August 24, 2023
“Can the dead live again? If so, this would give me hope through all my years of struggle” (Job 14:14 NLT). The grief-stricken Job asked, “Is there life after death?” Or more specifically, “Is there a resurrection of the dead?” Those facing the grief of death have joined Job throughout the centuries asking the same
August 23, 2023
“If only there were a mediator between us, someone who could bring us together” (Job 9:33 NLT). Job viewed God as so great and transcendent as to be unapproachable by man. For God worked in the realm of the heavens and the stormy seas, while man was limited to dry ground. He reasoned that if
August 22, 2023
“One should be kind to a fainting friend, but you accuse me without any fear of the Almighty” (Job 6:14 NLT). Job’s friends came to share his grief, but ended up adding to his despair. They came to sit with Job after a series of terrible events had occurred. A hurricane had collapsed his oldest
August 21, 2023
“I came naked from my mother’s womb, and I will be naked when I leave. The Lord gave me what I had, and the Lord has taken it away. Praise the name of the Lord!” (Job 1:21 NLT). Job worshiped the Lord both in happiness and in the midst of suffering. He recognized that all
September 1, 2022
HOW BIG IS YOUR GOD? After God answered, Job’s final response was brief. He basically concluded, “You’re God and I’m not.” This is not fatalism, but acceptance. For even though God’s good purposes are higher and better than ours, He still hears us and responds when we cry out. God is not afraid of our
August 26, 2022
WHY DO GOOD THINGS HAPPEN TO BAD PEOPLE? Job’s friends kept challenging him to repent because their faulty assumption was that since evil had befallen Job, he must have done something to deserve it. After all, bad things had happened to Job, so he must’ve done something bad. Yet, Job continued to claim that God
August 22, 2022
WHO ARE WE THAT GOD MAKES SO MUCH OF US? Job doesn’t accuse God of being absent, but of being too present. He doesn’t blame his suffering on being forsaken by the Lord as most would do. No. He questions why God would be so interested in such weak, temporal things as man. Out of
August 28, 2021
THE GRAYNESS OF GRIEF ABSENT THE LORD The grief that covered Job like a cloud affected even his ear for music. The lyre, a stringed instrument, was often employed by David to lighten the mood of King Saul. It was an instrument used in worship and in times of celebration. Yet, to Job’s ear, the
August 27, 2021
DO YOU TREASURE GOD’S WORD? Job lived during the time of the patriarchs before the written Word was given to Moses. Yet he knew the commands and words of the Lord that had been given personally to him or passed on to him from his forefathers. He lived by them and “treasured” them more than
August 26, 2021
OFFERING COMFORT THAT TRULY COMFORTS On top of all of Job’s grief he had to suffer the “futile comfort” of his so-called friends. Job had lost his children, his wealth and even his own health, yet those who came to pay their respects had no real comfort to give him. They only offered empty clichés.