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Heart Preparation:
Each morning, realize what you are reading. These are not historical accounts only. These are not ancient documents only. You are reading the story of Gods redeeming love, where He is showing how He did everything to come find you. But as you will see in this weeks reading in Job, it’s because of who He is, not because of us. Each morning, take a moment to reflect on the One True God, and ask Him to reveal Himself to you in the reading. Week’s Reading Plan:
What to Expect: Last week you left off with the conversations coming to an end and what felt like proverbs of Job, This week the book continues with Elihu. Watch for what Elihu says about the 3 friends, and what he says to Job. He also has an obvious honor for God. Then after finishing Job, we move back into Genesis. Last week we saw Creation, The Fall, The Flood and the Tower of Bable. It picks up in Ch12 with the call of Abram, later known as Abraham. Things to Look For: In Job pay attention to chapters 40-42 to see the response from God. This will give the best incite for interpretation of the earlier chapters. In Genesis the obvious thing to look for is the faithfulness of Abraham. Abraham is a well-known figure in the Bible and is considered the patriarch of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Hefollows God’s command to go to a place he has never seen and travel through lands he has never been to. There are so many accounts that we will find familiar in these chapters of Genesis. Ch 21 at the end of the week will conclude with the birth of Isaac. Personal Insight: Abraham’s covenant with God stands as a foundational pillar of biblical theology, symbolizing divine promise and human obedience. In Genesis 12:1-3, God initiates this covenant, declaring to Abraham, “I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.” God is laying the groundwork for the eventual fulfillment of salvation through Christ with a covenant to bless his people. Abraham is also found in Hebrews 11:8 (The Hall of Faith) which repeats his steadfastness, stating, “By faith, Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going.” We see at the foundation of our Christian Walk is faith. Remember that we must have faith in Christ, this affects every aspect of our lives, and we see this in these accounts of Abraham. Prayer God, You are God and I am not. You are all powerful, You are all knowing, You are all places. We are but a vapor in the wind. Reveal to me Your goodness, Your might, and Your love. Show me more of You. Reveal Yourself to me as I make time to be with You, in Your presence. Thank you Jesus! Suggested Worship Nothing Else by Cody Carnes This week’s devotion was prepared by Curt Zahm, associate pastor at Center Christian Church.
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Heart Preparation:
Take a moment to prepare your heart to enter into relationship with you. You are about to read the Words of eternal life. There is a purpose behind the passages you are going to read this week, God has a message for His people. Pray that your mind would be focused and your heart would be opened to His Word. Week's Reading:
What to Expect: Job is a book written in a literary sandwich with a prologue, a main body, and an epilogue. It reads like a story, differently from some texts from this time which are more like an arbitrary compilation. Last week you were introduced to Job, a wealthy and righteous man who comes under attack from Satan, taking everything but his life. In our passages this week we will continue through Job and see the conversation between Job and his friends. We won’t finish the book until Wednesday next week, which will give closure to God’s perspective, Verdict, and Job’s Restoration. Things to Look For: Some questions we can find answers for in Job are: (1) Is God Almighty? (2) Is God Just? (3) Is man innocent? When I read Job, I feel he was dealt a bad hand, but through the answers to these questions, I believe we can find what God intended to be learned from this Story. With that in mind I want to include something to “Look Out” for. It may be easy to pull verses from the book of Job and believe you are sharing the Wisdom God intends for us to find in Scripture, but before you take a verse from Job, consider the context. Later in Job 42, God clearly condemns the advice that these 3 friends have given. Though it might seem to make sense, the real teaching of God is not in the advice that was given, but in many ways the contrary. How we understand the bad things that happen to people in this world is surprisingly different than it sometimes seems. Personal Insight: There is a lot of lengthy back and forth between Job and his 3 friends in these passages. To break that down, I felt Eliphaz told Job his misfortune was because of his secret sins that must be brought to light. Bildad and Zophar aren’t much different. They all assume Job is guilty of something that would merit this punishment, though this isn’t the case. Job replies that he hasn’t done what his friends are assuming he has done. The focus for me is the good things the friends did. They came to check on Job. They empathized with Job, tearing the clothes and sprinkling ashes on their heads, and they spent time with Job, 7 days in silence. This shows care, and it’s what good Christian brothers and sisters should do in bearing together. Prayer: God, I don't always know what You have planned. This world can be full of heartache and sorrow, yet You have given me eternal hope through Jesus. Show me Your goodness, no matter what circumstances I may encounter. Help me to fix my eyes on You through the highs and the lows. And open my eyes to those around me who may be hurting, and need Your comfort. Heart Preparation:
Take a moment to prepare your heart to enter into relationship with you. You are about to read the Words of eternal life. There is a purpose behind the passages you are going to read this week, God has a message for His people. Pray that your mind would be focused and your heart would be opened to His Word. Week’s Reading Plan:
What to Expect: As you read through the passage this week, you are going to be encountering the beginning of everything, the creation of all things from nothing. God simply speaks it into existence, and it comes forth. You will see how God made it all “good”, but quickly sin enters into the scene, and from that moment on, the world continually gets worse and worse until God floods it all, saving only 8 people in all. Even after the flood though, mankind continues to try and serve themselves at the Tower of Babel. You will also be introduced to Job, a wealthy and righteous man who comes under attack from Satan, taking everything but his life. Things to Look For: As you read this weeks reading, in the Creation account, take note of the terms God uses to describe His creation. Visualize the description of it all, as it starts in total emptiness, and then it builds and builds until God's masterpiece, mankind (Ephesians 2:10). After man commits the first sin, take note to the reactions of Adam and Eve, as well as their attempts to cover their own nakedness, and who ultimately covers it. Also pay attention to where Adam is as Eve is being tempted, and for further study, compare Eve's view on the fruit (Genesis 3:6) with John's description of what is of the world (1 John 2:16). As you read through Genesis, look for the couple of times where men in the Bible listened to the voice of someone other than God, when they were supposed to listen to God. In Genesis 5, you will see the result of sin, that everyone died. And then as you read through the flood account, look at the emphasis on God through His working in Noah (God gave favor to Noah, God shut the door to the ark, God remembered Noah). Lastly, as you read the Tower of Babel, look at the attitude of the people of Babel. Personal Insight: As I read this weeks reading, the one thing that popped out to me specifically was the account of the fall of Adam and Eve. When they committed the sin by disobeying God, we see that their eyes were immediately open to their nakedness, and they were ashamed. As a result, they attempted to hide from God and cover up their own nakedness. This reminds me of the many times that my personal sin has caused me to be ashamed, and I think that I can try to hide from God and cover up my shame on my own. But then we see the response of God. He comes walking through the Garden, calling out to them. God knew what had happened, yet He still came to be in fellowship with them. He still came walking through the Garden. And then we see the foreshadow to the cross of Christ, that God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them. I cannot work to take away my sin, but God sent the Lamb of God to take away the sin of the world. He made Him who knew no sin to become sin for us, so that we might become the righteousness of Him. God did what I could never do, so that I can live how I could never live. In my shame and misery of sin, God came looking for me, God came to seek out a relationship with me, and with you too! And because of this, we don’t have to hide in shame, but as the writer of Hebrews says, we can approach the throne of grace with confidence! Thank you Jesus! Prayer: God, I thank You that you have given me grace through your Son Jesus Christ. That You have desired to be in relationship with me, knowing all of my sin and downfalls, and yet You came seeking me out. May the desire of your heart to be in relationship with me weigh on my heart, so that I seek You out through it all. |
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