The Lord speaks

I don't have much to say on today's readings.  However, it was interesting to read today's chapter of Job (ch. 38).  This is the chapter where God speaks to Job. "Who is this that darkens my counsel with words without knowledge?"  Those are hefty words.  Thankfully, we can come before God and make known our requests and complaints through Jesus, and we can have the confidence that God hears us and will respond, provided we come in a humble and contrite spirit.
In this chapter, since Job so proudly argued that he had done no wrong, God had to come and set the record straight.  It's really impressive to read God's account of creation.  Here is a short selection from Job 38:

“Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation? Tell me, if you understand. Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know!  Who stretched a measuring line across it? On what were its footings set,

or who laid its cornerstone—while the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy?"

*I must also admit that I have found an error in my reading plan.  Apparently, December 15-20 and the 24th do not exist, as they were not in the plan.  So, the numbering of the plan will be off by a few days as of tomorrow because I am still going to do the readings listed, they will just be off by a few days.  At some point, I will get around to fixing the electronic copy.

Habakkuk asks why

Key verse
Job 37:23 - The Almighty is beyond our reach and exalted in power; in his justice and great righteousness, he does not oppress.

Habakkuk
Reading Habakkuk reminded me of Ecclesiastes.  There's nothing new under the sun.  Habakkuk was asking God why?  Why all this suffering and injustice?  Ever since the fall of Adam and Eve there has been suffering and injustice.  We still ask why?  We still don't understand.  All we can do is trust in his strength and request that God would renew his mercy to us every morning.

The wonder of it all

Job
I found some really neat stuff in a number of passages today.  For instance, the end of Job 26.  I love reading passages that describe the work of God in nature.

"He wraps up the waters in his clouds, yet the clouds do not burst under their weight. He covers the face of the full moon, spreading his clouds over it. . . . By his breath the skies became fair; his hand pierced the gliding serpent.  And these are but the outer fringe of his works; how faint the whisper we hear of him!  Who then can understand the thunder of his power?”

How faint the whisper we hear of God.  We can look around and see evidence of his handiwork, and we are in awe and wonder.  How much more so when we see him face to face!

Hosea/Revelation

Hosea 6:6 - "For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings."  Hosea is painting a picture of unrepentant Israel throughout his book.  This verse seems to hit at the heart of his message.  Israel is sinful, yet still trying to put on a pious face by going through the motions.  That's similar to the church of Ephesus that we read about in Revelation.  The Ephesians had done all the right stuff, but had forgotten their first love, their passion for God.

Let's not miss the point or take the letter of the law over the spirit of it.  God made us for relationship, not for rules.  Let's be relational!

You ol' dry bones

Key verse
1 John 3:1 - How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!

Job 13:15 seems to have some very different translations.  The NIV says "Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him; I will surely defend my ways to his face."  This version seems to suggest that even though God has Job suffer bad times, Job will still trust that God has something better in store, although he will ask God why.  The NIV also includes a footnote, however, that says another way to read the verse is "He will surely slay me; I have no hope - yet I will surely defend my ways to his face."  This different version suggests that even though Job has no hope because God will definitely kill (if this is the proper translation of slay) him, Job is still going to ask God why.
In some ways, these two translations are similar, but the first seems to be more trusting in God than the other.

EzekielI like this passage about the old dry bones, because it reminds me of a song I once heard.

Here are the lyrics from an Internet site.
It was down in boneyard circuit
There was no way to shirk it,
A Preacher named Ezekiel was sent
he landed at the station
and saw the situation
a valley of dry bones was his audience
by way of a suggestion
the Lord asked him a question
can these dry bones be raised up from the dead?
The spirit was beseeching
the preacher went to preaching
and from the pulpit this is what he said

Oh you old dry bones,
hear the words of the Lord
Rise upon your feet
his goodness to repeat
lay aside your dry profession
get a holy Ghost possession
you have been bleaching in the desert long enough!

The real question of Job

If you want to read more about the book of Job, check out this link (click here).  It's the Quartz Hill School of Theology's brief rundown on the book itself, as well as a short little blurb on wisdom literature in general, which we have been reading through Proverbs and Ecclesiastes (and now Job).
This website actually presents a new approach to Job.  Instead of wondering why the righteous suffer, which I have been thinking about because of this book, we should really be asking why do we fear God?  This is what Satan mentioned in Job 1:9-11.  The site puts it this way:   "The question which Job faced, and which we all must face, is a profound one: "Why do we serve God?" Is it for the good stuff we get from him, or out of fear of getting bad stuff? Or, do we do it simply because we love him? That is the real question!"
We have faith in God in the good times.  Actually, in the good times it is often easy to forget about God because life is going so great.  When the trouble hits, regardless of the reason, do we still have faith, even when we don't understand what's going on?  Do we still believe that God has a master plan?  That he is in control?  We should!

Against the gnostics

As we make our way through Job, I thought it would be interesting to insert a map of the land of Uz, which is where Job lived.

This map is from bible.cc

1 John
Some brief comments on 1 John - it was written partially to combat against early gnostic teachings, such as that Jesus didn't have a mortal, fleshly body, which meant that anything his followers did in the flesh didn't really matter.  As we will see in 4:2, John doesn't agree with these ideas (This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God...)

Light of the world

Key verse
John 8:12 - When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."

Job
In the Old Testament, it was bad taste to speak before the person suffering spoke, so Eliphaz didn't speak up until after Job had lamented his situation.  Job 4:7 sums up Eliphaz's position, that Job must be suffering for some sin.

Implicit trust

Key verse
Job 2:10 - "Shall we accept good from God and not trouble?"

I've done some background reading on the new books we're looking at in my Archaeological study bible.   Here are some things I learned, along with my own thoughts I'd like to share.

Job
I've learned something new about the book of Job.  Apparently, when it was written, the popular idea about suffering was that if you were going through bad times, it must be because you had sinned or your ancestors had sinned.  The story of Job shows that people can suffer even though they are righteous.  This new view presents a whole different picture of what God is like, and how little we can understand of him in our finite world.  Implicit trust and faith in the ultimate goodness of God is required.

How do you reconcile the problem of suffering in this world with the belief in a good God?

Ezekiel
This book was written for the exiles to Babylon.  Ezekiel was preparing them (in 593 BC) for the destruction of Jerusalem so that they wouldn't live in the false hope that the city would somehow be spared.  The city was destroyed in 586 BC.