Devoted to Scripture

Day 154 of the podcast, reading Job 19-21 NET, read along at:

This is day 154 of our journey.

Job starts by pleading with his counselors for comfort rather than condemnation, even if he is at fault. Job has been through a significant amount of personal trauma and deserves some grace and sympathy from others.  Unfortunately, everyone he cares about has abandoned him! Instead, Zophar continues to accuse Job of evil by stating that the prosperity of the wicked is brief, implying that since Job's prosperity was taken away from him, he must be wicked.  Job responds by refuting the premise, the wicked do NOT always suffer in this life but often die in their prosperity.  All the words of his accusers are deception.

Join me in Job 19-21 to learn how a true comforter should act!

Key verses:

Job 19:25

Job 20:4-5

Job 21:34

All Scriptures are from the NET.

Day 153 of the podcast, reading Job 15-18 NET, read along at:

This is day 153 of our journey.

Eliphaz misses the point of Job's statement and focuses only on the accusation against himself by thrusting it back on Job.  "Are you the only possessor of wisdom?" Yet Job had stated that wisdom only belongs to God.  Job responds by complaining about his comforters, but doesn't focus on them, instead he continues to place his trust in God.  True comfort and strength come from heaven.  Even though it seemed that Job had been abandoned by God and his so called friends, he remains steadfast and trusts in the Lord as his only hope.  Bildad responds by stating the same worn out argument that the wicked are punished, since Job is being punished, he must be wicked.

Join me in Job 15-18 as Job's comforters continue to miss Job's arguments.

Key verses:

Job 15:5

Job 16:19-20

Job 17:9

Job 18:21

All Scriptures are from the NET.

Day 152 of the podcast, reading Job 12-14 NET, read along at:

This is day 152 of our journey.

All three of Job's friends have now spoken and Job responds to them with sarcasm.  He makes it clear that they are NOT the only possessors of wisdom.  True wisdom and understanding belong only to God.  He calls for them to just sit quietly rather than speak folly. Job asserts that these men are arguing in defense of God upon false lines, through limited knowledge. The result is that they were unjust to Job even though they likely did not recognize it or intend it to be so.  Job then reaffirms his committment to the Lord regardless of his circumstances, but pleads for a chance to state his case before God.  He finishes his speech by emphasizing the brevity of man's life, but the hope of a second life.

Join me in Job 12-14 as Job speaks with wisdom and recognizes the power of his Lord.

Key verses:

Job 12:13

Job 13:15

Job 14:1

All Scriptures are from the NET.

Day 151 of the podcast, reading Job 9-11 NET, read along at:

This is day 151 of our journey.

Job agrees with Bildad in that if a man is just before God, he will be secure.  But, "how can a human be just before God?" If God brings a charge, can man call him to court and justify himself?  God is great, man is nothing.  He doesn't need to answer our requests for explanation.  We need an arbiter to represent us before him!  (Praise God, that he has since sent an arbiter with the name of Jesus Christ!)

Now, Zophar speaks, he accuses Job of a multitude of secret sins, and wishes that God would speak out the truth. Then Job would know that the punishment he is receiving is less than he deserves.  Then he reiterates that if a man will only turn from his iniquity, God will rescue him from discipline and establish him securely.

Join me in Job 9-11 to recognize the sovereignty of God from two different perspectives.

Key verses:

Job 9:2

Job 10:2

Job 11:14-15

All Scriptures are from the NET.

Day 150 of the podcast, reading Job 6-8 NET, read along at:

This is day 150 of our journey.

Job responds to the accusations of Eliphaz by reasserting his right standing before the Lord. He continues to cry out in his distress and beg for his life to be ended to relieve the suffering. After this, Bildad speaks. Much like the first friend, he accuses Job of hidden sins based on his belief that suffering only comes to the wicked and that the righteous are never attacked.

Join me in Job 6-8 to listen to the anguished cry of the suffering.

Key verses:

Job 6:29

Job 7:11

Job 8:6

All Scriptures are from the NET.

Day 149 of the podcast, reading Job 1-5 NET, read along at:

This is day 149 of our journey.

Job is a difficult book full of wisdom that is told largely through a dialogue between a man and his three friends.  Throughout the book, we see men grappling with the nature of God and how he interacts with his creation.  The final message of the book will be that God is sovereign and far above our thoughts and understanding.

The book begins with a dialogue between God and the adversary (Satan).  God brags about Job and the way the man faithfully follows him.  Satan accuses Job of only serving God because he has been blessed with great wealth.  In response, God allows Satan to strike Job and remove all his wealth in a single day.  God's point is proved as Job continues to bless and honor God: "The Lord gives and the Lord takes away, may the name of the Lord be blessed!"  Then Satan is allowed to strike Job with disease and suffering, but still Job clings to his integrity.

After this interaction, the rest of Job revolves around a discussion between Job and men who he thought were his friends. This starts with Job lamenting his trouble and cursing the day of his birth, wishing that he had never been born.  His friend Eliphaz speaks up in response saying that only an evil person suffers, the man who is blameless will not suffer.  He calls on Job to repent of the evil in his heart.

Join me in Job 1-5 to meet Job, a man with great wealth, great suffering, and even greater integrity.

Key verses:

Job 1:21

Job 2:3

Job 3:3

Job 4:7

Job 5:17

All Scriptures are from the NET.

Day 148 of the podcast, reading Esther 6-10 NET, read along at:

This is day 148 of our journey.

The night after the first banquet is the turning point of the story.  That night, the king is unable to sleep and has the recordings of his reign read to him.  The reader just happens to read the story of Mordecai revealing an assassination attempt without receiving honor. As the reading concludes, Haman shows up to request the execution of Mordecai, but before he can make his request, the king gives Haman the order to parade Mordecai through the city, honoring him!

Haman finishes this task in time to be taken to the banquet of Esther where Esther reveals the plot of Haman against her and all Jews.  The king executes Haman on the very gallows that Haman had built for Mordecai.  The king proceeds to promote Mordecai to Haman's position and allows Mordecai and Esther to write a decree to overturn Haman's plot.  The Jews turn a day of annihilation into a day of triumph over their enemies!

Join me in Esther 6-10 to see God working in the background to protect his people.

Key verses:

Esther 6:11

Esther 7:10

Esther 8:2

Esther 9:5

Esther 10:3

All Scriptures are from the NET.

Day 147 of the podcast, reading Esther 1-5 NET, read along at:

This is day 147 of our journey.

The book of Esther is a great story of intrigue and deliverance.  Esther is an orphan girl being raised by her cousin, but she is promoted to the queen of Persia!  Esther is also a Jew, a descendant of the tribe of Benjamin.  Her cousin, Mordecai, is well known at the gate to the palace and even exposes a plot to assassinate the king.  But later, Mordecai refuses to bow before the highly ranked official, Haman.  When Haman finds out that Mordecai is a Jew, he plots vengence against the entire Jewish race and convinces the king to pass a decree to annihilate them all.  This is met with great mourning among the Jewish people and Mordecai convinces Esther to break the law by seeking an audience with the king.  The king greets Esther when she appears and offers her anything she desires.  Esther simply requests that the king and Haman come to a banquet she has prepared.  At that banquet, she invites them back for another banquet the next day.  After the banquet, Haman heads home jubilant about his status with the king and queen and with his great wealth but, when he sees Mordecai, he becomes depressed again.  His wife and friends convince him that the time has come to petition the king to execute Mordecai.

Join me in Esther 1-5 for the first half of this story, as the stage is set for a great deliverance.

Key verses:

Esther 1:20

Esther 2:17

Esther 3:10

Esther 4:16

Esther 5:13

All Scriptures are from the NET.

Day 146 of the podcast, reading Nehemiah 11-13 NET, read along at:

This is day 146 of our journey.

The festival and dedication of the wall is concluded with the assignment of which people will settle in Jerusalem and those who will settle in the other cities.  The priests and Levites who were assigned to lead the people in worship of the Lord, had a great parade along the wall singing and rejoicing before the Lord.

After this, Nehemiah returned to the service of the king of Persia for a short time. When he returned again to Jerusalem, he found many ways in which the people were neglecting the laws of the Lord again.  He called for additional reforms and set respected leaders in charge who would continue to walk in the Lord's ways and guide the people to keep the covenent promises that they had made.

Join me in Nehemiah 11-13 for the settlement of Jerusalem.

Key verses:

Nehemiah 11:1

Nehemiah 12:43

Nehemiah 13:14

All Scriptures are from the NET.

Day 145 of the podcast, reading Nehemiah 8-10 NET, read along at:

This is day 145 of our journey.

With the wall complete, the exiles come together to celebrate a festival before the Lord.  They read the whole law in the presence of all the people and begin to implement the things that have been neglected.  They praise the Lord for his faithfulness to his people, despite the many times that they have turned away from him.  After the reading, they lay out a covenant and sign a document of committment to following the Law of the Lord fully.

Join me in Nehemiah 8-10 to celebrate the Lord's faithfulness to his people.

Key verses:

Nehemiah 8:8

Nehemiah 9:33

Nehemiah 10:29

All Scriptures are from the NET.