Job 37:1-39:30, 2 Corinthians 4:13-5:10, Psalm 44:9-26, Proverbs 22:13
Today is the 31st day of August, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible, I’m Brian, it is great to be here with you today, today and every day. But today cause that’s the day we’re in for starters, we can’t be in another day, currently. I suppose we could be listening to a different day but it wouldn’t be today and today is today and today is the 31st of August. And I hope I’m ready for all of this, this month ending and getting ready for a new month. I was shocked at how quickly August flew by but here we are, last day of August and we will be continuing our journey through the book of Job, we will be concluding the book of Job tomorrow as we begin a new month and so were getting down to it now. So, we are, just by way of reminder, in the middle of Elihu’s discourse. So, we’ve listened to Job converse with three of his friends, friends throughout this book. And then Elihu, he steps forward and starts talking and essentially says I’m younger and so I was letting the wisdom speak first but there’s not a lot of wisdom here and I have plenty to say and so it’s my turn and that’s what we’re listening to his Elihu offering just Job straight in his reasoning. And so, let’s get to it, we’re reading from the New International Version, Job 37, 38 and 39 today.
Commentary:
Okay, so we, we have to talk about Job today because Job got what he wanted. He wanted, he wanted to find God and he did and God has shown up. So, let’s just look back because tomorrow we will be finishing the book of Job, God will continue his discussion tomorrow as we reach our conclusion of this book, but, we remember when we began Job right at the very beginning, Job had a day like no other in which he lost everything, he lost his children to death, his livestock, his shepherds were attacked and killed in pillaged, the livestock was taken, generally everything that Job cared about was taken from him in a day and we watched Job as he’s getting the news and when the news is fully delivered, he stands up and tears his robe as an active, deep sorrow and pain-and-suffering, and he falls down and worships God. It’s a riveting scene. He has this posture of the Lord gave me everything I have. The Lord has taken it away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. It’s riveting. Job reaches a place where even his own life is like curse God and die. So, that’s how bad things have gotten for Job and yet Job doesn’t understand why. He doesn’t believe he’s done anything wrong and he does believe that the tragedy the things that have come upon him are at the hand of the Lord. Just thinking, I mean the bitterness that’s available in that when everything is destroyed and you don’t know why but instead of cursing God and dying right, instead of going into that bitterness Job uses his energy to hold onto his innocence, to hold onto his integrity, and so he will not speak ill of God in any way, will not sin in any way. He believes he is righteous and innocent before God and all of this and what is happening to him is not just or at least in any kind of way that he can understand it to be just. So, it’s not too long before some of his friends show up, three of them. They see him from afar and they see just how wasted away he is and they arrive and they sit down with him and they sit with him in silence for a week. This is called Shiva, sitting Shiva, this is sitting with someone in their grief, not there to fix it, not there to give them promised scriptures over and over, just to offer presence, to acknowledge the pain, to be there and it, to simply offer our presence, not our words, and that’s what they’re doing. They sit with them for a week until he starts talking, that’s what they’re waiting for. And, he starts talking and he discusses how he wishes he had never been born, how on the night he was conceived that that would’ve been just blacked out. How he would’ve just died when he was born, how he would not how to face this. And, then he begins to talk about his innocence and he begins to talk about finding God. And, his friends all respond. And, we read through all of that, they all respond. It’s all rational, it all makes sense. It’s all in defense of God because Job is essentially saying what God is doing to me isn’t just, I don’t understand it. I haven’t done anything wrong. They spend the bulk of the book trying to convince him that that’s not possible, that he has indeed somewhere somehow done something wrong and they eventually begin to go after him because of the things that he is saying, as if his pride is the issue. Actually, Job’s friends sound a whole lot like the kind of things that we say to people when we find them in suffering and it ends up to be a full-blown argument because Job gets mad that they keep trying to insinuate that somehow, he isn’t innocent and then they get mad because he’s insinuating that he is sinless and righteous and what is happening to him, this judgment that’s happening to him, is unjust. That’s not a grid that they can fit the equation into which is the point. When bad things happen to good people, it’s hard to find the answers. And, this book wrestles with that fact and in part it does a good job of showing us that we, with all of the wisdom that we have in all of our understanding of God, that we might think that we have and all of the things that we say to people, we really don’t fully understand what we’re talking about when we’re talking about the most high God. In fact, it’s not that we don’t kind of don’t fully understand, it’s that we barely have scratched the surface. We are talking about the most high God, Creator of all things far and away beyond our capacity in every respect. So, in the end, what Job wants is God. What he wants is an audience with God. He’s prepared his case. He believes that if God gave him answers, he would then have the answers that he’s looking for. He doesn’t want answers from his friends. He doesn’t want human answers. He feels like everything that his friends are telling him he already knows, he’s already analyzed all that, they’re not wiser than he is. They can only offer human wisdom, and he needs God. And then the last person Elihu, the younger one steps forward with his opinions which he offers and we’ve listened to those opinions over the last couple of days and then God shows up today, “Brace yourself like a man. I have some questions of my own. You’ve been asking a lot of questions. I have some questions and you’re going to answer them.” I mean come on, that would scare me to death. Even reading it, it’s like can you, I mean on the one hand, God, like how do you get your mind around that God has shown up in some sort of tangible, understandable way and is speaking overwhelming, but what He is speaking is very directly aimed at the fact that for all Job’s questions, God is about to reveal that Job nor his friends know pretty much anything about anything. And then God begins to ask these giant, God sized questions, which is what will what we been reading today. And will continue until tomorrow. Let’s remember that Job had a case prepared, he knew what he was going to say to God, he just didn’t know where to find God but he knew what he would say. And then God comes to Job. So, finally Job’s gonna get to say what he needed to say and we’ll listen to what that is, as we conclude the book of Job tomorrow.
Prayer:
Father, we thank You for Your word every bit of it, all of the stories, all of the people, all of the time the passes, all of the different changes in the world that we can see, as customs and clothing change but people don’t. So, as we move toward the conclusion of Job, we invite Your Holy Spirit fully and all of our questions and may we watch Job tomorrow and learn quite a bit. We ask this in the name of Jesus. Amen.
Announcements:
dailyaudiobible.com is home base, it’s where you find out what’s going on around here, that’s obviously the website. If you’re using the Daily Audio Bible app, you can access the different sections of the website within the app. So, check out the Daily Audio Bible Shop, there are resources there from our own fresh roasted coffee that we roast fresh and deliver fresh to you or tea, all the way to written resources like The God of Your Story, which is 365 days, I don’t like to call it a devotional because I guess, because I don’t think what we, I mean, even though we do is devotional in nature that’s not what we’re doing here. We are doing life and immersing ourselves in the Scriptures and The God of Your Story is basically that in written form, so it is a fantastic companion through a year in the Bible and there are many other resources in the Daily Audio Bible Shop as well. So, check them out because they have been developed for the journey that we are on and so the resources are available there.
If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that at dailyaudiobible.com as well or with, in the app. So, on the website 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 P.O. Box 1996 Springhill, Tennessee 37174.
And as always, if you have a prayer request or encouragement you can hit the Hotline button in the app or you can dial 877-942-4253.
And that’s it for today. I’m Brian, I love you and I’ll be waiting for you here, tomorrow.
Prayer and Encouragements:
Hello dear saints, my name is Mercy. I’ve been listening to DAB for many years. I’m calling for prayer. I have nine children, they’re all grown, 22 grandchildren so far. What I’m calling for prayer for is that we had a crushing blow that rocked our family. I would mostly probably actually describe it as more like a train wreck. My husband of 43 years, who everyone thought was a model Christian became evident that he was a pedophile. He took advantage of some of our little ones which cause severe damage and shattered the face of some. Please pray, he’s in prison now. But please pray for the healing of hearts and souls in my children and my grandchildren. I’m doing well, I’m surrounded by a network of Godly friends and family who carry me but please pray for my children. When you pray, pray for Mercy’s Children. Thanks, DABers, love you.
Hey guys it’s Sparky from Texas. I’m gonna try and get through this these are happy tears. I was listening to Dr. John and Jen’s call here on the 26th and it just broke me down in tears hearing the praise reports. I know, I know not everything gets fixed and God doesn’t fix everything but it just, it’s mind blowing to me how God is still healing and still moving lives and I just, I’d like to pray a minute. Father we thank You for your grace and we thank You that You that you’re not gone, Your not dead Father. You’re reaching into these people’s lives, You’re reaching in my family’s life. And, Father, You’re so real and when I hear these praise reports Father, it’s just, it’s so much to take on just the joy and the grace and Your love. Father, be with those that you don’t decide to heal and let them know that that’s Your plan Father. Lord, I just thank you so much for Your grace. I thank you for everybody on this. Father, we just appreciate You, we love You and just stay with us, help those who need, help us to show those who need your faith. Father, we thank You so much for Your son, Christ, it’s in that son’s name we pray. Amen. Love you guys, I pray for everyone of you. Praise God for praise reports. Have a great day.
Hello, my Daily Audio Bible brothers and sisters, my DAB family. This is Yolanda. After listening virtually every day, sometimes twice a day and lifting up my DABers prayers since 2012 I am moved to call in for the first time. Today I come to you on behalf of my dear, dear friend Birdie. Birdie is a mother of a sweet toddler. She is 37 weeks pregnant and is quite suddenly suffering from COVID pneumonia with fluid around her heart. Her mother and husband are frantic with worry, and caring for their toddler, well, unable to be with her in hospital while she faces labor and delivery, possibly a C-section without them. DABers, please join me as I fervently left Birdie and her sweet baby up in my prayers asking for complete healing for her and a healthy vaginal delivery for her sweet baby. Lord, please give Birdie peace during this time of intense trial, intense pain and sickness. Lord, please give the doctors and nurses, the knowledge and medicine to bring her to full recovery. In Jesus holy and precious name, I pray. Amen.
Hi DAB family this is God’s Life Speaker. While I was praying with my husband this morning as were struggling with our 21-year-old and he, he is depressed. However, he is seeking help for praise God for that. It dawned on us that there’s been some judgment that we’ve put on, on him, that is not fair. That’s the judgment that we use against him, that will be used on us so, this morning we repented. As parents and children of God, and you know, it’s the self-evaluation; we want things and people in our lives to look better, look right, fix themselves, yet, are we examining ourselves? Are we walking in a manner worthy of our calling? Are we imitators of Christ? Are we the peacemakers? Because God sees and God hears, He knows our thoughts, He knows what’s going on. He knows our heart aches too and I feel, as someone who likes to speak God’s word out into the atmosphere and change it and bring glory to God, I can get pretty low about what I’m seeing in my kids. And it hurts because we want them to be glorifying God and working towards that perfection that He calls us to. Yet, they are in training, even if they’re 21, they’re still in training and we are the ones that need to set that example so we needed to do some repenting this morning, some encouraging each other and spiritual gifts right. So, I asked that we would do that all. I’m praying for each one of your children and grandchildren and us ourselves in the name of Jesus, Amen.
Hey, everyone I just thought I would ring in and update you on how I’m going. It’s Margo here, missionary in Liberia. I have made it back to Australia for, we’re back here for a few weeks for my son’s wedding which is amazing because Australia has some very strict rules around travel. And so, getting back into the country actually was quite a miracle and in fact, even leaving the country again is a miracle and we already have our permit to leave in a few weeks’ time to go back. So, I thank the Lord for His help and His hand has been upon us. And I want to thank everyone for their prayers. I rung in a few weeks or maybe a couple of months ago and I was in a really bad way. And, I have noticed that I’ve really picked up. And I have really felt His comfort and His peace much more in my life. All the things that are out of my control, I’ve been much more able to leave them in His hands. And I’m so, so grateful for His comfort. I’m so grateful for your prayers. It’s…I should have rung in sooner. So, we’re in Australia for a few weeks and then heading back and you know, continue to pray for us. It’s not an easy calling we have, mind you, no one has an easy calling. So, I’m just grateful for this community, grateful for the prayers that we pray all for each other. And, God bless you all. Love you. Bye.