God has a popsicle stash.

God has a popsicle stash.

Job 21

Awful, heart-wrenching things happen in this world. I’m going to tell you about two of them to start this blog. I once heard about a little, eighteen-month-old boy who was rushed to the hospital with a very high fever. He had been having some flu-like symptoms, but his parents weren’t worried until his fever spiked. After the doctors ran all their tests, they concluded that the small boy had meningococcemia, a bacterial infection which can be one of the most dramatic and rapidly fatal diseases.

God is always bringing us new light.

God is always bringing us new light.

Job 20

Are you feeling like I am about the speeches of Job’s friends? Come on, enough already. When I opened my Bible to chapter 20 today and saw that Zophar was going to launch off yet again into the same, old thing, I felt a huge yawn coming on. It’s like being on the telephone with an automated answering service—no matter what number you press, you get the same recording: Thank you for holding. One of our representatives will be with you shortly. It gets frustrating when there’s no way to break through the monotonous drivel and reach someone who is actually alive and breathing.

God is with us.

God is with us.

Job 19

This chapter of Job contains, perhaps, the most famous passage from the whole book. In the middle of a despairing speech, suddenly, Job utters some of the most hopeful, confidence-filled words in the Bible: "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." (vs 25-26)

God wants you to be free.

God wants you to be free.

Job 18

I don’t remember when it was that I finally worked up the courage to watch the movie Braveheart. It was a long time after it was released, and even then, I remember watching most of it through the laced fingers covering my eyes. (I have a problem with graphic violence.) But I can never forget the final moments of that film, as Mel Gibson’s character, William Wallace—bound and seconds away from death—cries with his last breath, "Freedom!"

God shoulders the burden of sin.

God shoulders the burden of sin.

Job 17

There is a very interesting verse in this chapter of Job. Look it up in several versions at home or online, and you’ll find a number of different renderings: "Give me, O God, the pledge you demand. Who else will put up security for me?"(vs 3) In other words, Job is crying out to God and saying, "You will have to set things right, God. I don’t have what it takes."

God knows what's best.

God knows what's best.

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?

God bucks tradition.

God bucks tradition.

Job 15

Have you known any Eliphazes in your life? I’ve known a few. Actually, I’ve known more than a few. And why is it that they mostly seem to flock to the church? (Sigh.) Here is Eliphaz, once again, trying to put Job in his place: "Do you think you’re the first person to have to deal with these things? Have you been around as long as the hills? Were you listening in when God planned all this? Do you think you’re the only one who knows anything? What do you know that we don’t know? What insights do you have that we’ve missed? Gray beards and white hair back us up—old folks who’ve been around a lot longer than you." (vs 7-10)

God created us for the eternal.

God created us for the eternal.

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.

God wants to kill us?

God wants to kill us?

Job 13

This chapter of Job contains one of my most favorite verses in the Bible and one of the most beautiful things Job said during the course of his ordeal: "Even if God kills me, I will still trust him." (vs 15) Wow—what a statement! Job knew God so well and trusted Him so much that he felt comfortable to place his life totally in God’s hands.

God reveals truth.

God reveals truth.

Job 12

From time to time, I visit a Christian forum online where people are discussing topics about God. Occasionally, I contribute. Most of the time, however, I simply read the ideas of others with interest. Recently, a self-proclaimed atheist has joined the group and has been asking a number of good questions about the Bible. She says this is her "last attempt" to try to understand the Bible and that she has come to the forum to find out why Christians believe what they do.

God doesn't punish sinners.

God doesn't punish sinners.

Job 11

I have a feeling that the title for this blog will pique the curiosity of more than a few. There may be some who are inclined to "tune out" right from the get-go, but... please don’t! If you disagree with what I have to say about this chapter of Job, I want to hear from you! Please leave a comment, and let’s have a discussion about this important topic.

God makes sense out of suffering.

God makes sense out of suffering.

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)

God mediates with us.

God mediates with us.

Job 9

What may be said of Job may also be said of us: There is a lot about God that we know, but there is also a lot about God that we do not know. Job demonstrated that in this chapter. He said a lot of things about God that he knew from his experience with Him—He is the Creator; He is all-powerful; He is not mortal. But, as close as Job was with God, there were still some things he didn’t know about God. And those things made him uneasy.

God deals in the ultimate.

God deals in the ultimate.

Job 8

After Job got done rebuking Eliphaz, Bildad stood up to rebuke Job. His discourse continued on in much the same vein as Eliphaz’s speech, except Bildad didn’t have the class, style, and finesse of Eliphaz. Instead of "massaging" his point of view, Bildad was ready to get down and dirty and to the point: "When your children sinned against him, he gave them over to the penalty of their sin." (vs 4) In other words, Bildad was saying, your kids got exactly what they deserved. Wow. Nice friends, Job.

God knows the whole story.

God knows the whole story.

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)

God can handle our emotions.

God can handle our emotions.

Job 6

When Job opens his mouth to reply to Eliphaz, one thing is clear: He is angry. "Anyone who withholds kindness from a friend forsakes the fear of the Almighty. But my brothers are as undependable as intermittent streams... Now you too have proved to be of no help; you see something dreadful and are afraid." (vs 14-15, 21)

God contends with our preconceptions.

God contends with our preconceptions.

Job 5

Eliphaz has a lot of nerve. I mean, I’m sure that, in his way, he was just trying to help Job. But really, with friends like this, who would need enemies? Eliphaz is the first to speak up, and he makes a number of not-so-veiled comments about Job’s situation and what he believes is going on.

God trusts His servants.

God trusts His servants.

Job 4

In this chapter, Job’s friend, Eliphaz, related something he had seen in a dream: "A word was secretly brought to me, my ears caught a whisper of it. Amid disquieting dreams in the night, when deep sleep falls on people, fear and trembling seized me and made all my bones shake. A spirit glided past my face, and the hair on my body stood on end. It stopped, but I could not tell what it was. A form stood before my eyes, and I heard a hushed voice: 'Can a mortal be more righteous than God? Can even a strong man be more pure than his Maker? If God places no trust in his servants, if he charges his angels with error, how much more those who live in houses of clay, whose foundations are in the dust, who are crushed more readily than a moth!'" (vs 12-19)

God helps us see the big picture.

God helps us see the big picture.

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)

God restrains evil.

God restrains evil.

Job 2

To me, there are two very interesting things regarding evil in the first and second chapters of Job. The first one involves how Satan perceives the spread of evil in the world: he blames God. Did you notice that? Check this out from chapter one: "'Does Job fear God for nothing?' Satan replied. 'Have you not put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has? You have blessed the work of his hands, so that his flocks and herds are spread throughout the land. But now stretch out your hand and strike everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face.'" (vs 9-11)