The debate continues between Job and his three friends Zophar, and Eliphaz as to why Job has experience such tragedies in his life

Job 16

Job's affliction was great. He bagan lamenting . He told his friends that he wouldn't behave like them if they were in his shoe. Job's friends were insinuating that he has sinned that was why he was facing the predicament.

Job expressed his sadness and grief about how God has made a war with him .

Meanwhile , Job still keep his hope in God. 'My face is red with weeping, dark shadows ring my eyes; yet my hands have been free of violence and my prayer is pure. “Earth, do not cover my blood; may my cry never be laid to rest! Even now my witness is in heaven; my advocate is on high. My intercessor is my friend as my eyes pour out tears to God; on behalf of a man he pleads with God as one pleads for a friend.'

Lessons

No matter what me might be facing we should keep our hope in God.

Job 17

Job continues to lament . He said that his spirit was broken. His strength was failing , his belief system was getting shattered .

Job was a great man of faith .we can see that in the following verse 'Nevertheless, the righteous will hold to their ways, and those with clean hands will grow stronger.

Job 17:9

Lessons

We should continue to have a strong faith in God .it doesn't matter what others might be saying concerning us

Job 18

Bildah the Shuhite one of the contemporaries of Job began to speak .

He was talking about the lot of the unrighteous. He was indirectly speaking to Job making him see reasons why he should check himself for any evil or unrighteousness. He said of the wicked man ' He has no offspring or descendants among his people, no survivor where once he lived. People of the west are appalled at his fate; those of the east are seized with horror. Surely such is the dwelling of an evil man; such is the place of one who does not know God.”

Job 18:19 - 2

Lessons.

It's 100% true that God hate evil and despise wickedness . However when we see others going through one challenge or the other we shouldn't conclude that it was because of what they have done wrong.

We should make them realise that such is for the glory of God to shine.

John 9:3

"Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him."

Job 19

Job made his reply to all Bildah had said. He reproved him of his mindset . The thought of him being an evil man is wrong. Job continued to express his sadness ,how God had ...

"He has stripped me of my honor and removed the crown from my head. He tears me down on every side till I am gone; he uproots my hope like a tree. His anger burns against me; he counts me among his enemies. His troops advance in force; they build a siege ramp against me and encamp around my tent."

However in Job's distress he acknowledged the Lord as his strength.

"I know that my redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand on the earth. And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God; I myself will see him with my own eyes—I, and not another. How my heart yearns within me! "

Job 19:25 - 27 NIV

These chapters showcase, the ongoing dialogue between Job and his friends, highlighting Job‘s frustration with their lack of understanding, and their attempts to attribute his suffering to personal sin. Job maintains his innocence and continues to express his faith in God, even as he wrestles with the hardships he endures.

Chapter 8

Bildad tells Job that he should consider the wisdom of past generations. Papyrus can't grow without a marsh, and reeds can't grow without water—otherwise, they will wither. It's the same with the lives of those who forget God—their hope fails, and their confidence is like a spiderweb.

Lesson

Give good advice from their heart. But unless that heart has been affected by God's revelation, they can speak from it all they want – but it's not going to be very helpful for God's people – especially when we suffer.

Chapter 9

Job continues to maintain that he is innocent, but he doesn't think this would make a difference to God; God destroys the innocent and guilty alike. Though Job continues to maintain his innocence, he despairs of ever getting through to God to state his case.

Lesson

Job was explaining that he would pray and ask God to help him, but he would not argue with God. Even a perfect righteous man, as far as a man can be, would not have the right to argue with God. God's will and His way are perfect and they are unchangeable.

Chapter 10

Job asks God to leave him alone, so that he can find a little comfort before he goes into the grave forever. Here Job's complaint fastens onto the idea that it's unjust for God, the creator, to create him if all he's going to do is destroy Job.

Lesson

When God afflicts us, he contends with us; when he contends with us, there is always a reason; and it is desirable to know the reason, that we may repent of and forsake the sin for which God has a controversy with us.

Chapter 11

God is Aware of Wicked Men

But back in our text, Zophar continues and asserts that God is well-aware of wicked men in verse 11. 11 For he knoweth [vain/false/deceitful] men: he seeth wickedness also; will he not then consider it? So, the existence of wicked men is no secret or surprise to God.24

lesson

Zophar tells Job that if he directs his heart the right way, he will reach out to God and abandon wickedness. Then he'll be blameless and have nothing to fear. Misery will be just a memory. It's the wicked who have no hope of escape and want to die of misery.

These chapters highlight the ongoing debate between Joe and his friends, regarding the cause of suffering and the role of God in human affairs Job’s friends adhere to the belief. That suffering is a consequence of sin. Where is Job asserts his innocence and questions the fairness of his plight. The dialogue set the stage for further exploration of these profound, theological and philosophical themes, in the subsequent chapters of the book of Job.

Bible Summary Job Chapter 1- 3

Job Chapter 1: The Book of Job begins by introducing its central character The first look at Job shows him to be an exceedingly righteous man. Job was a man of impressive wealth and status. By any measure, Job was a prominent and affluent man. It was God who brought up Job as a subject for discussion, and God brought up Job in the sense of bragging about Job’s godliness and character. God was so impressed with Job, that Job was not sinlessly perfect; yet God called him blameless. “It means that no matter how horrible his offenses may have been, all the charges against him have been dropped.

Satan believed that adversity could make Job move from his standing in faith and that Job would be unable to stand against the wiles and the deceptions of the devil, In response to Satan’s accusation, God gave him permission to attack Job.

Job mourned his tremendous losses. He had lost his sons and daughters and servants and a great amount of material wealth. It was a time for mourning. In the midst of his mourning, Job also decided to worship God despite his circumstances and feelings. We might say that this was indeed pure worship and greatly glorifying to God. In this Satan was utterly disappointed; he found a man who loved his God more than his earthly portion… He had been so often successful in this kind of temptation, that he made no doubt that he should succeed again.”

Job Chapter 2: Surely as Job still retained his integrity, so did Satan his vanity This shows that both God and Satan understood that the attack could only come to Job because God allowed it. Although God did not actively send the Sabeans, the Chaldeans, the fire, or the wind; they could only come by His permission. Satan here asserted that Job failed to curse God only because he was afraid that if he did, it would bring personal punishment from God. Satan argued that the problem with the prior attacks was that none of the previous attacks touched Job directly, but only things next to or outside of Job. Satan insisted that if the attack were made against Job directly – if some calamity came upon Job’s body – then Job would certainly curse God. Job's wife came and told him to curse God and die but Job rebuke her because he had faith in God

Job Chapter 3: This chapter begins the battle in Job’s mind and soul. He will not lose more or suffer more than he already has. Satan was confident that he could push Job to curse God (Job 1:11 and 2:5). As Job spoke in his deep distress, he cursed the day of his birth – but he did not even come close to cursing God. Job cursed the day of his birth. Yet if that were not enough, he goes even further back and curses the night of his conception. Job’s complaint is that it would be better if he were never born than to endure his present catastrophe of affliction. Job continued his complaint from his place of misery. Job was among those who long for death, but it does not come. Yet he did not commit or seem to seriously consider suicide. Again, this was the outpouring of an honest, agonizing soul.

Zephaniah 1-3

Ch. 1

Zephaniah prophecies that God will destroy the people of Judah and Jerusalem if they don’t repent for there sins. They had sinned and God was bringing destruction upon them. God later encourages Judah and the people them to seek righteousness.

Zephaniah means God has hidden.

Summary: How we go thru life with very little thought of God . We live like God doesn’t matter.

Ch. 2

Judgement was against The Philistines, Moabites, Ammonites, Cushites and Assyria. They needed to repent for there sins and make peace with God. To prevent judgement before it was to late. Frighten them out of there sin.

Summary: We need to repent for our sins. Humble ourselves before God. Fast, pray and seek His face.

Ch. 3

How satan disguises himself in filthy garments. Jerusalem still has not repented. God will restore the people that will call on the Lord. Sing praises unto God.

Summary: How satan comes to kill and destroy Gods people. We must repent for our sins knowingly and unknown. God can restore us from our iniquities. Praise him .

Habakkuk 1-3

Chp 1-2

 

Begins with Habakkuk asking God questions about the evil, violence and injustice that was taking place in Judah and wondering how long would He allow it to continue. God response by saying He would do something so amazing that he would not believe even if you were told (1:5) that He was raising up Babylon to seize dwellings that were not their own.

 Habakkuk continues to address God a second time and in Chp 2 God response and instructs him to write down the revelation that was being revealed to him and that it was for an appointed time. Although a period of time would occur before its fulfillment, all were to know that it would occur at God’s “appointed time” that Babylon would fall.

Chp 3 Habakkuk praises God in prayer.

Nahum 1

Nahum Chapter 1 chronicles a vision about Nineveh that the prophet Nahum received from God and relayed to the people.

God began His message in Nahum Chapter 1 by stating He is a jealous and angry God. He said He would take vengeance against those whom He deemed were His enemies. He will not allow the guilty to go unpunished.

Nahum Chapter 1 goes on to say that the Lord is also good and merciful. He proves this by the way He seeks to help those who need His assistance in times of trouble.

Finally God said that although the plotters had numerous allies, they would all be destroyed. God noted that He may have afflicted Judah in the past, but He would do so no more. He said He would free Judah from its shackles.

Lessons.

Our God is a righteous judge. He will definitely fight our battles when we depend solely on Him.

Nahum 2

The chapter is about the fall of Nineveh. It was a poetic overview of how things went down in the city.

It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God when He is unleashing the power of His wrath. Those who imagine themselves to be untouchable are the very ones whom God will bring crashing down. There is no strength or defense that can stand up against the Almighty. Nineveh was fortunate enough to receive the opportunity to repent under the preaching of Jonah; but here we see nothing but decreed devastation. There comes a time when God’s patience has been exhausted. But likewise the Lord encourages His people that He will restore the afflicted to splendor in His good time.

All this was fulfilled when Nebuchadnezzar, in the first year of his reign, in conjunction with Cyaxares, or Ahasuerus, king of the Medes, conquered Nineveh, and made himself master of the Assyrian monarchy.

Nahum 3

The LORD used the Assyrian empire and its capital city, Nineveh, to carry out His judgment on the northern kingdom of Israel, which it conquered and exiled in 722 BC, “the king of Assyria captured Samaria and carried Israel away into exile to Assyria”

Therefore, the LORD would judge Nineveh, causing her to lose her power and disappear from the scene. The LORD’s action against Nineveh would demonstrate that He alone has complete control over the world He created. God, not Nineveh, is all-powerful. God is about to completely disgrace the proud and arrogant world power.

Assyria’s intent was evil. And now the LORD was about to judge Nineveh for her wicked deeds. So He used Nahum to pronounce an oracle of judgment against the city. God used Jonah to pronounce destruction upon Nineveh roughly a hundred years earlier, and Nineveh had repented. Now Nahum’s pronouncement of destruction upon Nineveh marks its end. Nineveh fell in 612 BC to the Babylonians in alliance with the Medes

Micah chapters 5–7 contains prophecies about the birth of the Messiah. God call for justice and righteousness from his people and Micahs lament over the moral decay in society. It emphasizes the importance of obedience, trusting in God and the hope of restoration and salvation.