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February 25, 2010
Job 25:1 – 27:23 Then Bildad the Shuhite replied: 2 “Dominion and awe belong to God; he establishes order in the heights of heaven. 3 Can his forces be numbered? Upon whom does his light not rise? 4 How then can a man be righteous before God? How can one born of woman be pure? 5 If even the moon is not bright and the stars are not pure in his eyes, 6 how much less man, who is but a maggot– a son of man, who is only a worm!” NIV Job 26:1 Then Job replied: 2 “How you have helped the powerless! How you have saved the arm that is feeble! 3 What advice you have offered to one without wisdom! And what great insight you have displayed! 4 Who has helped you utter these words? And whose spirit spoke from your mouth? 5 “The dead are in deep anguish, those beneath the waters and all that live in them. 6 Death is naked before God; Destruction lies uncovered. 7 He spreads out the northern skies over empty space; he suspends the earth over nothing. 8 He wraps up the waters in his clouds, yet the clouds do not burst under their weight. 9 He covers the face of the full moon, spreading his clouds over it. 10 He marks out the horizon on the face of the waters for a boundary between light and darkness. 11 The pillars of the heavens quake, aghast at his rebuke. 12 By his power he churned up the sea; by his wisdom he cut Rahab to pieces. 13 By his breath the skies became fair; his hand pierced the gliding serpent. 14 And these are but the outer fringe of his works; how faint the whisper we hear of him! Who then can understand the thunder of his power?” NIV Job 27:1 And Job continued his discourse: 2 “As surely as God lives, who has denied me justice, the Almighty, who has made me taste bitterness of soul, 3 as long as I have life within me, the breath of God in my nostrils, 4 my lips will not speak wickedness, and my tongue will utter no deceit. 5 I will never admit you are in the right; till I die, I will not deny my integrity. 6 I will maintain my righteousness and never let go of it; my conscience will not reproach me as long as I live. 7 “May my enemies be like the wicked, my adversaries like the unjust! 8 For what hope has the godless when he is cut off, when God takes away his life? 9 Does God listen to his cry when distress comes upon him? 10 Will he find delight in the Almighty? Will he call upon God at all times? 11 “I will teach you about the power of God; the ways of the Almighty I will not conceal. 12 You have all seen this yourselves. Why then this meaningless talk? 13 “Here is the fate God allots to the wicked, the heritage a ruthless man receives from the Almighty: 14 However many his children, their fate is the sword; his offspring will never have enough to eat. 15 The plague will bury those who survive him, and their widows will not weep for them. 16 Though he heaps up silver like dust and clothes like piles of clay, 17 what he lays up the righteous will wear, and the innocent will divide his silver. 18 The house he builds is like a moth’s cocoon, like a hut made by a watchman. 19 He lies down wealthy, but will do so no more; when he opens his eyes, all is gone. 20 Terrors overtake him like a flood; a tempest snatches him away in the night. 21 The east wind carries him off, and he is gone; it sweeps him out of his place. 22 It hurls itself against him without mercy as he flees headlong from its power. 23 It claps its hands in derision and hisses him out of his place.
Matthew 19:1-15 When Jesus had finished saying these things, he left Galilee and went into the region of Judea to the other side of the Jordan. 2 Large crowds followed him, and he healed them there. 3 Some Pharisees came to him to test him. They asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any and every reason?” 4 “Haven’t you read,” he replied, “that at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’ 5 and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’? 6 So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate.” 7 “Why then,” they asked, “did Moses command that a man give his wife a certificate of divorce and send her away?” 8 Jesus replied, “Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because your hearts were hard. But it was not this way from the beginning. 9 I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for marital unfaithfulness, and marries another woman commits adultery.” 10 The disciples said to him, “If this is the situation between a husband and wife, it is better not to marry.” 11 Jesus replied, “Not everyone can accept this word, but only those to whom it has been given. 12 For some are eunuchs because they were born that way; others were made that way by men; and others have renounced marriage because of the kingdom of heaven. The one who can accept this should accept it.” 13 Then little children were brought to Jesus for him to place his hands on them and pray for them. But the disciples rebuked those who brought them. 14 Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” 15 When he had placed his hands on them, he went on from there.
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Books: Job, Matthew 2 Comments »
2 Responses to “February 25, 2010”
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February 25th, 2008 at 6:13 am
Job 26:14 “And these are but the outer fringe of his works; how faint the whisper we hear of him! Who then can understand the thunder of his power?”
This is one of my favorite verses for contemplating the greatness of God. It conjures up images of rolling thunder in the distance as a metaphor for our experience of God’s power in this world. What we are seeing is but the outer fringe of his works; what an awesome reality to consider.
February 25th, 2008 at 6:21 am
I find it interesting in Jesus’ teaching on divorce how the disciples come away saying “If this is the situation between a husband and wife, it is better not to marry.” I think this is because the popular teaching at the time was that all a man needed to do to divorce his wife was to say “I divorce you” three times, and that he could do it for any reason, even down to burning dinner. The result, since women did not have the same opportunities in those days to work and support themselves, was that a divorced woman would be in a very difficult place financially and socially. When Jesus proclaims that divorce should not be so simple, his disciples seem to be afraid of being stuck in a bad marriage or something, so they marvel at how it is probably better not to get married at all.
But Jesus’ response is very interesting. I see him holding up singleness as a worthy calling, not a curse from God, which would have been the case for a lot of people in such a family-oriented society. He says that not everyone can accept the teaching that it is better not to be married, but that some have become eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of God. If I hear him correctly, he’s saying that there are some who give up marriage in order to devote themselves fully to God, and that this is a very good thing that not everyone can accept. Paul (another single man) says the same thing in 1 Corinthians 7:32-35:
32 I would like you to be free from concern. An unmarried man is concerned about the Lord’s affairs– how he can please the Lord. 33 But a married man is concerned about the affairs of this world– how he can please his wife– 34 and his interests are divided. An unmarried woman or virgin is concerned about the Lord’s affairs: Her aim is to be devoted to the Lord in both body and spirit. But a married woman is concerned about the affairs of this world– how she can please her husband. 35 I am saying this for your own good, not to restrict you, but that you may live in a right way in undivided devotion to the Lord.
This acknowledgement that singleness is often an honorable choice if done in order to serve God wholeheartedly is very counter-cultural, not only in Jesus’ day but today as well.