« February 19, 2010 | Home | February 21, 2010 »
February 20, 2010
Job 13:1 – 14:22 “My eyes have seen all this, my ears have heard and understood it. 2 What you know, I also know; I am not inferior to you. 3 But I desire to speak to the Almighty and to argue my case with God. 4 You, however, smear me with lies; you are worthless physicians, all of you! 5 If only you would be altogether silent! For you, that would be wisdom. 6 Hear now my argument; listen to the plea of my lips. 7 Will you speak wickedly on God’s behalf? Will you speak deceitfully for him? 8 Will you show him partiality? Will you argue the case for God? 9 Would it turn out well if he examined you? Could you deceive him as you might deceive men? 10 He would surely rebuke you if you secretly showed partiality. 11 Would not his splendor terrify you? Would not the dread of him fall on you? 12 Your maxims are proverbs of ashes; your defenses are defenses of clay. 13 “Keep silent and let me speak; then let come to me what may. 14 Why do I put myself in jeopardy and take my life in my hands? 15 Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him; I will surely defend my ways to his face. 16 Indeed, this will turn out for my deliverance, for no godless man would dare come before him! 17 Listen carefully to my words; let your ears take in what I say. 18 Now that I have prepared my case, I know I will be vindicated. 19 Can anyone bring charges against me? If so, I will be silent and die. 20 “Only grant me these two things, O God, and then I will not hide from you: 21 Withdraw your hand far from me, and stop frightening me with your terrors. 22 Then summon me and I will answer, or let me speak, and you reply. 23 How many wrongs and sins have I committed? Show me my offense and my sin. 24 Why do you hide your face and consider me your enemy? 25 Will you torment a windblown leaf? Will you chase after dry chaff? 26 For you write down bitter things against me and make me inherit the sins of my youth. 27 You fasten my feet in shackles; you keep close watch on all my paths by putting marks on the soles of my feet. 28 “So man wastes away like something rotten, like a garment eaten by moths. NIV Job 14:1 “Man born of woman is of few days and full of trouble. 2 He springs up like a flower and withers away; like a fleeting shadow, he does not endure. 3 Do you fix your eye on such a one? Will you bring him before you for judgment? 4 Who can bring what is pure from the impure? No one! 5 Man’s days are determined; you have decreed the number of his months and have set limits he cannot exceed. 6 So look away from him and let him alone, till he has put in his time like a hired man. 7 “At least there is hope for a tree: If it is cut down, it will sprout again, and its new shoots will not fail. 8 Its roots may grow old in the ground and its stump die in the soil, 9 yet at the scent of water it will bud and put forth shoots like a plant. 10 But man dies and is laid low; he breathes his last and is no more. 11 As water disappears from the sea or a riverbed becomes parched and dry, 12 so man lies down and does not rise; till the heavens are no more, men will not awake or be roused from their sleep. 13 “If only you would hide me in the grave and conceal me till your anger has passed! If only you would set me a time and then remember me! 14 If a man dies, will he live again? All the days of my hard service I will wait for my renewal to come. 15 You will call and I will answer you; you will long for the creature your hands have made. 16 Surely then you will count my steps but not keep track of my sin. 17 My offenses will be sealed up in a bag; you will cover over my sin. 18 “But as a mountain erodes and crumbles and as a rock is moved from its place, 19 as water wears away stones and torrents wash away the soil, so you destroy man’s hope. 20 You overpower him once for all, and he is gone; you change his countenance and send him away. 21 If his sons are honored, he does not know it; if they are brought low, he does not see it. 22 He feels but the pain of his own body and mourns only for himself.”
Matthew 17:14-21 When they came to the crowd, a man approached Jesus and knelt before him. 15 “Lord, have mercy on my son,” he said. “He has seizures and is suffering greatly. He often falls into the fire or into the water. 16 I brought him to your disciples, but they could not heal him.” 17 “O unbelieving and perverse generation,” Jesus replied, “how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy here to me.” 18 Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of the boy, and he was healed from that moment. 19 Then the disciples came to Jesus in private and asked, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?” 20 He replied, “Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” 21
If you enjoyed this post, make sure you sign up to receive future readings sent directly to your email inbox.!
Books: Job, Matthew 2 Comments »
2 Responses to “February 20, 2010”
Comments
Stay connected! Be notified via e-mail when others leave comments on this site, click here and sign up now!
February 20th, 2008 at 6:25 am
I know that in the end God is sovereign, and it is ultimately up to Him whether or not He allows someone to be healed, and in what time that happens. But I also want to learn from passages such as this Matthew one that our faith or lack thereof can play a role in His healing. The disciples were apparently listening to the crowd’s skepticism and unbelief, and where therefore unable to heal the boy, even though Jesus had already given them the power to do so. Jesus tells them that all they needed was a little faith and God would have done the rest, and then proceeds to heal the boy. There are other passages that emphasize the faith of the recipient, but this one is all about the faith of the one doing the healing. I pray that I would do my part to continue to believe that God is capable of healing and wants to eventually see all diseases healed and all evil banished. May God use me to bring His healing power to those in need.
February 20th, 2008 at 8:03 am
Job says so many thinks that are interesting on their own, such as:
12:5 “men at ease have contempt for misfortune as the fate of those whose feet are slipping”
13:5 “If only you would be altogther silent! For you, that would be wisdom.” (of his friends)
14:1″Man born of women is of few days and full of trouble”
To hold the above three thoughts together I think is useful.
However, it seems that the great sweep of what Job is saying is of greater importance. Behind chapter 14, I see in Job a longing for eternity and justice, a place where all wrongs will be righted. I think that is the importance of the tree picture. There is a rising sense in Job that a just God will not let man lie in the grave, or that all the honorign of sons etc, that these things must be recorded.
I am wondering if there is a lesson for me/us here. In the American evengelical church we can be deaf to the groaning of the world. So many children are born to poverty, born with AIDs maybe and are doomed to a short life of sorrow and hardship; street kids in the major cities of the world. Do we hear them? Maybe this is why it is so important to pray daily the Lord’s Prayer, “Thy kingdom come”. That is what will put right all the wrongs and how we express our sorrow over the experinces of our fellow men, and that as we are able, leads us to help.