Job 8-11:20
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Okay, so I am sure that most of us have heard the old adage “patience of Job.” (As in, “she has the patience of Job.” etc.) Well, today’s chapters 9 & 10 are probably not where this adage came from! 🙂 Job is not showing a lot of patience in these chapters. Can you blame him? Would you speak differently if you were in Job’s situation? Or perhaps would your language be worse? It is important to note that Job does not curse God directly, as Satan said Job would do in the beginning of the book. Job is certainly complaining about his situation – and, well, not to spoil the book of Job here for you… but Job will repent of what he says to God later in the book. In Job chapter 10 today we read Job’s plea to God, including this in verses 18 through 22: “`Why, then, did you bring me out of my mother’s womb? Why didn’t you let me die at birth? Then I would have been spared this miserable existence. I would have gone directly from the womb to the grave. I have only a little time left, so leave me alone–that I may have a little moment of comfort before I leave for the land of darkness and utter gloom, never to return. It is a land as dark as midnight, a land of utter gloom where confusion reigns and the light is as dark as midnight.’”
The other adage, in addition to “patience of Job”, that I was thinking about in today’s readings is “with friends like these, who needs enemies??” 🙂 Zophar in chapter 11 seems to really have compassion-deficiency! I do think that Zophar and Bildad in chapter 8 were trying to say the things they thought Job needed to hear. But they overstated the case I think in a few places. I don’t agree w/ Zophar saying in chapter 11 verse 3 that Job mocked God: “When you mock God, shouldn’t someone make you ashamed?” Here’s my question for us today. Are we sometimes like Zophar and Bildad? Do we jump to conclusions about maybe why bad things are happening to our friends? Do we offer up our big advice and big words and big bluster before really listening to our friends and understanding their situation fully? I am afraid that sometimes we jump to conclusions far too quickly. I always try to remember the old Stephen Covey adage (wow, 3 adages here in 1 post! 🙂 from the “7 Habits of Highly Effective People”: “Seek first to understand, and then to be understood.” Let us seek first to really understand our friends or family members issues before we start offering our prescriptions for them. Let us first try walking a mile in their shoes!
Worship God: Today’s readings in Job 11:7 reminded me of Chris Tomlin’s song “Indescribable:”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6bfUf9S7wY
Do you know our Indescribable God? Click here for His description!
Please join us in memorizing and meditating on a verse of Scripture today: “Can you fathom the mysteries of God? Can you probe the limits of the Almighty?” Job 11:7 NIV
Prayer Point: Pray that you simply worship God for His unfathomable mysteries and for His eternal limitlessness.
Comments from You: What verses or insights stand out to you in today’s readings? Please post up by clicking on the “Comments” link below!
God bless,
Mike
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