Sept 14

One thing that has struck me about reading Job this time that I have never noticed is that he apparently has other family and friends. Job 19:13-20 talks about how his brothers are alienated from him, his aquintances estranged, his servants no where to be found. His intimate friends dispise him, his kinsman have left him. Almost always in every tragedy we hear people say "At least I have ___________(my kids, my parents, my church family- whatever; fill in the blank". But EVERYONE has turned on Job. Ealier in the chapters, there are illusions to his father too. Where is he now??

With absolutley everything and everyone against him, Job is still able to say, "I treasured the words of his mouth more than my daily bread" Job 23:12. He truly had so much of God's Word in him before all this struck, that it was able to sustain him.

Sept 13

Every day in the reading of Job, amidst the annoying friends and endless monologues there is a beautiful treasure. Today's is HUGE. It seems in the midst of Job's suffering and longings God gives him a prophecy. I'm not sure in the midst of his suffering that he even recognizes it as a prophecy. But he has a very keen aweness of how things will be in the distant future. And I'm sure that is what kept him going and it's the same for us today! I marvel at the whole passage- Job 19:25-27
 I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand upon the earth.
26 And after my skin has been destroyed,
yet  in  my flesh I will see God;
27 I myself will see him
with my own eyes—I, and not another.
How my heart yearns within me!
It's hard to express how profound this is. It's thought to be one of the earliest works of scripture and yet Job knows that he will stand with his Redeemer, on the earth after he has died (presumably in the Mellenium).

When we were in Seattle one time, we got to watch a long running Passion Play. We were lucky that Nichole C. Mullen was there that day as a special guest. As dusk decended on the play and Christ was crucified, she sang her song, "Redeemer". At the point where she belts out "I KNOW my Redeemer lives" the hillside lit up with angels and Christ arose. It was really, really awesome. It won't be the same, but enjoy her youtube video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9p4G2GbPYQA

Sept 12 (revised)

(I accidently 'published' instead of 'previewed' this before I was done, so if you got this by e-mail and it sounded half done it was :)

I have a confession- I peeked ahead. We will be done read Job on Sept 18th. Yup- I confess- I'm not into Job. Like I said, there is a ton of great stuff there. But, it's such an interuption to the story line we were on. I'm not good at that :) But, like I also said, that's how suffering is......an interuption of the plan.


I honestly don't know how Job doesn't use what last little bit of strength he has left to strangle these 3 'friends'. I work 12 hr shifts in a small unit and can seldom leave the area. If you have a personality conflict with someone you spend 12 hrs with, it can seem like an eternity. (Most of my colleages are fabulous- but I've been at this for 30 years- so I've worked with a lot of people!). Sometimes they NEVER shut up! You couldn't get a word in edge wise if you paid for it! Or worse yet, you have something important to say or ask, and they have already made up their mind what you are going to say and they don't want to hear. You get the 'talk to the hand' treatment.

Job has to listen to these guys tell him that he must have sinned to have caused all this for MONTHS! After that much badgering and in his weakened and suffering position, I'm suprised that he didn't lose it and falsely confess just to shut them up! His three friends started out with a great idea- they left their homes in order to comfort him and sypmathize with him. Job 2:11-13. They felt so bad for him they just sat with him for 7 days and didn't say a word. And then it started. Talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk........

 I'm pretty sure I would have blown at this point and said, "Will you SHUT UP!!". Job does struggle but he never loses it totally. I think that this is because of what I talked about yesterday- he keeps his focus on God. Amazing.

I also like in this chapter how he still has a gut belief that somehow, somewhere, Someone to be an advocate, an intercessor. In the previous readings, he pleads for such a One. In chapter 16, it's as though he sees Him by faith.

19 Even now my witness is in heaven; my advocate is on high.
20 My intercessor is my friend
as my eyes pour out tears to God;
21 on behalf of a man he pleads with God
as a man pleads for his friend.

It's so easy on this side of the cross to take this advocacy for granted. We need an Advocate! God is more than love, He is also justice and holiness and the fact that Jesus Christ has taken our punishment and become our personal advocate in heaven is mind blowing. We have what Job could only long for and cling to by faith.

Sept 12

I have a confession- I peeked ahead. We will be done read Job on Sept 18th. Yup- I confess- I'm not into Job. Like I said, there is a ton of great stuff there. But, it's such an interuption to the story line we were on. I'm not good at that :)  But, like I also said, that's how suffering is......an interuption of the plan.

I honestly don't know how Job doesn't use what last little bit of strength he has left to strangle these 3 'friends'. I work 12 hr shifts in a small unit and can seldom leave the area. If you have a personality conflict with someone you spend 12 hrs with, it can seem like an eternity.  (Most of my colleages are fabulous- but I've been at this for 30 years- so I've worked with a lot of people!). Sometimes they NEVER shut up! You couldn't get a word in edge wise if you paid for it! Or worse yet, you have something important to say or ask, and they have already made up their mind what you are going to say and they don't want to hear. You get the 'talk to the hand' treatment.

Job has to listen to these guys tell him that he must have sinner to have caused all this for MONTHS! 

(I wasnt' done with this and accidently pushed 'publish' instead of 'preview'. If you get this by email there is more coming)

Sept 11

It's an appropriate day to talk about suffering. We will never forget the events of this day.

Job wrestles with suffering on a personal level as we experienced on a national level. He is not afraid to question, to probe.....he even complains (to a point). But he always keeps God his focus. The focus is not his suffering. If we had been writing it, I'm sure could have gone on and on and on about our sufferening! I know I could have especially if involved losing children and severe physical pain. It would be hard to have your focus off that for even a second.

We are given enough details of the suffering to understand it, but not enough to wallow in it. The focus turns quickly back to God. In Job 12:13-15, Job expounds of God's wisdom, power and providence. He realizes his place, that he (Job) is not God. This may sound rather obvious but you would be suprised how many discussions I have with people about God that really amount to the fact that they have a better idea on how to run the world. "Why doesn't God __________". I think it's ok to question and obviously Job had a lot of questions, but you have to start and end at point where you know that even though you don't understand and that you may never understand, that God does know what He's doing. He's proved it over and over and over. So rest and trust in it.

I marvel at Job's monumental faith that says, "Though he slay me, I will trust Him........indeed this will turn out for my deliverance" (Job 13:15-16) He didn't have the benifit of being able to read the scriptures in the way we do today. He didn't have hundreds of Christian books and biographies of martyrs to read that could strengthen his faith. He didn't have the Holy Spirit (the Comforter) in the same way we do today. But, he made up his mind to keep his focus on God, not on his circumstance or the people around him. Awesome lessons.

Sept 10

If only.........
Job continued to feel oppressed. He continued to feel utterly helpless under the hand of a mighty and just God. Job knew he was innocent but felt helpless against a powerful God. How can he even defend himself against the Maker of the Universe....the one Who put the constellations in place. If only there were Someone worthy to plead his case. He yearns for an advocate.

The book of Job is said to be a literary masterpiece in Hebrew. It is a poem, the work of a skilled and brilliant poet. Of course that aspect is lost to us non-Hebrew readers. But there are a few passages that are so beautiful that you can get a sense of it's timeless literary brilliance. Job 9:32-35 is one of those. Speaking of God, Job says:

He is not a man like me that I might answer him, that we might confront each other in court. If only there were someone to arbitrate between us, to lay his hand upon us both, someone to remove God’s rod from me, so that his terror would frighten me no more. Then I would speak up without fear of him, but as it now stands with me, I cannot.

It sounds so sad and hopeless. Many Christians have suffered in their life but they have never had to suffer this "If only" feeling. Because we DO have an Arbitrator, someone who have laid His hand on us both (1 Timothy 2:5; Hebrews 7:25; Heb. 12:24) None of us have ever had to suffer God's wrath without the buffer of grace that Jesus gave His life to provide.

Sept 9

Job is a fabulous book. It's amazing that one man's suffering has helped generation upon generation of people. Having said that, I am soooooooooo not in the mood for it. I was all geeked up with Nebechanezer and thinking that the rest of Daniel was going to be next. I was really getting into the fact that the chronology of it is all clicking with me. I was thinking soon I'd be able to share my next "To the exact day" prophesy about Daniel's 70 weeks. And bam.....here comes Job.

The other popular Chronological Bible that is out there, puts Job in the middle of Genesis. It would be a big interuption to the story there too. He just doesn't fit neatly with any timetable and the charcters seem out of place with the rest of the 'story line' of the Bible. But isn't that the way with suffering? It never comes at the right time, it doesn't fit your time table and no one sticks to what seems to be the right script. I know that when we went through an extremely difficult time in our family, many of my friends turned their back. I know that some did not know what to say or how to be supportive, but some that I trusted and turned to actually gossiped about it and said very hurtful things behind my back. But we were lucky- many other friends supported us in ways that we never could have imagined. To this day I can't talk about it without getting choked up. And that's what I chose to focus on. Job didn't have that luxury- he had nothing left positive to focus on.

I think another thing that we can learn from Job is that we need to take our facts from God's Word not popular school's of thought. It was commonly thought that sickness and punishment were always a direct result of sin. This was a popular notion all the way up to Jesus time. Followers asked Him why a man was blind- because of his own sin or because of his parents (John 9:2). Jesus tells them neither. Job didn't sin either and his friends will do his best to get him to admit that he had. Sin does get punished but not ALL sickness is a result of sin. Just because something is a popular notion and has been believed for hundreds of years doesn't make it true.

Job 6:8-13 was especially beautiful. Job talks of his joy in the midst of his unrelenting pain. His joy, shockingly, is that he had not denied the words of the Holy One. And he wished God would just get it over with and crush him so that there would be no chance that he would deny him. I can't imagine that being a focus for me in the midst of the kind of suffering Job was facing.

Sept 8

I work in a hospital as a nurse- we regularly practice skills we need in crisis. But do we ever think to do this in real life? We live in a crazy and unpredictable world and although God is always in control and He does work all things together for good- things can and will go wrong in your life. Maybe 'wrong' is not even the right word, but we will have crisis in your life.

One thing that I have learned to do is to try to 'spiritually prepare' for crisis. One of the foundations of this in Job 1:20. Occasionally I mentally 'reherse' No matter what tragedy comes _______________(fill in the blank with what you fear most), I WILL worship God. Job tore his robe and shaved his head (the traditional sign of grieving and mourning in that culture) AND fell on the ground in worship. It's good to have that settled ahead of time, because we certainly do not think clearly in a crisis.

A few of the lessons Job has also taught me in this first three chapters-

• He acknowleges that EVERYTHING he has was given to him by God
• He praises God, even in the pain. Let the NAME of the LORD be PRAISED
• He did not sin or charge God with wrongdoing
• He did not let the opinions of his spouse or friends change his reaction. Although he was totally alone in his beliefs, he never wavered
• He did grieve and didn't try to just 'slap a happy face it' but he always keeps God and His sovereingty uppermost in his thoughts.

I am certain that when faced with crisis that I will not go through it as well as I would hope. But being a little prepared can't hurt. Everyone will have to face things that they would rather not deal with. Having a game plan in mind can help. We can learn from Job's stratagies.

One thing Job never asked is "Why me". We often hear people ask that and I've asked that question a lot myself. But, I've learned to see that at the root of that question is a prideful heart. "I deserve better! I'm special. Look at so-n-so, I am a lot better than them, and nothing bad ever seems to happen to them".  We need to turn the focus from us to God. Blessed be HIS name. And the counter intuitive thing that happpens is, the more we magnify Him, the better we feel. It's because it is what we were created to do.

As we read through Job, I think that's one of the greatest lessons we can learn from him- humility. It's sadly lacking in our society. And, I'll be honest, it's sadly lacking in me. I thought I was making some progress until a 'button pusher' (we all have them) pushed one too many buttons and out of me spewed ugliness that I didn't know was in there.

 I was raised by hard working, humble parents who were wise enough not to let me even remotely imagine that I was the center of the universe. I can't imagine the next generation coming up who is being raised to think it IS all about them and their happiness. Lord help us. We will need it.

Sept 7

Even though the reason that we see so much information about the surrounding nations of is that the Jews were disobedient and were carried into captivity, it's interesting to see how God's hand is on the surrounding nations. "Controlling" would be too strong a word, because of course God always gives us free will, but we certainly get a chance to see how He is working in the course of human history in nations other than Israel.

Nebuchadnezzar is an odd duck. He actually believes in God and believes he is the Most High God. But he never quite gets to the point where he believes it enough let it change his life and his worsphip and renounce other gods. He does initially realize that his success is a gift from God, but gradually he becomes more and more prideful and things go very badly for him.

Interestingly, Sadam Hussien believed that he was the successor of Nebuchadnezzar or even the late king reincarnated. His dream was to take over surrounding nations and especially Israel/Jerusalem as Nebuchadnezzar had. He commisioined the rebuilding of the ancient hanging gardens of Babylon and had his name incribed on every brick just as Nebucenchadnezzer had (http://www.aish.com/jw/j/48960566.html) He did end up being like him, but not in the way he imagined! Both men end up scrounging arund in the dirt like animals. Sadam was eventually hanged. Nebuchandnezzer faired better because he looked up and remembered God.

Sept 6

Well this is one of those passages of scripture that if you did not truly believe that God inspired His word and prompted men to write it down and miraculously preserved it AND that it all somehow ties together- one would wonder what Ezekiel had been smoking.

I'm not going to pretend I understand it all or that even that parts that I do understand make sense. But I guess that is where faith comes in. I don't know if when all this happens we will be able remember to look back on these confusing moments and remember and say, "OH now I get it" or not. But if we will be able to- look me up and we'll chat about it :)

The first thing I got stuck on is- who the prince they are talking about? Some believe him to be David (http://www.bibletrack.org/cgi-bin/bible.pl?dy=5&mo=12) and most believe he cannot be Messiah/Jesus since he appears to have actual physical sons to give land to (although aren't we called his sons?) and he does not sit on the throne. The odd thing is that this 'prince' seems to perform as a priest which doesn't really bring David to my mind.

The next thing that struck me was that this temple that they are talking about has water flowing into the sea. (Ezekiel 47:1-12) I would have assumed this to the Med (people geographically smarter than me would probably not make this mistake). But then they talked about fishermen from En Gedi to En Eglaim they will there be places to spread out their nets (we'll be fishing in the Mellenium? My parents will be happy) En Gedi is over by the Dead Sea. I checked it out- sure enough they are refering to the Dead Sea. There is not one single living thing in the Dead Sea- not so much as a piece of sea weed. The Dead Sea is going to come to life!!!!????? (but the swamps and marshes will not become fresh; they will be left for salt).  Fruit trees will grow on both sides of the river. Wow.

The third and most confusing to me is the sacrificing. Most commentators agree that it will be a type of memorial 'looking back' on Christ's ultimate sacrifice us. But I cannot wrap my head around animals being sacrificed after Christ's return.  (And my mother will be very upset- hopefully she will stay busy fishing :)

The only 'big picture' sense I can make out if it, is that God had a very specific plan for Israel and due to their sin, it was never fully realized. In the mellenium, it appears, we will be living in that plan as originally intended.