January 5-11, 2025

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:

• Sunday, January 5 — Job 6-9
• Monday, January 6 — Job 10-13
• Tuesday, January 7 — Job 14-16
• Wednesday, January 8 — Job 17-20
• Thursday, January 9 — Job 21-23
• Friday, January 10 — Job 24-28
• Saturday, January 11 — Job 29-31

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. 

Author

This week's devotion was prepared by Curt Zahm. Curt is the associate/worship pastor at Center.