Category: Job

Job 22:21 “Submit to God and be at peace with Him; in this way prosperity will come to you.”

We hear from Eliphaz in this chapter for the last time. His argument has gotten more pointed: “Job, you have sinned….(He even provides a list of potential sins!)….Repent. Make God your priority, and He will hear you and restore you.” In the estimation of Eliphaz, this equation is simple: Love of Wealth > Love of God = Utter Misery.

Job 22:23 “If you return to the Almighty, you will be restored: If you remove wickedness far from your tent….”

But Job knows he hasn’t put anything or anyone before God. And he loves God too much to follow his wife’s path to misery: “Curse God and die.” He wants an explanation. He wants to understand why all of this is happening to him, why God would allow it. (At least that is what I would want in his position.)

Job 22:26 “Surely then you will find delight in the Almighty and will lift up your face to God.”

Lord, Thank You for this day and this scripture. It is so hard to be faithful when we just don’t understand the whys of life. Doubt, fear, grief can take our eyes, our hearts from You to our own misery, which is nothing but bad news. Help us to cling to You always, to trust Your loving sovereignty, even when we don’t understand. Draw us closer. Amen.

Job 22:27 “You will pray to Him, and He will hear you….”

Have a blessed day.

Job 21:1-2 Then Job replied: “Listen carefully to my words; let this be the consolation you give me.”

I must confess that my first thought in reading chapter 21 was, Will this book never end?!? I’m tired and grumpy, but I immediately thought of so many of my high school seniors who say emphatically, “School has nothing to teach me.” The book of Job isn’t over because Job is still learning, and I need to approach each chapter expecting to learn along with him.

Job 21:3 “Bear with me while I speak, and after I have spoken, mock on.”

One thing I do notice is that Job seems to be moving through his feelings. He doesn’t seem as angry as he was in the beginning, though there is a slight edge of sarcasm at times. He also maintains his innocence, even in the face of the relentless accusations of his friends. That seems very important to this book—that it is not a simple case of, “I sinned and won’t repent and that’s why disaster has befallen me.” There is much more happening here, and Job grasps that.

Job 21:27 “I know full well what you are thinking, the schemes by which you would wrong me.”

Lord, Thank You for this day and this scripture. Help me to listen, read, study, pray. Even when I don’t understand, even when I think I have nothing left to learn, help me trust that You are guiding me, help me sit at Your feet and listen. Amen.

Job 21:34 “So how can you console me with your nonsense? Nothing is left of your answers but falsehood!”

Have a blessed day.

Job 20:1-2 Then Zophar the Naamthite replied: “My troubled thoughts prompt me to answer because I am greatly disturbed.”

I am part of a book study on a book about navigating the space between our personal convictions and the people we care about who hold diametrically opposed convictions, about how to navigate that space between positions to preserve the important relationships. I feel like the Book of Job is a case study in this concept, except in reverse.

Job 20:3 “I hear a rebuke that dishonors me, and my understanding inspires me to reply.”

The seven days of support in silent mourning at the beginning of their time together, that’s where _The Space Between _ is trying to move us, being able to be loving and compassionate towards someone (Job) who views things so differently (the reason for his suffering). By chapter 20, however, that belief—what’s causing Job’s suffering and how to stop it, seems to be a hill the friends are willing to die on, and Job refuses to acquiesce. By chapter 20, the space between these friends seems almost insurmountable.

Job 20:4 “Surely you know how it has been from of old, ever since mankind was placed on the earth….”

Lord, Thank You for this day and this scripture. The space between beliefs and values we hold dear and sacred and the people we care about can sometimes feel cavernous. Teach us how to stay true to our beliefs while still loving others, all others, as You love us. Teach us to approach that space with Your compassion, love, and mercy. Draw us closer. Amen.

Job 20:5 “…that the mirth of the wicked is brief, the joy of the godless lasts but a moment.”

Have a blessed day.

Job 17:1 My spirit is broken, my days are cut short, the grave awaits me.

Job has lost his children, his wife (in that she told him to curse God and die. She seems to have turned away from God when disaster struck.), his property and livestock, his health, and, in a way, his friends because they seem so focused on telling him what he should be doing to stop the affliction that they are unable to be present with him in comfort during his suffering. To me, this chapter is very much about him trying to reconcile all of that loss and pain with the God he believes in.

Job 17:13, 15 If the only home I hope for is the grave, if I spread out my bed in the realm of darkness….where then is my hope—who can see any hope for me?

To me, Job 17:13 & 15 seem a glimmer of hope. I process Job’s suffering through my own, but to me, he seems to be saying, “If I ‘curse God and die,’ turning my back on Him because of my suffering and loss, then there is no hope for me.” I came to a similar conclusion during the difficult season of 2017. If there weren’t some deeper meaning, higher purpose to all that I endured, a meaning and purpose that I just couldn’t see, then there was no hope for me in a loving God. Instead of turning away, I cling to the fact that God is good and loving and that there are things I just can’t understand about what was befalling me. I decided, emphatically, to trust God.

Job 17:15 …where then is my hope—who can see any hope for me?

Lord, Thank You for this day and this scripture. Thank You for the hope that can only come from You. Thank You for the ability, even in my pain and confusion, to trust that You are good, sovereign, and loving, even when I don’t understand. Draw me closer. Amen.

Job 17:15 …where then is my hope—who can see any hope for me?

Have a blessed day.

Job 16:1-2 Then Job replied: “I have heard many things like these; you are miserable comforters, all of you!”

There is something I’ve seen several times recently about a man saying that he and his wife avoid a lot of arguments by asking if the one talking wants comfort or solutions—wants just to be heard or wants potential action steps. I feel like this is a large part of the current issue with Job and his friends. Job seems to want comfort. He wants to be heard and understood. His friends have shifted fully into solution mode—here’s your problem. Here’s how to fix it. This mismatch of intentions does not go well.

Job 16:3 “Will your long-winded speeches never end? What ails you that you keep on arguing?”

Additionally, commentary says that one of the benefits of suffering is that it makes the sufferer more empathetic towards others who suffer, more willing to listen so that others feel heard, more willing to validate than to try to fix. I think all of this is coming into play here. Job wants to be heard. His friends want to help fix.

Job 16:4 “I also could speak like you, if you were in my place; I could make fine speeches against you and shake my head at you.”

Lord, Thank You for this day and this scripture. Thank You for a new level of understanding of the book of Job. Thank You that my suffering helps me to be more present and empathetic to those who are suffering. Help me to shine Your Light for all who need it. Draw me closer. Amen.

Job 16:5 “But my mouth would encourage you; comfort from my lips would bring you relief.”

Have a blessed day.

Job 15:7 “Are you the first man ever born? Were you brought forth before the hills?”

This speech by Eliphaz seems to represent a tipping point with the friends and their argument. They first respectfully sat in silent mourning with Job for a week. Then they gently tell him what they see as his issue (unrepented sin). Yet as Job maintains his innocence and anger at God, the friends seem to get angry at Job, insisting that he, his sins, are at the root of his suffering.

Job 15:8 “Do you listen in on God’s council? Do you have a monopoly on wisdom?”

It almost seems that Eliphaz has now engaged so strongly in his argument with Job that he forgot that he cared enough about Job to sit a week in silent mourning with him. It’s almost as if being right, winning this argument with Job about his fault in his situation, has become the most important thing. 

Job 15:9 “What do you know that we do not know? What insights do you have that we do not have?”

Lord, Thank You for this day and this scripture. Thank You for the reminder that You love people, not winning arguments. Help us to remember that if we get so caught up in our opinions of being right at any cost, we may well miss the opportunity to minister to the very people who need You most. Draw us closer. Amen.

Job 15:11 “Are God’s consolations not enough for you, words spoken gently to you?”

Have a blessed day.

Job 14:5 “A person’s days are determined; You have decreed the number of his months and have set limits he cannot exceed.”

This chapter of Job put me squarely in mind of the phoenix in Greek mythology, rising from the ashes. That’s one of the mental images that helps me wrap my mind around the concept of God bringing beauty from ashes. And while Job is talking about the death of a person versus the death of a tree, which isn’t really death as long as roots are in the ground, I think his analogy holds up for his situation as well.

Job 14:7 “At least there is hope for a tree: If it is cut down, it will sprout again, and its new shoots will not fail.”

I’ve talked before about my questionable gardening skills, about how I’ve had beautiful plants that I somehow led to the brink of destruction, about how God brought them back to life, showed me hope through precious, fragile buds when I had almost given up. That cycle is what I see here. Job is sitting, literally and figuratively, in his ashes. He has almost given up hope. Yet God knows He’s not done, beauty will come from ashes.

Job 14:8 “Its roots may grow old in the ground and its stump die in the soil….”

Lord, Thank You for this day and this scripture. Thank You for the hope I am able to see abundantly in this reading of Job—hope in beauty from ashes, hope that the worst thing is never the last thing, hope in You. Help me to cling to Your hope and shine Your light. Draw me closer. Amen.

Job 14:9 “…yet at the scent of water it will bid and put forth shoots like a plant.“

Have a blessed day.

Job 13:3 “… I desire to speak to the Almighty and to argue my case with God.”

My first reaction to this verse is shock at Job’s nerve. My internal dialogue is, “Seriously, dude? You want to go toe-to-toe with God? That won’t end well.” And then I think back to the spring of 2017, to stomping angrily around the yard, yelling my frustration at God, exhausting my anger, and realizing that even when He says no, even when I am angry and afraid, even when I don’t understand, I trust Him because He loves me.

Job 13:15 “Though He slay me, yet I will hope in Him.”

What if I were not so open about my emotions? What if I had stuffed down my anger, frustration, and ultimately, fear? It would not have led me closer to God. It would have put a barrier between us. Only when I allowed myself to give vent to that anger was I able to move past it to the fear that lay just under the surface. Only then was I able to say that even though I felt like everything was falling down around me, I knew God loved me, loved those I love, and that He had some higher purpose that I could not understand. Being honest with God about the anger allowed me to move through to trust.

Job 13:20 “Only grant me these two things, God, and then I will not hide from You….”

Lord, Thank You for this day and this scripture. Thank You for the reminder that we can be real and honest with You, that You are big enough to handle these feelings, and that only by going through those feelings can we emerge into foundationally-solid trust in You. Draw us closer. Amen.

Job 13:22 “Then summon me and I will answer, or let me speak, and You reply to me.”

Have a blessed day.