by Suellen | Project 2013: Read The Bible
Job 32-33
Elihu speaks up. He is younger than Job and all of the other friends, so he has waited to speak. He wants to hear what the others would say, and besides that, he’s shy. However, he can refrain himself no longer. With the zeal of a teenager, he lets them all “have it.”
Elihu is angry with Job because he justifies himself before God, and he is angry with the friends because they are condemning Job. Nobody is pleasing him.
To Job, he says, “I have heard the sound of your words: ‘I am pure; without transgression.'” And he continues, “Behold let me tell you, you are not right in this, for God is greater than man.”
It’s refreshing when you see young people spout their zeal. Sometimes there is some confusion, and not the wisdom which will come later, but when the young have pure hearts, they always take up for God.
There is an idealism in devout young men that you often don’t see in older ones. They are ready to believe that God is really who He says He is. Nothing is impossible with Him.
I like that! I pray that we will keep that attitude – or recover it – all the days of our lives.
Acts 14
Faithful and unstoppable! Those are two words which describe Paul.
As Paul and Barnabas are introducing the gospel to the Jews and Gentiles who live in Asia, they encounter a man who has been lame from his mother’s womb. Seeing his faith, Paul commands him to rise and walk, and of course, he does. Paul is acting with his faithfulness to the Lord.
It’s amazing to see what happens after such notable miracles take place. At first the crowds think the apostles are gods, and start bringing sacrifices. But a short time later, they get stirred up by the Jews, and stone Paul, dragging him out of the city (supposing him to be dead). “But while the disciples stood around him, he arose and entered the city.”(V.20). Truly unstoppable.
Paul is a powerful man of God. He gets stoned or beaten and gets right back up and goes again. If he had been stoned enough to be supposed dead, he had to be badly beaten, but his condition didn’t stop him. (Actually, I’m quite sure that some divine healing was taking place there also).
As is usual for him, instead of soliciting pity, Paul is busy thinking about strengthening the souls who had just committed to the Lord. He wants to leave them in a strong state, so he appoints elders and gives them encouraging words before leaving the territory.
Finally, as the disciples arrive back at Antioch, they gather the church together and share “all things that God had done with them and how He had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles.”(V.27)
As we study the life of Paul in the New Testament, we see this trait many times. He emphasizes what God is doing – not what the enemy is doing. Many of us would have gathered the church together to whine about the stoning or the hard days of travel. Not Paul. He always emphasizes God and not man or the devil.
I want to emulate that characteristic in my life. Every day we have the opportunity to focus on what God is doing – or focus on what the devil is doing. I want to focus on the former. When we keep our eyes on our God – and not the problems we face, our faith stays high – and so does our morale.
Paul is such an excellent example for all of us. I want to be more like him. For that matter, I want to be more like Jesus! I know that you do, too.
by Suellen | Project 2013: Read The Bible
Job 30-31
Job’s pride is being demolished, and he shows the anguish he feels. First, he makes note of all of the humiliation he is suffering from those around him – especially from the younger ones. There was a time when Job was held in high esteem, but now he considers himself a byword.
Then he goes on to list all of his good points.
- He doesn’t lust after women besides his wife.
- He doesn’t lie to others.
- He hasn’t abused his power by taking advantage of those less fortunate.
- He hasn’t trusted in his wealth.
- He has been compassionate even toward enemies.
Job wants to defend himself to God directly. He pleads to meet God and speak to Him personally.
He’s still trying to defend his righteousness.
In the middle of this, I have an ah-ha moment. Remember a couple of days ago we speculated about how Job communicated with God – and how he could know about Him?
Well, today, he mentions Adam – and how he covered himself. (31:33) We know that at the time of Job, there was no written word, but obviously there had been an oral tradition which had been passed down.
For Job to know about Adam, someone had to have passed that information down. So, though he hadn’t been privy to an established Word of God, he obviously had some knowledge of God and His workings in the earth.
A partial understanding was available, if not a complete one.
Acts 13:44-52
The attitude of Paul, Barnabas, and the early disciples amazes me! These men are exposing themselves to persecution and abuse by the Jewish leaders in every region they penetrate with the gospel. But that doesn’t seem to faze them. In fact they shake off the dust and move on , always “filled with joy and rejoicing.”(V. 52).
How could they be so positive? I believe it is that they are always filled with the Holy Spirit of God. He has enveloped them with His power and presence, and they are partaking of that heavenly element of life.
In the presence of God, there is “fullness of joy.”(Psalm 16:11). So when the disciples are allowing themselves to be filled with the presence of God, they have joy.
Throughout these next chapters of Acts, we will see how the persecution gets really heavy. Yet when they are sharing with the other apostles and telling them about their experiences, the emphasis is always on the joy of seeing others saved. They don’t whine about their abuse.
We could really benefit from some of this attitude. It’s easy sometimes to look around and notice how tough our lives are. (I dare say that none of us has approached anything like the hardship faced by Paul and Barnabas). We might not have the car payment this month. Or someone at work might have said something bad about us. Or we might have been mocked because of our stand for Jesus. We might have even lost our job, or suffered a divorce of illness.
However, none of us has been stoned. Or beaten. Or mobbed and thrown out of town.
Today, just as in Paul’s day, if we allow ourselves to be filled with God’s Spirit, our attitudes will be different. We won’t look at the hardships, but at the victories we have.
My husband has often compared the spirit-filled life with a sail in a hot air balloon. When we have lots of air (Spirit), we sail up high, far above the obstacles on the ground. When the air starts escaping, we start bumping into things. The idea is to stay filled and soaring, rather than empty and bumping into our problems.
The difference between the filled life and the empty life is not that the problems disappear. What changes is perspective. When we are soaring with God, we see our lives from a different angle – we see things the way He does. Most of what we worry about is small in His eyes and easily handled. If we will soar with Him, we will see our problems confronted more readily. Change can come quickly when we are soaring with God.
So let’s purpose in our hearts that today we are going to soar. We refuse to bump into every bothersome event around us. We are going to stay up high with our God and continue in the joyful life He has ordained for us.
by Suellen | Project 2013: Read The Bible
Job 28-29
Wow! Job is getting somewhere. After all of the babbling he and his friends have undertaken, he is lighting on some truth here.
Where does wisdom come from? You can’t mine for it as you would gold, silver, or precious stones. You can’t find it in the ocean or rivers. You can’t buy it. It’s value is higher than anything you might encounter.
Wisdom is only with God. He sees everything that goes on. And he understands all that He has set in order.
“And to man He said, ‘Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding.'”(28:28).
Job has had endurance and patience. Now he is showing humility. This man is realizing that it is God who had blessed his life before, and not himself. He is also realizing that there has to be a fear, or reverence, of the Lord for any wisdom to come at all.
Today this is true, just as it was then. There are many who are trying to find wisdom in their own pursuits and with their own minds. They shoot to this thought and that, bouncing about in their reasoning. Very often their basic premises are wrong, so all the precepts they build on the premises are wrong also.
The only true foundation for building our belief system is the fear of the Lord. And today, that foundation is found in God’s Word.
Acts 13:1-43
Have you noticed that when the Jews are introducing Jesus to new people they start with history?
It’s interesting to me that Peter, Stephen, and Paul use the same method. They recite all of the Jewish history from the time of Abraham – through Egypt, the wilderness, the kings, and all the way up to Jesus. It’s because the Jewish people were taught their history with God from the time they were young. When Jesus was put into context of their history, the Jews began to see how He was the true Messiah they had been awaiting.
I think that in our own lives, we would encourage each other and ourselves if we could keep our history in the forefront of our thoughts. It’s good to remember the history of the Word, of course, but also our personal history.
In each of our lives, we have a history with Jesus. There have been times when He has protected us from danger. Or supplied our needs supernaturally. Or healed us. Or given us a dream or vision. Or spoken a word of direction deep within our spirits.
There are many ways that our God has interacted with our lives, and it’s important to remember them.
I have a journal. It’s rather random in what it contains. Sometimes a Word he has spoken to me personally. Sometimes a prayer that he has answered. Or maybe a scripture he has given me when I needed encouragement.
Those special moments of interaction, when kept in high regard, can keep us bold in our faith and encourage us toward our vision. That’s one of the ways our God uses to propel us toward the mark, even when circumstances look difficult.
Our God is a faithful God and He is a God who reacts to our faith. So when we continually build ourselves up on our faith, we are moving closer to our goal all the time.
So let’s be “story keepers.” That is, keepers of our own stories with Him. Story keepers are faith keepers!
by Suellen | Project 2013: Read The Bible
Job 25-27
Bildad expresses his opinion that no man is “right ” before God, and greatly offends Job. Our protagonist wants to feel that he is right before God. He has lived his life trying to accomplish his own righteousness, and he can’t understand anyone suggesting that he hasn’t succeeded.
The Holy Spirit, through Paul, addresses this concept in Romans 10:2-3. “For I bear them witness that they had a zeal for God, but not in accordance with knowledge. For not knowing about God’s righteousness, and seeking to establish their own, they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God.” In this passage, He is speaking of the Jews. Yet the same could be applied to Job.
Job wanted to feel that he was righteous, yet no man is righteous based on his own works. Not then; not now. Our righteousness is a gift from God, which can only come through Jesus, so before that time a man couldn’t claim to be so.
Of course, Job didn’t know that, so he continues to try to prove that he is a “good” man.
Acts 12
Peter has a surreal experience. Locked up securely in jail – sleeping between two soldiers and bound with two chains – the angels wake him up, loose the chains and lead him out of prison. The moment is so surreal he thinks he is dreaming…right up until the moment the iron gate into the city opens by itself.
When he “comes to his senses,” Peter realizes that this is not a dream, but reality. Wow.
Now let’s take a look at the next part of this and see if you can identify. He goes to the house where his friends are praying (for him to get out). Yet when the girl, Rhoda, opens the door and announces his presence, the prayer warriors say, “You’re out of your mind!” It must be his angel.
I have had God answer prayers in such a dramatic way that it was hard to believe. Have you? Well, we’d better get ready. He is in the prayer-answering business, and if we really believe Him, we will even see more than what we have seen so far.
It’s time for us to take our limits off of what our God can do. After all, He is the Creator of the universe, and He can accomplish whatever needs to be accomplished.
It’s time for us to believe for miracles. Just because we haven’t seen it done before, doesn’t mean that He won’t do it.
I am convinced that if we can truly believe him and trust Him, we will see mighty acts of mercy showering down.
Are you ready?
by Suellen | Project 2013: Read The Bible
Job 22-24
Eliphaz hits upon a tremendous truth about God. He says, “Please receive instruction from His (God’s) mouth, and establish His words in your heart.” (22:22) Then he goes on to list the blessings of being one of God’s people.
Now I have a question: how does he know this?Which words is he talking about? This was before the time of God’s Word being sent to us in written or even oral form. The first books of the Bible were not written until Moses came along.
It’s interesting to think about these things, because we know that God spoke to Adam, Noah, and Abraham among others. There was communication, but not the written word. We really don’t know how that communication came – maybe through dreams or thoughts.
I think about Romans 1:20, “For since the creation of the world God’s invisible attributes, His eternal power, and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through that which He made.” There is an evidence of God which we have by just looking around us – if we will do that.
I am just so thankful for the written Word. It explains the things which are hard to understand and it lets us know the source of questionable events. The Word also tells us God’s overall plan, and where we are going from here.
Yet even before these people had the written Word, God seemed to let these people know of His existence, just as Paul said. However, their knowledge was sketchy and therefore all of the speculation provided by everyone in the book of Job.
Today we have an incredible blessing in the Word of God. I am so thankful that when there are questions I can go and read and understand God’s nature, His plan, and His purpose.
Thank you, Lord, for your Word.
Acts 11
We see a manifestation of the “seed principle” to the fullest. The Jewish nation had been the Fig Tree which God had raised up over all of those centuries, producing the fruit of the law, a nation who knew God, and a nation who realized that they could not be holy in themselves. The seed from that fruit, God’s holy Seed, was Jesus.
When God planted His seed through the cross, He was expecting a great harvest – a harvest of sons and daughters which would come from the new birth being released into the earth And from this seed would spring many other seeds which would eventually reach to the uttermost parts of the earth. Just as trees release their seed pods and the wind scatters them far and wide, God Himself was releasing His seeds which would be scattered throughout the world by the wind of the Holy Spirit.
In this passage of Acts we see some of the first seed pods being scattered. The new birth of Cornelius made quite a stir among the apostles. At first they “took issue” with the salvation, but then they “quieted down, and glorified God, saying, ‘Well then, God has granted to the Gentiles also the repentance that leads to life.'”(V. 18).
So the scene was set for more scattering to Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch and eventually to us!
The New Covenant was on the way around the world – so that all nations and tongues could receive the gift from God. This was surreal to the people of that day. No longer were Jews the only ones who would be the keepers of the flame for God; now that privilege had been extended to all.
My prayer is that we will all appreciate what has been delivered to us. No words can explain what it means to us to have even a better covenant than the Jews. We have the very life of God living on the inside of us – giving us wisdom and power to live the life God designed for us.
May we never take it for granted!
