Isaiah 43
This chapter begins with one of my all-time favorite passages in the Bible: “But now, this is what the Lord says—he who created you, Jacob, he who formed you, Israel: ‘Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze.’” (vs 1-2)
Isaiah 38
I often tell my husband that nothing makes me happier than to hear those three little words from him: You were right. Such simple things can make a girl’s day! (ha ha) And I must admit that this was on my mind as I read today’s chapter from Isaiah. I imagine there are a lot of words we can say that would make God happy, and I think some of them were in this chapter.
Ecclesiastes 3
This chapter begins with one of my favorite poems—the “time” poem, that there is “a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens.” (vs 1) At the beginning of this chapter, it seems Solomon has briefly turned his gaze from things “under the sun” to a perspective of things “under the heavens.” And I believe he comes to some very beautiful conclusions:
Proverbs 19
One of the proverbs in today’s chapter was very encouraging to me—very encouraging because I care about doing the Lord’s will in my life, but sometimes I question whether I really understand what His will is. That’s why I liked this verse: “Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the LORD’s purpose that prevails.” (vs 21)
Psalm 48
In your life, can you identify the things that are permanent and the things that are perishable? Can you distinguish between the two? If not, you may be in for a rough ride. When we start treating perishable things as if they’re permanent, it becomes very difficult to part with them when a crisis arises. But the author of this psalm gives us a clue as to what is permanent: “For this God is our God for ever and ever; he will be our guide even to the end.” (vs 14)
Psalm 31
In this world of (what seems like) never-ending suffering, many of us are looking for a way out of it. We want freedom from suffering. Well, I hate to tell you this, but there is no freedom from suffering—not even for God. We followed Satan into sin, and it has messed up the universe. That’s the reality. But don’t stop reading just yet. There may not be freedom from suffering, but there is freedom in suffering.
Psalm 30
I like how this psalm ends: “You turned my wailing into dancing; you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy, that my heart may sing your praises and not be silent. Lord my God, I will praise you forever.” (vs 11-12) There are times in this world when promises like this seem almost impossible… but so necessary to cling to for hope’s sake.
Job 42
After having gone through the book of Job, chapter by chapter, with a fine-tooth comb, I find that I love this final chapter now more than ever before. I used to love it for the fact that God exonerated Job and put Job’s friends in their place when He said, “I am angry with you and your two friends, because you have not spoken the truth about me, as my servant Job has” (vs 7), but I see so much more in this chapter now than I did previously. I guess that’s because God is always wanting to show us more! And that’s the picture of Him I saw here.
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.
Job 40
I am sometimes asked why I don’t quote from the King James Version (KJV) of the Bible in this blog, as there are many Christians who believe that the KJV is the only “pure” translation of the Scriptures. I certainly have nothing against the KJV—in fact, many of the beloved memory verses I learned as a child were from that translation—and I’m glad it’s still around for those who love to read the old English. However, I subscribe to my father’s school of thought regarding Bible versions: The “best” one to read is the one you will actually read.
Job 27
This chapter almost seemed a little out of character for Job, didn’t it? Every speech his friends have made has included some awful description of what will befall the wicked—in order to convince Job that he is wicked. Job has been protesting his innocence from the beginning and even making some arguments that, in his experience, tragedy does not befall the wicked quite as often as his friends would imagine. And then, he seems to reverse his position in this chapter.
Job 16
Eliphaz and his friends accused Job of attacking God. Job claimed it was the other way around: "I was living in comfort, but He has taken that away. He has taken hold of me by the neck and shaken me to pieces." (vs 12) Commentators are divided (on this verse and the surrounding ones) as to whether the "he" is referring to God or Satan. Regardless, we’re going to proceed as if Job was talking about God. Have you ever felt like life was going along smoothly, and all of a sudden, God stepped in and messed it up?
Job 14
From this chapter comes a famous Bible passage which has been the subject of much music, mostly choral works: "How frail is humanity! How short is life, how full of trouble! We blossom like a flower and then wither. Like a passing shadow, we quickly disappear." (vs 1-2) One in particular I remember from my college choir days, John Rutter’s Agnus Dei, included a repeated musical motif in the middle: In the midst of life, we are in death.
Job 10
Here is the passage from today’s chapter that I want to focus on in this blog: "Why then did you bring me out of the womb? I wish I had died before any eye saw me. If only I had never come into being, or had been carried straight from the womb to the grave! Are not my few days almost over? Turn away from me so I can have a moment’s joy before I go to the place of no return, to the land of gloom and utter darkness, to the land of deepest night, of utter darkness and disorder, where even the light is like darkness." (vs 18-22)
Job 7
As Job continued his response to Eliphaz’s speech, he once again addressed God directly: "I will not keep silent; I will speak out in the anguish of my spirit, I will complain in the bitterness of my soul. Am I the sea, or the monster of the deep, that you put me under guard? When I think my bed will comfort me and my couch will ease my complaint, even then you frighten me with dreams and terrify me with visions, so that I prefer strangling and death, rather than this body of mine. I despise my life; I would not live forever. Let me alone; my days have no meaning." (vs 11-16)
Job 3
At the beginning of this chapter, Job wished for something that many people have wished for at some point: that he had never been born. "May the day of my birth perish, and the night that said, 'A boy is conceived!' That day—may it turn to darkness; may God above not care about it; may no light shine on it." (vs 3-4)
