One Year Bible, August 26

JOB 20:1 - 22:30                                                                                                                  
ZOPHAR: "I JUST HAVE TO SAY THIS!"  The triumph of the wicked and of hypocrites is short-lived!   They cannot keep the fruit of their labors. They have no rest, and even the earth has rejected them.  The portion of the wicked is all only in this life, and yours is gone already! Job, you must be a wicked hypocrite.

JOB'S REPLY:   Although the wicked shall suffer in the end, even the wicked often prosper in this life!   Even though they are godless, it was God Who gave them all they have!  The fact is, we can't trace the ways of God.  Some people never suffer from anything!  Some are wicked and some are not.  Job is neither stubborn nor arrogant - he is honest and tenacious!  His body is sick and his mind is broken, but his faith in God is firm.

ELIPHAZ - #3:  This is a good man without malice, but it never occurs to him that a good man would suffer.  The very idea undermines his theology.   So he makes a last emotional appeal to Job to repent for his wickedness, especially his mistreatment of the poor.   Without proof, Eliphaz even lists the "crimes" he believes Job to have committed and how he has grieved the Lord.   22:21-30 are eloquent and even correct - but not about Job's situation.

RESPONSE:   Just in passing, I would like to explain 22:27-28 about "vows".   A vow here is a commitment made with God that in exchange for a specific answer to prayer, we will pay a specific offering.   For example, if God heals a broken arm, we will give $50/month above the tithe for 6 months.   Or that we will serve Him by cleaning the church for a year.  THEN....we can "decree a thing and it shall be established."  Don't isolate verse 28 and try to decree something you want, without the prayer and the vow payment!

2 CORINTHIANS 1:1-11                                                                                                 
WHAT THE BOOK IS ALL ABOUT:  GRACE AND PEACE:  Grace is the sum of all God gives us as believers: forgiveness, joy, wisdom, power, etc.   Peace is the result of having God's grace.   It is a heart that is resting, confident in God's provision.   This is a good greeting, because this letter tells us ALL ABOUT the God of all Comfort and Victory in the Midst of our Difficulties.  Paul uses himself as the example for all of us, of a man delivered (rescued) and given the ministry of reconciliation.

THE SECRET OF INNER PEACE: "GOD OF ALL COMFORT":   Suffering for Jesus abounds, but so does His comfort.   His strength is equal to the pressure.   (1) Suffering is an opportunity to experience the strengthening of God. (2) My example of patient endurance under pressure brings encouragement and comfort to someone else.  (3) Suffering breaks the stubborn spirit of self-will and independence in us, and forces us to rely on God.  (4) Suffering shows us that we are not individuals living all alone in life, but are members of a Body, and we need each other.

HAS DELIVERED, DOES DELIVER, WILL YET DELIVER:  (1:10) This is rescue in three dimensions: spirit and soul and body (1 Thess 5:23) One-time event: saved spirit (raised it from the dead!). Ongoing work: saved soul, sanctification. And future event: saved immortal body!

RESPONSE:   Paul said in Phil 3:8 that he had lost everything for the sake of the Gospel, and in Hebrews, those Christians had been "spoiled" of their goods (Heb 10:34).  We read of the suffering of Christians in other countries, and it's hard to relate to it in the US.   We have so much.   But loss of goods isn't the only way that Christians can suffer for Jesus.   Ridicule and exclusion is another way we suffer.   Sometimes it is the death of a loved one, rejection by a family member or friend, danger comng close to home, unfair treatment of any kind.  It is in the bottom of the pit where we learn to really cry out for God to help us.   We also learn to love the Body as people come near to guide us along.

I was actually dying of disease about 30 years ago and a church friend named "June" came and prayed every day at the hospital. I called her any time I was conscious enough and wept because I wanted to live, and she would reassure me of what God said, and instruct my heart to trust God. I depended on her to carry me and keep me on the right path because I was too sick and too weak to fight for myself. It was a great illustration of "Body-life" in Jesus. BUT, I also learned about the strengthening of God in my body and in my mind during those days. What I did not realize was that, in the church, there were people who were watching to see what happened to me! It encouraged their faith to see me return to health. I think the biggest thing I learned was that I need to depend on God for everything. I had no control over my life, my family, my home, or anything else. I had to trust God and trust the Body of Christ. Stubbornness and self-will would have destroyed me at a time like that.

PSALM 40:11-17                                                                                                                
"For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us."  (Rom 8:18) This kind of suffering is a "painful experience".   It could be emotional, physical, inner turmoil, loss, betrayal, anything.  God wants us to know Him in the context of daily life, whatever it may be.  The times of suffering force us to call out to God, depending on Him for deliverance - and for endurance.  When we are surrounded by evil, God's "loving-kindness and Truth" preserve us. God's "loving-kindness" in the original language is actually from the word for "womb" and it is the action of the mother's womb on the fetus to cherish, nourish and protect it.  And God's "Truth" in the original language is the word "Amen".   It refers to constancy, faithfulness, unchangeableness, sincerity as opposed to hypocrisy.   We are preserved in time of trouble because God never changes and He has compassion and pity on us.

PROVERBS 22:2-4                                                                                                              
You've heard it before: the ground is level at the foot of the Cross, but somehow God made some rich and some poor - were all men created "equal" after all?

A "prudent man" - a cautious and careful one, sees evil for what it is and knows enough to run from it (or hide). The "simple" - easily led, just keep going right into it, believing the flattery and not believing the warnings, and so they have to take their punishment.

A broken self-will puts us in line for riches, honor and Life with a "capital-L".

RESPONSE: I've had jobs where I felt surrounded by evil. Dishonesty, lying, dirty stories, after-work drinking and debauchery, snickering behind people's backs - it was all there, and I felt "excluded" and singled out for ridicule.  I've also been through terrible heartache, to where I thought my heart would explode right out of my chest.  I couldn't talk to anyone because of the circumstances at the time.  All I had was Jesus, and I didn't know much about how to stay connected with Him until I could stand the pain.  When I was tempted to ask God where He was, why didn't He help me, wasn't there anything He could do? - - - my husband would answer like Peter and say, "Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life." (John 6:68) God had me cornered, and I was forced to learn about drawing Life from Him alone.  Our goal is not to "survive" our troubles, but to be CHANGED by them.