Victory in Christ

In chapter 29 Job reminisces about how great his life had been in the past.  He talks about how much good he had done with what he had been given.  Then in chapter 30 he laments how terrible his life had become.  Job’s life is just one instance of how fortunes can change quickly and turn the best to the worst.  It is also an example of the limitation of human power.  We need our Heavenly Father’s power everyday of our lives.  We need the saving power that He provides thru His Son.

Today’s reading: Job 29-31

Job suffered thru everything that the devil put on him, but he never knew why it was happening.  He did not have the privilege that we do of knowing the conversations that God had with the devil about Job.  In chapter 26 as he is responding to Bildad, Job lists several things that only God has the power to accomplish.  After he lists those things, he makes a statement about how much more there is of God that we do not see or understand.  “Behold, these are but the outskirts of his ways, and how small a whisper do we hear of him! But the thunder of his power who can understand?” (Job 26:14). What a powerful God we serve!

Today’s reading: Job 24-28

In chapter 21 we read of another response from Job.  His message is that you cannot look at outward appearances and tell if a person is living right or not.  “Why do the wicked live, reach old age, and grow mighty in power?” (Job 21:7)  Like Job we may have to endure sufferings on this earth even when we are following God’s word, but our time here is short compared to eternity.  Paul gave us some good advise when he told the Philippians that he put behind him things of the past and was reaching forward to what lies ahead.  “I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 3:14)

Today’s reading: Job 21-23

Have you ever heard it said of someone that they had “the patience of Job”?  We even read of this mentioned in the New Testament (James 5:11).  In all of the trials and suffering that Job endured, he kept his trust in God.  We are commanded to have patience daily no matter what happens in our life.  In the verses preceding the mention of Job in James chapter 5 we are told to be patient until the coming of the Lord. (James 5:7-8)  Sometimes it is not easy to be patient, but if we are waiting on our Lord we know it will be worth the wait!  “Behold, we consider those blessed who remained steadfast. You have heard of the steadfastness of Job, and you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful.” (James 5:11)

Today’s reading: Job 17-20

Job again hears from his friend Eliphaz.  From the way these “friends” talk to Job, you would never know they were his friends at all.  Job gives his honest opinion about them: “I have heard many such things; miserable comforters are you all.” (Job 16:2)  We cannot always understand other people’s situation, but we can be comforters to them just as God is a comforter to us.  “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.” (2Corinthians 1:3-4)

Today’s reading: Job 14-16

Job’s response to his friends gets pretty harsh.  He was not happy that they were accusing him of receiving these things for punishment for some wrong he had done.  The questions he asks put back on them accusation of their possible wrongdoing.  “Will it be well with you when he searches you out? Or can you deceive him, as one deceives a man?” (Job 13:9)  We all know nothing can be hidden from God, but He wants us to confess our sins to Him. (1 John 1:9)

Today’s reading: Job 10-13

In all that happened to Job, he remained humble.  He knew that none of us by ourselves could be righteous no matter how hard we try.  “Truly I know that it is so: But how can a man be in the right before God? (Job 9:2)  He also knew that unless we follow God’s commands we are hopeless in whatever we do. “God is wise in heart and mighty in strength. Who has hardened himself against Him and prospered?” (Job 9:4) 

Today’s reading: Job 6-9

Do you ever feel like things just aren’t going your way?  Maybe you receive some bad news that really gets you down?  In one day Job lost most everything he had.  Four separate messengers, one right after the other, brought him terrible news with the last one telling him that all of his children had died.  What did Job do?  In 1:22 we read “In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly.”  As we read on it becomes obvious that the people in Job’s life were not very encouraging to him.  But Job knew no matter what happened, God was in control.  How did Job’s life end?  “…the LORD blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning…” (Job 42:12).  No matter what the world around us may say, from God’s Word and passages like Romans 8:28 we can know that if we live a life in service to God, everything will work out for good in the end.

Today’s reading: Job 1-5

Noah and his wife, their sons and their wives were the only people left on the earth after the flood.  God had destroyed everything on the earth but these eight people and what was in the ark with them.  He used water to destroy everything, but left the rainbow as a reminder that He will never destroy the earth with water again.  By floating the ark, this same water is also what saved Noah and his family.  We can find a comparison to this saving power of water in 1Peter 3:20-21.  “Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.  The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ:”

Today’s reading: Genesis 8-11

At times we don’t understand all the details of God’s plan.  I would say Noah also had some unanswered questions as he was building a huge boat with no way to float it. Genesis 6:22 tells us “Noah did this; he did all that God commanded him.”  It didn’t say “Noah did the parts of God’s commands that he liked.”  It says he did ALL that God commanded him.  If we want to serve Him, we have to follow all of His commands not just the ones that we pick.

Today’s reading: Genesis 4-7