beat on me;
He throttled my neck, tore me apart,
and then propped me up
at the far end of the field, making me a target.
13 His archers have now gathered around me.
In cold blood He splits my belly open and spills my bile on the earth.
14 He charged like a soldier storming a stronghold
until my walls were breached, broken down, one after another.

Job in his despair and frustration responds as he and his friends have been taught by previous generations to display grief: by donning sackcloth and covering the head with dust to show devastation, as if everything has been lost even to the point of death.

15 Job: Well, I have sewed the sackcloth to my very skin
and buried my mighty forehead in the dirt.
16 My face, red and hot, boils over in tears;
the shadow of darkness lies heavy on my eyelids,
17 No matter that my hands are free of violence,
and my prayer is pure.

18 O earth, do not conceal my blood!
And when they seek to silence my cry, refuse a place for its burial.
19 Look! Even at this very moment, my witness is there, in heaven;
my advocate is seated on high.
20 My only friends scoff at me; they persist in mocking me;
even now my eyes well up in tears to God,
21 Appealing to God as a mere man,
as a human being might for the sake of his friend.
22 Only a few years left now,
and I will go down the path from which I cannot return.

17 Job: My spirit has collapsed; my days have been blotted out;
the grave is prepared for me.
There are mockers all around me;
my eyes are fixed on their unwarranted opposition of me.
Show me a sign! Vouch for me, God!
Who is there to give me his hand, guaranteeing his pledge?
I think no one is there because You have closed up their minds,
made them unable to see or understand;
so You will honor none of them.
You have heard, “Whoever denounces his friends for land
will watch his children go blind.”

But God has turned me into a swear word for everyone;
I have become a symbol of human darkness;
I am the face on whom one spits.
All my afflictions cloud my vision;
the members of my body are wasting away;
I am a mere shadow of what it once was.
Those of moral fiber are appalled at this;
innocent men grow indignant at the wicked.
Even still, the righteous embrace their way of life;
those with clean hands go from strong to stronger.
10 By contrast, I look to you, my friends, and I say,
“Come ahead, all of you; try your words once more.”
I still won’t expect to find a wise man among you.
11 Even now my days have passed me by;
My plans lie broken at my feet;
the secret wishes of my heart grow cold.
12 And yet my friends say, this loss of hope is for good,
turning my dark night into what appears to them as day.
In the pitch darkness, these broken plans and secret wishes speak to me.
They say, “There is light nearby.”
13 If I hope only to live in the land of the dead,
if I prepare for myself a bed in the darkness,
14 If I speak to my burial pit, calling it “Father,”
and to the worms in the earth, calling them “Mother” and “Sister,”
15 Then where will I find my hope?
And who will see it?
16 Will hope go with me to the place of death?
Will hope accompany me into the ground?

18 Bildad the Shuhite encouraged Job to righteousness.

Bildad: How long will you keep up the hunt for words?
Show some sense, and then we can actually converse.
Why is it we are like cattle to you,
dumb animals in your eyes?
You speak of how God “tears at you,” you!
You tear at yourself in your rage.
Oh, how self-centered you are!
Ought the earth be emptied of its inhabitants for your sake?
Ought the rocks roll away for your convenience?

Remember, the flame of the wicked is extinguished.
His fire no longer lends light to anything.
His tent-lamp goes dark;
his bedside lamp flickers and dies.
His long strides falter, as his own plans take him down.
His then-weakened feet lead him to a net,
And wander into its waiting mesh.
A snare clamps around his heel;
he feels it dig into him.
10 This trap was set for him beforehand:
a snare is hidden on the ground;
a net is overhead along the path.
11 Terrors press in on every side
and badger his every step.
12 His deepest fears stalk him as he staggers, craving him,
and awaiting his imminent collapse.
13 Bit by bit, disease eats at his skin;
bit by bit, the firstborn of death gnashes at his limbs.
14 He is torn violently from the safety of his tent
and forced to march before the king of terrors.

Bildad sees the realm of death not just as a place of rest and waiting, but as a growing society ruled by a king. Sheol always has room for more citizens and always wants more. Like an infant, this place—this firstborn of death—has a voracious appetite for the wicked. And the infant’s father, the king of terrors, has many ways to provide for his child. His terrors are not nightmares or phobias or any other psychological device. Instead, he rules over disaster, disease, and famine—anything that brings death. Through his vibrant imagery, Bildad explains that death is the ultimate fate of the wicked; he implies that Job cannot be evil because the terrors he has faced have not yet killed him.

15 Bildad: Nothing of his remains in his tent,
and burning sulfur has been scattered on it so no one will dwell there again.
16 Death comes from both directions:
from below, his roots dry out;
from above, his branches wither.
17 On the earth, he disappears from memory;
on the outside, no one recalls his name.
18 He is pushed out of the light into darkness
and chased from the inhabited world altogether.
19 He has no children, no descendants among his people;
no one survives him or escapes from his homeland.
20 His fate is unanimously viewed:
with dismay in the West,
with horror in the East.
21 Surely this is the way it goes with all evil people;
surely this is the lot in life for those who do not know God.

19 Job answered his friends in frustration.

Job: O how long! How long will you torture me and pound me with your chatter?
What is it now? Eight times? Nine times?
No, surely it’s ten times you have insulted me.
Ten times you’ve shamelessly acted to harm me.
Even if I have erred, my faults lie with me alone.
However, if you must exalt yourselves at my expense,
if you must proffer my own disgrace as evidence against me,
Then you ought at least to know that I have been wronged by God.
Yes, His net is closed about me.

Look! I cry out, “Violence!” but no response comes.
I shout for help, but justice eludes me.
He is a roadblock. He will not let me pass;
He has covered my roads in darkness.
He has stripped me of my honor,
torn the crown off my head.
10 He comes at me from all sides, but I attempt to leave;
He rips out my hope as if it were a tree in dry ground.
11 His anger burns white-hot against me,
and He considers me His enemy.
12 His militia arrives to raise a siege ramp against me
and to surround my dwelling.

13 He has driven my relatives far from me;
I am cut off from my friends.
14 My entire family has failed me;
my best friends have forgotten me.
15 Everyone in my house, including my maidservants,
treats me like an outsider;
I am a stranger to them now.
16 When I send for my servant, he does not come.
I even plead with him with my own voice.
17 My breath is strange; even my wife avoids me;
I’m loathsome to my relatives; they can’t stand to be around me.
18 Even young children taunt me,
and when I seek to rise, they mock me.
19 My closest friends can no longer bear me,
and anyone I have ever loved has turned against me.
20 I am reduced to skin and bones;
I have barely escaped by the skin of my teeth.
21 Show me your pity, my friends, show me your pity!
For truly, I have been struck by the hand of God.
22 Why do you pursue me as God has done?
Is my emaciated body not satisfying enough for you?

23 What I would give to have my words taken down,
to have them inscribed for posterity on a scroll.
24 No! More than that!
To have them chiseled with iron filled with lead—
carved in stone for all eternity.
25 Besides, I know my Redeemer lives,
and in the end He will rise and take His stand on the earth.
26 And though my skin has been stripped off,
still, in my flesh, I will see God.
27 I, myself, will see Him:
not some stranger, but actually me, with these eyes.
Toward this end, my deepest longings pine away within my chest.

Literally, a redeemer “buys back” something that was taken away. In the Old Testament, kinsmen-redeemers are men who buy their relatives out of slavery, buy family property back from creditors, or marry their brothers’ widows to save the women from destitution. What is it that Job needs returned to him? Acknowledgment of his innocence and a renewed life. Because all of his family and friends have abandoned him, Job is trusting in his plea to God. As he did in chapter 16, Job is personifying his words and hoping in the redemptive power of his own argument.

Many millennia later, Christians do not have to trust in their own actions or persuasive reasoning to save their lives. Jesus redeemed all when He died on the cross—trading Himself to buy back our lives. He is the ultimate Redeemer.

28 Job: If you ask, “How will we pursue him
since the root cause of his suffering lies in him?”
29 You ought to fear the sword yourselves;
for the sword bears fury’s punishment
in order that you might realize there is, in fact, a judgment.

The Voice (VOICE)

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.

1 Corinthians 16

16 Now I call you, just as I did the churches gathering in Galatia, to collect funds to support God’s people in Jerusalem. On Sunday, the first day of the week, I want each of you to set aside an amount, as God has blessed you, so the funds will be collected by the time I come. When I get there, I will send those you recommend by your own letters to carry your generous and gracious donation to Jerusalem. If you think it seems appropriate for me to travel with them, then we’ll go together.

Get ready. I will come your way after traveling through Macedonia. For I’m just passing through Macedonia and will probably stay with you through the winter so that you may provide for my next journey (wherever that may be). I want to reconnect with you, not just pass through; if the Lord is willing, I hope to stay awhile. But until Pentecost, I plan to stay in Ephesus because, not only has God opened a significant door here for me to serve, but also there is a lot of opposition against me.

Churches are often characterized by words such as “independent” and “autonomous.” But one would be hard-pressed to find any of these ideas in the Scriptures. Instead, Paul seems to be modeling submission and interdependence. We must always consider others and shape our actions to bless them. But he does not stop there—it is clear that we are responsible to care for one another in physical and monetary ways. What might Paul say to the church today, given the drastic disparity between the wealthy churches of the West and the brothers and sisters in the rest of the world who lack food, water, or shelter?

10 If Timothy comes, see that he is comfortable and untroubled; his work is the Lord’s, as is mine. 11 No one should treat him badly. Send him on to meet me in peace because the brothers and sisters here and I are looking for him. 12 You shouldn’t expect to see our brother Apollos, although I tried to persuade him to come to you with the rest of the brothers and sisters, because now is not the best time for him to come. When it’s his time, he will come.

13 Listen, stay alert, stand tall in the faith, be courageous, and be strong. 14 Let love prevail in your life, words, and actions.

15 Finally, brothers and sisters, I call on you to follow your leaders. People like those in the house of Stephanas—you know they were among the first believers in Achaia, and they have devoted their lives to serving God’s people— 16 I urge you to submit to the authority of such leaders, to every coworker, and to those who offer their backs and shoulders for the work. 17 I celebrate the arrival of Stephanas, Fortunatus, and Achaicus, as they have supplied me with what you could not. 18 They have been a breath of fresh air for me as I know they are for you, so respect and honor those like them.

19 The churches in Asia salute you. Aquila and Prisca send a heartfelt greeting in the Lord along with those who gather at their house. 20 The entire family in faith here sends their greetings. Be sure you greet one another by a holy kiss.

21 This closing greeting is written by my own hand—Paul’s: 22 May those who have no love for the Lord be cursed. Maranatha, “Our Lord, come!” 23 May the grace of the Lord Jesus be with you. 24 My love to you all in the name of the Anointed One, Jesus. [Amen.][a]

Footnotes:

  1. 16:24 Some manuscripts omit this word.
The Voice (VOICE)

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.

Psalm 40:1-10

Psalm 40

For the worship leader. A song of David.

I waited a long time for the Eternal;
He finally knelt down to hear me.
He listened to my weak and whispered cry.
He reached down and drew me
from the deep, dark hole where I was stranded, mired in the muck and clay.
With a gentle hand, He pulled me out
To set me down safely on a warm rock;
He held me until I was steady enough to continue the journey again.
As if that were not enough,
because of Him my mind is clearing up.
Now I have a new song to sing—
a song of praise to the One who saved me.
Because of what He’s done, many people will see
and come to trust in the Eternal.

Surely those who trust the Eternal—
who don’t trust in proud, powerful people
Or in people who care little for reality, chasing false gods—
surely they are happy, as I have become.
You have done so many wonderful things,
had so many tender thoughts toward us, Eternal my God,
that go on and on, ever increasing.
Who can compare with You?

Sacrifices and offerings are not what You want,
but You’ve opened my ears,[a] and now I understand.
Burnt offerings and sin offerings
are not what please You.
So I said, “See, I have come to do Your will,
as it is inscribed of me in the scroll.
I am pleased to live how You want, my God.
Your law is etched into my heart and my soul.”

I have encouraged Your people with the message of righteousness,
in Your great assembly (look and see),
I haven’t kept quiet about these things;
You know this, Eternal One.
10 I have not kept Your righteousness to myself, sealed up in the secret places of my heart;
instead, I boldly tell others how You save and how loyal You are.
I haven’t been shy to talk about Your love, nor have I been afraid to tell Your truth
before the great assembly of Your people.

Footnotes:

  1. 40:6 Greek manuscripts read, “but You have prepared a body for me.”
The Voice (VOICE)

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.

Proverbs 22:1

We do not like or want to believe it, but there are limits to what humans can accomplish. Whatever wisdom and knowledge we think we possess is nothing compared to God’s. Whatever plans we make will come to nothing unless they line up with God’s plans and purposes for us.

22 A good reputation is preferable to riches,
and the approval of others is better than precious silver or gold.

The Voice (VOICE)

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.

08/25/2020 DAB Transcript

Job 16:1-19:29, 1 Corinthians 16:1-24, Psalms 40:1-10, Proverbs 22:1

Today is the 25th day of August welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I’m Brian it is a joy as it is every day, an honor, a privilege, it’s great to be here with you today around the Global Campfire and let’s just come in and warm ourselves. If it’s first thing in the morning, this is the first thing that we’re doing and we are setting our course, if it’s halfway through the day and we’ve gotten beat up already by life, then it’s just a time to step away from all that, if we’re closing down our day, it’s a time to step away from all of the things that we could be thinking about, all the things we could be worrying about, just all of the issues of life on planet Earth and just set it aside for a minute, reorient ourselves to God through His word and come out refreshed. And, so, let’s get to it. We’re reading from the Voice Translation this week. We’re working our way through the book of Job. Pretty aggressive, direct conversation is happening between Job and his friends. Job is defending his innocence and he doesn’t want the answers of his friends. He wants God. His friends try to tell him that’s probably not gonna happen or what’s probably the problem with Job. And yet steadfastly, in fact, what we read yesterday is riveting, “even if he’s slays me, even if I can’t find Him and ask Him, even if it kills me I’m still going to hope in Him”, which is Job’s way of saying there is no other hope. And, so, we continue our journey today. Job chapter 16, 17, 18 and 19.

Commentary:

Okay. So, as we continue the book of Job and our journey through it and the conversations between Job and his friends centered around Job’s unbelievable suffering, we’re seeing Job hold true to his innocence and his deep desire, like his single-minded focus to find God and ask these questions of God because nobody else can give the answers that he’s seeking. And his friends are trying to tell him like, “even if you could see God, even if you could ask Him these questions, even if you could have that conversation you are to blame essentially for your own downfall and you need to see that. Like, you need to come to this place of humility.” And Job is like, “the thing is, I’m not. I’m innocent.” And just about in every day that we read in Job, the way that Job kind of concludes something that he’s saying is, so spectacular in revealing his heart. So, he is going off today about how God has hunted him down, beat him up, put him up for target practice. Like there’s nowhere he can go, there is no place to escape, he’s withering away. So, we can tell for sure that, yes, Job…Job has lost everything but the battle, a lot of the battle is in Job’s mind. Like he is unbelievable down, like completely depressed. We can read some of the words that we read today and commiserate. Like no, we haven’t experienced probably the hardships of Job, but the sentiments that are coming out of his mouth, the things that he is saying, they feel true. Like, we don’t often say them. We try to keep them inside, but they feel true to some of our experiences. And his friends, they are trying to comfort him, but Job’s being direct, so they’re being direct back. Like they feel like a need to defend God against the accusations Job is making and they’re trying help Job understand like, “dude, you have…you have a part to play in this. There’s no way you don’t have a part to play in this.” And, so, we get to the end of the reading today and Job is frustrated but his heart comes sailing out. He’s like, “I wish…I wish that my words were just words that aren’t flying away. I wish these words were immortalized. I wish they were written down.” Obviously, we’re reading this book, so we have this we have this book. But he’s saying, “I wish they were written down. Better than written down, I wish they were chiseled into stone. I wish that what I’m saying could be heard because I know my redeemer lives and, in the end, He will rise and take His stand on the earth. I know that even if my skin is stripped away and I wither away, I know in my flesh I will see God, not somebody else, me, with my eyes. This is what I am looking for. Again, it’s like there are these sections in Job that I just…don’t know what to say about them, you stand speechless. You’re like, “Okay. that reorients me.” Because Job doesn’t understand. He cannot get the understanding for what’s happening, and his friends cannot explain it to him. And, so, in spite of pain and suffering and unbelievable depression and hopelessness, like hopelessness he’s reaching beyond his experience and beyond his understanding and saying, “I know…I know my Redeemer lives because there is a knowing that is beyond circumstance, a knowing that is beyond experience, a knowing beyond what we can understand and knowing beyond our mind.” So, what we’re seeing kind of emerge here, at least in Job’s convictions are, “I don’t understand. I really don’t. But I do know that God is there and I am seeking and I will find Him.” May we all live into that today.

And then also today we concluded the letter known as first Corinthians. And just…just a little…kind of a side story…a little bit of an undercurrent side drama in these…some of these letters of Paul. As this letter ends today Paul’s like, “hey don’t forget the money”, right? “Don’t forget money that I have promised to the church in Jerusalem.” That collection that he’s taking up, that appears in a number of his letters and in some of those letters he’s kind of defending himself. Like, it’s like the people are not sure about Paul’s intentions and why he needs the money. So, like even in first Corinthians he’s like basically, “get the money together. I’m coming through. Here’s when I’m gonna be coming through. And you can take this to Jerusalem. We can send it to Jerusalem. Maybe…maybe you can choose some people to take it to Jerusalem and…and maybe I can…can go along with them.” Like, he’s trying to like, “I…I’m not gonna steal the money.” But it gives us some clues into the early church that that was some of the suspicions going on in the early church. More than likely what’s actually going on here in this early church is that Paul, being a Jew, being raised up and educated in the Jewish Mosaic law, having converted to follow Jesus and then going out among the Gentiles, like this causes problems. We have talked about this and we will talk about it more. Paul is a very controversial figure, has always been a controversial figure, but remember in the book of Acts where there was this first church council. And Paul was a part of that counsel. The apostles, the church, the Jerusalem church, the mother church, the first church was a part of that, was making those decisions. And the ultimate decision was can Gentiles follow Jesus without first converting to Judaism and getting up to speed their understanding of the law and then start following Jesus? The ultimate decision was that, of course, “the Holy Spirit is moving among the Gentiles. God has made that decision. Who are we to stand in the way? Like, we don’t get to decide. God already decided. So, it’s gonna…it’s gonna tip things upside down and we’ll see where it goes, but we gotta follow what God is saying.” Probably during that counsel and Paul’s sharing of his work among the Gentiles, and the establishment of the churches Paul probably shared like…like we can…we can collect resources from all over the world to help here in Jerusalem because Paul’s collection is for the Jerusalem church. That’s how it is in his letters and this is a very poor church as we…as we understand from the Scriptures. So, many scholars believe like this collection is important resources for the work of Christ, yes, but not all of the Jewish believers were on board with some of these decisions and the idea that Gentile believers would give back but basically understand that this all started among the Hebrew people. Jesus was a Hebrew person and this first church this Jerusalem church is fighting a battle against their own people and against the whole world, and they should be honored in that, that Paul being able to go out and bring back resources to help the church helped some of those people who were absolutely against this decision, the Judaizers as they’re called in some translations, help them either one, just be quiet because they were going to get something or two, understand God is at work, no church is gonna be an island, this is the body, everybody needs to help everybody. But even out among the Gentile churches we see in Paul’s writings when he’s talking about the money, when he’s collecting the money, that even they get a little bit prickly. And it…so there’s no theological thing I’m trying to say here. Like I’m not trying to say, “so here’s the truth and here’s how we should think about that today.” I’m just saying like interesting pieces of the story emerge if we’re looking for them and we get a more comprehensive view of what’s actually going on as we systematically go through the Bible together like we are. So, we finished first Corinthians today which means tomorrow we will begin the letter known as second Corinthians.

Prayer:

Father we thank You. We thank You for Your word and we just circle back to Job for second and we declare, because some of us are in the depths of depression and suffering and anxiety and hopelessness, and all of us gets challenged in these areas. Some of us are in deep depression. All of us have experienced it in some way. And, so, to cry out beyond our understanding, beyond what we think we know and to know that our Redeemer lives, it’s certainly comforting but something wells up from within us. It’s a knowing that is beyond knowledge. Holy Spirit lead us into that today we pray. In the mighty name of Jesus, we ask. Amen.

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08/24/2020 DAB Transcript

Job 12:1-15:35, 1 Corinthians 15:29-58, Psalms 39:1-13, Proverbs 21:30-31

Today is August 24th welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I’m Brian it is a joy to be here with you this week. I’m looking forward to the territory we’re going through in this week. And even though we’re kind of in more serious territory, kinda dealing with suffering and the kind of topics that we try to avoid if…if we can help it. I just have this sense of optimism that if we embrace this season that we’re going through in the Scriptures and in our lives so much cleaning out can happen, so much restructuring can happen over the next little season. And as we go into the latter part of the year the world may be chaotic but we just…we don’t have to participate, like that’s our prerogative. We have to participate in life, but we don’t have to get swept into divisiveness and we don’t have to get swept into chaos. That’s a choice and when we’re willing to face our own junk, when we’re willing to our own, which these books, these books like Job and Ecclesiastes, they have a way of asking us to face our own stuff. When we do than we’re getting honest and when we get honest God can move. So, let’s dive in. Let’s take the next step. We’re reading from the voice translation this week. Job chapter 12, 13, 14 and 15 today.

Commentary:

Okay. We spent a good amount of time today reading from Job and hearing Job pour out his heart and it’s brutal and it’s honest and it’s how he’s feeling and it’s what he’s sensing and it's…his frustration. And we got…we have in Job what we would call cognitive dissonance. And we feel this way when we believe something to be true or we’ve always functioned in a certain way only to find out it may not be that way, right, which we can bring us into doubt or we reject…or like we were like, “the way I thought things were are not how they are” and that creates a dissonance that we have to wrestle with and try to settle the score so that we can move forward, so that we can understand what we’re dealing with. So, what we have is Job’s friends trying to reason with Job basically saying, “God is good. Everybody knows that. God is just. Everybody knows that. He’s righteous. Like He’s not going to punish a person for no reason, He’s not gonna to judge somebody for nothing. So, Job your plight must be that there’s something…something going on and you just keep trying to say your innocent, which only proves your guilt”, right? Because the cognitive dissonance for Job’s friends and…and Job are that the baseline is, “God is good. God is good.” So, Job has this problem of feeling like truly he hasn’t done anything wrong, truly he’s righteous, which leaves no explanation for his suffering if in fact he’s being judged by God, which Job believes to be the case. Job’s friends have the dissonance because they’re listening to their trusted friend, but there’s no way they can believe Job over what they think that they know about God. And, so, they’re basically just trying to help Job follow the path to discovering his own sinfulness so that he can repent and maybe God would restore him. So, this is why there’s all this back-and-forth. This is why there’s all this wrestling and this is why we say the things that we do to people who are going through things that we don’t understand. I mean because this creates a tension that needs to be resolved. Job wants to solve the tension but it’s not gonna come through the advice of his friends. Like they’re wise people and he’s a wise man and he doesn’t feel like they know anything that he doesn’t know and he’s listened to them, but he knows everything that they’re telling them. The only place he’s gonna actually get the answer he’s looking for is from God. He wants an audience with God but he knows that if he were able to get that audience with God than even his own mouth would condemn him. Like it’s a tension that he’s trying to resolve and, in some ways, where Job is going, like where he is keeping his heart close and true, this thing he is focusing on is revealed today. And honestly, again, one of the most beautiful, difficult, and true statements in the Bible is found in our reading today. I mean when we started Job we saw Job have his life destroyed systematically and we watched him respond by falling down, certainly grieving, mourning, but falling down in worship to God. Job today says something that is a continuum, basically, of that posture of heart through all of this. Job is basically saying, “I have got to find God and I may find that when I do, if I do, that I am not innocent after all and God might kill me for it. Even if he slays me, still I will hope in him.” O man, that posture is so deep. It’s Job acknowledging that he does not understand at all what is going on. And what he does understand or what he thinks he understands about himself, maybe he doesn’t. But he’s got what he’s got, He’s got his convictions and nobody is gonna talk him out of it, nobody’s gonna say the right thing or give the right reference. He wants God and if can find God and God kills him then he’s still gonna hope in God because there’s no other hope no matter what. This is saying like, “even if God ends up being a hopeless waste of time, still I will hope in the Lord and the Lord only.” That is be on our theology friends. That is beyond any formula we can construct to try to explain God and God’s movements among people on planet Earth. And it is beyond any of our circumstances. It’s saying it like it is. There is no other hope. And, so, even if it’s a vain hope, I’m still going to hope. That’s called faith. And the thing that we should be wrestling with because it’s what’s being brought up, this is what we’re supposed to do is wrestle with, is to consider, “do we love of God for what he can do? Would we love Him if He did nothing?” Is that what we’ve got going on here, a transactional relationship? Yeah, that gets the bedrock pretty quick doesn’t it? That like…like cuts to the bone, which is what the Bible promises to do, that it would…that it would be able to get as deep as to where soul and spirit divide, that it gets to get to the deepest essence of who we are. and that’s where we’re at today as we come out of the book of Job.

Prayer:

Father, we invite You into this, it’s disruptive, it's…it’s more fun when our reading is something tremendously encouraging or tremendously enlightening in a positive way. It’s difficult sometimes when the mirror goes up and we have to look ourselves in the face and we have to look into our own eyes because the Scriptures are forcing us to be honest. And we see honesty today in the Scriptures and it leads us to consider our own lives and our own seasons of suffering and our own interpretation of what’s going on. So, come Holy Spirit into that as we continue through this day. We need You and Job is showing us that he needed You. There was nothing else that was going to be adequate, no other word, no other circumstance, You and You alone. And that’s over being led understand - we need You, there is no other hope. And, so, come into that as we…as it brings up whatever it brings up, as we wrestle with it, as we consider it, as we embrace it. We pray this in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.

Commentary:

dailyaudiobible.com is home base, it is…it is home of the Global Campfire, it is that where you find out what’s going on around here and there’s always something or another. So, check of the different sections. You can check them all out in the app as well.

But the Community section gives us the Prayer Wall, gives us the different places to get connected on social media. The Shop, of course, is resources that over the years have been developed for the journey that we are on making our way through the Bible in a year. So, check that out.

And if you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, I cannot possibly thank you enough. My vocabulary is not big enough to describe the gratitude and awe that…that I try to often enough. Just the fact that we are here, just the fact that God’s spoken word is always being spoken, that the Global Campfire is always burning is remarkable, but it hasn’t happened by accident, it’s to happened because we’ve been in it together. And, so, thank you for your partnership. So, there’s a link on the homepage. If you’re using the app you can press the Give button, it’s in the upper right-hand corner, or the mailing address is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill 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.

Community Prayer and Praise:

Hello DAB family this is Steadfast Stacy in Arizona I’m calling to pray for Barb in Canada who called basically with regrets about not feeling like she had not laid a decent adequate foundation for her children. And I’m praying for her and for myself because I share those regrets and I know that God is bigger for both of us. Dear heavenly Father thank You for Barb, thank You for her call and thank You for her vulnerability that is a blessing to me. Thank You that You are bigger than our regrets, that You know our hearts, that You know who You placed in our homes, what children You gave us, and that You promise us that we were adequate for those children. Lord there’s something about for me in this COVID time, just an awful lot of time to think, an awful lot of ways to see the choices that my children are making and just my maturity in beating myself up about my part in my son’s inability to…to see You in their lives and see their need of You. But Lord this all comes back to my need of You, my need of You to put all that in perspective and my need of You to…to be able to trust that I did what I could. And I’ve been seeking and I’m sure Barb is the same way. I can’t…I…I hear a tenderness in her heart and I pray that You would help her at this time to be comforted by You, to be…have the right words to be sprinkled with grace when she interacts with her children in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Good morning family this is Purely Pampered of Maine today is Wednesday the 19th of August it’s been almost 5 years since I last called asking for prayers for the situation with my son who came out as a transgendered female and all of the resulting difficulties surrounding the breakup of his marriage and the whole situation. We’re basically estranged and my child and my husband’s choice and have only seen our grandson a few times. The hole in my heart never stops hurting and I would ask for continued prayers. Today I’m asking for prayers for my older son and his fiancée. They found out two weeks ago that their jobs are not coming back and that they have to be out of their apartment by the end of the month. They have two dogs and three cats which have been certified as emotional support animals to my future daughter-in-law. So, considering that and that they’re both unemployed, finding another place is proving quite difficult and they’re facing homelessness. My son has been away from the faith for some years now feeling abandoned and like God cannot be trusted. I am asking that God would intervene in the situation and reveal His power demonstrating that God is a loving God who cares about the details of their lives. Will you please lift them up in prayer? Thank you. I pray for you all each day, the requests that are called in and those that are not. I love you family. I’d be lost without you. I gain such strength knowing that you are there.

Hello family this is Angel. You didn’t know me yet but I’m your sister in Christ and I don’t know exactly how long I’ve been listening but I know it was before Zeke was born, so it’s been at least nine years but I’ve been growing with you, learning with you, praying with you, crying with you. So, I want to just say hi and say I’m here. And I’m here also today to ask for your help. Jesus said some things come only with fasting and prayer. And I’ve been fasting and I’m going to continue fasting and I’m asking you to continue praying with me. My 15-year-old is in dire need of your prayers her name is Elyse, which means consecrated to God and I know that He has such good plans for her. I know that she’s going to come through this is gold but for the last year and a half she’s been suffering so badly with PTSD, with depression, with not being able to get out of bed or function even the smallest level. Yes, she’s seeing counseling, yes, we have a psychiatrist and those things do and will help but they are not the answer. Christ is the answer. Please pray for my precious one Elyse who is consecrated to God. Pray that the anxiety will leave her, that she will grow, that she will thrive, that she will be able to speak truth to herself and that she will know God’s presence in a…in a new…in a new way, that no depression can touch her, that generational bonds would not have any…

Good morning DAB family this is Tina from Ohio thank you Brian and all of my DAB family for all of your guy’s faithfulness and your prayers. I just want to say a Jewish prayer, but I will not be saying it in Hebrew I will be just saying it in English. May the one who blessed our fathers and our mothers -Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel, and Leah bless and heal those who are ill. May their blessed holy one be filled with compassion for their health to be restored and their strength to be revived. Blessed be the holy one. May God swiftly send them a complete renewal of body and spirit, complete healing from the heavens, healing of the spirit of the body speedily and soon and let us say amen. God bless each and every one of you and may the Lord’s face shine upon you and may His continence rise upon you and be gracious unto all of you and give you all peace today. Be blessed and encourage my brothers and sisters.

Hi neighbors it’s Lisa the Encourager I hope you’re having a most blessed day. I pray God’s blessings upon you and your life. I’m praying today for your children and stress. So, whatever stress is in their life that’s what I want to pray for and pray away from. Dear God, I thank You again so much for Brian and his ministry with the Daily Audio Bible to each and every one of us God. I pray special blessings over Brian so that he doesn’t have stress God, that You eliminate any stress in his life and in addition to that I pray for the Daily Audio Bible children God, any and all of our children whether they are dealing with stresses in relationships, work, marriage, children, teenagers Lord, whatever stresses are coming into their lives bombarding them and keeping them, their minds away from You because their minds are so focused on the stress God. I pray that You will swoop in and just take it away from them and just give them peace, give them love, give them direction, and just help them Lord God to rely on You in all things and give it all to You and not trying to beat themselves up…up about it and help them to know that You are the Almighty conquer and that they can surrender that stress over to You, You will take it from them Lord God. Help them to know that, see that, feel that, touch that, understand that in a mighty, mighty way. In Jesus’ precious name I pray. Amen.

Hello Daily Audio Bible family this is Treasured Possession and let’s pray. Father God, I love You so much. I thank You for all of the blessings and all of the power and all of the goodness and all of the joy and peace in the patience and the kindness and for self-control Father God, all of the fruits of the spirit that are ours in Christ. And more than anything Father I thank You that our identity is found in You, that when we place our hopes, our dreams, our desires in Your hands than those around us that are in pain, those around us that show up in ways that are quite disappointing, when those around us show up in ways that just baffle and astound as Father God You never change. You are right there, and You love us with a love that is so far beyond what we can ask, think, or imagine. Father God, the words of first Corinthians 13 talk about Your love. That is Your love and it is so far from our human heart, but You Father God can fill us with that love and help us see that love and show that love. Help us Father God to love one another that way. Help us Father God to love more than we need to be right. I ask Father God that You would strengthen and empower those who are going through relationships today that are hard, that are difficult, that are challenging their very knowledge of who they are in Christ. And I thank You Lord that You love beyond that we can never know with a peace that passes understanding. And it’s in Jesus’ name I ask these things and I praise you for these things. Amen.

The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Monday August 24, 2020 (NIV)

Job 12-15

Throughout the book, Job has very little to cling to besides a hope for the end of his current suffering. Each of his three friends expounds on hope, drawing three similar but increasingly brutal conclusions. Eliphaz realizes Job is basically a righteous man, so he encourages Job to take hope in the person he already is; somehow his own righteousness will manage to save him. Bildad adds to Eliphaz’s conclusion, claiming that wicked men cannot hope; they are left with only despair. Zophar, the most unabashedly honest of the three men, believes hope exists only for the righteous; and since Job is obviously a sinful man, he is hopeless until he changes. Fortunately, all three “wise” men are ultimately wrong. Hope is a product of trusting God and is not based on anyone’s actions, wicked or otherwise.

12 In responding to his friends’ collective accusation of his guilt, Job finally spoke.

Job (sarcastically to his friends): Surely, surely, my discerning friends, you are the ones!
And when you pass away, the sum total of all wisdom will perish from the earth.

I have a mind as good as yours.
Don’t think I am so far beneath you!
After all, who doesn’t know all about these things?
Who isn’t acquainted with the pedestrian platitudes you’ve trotted out?
As for me—the one who called upon God and whom God answered—
now, I am pitiful, laughable, a just and upright joke.
Those who have it easy may easily scorn the unfortunate;
they have their contempt already prepared for those whose feet slip.
Ironically, there is peace inside the tents of the raiders,
and those who upset God seem to live safe and secure;
They carry their gods around in their hands.

However, call on the animals to teach you;
the birds that sail through the air are not afraid to tell you the truth.
Engage the earth in conversation; it’s happy to share what it knows.
Even the fish of the sea are wise enough to explain it to you.
In fact, which part of creation isn’t aware,
which doesn’t know the Eternal’s hand has done this?
10 His hand cradles the life of every creature on the face of the earth;
His breath fills the nostrils of humans everywhere.

11 Listen! Aren’t we made to be discriminating:
our ears testing wisdom, our mouths tasting food?

Shouldn’t wisdom come with old age? Not necessarily. Only God has wisdom; we merely fool ourselves into thinking we are wise.

12 But you tell me, “With age comes wisdom,
and a long life grants understanding.”
13 With God is the sum total of all wisdom and of all power;
His is the greatest of plans and the deepest of comprehensions.
14 So, then, what God tears down cannot be built back up;
the man He shuts up cannot be released.
15 If God withholds the rains and stops the streams from flowing, the earth suffers drought;
if He unleashes too much, the lands are ravaged by flood.
16 He is strong, and sound wisdom belongs to Him:
whether one deceives or is deceived, he is under God’s control.
17 He leads the counselors off as captives, barefoot and stripped;
He makes a mockery of judges.
18 He strips off the royal sashes of kings
and ties them at the waist, making them slaves as well.
19 He leads the priests away barefoot
and defeats the long-incumbent men of power.
20 He robs trusted advisors of speech;
He steals discretion from elders.
21 He heaps contempt on rulers,
and loosens the bind of alliances among world powers.
22 Aspects of His deep wisdom that were hidden away,
He shows in plain sight;
darkness is brought into the light.
23 He builds the strength of nations, only to crush them—
increases their population across the earth, only to scatter them again.
24 He divests each nation’s leaders of understanding,
and causes them to wander aimlessly with nowhere to go,
25 Until finally they grope in the dark, the light having departed,
and He lets them stumble and stagger like drunks.

13 Job: Look. I’ve seen it all with my eyes,
heard and understood it with my ears.
What you know, I know, too;
don’t think I am so far beneath you!

Let our differences be clear; I am ready to speak to the Highest One,[a]
eagerly wanting to argue my case with God.
But you! You smear me with lies as if to help,
but as healers you are worthless.
Would that you were totally silent.
At least that would make you seem wise.
Please, just listen while I reason this out;
lean in to hear how my lips will plead.
Will you try to defend God’s cause by telling lies?
Be deceitful on His behalf?
Will you show partiality for Him?
Argue on His behalf?
How would you fare
if He searched your soul?
Do you think you might deceive Him
as you would any other person?
10 No. He would bring charges against you
even if you secretly show partiality.
11 Aren’t you horrified at the weight of His majesty?
Isn’t the dread of Him enough to drop you where you stand?
12 All your quoted proverbs turn to ash;
your clever comebacks crumble like brittle towers of clay.

Job will take his chances before God. He still trusts Him, even if God chooses to take his life.

13 So keep your mouths shut around me, and let me speak to God.
And whatever may come, let it come.
14 Why should I lay my body at the mercy of the words of my own mouth
or risk my life with only my own hands to defend me?
15 Look, He may well kill me,
but I will hope in Him.
Still I will be ready to argue my case before His very face.
16 In fact, this will become my salvation,
for the godless wouldn’t even dare to approach Him.
17 So then here is my account. Listen carefully!
Give me a chance to share my side of the story with you.
18 My case is prepared, and I am confident
I will be found righteous.
19 And yet who will meet me in court to argue the other side?
If I am out-argued, then I will stay mute until I die.

20 Lord, I ask only two concessions in this case;
if You grant them, I will not hide from Your face.
21 First, remove Your damaging hand from me;
second don’t intimidate me anymore with your terrifying presence.
22 Then send me Your summons, and I will reply,
or better yet, I will speak first and then You answer me.
23 How many counts do You have against me?
How many sins must I account for?
Spell out the nature of Your indictment against my rebellious ways.
24 Why do You hide Your face from me;
why is my name now “nemesis”[b] to You?
25 Would You waste Your energy to terrify a windblown leaf,
or chase down the dry chaff as it tumbles in the breeze?
26 For I see bitter accusations against me written in Your own hand;
You call me to account for the guilt of my youth.
27 You fasten shackles at my ankles but still keep close watch on where I walk,
marking the places where my feet may plant themselves.
28 This is how a person wastes away to nothing,
like something rotten, like moth-eaten clothing.

14 Job: Humankind, born of woman,
has a few brief years with much suffering.
Like a short-lived bloom,
he springs up only to wither;
like the brief shade gained by a fast-moving cloud,
he passes swiftly.
Lord, is this why You turn Your gaze on such a creature:
to bring me,[c] a mere human being, alongside You for judgment?
Who can take what is impure and defiled
to fashion something pure and pristine?
No one! We are, after all, so different in nature.
Since a person’s life is fixed,
and You are the One who determines the number of his months,
And You set a limit on the length of her life,
and since they are incapable of exceeding Your decree,
The least You can do is turn Your gaze away from him until they pass,
so that he can enjoy his day like a hired worker.

You know, at least there is a kind of hope for a tree:
if it gets cut down, it may yet sprout again out of the roots.
And very likely then, its tender shoots will not die.
Its roots may age deep under the ground,
and the stump appear dead in the dry earth,
But even then it needs only the merest whiff of water
to bud again and put forth shoots like a newly planted sapling.
10 But not so with humankind.
The noblest of human beings dies and lies flat.
Humans die, and where do they go?
11 Just as water evaporates from the sea,
And riverbeds go parched and dry,
12 so humankind lies down and does not rise again.
Until the day when the skies are done away with,
humankind will neither awaken nor rouse from slumber.

13 O that You would merely hide me in the land of the dead
and keep me in secret till Your wrath is gone,
until a time You decide when You might think upon me.
14 If one dies, can he live again?
Through these days of toil and struggle,
I will patiently wait until my situation changes.
15 You will call out, and I will answer You then;
and You will long for me,
the work of Your hands, again.
16 For then You would still count each of my steps
but not focus on my faults.
17 My sins would be sealed up as in a bag,
and my crimes You would carefully cover up.

18 And yet while every crack in me is closely watched,
the mountain will slide and erode as the avalanche steals its cliffs away.
19 The water grinds at the surface of stones,
and the floodwater[d] steals the soil away.
This is how You wreck the hope of humankind.
20 You continually overwhelm him, and he dies;
You alter his appearance and send him away.
21 If his children rise to honor, he does not know of it;
if they sink to humiliation, he is unaware of it.
22 He knows only this:
His body feels agony and his soul grieves.

15 Eliphaz reiterated his points.

Eliphaz: Does a wise man reply with windy knowledge
and fill up his belly with the hot east wind?
Does a wise man reason with impotent chatter,
with bankrupt words of no account?
Indeed, Job, you have ignored your responsibility to revere God
and depreciated your own thoughts toward God;
For your faults inform your speech,
and your language is tricky.
Your own mouth condemns you, not I;
your own lips volunteer as witnesses against you.

Were you the firstborn among men?
Were you introduced to the earth before the hills were conceived?
Were you allowed to listen in on the deliberations in God’s assembly?
Do you imagine all knowledge to be confined to you and you only?
What do you know that we don’t know?
Do you have an understanding that has somehow eluded us?
10 We have gray hairs and elders among us
weighed down with years,
heavier than your father.
11 Do you find God’s many comforts too meager
and His gentle speech to you too mild?
12 What has stripped you of your reason, carried away your heart?
Why do your eyes flash with anger—
13 So much so that you unleash your spirit
and spray out such speeches against God?

14 What is humankind, that people would be considered pure?
And among those born of women,
who could possibly be innocent?
15 Look, if God refuses to trust even His holy attendants,
if even the heavens above are impure in His eyes,
16 Then how much less regard must He show for humankind, who is base and corrupt,
or for Adam’s children who drink sin like water.

Genesis 6:1–4 tells the strange story of God’s own heavenly messengers procreating with beautiful human women. Such a union was obviously forbidden, possibly because it endowed the children with eternal life, based on God’s response to the situation—limiting the lifespan of humans to 120 years. As Job has revealed, these heavenly messengers are with God all the time. They do His bidding. No one could possibly know His rules better than they do or have more motivation to follow them, yet they still chose to disobey God. Eliphaz’s point is clear: no human could possibly claim to be above the temptation to sin when God’s heavenly envoys are not.

17 Eliphaz: I will tell it like it is, so listen.
I’ll recount what I have seen:
18 The very things that knowledgeable men have declared
and which they do not hide that they heard from their fathers
19 To whom the land was granted long ago
when no foreigners were among them.
20 The wicked man endures misery his whole life long;
and many years of sorrow are stored up for the ruthless.
21 His ears are assailed by the sounds of terror;
but when he is finally at peace, the destroyer seizes him.
22 Unsure that he will ever escape darkness,
he lives ever-conscious of the sword.
23 He wanders aimlessly in search of food.
“Where is it?” he asks.[e]
He knows all the while that the great day of darkness is imminent.
24 He is addled by strain and anxiety, terrified;
he will be overwhelmed as if by a king about to descend upon his enemy in war.
25 For he raises his fist to God
and acts arrogantly like a hero against the Highest One.[f]
26 He runs at Him, headlong, headstrong,
and leads his charge behind the thick protection of a massive shield.
27 Strong and healthy, he has nourished himself well and prospered
until his face and his thighs are pleasantly fat.
28 He lodges in evacuated towns in empty houses unfit for habitation,
in buildings condemned to rubble and ruin.
29 He will never be rich; his wealth will not last,
nor will he have possessions enough for any to put down roots.
30 He will not manage to escape from darkness,
as it scorches like tender branches that wilt in the flame;
He will blow away like the breath of his mouth.
31 Don’t let him fool himself;
if he trusts in the emptiness of his vanity,
emptiness will be his reward.
32 Before his time is up, it will all be finished
and the branches of his trees will never leaf out.
33 He will be like the vine that drops its immature grapes,
the olive tree that sheds its own blossoms.
34 O the gathering of the godless is unfruitful,
and fire consumes the tents of those who pervert justice by giving bribes.
35 Their intercourse yields only the conception of misconduct,
the birth of sinfulness,
and their wombs carry only lies to term.

Footnotes:

  1. 13:3 Hebrew, Shaddai
  2. 13:24 A wordplay in Hebrew between “Job” and “enemy,” so “name” and “nemesis” in English.
  3. 14:3 Other manuscripts read, “him.”
  4. 14:19 Hebrew manuscripts read, “her aftergrowth.”
  5. 15:23 Greek manuscripts read, “He is thrown out like food for vultures.”
  6. 15:25 Hebrew, Shaddai
The Voice (VOICE)

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.

1 Corinthians 15:29-58

Resurrection is central to the gospel. In fact, without the bodily resurrection of Jesus there is no good news at all. For in Jesus, God personifies His redeeming work and demonstrates the scope of that redemption. He is a God who brings life from death, peace from war, prosperity from adversity, and bounty from famine. The resurrection of Jesus marks a new era of God’s dealing with the world. He intends nothing less than the total reclamation of His good creation damaged by human folly, sin, and death.

29 You have probably heard that some people are undergoing ritual cleansings of baptism[a] for the dead. Why are they doing that? If the dead are not going to be raised, then why are people being baptized for them? 30 Why are we putting our lives on the line all the time if there’s no resurrection? 31 I die every day! I swear that it’s true! That’s something you take pride in, brothers and sisters, as I do in Jesus the Anointed, our Lord. 32 But if I have fought against the wild beasts in Ephesus for some human cause, then what good has that done me? If the dead are not raised, then there’s nothing more to do than—as the saying goes—eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.[b]

33 But don’t be so naïve—there’s another saying you know well—Bad company corrupts good habits. 34 Come to your senses, live justly, and stop sinning. It’s true that some have no knowledge of God. I am saying this to shame you into better habits.

35 Now I know what some of you are thinking: “Just how are the dead going to be raised? What kind of bodies will they have when they come back to life?” 36 Don’t be a fool! The seed you plant doesn’t produce life unless it dies. Right? 37 The seed doesn’t have the same look, the same body, if you will, of what it will have once it starts to grow. It starts out a single, naked seed—whether wheat or some other grain, it doesn’t matter 38 and God gives to that seed a body just as He has desired. For each of the different kinds of seeds God prepares a unique body. 39 Or look at it this way: not all flesh is the same. Right? There is skin flesh on humans, furry flesh on animals, feathery flesh on birds, and scaly flesh on fish. 40 Likewise there are bodies made for the heavens and bodies made for the earth. The heavenly bodies have a different kind of glory or luminescence compared to bodies below. 41 Even among the heavenly bodies, there is a different level of brilliance: the sun shines differently than the moon, the moon differently than the stars, and the stars themselves differ in their brightness.

42 It’s like this with the resurrection of those who have died. The body planted in the earth decays. But the body raised from the earth cannot decay. 43 The body is planted in disgrace and weakness. But the body is raised in splendor and power. 44 The body planted in the earth was animated by the physical, material realm. But the body raised from the earth will be animated by the spiritual. Since there is a physical, material body, there will also be a spiritual body. 45 That’s why it was written, “The first man Adam became a living soul”; the last Adam has become a life-giving spirit. 46 Everything has an order. The body is not animated first by the spiritual but the physical; then the spiritual becomes its life-giving source. 47 The first man, Adam, came from the earth and was made from dust; the second man, Jesus, has come from heaven. 48 The earth man shares his earth nature with all those made of earth; likewise the heavenly man shares His heavenly nature with all those made of heaven. 49 Just as we have carried the image of the earth man in our bodies, we will[c] also carry the image of the heavenly man in our new bodies at the resurrection.

Redemption is not merely forgiveness of sin’s guilt so our souls can go to heaven someday. Our true hope is to be free from physical death just as Jesus was raised from the dead. Accordingly, this hope of bodily resurrection stands against the expectation that souls escape from their mortal bodies (as if your soul is the real “you” and your body is a disposable external space suit) and merely float up to heaven. Rather, Paul presents resurrection as a new creation; and this restored bodily existence affirms and fulfills the original intent of creation. Believers don’t have to wait until the future to experience this Spirit-enabled life because living in obedience to God through the Spirit is a foretaste of the total experience that will come when all is restored later.

50 Now listen to this: brothers and sisters, this present body is not able to inherit the kingdom of God any more than decay can inherit that which lasts forever. 51 Stay close because I am going to tell you a mystery—something you may have trouble understanding: we will not all fall asleep in death, but we will all be transformed. 52 It will all happen so fast, in a blink, a mere flutter of the eye. The last trumpet will call, and the dead will be raised from their graves with a body that does not, cannot decay. All of us will be changed! 53 We’ll step out of our mortal clothes and slide into immortal bodies, replacing everything that is subject to death with eternal life. 54 And, when we are all redressed with bodies that do not, cannot decay, when we put immortality over our mortal frames, then it will be as Scripture says:

Life everlasting has victoriously swallowed death.[d]
55 Hey, Death! What happened to your big win?
Hey, Death! What happened to your sting?[e]

56 Sin came into this world, and death’s sting followed. Then sin took aim at the law and gained power over those who follow the law. 57 Thank God, then, for our Lord Jesus, the Anointed, the Liberating King, who brought us victory over the grave.

58 My dear brothers and sisters, stay firmly planted—be unshakable—do many good works in the name of God, and know that all your labor is not for nothing when it is for God.

Footnotes:

  1. 15:29 Literally, immersions, to show repentance
  2. 15:32 Isaiah 22:13
  3. 15:49 Other manuscripts read “so let us.”
  4. 15:54 Isaiah 25:8
  5. 15:55 Hosea 13:14
The Voice (VOICE)

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.

Psalm 39

Psalm 39

For the worship leader, Jeduthun.[a] A song of David.

As an individual lament, Psalm 39 grieves over the brevity of life. The superscription recalls David’s appointment of Jeduthun as one of the tabernacle’s leading musicians (1 Chronicles 16:41–42).

I promised, “I’ll be careful on life’s journey
not to sin with my words;
I’ll seal my lips
when wicked people are around.”
I kept my mouth shut;
I had nothing to say—not even anything good—
which came to grieve me more and more.
I felt my heart become hot inside me
as I thought on these things; a fire ignited and burned.
Then I said,

“Eternal One, let me understand my end
and how brief my earthly existence is;
help me realize my life is fleeting.
You have determined the length of my days,
and my life is nothing compared to You.
Even the longest life is only a breath.”

[pause][b]

In truth, each of us journeys through life like a shadow.
We busy ourselves accomplishing nothing, piling up assets we can never keep;
We can’t even know who will end up with those things.

In light of all this, Lord, what am I really waiting for?
You are my hope.
Keep me from all the wrong I would do;
don’t let the foolish laugh at me.
I am quiet; I keep my mouth closed
because this has come from You.
10 Take Your curse from me;
I can’t endure Your punishment.

11 You discipline us for our sins.
Like a moth, You consume everything we treasure;
it’s evident we are merely a breath.

[pause]

12 Hear me, O Eternal One;
listen to my pleading,
and don’t ignore my tears
Because I am estranged from You—
a wanderer like my fathers before me.
13 Look away from me so I might have a chance to recover my joy and smile again
before I lay this life down and am no more.

Footnotes:

  1. 39:title 1 Chronicles 9:16
  2. 39:5 Literally, selah, likely a musical direction from a Hebrew root meaning “to lift up”
The Voice (VOICE)

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.

Proverbs 21:30-31

30 No one is wise enough or smart enough,
and no plan is good enough to stand up to the Eternal.
31 No matter how well you arm for battle,
victory is determined by Him.

The Voice (VOICE)

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.

08/23/2020 Dab Transcript

Job 8:1-11:20, 1 Corinthians 15:1-28, Psalms 38:1-22, Proverbs 21:28-29

Today is the 23rd day of August, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I’m Brian it’s great to be here with you as we begin a new week. And you know what that means. It’s all out in front of us, shiny and sparkly. Nothings gone wrong nothings gone right. It’s all out in front of us and the way that we live into this week is gonna dictate what this week looks like. And, so. here we are entering another one of our weeks together. This week will read from the Voice Translation and we will continue our journey through the book of Job, which we’ve really…we’re just getting going but we understand what happened to Job and it’s devastating to say the least. We watched Job’s posture in all of the devastation and that has been to stay and remain true and upright before God, yet he has enormous questions that his friends who have come to see him and are mourning with him they’re trying to answer. But Job wants something that they can’t give him. He wants an audience with God. And…and his friends, they have words about that, about the arrogance of that notion. But we’ll continue with our story. Today Job 8, 9, 10 and 11.

Prayer:

Father, we thank You for Your word and we greet this new week with expectancy. We open our hearts to You. We’ve been weighed down, we’ve been crushed, we’ve been flattened, we’ve lamented and sought answers like Job. We…we can relate to where we are in the Scriptures, but we see Your faithfulness. We are here and this theme keeps coming up but it’s a reminder. We are still here. Your breath is still within us. We are still here. You are sustaining us. And, so, all of the things that have been kind of shut down because of the assaults of life on us, especially this year, we wanted to begin to lift. Even as things get more and more chaotic, we want that to lift. We don’t have to live under that cloud, not if we let go and understand our utter dependence upon You, that we are completely dependent upon You and You are faithful. When we put our trust in You completely and wholly, the atmosphere changes in our lives, the way we look at everything changes in our lives and all these things we’ve been carrying around they begin to lift. This is what we’re asking for as we go into this new week. And, as we prepare and look ahead into the changing of seasons into new month before us come Holy Spirit, we put our trust in You. Lift these heavy burdens, same kind of burdens we’re reading about in the Psalms, same understanding that this has always been going on and this part of the story. And this part of the story teaches us, and we are dependent completely. Our own strength is not enough, and we need You and You are available. So, we throw up our arms and surrender and say come Holy Spirit, lead us into all truth, lead us on the narrow path that leads to life, lead us deeper into Jesus we pray this coming week. In Jesus name we ask. Amen.

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And that’s it for today on Brian. I love you and I’ll be waiting for you here tomorrow.

The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Sunday August 23, 2020 (NIV)

Job 8-11

Then the second of Job’s three friends, Bildad the Shuhite, addressed Job.

Bildad: How long will you say these things,
your words whipping through air like a powerful wind?
Does God corrupt justice,
or does the Highest One[a] corrupt the good?
If your children sinned against Him,
He merely administered the punishment due them for those sins.
But if you search for God
and make your appeal to the Highest One,
If you are pure and righteous,
I have no doubt He will arise for you and restore you to your righteous place.
From your modest beginnings,
the future will be bright before you.

Ask those who have come and gone!
Explore what their fathers learned and taught them.
For we are not of ages past, nor even of years gone by.
We are ignorant creatures of yesterday,
and our time on earth is only a shadow.
10 But the ancients are not similarly bound, are they?
Won’t they speak to and instruct you?
Won’t they draw up words from deep within?

11 Can papyrus grow tall without a marsh?
Can reeds flourish without water?
12 Even if they are hardy and unbroken,
without water they will dry up before any other plant.
13 So it goes with any who forget God.
The hope of the godless soon withers and dies.
14 His confidence breaks,
for he trusts in the tenuous threads of a spider’s web.[b]
15 When he leans into his house of silken threads for support,
it won’t hold;
Though his arms grab to steady him,
it will break—he will fall and never get back up.
16 Still the godless appears to be a hardy plant,
thriving in full sun, sending his shoots across the garden.
17 The roots twine and grip the stone heap
and search for a home among the rocks.
18 If he is pulled up, the place will disown him saying,
“I have never seen you.”
19 See, his sole joy consists of this:[c]
knowing that others will spring from the earth to take his place.
20 Do you see it? God will not reject the innocent;
He will not reject you or support agents of evil.
21 He will fill your mouth with laughter;
your lips will spill over into cries of delight.
22 Those who hate you will don the garment of shame,
and the home of the wicked will disappear.

Much like Eliphaz, Bildad believes people suffer as a result of their own sins. But his justification of that suffering is different. Bildad reasons that God is just; as God, He is justice personified. Because He is so perfectly just, God will not punish someone who is also just. Bildad’s logical but flawed conclusion is that Job must have sinned to deserve his current pain. Surprisingly, he manages to be even less effective than Eliphaz had been, alienating Job by reasoning that Job’s children must have sinned to deserve their deaths and implying that Job’s regular sacrifices on their behalf were not enough to save them.

Then Job spoke to them.

Job: Sure, I know all of this is correct,
but tell me this: how can a person set things straight with God?
If one wanted to argue with Him,
even in a thousand questions he would not be able to answer Him once.
His wise heart is vast; His strength immeasurable.
Who has ever challenged Him and remained safe and at peace?
He uproots mountains,
and they are unaware when He overturns them in His rage.
He shakes the earth out of its place
so that its foundation pillars shudder.
He commands the sun to go down and not rise,
and He sequesters the stars so they do not shine.
He single-handedly stretched out the heavens overhead
and walks on the back of the raging sea.
He fashioned the stars into constellations we know by name—
Bear, Orion, the Pleiades—
and the lights of the southern sky.
10 He does wonderful things, even confounding things,
and performs an infinite number of miracles.
11 Still, if He passes right by me, I don’t see Him;
if He brushes past, I don’t notice Him.
12 Ah, but if He were to steal like a thief in the market,
who could stop Him? No one has authority over Him.
Who could dare say to Him, “What are You doing?”

13 God does not restrain Himself in His anger.
Even the minions of Rahab—that monster of the sea and purveyor of chaos—
cower at His feet in subservience.
14 So then how do I argue with Him?
How can I find the right words to state my case to Him?
15 After all, I am the innocent one here, and I still can’t find an answer.
So I must continually appeal to the mercy of my judge.
16 But even if I were to call Him and He were to answer,
I still could not believe that He would listen to my complaint.
17 For He flattens me with a tornado
and multiplies my wounds for no reason.
18 He won’t even give me time to catch my breath;
instead He force-feeds me more bitterness.
19 If it is an issue of power, there is no question
He is the mighty one;
and if it is an issue of justice, who would ever appoint me?
20 Even though I am right in all of this, my own mouth sentences me.
Though I am blameless, my own lips cheat me.
21 I am blameless, but I don’t know myself.
I hate my life.
22 Well, then this is what I say: it’s all the same.
In the end, He kills off both the innocent and the depraved.
23 If a flood of disaster rushes in and kills,
He ridicules the anguish of its innocent victims.
24 The earth has been given over
and is under the dominion of some wicked hand.
God conceals these things from its judges, covering their faces, blinding their eyes.
If not He, then who is it?

25 As for me, my days are sprinting by like a runner.
Seeing nothing good, they seek escape.
26 They glide past in swift silence like reed boats on the river.
Now a blur, they dive like an eagle toward its prey.
27 If I tell myself, “I will forget all about my grievance against God,
I will simply abandon my long face and cheer up,”
28 Then I fear the suffering to come
because I know there’s no chance that You, Lord, will find me innocent.
29 So if the verdict is already in, if I have already been found guilty,
why should I bother to clear my name?
Why struggle in vain?
30 Though I wash my body in the pure melted snow
and scrub my hands thoroughly with the strongest soap,
31 You would toss me into a putrid pit,
and when I emerged, even my own clothes would hate me.
32 The Lord . . . He is no man, like me, whom I could answer,
no human being whom I could face in court.
33 There is no judge to stand between us
who can lay his hands on us both,
34 Who can remove God’s rod from my back
and stave off the terror of Him that haunts me.
35 I long to speak and defend myself without fear of Him and His reprisals;
but as things stand now and as I am within myself, that’s not possible.

10 Job: I hate my life, so I will unload the full weight of my grievance against God.
Let me speak and reveal the bitterness I am harboring.
I will say to God: Don’t find me guilty;
just explain the charges You have against me.
Does it please You to oppress,
and is this why You spurn me, the work of Your hands,
and yet Your smile shines down upon the plots of the wicked?
Do You have human eyes so that Your outlook is short?
Do You see as through human frailties?
Are Your days like mortals’ limited days?
Are Your years like mortals’ limited years?
Is this why You seek out my faults
or You go in search of all my error?
You know well that I am not guilty,
yet nothing can free me from Your overwhelming power.

Your hands formed and made me whole,
yet now You turn to crush.
Recall how You molded me like clay.
Will You now render me back to dust?
10 Didn’t You pour me out like milk and curdle me like cheese?
11 Didn’t You clothe me in skin and flesh, weave my bone and sinew together?
12 Your care has saved my spirit,
and You have given me life and loyalty;
13 Yet I know what is in You,
what Your heart has always hidden.
14 If I sin, You see it, watching ever so closely,
and You do not acquit me of my guilt.
15 If I am wicked, woe is me;
even if I am innocent, I cannot take a chance and lift my head
Because I’m gorged with disgrace.
Gaze on my misery!
16 If I do raise my head,
then like a lion, You hunt me;
Like a night sky turned threatening,
You unfold Your power against me so that others marvel;
17 Like a prosecutor, You drag in witnesses against me;
You escalate Your fury against me, coming in waves to pound on me.

18 So then, why did You bother to drag me out of the womb at all?
I should have just died before any eye could see me.
19 It should have been as though I had never been:
plucked from the womb, carried to the tomb.
20 Aren’t my days almost finished anyway?
Stand back, leave me alone, and let me have a scrap of comfort
21 Before I go to the place from which I won’t return,
to the land of utter darkness and still shadows,
22 The land of deep, unending night,
of blackness and shadowy chaos
where the only illumination is more darkness.

11 Finally, Job’s third friend, Zophar the Naamathite, spoke to Job.

Zophar: Shall such a great volume of words remain unanswered
and a long-winded man be so easily acquitted?
Shall your empty prattle silence people,
and when you mock, shall no one shame you?
You’ve told us, “I have a clear understanding of things,
and I am innocent in Your eyes, O Lord.
Ah, but I wish God would speak,
that He would address you openly, so I will argue for Him.
I wish He would show you the secrets of great wisdom—
for the two sides of sound wisdom are both found in His mercy and justice.
Know this: God forgets some of your guilt.

Can you see to the unseen side of God,
or explore the limits of the Highest One’s[d] knowledge?
Higher than the heavens—what can you do to reach it?
Deeper than the realm of the dead—what can you know of it?
Its farthest reaches exceed the ends of the earth;
its breadth spans far beyond the sea.
10 If He passes by, as is His routine, and throws you into prison,
and calls you to testify about what you’ve done, who can challenge Him?
11 He recognizes worthless people without integrity,
so do you really think when He sees wrongdoing He doesn’t examine it?
12 As they say, “The empty-headed will become clever
in the day the colt of a wild donkey is born human!”

13 If you will focus your intentions in His direction
and open your hands and reach for Him,
14 Where you have guilt on your hands,
if you will send it far away and not tolerate sin in your tents,
15 Then you will lift up a face clean of all stains;
you will hold your head high, secure, and free of fear.
16 You will forget all of these troubles of yours;
they will pass beneath your memory like a drop of water that has just flowed away.
17 Life will become brighter than high noon;
darkness will give way to morning.
18 Once again, you’ll trust in the presence of hope;
you’ll scan the horizon and sleep safely.
19 You will lie down, and no one will terrorize you,
and many will long to be in your good graces.
20 But the eyes of the wicked will grow dark as they lose hope;
they’ll find no escape, and in despair,
they’ll long only to breathe their last dying breath.

Footnotes:

  1. 8:3 Hebrew, Shaddai
  2. 8:14 Meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain.
  3. 8:19 Meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain.
  4. 11:7 Hebrew, Shaddai
The Voice (VOICE)

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.

1 Corinthians 15:1-28

15 Let me remind you, brothers and sisters, of the good news that I preached to you when we first met. It’s the essential message that you have taken to heart, the central story you now base your life on; and through this gospel, you are liberated—unless, of course, your faith has come to nothing. 3-4 For I passed down to you the crux of it all which I had also received from others, that the Anointed One, the Liberating King, died for our sins and was buried and raised from the dead on the third day. All this happened to fulfill the Scriptures; it was the perfect climax to God’s covenant story. Afterward He appeared alive to Cephas[a] (you may know him as Simon Peter), then to the rest of the twelve. If that were not amazing enough, on one occasion, He appeared to more than 500 believers at one time. Many of those brothers and sisters are still around to tell the story, though some have fallen asleep[b] in Jesus. Soon He appeared to James, His brother and the leader of the Jerusalem church, and then to all the rest of the emissaries[c] He Himself commissioned.[d] Last of all, He appeared to me;[e] I was like a child snatched from his mother’s womb. You see, I am the least of all His emissaries, not fit to be called His emissary because I hunted down and persecuted God’s church. 10 Today I am who I am because of God’s grace, and I have made sure that the grace He offered me has not been wasted. I have worked harder, longer, and smarter than all the rest; but I realize it is not me—it is God’s grace with me that has made the difference. 11 In the end, it doesn’t matter whether it was I or the other witnesses who brought you the message. What matters is that we keep preaching and that you have faith in this message.

12 Now if we have told you about the Anointed One (how He has risen from the dead and appeared to us fully alive), then how can you stand there and say there is no such thing as resurrection from death? 13 Friends, if there is no resurrection of the dead, then even the Anointed hasn’t been raised; 14 if that is so, then all our preaching has been for nothing and your faith in the message is worthless. 15 And what’s worse, all of us who have been preaching the gospel are now guilty of misrepresenting God because we have been spreading the news that He raised the Anointed One from the dead (which must be a lie if what you are saying about the dead not being raised is the truth). 16 Please listen. If you say, “the dead are not raised,” then what you are telling me is that the Anointed One has not been raised. Friends, 17 if the Anointed has not been raised from the dead, then your faith is worth less than yesterday’s garbage, you are all doomed in your sins, 18 and all the dearly departed who trusted in His liberation are left decaying in the ground. 19 If what we have hoped for in the Anointed doesn’t take us beyond this life, then we are world-class fools, deserving everyone’s pity.

20 But the Anointed One was raised from death’s slumber and is the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep in death. 21 For since death entered this world by a man, it took another man to make the resurrection of the dead our new reality. 22 Look at it this way: through Adam all of us die, but through the Anointed One all of us can live again. 23 But this is how it will happen: the Anointed’s awakening is the firstfruits. It will be followed by the resurrection of all those who belong to Him at His coming, 24 and then the end will come. After He has conquered His enemies and shut down every rule and authority vying for power, He will hand over the Kingdom to God, the Father of all that is. 25 And He must reign as King until He has put all His enemies under His feet. 26 The last hostile power to be destroyed is death itself. 27 All this will happen to fulfill the Scripture that says, “You placed everything on earth beneath His feet.”[f] (Although it says “everything,” it is clear that this does not also pertain to God, who created everything and made it all subject to Him.) 28 Then, when all creation has taken its rightful place beneath God’s sovereign reign, the Son will follow, subject to the Father who exalted Him over all created things; then God will be God over all.

Footnotes:

  1. 15:5 Luke 24:34
  2. 15:6 Literally, died
  3. 15:7 Literally, apostles
  4. 15:7 Acts 1:3–4
  5. 15:8 Acts 9:3–6
  6. 15:27 Psalm 8:6
The Voice (VOICE)

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.

Psalm 38

Psalm 38

A song of David for remembering.

This is one of a group of psalms known in later tradition as the penitential psalms, namely, psalms that confess sins and express confidence in God’s mercy. In this psalm a serious illness threatens the life of the worshiper.

O Eternal One, please do not scold me in Your anger;
though Your wrath is just, do not correct me in Your fury.
The arrows from Your bow have penetrated my flesh;
Your hand has come down hard on me.

Because Your anger has infected the depths of my being and stolen my health,
my flesh is ill.
My bones are no longer sound
because of all the sins I have committed.
My guilt has covered me; it’s more than I can handle;
this burden is too heavy for me to carry.

Now sores cover me—infected and putrid sores,
because of all the foolish things I have done.
I am bent down, cowering in fear, prostrate on the ground;
I spend the day in mourning, guilty tears stinging and burning my eyes.
My back aches. I’m full of fever;
my body is no longer whole, no longer well.
I am completely numb, totally spent, hopelessly crushed.
The agitation of my heart makes me groan.

O Lord, You know all my desires;
nothing escapes You; You hear my every moan.
10 My heart pounds against my chest; my vigor is completely drained;
my eyes were once bright, but now the brightness is all gone.
11 Even my friends and loved ones turn away when they see this marked man;
those closest to me are no longer close at all.

12 Those who want me dead lay traps upon my path;
those who desire my downfall threaten—my end is near—
they spend their days plotting against me.

13 Like one who is deaf, my ears do not hear.
Like one who is mute, my tongue cannot speak.
14 The truth is this: I am like one who cannot hear;
I cannot even protest against them.

15 Still I wait expectantly for You, O Eternal One—
knowing You will answer me in some way, O Lord, my True God.
16 I only asked, “When I stumble on the narrow path,
don’t let them boast or celebrate my failure.

17 I am prepared for what may come; my time must be short;
my pain and suffering a constant companion.
18 I confess, “I have sinned,”
and I regret the wrong I have done.
19 My enemies are alive and well,
they are powerful and on the increase,
and for no reason, they hate me.
20 When I do good, my opponents reward me with evil;
though I pursue what is right, they stand against me.

21 Eternal One, do not leave me to their mercy;
my True God, don’t be far from me when they are near.
22 I need Your help now—not later.
O Lord, be my Rescuer.

The Voice (VOICE)

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.

Proverbs 21:28-29

28 The testimony of a false witness is eventually impeached,
but the person who truly listens will have the last word.
29 The wicked wears a defiant face,
but the right-living plans his path.

The Voice (VOICE)

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.

The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Saturday August 22, 2020 (NIV)

Job 4-7

Eliphaz Speaks

Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered:

“If someone tried to speak with you, would you be ·upset [or discouraged]?
I cannot keep from speaking.
Think about the many people you have taught
and the weak hands you have made strong.
Your words have ·comforted [L lifted up] those who ·fell [stumbled],
and you have strengthened those ·who could not stand [L with weak knees].
But now trouble comes to you, and you are discouraged;
·trouble hits [L it touches] you, and you are ·terrified [disturbed].
·You should have [Shouldn’t you have…?] confidence because you ·respect [fear; have awe for] God;
·you should [should you not…?] have hope because ·you are innocent [L of your innocent ways].

“Remember ·that the innocent will not die [L who being innocent/blameless has perished…?];
·honest people will never be [L when were the honest/virtuous…? ] destroyed.
I have ·noticed [seen] that people who plow ·evil [wickedness]
and plant trouble, harvest it.
God’s breath destroys them,
and a blast of his anger ·kills [finishes] them.
10 Lions may roar and lion cubs growl,
but when the teeth of a strong lion are broken,
11 that lion dies ·of hunger [L without prey].
The cubs of the mother lion are scattered [C the wicked may briefly prosper but will ultimately perish].

12 “A word ·was brought to me in secret [L stole over me],
and my ears heard a whisper of it [C Eliphaz claims a supernatural revelation that supports his teaching].
13 It was during ·a nightmare [L anxious thoughts of a night vision]
when people are in deep sleep.
14 I was trembling with fear;
all my bones were shaking.
15 A spirit glided past my face,
and the hair on my ·body [L skin] stood on end.
16 The spirit stopped,
but I could not see what it was.
A shape stood before my eyes,
and I heard a quiet voice.
17 It said, ‘Can a human be more right than God?
Can a person be pure before his maker? [C the implied answer is no]
18 God does not trust his ·angels [L servants];
he blames ·them [L angels] for mistakes.
19 So ·he puts even more blame on [L what about…?] people who live in clay houses [C physical bodies],
whose foundations are made of dust [Gen. 2:7],
who can be crushed like a moth.
20 Between ·dawn and sunset [L morning and evening] many people are broken to pieces;
without being noticed, they die and are gone forever.
21 The ropes of their tents are pulled up,
and they die without wisdom.’

“Call if you want to, Job, ·but no one [L is there anyone who…?] will answer you.
·You can’t [L Can you…?] turn to any of the holy ones [C angels].
·Anger [Irritation] kills the fool,
and jealousy slays the ·stupid [or naïve; simpleminded; C these emotions can lead to death; Prov. 14:30; 27:4].
I have seen a fool ·succeed [L taking root],
but I cursed his ·home [household; pasturage] ·immediately [suddenly].
His children are far from safety
and are crushed in court with no ·defense [or rescuer].
The hungry eat his harvest,
even taking what grew among the thorns,
and thirsty people ·want [L pant after] his wealth.
·Hard times do [Misery does] not come up from the ·ground [dust],
and trouble does not ·grow [sprout] from the earth [C they come from anger and jealousy].
People ·produce [L are born for] trouble
as surely as sparks fly upward.

“But if I were you, I would ·call on [L seek] God
and ·bring my problem [L commit my thoughts/cause] before him [C argues that Job needs to repent].
God does wonders that cannot be understood;
he does so many ·miracles [marvelous acts] they cannot be counted.
10 He gives rain to the earth
and sends water on the fields.
11 He makes the ·humble [lowly] person important [Ps. 113]
and lifts ·the sad [mourners] to places of safety.
12 He ruins the ·plans [pretensions; strategies] of those who ·trick others [are crafty]
so ·they [L their hands] have no success.
13 He catches the ·wise [crafty; clever] in their own ·clever traps [craftiness]
and ·sweeps away [ends; finishes off] the ·plans [advice; schemes] of those who ·try to trick others [are wily].
14 Darkness ·covers them up [or encounters them] in the daytime;
even at noon they ·feel [grope] around in the dark.
15 God saves the needy from their lies
and from the harm done by powerful people.
16 So the poor have hope,
while those who are ·unfair [unjust] ·are silenced [L shut their mouth].

17 “The one whom God ·corrects [reproves] is ·happy [blessed],
so do not ·hate being corrected by [L reject/despise the instruction of] the Almighty [Prov. 3:11–12].
18 God ·hurts [wounds], but he also bandages up;
he ·injures [strikes], but his hands also heal.
19 He will ·save [rescue] you from six ·troubles [dangers];
even seven ·troubles [or evils] will not ·harm [L touch] you [C “six…seven” is a poetic way of saying “all troubles”].
20 God will ·buy you back [redeem/ransom you] from death in times of ·hunger [famine],
and in ·battle [war] he will save you from the sword.
21 You will be ·protected [hidden] from the ·tongue that strikes like a whip [lash of the tongue],
and you will not be afraid when destruction comes.
22 You will laugh at destruction and hunger [Ps. 112:7],
and you will not fear the wild animals,
23 because you will have an ·agreement [treaty; alliance; covenant] with the stones in the field,
and the wild animals will be at peace with you [C describes a peaceful relationship with all nature].
24 You will know that your tent is safe,
because you will ·check [visit] ·the things you own [your pasturage/home] and find nothing missing.
25 You will know that you will have many ·children [descendants],
and your ·descendants [offspring] will be like the grass on the earth.
26 You will come to the grave ·with all your strength [or at a ripe old age],
like bundles of grain gathered at the right time.

27 “We have ·checked [examined] this, and it is true,
so hear it and ·decide what it means to you [know it yourself].”

Job Answers Eliphaz

Then Job answered [L and said]:

“·I wish [or If only] my ·suffering [anguish; irritation] could be weighed
and my misery put on scales.
·My sadness [L It] would be heavier than the sand of the seas.
No wonder my words ·seem careless [blurt out; are wild/rash].
[L For] The arrows of ·the Almighty [L Shaddai] are in me;
my spirit drinks in their poison;
God’s terrors ·are gathered [are ranged; enter into battle] against me.
·A wild donkey does not bray when it has grass to eat [L Does not a wild donkey bray for grass?],
·and an ox is quiet when it has feed [L Does not an ox bellow for fodder?; C Job’s complaints are as natural as the sounds animals make when hungry].
·Tasteless food is not [L Would tasteless food be…?] eaten without salt,
and ·there is no [L is there…?] flavor in the ·white of an egg [or juice of a weed; C Job’s “food” (his lot in life) is inedible].
I refuse to touch it;
such food makes me sick [C a word connected to menstruation and therefore ritual uncleanness; Lev. 15:19–30].

“How I wish that I might have what I ask for
and that God would give me what I hope for.
How I wish God would crush me
and reach out his hand to ·destroy me [cut me off].
10 Then I would have this ·comfort [consolation]
and be glad even in this unending pain,
because I would know I did not reject the words of the Holy One.

11 “·I do not have the [L What is my…?] strength to wait.
·There is nothing to hope for,
so why should I be patient [L What is my end that I should arrange my life]?
12 ·I do not [L Do I…?] have the strength of stone;
·my flesh is not [L is my flesh…?] bronze.
13 ·I have no power to help myself [L Is there no help for me?],
because ·success [resourcefulness] has been ·taken away [driven] from me.

14 “They say, ‘·A person’s friends should be kind to him when he is in trouble,
even if he stops fearing the Almighty [or Those who withhold loyalty from their friend do not fear the Almighty/Shaddai; C Job here criticizes his friends’ attitude toward him].’
15 But my ·brothers [C Job’s three friends] cannot be counted on.
They are like ·streams that do not always flow [L wadis; C seasonal riverbeds that are dry in the summer],
streams that sometimes run over.
16 They are made dark by melting ice
and rise with melting snow.
17 But they ·stop flowing [L are silent] in the dry season;
they disappear when it is hot.
18 ·Travelers [or Caravans] turn away from their paths
and go into the desert and die.
19 The groups of travelers from Tema [C an oasis in north Arabia] look for water,
and the traders of Sheba [C in south Arabia; both places were well known for their trade through the desert] look for it hopefully.
20 They are ·upset [L ashamed] because they had been sure;
when they arrive, they are ·disappointed [dismayed].
21 You ·also have been no help [L become like this to me].
You see something terrible, and you are afraid.
22 ·I have never said [L Did I ever say…?], ‘Give me a gift.
Use your wealth to ·pay my debt [or make a bribe for me].
23 ·Save [Rescue] me from the enemy’s power.
·Buy me back [Redeem me] from the clutches of ·cruel [violent] people.’

24 “Teach me, and I will be quiet.
·Show me [L Help me understand] where I have been wrong.
25 ·Honest [Virtuous; C Job speaks sarcastically] words are painful,
but your ·arguments [reproofs] prove nothing.
26 Do you mean to correct what I say?
Will you treat the words of a ·troubled [despairing] man as if they were only wind [C that is, empty]?
27 You would even ·gamble [cast lots] for orphans
and would ·trade away [sell] your friend.

28 “But now please look at me.
I would not lie to your face.
29 ·Change your mind [L Return now]; do not be unfair;
·think [return] again, because my ·innocence [righteousness] is being questioned.
30 What I am saying is not wicked;
I can ·tell [L taste] ·the difference between right and wrong [or tragedy].

“·People have [L Do not people have…?] a hard ·task [service] on earth,
and their days are like those of a [L hired] laborer [C hard work with little profit].
They are like a ·slave [servant] ·wishing [L panting] for the evening shadows,
like a [L hired] laborer waiting to be paid.
But I ·am given [L inherit] months that are ·empty [vain; futile],
and nights of ·misery [or toil] have been ·given [L allotted] to me.
When I lie down, I think, ‘How long until I get up?’
The night is long, and I toss until dawn.
My body is covered with worms and ·scabs [L clods of dust/dirt],
and my skin ·is broken and full of sores [L crusts over and oozes].

“My days go by faster than a weaver’s ·tool [shuttle],
and they come to an end without hope.
Remember, God, that my life is only a breath.
My eyes will never see happy times again.
·Those who [L The eyes that] see me now will see me no more;
you will look for me, but I will ·be gone [L be no more; not exist].
As a cloud ·disappears [fades] and is gone,
people go to ·the grave [L Sheol; C the grave or the underworld] and never return.
10 They will never come back to their houses again,
and their places will not know them anymore.

11 “So I will not ·stay quiet [L restrain my mouth];
I will speak out in the ·suffering [distress; L pinch] of my spirit.
I will ·complain [groan] ·because I am so unhappy [L in the bitterness of my soul].
12 ·I am not [L Am I…?] ·the sea [L Yam] or ·the sea monster [L Tannin; C Yam and Tannin are legendary sea monsters representing chaos].
·So why have you […that you] set a guard over me?
13 Sometimes I think my bed will comfort me
or that my couch will ·stop my complaint [ease my groans].
14 Then you ·frighten [terrorize] me with dreams
and ·terrify [scare] me with visions.
15 My throat prefers to be choked;
my bones welcome death.
16 I ·hate [L reject] my life; I don’t want to live forever.
Leave me alone, because my days have no meaning.

17 “Why do you make people so important
and ·give them so much attention [L set your heart on them; C contrast Ps. 8:4]?
18 You ·examine [visit] them every morning
and test them ·every moment [all the time].
19 Will you never look away from me
or leave me alone even long enough to swallow [L my saliva]?
20 If I have sinned, what have I done to you,
you watcher of humans?
Why have you made me your target?
Have I become a ·heavy load [burden] for you?
21 Why don’t you ·pardon [forgive] my ·wrongs [transgressions]
and ·forgive my sins [carry away my guilt]?
I will soon lie down in the dust of death.
Then you will ·search [look] for me, but I will be no more.”

Expanded Bible (EXB)

The Expanded Bible, Copyright © 2011 Thomas Nelson Inc. All rights reserved.

1 Corinthians 14:18-40

18 I thank God that I speak ·in different kinds of languages [or with ecstatic utterance; L in tongues] more than all of you. 19 But in the church meetings I would rather speak five words ·I understand [L with my mind] in order to teach others than thousands of words ·in a different language [or with ecstatic utterance; L in a tongue].

20 Brothers and sisters, do not think like children. In evil things be like ·babies [infants], but in your thinking you should be ·like adults [mature; grown-up]. 21 It is written in the ·Scriptures [L Law; C referring here to all of Scripture]:

“With people who use ·strange words [L different tongues/languages] and ·foreign languages [L different lips]
I will speak to these people.
But even then they will not ·listen to [or obey] me [Is. 28:11–12; see also Deut. 28:49],”

says the Lord. [C Israel didn’t listen when God used foreign-speaking Assyrians to punish them; similarly people won’t benefit from hearing tongues they don’t understand.]

22 So ·the gift of speaking in different kinds of languages [or ecstatic utterance; L tongues] is a sign for unbelievers, not for believers [C tongues served as a warning of judgment and a call to repentance; see Acts 2:4, 21, 38–40]. And prophecy is for believers, not for unbelievers. 23 Suppose the whole church meets together and everyone speaks in ·different languages [L tongues]. If some people come in who ·do not understand [or are inquirers/seekers; v. 16] or are unbelievers, they will say you are ·crazy [insane; C unintelligible tongues sound like babbling]. 24 But suppose everyone is prophesying and unbelievers or ·those who does not understand [or inquirers/seekers] come in. If everyone is prophesying, ·their sin will be shown to them [L they will be convicted by all], and they will be judged by ·all that they hear [L all]. 25 The secret things in their hearts will be made known. So they will ·bow down [L fall face down] and worship God saying, “Truly, God is ·with you [among you; in your midst].” [C Though prophecy is for believers (v. 22), it also convicts unbelievers better than uninterpreted (and so incoherent) tongues (see vv. 27–28), since it is a coherent message from God.]

Meetings Should Help the Church

26 So, brothers and sisters, what should you do? When you meet together, one person has a ·song [psalm; hymn], and another has a teaching. Another has a ·new truth from God [L revelation]. Another speaks ·in a different language [or with ecstatic utterance; L tongue], and another person ·interprets that language [L an interpretation]. The purpose of all these things should be ·to help the church grow strong [L for edification/building up]. 27 When you meet together, if anyone speaks ·in a different language [or with ecstatic utterance; L in a tongue], it should be only two, or not more than three, who speak. They should speak one after the other, and someone should interpret. 28 But if there is no interpreter, then they should ·be quiet [remain silent] in the church meeting. They should speak only to themselves and to God.

29 Only two or three prophets should speak, and the others should ·judge [evaluate; consider; weigh] what they say. 30 If a ·message from God [L revelation] comes to another person who is sitting, the first speaker should stop. 31 [L For] You can all prophesy one after the other. In this way all the people can be taught and encouraged. 32 The spirits of prophets are ·under the control of [subject to] the prophets themselves [C unlike in pagan religions, where a spirit would seize control of a speaker, causing frenzy, mania or ecstasy]. 33 [L For] God is not a God of ·confusion [disorder] but a God of peace.

As is true in all the ·churches [assemblies] of ·God’s people [T the saints; C some commentators take this clause as part of the previous sentence], 34 ·women [or wives] should keep quiet in the ·church meetings [churches; assemblies; C the context here may be the evaluation of prophecy (v. 29), rather than general worship (where women presumably could speak; see 11:2–16)]. [L For] They are not allowed to speak, but they must ·yield to this rule [or be in submission; or keep their ordered place] as the law says [C perhaps Gen. 3:16, or a nonbiblical Jewish tradition]. 35 If they want to ·learn something [or ask questions], they should ask their own husbands at home. It is ·shameful [disgraceful; improper] for a woman to speak in ·the church meeting [the assembly; church]. 36 Did ·God’s teaching [the word of God] ·come from [originate with] you? Or are you the only ones to whom it has come? [C Apparently, some women were being disruptive during meetings.]

37 Those who think they are prophets or spiritual persons should ·understand [or acknowledge] that what I am writing to you is the Lord’s command. 38 Those who ignore this will ·be ignored by God [or themselves be ignored].[a]

39 So my brothers and sisters, you should ·truly want [be eager] to prophesy. And do not ·stop people from using the gift of speaking in different kinds of languages [L forbid/hinder speaking in tongues]. 40 But let everything be done in a ·right [proper; fitting] and orderly way.

Footnotes:

  1. 1 Corinthians 14:38 Those… God. Some Greek copies read “Those who are ignorant of this will stay ignorant.”
Expanded Bible (EXB)

The Expanded Bible, Copyright © 2011 Thomas Nelson Inc. All rights reserved.

Psalm 37:30-40

30 ·Good people speak with [L The mouth of the righteous mutters] wisdom,
and ·they say what is fair [L their tongue speaks justice/judgment].
31 The ·teachings [instructions; laws] of their God are in their heart [Jer. 31:33],
so ·they do not fail to keep them [L their steps do not slip/slide/totter].
32 The wicked watch for ·good [righteous] people
·so that they may [L to seek to] kill them [Prov. 1:8–19].
33 But the Lord will not ·take away his protection [L abandon/forsake them to their hand/power/control]
or let ·good people be judged guilty [them be condemned when brought to trial].

34 ·Wait for [Hope in] the Lord
and ·follow him [L keep/guard his way].
He will ·honor [exalt] you and ·give you [you will inherit] the land,
and you will see the wicked ·sent away [or destroyed].

35 I saw a wicked and ·cruel [oppressive] man
who ·looked [flourished] like a luxurious cedar tree [C strong and healthy].
36 But he ·died [passed on] and was ·gone [no more];
I ·looked for [sought] him, but he couldn’t be found.

37 ·Think of [Observe] the ·innocent [blameless] person,
and watch the ·honest [upright; virtuous] one.
The man who has peace
will have ·children to live after him [posterity].
38 But sinners will be destroyed;
·in the end [or the posterity of] the wicked will ·die [L be cut off].

39 The Lord ·saves [rescues; T delivers] ·good [righteous] people;
he is their strength in times of ·trouble [distress].
40 The Lord helps them and ·saves [rescues; T delivers] them;
he ·saves [rescues; T delivers] them from the wicked,
because they ·trust [take refuge] in him for protection.

Expanded Bible (EXB)

The Expanded Bible, Copyright © 2011 Thomas Nelson Inc. All rights reserved.

Proverbs 21:27

27 The Lord ·hates [detests] sacrifices brought by evil people,
particularly when they offer them for ·the wrong [scheming] reasons.

Expanded Bible (EXB)

The Expanded Bible, Copyright © 2011 Thomas Nelson Inc. All rights reserved.

08/22/2020 DAB Transcript

Job 4:1-7:21, 1 Corinthians 14:18-40, Psalms 37:30-40, Proverbs 21:27

Today is the 22nd day of August welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I’m Brian. It is a joy and a pleasure and an honor to be here with you today as we reach the conclusion of another of the weeks that we get to share together this year. I think this is the…the end of the 33rd week of the year, give or take a few days. Anyway, we’re well underway in this voyage. Yesterday we began the book of Job, and we talked about that. We’re gonna continue that today. We’re reading from the expanded Bible this week. Job, chapters 4, 5, 6, and 7 today.

Prayer:

Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you for another week on this adventure through the Scriptures in their entirety in community, what we call the Global Campfire, we thank you for bringing us this far. Every day of our lives You have been faithful and we are here and sometimes we need to remember that, we’re here, and that is because you have brought us here. And, so as we end another week and release it, because that’s all we can do and it becomes a part of our past, it becomes part of the story of our history, we are grateful for your faithfulness in our lives. Holy Spirit come, continue to lead us and guide us into all truth, lead us deeper into Jesus. Reveal the narrow path that leads to life that we might walk upon it every moment of our lives. We pray this in the mighty and majestic name of the Savior, Jesus. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is home base and it’s where you find out what’s going on around here. So, be sure to…to know what’s going on around here. Check out the Community section. That’s where the Prayer Wall is and that is constantly a haven for prayer - to pray and to be prayed for. So…so, check that out.

If you want to partner with Daily Audio Bible, you can do that at dailyaudiobible.com. There is a link on the website on the homepage and I thank you, I thank you profoundly, especially as we move through the summertime for your partnership. If what’s happening here is…is life-giving than thank you for your partnership. So, there’s a link on the homepage. If you’re using the app you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner or the mailing address is PO Box 1996, Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.

And, of course, as always, we are a community that loves one another and prays for one another and if you’re shouldering burdens that you shouldn’t ought to carry alone you can reach out. There’s Hotline button in the app, like there’s a Hotline button in this community that you can reach out any time of day or night and share your story. And, so, that’s the little red button at the top 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.

Community Prayer and Praise:

Well hello my DAB family this is Mark Street from Sydney Australia today is the 15th __ of August __. I desperately need your prayer because of my health. I woke up this morning __ to hospital and I found out I’ve had a mini stroke. There’s still debating on what to do about it. I’m not…I’m not in fear of my life because I love God, but my family needs me. I want to be around to help them. So, could you please…please pray that the doctors will __ I’m healthy and get past the stroke. And I thought I was leading a healthy life, but they’ll teach me how to eat and be healthy and through God. Thank you family, I love you. Mark Street from Sydney Australia. Bye.

Heavenly Father I’m coming to You on behalf of my brothers and sisters in Christ are lost a child. I pray for those who one night find themselves tossing and turning weary but unable to rest. I pray for those laying in bed begging You for the oblivion of sleep but unable to hear You’re still small voice of the turning of the broken heart and the anguished screaming of the mind as they try to comprehend the incomprehensible. Lord they need to feel You near right now. In the absence of light and sound and activity let Your presence being made known to them. Let all the Scriptures they have hidden in their hearts begin to surface one by one. With each breath of Your word they exhale let them inhale Your piece. Help the Lord to count their blessings even in the midst of their overwhelming grief. Help them start with the blessing that is their child’s life however brief it may have been. Show them things they can be thankful for - true things, just things, pure things. Help them to turn away from the grief toward You. Let their tears be healing ones that wash away the sharp edges of their grief. If they seek solace in music let it be songs of worship that draw them closer to You. Take each wakeful moment and use it for Your glory and their good. Father I ask Your mercy upon those who walk this valley without You, who’s hope died with their child. Of us all Lord, they are the most wounded because their pain is not tempered with eternity. Draw them to Yourself Lord. Put one of Your children in their path, perhaps one of us that understand a portion of their pain that can lead them to You. I pray they will seek their answers from the only one who has them and may they find peace with You to be the only answer they need. I pray all these things or something better in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Hi this is Vickie from Arizona and I am excited. I just wanted to call and share a praise report because I had prayed about losing weight and I…I’m down 30 pounds today. So, I’ve been doing a diet and I’m excited because I had tried so many different things and nothing worked. So, I am just getting close to goal and my clothes are fitting me better and I’m just happy. So, sometimes you just gotta give a shout out to God when, you know, praise…pray and then praise. Because a lot of times we don’t share the victory. And I know I had called in about weight loss before. So, I wanted to share that victory because I feel like God is listening, He’s attentive to the cries of our heart, that He did say He’d never leave us nor forsake us and what’s important to us is important to Him. And sometimes I feel like we just focus on what we need instead of focusing on what He’s just given up. So, I just want to take this opportunity to give a shout out and just say thank you God for coming through, thank You God for always making a way where there doesn’t seem to be a way. Thank You for opening doors that we need opened and closing doors that need to be shut in our life. Thank You that You are always good, that You’re…You know us so intimately and so…so delicately God. I just thank You that You are an on time God and whatever we have need of Father God that You are making away, You are ordering our footsteps, that we are the apple of Your eyes, that we just…we just know that we love You Father, that God we just thank You for everybody who’s in a struggle today Father God I just lift them up to You and I ask You for victory. We just declare and decree victory over the Daily Audio Bible family in Jesus’ name. Amen. Have a blessed day.

Hello DAB family this is Bouncing Pouncing Love and Joy calling from Minneapolis Minnesota. My fiancé and I met young year ago yesterday. He introduced me to the DAB then and I have been listening faithfully ever since. I am thankful for the blessing Brian and all of you are in my life. Please pray for my fiancé Chris’s son Gabriel. He is 36 years old. A few months ago, he cut himself off from his family. Chris feels dishonored, heartbroken, and concerned for his son who suffers from PTSD and physical trauma from his three tours of active duty in the military. Please pray for peace for Chris and that the Lord would be working in Gabriel’s heart and mind to bring him to a life of obedience and faithfulness to his Father in heaven. Thank you for your prayers. God hears each one and we trust that Gabe will have a powerful testimony one day because God doesn’t do waste anything he allows us to walk through.

Hello Daily Audio Bible family this is Angel in Maryland I just want to thank Brian first for doing what you…you do. I’ve been listening since 2013 off and on and I picked it up again a few a few days ago and I’m celebrating because I’ve listened for 21 consecutive days. They say if you can do something for 21 days it’s a new habit. So, please pray for me family that I continue and that I actually end the year solid, having listened every day. But I do want to encourage the caller Daniel from Tennessee. He…he called…well it was on today’s recording, August 17th. But Daniel you have the five children and you’re a widower and your story really stood out to me because you described your current stable job as “depressing.” And I am in a very similar situation and you want to venture out and your own and I really identify with that. So, I just wanted to call in and encourage you because my birthday was actually August 13th and in that message Brian in the commentary kept repeating the phrase keep going and I felt that was for me on my birthday because several times over my life my dad has told me, you know, the phrase of the Maasai warrior, those of the warriors in Kenya that wear the beads on their necks, their rite of passage is the kill a lion with their bare hands and their motto is keep going. And that’s what’s keeping me going. So, in Jesus name you will be successful. In Jesus name I will be successful. So, stay encouraged Daniel. Amen.

Good day neighbors this is Lisa of the Encourager calling. I know I’ve been absent for quite some time now, but I did get everything done with my house after the tornado hit. And fortunately, everything worked out really well. So, I appreciate any and all of your prayers during that difficult time. And I’m calling to continue to pray this evening for all of your children in your lives and for whatever they’re going through. I just want to continue to pray for our children. And if you don’t have children your grandchildren or your nieces or nephews. So, I’m gonna start this off by praying for them. Dear Lord I thank you God so much for the Daily Audio Bible and what it means to all of us and the community that we have together. And I appreciate Lord Jesus the Daily audio Bible community and the love that they have that we share with each other. I want to pray for each one of them and their children Lord God and whatever situation they might be encountering whether that is illness and if it is going back to school with COVID and the stress or maybe it is staying home and working on schoolwork remotely or maybe it is a child that’s addicted to drugs or maybe it is a child that’s in prison or a teenager or young adult. I’m praying God that your hand will be upon each of them Lord and that you will bring victory in their lives in each one of these difficult situations and that your hand and love will be upon them. And I thank you Lord God so much…

Hey DAB family this is David the Beloved Child of God in Northern California and I’m calling on behalf of Barb in Alberta who called in and asked to pray for her adult children. So, let’s pray. I pray for my own adult children as well and all of those who have children. Lord we just pray for our kids. We ask that You would reach out to them, protect them, guard them, keep them safe in You Lord. Lord I heard Barb say that she wished she would’ve provided a greater foundation. Lord, You be their foundation, You be their stronghold, protect our children from this world, this culture that is screaming at them with all kinds of noise. Protect them from evil Lord. God we just ask that You will also give us peace and allow us to wait on You and trust You and know that You love them more than we love them. God, we ask that You would do a miracle and that we would see it, that we would see it’s Your hand involved. God, I pray for peace again. We need peace in this crazy mixed up world. God, I ask that You will give us wisdom and even boldness when we need it. Lord help us to love. Help us to love our kids only the way that You can love our kids God. Fill us with Your Spirit so that we can lead them closer into You and…and to just know how beautiful they are. God we thank You so much for allowing us to be parents and forgive us for the times that we break Your heart for the things that just seem to be leading us astray away from You. __ peace in Jesus’ name Amen.