OT: The Book of Job, Chapter 31

Job 31:1-40

31:1-4 Job insisted on his righteousness. He had made a covenant with God and had remained faithful to it. He felt that his life had unfolded unjustly and contrary to what he knew to be true about God. From Job's limited perspective, it had. But Job's perspective, like our own, is indeed limited and therefore we cannot always accurately interpret the reason or meaning for certain situations in our lives.

31:5-8 Job was unafraid of discipline; he was willing to take responsibility for his actions. But he felt that he was blameless and therefore resisted and resented the plight of his life. 

31:9-12 Job began series of proclamations of innocence: he had been faithful, neighborly, and fair. 

31:13-15 He stated that he had been kind not just to the people around him and his family but also to the people who worked under him.

31:16-23 He had been generous and charitable, honest and helpful. He knew right from wrong and good from evil. He agreed with what was good and right; he denied what was wrong and evil. He obeyed God but also lived in full agreement with God's laws and commandments. In other words, he would not have resisted punishment had he broken those commandments. 

31:24-28 Job knew that he had not made wealth his god or desire in life. He was not greedy, or self-centered. He loved and obeyed God exclusively; he did not participate in or believe in idol worship. 

31:29-34 He was not vicious or vengeful. He did not hate or curse people. He did not lie or withhold truth or anything else from anyone in need around him. 

31:35-37 Job wanted desperately to make his case before God... but it was a wasted effort because God knew and saw everything. Job did not have to defend himself, God already knew the truth. Job is a prime example of how we can worry and defend ourselves to the point of exhaustion for truly no purpose at all! God sees and knows and plans accordingly in all of our circumstances. We have to learn to trust Him and to rely on the promises He has made. 

31:38-40 Against everyone and everything Job felt he had been fair, even to his land. He was grateful for people and what God had provided him and he felt that he lived with a spirit of gratitude. But because he could not figure out the reason behind the change in his life he assumed God was punishing him. Never assume that God is against you; God is always for your betterment. But you can only get to that better place through faith.

Finished.

OT: The Book of Job, Chapter 30

Job 30:1-31

30:1-8 To Job's great displeasure, he realized that he was now regarded lower than men who he had regarded as the lowest.

30:9-15 He became a joke to people who had been lower than him in status. Underneath the heat of the scorn, it was nearly impossible for Job to believe that there was purpose in the derision, in the ironic turn of his life.

30:16-19 Job suffered greatly the pain of his plight. It affected every aspect of his life. God wants us to build resilient, comprehensive faith because sometimes the circumstances of life can put immense pressure on our faith.

30:20-23 Though he remained faithful to God, Job continued to misinterpret his situation. Job thought that God was separate from him but God was closer than ever. God is present in hardship; God is purposeful through hardship. We must remember and trust those two facts in order to persevere.

30:24-31 Job was not the first or the last person to think that God was disregarding his needs and sorrows. Job sunk so low that he felt God would answer anyone, anything else's prayers before his. He felt alone and desperate. He felt unheard and unseen. But Job was none of those things and neither are you, despite how life can sometimes make you feel.

OT: The Book of Job, Chapter 29

Job 29:1-25

29:1-6 Job lamented for the simpler more joy-filled days of his life. It's easy, though not productive or helpful, to reminisce about easier times. But it is in the difficult ones that we truly grow and begin to utilize all of the benefits and tools of a relationship with God.

Even though it's difficult, it's more productive and healing to the soul to endure with faith through difficult seasons. It is wasteful to linger in wistfulness when we could be making spiritual progress. We should always have our eyes fixed forward because we have a progressive God. We have a savior; He does not return us to old situations, He carries us through to new, better ones. 

29:7-17 Job missed how he was beloved and respected; understandably, he did not cherish his newfound position as the source of the town's negative gossip. Each of us yearn for times or opportunities where people will respect us and love us or at the very least, appreciate or acknowledge us. It does not always happen; people are frequently disrespectful and ungrateful. It is so important then to rely on God's opinion of you. It's so important to have a healthy level of appreciation for your own self and the quality of your own work. 

Job had a strong and consistent relationship with God, one so great it was chosen to be an example, but Job still had areas of personal growth to develop. We all do. Our relationship with God does not make us perfect but if we utilize it well, it can make us better. We will learn to strengthen not only our faith but also our character. 

29:18-20 Job had felt safe and secure in that space where he had only peace and abundance. The true depth and quality of a relationship with God is to learn to feel safe and secure in spaces when we feel the opposite of peace and abundance. 

29:21-25 Job relished the wisdom others lauded him for, yet he did not fully appreciate that his present situation was fueling him with more wisdom, deeper wisdom: how to apply faith to the parts of life truly desperate for it. So often we ask for things from God like growth and wisdom but resist the methods He uses to fill those requests. From Job we learn that our relationship with God is very much a personal journey and one filled with directions we will not always understand at first. We do not always appreciate the path that leads to the clearing we had been praying for.

OT: The Book of Job, Chapter 28

Job 28:1-28

28:1-11 Job contemplated the opportunity for discovery on earth. There are precious things to be found, things humans and societies deem valuable. Humans discover and search the earth thoroughly for these things and perhaps not always in vain.

28:12-19 But Job was more interested in what could not be found: wisdom. Job knew that no matter how long or thoroughly a person looks, they will never find wisdom anywhere but in the Kingdom of God. The earth is beautiful and has much to offer but none of it as precious or important as what heaven has. It cannot be purchased.

28:20-27 Wisdom is God's language, and no one, nothing, speaks as fluently as He does. Wisdom is in God's possession. In a poetic discourse, Job proclaimed that humanity could only access wisdom when they access God. Creation can only be understood, interpreted, weighed by the Creator.

28:28 This chapter of Job leaves us with a sound and profound proclamation:

‘Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom, 

And to depart from evil is understanding.’ ”

Job was able to give us that advice from a place of stress and pain. Even then, He knew that his strength lay in the strength of his faith in the Almighty One.

OT: The Book of Job, Chapter 27

Job 27:1-23

27:1-6 Even though Job did not understand or agree with the circumstances of his life, he reaffirmed his commitment to righteousness and thus to God. He chose not to abandon the principles God had instilled in him throughout his life. Though Job felt at times that evil and injustice reigned over him, he maintained the truth that only God's authority mattered in his life. Job did not have fair-weather faith; he trusted God in the good seasons of his life as well as the bad. It was difficult but it made his faith sturdier and healthier than it ever had been.

27:7-10 Job saw no purpose to corrupt behavior. He did not feel that a switch to wickedness, a separation from God would benefit him in any way. That is precisely what made Job so unique among humanity to God! Even though he felt failed, he kept trusting in God's promised victory. He kept the understanding that the evil, the hypocrite, is cut off from God, the true power. And Job did not want to be cut off from God, even when his spiritual relationship was under distress. duress 

27:11-12 It baffled Job that his friends refused to listen, to perceive his situation for what it was. They had a superficial belief about God, that he merely punished or rewarded. Job insisted that God was mightier than that, that His ways were more complex, more purposeful. Job basically plead with his friends to become more familiar with God as He truly is. 

27:13-17 Job knew that ultimately, inevitably, everything garnered by the evil would be distributed to the poor. It is a mandate, a promise made by God. The men around Job insisted that he was guilty but Job knew that despite what his present circumstances suggested, he was not counted amount the wicked. He knew that although it seemed impossible, God would restore him and reveal a purpose for his hardship.

Job's admission of this truth showed a growth in his spiritual character. His trust in God deepened as he wrestled with the questions that kept him up at night. He did not have it all figured out, his relationship with God still needed to be strengthened, but he made sure and steady steps in that process. 

27:18-23 Job knew the result of an unrighteous life. It is an ending. A finality. Job knew that such an ending was not determined for him. He was not arrogant or wrong; he simply trusted in God's promise that the ending of the righteous is much different. And Job had made a wholehearted, steadfast commitment to righteousness. 

OT: The Book of Job, Chapter 26

Job 26:1-14

26:1-4 Job did not want an answer from the false men around him. Job only respected the word and will of God. He compared human ineptitude to God's majesty. He was not impressed by humans, their speech or action, he felt that compared to God, it added up to nothing. 

26:5-14 Yet God established the earth and universe! Job spoke of God's precise and marvelous creation. He spoke of how God made the impossible, possible: He created the horizon and atmosphere, the seas and their movements and storms; He created the clouds and their rains that defy gravity; He created, from nothing, everything. It was with God alone that Job wanted to have a conversation.

OT: The Book of Job, Chapter 25

Job 25:1-6

25:1-6 Bildad made a final, redundant statement. No one had questioned the brilliance or righteousness of God yet he brought it up argumentatively anyway. It's true that God is above and beyond our wisdom, purity and righteousness. His sense of justice is objective; His love is true; His purpose is straightforward. 

Yet He has extended Himself to we who are wholly imperfect. His grace is sufficient for our lack and foible. We have a lot of questions and He answers those who commit to patience and trust. He heals and aligns us even though we are so broken and bent compared to Him. The majesty of God should not cause us to flee but to humble ourselves.

Without God we are nothing, but because of His love we are so much. We are invited to access so much of Him as we journey through our lives. Pursue a deep and intimate relationship with God; a relationship like Job had. Job was not afraid to speak honesty or to ask bold, complex questions. Job's friends were obedient to God because God is powerful. Job was obedient to God because he loved God and trusted Him, trusted the use and purpose of His undeniable power.