1 Peter 1:1 Peter, a missionary of Jesus Christ: To those chosen, living as exiles dispersed abroad in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, chosen 1 Peter 1:2 according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Breath, to be obedient and to be sprinkled with the blood of Jesus Christ. May grace and peace be multiplied to you.
chosen, but exiles
Peter writes to fellow believers whose lives appear to be a contradiction. They are chosen by God but they are exiles, living in other lands instead of the holy land. Such is the case with all of us. There is no land on earth today that matches our inheritance. That inheritance is the holy city that will descend from heaven. Until that happens, we are all exiles here.
Job 42:1 Then Job answered and said to Yahveh: Job 42:2 I know that you can do anything and no plan of yours can be thwarted. Job 42:3 You asked, “Who is this who conceals my counsel with ignorance?” Surely, I spoke about things I did not understand, things too wondrous for me to know. Job 42:4 You said, “Listen now, and I will speak. When I question you, you will inform me.” Job 42:5 I had heard what my ears could hear about you, but now my eyes have seen you. Job 42:6 Therefore, I reject my words and regret them; I am dust and ashes. Job 42:7 After Yahveh had finished speaking to Job, he said to Eliphaz the Temanite: “I am angry with you and your two friends, for you have not spoken the truth about me, as my servant Job has. Job 42:8 Now take seven bulls and seven rams, go to my servant Job, and offer a burnt offering for yourselves. Then my servant Job will pray for you. I will surely accept his prayer and not deal with you as your stupidity deserves. For you have not spoken the truth about me, as my servant Job has.” Job 42:9 Then Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite went and did as Yahveh had told them, and Yahveh accepted Job’s prayer. Job 42:10 After Job had prayed for his friends, Yahveh restored his fortunes and doubled his previous possessions. Job 42:11 All his brothers, sisters, and former acquaintances came to him and dined with him in his house. They sympathized with him and comforted him concerning all the adversity Yahveh had brought on him. Each one gave him a piece of silver and a gold earring. Job 42:12 So Yahveh blessed the last part of Job’s life more than the first. He owned fourteen thousand sheep and goats, six thousand camels, one thousand yoke of oxen, and one thousand female donkeys. Job 42:13 He also had seven sons and three daughters. Job 42:14 He named his first daughter Jemimah, his second Keziah, and his third Keren-happuch. Job 42:15 No women as beautiful as Job’s daughters could be found in all the land, and their father granted them an inheritance with their brothers. Job 42:16 Job lived 140 years after this and saw his children and their children to the fourth generation. Job 42:17 Then Job died, old and full of days.
wonderful life
Job’s restoration begins when God intercedes, and the first thing to be restored is his relationship with those three therapists. Job takes the upper hand and prays for them. This is more than simply a vindication of Job’s righteousness, it is an acknowledgment that no amount of evil experienced can overcome the power of a right relationship with God.
Afterward, all of those who would have been expected to show Job support and sympathy return to his life, and then his health and fortune are restored. The man who had lost it all returns to become a shining example of God’s blessing and goodness.
LORD, out of all the blessings that you give us, help us to cherish the one thing we will never lose – our relationship with you.
Job 41:1 Can you pull in Leviathan with a hook or tie his tongue down with a rope? Job 41:2 Can you put a cord through his nose or pierce his jaw with a hook? Job 41:3 Will he beg you for mercy or speak softly to you? Job 41:4 Will he make a covenant with you so that you can take him as a slave forever? Job 41:5 Can you play with him like a bird or put him on a leash for your girls? Job 41:6 Will traders bargain for him or divide him among the merchants? Job 41:7 Can you fill his hide with harpoons or his head with fishing spears? Job 41:8 Lay a hand on him. You will remember the battle and never repeat it! Job 41:9 Any hope of capturing him proves false. Does a person not collapse at the very sight of him? Job 41:10 No one is ferocious enough to rouse Leviathan; who then can stand against me? Job 41:11 Who confronted me, that I should repay him? Everything under the sky belongs to me. Job 41:12 I cannot be silent about his limbs, his power, and his graceful proportions. Job 41:13 Who can strip off his outer covering? Who can penetrate his double layer of armor? Job 41:14 Who can open his jaws, surrounded by those terrifying teeth? Job 41:15 His pride is in his rows of scales, closely sealed together. Job 41:16 One scale is so close to another that no air can pass between them. Job 41:17 They are joined to one another, so closely connected they cannot be separated. Job 41:18 His snorting flashes with light, while his eyes are like the rays of dawn. Job 41:19 Flaming torches shoot from his mouth; fiery sparks fly out! Job 41:20 Smoke billows from his nostrils as from a boiling pot or burning reeds. Job 41:21 His throat sets coals ablaze, and flames pour out of his mouth. Job 41:22 Strength resides in his neck, and dismay dances before him. Job 41:23 The folds of his flesh are joined together, solid as metal and immovable. Job 41:24 His heart is as hard as a rock, as hard as a lower millstone! Job 41:25 When Leviathan rises, the mighty are terrified; they withdraw because of his thrashing. Job 41:26 The sword that reaches him will have no effect, nor will a spear, dart, or arrow. Job 41:27 He regards iron as straw, and bronze as rotten wood. Job 41:28 No arrow can make him flee; slingstones become like stubble to him. Job 41:29 A club is regarded as stubble, and he laughs at the sound of a javelin. Job 41:30 His undersides are jagged potsherds, spreading the mud like a threshing sledge. Job 41:31 He makes the depths seethe like a cauldron; he makes the sea like an ointment jar. Job 41:32 He leaves a shining wake behind him; one would think the deep had gray hair! Job 41:33 He has no equal on the land– a creature devoid of fear! Job 41:34 He surveys everything that is haughty; he is king over all the proud beasts.
what is
The LORD first challenges Job, and Job quickly repents and submits. While Job was right to defend himself, he really did not understand God enough to explain what was happening to him. God describes two powerful creatures, showing that if humans cannot explain them, they certainly cannot come close to understanding their creator.
Our common approach to science quickly eliminates the wonder of what is. The moment anyone dares to suggest ignorance of the basic issues of life, he is bombarded with answers, in spite of the fact that most of those answers are best guesses. Sadly, most of the best guesses come from a scientific community which refuses to entertain the suggestion of a creator. All Job needed to face the reality of God’s existence was another look at what is.
LORD, forgive us for refusing to see you in what you have made.
Job 40:1 Yahveh answered Job and said: Job 40:2 Will the one who contends with the Almighty correct him? Let him who argues with God give an answer. Job 40:3 Then Job answered Yahveh: Job 40:4 I am so insignificant. How can I answer you? I place my hand over my mouth. Job 40:5 I have spoken once, and I will not reply; twice, but now I can add nothing. Job 40:6 Then Yahveh answered Job from the whirlwind: Job 40:7 Get ready to answer me like a healthy man; When I question you, you will inform me. Job 40:8 Would you really challenge my justice? Would you declare me guilty to justify yourself? Job 40:9 Do you have an arm like God’s? Can you thunder with a voice like his? Job 40:10 Adorn yourself with majesty and splendor and clothe yourself with honor and glory. Job 40:11 Pour out your raging anger; look on every proud person and humiliate him. Job 40:12 Look on every proud person and humble him; trample the wicked where they stand. Job 40:13 Hide them together in the dust; imprison them in the grave. Job 40:14 Then I will confess to you that your own right hand can deliver you. Job 40:15 Look at Behemoth, which I made along with you. He eats grass like cattle. Job 40:16 Look at the strength of his back and the power in the muscles of his belly. Job 40:17 He stiffens his tail like a cedar tree; the tendons of his thighs are woven firmly together. Job 40:18 His bones are bronze tubes; his limbs are like iron rods. Job 40:19 He is the first of God’s works; only his Maker can draw the sword against him. Job 40:20 The hills yield food for him, while all sorts of wild animals play there. Job 40:21 He lies under the lotus plants, hiding in the protection of marshy reeds. Job 40:22 Lotus plants cover him with their shade; the willows by the brook surround him. Job 40:23 Though the river rages, Behemoth is unafraid; he remains confident, even if the Jordan surges up to his mouth. Job 40:24 Can anyone capture him while he looks on, or pierce his nose with snares?
Job shuts up
The LORD had reminded Job of all those ways of the animal world – both wild and tame, that are beyond the scientific enquiry of humans. There are some things that we are not meant to understand. How God works through suffering is sometimes one of those things. So, Job responds to God showing a wisdom greater than any of his well-intentioned therapists. He shuts his mouth.
LORD, sometimes the only thing we need to know is that we do not need to know. Help us to humbly submit to you, trusting that you have life under your control.
Job 39:1 Do you know the time mountain goats give birth? Have you watched the deer in labor? Job 39:2 Can you count the months they are pregnant so you can know the time they give birth? Job 39:3 They crouch down to give birth to their young; they deliver their newborn. Job 39:4 Their offspring are healthy and grow up in the open field. They leave and do not return. Job 39:5 Who set the wild donkey free? Who released the swift donkey from its bonds? Job 39:6 I made the desert its home, and the salty wasteland its dwelling. Job 39:7 It scorns at the noise of the village and never hears the shouts of a driver. Job 39:8 It roams the mountains for its pastureland, searching for anything green. Job 39:9 Would the wild ox be willing to serve you? Would it spend the night by your feeding trough? Job 39:10 Can you hold the wild ox to a furrow by its harness? Will it plow the valleys behind you? Job 39:11 Can you depend on it because its strength is great? Would you leave it to do your hard work? Job 39:12 Can you trust the wild ox to harvest your grain and bring it to your threshing floor? Job 39:13 The wings of the ostrich flap joyfully, but are her feathers and plumage like the stork’s? Job 39:14 She abandons her eggs on the ground and lets them be warmed in the sand. Job 39:15 She forgets that a foot may crush them or that some wild animal may trample them. Job 39:16 She treats her young harshly, as if they were not her own, with no fear that her labor may have been in vain. Job 39:17 You see, God has deprived her of wisdom; he has not endowed her with insight. Job 39:18 When she proudly spreads her wings, she laughs at the horse and its rider. Job 39:19 Do you give strength to the horse? Do you adorn his neck with a mane? Job 39:20 Do you make him leap like a locust? His proud snorting fills one with terror. Job 39:21 He paws in the valley and rejoices in his strength; he charges into battle. Job 39:22 He laughs at fear since he is afraid of nothing; he does not run from the sword. Job 39:23 A quiver rattles at his side, along with a flashing spear and a javelin. Job 39:24 He chews up the ground with trembling rage; he cannot stand still at the trumpet’s sound. Job 39:25 When the trumpet blasts, he snorts defiantly. He smells the battle from a distance; he hears the officers’ shouts and the battle cry. Job 39:26 Does the hawk take flight by your insight and spread its wings to the south? Job 39:27 Does the eagle soar at your command and make its nest high? Job 39:28 It lives on a cliff where it spends the night; its stronghold is on a rocky crag. Job 39:29 From there it searches for prey; its eyes penetrate the distance. Job 39:30 Its brood gulps down blood, and where the slain are, it is there.
not meant to understand
The LORD reminds Job of all those ways of the animal world – both wild and tame, that are beyond the scientific inquiry of humans. There are some things that we are not meant to understand. How God works through suffering is sometimes one of those things.
Job 38:1 Then Yahveh answered Job from the whirlwind. He said: Job 38:2 Who is this who obscures my counsel with ignorant words? Job 38:3 Get ready to answer me like a healthy man; when I question you, you will inform me. Job 38:4 Where were you when I established the land? Tell me if you have insight. Job 38:5 Who fixed its dimensions? Certainly, you know! Or, who stretched a measuring line across it? Job 38:6 What supports its bases? Or who laid its cornerstone Job 38:7 while the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy? Job 38:8 Who enclosed the sea behind doors when it burst from the womb, Job 38:9 when I made the clouds its garment and total darkness its blanket, Job 38:10 when I determined its boundaries and put its bars and doors in place, Job 38:11 when I declared: “You may come this far, but no farther; your proud waves stop here”? Job 38:12 Have you ever in your life commanded the morning or assigned the dawn its place, Job 38:13 so it may seize the edges of the land and shake the wicked out of it? Job 38:14 The land is changed as clay is by a seal; its hills stand out like the folds of a garment. Job 38:15 Light is withheld from the wicked, and the arm raised in violence is broken. Job 38:16 Have you traveled to the sources of the sea or walked in the depths of the oceans? Job 38:17 Have the gates of death been revealed to you? Have you seen the gates of deep darkness? Job 38:18 Have you comprehended the extent of the land? Tell me if you know all this. Job 38:19 Where is the road to the home of light? Do you know where darkness lives, Job 38:20 so you can lead it back to its border? Are you familiar with the paths to its home? Job 38:21 Don’t you know? You were already born; you have lived so long! Job 38:22 Have you entered the place where the snow is stored? Or have you seen the storehouses of hail, Job 38:23 which I hold in reserve for times of trouble, for the day of warfare and battle? Job 38:24 What road leads to the place where light is dispersed? Where is the source of the east wind that spreads across the ground? Job 38:25 Who cuts a channel for the flooding rain or clears the way for lightning, Job 38:26 to bring rain on an uninhabited ground, on a desert with no human life, Job 38:27 to satisfy the parched wasteland and cause the grass to sprout? Job 38:28 Does the rain have a father? Who fathered the drops of dew? Job 38:29 Whose womb did the ice come from? Who gave birth to the frost of the sky Job 38:30 when water becomes as hard as stone, and the surface of the watery depths is frozen? Job 38:31 Can you fasten the chains of the Pleiades or loosen the belt of Orion? Job 38:32 Can you bring out the constellations in their season and lead the Bear and her cubs? Job 38:33 Do you know the laws of the sky? Can you impose its authority on the ground? Job 38:34 Can you command the clouds so that a flood of water covers you? Job 38:35 Can you send out lightning bolts, and they go? Do they report to you: “Here we are”? Job 38:36 Who put wisdom in the heart or gave the mind insight? Job 38:37 Who has the wisdom to number the clouds? Or who can tilt the water jars of the sky Job 38:38 when the dust hardens like cast metal and the clods of dirt stick together? Job 38:39 Can you hunt prey for a lioness or satisfy the appetite of young lions Job 38:40 when they crouch in their dens and lie in wait within their lairs? Job 38:41 Who provides the raven’s food when its young cry out to God and wander about for lack of food?
no limits
The LORD comes on the scene in a dramatic and powerful way. All this time, he had been waiting for the experts on him to finish their babbling. Now he takes center stage and confronts Job with his omniscience and omnipotence. Job knows that there are no limits with God. He is grateful that he has a chance to remind his therapists of that fact. They were guilty of limiting and prescribing the way that God would act. We are never more in danger than when we think we have God figured out.
LORD, thank you that your ways are past our finding out. There are no limits to you.
Job 37:1 Also, my heart pounds at this and leaps from my chest. Job 37:2 Just listen to his thunderous voice and the rumbling that comes from his mouth. Job 37:3 He lets it loose beneath the entire sky; his lightning to the ends of the ground. Job 37:4 Then there comes a roaring sound; God thunders with his majestic voice. He does not restrain the lightning when his rumbling voice is heard. Job 37:5 God thunders wondrously with his voice; he does great things that we cannot comprehend. Job 37:6 Because he says to the snow, “Fall to the ground,” and the torrential rains, his mighty torrential rains, Job 37:7 serve as his sign to all mankind, so that all men may know his work. Job 37:8 The wild animals enter their lairs and stay in their dens. Job 37:9 The windstorm comes from its chamber, and the cold from the driving north winds. Job 37:10 Ice is formed by the breathing of God, and watery expanses are frozen. Job 37:11 He saturates clouds with moisture; he scatters his lightning through them. Job 37:12 They swirl about, turning round and round as he directs, accomplishing everything he commands them over the surface of the ground. Job 37:13 He causes this to happen for punishment, for his land, or for his faithful love. Job 37:14 Listen to this, Job. Stop and consider God’s wonders. Job 37:15 Do you know how God directs his clouds or makes their lightning flash? Job 37:16 Do you understand how the clouds float, those wonderful works of him who has perfect knowledge? Job 37:17 You whose clothes get hot when the south wind brings calm to the ground, Job 37:18 can you help God spread out the skies as firm as a cast metal mirror? Job 37:19 Teach us what we should say to him; we cannot prepare our case because of our darkness. Job 37:20 Should he be told that I want to speak? Can a man speak when he is confused? Job 37:21 Now no one can even look at the sun when it is in the skies, after a wind has swept through and cleared the clouds away. Job 37:22 Yet out of the north he comes, shrouded in a golden glow; awesome majesty surrounds him. Job 37:23 The Almighty — we cannot reach him — he is exalted in power! He will not violate justice and abundant righteousness, Job 37:24 therefore, men fear him. He does not regard any who are wise in heart.
a committed spirit
Elihu insists that God always works wondrous works. the last thing that he expects is that God would sit on the sidelines and wait. But that is what the God of wonders does for Job. The wonder God is showing is the wonder of a committed spirit who stays faithful in spite of tragedy and pain. Job stayed faithful to God because of who God is.
LORD, we trust you for who you are, not just what you do.
Job 36:1 Then Elihu continued and said: Job 36:2 Be patient with me a little longer, and I will inform you, for there is still more to be said on God’s behalf. Job 36:3 I will get my knowledge from a distant place and ascribe justice to my Maker. Job 36:4 Indeed, my words are not false; one who has complete knowledge is with you. Job 36:5 Yes, God is mighty, but he despises no one; he understands all things. Job 36:6 He does not keep the wicked alive, but he gives justice to the oppressed. Job 36:7 He does not withdraw his gaze from the righteous, but he seats them forever with enthroned kings, and they are exalted. Job 36:8 If people are bound with chains and trapped by the cords of affliction, Job 36:9 God tells them what they have done and how arrogantly they have transgressed. Job 36:10 He opens their ears to correction and tells them to turn from iniquity. Job 36:11 If they listen and serve him, they will end their days in prosperity and their years in happiness. Job 36:12 But if they do not listen, they will cross the river of death and die without knowledge. Job 36:13 Those who have a godless heart harbor anger; even when God binds them, they do not cry for help. Job 36:14 They die in their youth; their life ends among male cult prostitutes. Job 36:15 God rescues the afflicted by their affliction; he instructs them by their torment. Job 36:16 Indeed, he lured you from the jaws of distress to a spacious and unconfined place. Your table was spread with choice food. Job 36:17 Yet now you are obsessed with the judgment due the wicked; judgment and justice have seized you. Job 36:18 Be careful that no one lures you with riches; do not let a large ransom lead you astray. Job 36:19 Can your wealth or all your physical exertion keep you from distress? Job 36:20 Do not long for the night when nations will disappear from their places. Job 36:21 Be careful that you do not turn to iniquity, for that is why you have been tested by affliction. Job 36:22 Look, God shows himself exalted by his power. Who is a teacher like him? Job 36:23 Who has appointed his way for him, and who has declared, “You have done wrong”? Job 36:24 Remember that you should praise his work, which people have sung about. Job 36:25 All mankind has seen it; people have looked at it from a distance. Job 36:26 Yes, God is exalted beyond our knowledge; the number of his years cannot be counted. Job 36:27 For he makes waterdrops evaporate; they refine the rain into its mist, Job 36:28 which the clouds pour out and shower abundantly on mankind. Job 36:29 Can anyone understand how the clouds spread out or how the thunder roars from God’s pavilion? Job 36:30 See how he spreads his lightning around him and covers the depths of the sea. Job 36:31 For He judges the nations with these; he gives food in abundance. Job 36:32 He covers his hands with lightning and commands it to hit its mark. Job 36:33 The thunder declares his presence; the cattle also, the approaching storm.
theological myopia
Elihu assumes that God only works in one way and for one reason. He fails to see the big picture that reveals why Job was suffering. He was guilty of theological myopia.
LORD, forgive us for being so myopic. When we don’t know the whole story, keep us from publishing what we think we know.
Job 35:1 Then Elihu continued and said: Job 35:2 Do you think it is fair when you say, “I am righteous before God”? Job 35:3 Because you ask, “What does it profit you, and what benefit comes to me, if I do not sin?” Job 35:4 I will answer you and your friends with you. Job 35:5 Look at the sky and see; gaze at the clouds high above you. Job 35:6 If you sin, how does it affect God? If you multiply your transgressions, what does it do to him? Job 35:7 If you are righteous, what do you give him, or what does he receive from your hand? Job 35:8 Your wickedness affects a person like yourself, and your righteousness, a son of Adam. Job 35:9 People cry out because of severe oppression; they shout for help because of the power of the mighty. Job 35:10 But no one asks, “Where is God my Maker, who provides us with songs in the night, Job 35:11 who gives us more understanding than the animals of the land and makes us wiser than the birds of the sky?” Job 35:12 There they cry out, but he does not answer, because of the pride of evil people. Job 35:13 Indeed, God does not listen to empty cries, and the Almighty does not take note of it — Job 35:14 how much less when you complain that you do not see him, that your case is before him, and you are waiting for him. Job 35:15 But now, because God’s anger does not punish and he does not pay attention to transgression, Job 35:16 Job opens his mouth in vain and multiplies words unknowingly.
accused of trusting
Elihu accused Job of trusting God and waiting on him for an answer. May we all be guilty of that crime!
Job 34:1 Then Elihu continued and said: Job 34:2 Hear my words, wise ones, and listen to me, knowing ones. Job 34:3 Doesn’t the ear test words as the palate tastes food? Job 34:4 Let us judge for ourselves what is right; let us decide together what is good. Job 34:5 Because Job has declared, “I am righteous, yet God has deprived me of justice. Job 34:6 Would I lie about my case? My wound is incurable, though I am without transgression.” Job 34:7 What healthy man is like Job? He drinks derision like water. Job 34:8 He keeps company with evildoers and walks with wicked men. Job 34:9 Because he has said, “A healthy man gains nothing when he becomes God’s friend.” Job 34:10 Therefore listen to me, you men of understanding. It is impossible for God to do wrong, and for the Almighty to act unjustly. Job 34:11 Because he repays a person according to his deeds, and he gives him what his conduct deserves. Job 34:12 It is also true that God does not act wickedly and the Almighty does not pervert justice. Job 34:13 Who gave him authority over the land? Who put him in charge of the continents? Job 34:14 If he put his mind to it and withdrew the breath and breathing he gave, Job 34:15 every living thing would expire together and Adam would return to the dust. Job 34:16 If you have insight, hear this; listen to what I have to say. Job 34:17 Could one who hates justice govern the world? Will you condemn the mighty Righteous One, Job 34:18 who says to a king, “Worthless man!” and to nobles, “Wicked men!”? Job 34:19 God is not partial to princes and does not favor the rich over the poor, for they are all the work of his hands. Job 34:20 They die suddenly in the middle of the night; people shudder, then pass away. Even the mighty are removed without effort. Job 34:21 For his eyes watch over a man’s ways, and he observes all his steps. Job 34:22 There is no darkness, no deep darkness, where evildoers can hide. Job 34:23 God does not need to examine a person further, that one should approach him in court. Job 34:24 He shatters the mighty without an investigation and sets others in their place. Job 34:25 Therefore, he recognizes their deeds and overthrows them by night, and they are crushed. Job 34:26 In full view of the public, he strikes them for their wickedness, Job 34:27 because they turned aside from following him and did not understand any of his ways Job 34:28 but caused the poor to cry out to him, and he heard the outcry of the needy. Job 34:29 But when God is silent, who can declare him guilty? When he hides his face, who can see him? Yet he watches over both individuals and nations, Job 34:30 so that godless men should not rule or ensnare the people. Job 34:31 Suppose someone says to God, “I have endured my punishment; I will no longer act wickedly. Job 34:32 Teach me what I cannot see; if I have done wrong, I won’t do it again.” Job 34:33 Should God repay you on your terms when you have rejected his? You must choose, not I! So, declare what you know. Job 34:34 Reasonable men will say to me, along with the wise healthy men who hear me, Job 34:35 “Job speaks without knowledge; his words are without insight.” Job 34:36 If only Job were tested to the limit, because his answers are like those of wicked men. Job 34:37 Because he adds rebellion to his sin; he scornfully claps in our presence, while multiplying his words against God.
wrong assumption
Elihu insists that God must be in the right, therefore Job must have wronged someone for God to bring this suffering upon him. He feels he must say this in order to defend God. Believers need to be careful who we condemn. God is capable of fighting his own battles.
LORD, give us the grace to trust your judgment, but not to assume that it is happening.
Devotions 