Job 41
Most people believe that Job got to the end of his life without ever understanding why he went through all that he did. They don’t believe God gave His friend any explanation for his sufferings. I disagree. I think God’s explanation to Job is contained in this chapter, and it’s stunning, considering that a general knowledge of Satan didn’t enter Israelite thinking until close to the end of the Old Testament time period.
2 SAMUEL 23
Friends, applaud. The comedy is finished. —Ludwig van Beethoven
Now I shall go to sleep. Goodnight. —Lord George Byron
Why do you weep? Did you think I was immortal? —King Louis XIV
I’m bored with it all. —Winston Churchill
I have tried so hard to do the right. —President Grover Cleveland
All my possessions for a moment of time. —Queen Elizabeth I
Oh, do not cry. Be good children, and we will all meet in heaven. —President Andrew Jackson
Either that wallpaper goes, or I do. —Oscar Wilde
These statements are all the famous last words of the person who uttered them. You might find some of them surprising. I certainly did. I thought Queen Elizabeth’s utterance was especially insightful. When you come right down to it, you can’t take anything with you. And depending on how you’ve lived and where you’re at in life, you might give everything you have for more time.
Photo © Unsplash/Randy Fath
I wonder what it's like—
that moment when you realize
the dreams you dreamed
so many years ago
are materializing
in front of you
in broad daylight.
I wonder what it's like—
the very next moment
when you realize
that you're right where
God planned for you to be
so many years before
and that everything
the dreams
the slavery
the allegations
the imprisonment
the abandonment
the lonely nights
the wondering
all of it
was part of the plan
to bring you to the time and place
where you would save the world.
That moment,
as the ten sheaves
are bowing down,
would it not
drive you to your knees?
LEVITICUS 10
There is a little mystery in this chapter of Leviticus, and I think it points out something interesting about how we read the Bible. There is a "scandal" in this chapter, but when we get so focused on the fact that Nadab and Abihu "died before the Lord," we could possibly miss something very interesting.
