JOB

The Story of Job

Introduction: Believed by many to be the oldest book in the Bible, the book of Job tells the story of the incredible suffering and divine restoration of the ancient man Job. Much to our chagrin, it does not answer the age-old question, “Why the righteous suffer?” Instead, it teaches us to trust God in our infirmities, no matter how unjust and inexplicable they may appear to be.

 

Job 1:1, 8; 2:3, 9

 

BIBLE TEXT: "There was a man in the country of Uz named Job. He was a man of perfect integrity, who feared God and turned away from evil…Then the Lord said to Satan, ‘Have you considered My servant Job? No one else on earth is like him, a man of perfect integrity, who fears God and turns away from evil’…Then the Lord said to Satan, ‘Have you considered My servant Job? No one else on earth is like him, a man of perfect integrity, who fears God and turns away from evil. He still retains his integrity, even though you incited Me against him, to destroy him without just cause.’…His wife said to him, ‘Do you still retain your integrity? Curse God and die!’" (Job 1:1, 8: 2:3, 9 HCSB)

 

BIBLE TWEET: Perfect integrity is an integrity that is as unimpeachable in private as it is in public.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: The true measure of your integrity is who you are when nobody is looking.

 

One little lie can level lifelong integrity.

 

HOLMAN CHRISTIAN STANDARD BIBLE

 

Job 1:1-3, 13-22

 

BIBLE TEXT: "There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil. And there were born unto him seven sons and three daughters. His substance also was seven thousand sheep, and three thousand camels, and five hundred yoke of oxen, and five hundred she asses, and a very great household; so that this man was the greatest of all the men of the east…And there was a day when his sons and his daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother's house: And there came a messenger unto Job, and said, The oxen were plowing, and the asses feeding beside them: And the Sabeans fell upon them, and took them away; yea, they have slain the servants with the edge of the sword; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee. While he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said, The fire of God is fallen from heaven, and hath burned up the sheep, and the servants, and consumed them; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee. While he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said, The Chaldeans made out three bands, and fell upon the camels, and have carried them away, yea, and slain the servants with the edge of the sword; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee. While he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said, Thy sons and thy daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother's house: And, behold, there came a great wind from the wilderness, and smote the four corners of the house, and it fell upon the young men, and they are dead; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee. Then Job arose, and rent his mantle, and shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground, and worshipped, And said, Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither: the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord. In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly." (Job 1:1-3, 13-22 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: The greatest of men blame God for nothing, but bless God in everything.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: The heart is best beheld in bereavements rather than blessings, for a heart that belongs to God will blame Him for nothing and bless Him in everything.

 

Job 1:4-5

 

BIBLE TEXT: "And his sons went and feasted in their houses, every one his day; and sent and called for their three sisters to eat and to drink with them. And it was so, when the days of their feasting were gone about, that Job sent and sanctified them, and rose up early in the morning, and offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all: for Job said, It may be that my sons have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts. Thus did Job continually." (Job 1:4-5 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: We have horribly failed as Christian parents, if our children merely profess Christ with their lips, while living lives that prove they curse Christ in their hearts.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: Many parents today, unlike Job, don’t pray for their children, but party with their children. Instead of praying heartedly, they too party hardy.

 

Job 1:6-7

 

BIBLE TEXT: "Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also among them. And the Lord said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the Lord, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it." (Job 1:6-7 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: Satan does not come before God because he gets to, but because he has to. God is not accessible to him, but he is accountable to God. (Job 2:1-2)

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: Far from a formidable foe to God, who frustrates God’s plans and purposes, the devil is a mere pawn in the hands of God, who God uses to fulfill His plans and purposes.

 

Job 1:7

 

BIBLE TEXT: "And the Lord said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the Lord, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it." (Job 1:7 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: Apollyon is persistently on the prowl, so you should be perpetually on the watch and perennially on your guard, lest you fall prey to one of his plethora of imperiling plots. (Job 2:2; 1 Peter 5:8; Revelation 9:11)

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: The closer we get to Christ, the more Satan will circle us as prized prey.

 

Job 1:8-12

 

BIBLE TEXT: "And the Lord said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil? Then Satan answered the Lord, and said, Doth Job fear God for nought? Hast not thou made an hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side? thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land. But put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face. And the Lord said unto Satan, Behold, all that he hath is in thy power; only upon himself put not forth thine hand. So Satan went forth from the presence of the Lord." (Job 1:8-12 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: God places His protective hedge around His people, so that Satan has no power over them, except what God permits for His own purposes.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: There is nothing the devil can do to you that God doesn’t allow him to for your good and God’s glory.

 

Job 2:1-2

 

BIBLE TEXT: "Again there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also among them to present himself before the Lord. And the Lord said unto Satan, From whence comest thou? And Satan answered the Lord, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it." (Job 2:1-2 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: Satan does not come before God because he gets to, but because he has to. God is not accessible to him, but he is accountable to God. (Job 1:6-7)

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: Far from a formidable foe to God, who frustrates God’s plans and purposes, the devil is a mere pawn in the hands of God, who God uses to fulfill His plans and purposes.

 

Job 2:2

 

BIBLE TEXT: "And the Lord said unto Satan, From whence comest thou? And Satan answered the Lord, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it." (Job 2:2 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: Apollyon is persistently on the prowl, so you should be perpetually on the watch and perennially on your guard, lest you fall prey to one of his plethora of imperiling plots. (Job 1:7; 1 Peter 5:8; Revelation 9:11)

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: The closer we get to Christ, the more Satan will circle us as prized prey.

 

Job 2:3-8

 

BIBLE TEXT: "And the Lord said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil? and still he holdeth fast his integrity, although thou movedst me against him, to destroy him without cause. And Satan answered the Lord, and said, Skin for skin, yea, all that a man hath will he give for his life. But put forth thine hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse thee to thy face. And the Lord said unto Satan, Behold, he is in thine hand; but save his life. So went Satan forth from the presence of the Lord, and smote Job with sore boils from the sole of his foot unto his crown. And he took him a potsherd to scrape himself withal; and he sat down among the ashes." (Job 2:3-8 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: As a last resort, the devil brings out his big guns—disease and death—against the stalwart saint, to coerce him or her into renouncing Christ and reneging on his or her Christian commitment.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: Despite the devil’s desire to afflict and annihilate God’s chosen saints, especially the choicest among them, he will find them impregnable to him, immune to disease, and invulnerable to death, unless God lifts from them, for His plans and purposes, His protective hedge around them.

 

Job 2:9

 

BIBLE TEXT: "Then said his wife unto him, Dost thou still retain thine integrity? curse God, and die." (Job 2:9 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: Many, like Job’s wife, speak without the slightest suspicion that it is Satan who has pulled their chain. (Job 1:11; 2:5)

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: Far more tongues in this fallen world are set afire by Hell than by Heaven. (James 3:6; Acts 2:1-4)

 

Job 2:10

 

BIBLE TEXT: "But he said unto her, Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh. What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? In all this did not Job sin with his lips." (Job 2:10 KJV)" 

 

BIBLE TWEET: To be grateful when blessed and to gripe and grumble when burdened and bothered is to prove oneself a bad buffoon.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: Contrary to popular opinion, great faith is not proved by everything going right, but by proving oneself faithful when everything goes wrong.

 

If a man can keep himself from sinning at all with his lips, he can keep himself from sinning any in his life, but, unfortunately, no sinner has ever so thoroughly tamed his tongue. (James 3:2, 8)

 

Job 2:11-13

 

BIBLE TEXT: "Now when Job's three friends heard of all this evil that was come upon him, they came every one from his own place; Eliphaz the Temanite, and Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite: for they had made an appointment together to come to mourn with him and to comfort him. And when they lifted up their eyes afar off, and knew him not, they lifted up their voice, and wept; and they rent every one his mantle, and sprinkled dust upon their heads toward heaven. So they sat down with him upon the ground seven days and seven nights, and none spake a word unto him: for they saw that his grief was very great." (Job 2:11-13 KJV)" 

 

BIBLE TWEET: Sometimes profound suffering calls for prolonged silence.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: Sometimes it’s more comforting to offer the suffering your company rather than your counsel, especially when you’re not sure of your counsel and it may prove cruel rather than comforting and charitable to the sufferer.

 

Job 3:1-12

 

BIBLE TEXT: "After this opened Job his mouth, and cursed his day. And Job spake, and said, Let the day perish wherein I was born, and the night in which it was said, There is a man child conceived. Let that day be darkness; let not God regard it from above, neither let the light shine upon it. Let darkness and the shadow of death stain it; let a cloud dwell upon it; let the blackness of the day terrify it. As for that night, let darkness seize upon it; let it not be joined unto the days of the year, let it not come into the number of the months. Lo, let that night be solitary, let no joyful voice come therein. Let them curse it that curse the day, who are ready to raise up their mourning. Let the stars of the twilight thereof be dark; let it look for light, but have none; neither let it see the dawning of the day: Because it shut not up the doors of my mother's womb, nor hid sorrow from mine eyes. Why died I not from the womb? why did I not give up the ghost when I came out of the belly? Why did the knees prevent me? or why the breasts that I should suck?" (Job 3:1-12 KJV)" 

 

BIBLE TWEET: It's possible for the favored of Heaven to fall prey to deep despair upon earth, even to the depths of antinatalism, the protestation of procreation on the premise that the sorrows of life so outweigh the joys that it’s better to have never been born. (Job 1:8; 2:3)

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: Contrary to popular opinion, happiness is not the true measure of spirituality in this fallen sin-cursed world. Some times the most spiritual among us is the saddest of us all. Remember, Jesus wasn't a "seventh heavenist," but a man of sorrows.

 

Charles Haddon Spurgeon, "the Prince of Preachers," like so many heroes of the Christian Faith, struggled throughout his life with depression. He once said of his affliction: "I, of all men, am perhaps the subject of the deepest depression at times...I am the subject of depression so fearful that I hope none of you ever get to such extremes of wretchedness as I go to." Yet, like the Psalmist, Spurgeon learned that God intended his affliction for his good (Psalm 119:71). Thus, he famously proclaimed, "I have learned to kiss the wave that throws me against the Rock of Ages.”

 

Once I heard a song of sweetness,

As it cleft the morning air,

Sounding in its blest completeness,

Like a tender, pleading prayer;

And I sought to find the singer,

Whence the wondrous song was borne;

And I found a bird, sore wounded,

Pinioned by a cruel thorn.

 

I have seen a soul in sadness,

While its wings with pain were furl’d,

Giving hope, and cheer and gladness

That should bless a weeping world;

And I knew a life of sweetness,

Was of pain and sorrow borne,

And a stricken soul was singing,

With its heart against a thorn.

 

Ye are told of One who loved you,

Of a Saviour crucified,

Ye are told of nails that pinioned,

And a spear that pierced His side;

Ye are told of cruel scourging,

Of a Saviour bearing scorn,

And He died for your salvation,

With His brow against a thorn.

 

Ye “are not above the Master.”

Will you breathe a sweet refrain?

And His grace will be sufficient,

When your heart is pierced with pain.

Will you live to bless His loved ones,

Tho’ your life be bruised and torn,

Like the bird that sang so sweetly,

With its heart against a thorn?

 

Job 3:13-19

 

BIBLE TEXT: "For now should I have lain still and been quiet, I should have slept: then had I been at rest, With kings and counsellors of the earth, which build desolate places for themselves; Or with princes that had gold, who filled their houses with silver: Or as an hidden untimely birth I had not been; as infants which never saw light. There the wicked cease from troubling; and there the weary be at rest.There the prisoners rest together; they hear not the voice of the oppressor. The small and great are there; and the servant is free from his master." (Job 3:13-19 KJV)" 

 

BIBLE TWEET: Death is indiscriminate and the grave the great equalizer.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: The grave is level ground; for within it there is no distinction between sovereigns and stillborns, monarchs and miscarriages, oppressors and the oppressed, or the tranquil and the troubled.

 

Job 3:20-26

 

BIBLE TEXT: "Wherefore is light given to him that is in misery, and life unto the bitter in soul; Which long for death, but it cometh not; and dig for it more than for hid treasures; Which rejoice exceedingly, and are glad, when they can find the grave? Why is light given to a man whose way is hid, and whom God hath hedged in? For my sighing cometh before I eat, and my roarings are poured out like the waters. For the thing which I greatly feared is come upon me, and that which I was afraid of is come unto me. I was not in safety, neither had I rest, neither was I quiet; yet trouble came." (Job 3:20-26 KJV) 

 

BIBLE TWEET: Although humanly perplexing, there is a divine purpose for every life, even the lives of those who pursue the grave like a buried treasure, because they are plagued with problems and have no prospects for the future.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: The most meaningful lives are not necessarily the merriest, but might be the most melancholy.

 

Job 4:1-2

 

BIBLE TEXT: "Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said, If we assay to commune with thee, wilt thou be grieved? but who can withhold himself from speaking?" (Job 4:1-2 KJV) 

 

BIBLE TWEET: Cruel and condemning comforters, like Job’s, can never contain themselves. Though it would be better for them and others if they would, they can’t, because they’re too taken with their own thinking and too enamored with the sound of their own voice.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: As is proven by his diatribe in Job 4:1-5:27, Eliphaz, one of Job’s cruel comforters, was an ancient version of a modern-day prosperity preacher, preaching that good fortune is proof of spirituality and bad fortune of sin?

 

Job 4:3-5

 

BIBLE TEXT: "Behold, thou hast instructed many, and thou hast strengthened the weak hands. Thy words have upholden him that was falling, and thou hast strengthened the feeble knees. But now it is come upon thee, and thou faintest; it toucheth thee, and thou art troubled." (Job 4:3-5 KJV) 

 

BIBLE TWEET: We cannot encourage the discouraged if we become evidently dismayed over our own discouragements.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: Those overcome by trials cannot encourage others to overcome trials.

 

Job 4:6-9

 

BIBLE TEXT: "Is not this thy fear, thy confidence, thy hope, and the uprightness of thy ways? Remember, I pray thee, who ever perished, being innocent? or where were the righteous cut off? Even as I have seen, they that plow iniquity, and sow wickedness, reap the same. By the blast of God they perish, and by the breath of his nostrils are they consumed." (Job 4:6-9 KJV) 

 

BIBLE TWEET: We are neither protected from perils by our piety nor immunized from infirmities by our integrity.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: Sorrow is not always reaped from the sowing of personal sin. Many a righteous Job may be found on an ash heap.

 

Job 4:12-21

 

BIBLE TEXT: "Now a thing was secretly brought to me, and mine ear received a little thereof. In thoughts from the visions of the night, when deep sleep falleth on men, Fear came upon me, and trembling, which made all my bones to shake. Then a spirit passed before my face; the hair of my flesh stood up: It stood still, but I could not discern the form thereof: an image was before mine eyes, there was silence, and I heard a voice, saying, Shall mortal man be more just than God? shall a man be more pure than his maker? Behold, he put no trust in his servants; and his angels he charged with folly: How much less in them that dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, which are crushed before the moth? They are destroyed from morning to evening: they perish for ever without any regarding it. Doth not their excellency which is in them go away? they die, even without wisdom." (Job 4:12-21 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: If personal sin is the source of all personal suffering, as Eliphaz explained, then, how, as Eliphaz envisioned, could any sinner be sinless enough to live free of all suffering?

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: The want of problems in one’s life is no prove of piety nor is the presence of woes in one’s life proof of wickedness.

 

Job 5:7

 

BIBLE TEXT: "Yet man is born unto trouble, as the sparks fly upward." (Job 5:7 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: Man is born in sin and therefore born to suffer, for as sure as sparks fly upward from a fire, sinners will suffer in this fallen world.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: Although Jesus assured us of eventual triumph over this world, He also assured us of the inevitability of trouble in this world. (John 16:33)

 

Job 5:17-19

 

BIBLE TEXT: "Behold, happy is the man whom God correcteth: therefore despise not thou the chastening of the Almighty: For he maketh sore, and bindeth up: he woundeth, and his hands make whole. He shall deliver thee in six troubles: yea, in seven there shall no evil touch thee." (Job 5:17-19 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: We should not despise the discipline of the Lord, for though it  crushes, it corrects, though it wounds, it makes whole, and though it is grievous, it is for our good.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: The chastening of the Lord confirms that we are His children, for it is only His children that He chastens. (Hebrews 12:5-8)

 

Job 6:1-4

 

BIBLE TEXT: "But Job answered and said, Oh that my grief were throughly weighed, and my calamity laid in the balances together! For now it would be heavier than the sand of the sea: therefore my words are swallowed up.For the arrows of the Almighty are within me, the poison whereof drinketh up my spirit: the terrors of God do set themselves in array against me." (Job 6:1-4 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: It is hard not to toot a sour note when one’s troubles seem to outweigh the sands of the sea. Likewise, it is easy to get a poisoned spirit when one feels pierced with a plethora of poison tipped troubles.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: In times of trouble, we must neither resort to rash speaking nor relent to a resentful spirit.

 

Job 6:5-7

 

BIBLE TEXT: "Doth the wild ass bray when he hath grass? or loweth the ox over his fodder? Can that which is unsavoury be eaten without salt? or is there any taste in the white of an egg? The things that my soul refused to touch are as my sorrowful meat." (Job 6:5-7 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: Just because donkeys bray over the lack of grass, cows low over the lack of fodder, and men complain over flavorless food, doesn’t mean a man has the right to grip and grumble to God over his griefs.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: To complain to Christ about your problems is to usurp the place of Christ in your life, as though you know what is best better than He does.

 

Job 6:10

 

BIBLE TEXT: "It would still bring me comfort, and I would leap for joy in unrelenting pain that I have not denied the words of the Holy One." (Job 6:10 HCSB)

 

BIBLE TWEET: You can rejoice, even in unrelenting pain, if you have not refuted your faith nor repudiated God’s Word.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: To stand on God’s Word weak-kneed and to hold to your faith white knuckled, while under life’s backbreaking burdens, is the guarantee of a great faith.

 

HOLMAN CHRISTIAN STANDARD BIBLE

 

Job 6:11-21

 

BIBLE TEXT: "What is my strength, that I should hope? and what is mine end, that I should prolong my life? Is my strength the strength of stones? or is my flesh of brass? Is not my help in me? and is wisdom driven quite from me? To him that is afflicted pity should be shewed from his friend; but he forsaketh the fear of the Almighty. My brethren have dealt deceitfully as a brook, and as the stream of brooks they pass away; Which are blackish by reason of the ice, and wherein the snow is hid: What time they wax warm, they vanish: when it is hot, they are consumed out of their place. The paths of their way are turned aside; they go to nothing, and perish. The troops of Tema looked, the companies of Sheba waited for them. They were confounded because they had hoped; they came thither, and were ashamed. For now ye are nothing; ye see my casting down, and are afraid." (Job 6:11-21 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: No man with no hope for his future can be helped by his friends.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: The Christian’s hope is a living and everlasting hope, because it is found in the ever-living Christ. It is safe and secure for as long as Christ, who lives forevermore, is alive. Therefore, it, like Christ, is eternal and never ending. (1 Peter 1:3; Revelation 1:18)

 

Job 6:25

 

BIBLE TEXT: "How painful honest words can be! But what does your rebuke prove?" (Job 6:25 HCSB)

 

BIBLE TWEET: The truth may hurt, but it is better to be cut and corrected by it than to be comforted and commended by a lie.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: Not only is the Christian to speak the truth in love, but true love always speaks the truth. It never speaks lies, in the hope of sparing someone’s feelings, but always speaks the truth, in the hope of saving someone’s soul. (Ephesians 4:15)

 

HOLMAN CHRISTIAN STANDARD BIBLE

 

Job 6:26-30

 

BIBLE TEXT: "Do ye imagine to reprove words, and the speeches of one that is desperate, which are as wind? Yea, ye overwhelm the fatherless, and ye dig a pit for your friend. Now therefore be content, look upon me; for it is evident unto you if I lie. Return, I pray you, let it not be iniquity; yea, return again, my righteousness is in it. Is there iniquity in my tongue? cannot my taste discern perverse things?" (Job 6:26-30 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: The desperate cry of the despairing should not be disregarded as mere wind nor should their despair be presumed to be proof of their wickedness.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: Even the highly favored of Heaven, like Job, can fall prey to deepest, darkest despair.

 

Job 7:1-4

 

BIBLE TEXT: "Is there not an appointed time to man upon earth? are not his days also like the days of an hireling? As a servant earnestly desireth the shadow, and as an hireling looketh for the reward of his work: So am I made to possess months of vanity, and wearisome nights are appointed to me. When I lie down, I say, When shall I arise, and the night be gone? and I am full of tossings to and fro unto the dawning of the day." (Job 7:1-4 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: Whereas a manual laborer, who is assigned to moiling and monotonous labor, longs for an evening’s rest at the end of his difficult day, a man, who is weary of a lamentable and laborious life, longs for eternal rest at the end of his difficult days.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: “A ruffled mind makes a restless pillow.” (Charlotte Bronte)

 

Job 7:6-10

 

BIBLE TEXT: "My days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle, and are spent without hope. O remember that my life is wind: mine eye shall no more see good. The eye of him that hath seen me shall see me no more: thine eyes are upon me, and I am not. As the cloud is consumed and vanisheth away: so he that goeth down to the grave shall come up no more. He shall return no more to his house, neither shall his place know him any more." (Job 7:6-10 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: Life is swift, swifter than a weaver’s shuttle, and short, like a breath or a cloud, which quickly dissipates and disappears.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: The brevity of this life should bring us clarity about the gravity of eternity, for focusing on the fleeting at the forfeiture of the forever is both a foolish and fatal frivolity!

 

Job 7:17-21

 

BIBLE TEXT: "What is man, that thou shouldest magnify him? and that thou shouldest set thine heart upon him? And that thou shouldest visit him every morning, and try him every moment? How long wilt thou not depart from me, nor let me alone till I swallow down my spittle? I have sinned; what shall I do unto thee, O thou preserver of men? why hast thou set me as a mark against thee, so that I am a burden to myself? And why dost thou not pardon my transgression, and take away my iniquity? for now shall I sleep in the dust; and thou shalt seek me in the morning, but I shall not be." (Job 7:17-21 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: Man’s significance is made plain by the abundant attention God pays to him. If man didn’t matter, God would pay him no mind. He would not only ignore man’s sin, but also be indifferent about man’s salvation.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: All the proof you will ever need of your significance to God is a quick glance at the bloody, bruised, and torn figure of Christ hanging on the cross of Calvary for your salvation!

 

Job 8:3-4

 

BIBLE TEXT: "Does God twist justice? Does the Almighty twist what is right? Your children must have sinned against him, so their punishment was well deserved." (Job 8:3-4 NLT)

 

BIBLE TWEET: Although a just God never perverts justice, many a preacher does when he attributes every human tragedy to an act of divine judgment, as though those who die in disasters deserve to do so, being more sinful than those who survive disasters or are spared from them.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: Jesus taught us that catastrophes should not cause us to condemn their unsuspecting casualties, but ought to be seen by us as calls to repentance, lest we someday unrepentantly perish unexpectedly. (Luke 13:1-5)

 

NEW LIVING TRANSLATION

 

Job 8:5-7

 

BIBLE TEXT: "If thou wert pure and upright; surely now he would awake for thee, and make the habitation of thy righteousness prosperous. Though thy beginning was small, yet thy latter end should greatly increase." (Job 8:5-7 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: The God-condemned preaching of Bildad, like the heretical preaching of present-day prosperity preachers, proclaimed riches to be proof of righteousness and worldly prosperity proof of purity of heart. (Job 42:7-9)

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: Instead of signifying shoo-ins for Heaven, who are made enviable by God, riches can be a stumbling block to Heaven, to those who are estranged from God. (Mark 10:23)

 

Job 8:8-10

 

BIBLE TEXT: "For enquire, I pray thee, of the former age, and prepare thyself to the search of their fathers: (For we are but of yesterday, and know nothing, because our days upon earth are a shadow:) Shall not they teach thee, and tell thee, and utter words out of their heart?" (Job 8:8-10 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: Just as the present generation will do well to learn from previous generations, today’s younger generation will do well to learn from today’s older generation.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: A younger generation that doesn’t learn from its older generation dooms itself to repeat the errors of its elders.

 

Job 8:13-19

 

BIBLE TEXT: "So are the paths of all that forget God; and the hypocrite's hope shall perish: Whose hope shall be cut off, and whose trust shall be a spider's web. He shall lean upon his house, but it shall not stand: he shall hold it fast, but it shall not endure. He is green before the sun, and his branch shooteth forth in his garden. His roots are wrapped about the heap, and seeth the place of stones. If he destroy him from his place, then it shall deny him, saying, I have not seen thee. Behold, this is the joy of his way, and out of the earth shall others grow." (Job 8:13-19 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: Not only is the seeming success of the ungodly a fake facade, but their faith is in fragile things, their hope is fleeting fast, and their joy is to be soon forgotten.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: To look away from the Lord, our only Savior, and to other things, is like leaning on a spider’s web for your stability and security.

 

Job 8:20-22

 

BIBLE TEXT: "Behold, God will not cast away a perfect man, neither will he help the evil doers: Till he fill thy mouth with laughing, and thy lips with rejoicing. They that hate thee shall be clothed with shame; and the dwelling place of the wicked shall come to nought." (Job 8:20-22 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: Rejoicing is not necessarily indicative of righteousness nor gladness and laughter a sure sign of godly living.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: Many a holy saint has found himself an unhappy soul in this horrific fallen world.

 

Job 9:1-4

 

BIBLE TEXT: "Then Job answered and said, I know it is so of a truth: but how should man be just with God? If he will contend with him, he cannot answer him one of a thousand. He is wise in heart, and mighty in strength: who hath hardened himself against him, and hath prospered?" (Job 9:1-4 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: How can a feeble and fallible man bring a case before the Heavenly bar against his omniscient (all-knowing) and omnipotent (all-powerful) God?

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: It is the height of hubris for the creature to bring charges against the Creator, for the earth to judge the Judge of all the earth, or for a mere man to make accusations against the Almighty, to whom all men are ultimately accountable. (Romans 9:20; Genesis 18:25; Romans 14:12)

 

Job 9:7-9

 

BIBLE TEXT: "Which commandeth the sun, and it riseth not; and sealeth up the stars. Which alone spreadeth out the heavens, and treadeth upon the waves of the sea. Which maketh Arcturus, Orion, and Pleiades, and the chambers of the south." (Job 9:7-9 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: The stars do not control our lives, but our Lord controls the stars.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: Christians are not under the control of the constellations, but the constellations are under the control of Christ.

 

Esau and Jacob were born of the same father and mother, at the same time, and under the same planets, but their nature was wholly different. You would persuade me that astrology is a true science? (Martin Luther)

 

Job 9:10-11

 

BIBLE TEXT: "Which doeth great things past finding out; yea, and wonders without number. Lo, he goeth by me, and I see him not: he passeth on also, but I perceive him not." (Job 9:10-11 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: The invisible God who does innumerable incredible things is often indiscernible in our lives.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: Although God is always at work, His invisible hand often goes undetected until seen over our shoulder with 20/20 hindsight.

 

Job 9:12

 

BIBLE TEXT: "Behold, he taketh away, who can hinder him? who will say unto him, What doest thou?" (Job 9:12 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: God will not quit His work nor can His work be questioned.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: God can neither be inhibited nor interrogated.

 

Job 9:14-16

 

BIBLE TEXT: "How then can I answer Him or choose my arguments against Him? Even if I were in the right, I could not answer. I could only beg my Judge for mercy. If I summoned Him and He answered me, I do not believe He would pay attention to what I said." (Job 9:14-16 HCSB)

 

BIBLE TWEET: God does not answer to man, and man has no right to argue with God nor to demand God’s attention.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: All man can do before the Heavenly bar is throw himself on the mercy of the court.

 

HOLMAN CHRISTIAN STANDARD BIBLE

 

Job 9:17-20

 

BIBLE TEXT: "For he breaketh me with a tempest, and multiplieth my wounds without cause. He will not suffer me to take my breath, but filleth me with bitterness. If I speak of strength, lo, he is strong: and if of judgment, who shall set me a time to plead? If I justify myself, mine own mouth shall condemn me: if I say, I am perfect, it shall also prove me perverse." (Job 9:17-20 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: No man can defend himself against a deluge of divers difficulties by declaring himself undeserving of them.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: No matter how much we perceive life’s difficulties to be unjust, they can never be determined to be more than our just desserts nor can God ever be declared to be anything but just in His dealings with us.

 

Job 9:22-24

 

BIBLE TEXT: "This is one thing, therefore I said it, He destroyeth the perfect and the wicked. If the scourge slay suddenly, he will laugh at the trial of the innocent. The earth is given into the hand of the wicked: he covereth the faces of the judges thereof; if not, where, and who is he?" (Job 9:22-24 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: Although both the saint and the sinner may die in a disaster, be waylaid by the wicked, or be the victim of injustice, a sovereign God will see to it that it ultimately works out for His glory and the saint’s good. (Romans 8:28)

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY:     When this passing world is done, 

  When has sunk yon glaring sun,

  When we stand with Christ in glory, 

  Looking over life’s finished story, 

  Then, Lord, shall I fully know—

  Not till then—how much I owe.

 

Job 9:25-26

 

BIBLE TEXT: "Now my days are swifter than a post: they flee away, they see no good. They are passed away as the swift ships: as the eagle that hasteth to the prey." (Job 9:25-26 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: The days of our lives fly by as fast as a speedy runner, as fast as a swift ship, and as fast as an eagle swooping down for its prey.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY:    Life Is Just a Minute (Benjamin E. Mays) 

I’ve only just a minute,

Only sixty seconds in it.

Forced upon me, can’t refuse it,

Didn’t seek it, didn’t choose it,

But it’s up to me to use it.

I must suffer if I lose it,

Give an account if I abuse it,

Just a tiny little minute,

But eternity is in it.

 

Job 9:27-28

 

BIBLE TEXT: "If I said, “I will forget my complaint, change my expression, and smile,” I would still live in terror of all my pains. I know You will not acquit me." (Job 9:27-28 HCSB)

 

BIBLE TWEET: Acquittal with God is not acquired by covering a bad attitude with a good appearance.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: It’s not by your appearance that you are spiritually assessed by God, but by your attitude.

 

HOLMAN CHRISTIAN STANDARD BIBLE

 

Job 9:32-35

 

BIBLE TEXT: "For He is not a man like me, that I can answer Him, that we can take each other to court. There is no one to judge between us, to lay his hand on both of us. Let Him take His rod away from me so His terror will no longer frighten me. Then I would speak and not fear Him. But that is not the case; I am on my own." (Job 9:32-35 HCSB)

 

BIBLE TWEET: Man cannot force God to deal with him on human terms, but must fear God and come to Him on divine terms.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: For you to object to God’s terms is for you to be left on your own.

 

HOLMAN CHRISTIAN STANDARD BIBLE

 

Job 10:1-22

 

BIBLE TEXT: "My soul is weary of my life; I will leave my complaint upon myself; I will speak in the bitterness of my soul. I will say unto God, Do not condemn me; shew me wherefore thou contendest with me. Is it good unto thee that thou shouldest oppress, that thou shouldest despise the work of thine hands, and shine upon the counsel of the wicked? Hast thou eyes of flesh? or seest thou as man seeth? Are thy days as the days of man? are thy years as man's days, That thou enquirest after mine iniquity, and searchest after my sin? Thou knowest that I am not wicked; and there is none that can deliver out of thine hand. Thine hands have made me and fashioned me together round about; yet thou dost destroy me. Remember, I beseech thee, that thou hast made me as the clay; and wilt thou bring me into dust again? Hast thou not poured me out as milk, and curdled me like cheese? Thou hast clothed me with skin and flesh, and hast fenced me with bones and sinews. Thou hast granted me life and favour, and thy visitation hath preserved my spirit. And these things hast thou hid in thine heart: I know that this is with thee. If I sin, then thou markest me, and thou wilt not acquit me from mine iniquity. If I be wicked, woe unto me; and if I be righteous, yet will I not lift up my head. I am full of confusion; therefore see thou mine affliction; For it increaseth. Thou huntest me as a fierce lion: and again thou shewest thyself marvellous upon me. Thou renewest thy witnesses against me, and increasest thine indignation upon me; changes and war are against me. Wherefore then hast thou brought me forth out of the womb? Oh that I had given up the ghost, and no eye had seen me! I should have been as though I had not been; I should have been carried from the womb to the grave. Are not my days few? cease then, and let me alone, that I may take comfort a little, Before I go whence I shall not return, even to the land of darkness and the shadow of death; A land of darkness, as darkness itself; and of the shadow of death, without any order, and where the light is as darkness." (Job 10:1-22 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: If you do not trust God in your troubles, you will blame God for your troubles. Instead being reliant upon God, you will become resentful toward God.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: If in times of trouble, we fail the grace of God—turn from God in resentfulness rather than to God in reliance—we will become bitter toward God and a stumbling block to others. (Hebrews 12:15)

 

Job 11:3

 

BIBLE TEXT: "Should your babbling put others to silence, so that you can keep on ridiculing with no one to humiliate you?" (Job 11:3 HCSB)

 

BIBLE TWEET: I suspect this verse is the life verse for many present-day politicians, who expect all tongues to be bridled, but their babbling ones, themselves to be held above reproach, and all who disagree with their drivel to be roundly and readily ridiculed.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: Most people speak, because they believe they have something to say, but most politicians speak, because they believe they must say something.

 

HOLMAN CHRISTIAN STANDARD BIBLE

 

Job 11:6

 

BIBLE TEXT: "And that he would shew thee the secrets of wisdom, that they are double to that which is! Know therefore that God exacteth of thee less than thine iniquity deserveth." (Job 11:6 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: As Zophar argued, God exacted less from Job than Job’s iniquity deserved. Despite all Job had suffered, he, like all of us, deserved worse; namely, Hell.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: The last thing we should ask God for is justice, what we deserve, which is damnation and Hell. Instead, we should ask God for grace and mercy, what we don’t deserve, which is salvation and Heaven.

 

Job 11:7-9

 

BIBLE TEXT: "Canst thou by searching find out God? canst thou find out the Almighty unto perfection? It is as high as heaven; what canst thou do? deeper than hell; what canst thou know? The measure thereof is longer than the earth, and broader than the sea." (Job 11:7-9 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: No man can fully know all there is to know about God, for the knowledge of Him is higher than Heaven, deeper than Hell, bigger than the earth, and broader than the sea.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: “A comprehended God is no God.” (John Chyrsostom) 

 

Job 11:12

 

BIBLE TEXT: "But a stupid man will gain understanding as soon as a wild donkey is born a man!" (Job 11:12 HCSB)

 

BIBLE TWEET: Stupid men have as much of a chance of becoming smart as wild donkeys do of being born human beings.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: Ignorance can be educated, crazy can be medicated, but there is no cure for stupid.

 

HOLMAN CHRISTIAN STANDARD BIBLE

 

Job 11:18

 

BIBLE TEXT: "You will be confident, because there is hope. You will look carefully about and lie down in safety." (Job 11:18 HCSB)

 

BIBLE TWEET: It is the consolation of hope that serves as the cornerstone of human courage and confidence.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: In Dante’s Inferno a sign hangs above the entrance to Hell that reads, “Abandon all hope, you who enter here.” Truly, Hell is hopelessness.

 

HOLMAN CHRISTIAN STANDARD BIBLE

 

Job 12:1-4

 

BIBLE TEXT: "And Job answered and said, No doubt but ye are the people, and wisdom shall die with you. But I have understanding as well as you; I am not inferior to you: yea, who knoweth not such things as these? I am as one mocked of his neighbour, who calleth upon God, and he answereth him: the just upright man is laughed to scorn." (Job 12:1-4 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: Public opinion, which consists mostly of the well rehearsed and oft repeated popular cliches of the day, lauds itself as infallible and laughs at all who refuse to follow it, especially those who look instead for all of their answers to life's questions from God.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: Truth is not determined by public opinion, to believe otherwise, turns public opinion into tyranny and truth into popular thinking.

 

Job 12:7-25

 

BIBLE TEXT: "But ask now the beasts, and they shall teach thee; and the fowls of the air, and they shall tell thee: Or speak to the earth, and it shall teach thee: and the fishes of the sea shall declare unto thee. Who knoweth not in all these that the hand of the Lord hath wrought this? In whose hand is the soul of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind. Doth not the ear try words? and the mouth taste his meat? With the ancient is wisdom; and in length of days understanding. With him is wisdom and strength, he hath counsel and understanding. Behold, he breaketh down, and it cannot be built again: he shutteth up a man, and there can be no opening. Behold, he withholdeth the waters, and they dry up: also he sendeth them out, and they overturn the earth. With him is strength and wisdom: the deceived and the deceiver are his. He leadeth counsellors away spoiled, and maketh the judges fools. He looseth the bond of kings, and girdeth their loins with a girdle. He leadeth princes away spoiled, and overthroweth the mighty. He removeth away the speech of the trusty, and taketh away the understanding of the aged. He poureth contempt upon princes, and weakeneth the strength of the mighty. He discovereth deep things out of darkness, and bringeth out to light the shadow of death. He increaseth the nations, and destroyeth them: he enlargeth the nations, and straiteneth them again. He taketh away the heart of the chief of the people of the earth, and causeth them to wander in a wilderness where there is no way. They grope in the dark without light, and he maketh them to stagger like a drunken man." (Job 12:7-25 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: Either the hand of God is in all things or there is no hand of God at all.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: If God is not real and does not reign, then, life is without rhyme or reason.

 

Job 12:22

 

BIBLE TEXT: "He reveals mysteries from the darkness and brings the deepest darkness into the light." (Job 12:22 HCSB)

 

BIBLE TWEET: Only God can reveal divine mysteries or radiate the deepest darkness with divine light.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: Only God can bring us out of the darkness of human ignorance into the illumination of divine light.

 

HOLMAN CHRISTIAN STANDARD BIBLE

 

Job 12:23

 

BIBLE TEXT: "He increaseth the nations, and destroyeth them: he enlargeth the nations, and straiteneth them again." (Job 12:23 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: Don’t be deceived, it's God alone who makes nations great or destroys them. America's fate is not in the hands of Americans, but in the hands of the Almighty.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: It’s not MAGA Americans, but only God Almighty who can make America great again. Therefore, our Christian prayer closets are far more important than our country’s polling places.

 

Job 13:1-3

 

BIBLE TEXT: "Lo, mine eye hath seen all this, mine ear hath heard and understood it. What ye know, the same do I know also: I am not inferior unto you. Surely I would speak to the Almighty, and I desire to reason with God." (Job 13:1-3 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: Like Job, we too should desire dialogue and an audience with God over debate and an argument with men.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: A moment in prayer with God will do you more good than a millennium of parleying with guys and gals.

 

Job 13:4

 

BIBLE TEXT: "But you coat the truth with lies; you are all worthless doctors." (Job 13:4 HCSB)

 

BIBLE TWEET: There is no more deceptive nor dangerous lie than one coated with truth.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: A half-truth is still a whole lie.

 

HOLMAN CHRISTIAN STANDARD BIBLE

 

Job 13:5

 

BIBLE TEXT: "O that ye would altogether hold your peace! and it should be your wisdom." (Job 13:5 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: Sometimes the smartest thing to do is keep your mouth shut.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: When you don’t know what you’re talking about, you ought not to be talking.

 

Job 13:7-8

 

BIBLE TEXT: "Would you testify unjustly on God’s behalf or speak deceitfully for Him? Would you show partiality to Him or argue the case in His defense?" (Job 13:7-8 HCSB)

 

BIBLE TWEET: Many a presumptuous man has presumed to argue for God by putting his own untrue and unjust words in God’s mouth.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: God can speak through a man, but no man speaks for God. While we should speak and share God’s Word with others, we should never substitute our words for God’s Word to others.

 

HOLMAN CHRISTIAN STANDARD BIBLE

 

Job 13:12

 

BIBLE TEXT: "Your memorable sayings are proverbs of ash; your defenses are made of clay." (Job 13:7-8 HCSB)

 

BIBLE TWEET: Many a catchy Christian cliche and popular platitude is as about as profitable as ash to those in anguish.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: Not every problem can be simply solved with three points and a poem or a bumper sticker or T-shirt quip.

 

HOLMAN CHRISTIAN STANDARD BIBLE

 

Job 13:13-16

 

BIBLE TEXT: "Hold your peace, let me alone, that I may speak, and let come on me what will. Wherefore do I take my flesh in my teeth, and put my life in mine hand? Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him: but I will maintain mine own ways before him. He also shall be my salvation: for an hypocrite shall not come before him." (Job 13:13-16 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: From the depths of despair, Job rose to the pinnacle of all professions of faith, when he arose from his ash heap to publicly proclaim, “Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him!”

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: A true faith in God is one that can be professed no less passionately nor positively with one’s dying breath.

 

Job 13:20-24

 

BIBLE TEXT: "Only do not two things unto me: then will I not hide myself from thee. Withdraw thine hand far from me: and let not thy dread make me afraid. Then call thou, and I will answer: or let me speak, and answer thou me. How many are mine iniquities and sins? make me to know my transgression and my sin. Wherefore hidest thou thy face, and holdest me for thine enemy?" (Job 13:20-24 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: It is hard to appeal to God when we wrongfully assume we’re in His angry grip. Furthermore, it is hard to have a contrite heart before God when we wrongfully assume He has charges against us that are unknown to us.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: It is both a grave and great mistake to assume that our every adversity is evidence of God’s enmity against us for some unindicted iniquity.

 

Job 13:25-27

 

BIBLE TEXT: "Will You frighten a wind-driven leaf? Will You chase after dry straw? For You record bitter accusations against me and make me inherit the iniquities of my youth. You put my feet in the stock and stand watch over all my paths, setting a limit for the soles[f] of my feet." (Job 13:25-27 HCSB)

 

BIBLE TWEET: Though we, like Job, may feel God terrifies, taunts, thwarts, and toys with us, nothing could be further from the truth. Instead, as it was with Job, God may be showing us off rather than putting us in His sights.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: Contrary to popular opinion, being highly favored of Heaven might not mean you’ll have less, but more hardships than others, since you’ll be more targeted by Hell.

 

HOLMAN CHRISTIAN STANDARD BIBLE

 

Job 13:28

 

BIBLE TEXT: "Man wears out like something rotten, like a moth-eaten garment." (Job 13:28 HCSB)

 

BIBLE TWEET: Our fallen and corrupt bodies are truly rotting and ragged things, of which we will soon be disrobed.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: While people are obsessed with the care of their mortal bodies, most are oblivious to the care of their immortal souls.

 

HOLMAN CHRISTIAN STANDARD BIBLE

 

Job 14:1-3

 

BIBLE TEXT: "Man that is born of a woman is of few days and full of trouble. He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down: he fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not. And doth thou open thine eyes upon such an one, and bringest me into judgment with thee?" (Job 14:1-3 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: Man’s life is no more than a few trouble-filled days. It is fleeting, like a flower that quickly blooms and withers or like a shadow that suddenly appears and disappears.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: God will not judge us on the quantity of our lives, but on the quality of our lives. He will not judge us by the troubles we were dealt, but by how we dealt with our troubles.

 

Job 14:4

 

BIBLE TEXT: "Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? not one." (Job 14:4 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: It is impossible for any man to make the unclean clean or the impure pure. Yet, what is impossible with man, is possible with God. (Luke 18:27)

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: Through Christ, God, without compromising His perfect justice, has not only made it possible for the unclean to be cleansed and the impure to be purified, but also for the unjust to be justified. (Romans 3:21-26)

 

Job 14:5

 

BIBLE TEXT: "Seeing his days are determined, the number of his months are with thee, thou hast appointed his bounds that he cannot pass." (Job 14:5 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: If God has numbered our days, is He constantly recalculating them, subtracting or adding days depending upon how many Cheetos we eat or vitamins we take?

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: Our personal longevity is preordained by the Lord, so we’ll not live one day past Providence’s predetermined limit.

 

Job 14:14

 

BIBLE TEXT: "If a man die, shall he live again? all the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change come." (Job 14:14 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: The age-old question of life after death—“If a man die, shall he live again?”—which was trepidatiously asked by Job in antiquity, was thankfully answered by Jesus in the affirmative. (John 11:25-26)

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: If this life is all, then, it’s all for nothing, but if there is life after death, then, the afterlife is all-important.

 

Job 14:15

 

BIBLE TEXT: "Thou shalt call, and I will answer thee: thou wilt have a desire to the work of thine hands." (Job 14:15 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: As the work of God’s hands, man has hope of being raised from the dead by the hand of God.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: God neither disregards nor discards His handiwork.

 

Job 15:2-3

 

BIBLE TEXT: "Should a wise man utter vain knowledge, and fill his belly with the east wind? Should he reason with unprofitable talk? or with speeches wherewith he can do no good?" (Job 15:2-3 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: There is no such thing as a wise windbag.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: Wisdom never wastes its breath!

 

Job 15:4

 

BIBLE TEXT: "Yea, thou castest off fear, and restrainest prayer before God." (Job 15:4 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: Others’ prayers to God can be restrained by the unrestrained tongues of those who are irreverent toward God.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: Loose talk about the Lord can keep others from talking to the Lord.

 

Job 15:5-6

 

BIBLE TEXT: "For thy mouth uttereth thine iniquity, and thou choosest the tongue of the crafty. Thine own mouth condemneth thee, and not I: yea, thine own lips testify against thee." (Job 15:5-6 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: Sin is most often made manifest by the mouth, which, more than anything else, serves as an adverse witness against all sinners.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: On the day of judgment, our words shall serve as witnesses for or against us; they will either justify or condemn us. (Matthew 12:36-37)

 

Job 15:12-13

 

BIBLE TEXT: "Why has your heart misled you, and why do your eyes flash as you turn your anger against God and allow such words to leave your mouth?" (Job 15:12-13 HCSB)

 

BIBLE TWEET: The eyes, being the window to the heart, show the state of the heart. For instance, an angry stare shows an angry heart and a tender look shows a tender heart. (Matthew 6:22-23)

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: “The eyes are a window to the soul.” (William Shakespeare)

 

HOLMAN CHRISTIAN STANDARD BIBLE

 

Job 15:31

 

BIBLE TEXT: "Let not him that is deceived trust in vanity: for vanity shall be his recompense." (Job 15:31 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: To be led astray by trusting in worthless things is to squander one's life accumulating worthless treasures.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: Made up gods guarantee misspent lives.

 

Job 16:1-2

 

BIBLE TEXT: "Then Job answered and said, I have heard many such things: miserable comforters are ye all." (Job 16:1-2 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: Cruel comforters are not only guilty of maligning others by misinterpreting and misapplying Scripture, but also of spiritual malpractice, which always leaves others comfortless rather than comforted.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: No enemy combatant is more demoralizing than an excoriating counselor.

 

Job 16:3

 

BIBLE TEXT: "Won’t you ever stop blowing hot air? What makes you keep on talking?" (Job 16:3 NLT)

 

BIBLE TWEET: Hot air never refreshes the anguished and hurting.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY:   As you partake of the world's [verbal] fare,

[Here’s some] darned good advice to follow.

Spit out all of the hot air
And be careful what you swallow. (Dr. Sues)

 

NEW LIVING TRANSLATION

 

Job 16:4-5

 

BIBLE TEXT: "I also could speak as ye do: if your soul were in my soul's stead, I could heap up words against you, and shake mine head at you. But I would strengthen you with my mouth, and the moving of my lips should asswage your grief." (Job 16:4-5 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: The hurting do not need us to harangue them with our words or to wag our heads at them. Instead, they need us to help them rather harass them, and to exhort and encourage them rather than to excoriate them.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: We should not backhand, but give a helping hand to all of those we find on the ash heaps of life.

 

Job 16:19, 21

 

BIBLE TEXT: "Even now my witness is in heaven, and my advocate is in the heights…I wish that someone might arbitrate between a man and God just as a man pleads for his friend." (Job 16:19, 21 HCSB)

 

BIBLE TWEET: It’s not the accusations of our accusers in this world, but the arbitration of our Advocate in Heaven that determines our guilt or innocence before God.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: Because Christ, who ever lives at the Father’s right hand to make intercession for us, as our advocate, argues our case before the Heavenly bar, we are assured of an eternal acquittal. (Romans 8:34; Hebrews 7:25; 1 John 2:1)

 

HOLMAN CHRISTIAN STANDARD BIBLE

 

Job 17:3

 

BIBLE TEXT: "Lay down now, put me in a surety with thee; who is he that will strike hands with me?" (Job 17:3 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: Here is the crux of Job’s contention with his cruel comforters, unlike them, Job did not believe that he could make himself right with God or reconcile himself to God, but that he could only be reconciled to God by God, who alone could make things right between them.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: Our reconciliation with God is only possible because of what Jesus has done for us, which we could have never done for ourselves. Therefore, we must stop trying to make ourselves right with God and start trusting Jesus to do it for us.

 

Job 17:4

 

BIBLE TEXT: "You have closed their minds to understanding, therefore You will not honor them." (Job 17:4 HCSB)

 

BIBLE TWEET: Hearts closed to understanding will never be honored by God, but always humiliated by God, for their hardheadedness and hardheartedness.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: Those not in the know will never be in the right.

 

HOLMAN CHRISTIAN STANDARD BIBLE

 

Job 17:9

 

BIBLE TEXT: "The righteous also shall hold on his way, and he that hath clean hands shall be stronger and stronger." (Job 17:3 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: As long as one’s path is righteous and one’s hands are clean, one’s conscience is not stricken and one’s confidence grows stronger and stronger. (1 John 3:21)

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: The righteous are proven by their perseverance on the path of righteousness. (Matthew 24:13)

 

Job 17:10-16

 

BIBLE TEXT: "But as for you all, do ye return, and come now: for I cannot find one wise man among you. My days are past, my purposes are broken off, even the thoughts of my heart. They change the night into day: the light is short because of darkness. If I wait, the grave is mine house: I have made my bed in the darkness. I have said to corruption, Thou art my father: to the worm, Thou art my mother, and my sister. And where is now my hope? as for my hope, who shall see it? They shall go down to the bars of the pit, when our rest together is in the dust." (Job 17:10-16 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: Job sarcastically challenges his cruel comforters to futilely try again to deliver him from his despair, but trenchantly argues that death alone can do so.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: If we retain our faith in God, we will hold fast to our endless hope, but if we relinquish our faith in God, we will horribly fear a hopeless end.

 

Job 18:4

 

BIBLE TEXT: "He teareth himself in his anger: shall the earth be forsaken for thee? and shall the rock be removed out of his place?" (Job 18:4 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: Our anger does not alter a world that is totally apathetic toward our temper tantrums.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: The only thing accomplished by rising anger is the sinking of ourselves.

 

Job 18:7

 

BIBLE TEXT: "The steps of his strength shall be straitened, and his own counsel shall cast him down." (Job 18:7 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: The wicked are cast down by their own counsel and done in by their own deliberations.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: To live by your wit and human reason rather than by God’s Word and divine revelation is to self-afflict your mortal soul with a fatal wound.

 

Job 18:8-10

 

BIBLE TEXT: "For he is cast into a net by his own feet, and he walketh upon a snare. The gin shall take him by the heel, and the robber shall prevail against him. The snare is laid for him in the ground, and a trap for him in the way." (Job 18:8-10 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: The schemes of the wicked will prove to be snares for their own feet.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: The wicked are doomed to end up dangling by their heels from their own heinous devices.

 

Job 18:14, 21

 

BIBLE TEXT: "His confidence shall be rooted out of his tabernacle, and it shall bring him to the king of terrors…Surely such are the dwellings of the wicked, and this is the place of him that knoweth not God." (Job 18:14, 21 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: Terror is a king that will inevitably rule over all who do not know God, especially in death, which Aristotle called, “The most terrible of all terrors.”

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: Those who do know God are not only freed from their fear of death by Christ (Hebrews 2:13-15), but also given 365 “fear nots” in God’s Word, one for every day of the year.

 

Job 18:17-20

 

BIBLE TEXT: "His remembrance shall perish from the earth, and he shall have no name in the street. He shall be driven from light into darkness, and chased out of the world. He shall neither have son nor nephew among his people, nor any remaining in his dwellings. They that come after him shall be astonied at his day, as they that went before were affrighted." (Job 18:17-20 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: Although the predecessors of a wicked man were affrighted, thinking forward to their own demise, and the successors of a wicked man are astonished, thinking back on his demise, all the wicked are doomed to eternal demise and to be forever forgotten.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: While the righteous will be remembered, the memory of the wicked will rot. (Proverbs 10:7)

 

Job 19:4-5

 

BIBLE TEXT: "And be it indeed that I have erred, mine error remaineth with myself. If indeed ye will magnify yourselves against me, and plead against me my reproach." (Job 19:4-5 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: A man’s failings are his own fault. He should acknowledge his guilt and repent, not be gloated over by others and reproached.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: Sinners are not only ultimately responsible for their own sins, but also unqualified to reproach others for their sins.

 

Job 19:7-12

 

BIBLE TEXT: "I cry out, ‘Help!’ but no one answers me. I protest, but there is no justice. God has blocked my way so I cannot move. He has plunged my path into darkness. He has stripped me of my honor and removed the crown from my head. He has demolished me on every side, and I am finished. He has uprooted my hope like a fallen tree. His fury burns against me; he counts me as an enemy. His troops advance. They build up roads to attack me. They camp all around my tent." (Job 19:7-13 NLT)

 

BIBLE TWEET: All of us can sympathize with Job, in that we too have felt at times that the heavens were brass and banded against us.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: John of the Cross called these seasons of sensed divine abandonment “dark nights of the soul” and Martin Luther coined a word for them—“Anfechtungun.” Both considered these spiritually arid times in the wilderness of this world to be periods of utmost “unselfing” and utter surrender to the unknown, but ultimately perfect will of God.

 

NEW LIVING TRANSLATION

 

Job 19:13-20

 

BIBLE TEXT: "He has removed my brothers from me; my acquaintances have abandoned me. My relatives stop coming by, and my close friends have forgotten me. My house guests and female servants regard me as a stranger; I am a foreigner in their sight. I call for my servant, but he does not answer, even if I beg him with my own mouth. My breath is offensive to my wife, and my own family finds me repulsive. Even young boys scorn me. When I stand up, they mock me. All of my best friends despise me, and those I love have turned against me. My skin and my flesh cling to my bones; I have escaped by the skin of my teeth." (Job 19:13-20 HCSB)

 

BIBLE TWEET: All of us can sympathize with Job, in that we too have felt at times forsaken by our own family and friends, as well as ill-served and ill-treated by others, especially when we ourselves were in ill-health.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: This verse in Scripture, Job 19:20, is the source and origin of the well-worn expression, “By the skin of my teeth.”

 

HOLMAN CHRSITAIN STANDARD BIBLE

 

Job 19:23-27

 

BIBLE TEXT: "Oh that my words were now written! oh that they were printed in a book! That they were graven with an iron pen and lead in the rock for ever! For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God: Whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another; though my reins be consumed within me." (Job 19:23-27 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: Once again Job rises from his ash heap and insufferable situation to the pinnacle of profession to not only profess his undying faith in his ever-living Redeemer, but to also call for his profession of faith to be carved in stone for posterity.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: From the depths of his despair, Job boldly declares his confidence in Christ. He emphatically states from the depths of his exuberant soul that someday he shall see Christ upon this earth with his own eyes, even if it is after his mortal demise and his mortal body’s decay.

 

Job 19:28-29

 

BIBLE TEXT: "But ye should say, Why persecute we him, seeing the root of the matter is found in me? Be ye afraid of the sword: for wrath bringeth the punishments of the sword, that ye may know there is a judgment." (Job 19:28-29 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: Those who set in judgment over the suffering need to be careful lest they suffer judgment themselves.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: Those who backhand and excoriate the suffering are in danger of experiencing suffering firsthand.

 

Job 20:1-3

 

BIBLE TEXT: "Then answered Zophar the Naamathite, and said, Therefore do my thoughts cause me to answer, and for this I make haste. I have heard the check of my reproach, and the spirit of my understanding causeth me to answer." (Job 20:1-3 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: Prompted to speak impetuously by one’s hurt feelings never proves to be prudent nor productive.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: The mouth should never be motivated to speak by mean-spiritedness.

 

Job 20:4-5

 

BIBLE TEXT: "Knowest thou not this of old, since man was placed upon earth, That the triumphing of the wicked is short, and the joy of the hypocrite but for a moment?" (Job 20:4-5 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: The mirth and merriment of the wicked is but for a moment.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: Sin may have pleasure for a season, but its season of pleasure is always short-lived. (Hebrews 11:25)

 

Job 20:6-11

 

BIBLE TEXT: "Though his excellency mount up to the heavens, and his head reach unto the clouds; Yet he shall perish for ever like his own dung: they which have seen him shall say, Where is he? He shall fly away as a dream, and shall not be found: yea, he shall be chased away as a vision of the night. The eye also which saw him shall see him no more; neither shall his place any more behold him. His children shall seek to please the poor, and his hands shall restore their goods. His bones are full of the sin of his youth, which shall lie down with him in the dust." (Job 20:6-11 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: Though the wicked live with their heads in the clouds, their bones will eventually lie in the dust.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY:   Oh, why should the spirit of mortal be proud?

Like a swift-fleeing meteor, a fast-flying cloud,

A flash of the Lightning, a break of the wave, 

Man passes from life to his rest in the grave. (William Knox)

 

Job 20:12-15

 

BIBLE TEXT: "Though wickedness be sweet in his mouth, though he hide it under his tongue; Though he spare it, and forsake it not; but keep it still within his mouth: Yet his meat in his bowels is turned, it is the gall of asps within him. He hath swallowed down riches, and he shall vomit them up again: God shall cast them out of his belly." (Job 20:12-15 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: Although wickedness is sweet in the mouth, it is sickening once swallowed. It may appear palatable and even delectable, but always proves in the end to be nauseating and poisonous.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: To feast upon wicked fare is to fatally feed oneself forbidden fruit.

 

Job 20:18-21

 

BIBLE TEXT: "They will give back everything they worked for. Their wealth will bring them no joy. For they oppressed the poor and left them destitute. They foreclosed on their homes. They were always greedy and never satisfied. Nothing remains of all the things they dreamed about. Nothing is left after they finish gorging themselves. Therefore, their prosperity will not endure." (Job 20:18-21 NLT)

 

BIBLE TWEET: All the ill-gotten gain grasped and gripped by the wicked in their greed will be pried from their cold dead hands in the grave.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: It doesn’t matter if you get all you can and can all you get, because you still can’t take it with you when you go.

 

NEW LIVING TRANSLATION

 

Job 20:24-29

 

BIBLE TEXT: "He shall flee from the iron weapon, and the bow of steel shall strike him through. It is drawn, and cometh out of the body; yea, the glittering sword cometh out of his gall: terrors are upon him. All darkness shall be hid in his secret places: a fire not blown shall consume him; it shall go ill with him that is left in his tabernacle. The heaven shall reveal his iniquity; and the earth shall rise up against him. The increase of his house shall depart, and his goods shall flow away in the day of his wrath. This is the portion of a wicked man from God, and the heritage appointed unto him by God." (Job 20:24-29 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: The inheritance of the wicked is inescapable judgment, impermanent possessions, and universal condemnation.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: The ultimate lot of the wicked is a most lamentable one indeed.

 

Job 21:7-16

 

BIBLE TEXT: "Wherefore do the wicked live, become old, yea, are mighty in power? Their seed is established in their sight with them, and their offspring before their eyes. Their houses are safe from fear, neither is the rod of God upon them. Their bull gendereth, and faileth not; their cow calveth, and casteth not her calf. They send forth their little ones like a flock, and their children dance. They take the timbrel and harp, and rejoice at the sound of the organ. They spend their days in wealth, and in a moment go down to the grave. Therefore they say unto God, Depart from us; for we desire not the knowledge of thy ways. What is the Almighty, that we should serve him? and what profit should we have, if we pray unto him? Lo, their good is not in their hand: the counsel of the wicked is far from me." (Job 21:7-16 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: Job grapples here with the age-old question of why the wicked prosper and are not punished by God for their ingratitude, impertinence, and incorrigibleness.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: Many grievously suffering saints have greatly struggled with the glaring successes of insufferable sinners.

 

Job 21:17-21

 

BIBLE TEXT: "Yet the light of the wicked never seems to be extinguished. Do they ever have trouble? Does God distribute sorrows to them in anger? Are they driven before the wind like straw? Are they carried away by the storm like chaff? Not at all! 'Well,’ you say, ‘at least God will punish their children!' But I say he should punish the ones who sin, so that they understand his judgment. Let them see their destruction with their own eyes. Let them drink deeply of the anger of the Almighty. For they will not care what happens to their family after they are dead." (Job 21:17-21 HCSB)

 

BIBLE TWEET: Job’s problem with the wicked not being promptly punished by God was a product of his own impatience. (Job 21:4  NLT)

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: Whereas God is patient, long suffering toward sinners, not willing that any should perish (2 Peter 3:9), Job was impatient, wanting to see sinners promptly punished and presently perishing for their sins. Thankfully, God is not like Job, lest no sinner should be mercifully spared to be miraculously saved.

 

HOLMAN CHRISTIAN STANDARD BIBLE

NEW LIVING TRANSLATION

 

Job 21:22-26

 

BIBLE TEXT: "Shall any teach God knowledge? seeing he judgeth those that are high. One dieth in his full strength, being wholly at ease and quiet. His breasts are full of milk, and his bones are moistened with marrow. And another dieth in the bitterness of his soul, and never eateth with pleasure. They shall lie down alike in the dust, and the worms shall cover them." (Job 21:22-26 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: Death is indiscriminate, making no distinction between the vitality of youth and the infirmity of old age nor between the blessings of prosperity and the bitterness of poverty.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: Man’s final appointment is a matter of divine sovereignty, not discernible equity or human seniority. (Hebrews 9:26)

 

Job 21:27-34

 

BIBLE TEXT: "Behold, I know your thoughts, and the devices which ye wrongfully imagine against me. For ye say, Where is the house of the prince? and where are the dwelling places of the wicked? Have ye not asked them that go by the way? and do ye not know their tokens, That the wicked is reserved to the day of destruction? they shall be brought forth to the day of wrath. Who shall declare his way to his face? and who shall repay him what he hath done? Yet shall he be brought to the grave, and shall remain in the tomb. The clods of the valley shall be sweet unto him, and every man shall draw after him, as there are innumerable before him. How then comfort ye me in vain, seeing in your answers there remaineth falsehood?" (Job 21:27-34 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: Job’s friends could no more comfort him with their argument that his suffering was caused by his sin than Job could convince his friends that some sinners seemingly do not suffer at all.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: While Job confesses to being puzzled over life’s perplexities, his friends not only claim to have life all figured out, but also that all of life works out just as they’ve figured.

 

Job 22:2-3

 

BIBLE TEXT: "Can a man be profitable unto God, as he that is wise may be profitable unto himself? Is it any pleasure to the Almighty, that thou art righteous? or is it gain to him, that thou makest thy ways perfect?" (Job 22:2-3 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: Not only does God need nothing from man, but man can add nothing to God.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: Although God is indispensable to us, we are not indispensable to God.

 

Job 22:4-11

 

BIBLE TEXT: "Will he reprove thee for fear of thee? will he enter with thee into judgment? Is not thy wickedness great? and thine iniquities infinite? For thou hast taken a pledge from thy brother for nought, and stripped the naked of their clothing. Thou hast not given water to the weary to drink, and thou hast withholden bread from the hungry. But as for the mighty man, he had the earth; and the honourable man dwelt in it. Thou hast sent widows away empty, and the arms of the fatherless have been broken. Therefore snares are round about thee, and sudden fear troubleth thee; Or darkness, that thou canst not see; and abundance of waters cover thee." (Job 22:4-11 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: It is an atrocious heresy to attribute all affliction to the abundant wickedness and innumerable iniquities of the sorely afflicted.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: The last thing the suffering need is to be falsely accused or to have their faith assailed.

 

Job 22:12

 

BIBLE TEXT: "Is not God in the height of heaven? and behold the height of the stars, how high they are!" (Job 22:12 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: A light year is the distance light can travel in a year at 186,000 miles a second. The farthest know star is estimated to be 28 billion light years away from the earth. Yet, according to the Bible, God is higher than the highest star.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: William Beebe, the naturalist, used to tell this story about Teddy Roosevelt. At Sagamore Hill, after an evening of talk, the two would go out on the lawn and search the skies for a certain spot of star-like light near the lower left-hand corner of the Great Square of Pegasus. Then Roosevelt would say: “That is the Spiral Galaxy in Andromeda. It is as large as our Milky Way. It is one of a hundred million galaxies. It consists of one hundred billion suns, each larger than our sun.” Then Roosevelt would grin and tell Beebe, “Now I think we are small enough! Let’s go to bed.”

 

Job 22:14

 

BIBLE TEXT: "Thick clouds are a covering to him, that he seeth not; and he walketh in the circuit of heaven." (Job 22:14 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: God walks on the circuit of heaven; that is, on the arch of the earth. Here, in possibly the oldest book in the Bible, the Scripture speaks, as it does elsewhere, of the earth being round. (Isaiah 40:22)

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: Hundreds of years before man discovered that the earth was spherical, the divinely inspired Scripture declared it!

 

Job 22:21

 

BIBLE TEXT: "Acquaint now thyself with him, and be at peace: thereby good shall come unto thee." (Job 22:21 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: Now is the time to acquaint yourself with God, for acquaintance to God is the prerequisite for peace with God.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: Good will come to you when you come to God.

 

Job 22:21

 

BIBLE TEXT: "Submit to God, and you will have peace; then things will go well for you." (Job 22:21 NLT)

 

BIBLE TWEET: There is no peace with God without submission to God, for our enmity with God will never end unless we surrender to Him.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: Only by coming to God in complete surrender can we continue on with God into spiritual prosperity.

 

NEW LIVING TRANSLATION

 

Job 22:21-30

 

BIBLE TEXT: "Acquaint now thyself with him, and be at peace: thereby good shall come unto thee. Receive, I pray thee, the law from his mouth, and lay up his words in thine heart. If thou return to the Almighty, thou shalt be built up, thou shalt put away iniquity far from thy tabernacles. Then shalt thou lay up gold as dust, and the gold of Ophir as the stones of the brooks. Yea, the Almighty shall be thy defence, and thou shalt have plenty of silver. For then shalt thou have thy delight in the Almighty, and shalt lift up thy face unto God. Thou shalt make thy prayer unto him, and he shall hear thee, and thou shalt pay thy vows. Thou shalt also decree a thing, and it shall be established unto thee: and the light shall shine upon thy ways. When men are cast down, then thou shalt say, There is lifting up; and he shall save the humble person. He shall deliver the island of the innocent: and it is delivered by the pureness of thine hands." (Job 22:21-30 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: Eliphaz’s words are true, but wrongly targeted. In fact, if Eliphaz himself had been better acquainted with God, he would have understood that human anguish is not proof of divine unacquaintance.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: Those truly acquainted with God wholeheartedly delight in God, keep their vows to God, and have their prayers answered by God.

 

Job 23:2-7

 

BIBLE TEXT: "Today also my complaint is bitter. His hand is heavy despite my groaning. If only I knew how to find Him, so that I could go to His throne. I would plead my case before Him and fill my mouth with arguments. I would learn how He would answer me; and understand what He would say to me. Would He prosecute me forcefully? No, He will certainly pay attention to me. Then an upright man could reason with Him, and I would escape from my Judge forever." (Job 23:2-7 HCSB)

 

BIBLE TWEET: A clear conscience does not seek God’s exoneration, but God’s explanation for excruciation, believing that there is always some divine reason for the distress of the righteous.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: We cannot force ourselves onto the docket of the Heavenly bar, no matter how much or how long we complain about our case not being heard. Heaven’s courtroom convenes in God’s time, not ours.

 

HOLMAN CHRISTIAN STANDARD BIBLE

 

Job 23:8-9

 

BIBLE TEXT: "Behold, I go forward, but he is not there; and backward, but I cannot perceive him: On the left hand, where he doth work, but I cannot behold him: he hideth himself on the right hand, that I cannot see him." (Job 23:8-9 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: There are times when we can’t find a trace of God, despite how diligently we look in every direction.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY:   When darkness veils his lovely face,

I rest on his unchanging grace;

In every high and stormy gale,

My anchor holds within the veil. (Edward Mote)

 

Judge not the Lord by feeble sense,
But trust him for his grace;
Behind a frowning providence
He hides a smiling face. (William Cowper)

 

Job 23:8-10

 

BIBLE TEXT: "Behold, I go forward, but he is not there; and backward, but I cannot perceive him: On the left hand, where he doth work, but I cannot behold him: he hideth himself on the right hand, that I cannot see him: But he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold." (Job 23:8-10 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: In the flames of feeling God-forsaken our faith in God is strengthened by being sorely tested and surely refined into finest gold.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: God sends trials not to reduce nor ruin us, but to raise and refine us.

 

Job 23:10-12

 

BIBLE TEXT: "Yet He knows the way I have taken; when He has tested me, I will emerge as pure gold. My feet have followed in His tracks; I have kept to His way and not turned aside. I have not departed from the commands of His lips; I have treasured the words of His mouth more than my daily food." (Job 23:10-12 HCSB)

 

BIBLE TWEET: Those who follow in God’s tracks, as well as treasure and not turn away from His truths, will always emerge tried-and-true when tested.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: Pure gold is proven by testing. If there was no testing, there would be no way to tell pure gold.

 

HOLMAN CHRISTIAN STANDARD BIBLE

 

Job 23:13-17

 

BIBLE TEXT: "But He is unchangeable; who can oppose Him? He does what He desires. He will certainly accomplish what He has decreed for me, and He has many more things like these in mind. Therefore I am terrified in His presence; when I consider this, I am afraid of Him. God has made my heart faint; the Almighty has terrified me. Yet I am not destroyed by the darkness, by the thick darkness that covers my face." (Job 23:13-17 HCSB)

 

BIBLE TWEET: God is immutable and His plans and purposes inevitable; no man on earth, no devil in Hell, no angel in Heaven can prevent them from coming to pass.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: No one sure of God’s perfect love for us will ever be scared by God’s sovereignty over us. However, those, like Job, whose perils have persuaded them that God is unjustly perturbed at them, will not only doubt God’s perfect love, but also be petrified at the prospect of Divine Providence. (1 John 4:18)

 

HOLMAN CHRISTIAN STANDARD BIBLE

 

Job 24:1

 

BIBLE TEXT: "Why, seeing times are not hidden from the Almighty, do they that know him not see his days?" (Job 24:1 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: If God has set a time to judge the wicked, why does He not expedite it and make an example of them? After all, would the immediate punishment of the wicked not provide people with an incentive to be pious?

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: Contrary to Job’s opinion, swift divine retribution would no more incentivize repentance from sin than the supernatural resurrection of the dead (Luke 16:31). Nowhere is this seen more clearly in Scripture than in the book of Revelation (Revelation 9:30-31; 16:8-11). Only the power of the Gospel, the conviction of the Holy Spirit, and the miracle of regeneration can turn the sinner from sin to the Savior.

 

Job 24:2-12, 18-25

 

BIBLE TEXT: "Some remove the landmarks; they violently take away flocks, and feed thereof. They drive away the ass of the fatherless, they take the widow's ox for a pledge. They turn the needy out of the way: the poor of the earth hide themselves together. Behold, as wild asses in the desert, go they forth to their work; rising betimes for a prey: the wilderness yieldeth food for them and for their children. They reap every one his corn in the field: and they gather the vintage of the wicked. They cause the naked to lodge without clothing, that they have no covering in the cold. They are wet with the showers of the mountains, and embrace the rock for want of a shelter. They pluck the fatherless from the breast, and take a pledge of the poor. They cause him to go naked without clothing, and they take away the sheaf from the hungry; Which make oil within their walls, and tread their winepresses, and suffer thirst. Men groan from out of the city, and the soul of the wounded crieth out: yet God layeth not folly to them…He is swift as the waters; their portion is cursed in the earth: he beholdeth not the way of the vineyards. Drought and heat consume the snow waters: so doth the grave those which have sinned. The womb shall forget him; the worm shall feed sweetly on him; he shall be no more remembered; and wickedness shall be broken as a tree. He evil entreateth the barren that beareth not: and doeth not good to the widow. He draweth also the mighty with his power: he riseth up, and no man is sure of life. Though it be given him to be in safety, whereon he resteth; yet his eyes are upon their ways. They are exalted for a little while, but are gone and brought low; they are taken out of the way as all other, and cut off as the tops of the ears of corn. And if it be not so now, who will make me a liar, and make my speech nothing worth?" (Job 24:2-12, 18-25 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: The prayers of the poor, under the oppressive injustices of the wicked, may appear to be presently ignored, but they will inevitably be answered by God, who will indubitably annihilate the wicked.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: According to Job, his contention that the prosperity of the wicked is fleeting and that the wicked themselves will forever perish is an unchallengeable certainty. (Job 24:25)

 

Job 24:13-17

 

BIBLE TEXT: "They are of those that rebel against the light; they know not the ways thereof, nor abide in the paths thereof. The murderer rising with the light killeth the poor and needy, and in the night is as a thief. The eye also of the adulterer waiteth for the twilight, saying, No eye shall see me: and disguiseth his face. In the dark they dig through houses, which they had marked for themselves in the daytime: they know not the light. For the morning is to them even as the shadow of death: if one know them, they are in the terrors of the shadow of death." (Job 24:13-17 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: The wicked, such as the murderer, the thief, and the adulterer, rise up at twilight and run from daylight.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: Sinners hate the light, lest it expose their evil, but delight in the dark, because it shrouds their sin. (John 3:19)

 

Job 25:2-3

 

BIBLE TEXT: "Dominion and dread belong to Him, the One who establishes harmony in the heavens. Can His troops be numbered? Does His light not shine on everyone?" (Job 25:2-3 HCSB)

 

BIBLE TWEET: God, who rules the universe, should be universally revered.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: God commands the stars by night, which are legion and utterly innumerable, and the light of the sun by day, which is universally imparted.

 

HOLMAN CHRISTIAN STANDARD BIBLE

 

Job 25:4

 

BIBLE TEXT: "How then can man be justified with God? or how can he be clean that is born of a woman?" (Job 25:4 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: The answer to Bildad’s critical question—How can a man be justified with God or ever be clean before God?—is found in the blood of Christ alone! (Romans 5:9; 1 John 1:7)

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY:       What can wash away my sin? 

    Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

    What can make me whole again? 

    Nothing but the blood of Jesus. 

 

     For my pardon this I see: 

     Nothing but the blood of Jesus. 

     For my cleansing this my plea: 

     Nothing but the blood of Jesus. 

 

     Nothing can for sin atone: 

     Nothing but the blood of Jesus. 

     Naught of good that I have done: 

     Nothing but the blood of Jesus. 

 

     This is all my hope and peace: 

     Nothing but the blood of Jesus. 

     This is all my righteousness: 

     Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

 

     O precious is the flow 

     That makes me white as snow; 

     No other fount I know; 

     Nothing but the blood of Jesus. (Robert  Lowry)

 

Job 25:4

 

BIBLE TEXT: "How then can man be justified with God? or how can he be clean that is born of a woman?" (Job 25:4 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: Only the wisdom of divine omniscience could devise a plan of salvation that would solve the insoluble problem of justifying and purifying unjust and imperfect men without compromising in anyway the perfect justice of a just and perfect God. (Romans 3:21-26)

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: Thanks to the blood of Jesus, no sin is swept under the rug of divine justice by a just God's justification of a believing and unjust sinner. 

 

Job 25:5-6

 

BIBLE TEXT: "Behold even to the moon, and it shineth not; yea, the stars are not pure in his sight. How much less man, that is a worm? and the son of man, which is a worm?" (Job 25:5-6 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: If the nighttime brightness of the moon and stars are dim in comparison to the brilliance of God’s glory, how can man, a mere creature from the dust, hope to dazzle God with his diminutiveness?

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: In one of his most beloved hymns, Issac Watts wrote: “Alas! and did my Savior bleed, and did my Sovereign die! Would he devote that sacred head for such a worm as I?” Watt’s words, however, have been changed in modern-day hymnals to read, “sinners such as I,” instead of, “for such a worm as I.” I guess today’s WOKE world felt the need to worm its way out of such a definitive and derogatory scriptural description of all of fallen humanity.

 

Job 26:2-4

 

BIBLE TEXT: "How hast thou helped him that is without power? how savest thou the arm that hath no strength? How hast thou counselled him that hath no wisdom? and how hast thou plentifully declared the thing as it is? To whom hast thou uttered words? and whose spirit came from thee?" (Job 26:2-4 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: We could call these words of Job divinely inspired sarcasm, since he sarcastically skewers, here on the sacred pages of Scripture, his three terrible would-be teachers.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: One of Job’s trio of terrible teachers, Eliphaz, had previously professed to have been enlightened with wise words from a mysterious spirit (Job 4:12-16). Here, Job asks his cruel comforters to identity the spirit speaking through them. This, as the Apostle John teaches us in 1 John 4:1-3, is essential to determining a terrible teacher from a true one, as well as a false prophet from a faithful one.

 

Job 26:7

 

BIBLE TEXT: "He stretcheth out the north over the empty place, and hangeth the earth upon nothing." (Job 26:7 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: Possibly 2,000 years before Christ, as well as 4,000 years ago, the ancient man Job declared that the earth was suspended in space.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: What other explanation, apart from divine inspiration, is there for this declaration from ancient antiquity of this modern-day scientific discovery?

 

Job 26:14

 

BIBLE TEXT: "These are but the fringes of His ways; how faint is the word we hear of Him! Who can understand His mighty thunder?" (Job 26:14 HCSB)

 

BIBLE TWEET: As fallen men we behold God’s ways from the fringes and hear His Word but faintly; consequently, our understanding of Him is at best fragmental.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: "It is completely incomprehensible to us how God can reveal himself and to some extent make himself known in created beings: eternity in time, immensity in space, infinity in finite, immutability in change, being in becoming, the all, as it were, in that which is nothing. This mystery cannot be comprehended; it can only be gratefully acknowledged." (Herman Bavinck)

 

HOLMAN CHRISTIAN STANDARD BIBLE

 

Job 27:1-6

 

BIBLE TEXT: "Moreover Job continued his parable, and said, As God liveth, who hath taken away my judgment; and the Almighty, who hath vexed my soul; All the while my breath is in me, and the spirit of God is in my nostrils; My lips shall not speak wickedness, nor my tongue utter deceit. God forbid that I should justify you: till I die I will not remove mine integrity from me. My righteousness I hold fast, and will not let it go: my heart shall not reproach me so long as I live. Let mine enemy be as the wicked, and he that riseth up against me as the unrighteous." (Job 27:1-6 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: Pardon the pun, but Job’s words here to his cruel and condemning comforters could be pithily paraphrased, “I’ll be damned if you are right.”

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: Although Job blames God and complains to God, he never blasphemes God nor curses God. Furthermore, he holds on to his integrity, despite the efforts of the devil and his mouthpieces—Job’s wife and cruel comforters—to pry his integrity out of his hands. (Job 1:11; 2:5, 9)

 

Job 27:7-12

 

BIBLE TEXT: "Let mine enemy be as the wicked, and he that riseth up against me as the unrighteous. For what is the hope of the hypocrite, though he hath gained, when God taketh away his soul? Will God hear his cry when trouble cometh upon him? Will he delight himself in the Almighty? will he always call upon God? I will teach you by the hand of God: that which is with the Almighty will I not conceal. Behold, all ye yourselves have seen it; why then are ye thus altogether vain?" (Job 27:7-12 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: Job warns his cruel comforters that God’s judgment of the wicked could fall on them for their own wickedness; that is, for falsely accusing him of wickedness.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: God’s law calls for false witnesses to face the same fate that they tried to foredoom the falsely accused to. (Deuteronomy 19:16-19)

 

Job 27:13-23

 

BIBLE TEXT: "This is the portion of a wicked man with God, and the heritage of oppressors, which they shall receive of the Almighty. If his children be multiplied, it is for the sword: and his offspring shall not be satisfied with bread. Those that remain of him shall be buried in death: and his widows shall not weep. Though he heap up silver as the dust, and prepare raiment as the clay; He may prepare it, but the just shall put it on, and the innocent shall divide the silver. He buildeth his house as a moth, and as a booth that the keeper maketh. The rich man shall lie down, but he shall not be gathered: he openeth his eyes, and he is not. Terrors take hold on him as waters, a tempest stealeth him away in the night. The east wind carrieth him away, and he departeth: and as a storm hurleth him out of his place. For God shall cast upon him, and not spare: he would fain flee out of his hand. Men shall clap their hands at him, and shall hiss him out of his place." (Job 27:13-23 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: Job has no qualms with his cruel comforters’ contention that the wicked will certainly be judged by God, but his quarrel is with their assumption that his present predicament is proof of his personal sin and of God’s severe punishment of him.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: It’s possible to get your exhortation of Scripture right, but your application of it wrong. For instance, Scripture does say in one place, “Judas went out and hanged himself,” and then in another, “Go do thou likewise.”

 

Job 28:1-28

 

BIBLE TEXT: "Surely there is a mine for silver and a place where gold is refined. Iron is taken from the ground, and copper is smelted from ore. A miner puts an end to the darkness; he probes the deepest recesses for ore in the gloomy darkness. He cuts a shaft far from human habitation, in places unknown to those who walk above ground. Suspended far away from people, the miners swing back and forth. Food may come from the earth, but below the surface the earth is transformed as by fire. Its rocks are a source of sapphire, containing flecks of gold. No bird of prey knows that path; no falcon’s eye has seen it. Proud beasts have never walked on it; no lion has ever prowled over it. The miner strikes the flint and transforms the mountains at their foundations. He cuts out channels in the rocks, and his eyes spot every treasure. He dams up the streams from flowing so that he may bring to light what is hidden. But where can wisdom be found, and where is understanding located? No man can know its value, since it cannot be found in the land of the living. The ocean depths say, 'It’s not in me,' while the sea declares, 'I don’t have it.' Gold cannot be exchanged for it, and silver cannot be weighed out for its price. Wisdom cannot be valued in the gold of Ophir, in precious onyx or sapphire. Gold and glass do not compare with it, and articles of fine gold cannot be exchanged for it. Coral and quartz are not worth mentioning. The price of wisdom is beyond pearls. Topaz from Cush cannot compare with it, and it cannot be valued in pure gold. Where then does wisdom come from, and where is understanding located? It is hidden from the eyes of every living thing and concealed from the birds of the sky. Abaddon and Death say, 'We have heard news of it with our ears.' But God understands the way to wisdom, and He knows its location. For He looks to the ends of the earth and sees everything under the heavens. When God fixed the weight of the wind and limited the water by measure, when He established a limit for the rain and a path for the lightning, He considered wisdom and evaluated it; He established it and examined it. He said to mankind, 'The fear of the Lord is this: wisdom. And to turn from evil is understanding.'" (Job 28:1-28 HCSB)

 

BIBLE TWEET: Wisdom cannot be prospected like a gem nor purchased with gold, it can only be procured from God.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: Wisdom is found in the fear of the Lord and sound reason in repentance from sin. (Job 28:28)

 

HOLMAN CHRISTIAN STANDARD BIBLE

 

Job 29:1-6

 

BIBLE TEXT: "Moreover Job continued his parable, and said, Oh that I were as in months past, as in the days when God preserved me; When his candle shined upon my head, and when by his light I walked through darkness; As I was in the days of my youth, when the secret of God was upon my tabernacle; When the Almighty was yet with me, when my children were about me; When I washed my steps with butter, and the rock poured me out rivers of oil." (Job 29:1-6 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: Job seems to insinuate here that it is a “secret” to him why he enjoyed fellowship with God and the favor of God in the past, only to be forsaken by God in the present. After all, he figured he was no less faithful to God currently than he had been previously.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: God will ever remain a mystery to those who not only interpret good fortune as divine acceptance and bad fortune as divine abandonment, but who also believe both good and bad fortune are products of one’s personal goodness or badness.

 

Job 29:3

 

BIBLE TEXT: "When his candle shined upon my head, and when by his light I walked through darkness." (Job 29:3 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: We need the lamp of the Lord to shine over us and the light of the Lord to show us the way through our every dark day.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: Surrender your life to God and the light of God will shine on your life.

 

Job 29:7-11, 21-25

 

BIBLE TEXT: "When I went out to the gate through the city, when I prepared my seat in the street! The young men saw me, and hid themselves: and the aged arose, and stood up. The princes refrained talking, and laid their hand on their mouth. The nobles held their peace, and their tongue cleaved to the roof of their mouth. When the ear heard me, then it blessed me; and when the eye saw me, it gave witness to me…Unto me men gave ear, and waited, and kept silence at my counsel. After my words they spake not again; and my speech dropped upon them. And they waited for me as for the rain; and they opened their mouth wide as for the latter rain. If I laughed on them, they believed it not; and the light of my countenance they cast not down. I chose out their way, and sat chief, and dwelt as a king in the army, as one that comforteth the mourners." (Job 29:7-11, 21-25 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: Job laments being reviled by his friends and longs for the days when he was respected and revered by his fellows.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: Whereas others once hung on Job’s every word, Job was now being hung by others with his every word.

 

INFLUENTIAL TODAY IGNORED TOMORROW

 

Walter Winchell, the most feared and influential newspaper columnist in history, whose words could make or break politicians and celebrities, ended up handing out complimentary mimeographed sheets of his own column on a street corner to anyone who would take one. When he died, no one came to his funeral, but his own daughter.

 

Job 29:12-20

 

BIBLE TEXT: "Because I delivered the poor that cried, and the fatherless, and him that had none to help him. The blessing of him that was ready to perish came upon me: and I caused the widow's heart to sing for joy. I put on righteousness, and it clothed me: my judgment was as a robe and a diadem. I was eyes to the blind, and feet was I to the lame. I was a father to the poor: and the cause which I knew not I searched out. And I brake the jaws of the wicked, and plucked the spoil out of his teeth. Then I said, I shall die in my nest, and I shall multiply my days as the sand. My root was spread out by the waters, and the dew lay all night upon my branch. My glory was fresh in me, and my bow was renewed in my hand." (Job 29:12-20 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: Like so many today, Job mistakenly believed his past charity assured him of future prosperity.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: Many a benevolent act is born out of the hope of benefiting the benevolent more than the beggarly. In other words, much of what passes for charity today is more concerned with getting a good return on one’s giving than with doing a good turn for the needy.

 

Job 30:1

 

BIBLE TEXT: "But now they that are younger than I have me in derision, whose fathers I would have disdained to have set with the dogs of my flock." (Job 30:1 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: The old and affirmed are often derided by the descendants of those they would not have elected as dog catcher.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: Retirement is the realm of nobodies who were somebodies, but are now overlooked by almost everybody.

 

Job 30:1-8

 

BIBLE TEXT: "But now they that are younger than I have me in derision, whose fathers I would have disdained to have set with the dogs of my flock. Yea, whereto might the strength of their hands profit me, in whom old age was perished? For want and famine they were solitary; fleeing into the wilderness in former time desolate and waste. Who cut up mallows by the bushes, and juniper roots for their meat. They were driven forth from among men, (they cried after them as after a thief;) To dwell in the cliffs of the valleys, in caves of the earth, and in the rocks. Among the bushes they brayed; under the nettles they were gathered together. They were children of fools, yea, children of base men: they were viler than the earth." (Job 30:1-8 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: Job, who was once held in high esteem by the highly esteemed, suddenly found himself disdained by both the despicable and the deplorable.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: It is truly adding insult to injury when the injured are insulted by the ignominious and insufferable.

 

Job 30:9-15

 

BIBLE TEXT: "Now I am mocked by their songs; I have become an object of scorn to them. They despise me and keep their distance from me; they do not hesitate to spit in my face. Because God has loosened my[b] bowstring and oppressed me, they have cast off restraint in my presence. The rabble rise up at my right; they trap my feet and construct their siege ramp against me. They tear up my path; they contribute to my destruction, without anyone to help them. They advance as through a gaping breach; they keep rolling in through the ruins. Terrors are turned loose against me; they chase my dignity away like the wind, and my prosperity has passed by like a cloud." (Job 30:9-15 HCSB)

 

BIBLE TWEET: The breach in God’s protective hedge (Job 1:10) and the loosening of Job’s bowstring had left Job feeling both vulnerable to, as well as defenseless against, the mockery of men.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: How could Job, with his children all dead and his wealth all gone, sitting on an ash heap, and scrapping his boiled-covered body with a piece of shard pottery, possibly prove himself to be the highly favored of Heaven to a world plumb full of earthly hecklers?

 

HOLMAN CHRISTIAN STANDARD BIBLE

 

Job 30:18-19

 

BIBLE TEXT: "My clothing is distorted with great force; He chokes me by the neck of my garment. He throws me into the mud, and I have become like dust and ashes." (Job 30:18-19 HCSB)

 

BIBLE TWEET: Job felt like God had grabbed him up by the nap of the neck and thrown him down in dust and ashes.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: God often knocks us to our knees to get us to pray, so that we can see from our knees that life’s stumbling stones are stepping stones rather than grave stones.

 

HOLMAN CHRISTIAN STANDARD BIBLE

 

Job 30:20

 

BIBLE TEXT: "I cry unto thee, and thou dost not hear me: I stand up, and thou regardest me not." (Job 30:20 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: What Job found truly intolerable in all of his troubles was the troubling feeling that he had been forsaken by God.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: To the true man or woman of God, it is not life’s trials, troubles, or even tragedies that are intolerable. Instead, it is the absence in our lives of any sense of God’s presence. It’s when the heavens are brass, the still small voice of the Spirit is deafly silent, and the wind of the Spirit is deathly still. It is when we feel orphaned in the wilderness of this world, with no pillar to lead us, no water from the Rock to quench our thirsty souls, nor any daily manna from Heaven to spiritually sustain us. It is when the hoof prints of the devil are all around us, but the finger prints of God are nowhere to be found. It is when God has hidden His face from us and we have lost the light of His countenance. It is then, and only then, that we can sympathize, as well as empathize, with this ancient man Job.

 

Job 30:25

 

BIBLE TEXT: "Did not I weep for him that was in trouble? was not my soul grieved for the poor?" (Job 30:25 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: Job complains that though he had cared and cried for others no man cared and cried for him.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: Job, on his ash heap, reminds us here of Elijah under his juniper tree (1 Kings 19:4) and of David, who also bewailed that “no man cared for [his] soul” (Psalm 142:4).

 

Job 30:26

 

BIBLE TEXT: "When I looked for good, then evil came unto me: and when I waited for light, there came darkness." (Job 30:26 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: Darkness is never more startling nor staggering than when surprisingly encountered in one’s speculative expectation of light.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: “No darkness is so dark as that which falls on eyes accustomed to the light.” (Charles Spurgeon)

 

Job 30:31

 

BIBLE TEXT: "My harp also is turned to mourning, and my organ into the voice of them that weep." (Job 30:31 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: Job’s harp was no longer used for music, but for mourning, and his flute was no longer used for worship, but for weeping.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY:     Once I heard a song of sweetness,

  As it cleft the morning air,

  Sounding in its blest completeness,

  Like a tender, pleading prayer;

  And I sought to find the singer,

  Whence the wondrous song was borne;

  And I found a bird, sore wounded,

  Pinioned by a cruel thorn.

 

  I have seen a soul in sadness,

  While its wings with pain were furl’d,

  Giving hope, and cheer and gladness

  That should bless a weeping world;

  And I knew a life of sweetness,

  Was of pain and sorrow borne,

  And a stricken soul was singing,

  With its heart against a thorn.

 

  Ye are told of One who loved you,

  Of a Saviour crucified,

  Ye are told of nails that pinioned,

  And a spear that pierced His side;

  Ye are told of cruel scourging,

  Of a Saviour bearing scorn,

  And He died for your salvation,

  With His brow against a thorn.

 

  Ye “are not above the Master.”

  Will you breathe a sweet refrain?

  And His grace will be sufficient,

  When your heart is pierced with pain.

  Will you live to bless His loved ones,

  Tho’ your life be bruised and torn,

  Like the bird that sang so sweetly,

  With its heart against a thorn?

 

Job 31:1-4

 

BIBLE TEXT: "I made a covenant with mine eyes; why then should I think upon a maid? For what portion of God is there from above? and what inheritance of the Almighty from on high? Is not destruction to the wicked? and a strange punishment to the workers of iniquity? Doth not he see my ways, and count all my steps?" (Job 31:1-4 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: Knowing that God was always looking at him, Job kept himself from looking upon a woman with lust. 

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: As Jesus taught in His famous Sermon on the Mount, sin is conceived in the heart before committed by the hands. (Matthew 5:28)

 

Job 31:5-6

 

BIBLE TEXT: "If I have walked with vanity, or if my foot hath hasted to deceit; Let me be weighed in an even balance that God may know mine integrity." (Job 31:5-6 KJV) 

 

BIBLE TWEET: The integrity of all who walk in falsehood and rush to deceit is weighed in the scales by God and found wanting.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: How much weight does your word carry with God?

 

Job 31:9-12

 

BIBLE TEXT: "If mine heart have been deceived by a woman, or if I have laid wait at my neighbour's door; Then let my wife grind unto another, and let others bow down upon her. For this is an heinous crime; yea, it is an iniquity to be punished by the judges. For it is a fire that consumeth to destruction, and would root out all mine increase." (Job 31:9-12 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: Job pleaded his complete innocence of the crime of infidelity.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: The seduction of a siren can ignite an all-consuming internal fire.

 

Job 31:13-15

 

BIBLE TEXT: "If I did despise the cause of my manservant or of my maidservant, when they contended with me; What then shall I do when God riseth up? and when he visiteth, what shall I answer him? Did not he that made me in the womb make him? and did not one fashion us in the womb?" (Job 31:13-15 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: If I slight my accountability to others, how can I stand and give account of myself to God.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: “Mankind was my business.” (The words of Jacob Marley to Ebenezer Scrooge in Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol)

 

Job 31:16-23

 

BIBLE TEXT: "If I have withheld the poor from their desire, or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail; Or have eaten my morsel myself alone, and the fatherless hath not eaten thereof; (For from my youth he was brought up with me, as with a father, and I have guided her from my mother's womb;) If I have seen any perish for want of clothing, or any poor without covering; If his loins have not blessed me, and if he were not warmed with the fleece of my sheep; If I have lifted up my hand against the fatherless, when I saw my help in the gate: Then let mine arm fall from my shoulder blade, and mine arm be broken from the bone. For destruction from God was a terror to me, and by reason of his highness I could not endure." (Job 31:16-23 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: If God condemns those who refuse to share their few crumbs with the hungry or their fleece with the cold, how much more will He condemn the opulent who refuse to share their wealth with those oppressed and in want?

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: Paupers should be as eager to share their extra morsels with the needy as the prosperous should be to share their extra millions.

 

Job 31:24-25

 

BIBLE TEXT: "If I have made gold my hope, or have said to the fine gold, Thou art my confidence; If I rejoice because my wealth was great, and because mine hand had gotten much." (Job 31:24-25 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: To make gold your god or to be puffed up over your possessions is to forever impoverish your soul.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: The pockets of all corpses are equally empty.

 

Job 31:26-28

 

BIBLE TEXT: "If I beheld the sun when it shined, or the moon walking in brightness; And my heart hath been secretly enticed, or my mouth hath kissed my hand: This also were an iniquity to be punished by the judge: for I should have denied the God that is above." (Job 31:26-28 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: Job had never sinned against God by substituting the worship of the creation, such as the worship of the sun and the moon, for the worship of the Creator.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: To throw the kiss of worship to God’s shining sun rather than to God’s saving Son or to man-made gods rather than to the God who made man is to kiss your immortal soul goodbye.

 

Job 31:29-32

 

BIBLE TEXT: "If I rejoice at the destruction of him that hated me, or lifted up myself when evil found him: Neither have I suffered my mouth to sin by wishing a curse to his soul. If the men of my tabernacle said not, Oh that we had of his flesh! we cannot be satisfied. The stranger did not lodge in the street: but I opened my doors to the traveller." (Job 31:29-32 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: Job had neither cursed his nemeses nor been compassionless toward the needy.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: As our Lord taught in His famous Sermon on the Mount, the disinclination to curse one’s enemies is a distinguishing mark of the children of God. (Matthew 5:43-48)

 

Job 31:33-34

 

BIBLE TEXT: "If I covered my transgressions as Adam, by hiding mine iniquity in my bosom: Did I fear a great multitude, or did the contempt of families terrify me, that I kept silence, and went not out of the door?" (Job 31:33-34 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: To conceal our sins rather than confess them, because we fear the crowd more than we do Christ, is a fatal mistake.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: Many a man has unfortunately forfeited his soul in order to save face.

 

Job 31:35-40

 

BIBLE TEXT: "Oh that one would hear me! behold, my desire is, that the Almighty would answer me, and that mine adversary had written a book. Surely I would take it upon my shoulder, and bind it as a crown to me. I would declare unto him the number of my steps; as a prince would I go near unto him. If my land cry against me, or that the furrows likewise thereof complain; If I have eaten the fruits thereof without money, or have caused the owners thereof to lose their life: Let thistles grow instead of wheat, and cockle instead of barley. The words of Job are ended." (Job 31:35-40 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: These verses contain Job’s closing argument in his own defense.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: So confident is Job that his case is open and shut that he vows to wear it like a crown and confidently walk up to God demanding complete exoneration.

 

Job 31:40

 

BIBLE TEXT: "Let thistles grow instead of wheat, and cockle instead of barley. The words of Job are ended." (Job 31:40 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: Job was sorely mistaken when he thought he had the final word, for, as all men learn, God always has the last word.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: "We are silent at the beginning of the day, because God should have the first word, and we are silent before going to sleep, because the last word also belongs to God." (Dietrich Bonhoeffer)

 

Job 32:1-5

 

BIBLE TEXT: "So these three men ceased to answer Job, because he was righteous in his own eyes. Then was kindled the wrath of Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite, of the kindred of Ram: against Job was his wrath kindled, because he justified himself rather than God. Also against his three friends was his wrath kindled, because they had found no answer, and yet had condemned Job. Now Elihu had waited till Job had spoken, because they were elder than he. When Elihu saw that there was no answer in the mouth of these three men, then his wrath was kindled." (Job 32:1-5 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: It is time to be angry when men justify themselves rather than God and accuse each other of unproven accusations.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar were condemned by God for contending that Job suffered because he sinned, but Elihu, who contended that Job sinned because he suffered, was not condemned by God.

 

Job 32:6-9

 

BIBLE TEXT: "And Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite answered and said, I am young, and ye are very old; wherefore I was afraid, and durst not shew you mine opinion. I said, Days should speak, and multitude of years should teach wisdom. But there is a spirit in man: and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding. Great men are not always wise: neither do the aged understand judgment." (Job 32:6-9 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: It is not human seniority, but the Holy Spirit that gives man understanding; therefore, wisdom is not the exclusive monopoly of the elderly.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: Hoary hair is not proof of one’s wisdom, nor youth of one’s foolishness. While our world has no shortage of old fools, it has some who are wise and mature beyond their years.

 

Job 32:11-13

 

BIBLE TEXT: "I waited for you to speak. I listened for you to share your understanding until you could find the right words. I’ve paid close attention to you, but none of you refuted Job. None of you has an answer to what he says. So don’t say, ‘We’ve found wisdom. Let God, not humans, defeat him.’" (Job 30:9-15 GNT)

 

BIBLE TWEET: Men cannot be convinced by us, but must be convicted by God, of what is right and wrong.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: We cannot argue men out of Hell or into Heaven. Only the power of God, not the power of human persuasion, can ever do so. (1 Corinthians 2:1-5)

 

GOOD NEWS TRANSLATION

 

Job 32:18-21

 

BIBLE TEXT: "For I am full of pent-up words, and the spirit within me urges me on. I am like a cask of wine without a vent, like a new wineskin ready to burst! I must speak to find relief, so let me give my answers. I won’t play favorites or try to flatter anyone." (Job 30:18-21 NLT)

 

BIBLE TWEET: Preachers should step into pulpits with this passage of Scripture pounding in their hearts.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: When asked by his brother Charles why so many came to hear him preach, John Wesley answered, “They don’t come to hear me preach, but to watch me burn. Unfortunately, there are few fiery pulpits and inflamed preachers in contemporary churches.

 

NEW LIVING TRANSLATION

 

Job 33:5

 

BIBLE TEXT: "If thou canst answer me, set thy words in order before me, stand up." (Job 33:5 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: Others’ rebuke should be readily rebuffed if we are in the right, lest upbraiding wrong wins out over undefended truth.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: We should always be ready to give an answer to anyone who questions our faith. (1 Peter 3:15)

 

Job 33:6-7

 

BIBLE TEXT: "I am just like you before God; I was also pinched off from a piece of clay. Fear of me should not terrify you; the pressure I exert against you will be light." (Job 30:18-19 HCSB)

 

BIBLE TWEET: Why should you fear people, who, like you, are but pinched off pieces of clay?

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: “We fear men so much, because we fear God so little. One fear cures another.” (William Gurnall)

 

HOLMAN CHRISTIAN STANDARD BIBLE

 

Job 33:12-13

 

BIBLE TEXT: "Behold, in this thou art not just: I will answer thee, that God is greater than man. Why dost thou strive against him? for he giveth not account of any of his matters." (Job 33:12-13 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: The Almighty is greater than man and answerable to no man.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: It is the epitome of a fool’s errand for humanity to arraign divinity.

 

Job 33:19-30

 

BIBLE TEXT: "He is chastened also with pain upon his bed, and the multitude of his bones with strong pain: So that his life abhorreth bread, and his soul dainty meat. His flesh is consumed away, that it cannot be seen; and his bones that were not seen stick out. Yea, his soul draweth near unto the grave, and his life to the destroyers. If there be a messenger with him, an interpreter, one among a thousand, to shew unto man his uprightness: Then he is gracious unto him, and saith, Deliver him from going down to the pit: I have found a ransom. His flesh shall be fresher than a child's: he shall return to the days of his youth: He shall pray unto God, and he will be favourable unto him: and he shall see his face with joy: for he will render unto man his righteousness. He looketh upon men, and if any say, I have sinned, and perverted that which was right, and it profited me not; He will deliver his soul from going into the pit, and his life shall see the light. Lo, all these things worketh God oftentimes with man, To bring back his soul from the pit, to be enlightened with the light of the living." (Job 33:19-30 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: Whereas Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar argued that suffering was punishment for sin, Elihu argued that suffering prevented sin, by making the suffering penitent.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: Contrary to the collective counsel of Job’s cruel comforters, the purpose of Job’s suffering was neither to punish him for sin nor to prevent him from sinning.

 

Job 34:10-12

 

BIBLE TEXT: "Therefore listen to me, you men of understanding. It is impossible for God to do wrong, and for the Almighty to act unjustly. For He repays a person according to his deeds, and He brings his ways on him. Indeed, it is true that God does not act wickedly and the Almighty does not pervert justice." (Job 34:10-12 HCSB)

 

BIBLE TWEET: There are impossibilities with God. For instance, it is impossible for God to be unjust or to do anything wrong.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: It is impossible for a perfectly just God to pervert justice.

 

HOLMAN CHRISTIAN STANDARD BIBLE

 

Job 34:13-15

 

BIBLE TEXT: "Who hath given him a charge over the earth? or who hath disposed the whole world? If he set his heart upon man, if he gather unto himself his spirit and his breath; All flesh shall perish together, and man shall turn again unto dust." (Job 34:13-15 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: God is both the self-appointed Sovereign over, as well as the sole sustainer of, all living things.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: If God, in His sovereignty, should withdraw His breath from humanity, all who dwell on earth would return to the dust of the earth.

 

Job 34:16-20

 

BIBLE TEXT: "If you have understanding, hear this; listen to what I have to say. Could one who hates justice govern the world? Will you condemn the mighty Righteous One, who says to a king, “Worthless man!” and to nobles, “Wicked men!”? God is not partial to princes and does not favor the rich over the poor, for they are all the work of His hands. They die suddenly in the middle of the night; people shudder, then pass away. Even the mighty are removed without effort." (Job 34:16-20 HCSB)

 

BIBLE TWEET: How could the world exist, much less endure, if it was governed by a God who hates justice?

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: God, who owns everything and is over everyone, can neither be bribed by the prosperous nor bullied by the powerful to pervert justice.

 

HOLMAN CHRISTIAN STANDARD BIBLE

 

Job 34:21-28

 

BIBLE TEXT: "For His eyes watch over a man’s ways, and He observes all his steps. There is no darkness, no deep darkness, where evildoers can hide themselves. God does not need to examine a person further, that one should approach Him in court. He shatters the mighty without an investigation and sets others in their place. Therefore, He recognizes their deeds and overthrows them by night, and they are crushed. In full view of the public, He strikes them for their wickedness, because they turned aside from following Him and did not understand any of His ways but caused the poor to cry out to Him, and He heard the outcry of the afflicted." (Job 34:21-28 HCSB)

 

BIBLE TWEET: An omniscient God need not investigate to either execrate or exonerate.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: God doesn’t need to launch an impeachment investigation to remove leaders from office or to replace them with others, for no cover-up can hide any high crime or misdemeanor from His all-seeing eye.

 

HOLMAN CHRISTIAN STANDARD BIBLE

 

Job 34:29

 

BIBLE TEXT: "But when God is silent, who can declare Him guilty? When He hides His face, who can see Him? Yet He watches over both individuals and nations." (Job 34:29 HCSB)

 

BIBLE TWEET: We have no call to complain when God is silent and no chance to see when God is concealed.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: God’s silence should never be misunderstood as an admission of injustice or of indifference. Neither should we conclude that God has something to hide when He chooses to conceal Himself.

 

HOLMAN CHRISTIAN STANDARD BIBLE

 

Job 34:30

 

BIBLE TEXT: "That the hypocrite reign not, lest the people be ensnared." (Job 34:30 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: People are ensnared by the insincerity of political leaders. By putting up with political hypocrisy people make themselves prey to the profligacy of their politicians.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: Honest people will end up reeling whenever hypocritical politicians end up reigning.

 

Job 34:33

 

BIBLE TEXT: "Should God repay you on your terms when you have rejected His? You must choose, not I! So declare what you know." (Job 34:33 HCSB)

 

BIBLE TWEET: God will never meet you on your terms. You will either meet God on His terms or never meet God at all!

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: Fallen humanity snubs God, scorns God’s terms, and then demands that God stoop down to meet each person on their individual and personal terms.

 

“If others are offended by God’s Word, let them be offended, for they have offended God long enough.” (John MacArthur)

 

HOLMAN CHRISTIAN STANDARD BIBLE

 

Job 35:2-8

 

BIBLE TEXT: "Thinkest thou this to be right, that thou saidst, My righteousness is more than God’s? For thou saidst, What advantage will it be unto thee? and, What profit shall I have, if I be cleansed from my sin? I will answer thee, and thy companions with thee. Look unto the heavens, and see; and behold the clouds which are higher than thou. If thou sinnest, what doest thou against him? or if thy transgressions be multiplied, what doest thou unto him? If thou be righteous, what givest thou him? or what receiveth he of thine hand? Thy wickedness may hurt a man as thou art; and thy righteousness may profit the son of man." (Job 35:2-8 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: The Most High is neither enhanced by our righteousness nor diminished by our sinfulness.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: While our actions can have a positive or negative effect upon humanity, they are of no effect upon divinity.

 

Job 35:10

 

BIBLE TEXT: "But none saith, Where is God my maker, who giveth songs in the night." (Job 35:10 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: Since nightfall is only Heaven's orchestral overture for a divine overnight opus, no child of God should ever fear the dark!

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: Nothing puts Satan to flight like a saint singing in the night!

 

Job 35:12-15

 

BIBLE TEXT: "There they cry out, but He does not answer, because of the pride of evil men. Indeed, God does not listen to empty cries, and the Almighty does not take note of it—how much less when you complain that you do not see Him, that your case is before Him and you are waiting for Him. But now, because God’s anger does not punish and He does not pay attention to transgression." (Job 35:12-15 HCSB)

 

BIBLE TWEET: It is the height of hubris for evil men to believe that God is not only beholden to answer their prayers, but also to be blamed for failing to do so.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: How proud and unanswerable a prayer we pray when we demand that all our ultimatums be met immediately by Divinity.

 

HOLMAN CHRISTIAN STANDARD BIBLE

 

Job 36:1-4

 

BIBLE TEXT: "Elihu also proceeded, and said, Suffer me a little, and I will shew thee that I have yet to speak on God's behalf. I will fetch my knowledge from afar, and will ascribe righteousness to my Maker. For truly my words shall not be false: he that is perfect in knowledge is with thee." (Job 36:1-4 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: Though most insufferable, know-it-alls, who alone are enamored with the sound of their own voices, insist that we be long-suffering with their long-windedness.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: A know-it-all really knows nothing at all. (1 Corinthians 8:2)

 

Job 36:12

 

BIBLE TEXT: "But if they do not obey, they will cross the river of death and die without knowledge." (Job 36:12 HCSB)

 

BIBLE TWEET: The insolent toward God die in their ignorance of God.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: Disobedience to God is dunderheaded.

 

HOLMAN CHRISTIAN STANDARD BIBLE

 

Job 36:15

 

BIBLE TEXT: "God rescues the afflicted by their affliction; He instructs them by their torment." (Job 36:15 HCSB)

 

BIBLE TWEET: God can get our attention through our afflictions and instruct us through our infirmities, so that He can deliver us through our distresses.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: Many a person has said with the psalmist, “It was good for me that I was afflicted,” so “that I might learn [God’s] statutes.” (Psalm 119:71)

 

HOLMAN CHRISTIAN STANDARD BIBLE

 

Job 36:17-21

 

BIBLE TEXT: "Yet now you are obsessed with the judgment due the wicked; judgment and justice have seized you. Be careful that no one lures you with riches; do not let a large ransom lead you astray. Can your wealth or all your physical exertion keep you from distress? Do not long for the night when nations will disappear from their places. Be careful that you do not turn to iniquity, for that is why you have been tested by affliction." (Job 36:17-21 HCSB)

 

BIBLE TWEET: Instead of worrying so much about judgment and justice for others, we ought to worry most about God’s judgment of us and whether or not we are justified with Him.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: “We should be rigorous in judging ourselves and gracious in judging others.” (John Wesley)

 

HOLMAN CHRISTIAN STANDARD BIBLE

 

Job 36:26

 

BIBLE TEXT: "Behold, God is great, and we know him not, neither can the number of his years be searched out." (Job 36:26 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: A god no bigger than my reason is unworthy of my reverence!

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: A god I can figure out with my finite mind is too infinitesimal to put my faith in!

 

Job 37:1-5

 

BIBLE TEXT: "At this also my heart trembleth, and is moved out of his place. Hear attentively the noise of his voice, and the sound that goeth out of his mouth. He directeth it under the whole heaven, and his lightning unto the ends of the earth. After it a voice roareth: he thundereth with the voice of his excellency; and he will not stay them when his voice is heard. God thundereth marvellously with his voice; great things doeth he, which we cannot comprehend." (Job 37:1-5 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: No sound in nature sends our hearts so much to pounding nor speaks to us more of God’s power than the rumbling thunder of a storm.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: “There is no sound in nature more descriptive of, or more becoming, the majesty of God, than that of thunder. We hear the breeze in its rustling, the rain in its pattering, the hail in its rattling, the wind in its hollow howlings…but we hear God, the Almighty, in the continuous peal of thunder!” (Adam Clark)

 

Job 37:6-12

 

BIBLE TEXT: "For he saith to the snow, Be thou on the earth; likewise to the small rain, and to the great rain of his strength. He sealeth up the hand of every man; that all men may know his work. Then the beasts go into dens, and remain in their places. Out of the south cometh the whirlwind: and cold out of the north. By the breath of God frost is given: and the breadth of the waters is straitened. Also by watering he wearieth the thick cloud: he scattereth his bright cloud: And it is turned round about by his counsels: that they may do whatsoever he commandeth them upon the face of the world in the earth." (Job 37:6-12 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: Natural storms, which send both man and beast scurrying for shelter, are surely suggestive of God’s supernatural strength.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY:  God moves in a mysterious way,

        His wonders to perform;

        He plants his footsteps in the sea,

        And rides upon the storm. (William Cowper)

 

Many commentators believe, as I do, that Elihu’s concluding remarks in chapter 37 about storms were inspired by the appearance of an approaching and terrifying whirlwind, from which God was not only about to speak to Job, but also to silence at last the long-winded Elihu.

 

Job 37:21

 

BIBLE TEXT: "And now men see not the bright light which is in the clouds: but the wind passeth, and cleanseth them." (Job 37:21 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: We don’t see the bright light from Heaven atop the clouds of our troubles and trials, because we look up from earth at their foreboding dark underbellies rather than down from Heaven on the splendor of their divine purpose!

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: We must learn to see things from the perspective of God’s throne rather than through the prism of our trials.

 

Job 37:23-24

 

BIBLE TEXT: "The Almighty—we cannot reach Him—He is exalted in power! He will not oppress justice and abundant righteousness, Therefore, men fear Him. He does not look favorably on any who are wise in heart." (Job 37:23-24 HCSB)

 

BIBLE TWEET: The Almighty, who is far exalted beyond man’s comprehension, is to be feared, not faulted, especially since all of His fault finders forfeit His favor and call forth His fury.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: It is truly insane for an ignorant and faulty man to find fault with a faultless and infinite God, who is far beyond man’s finite comprehension.

 

HOLMAN CHRISTIAN STANDARD BIBLE

 

Job 38:1-3

 

BIBLE TEXT: "Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said, Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge? Gird up now thy loins like a man; for I will demand of thee, and answer thou me." (Job 38:1-3 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: Man up for a whirlwind encounter with omnipotence if you dare in your ignorant arrogance to arraign the Almighty over imagined injustices.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: Human wind bags end up answering to a divine whirlwind, for God does not answer to any of us, but all of us answer to God.

 

Job 38:4-7

 

BIBLE TEXT: "Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if thou hast understanding. Who hath laid the measures thereof, if thou knowest? or who hath stretched the line upon it? Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened? or who laid the corner stone thereof; When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?" (Job 38:4-7 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: God not only laid the foundations and set the corner stone of the earth, but also stretched the survey line around this terrestrial sphere and determined its dimensions, as all the heavenly host sang together and shouted for joy.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: Angels, which are symbolized and referred to as stars in Scripture (Revelation 1:20), are not “sons of God” by birth, like Christ, or by adoption, like Christians, but by creation, like Adam (Luke 3:38).

 

Job 38:8-11

 

BIBLE TEXT: "Or who shut up the sea with doors, when it brake forth, as if it had issued out of the womb? When I made the cloud the garment thereof, and thick darkness a swaddlingband for it, And brake up for it my decreed place, and set bars and doors, And said, Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further: and here shall thy proud waves be stayed?" (Job 38:8-11 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: It is God who confines the sea behind bars and bellows out to its mighty breakers, “Stop here!”

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: Only Christ can corral the swelling sea! (Matthew 8:23-27; Mark 4:37-41)

 

Job 38:12-15

 

BIBLE TEXT: "Have you ever commanded the morning to appear and caused the dawn to rise in the east? Have you made daylight spread to the ends of the earth, to bring an end to the night’s wickedness? As the light approaches, the earth takes shape like clay pressed beneath a seal; it is robed in brilliant colors. The light disturbs the wicked and stops the arm that is raised in violence." (Job 38:12-15 NLT)

 

BIBLE TWEET: It is God who commands the dawn and commences the day, in order to cease the dastardly deeds done in the darkness of night.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: It is heavenly “Sonlight” that dispels the dark deeds of an earthly midnight.

 

NEW LIVING TRANSLATION

 

Job 38:16-18

 

BIBLE TEXT: "Hast thou entered into the springs of the sea? or hast thou walked in the search of the depth? Have the gates of death been opened unto thee? or hast thou seen the doors of the shadow of death? Hast thou perceived the breadth of the earth? declare if thou knowest it all." (Job 38:16-18 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: The extent of God’s sovereignty encompasses the depths of the sea, the gates of death, and the ends of the earth.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: There is no reality not under the realm of God’s regality!

 

Job 38:19-21

 

BIBLE TEXT: "Where is the road to the home of light? Do you know where darkness lives, so you can lead it back to its border? Are you familiar with the paths to its home? Don’t you know? You were already born; you have lived so long!" (Job 38:19-21 HCSB)

 

BIBLE TWEET: It is God alone who points out the path to light and prohibits darkness from overstepping its parameters.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: Thinking yourself a know-it-all because of your longevity, just proves your stupidity.

 

HOLMAN CHRISTIAN STANDARD BIBLE

 

Job 38:22-23

 

BIBLE TEXT: "Hast thou entered into the treasures of the snow? or hast thou seen the treasures of the hail, Which I have reserved against the time of trouble, against the day of battle and war?" (Job 38:22-23 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: It is God who storehouses the snow and hail until the divinely appointed times for them to providentially pelt the earth.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: Snowstorms and hailstorms are providential, not coincidental.

 

Job 38:24

 

BIBLE TEXT: "By what way is the light parted, which scattereth the east wind upon the earth?" (Job 38:24 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: God disperses the light where He wants it and demands the wind to blow where He will.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: Both the glaring sun and the gusting wind are under the control of God.

 

Job 38:25-30

 

BIBLE TEXT: "Who hath divided a watercourse for the overflowing of waters, or a way for the lightning of thunder; To cause it to rain on the earth, where no man is; on the wilderness, wherein there is no man; To satisfy the desolate and waste ground; and to cause the bud of the tender herb to spring forth? Hath the rain a father? or who hath begotten the drops of dew? Out of whose womb came the ice? and the hoary frost of heaven, who hath gendered it? The waters are hid as with a stone, and the face of the deep is frozen." (Job 38:25-30 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: It is God who determines if the land is to be made fruitful by rain and dew or flooded and frozen by cloudbursts and frost.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: The hardworking farmer is dependent on the Heavenly Father for a fruitful harvest.

 

Job 38:31-33

 

BIBLE TEXT: "Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades, or loose the bands of Orion? Canst thou bring forth Mazzaroth in his season? or canst thou guide Arcturus with his sons? Knowest thou the ordinances of heaven? canst thou set the dominion thereof in the earth?" (Job 38:31-33 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: It is God who commands the stars, binding them with cords into clusters and coordinating the constellations of heaven with the seasons of the earth.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: Christians should plan their lives by the Word of the Almighty, who reigns over the stars, not by the words of astrologers, who claim to read the stars.

 

Job 38:34-35

 

BIBLE TEXT: "Canst thou lift up thy voice to the clouds, that abundance of waters may cover thee? Canst thou send lightnings, that they may go and say unto thee, Here we are?" (Job 38:34-35 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: It is God who commands the clouds to rain and the lightning to strike.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: Contrary to popular opinion, there is someone who really can; in fact, who really does, control the weather.

 

Job 38:36

 

BIBLE TEXT: "Who hath put wisdom in the inward parts? or who hath given understanding to the heart?" (Job 38:36 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: It is God who gives intelligence to man’s mind and insight to man’s heart. It is up to man, however, whether or not he implements it and is instructed by it.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: When we’re through learning, we’re through.

 

Job 38:37-38

 

BIBLE TEXT: "Who can number the clouds in wisdom? or who can stay the bottles of heaven, When the dust groweth into hardness, and the clods cleave fast together?" (Job 38:37-38 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: God tallies the clouds and tilts them to pour water upon a parched earth.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: Although people see many things looking at clouds, the one thing we should all see is God.

 

Job 38:39-41

 

BIBLE TEXT: "Wilt thou hunt the prey for the lion? or fill the appetite of the young lions, When they couch in their dens, and abide in the covert to lie in wait? Who provideth for the raven his food? when his young ones cry unto God, they wander for lack of meat." (Job 38:39-41 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: It is God who provides prey for the lion and rations for the raven.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: Both the prowling lion and the scavenging raven are provided for by Divine Providence.

 

Job 39:1-4

 

BIBLE TEXT: "Do you know when mountain goats give birth? Have you watched the deer in labor? Can you count the months they are pregnant so you can know the time they give birth? They crouch down to give birth to their young; they deliver their newborn. Their offspring are healthy and grow up in the open field.They leave and do not return." (Job 39:1-4 HCSB)

 

BIBLE TWEET: It is God who watches over the expectant doe and the birth and growth of her fawn.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: All things bright and beautiful, All creatures great and small, All things wise and wonderful, The Lord God made them all. (Cecil Frances Alexander)

 

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Job 39:5-8

 

BIBLE TEXT: "Who set the wild donkey free? Who released the swift donkey from its harness? I made the wilderness its home, and the salty wasteland its dwelling. It scoffs at the noise of the village and never hears the shouts of a driver. It roams the mountains for its pastureland, searching for anything green." (Job 39:5-8 HCSB)

 

BIBLE TWEET: It is God who grants the wild donkey the freedom of wide open spaces.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: All things bright and beautiful, All creatures great and small, All things wise and wonderful, The Lord God made them all. (Cecil Frances Alexander)

 

HOLMAN CHRISTIAN STANDARD BIBLE

 

Job 39:9-12

 

BIBLE TEXT: "Would the wild ox be willing to serve you? Would it spend the night by your feeding trough? Can you hold the wild ox to a furrow by its harness. Will it plow the valleys behind you? Can you depend on it because its strength is great? Would you leave it to do your hard work? Can you trust the wild ox to harvest your grain and bring it to your threshing floor?" (Job 39:9-12 HCSB)

 

BIBLE TWEET: It is God alone who can harness the strength of fierce and untamed beasts in order to employ them in His service.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: All things bright and beautiful, All creatures great and small, All things wise and wonderful, The Lord God made them all. (Cecil Frances Alexander)

 

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Job 39:13-18

 

BIBLE TEXT: "The wings of the ostrich flap joyfully, but are her feathers and plumage like the stork’s? She abandons her eggs on the ground and lets them be warmed in the sand. She forgets that a foot may crush them or that some wild animal may trample them. She treats her young harshly, as if they were not her own, with no fear that her labor may have been in vain. For God has deprived her of wisdom; He has not endowed her with understanding. When she proudly spreads her wings, she laughs at the horse and its rider." (Job 39:13-18 HCSB)

 

BIBLE TWEET: It is God who makes the ostrich both slow-witted and swift-footed.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: All things bright and beautiful, All creatures great and small, All things wise and wonderful, The Lord God made them all. (Cecil Frances Alexander)

 

HOLMAN CHRISTIAN STANDARD BIBLE

 

Job 39:19-25

 

BIBLE TEXT: "Do you give strength to the horse? Do you adorn his neck with a mane? Do you make him leap like a locust? His proud snorting fills one with terror. He paws in the valley and rejoices in his strength; He charges into battle. He laughs at fear, since he is afraid of nothing; he does not run from the sword. A quiver rattles at his side, along with a flashing spear and a lance. He charges ahead with trembling rage; he cannot stand still at the trumpet’s sound. When the trumpet blasts, he snorts defiantly. He smells the battle from a distance; he hears the officers’ shouts and the battle cry." (Job 39:19-25 HCSB)

 

BIBLE TWEET: It is God who crowns the mighty horse’s neck with a flowing mane and charges the soldier’s fearless steed furiously into battle.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: All things bright and beautiful, All creatures great and small, All things wise and wonderful, The Lord God made them all. (Cecil Frances Alexander)

 

HOLMAN CHRISTIAN STANDARD BIBLE

 

Job 39:26

 

BIBLE TEXT: "Does the hawk take flight by your understanding and spread its wings to the south?" (Job 39:26 HCSB)

 

BIBLE TWEET: It is God who endows the spread wings of the swift flying hawk with exceptional speed.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: All things bright and beautiful, All creatures great and small, All things wise and wonderful, The Lord God made them all. (Cecil Frances Alexander)

 

HOLMAN CHRISTIAN STANDARD BIBLE

 

Job 39:27-30

 

BIBLE TEXT: "Does the eagle soar at your command and make its nest on high? It lives on a cliff where it spends the night; its stronghold is on a rocky crag. From there it searches for prey; its eyes penetrate the distance. Its brood gulps down blood, and where the slain are, it is there." (Job 39:27-30 HCSB)

 

BIBLE TWEET: It is God who enables the eagle to soar to a perch on the highest crags from where he peers down on all his prey.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: All things bright and beautiful, All creatures great and small, All things wise and wonderful, The Lord God made them all. (Cecil Frances Alexander)

 

HOLMAN CHRISTIAN STANDARD BIBLE

 

Job 40:1-4

 

BIBLE TEXT: "Moreover the Lord answered Job, and said, Shall he that contendeth with the Almighty instruct him? he that reproveth God, let him answer it. Then Job answered the Lord, and said, Behold, I am vile; what shall I answer thee? I will lay mine hand upon my mouth." (Job 40:1-4 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: All who contend with God will be silenced when they encounter God and are called to account by God.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: In the presence of God, all who’ve crowed about their own virtue and shook their fists in the face of the Holy One will confess they’re vile and put their hands over their hushed mouths.

 

Job 40:5

 

BIBLE TEXT: "Once have I spoken; but I will not answer: yea, twice; but I will proceed no further." (Job 40:5 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: To speak a single word of complaint against the Almighty is to say too much.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: To speak imprudently about divinity is to regret it inevitably.

 

Job 40:6-7

 

BIBLE TEXT: "Then answered the Lord unto Job out of the whirlwind, and said, Gird up thy loins now like a man: I will demand of thee, and declare thou unto me." (Job 40:6-7 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: Man up for a whirlwind encounter with omnipotence if you dare in your ignorant arrogance to arraign the Almighty over imagined injustices.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: Human wind bags end up answering to a divine whirlwind, for God does not answer to any of us, but all of us answer to God.

 

Job 40:8

 

BIBLE TEXT: "Wilt thou also disannul my judgment? wilt thou condemn me, that thou mayest be righteous?" (Job 40:8 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: It is the height of folly for unjust men to attempt to justify themselves by challenging the justice of a just God.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: Our judgment by the Judge of all the earth can be neither appealed nor annulled. (Genesis 18:25)

 

Job 40:9

 

BIBLE TEXT: "Hast thou an arm like God? or canst thou thunder with a voice like him?" (Job 40:9 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: It is the height of folly for the arm of flesh to arm wrestle with the strong arm of the Lord.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: It is the height of folly for mealy-mouthed men to get in a shouting match with the thunderous voice of God.

 

Job 40:10

 

BIBLE TEXT: "Deck thyself now with majesty and excellency; and array thyself with glory and beauty." (Job 40:10 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: It is the height of folly to strut before the glorious splendor of your Divine Sovereign in the filthy rags of your own self-righteousness.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: No one struts sanctimoniousness into God’s presence. You’ll come humbly, not haughtily, or be halted from coming at all.

 

Job 40:11-13

 

BIBLE TEXT: "Unleash your raging anger; look on every proud person and humiliate him. Look on every proud person and humble him; trample the wicked where they stand. Hide them together in the dust; imprison them in the grave." (Job 40:11-13 HCSB)

 

BIBLE TWEET: It is the height of folly for human arrogance to attempt to arraign the Almighty who is infuriated by the proud, inters them in the dust, and imprisons them in the grave.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: Those with their noses in the air will end up with them rubbed in the dirt by the Most High who they’ve high-hatted.

 

HOLMAN CHRISTIAN STANDARD BIBLE

 

Job 40:14

 

BIBLE TEXT: "Then will I also confess unto thee that thine own right hand can save thee." (Job 40:14 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: It is the height of folly for men to contend with God, who is their only Savior, over their insistence upon salvation at their own hand.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: To slap away the nail-scarred hand, which alone can save us, in order to take our salvation into our own hands, is to make our salvation unattainable and our soul unsavable.

 

Job 40:15-41:34

 

BIBLE TEXT: "Behold now behemoth, which I made with thee; he eateth grass as an ox. Lo now, his strength is in his loins, and his force is in the navel of his belly. He moveth his tail like a cedar: the sinews of his stones are wrapped together. His bones are as strong pieces of brass; his bones are like bars of iron. He is the chief of the ways of God: he that made him can make his sword to approach unto him. Surely the mountains bring him forth food, where all the beasts of the field play. He lieth under the shady trees, in the covert of the reed, and fens. The shady trees cover him with their shadow; the willows of the brook compass him about. Behold, he drinketh up a river, and hasteth not: he trusteth that he can draw up Jordan into his mouth. He taketh it with his eyes: his nose pierceth through snares. Canst thou draw out leviathan with an hook? or his tongue with a cord which thou lettest down? Canst thou put an hook into his nose? or bore his jaw through with a thorn? Will he make many supplications unto thee? will he speak soft words unto thee? Will he make a covenant with thee? wilt thou take him for a servant for ever? Wilt thou play with him as with a bird? or wilt thou bind him for thy maidens? Shall the companions make a banquet of him? shall they part him among the merchants? Canst thou fill his skin with barbed irons? or his head with fish spears? Lay thine hand upon him, remember the battle, do no more. Behold, the hope of him is in vain: shall not one be cast down even at the sight of him? None is so fierce that dare stir him up: who then is able to stand before me? Who hath prevented me, that I should repay him? whatsoever is under the whole heaven is mine. I will not conceal his parts, nor his power, nor his comely proportion. Who can discover the face of his garment? or who can come to him with his double bridle? Who can open the doors of his face? his teeth are terrible round about. His scales are his pride, shut up together as with a close seal. One is so near to another, that no air can come between them. They are joined one to another, they stick together, that they cannot be sundered. By his neesings a light doth shine, and his eyes are like the eyelids of the morning. Out of his mouth go burning lamps, and sparks of fire leap out. Out of his nostrils goeth smoke, as out of a seething pot or caldron. His breath kindleth coals, and a flame goeth out of his mouth. In his neck remaineth strength, and sorrow is turned into joy before him. The flakes of his flesh are joined together: they are firm in themselves; they cannot be moved. His heart is as firm as a stone; yea, as hard as a piece of the nether millstone. When he raiseth up himself, the mighty are afraid: by reason of breakings they purify themselves. The sword of him that layeth at him cannot hold: the spear, the dart, nor the habergeon. He esteemeth iron as straw, and brass as rotten wood. The arrow cannot make him flee: slingstones are turned with him into stubble. Darts are counted as stubble: he laugheth at the shaking of a spear. Sharp stones are under him: he spreadeth sharp pointed things upon the mire. He maketh the deep to boil like a pot: he maketh the sea like a pot of ointment. He maketh a path to shine after him; one would think the deep to be hoary. Upon earth there is not his like, who is made without fear. He beholdeth all high things: he is a king over all the children of pride." (Job 40:15-41:34 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: Even the most formidable and fearsome of God’s creatures fear God and are fettered by His sovereignty.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: Although behemoth is commonly believed to be a hippopotamus and leviathan a crocodile, many believe they were enigmatic creatures now extinct.

 

Job 42:1-2

 

BIBLE TEXT: "Then Job replied to the Lord: I know that You can do anything and no plan of Yours can be thwarted." (Job 42:1-2 HCSB)

 

BIBLE TWEET: God can do whatever He plans and His plans cannot possibly be impeded or prevented.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: God’s plans are inevitable and man is impotent to thwart them.

 

HOLMAN CHRISTIAN STANDARD BIBLE

 

Job 42:3

 

BIBLE TEXT: "Who is he that hideth counsel without knowledge? therefore have I uttered that I understood not; things too wonderful for me, which I knew not." (Job 42:3 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: It is the height of folly for fallible humans, in their ignorance, to question an infallible God, in His omniscience.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: It is the height of hubris for know-nothing highbrows to question the all-knowing Most High.

 

Job 42:4

 

BIBLE TEXT: "Hear, I beseech thee, and I will speak: I will demand of thee, and declare thou unto me." (Job 42:4 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: God will answer to no man, but all men will answer to God.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: Ultimately, it’s not us who will question God, but God who will question us. He does not answer to us, but we answer to Him!

 

Job 42:5

 

BIBLE TEXT: "I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee." (Job 42:5 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: A lesson about God may be rewarding, but a vision of God is revolutionary. While the former may prove enlightening, the latter will prove life-changing.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: A divine encounter is far more life-changing than a theological education or a seminary diploma!

 

Job 42:5-6

 

BIBLE TEXT: "I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee. Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes." (Job 42:5-6 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: To find a subject for a book on repentance, God did not seek the worst sinner, but the best saint, for repentance is an impossibility, even for the best of men, until God is seen personally and our good-for-nothingness plainly.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: No man who is too big for his britches and who thinks too highly of himself will ever bow his head to the Most High in either repentance or reverence.

 

Job 42:7-9

 

BIBLE TEXT: "And it was so, that after the Lord had spoken these words unto Job, the Lord said to Eliphaz the Temanite, My wrath is kindled against thee, and against thy two friends: for ye have not spoken of me the thing that is right, as my servant Job hath. Therefore take unto you now seven bullocks and seven rams, and go to my servant Job, and offer up for yourselves a burnt offering; and my servant Job shall pray for you: for him will I accept: lest I deal with you after your folly, in that ye have not spoken of me the thing which is right, like my servant Job. So Eliphaz the Temanite and Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite went, and did according as the Lord commanded them: the Lord also accepted Job." (Job 42:7-9 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: To put your mistaken words in God’s mouth, even if you have the best of intentions, is a serious offense to God, which requires a divine pardon, which may be contingent upon the prayers of those you’ve misinformed.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: Revising and editing God’s Word is no less an offense to God than rejecting and eschewing His Word. In fact, the divinely inspired Word of God, the Bible, concludes with a warning against altering it in anyway, by adding anything to it or by taking anything from it. (Revelation 22:18-19)

 

Job 42:10-17

 

BIBLE TEXT: "And the Lord turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends: also the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before. Then came there unto him all his brethren, and all his sisters, and all they that had been of his acquaintance before, and did eat bread with him in his house: and they bemoaned him, and comforted him over all the evil that the Lord had brought upon him: every man also gave him a piece of money, and every one an earring of gold. So the Lord blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning: for he had fourteen thousand sheep, and six thousand camels, and a thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand she asses. He had also seven sons and three daughters. And he called the name of the first, Jemima; and the name of the second, Kezia; and the name of the third, Kerenhappuch. And in all the land were no women found so fair as the daughters of Job: and their father gave them inheritance among their brethren. After this lived Job an hundred and forty years, and saw his sons, and his sons' sons, even four generations. So Job died, being old and full of days." (Job 42:10-17 KJV)

 

BIBLE TWEET: The vindication of the righteous may be slow, but it is sure, and in the end, will be evident to everyone.

 

BIBLE TAKEAWAY: In the end, God’s people win, emerging from this world’s vale of tears both vindicated and triumphant!

The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever. (Isaiah 40:8)