“Wait” you may say, “What happened to day’s 108-116?” We will do those, but it was pointed out to me that there are people that are caught-up with their reading and that God has been using this blog as I a blessing but in more ways than just information, but also as an accountability tool. With me falling behind it has been easier for them to miss a day or two knowing I’m not going to be there for a while. My goal is to have people in their Bibles every day, by myself falling behind I am in a way giving folk an excuse not to read or rather the devil could use my absence as an excuse not to read…so if I can be a help in your journey or as you build this daily habit then I desire to do so. I think for me also personally it will be good to go to where I am supposed to be and on the days I have time I will fill in those 9 days I’m behind with a second blog on that day. So today we are supposed to be in Job 33 & 34 and so that is what I am going to write on now. I thank you for your understanding.

And of course right when we are trying to catch-up we are in Job 🙂

“However now, Job, please hear my speech,
And listen to all my words.
2 “Behold now, I open my mouth,
My tongue in my mouth speaks.
3 “My words are from the uprightness of my heart,
And my lips speak knowledge sincerely.
4 “The Spirit of God has made me,
And the breath of the Almighty gives me life.
5 “Refute me if you can;
Array yourselves before me, take your stand.
6 “Behold, I belong to God like you;
I too have been formed out of the clay.
7 “Behold, no fear of me should terrify you,
Nor should my pressure weigh heavily on you.” -Job 33:1-7

This opening salvo by Elihu reminds me of many a conversation I’ve had with Christians. There is a presumption sometimes under those of us that call ourselves followers of Jesus, that just because we are His followers and just because we are speaking of Christian things then we are speaking with all knowledge and understanding. Elihu here makes that claim, “Listen to all my words…My words are from the uprightness of my heart.” But the problem is he still speaks in error. In the next chapter he chastises Job asking who is he to question to God and accuse Him of not punishing in fairness, here Elihu speaks a partial truth. This is a good question. Who are we that we should question the will and the acts of God? Praise Him He allows us to question, but we should be cautious that our questioning does not move to accusing and accusing to doubt. Anyway Elihu is correct in that assessment, but then he is in error in that He again asserts that God is punishing because Job “deserves” it,

“Behold, God does all these oftentimes with men,
30 To bring back his soul from the pit,
That he may be enlightened with the light of life.” -Job 34:29, 30

I personally don’t in fact disagree with this, that God allows things to happen in our lives at times to allow us to go through a “crisis” and see our need for Him. But Elihu applying this to all situations is a partial truth mixed with error. He is both correct and incorrect.

And it is why we as Christians should be very cautious of applying universal observations to all situations?

Job was not in fact going through this because of His need to return to God, but rather God was allowing it for a lesson to all generations on some cosmic scale to illustrate in live action the Great Controversy that exists between good and evil.

Sometimes we may look at a situation and say, “________ is happening because this person did _______” Do we really know? Elihu spoke as if he knew without a doubt…but he should have doubted because he was wrong.

Let us as Christians be cautious in speaking in black and white when there may be some gray not because God is gray, but because our minds our finite and we cannot fully see the solid shades just yet.

Tomorrow’s Reading: Jeremiah 22-26

I want to share with you the text that really hit me as a pastor as a leader today in this study.

The Lord gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians. Furthermore, the man Moses himself was greatly esteemed in the land of Egypt, both in the sight of Pharaoh’s servants and in the sight of the people.” -Exodus 11:3

Notice how the Bible tells us Moses was regarded by not necessarily his own people, but the people of Egypt…

GREATLY ESTEEMED

Moses was called to be Israel’s deliverer. Forty years early he had recognized that and try through his earthly power as one connected to the courts of Egypt to do the delivering and he left Egypt under the cover of darkness, shamed, and defeated.

Now feeling inadequate for the task, hesitant, relying fully upon God Moses is “greatly esteemed” by his “enemies.”

Moses was the chosen one for deliverance at forty years of age just as much as he was at eighty years of age.

But our calling and mission don’t matter if we try to fulfill those callings and missions outside of the timing and the ways and the power of God.

The right motive and the right mission at the wrong time in the wrong way is WRONG.

Powerful stuff for all of us as we think about what mission God has given to each of us.

Tomorrow’s Reading: 1 Samuel 26-31…P.S. there were several other cool nuggets in this reading related to the passover, but I will save those for a sermon some day maybe 🙂

1 Corinthians 15 is a powerful testimony and study on the importance of Christ’s resurrection for our salvation! But not only does it add insight into His resurrection but it also provides us with some insights into the understanding of soul sleep, which is the belief that after a person dies they “sleep” in the ground ’till the second coming of Jesus.

I see several verses, but two very powerful ones to affirm this view:

Verse 53 states,

“For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality.”

When must we put on the imperishable? Before we inherit (go to) the Kingdom of God (see verse 50).

Well when does the perishable become imperishable?

Verse 52,

“in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.”

When will those who die be made “imperishable” and able to go to the Kingdom of God? At “the last trumpet.” That would mean that the righteous that die don’t go straight to heaven when they die because they have not yet been made imperishable, and they won’t be ’till the last trumpet.

And when does this last trumpet occur and when are the dead resurrected imperishable?

Verse 23 & 24a…

 “But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, after that those who are Christ’s at His coming, 24 then comes the end…”

Y’all the Bible is clear the dead in Christ sleep ’till the END…the last trumpet…at which point they and those who are alive and have put their faith in Jesus will be made imperishable and be taken to the Kingdom of God in Heaven!

My one comment on chapter 16 is this…which believe me I don’t want to fault anyone…and I don’t have a problem with it…but this is just my opinion.

I don’t believe typical tithe &offering appeals in church are a Biblical practice…they aren’t wrong…but no one should defend them like they are their for Biblical reasons…

“Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I directed the churches of Galatia, so do you also. 2 On the first day of every week each one of you is to put aside and save, as he may prosper, so that no collections be made when I come.” -1 Corinthians 16:1 & 2

I know some have believed that this means that people are to go to church on Sunday. That is a far reaching extrapolation. What Paul is saying is at beginning of every week we should all plan how we are going to give to the work of God with our finances that week. Paul is saying our giving should be something done with forethought not something done in the spur of the moment.

There are special offerings special moments where an appeal is made. But the best Biblical practice is for each of us to prepare to give not to be reactionary in our giving, which an offering appeal in church lends itself to the latter and not the former.

Better than appeals would be personal testimonies of financial faithfulness!

Tomorrow’s Reading: Exodus 9-12

The story I have preached more than any other story in the Bible is in Mark chapter 10. It is the story of Blind Bartimaeus–

“Then they came to Jericho. And as He was leaving Jericho with His disciples and a large crowd, a blind beggar named Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, was sitting by the road. 47 When he heard that it was Jesus the Nazarene, he began to cry out and say, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” 48 Many were sternly telling him to be quiet, but he kept crying out all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” 49 And Jesus stopped and said, “Call him here.” So they *called the blind man, saying to him, “Take courage, stand up! He is calling for you.”50 Throwing aside his cloak, he jumped up and came to Jesus. 51 And answering him, Jesus said, “What do you want Me to do for you?” And the blind man said to Him, “Rabboni, I want to regain my sight!” 52 And Jesus said to him, “Go; your faith has made you well.” Immediately he regained his sight and began following Him on the road.” -Mark 10:46-52

To me the question Jesus asks Bartimaeus is the question that Jesus puts before all of us at various times in our life. Not because He is unaware of what the answer will be, but because He wants us to have our opportunity for our faith to be strengthened. There is something about verbalizing our request before God that not only demonstrates, but also encourages our faith as He answers.

I want you right now to think about what you desire the Lord to do for you. If you were standing before Him now on that Jericho road and Jesus asked, “What do you want Me to do for you?”

Share that with Jesus now! Pray for that in faith!

Tomorrow’s Reading: 1 Corinthians 15 & 16

Some things I jotted down as I read through Jeremiah 12-16:

In Jeremiah 12, Jeremiah has one perspective, that the wicked are prospering, God on the other hand has the perspective they have not prospered at His hand but due to the invitation submitted through the wicked acts of the people of God. In other words, they through their actions have embraced the wicked people along with the wickedness and unlike God wicked ways are not a kind a master.

But at the end of Jeremiah 12 God shows us that He will rid the land of the wicked, but He will also uproot Judah from her wicked ways and hopefully as a nation they will appreciate this and return unto God!

In Jeremiah 13 I wrote down something that is not a Biblical point at all, but it made me chuckle and I had to make note of it…I recently read an article that asked, “What is the true value of the belt?” and the premise of this short article was questioning does the belt really hold up our pants or do we hold up the belt. I feel that in this live action drama that God asks Jeremiah to be a part of in Jeremiah 13 we get the answer,

“For as the waistband clings to the waist of a man, so I made the whole household of Israel and the whole household of Judah cling to Me,’” -Jer. 13:11a

There you go a fashion answer in the Bible, we hold up the belts…no wonder I still have a hard time with my pants sliding even though I wear a belt 🙂

On a more serious note in Jeremiah 13 verse 17,

But if you will not listen to it,
My soul will sob in secret for such pride;
And my eyes will bitterly weep
And flow down with tears,
Because the flock of the Lord has been taken captive.

I love the heart of Jeremiah. Oh that each of us would have that same depth of compassion for the lost when they go through trials and consequences even though when we know they are deserving of such trials and consequences. Jeremiah knew these people were wrong and yet he sobbed, he wept, the tears flowed down! That is the true heart of a pastor!

In Jeremiah 14 I found it interesting that God does not lay all the blame or consequences at the feet of the false prophets. They are teaching the people error, but God in verse 16 states that the people who listen to this error will also suffer the same consequences. Why? In other places in scripture God seems to show mercy on the people because they were led falsely astray and did not know better…why here the same consequences. I wonder if it could be because these people also had Jeremiah. They had the full opportunity to know truth and embrace truth. Maybe because of their history they knew right and wrong yet they followed after error.

I believe here the Bible is teaching…

We will not only be held accountable for what we know and did not follow, but what we could have known had we simply listened or accepted the opportunities of truth we’d been given.

So those are the notes I jotted down on these chapters. What were some of the notes God gave to you?

Tomorrow’s Reading: Mark 9 & 10

I read verses 2-5a of Job 29,

“Oh that I were as in months gone by,
As in the days when God watched over me;
3 When His lamp shone over my head,
And by His light I walked through darkness;
4 As I was in the prime of my days,
When the friendship of God was over my tent;
5 When the Almighty was yet with me,”

and I immediately thought, “Oh how the heart of God must have hurt over this sentiment of Job.” Then as I continued reading my mind went back to that thought and I began to wonder, “Does the heart of God spend a lot of time worrying about what we think or is that a component of our sinful nature that the Lord does not possess?”

I mean is God worried from an emotional position that Job misunderstands Him? Or is it only to the degree that such a misunderstanding would lead Job to sin that God’s heart would be concerned?

It seems to me like it would be the latter rather than the former but I can’t say with absolute certainty.

I also thought when I read that passage as I have through much of Job, “Wow God sure sees faithfulness different than we define it in the church.” Such a statement as Job’s in most our modern churches would have all the people worried for this individuals eternal salvation.

Interesting…

Tomorrow’s Reading (I’m 6 days behind): Jeremiah 12-16