RADICAL COMMITMENT: Day 337

I am ELATED to have my family here with me in Florida! Momma, Chris, Courtney and I enjoyed an AMAZING day on the beach!! Mom sat back and surprised us all by saying, " I am SOOOOOOOO happy!'

Today’s Reading: Job 29-32

Job 29

Job's Summary Defense

 ¹ And Job again took up his discourse, and said:

 ² “Oh, that I were as in the months of old,
   as in the days when God watched over me,
³ when his lamp shone upon my head,
   and by his light I walked through darkness,
⁴ as I was in my prime,^[a]
   when the friendship of God was upon my tent,
⁵ when the Almighty was yet with me,
   when my children were all around me,
⁶ when my steps were washed with butter,
   and the rock poured out for me streams of oil!
⁷ When I went out to the gate of the city,
   when I prepared my seat in the square,
⁸ the young men saw me and withdrew,
   and the aged rose and stood;
⁹ the princes refrained from talking
   and laid their hand on their mouth;
¹⁰ the voice of the nobles was hushed,
   and their tongue stuck to the roof of their mouth.
¹¹ When the ear heard, it called me blessed,
   and when the eye saw, it approved,
¹² because I delivered the poor who cried for help,
   and the fatherless who had none to help him.
¹³ The blessing of him who was about to perish came upon me,
   and I caused the widow's heart to sing for joy.
¹⁴ I put on righteousness, and it clothed me;
   my justice was like a robe and a turban.
¹⁵ I was eyes to the blind
   and feet to the lame.
¹⁶ I was a father to the needy,
   and I searched out the cause of him whom I did not know.
¹⁷ I broke the fangs of the unrighteous
   and made him drop his prey from his teeth.
¹⁸ Then I thought, ‘I shall die in my nest,
   and I shall multiply my days as the sand,
¹⁹ my roots spread out to the waters,
   with the dew all night on my branches,
²⁰ my glory fresh with me,
   and my bow ever new in my hand.’

 ²¹ “Men listened to me and waited
   and kept silence for my counsel.
²² After I spoke they did not speak again,
   and my word dropped upon them.
²³ They waited for me as for the rain,
   and they opened their mouths as for the spring rain.
²⁴ I smiled on them when they had no confidence,
   and the light of my face they did not cast down.
²⁵ I chose their way and sat as chief,
   and I lived like a king among his troops,
   like one who comforts mourners.

Job 30

 ¹ “But now they laugh at me,
   men who are younger than I,
whose fathers I would have disdained
   to set with the dogs of my flock.
² What could I gain from the strength of their hands,
   men whose vigor is gone?
³ Through want and hard hunger
   they gnaw the dry ground by night in waste and desolation;
⁴ they pick saltwort and the leaves of bushes,
   and the roots of the broom tree for their food.^[b]
5 They are driven out from human company;
   they shout after them as after a thief.
⁶ In the gullies of the torrents they must dwell,
   in holes of the earth and of the rocks.
⁷ Among the bushes they bray;
   under the nettles they huddle together.
⁸ A senseless, a nameless brood,
   they have been whipped out of the land.

 ⁹ “And now I have become their song;
   I am a byword to them.
¹⁰ They abhor me; they keep aloof from me;
   they do not hesitate to spit at the sight of me.
¹¹ Because God has loosed my cord and humbled me,
   they have cast off restraint^[c] in my presence.
¹² On my right hand the rabble rise;
   they push away my feet;
   they cast up against me their ways of destruction.
¹³ They break up my path;
   they promote my calamity;
   they need no one to help them.
¹⁴ As through a wide breach they come;
   amid the crash they roll on.
¹⁵ Terrors are turned upon me;
   my honor is pursued as by the wind,
   and my prosperity has passed away like a cloud.

 ¹⁶ “And now my soul is poured out within me;
   days of affliction have taken hold of me.
¹⁷ The night racks my bones,
   and the pain that gnaws me takes no rest.
¹⁸ With great force my garment is disfigured;
   it binds me about like the collar of my tunic.
¹⁹ God^[d] has cast me into the mire,
   and I have become like dust and ashes.
²⁰ I cry to you for help and you do not answer me;
   I stand, and you only look at me.
²¹ You have turned cruel to me;
   with the might of your hand you persecute me.
²² You lift me up on the wind; you make me ride on it,
   and you toss me about in the roar of the storm.
²³ For I know that you will bring me to death
   and to the house appointed for all living.

 ²⁴ “Yet does not one in a heap of ruins stretch out his hand,
   and in his disaster cry for help?^[e]
25 Did not I weep for him whose day was hard?
   Was not my soul grieved for the needy?
²⁶ But when I hoped for good, evil came,
   and when I waited for light, darkness came.
²⁷ My inward parts are in turmoil and never still;
   days of affliction come to meet me.
²⁸ I go about darkened, but not by the sun;
   I stand up in the assembly and cry for help.
²⁹ I am a brother of jackals
   and a companion of ostriches.
³⁰ My skin turns black and falls from me,
   and my bones burn with heat.
³¹ My lyre is turned to mourning,
   and my pipe to the voice of those who weep.

Job 31

Job's Final Appeal

 ¹ “I have made a covenant with my eyes;
   how then could I gaze at a virgin?
² What would be my portion from God above
   and my heritage from the Almighty on high?
³ Is not calamity for the unrighteous,
   and disaster for the workers of iniquity?
⁴ Does not he see my ways
   and number all my steps?

 ⁵ “If I have walked with falsehood
   and my foot has hastened to deceit;
⁶ (Let me be weighed in a just balance,
   and let God know my integrity!)
⁷ if my step has turned aside from the way
   and my heart has gone after my eyes,
   and if any spot has stuck to my hands,
⁸ then let me sow, and another eat,
   and let what grows for me^[f] be rooted out.

 ⁹ “If my heart has been enticed toward a woman,
   and I have lain in wait at my neighbor's door,
¹⁰ then let my wife grind for another,
   and let others bow down on her.
¹¹ For that would be a heinous crime;
   that would be an iniquity to be punished by the judges;
¹² for that would be a fire that consumes as far as Abaddon,
   and it would burn to the root all my increase.

 ¹³ “If I have rejected the cause of my manservant or my maidservant,
   when they brought a complaint against me,
¹⁴ what then shall I do when God rises up?
   When he makes inquiry, what shall I answer him?
¹⁵ Did not he who made me in the womb make him?
   And did not one fashion us in the womb?

 ¹⁶ “If I have withheld anything that the poor desired,
   or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail,
¹⁷ or have eaten my morsel alone,
   and the fatherless has not eaten of it
¹⁸ (for from my youth the fatherless^[g] grew up with me as with a father,
   and from my mother's womb I guided the widow^[h]),
¹⁹ if I have seen anyone perish for lack of clothing,
   or the needy without covering,
²⁰ if his body has not blessed me,^[i]
   and if he was not warmed with the fleece of my sheep,
²¹ if I have raised my hand against the fatherless,
   because I saw my help in the gate,
²² then let my shoulder blade fall from my shoulder,
   and let my arm be broken from its socket.
²³ For I was in terror of calamity from God,
   and I could not have faced his majesty.

 ²⁴ “If I have made gold my trust
   or called fine gold my confidence,
²⁵ if I have rejoiced because my wealth was abundant
   or because my hand had found much,
²⁶ if I have looked at the sun^[j] when it shone,
   or the moon moving in splendor,
²⁷ and my heart has been secretly enticed,
   and my mouth has kissed my hand,
²⁸ this also would be an iniquity to be punished by the judges,
   for I would have been false to God above.

 ²⁹ “If I have rejoiced at the ruin of him who hated me,
   or exulted when evil overtook him
³⁰ (I have not let my mouth sin
   by asking for his life with a curse),
³¹ if the men of my tent have not said,
   ‘Who is there that has not been filled with his meat?’
³² (the sojourner has not lodged in the street;
   I have opened my doors to the traveler),
³³ if I have concealed my transgressions as others do^[k]
   by hiding my iniquity in my heart,
³⁴ because I stood in great fear of the multitude,
   and the contempt of families terrified me,
   so that I kept silence, and did not go out of doors—
³⁵ Oh, that I had one to hear me!
   (Here is my signature! Let the Almighty answer me!)
   Oh, that I had the indictment written by my adversary!
³⁶ Surely I would carry it on my shoulder;
   I would bind it on me as a crown;
³⁷ I would give him an account of all my steps;
   like a prince I would approach him.

 ³⁸ “If my land has cried out against me
   and its furrows have wept together,
³⁹ if I have eaten its yield without payment
   and made its owners breathe their last,
⁴⁰ let thorns grow instead of wheat,
   and foul weeds instead of barley.”

   The words of Job are ended.

Job 32

Elihu Rebukes Job's Three Friends

 ¹ So these three men ceased to answer Job, because he was righteous in his own eyes. ² Then Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite, of the family of Ram, burned with anger. He burned with anger at Job because he justified himself rather than God. ³ He burned with anger also at Job's three friends because they had found no answer, although they had declared Job to be in the wrong. ⁴ Now Elihu had waited to speak to Job because they were older than he. ⁵ And when Elihu saw that there was no answer in the mouth of these three men, he burned with anger.

 ⁶ And Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite answered and said:

   “I am young in years,
   and you are aged;
therefore I was timid and afraid
   to declare my opinion to you.
⁷ I said, ‘Let days speak,
   and many years teach wisdom.’
⁸ But it is the spirit in man,
   the breath of the Almighty, that makes him understand.
⁹ It is not the old^[l] who are wise,
   nor the aged who understand what is right.
¹⁰ Therefore I say, ‘Listen to me;
   let me also declare my opinion.’

 ¹¹ “Behold, I waited for your words,
   I listened for your wise sayings,
   while you searched out what to say.
¹² I gave you my attention,
   and, behold, there was none among you who refuted Job
   or who answered his words.
¹³ Beware lest you say, ‘We have found wisdom;
   God may vanquish him, not a man.’
¹⁴ He has not directed his words against me,
   and I will not answer him with your speeches.

 ¹⁵ “They are dismayed; they answer no more;
   they have not a word to say.
¹⁶ And shall I wait, because they do not speak,
   because they stand there, and answer no more?
¹⁷ I also will answer with my share;
   I also will declare my opinion.
¹⁸ For I am full of words;
   the spirit within me constrains me.
¹⁹ Behold, my belly is like wine that has no vent;
   like new wineskins ready to burst.
²⁰ I must speak, that I may find relief;
   I must open my lips and answer.
²¹ I will not show partiality to any man
   or use flattery toward any person.
²² For I do not know how to flatter,
   else my Maker would soon take me away.

Where have you seen God’s grace in your life today?

RADICAL COMMINTMENT: Day 338

Week #4 Message is Chapter 3: Holy, Hurting, Hoping, Healed (#116). Click here to watch now: http://itunes.apple.com/podcast/brook-hills-video/id319699836 ...enjoy!

Today’s Reading: Job 25-28

Job 25

Bildad Speaks: Man Cannot Be Righteous

 ¹ Then Bildad the Shuhite answered and said:

 ² “Dominion and fear are with God;^[a]
   he makes peace in his high heaven.
³ Is there any number to his armies?
   Upon whom does his light not arise?
⁴ How then can man be in the right before God?
   How can he who is born of woman be pure?
⁵ Behold, even the moon is not bright,
   and the stars are not pure in his eyes;
⁶ how much less man, who is a maggot,
   and the son of man, who is a worm!”

Job 26

Job Replies: God's Majesty Is Unsearchable

 ¹ Then Job answered and said:

 ² “How you have helped him who has no power!
   How you have saved the arm that has no strength!
³ How you have counseled him who has no wisdom,
   and plentifully declared sound knowledge!
⁴ With whose help have you uttered words,
   and whose breath has come out from you?
⁵ The dead tremble
   under the waters and their inhabitants.
⁶ Sheol is naked before God,^[b]
   and Abaddon has no covering.
⁷ He stretches out the north over the void
   and hangs the earth on nothing.
⁸ He binds up the waters in his thick clouds,
   and the cloud is not split open under them.
⁹ He covers the face of the full moon^[c]
   and spreads over it his cloud.
¹⁰ He has inscribed a circle on the face of the waters
   at the boundary between light and darkness.
¹¹ The pillars of heaven tremble
   and are astounded at his rebuke.
¹² By his power he stilled the sea;
   by his understanding he shattered Rahab.
¹³ By his wind the heavens were made fair;
   his hand pierced the fleeing serpent.
¹⁴ Behold, these are but the outskirts of his ways,
   and how small a whisper do we hear of him!
   But the thunder of his power who can understand?”

Job 27

Job Continues: I Will Maintain My Integrity

 ¹ And Job again took up his discourse, and said:

 ² “As God lives, who has taken away my right,
   and the Almighty, who has made my soul bitter,
³ as long as my breath is in me,
   and the spirit of God is in my nostrils,
⁴ my lips will not speak falsehood,
   and my tongue will not utter deceit.
⁵ Far be it from me to say that you are right;
   till I die I will not put away my integrity from me.
⁶ I hold fast my righteousness and will not let it go;
   my heart does not reproach me for any of my days.

 ⁷ “Let my enemy be as the wicked,
   and let him who rises up against me be as the unrighteous.
⁸ For what is the hope of the godless when God cuts him off,
   when God takes away his life?
⁹ Will God hear his cry
   when distress comes upon him?
¹⁰ Will he take delight in the Almighty?
   Will he call upon God at all times?
¹¹ I will teach you concerning the hand of God;
   what is with the Almighty I will not conceal.
¹² Behold, all of you have seen it yourselves;
   why then have you become altogether vain?

 ¹³ “This is the portion of a wicked man with God,
   and the heritage that oppressors receive from the Almighty:
¹⁴ If his children are multiplied, it is for the sword,
   and his descendants have not enough bread.
¹⁵ Those who survive him the pestilence buries,
   and his widows do not weep.
¹⁶ Though he heap up silver like dust,
   and pile up clothing like clay,
¹⁷ he may pile it up, but the righteous will wear it,
   and the innocent will divide the silver.
¹⁸ He builds his house like a moth's,
   like a booth that a watchman makes.
¹⁹ He goes to bed rich, but will do so no more;
   he opens his eyes, and his wealth is gone.
²⁰ Terrors overtake him like a flood;
   in the night a whirlwind carries him off.
²¹ The east wind lifts him up and he is gone;
   it sweeps him out of his place.
²² It^[d] hurls at him without pity;
   he flees from its^[e] power in headlong flight.
²³ It claps its hands at him
   and hisses at him from its place.

Job 28

Job Continues: Where Is Wisdom?

 ¹ “Surely there is a mine for silver,
   and a place for gold that they refine.
² Iron is taken out of the earth,
   and copper is smelted from the ore.
³ Man puts an end to darkness
   and searches out to the farthest limit
   the ore in gloom and deep darkness.
⁴ He opens shafts in a valley away from where anyone lives;
   they are forgotten by travelers;
   they hang in the air, far away from mankind; they swing to and fro.
⁵ As for the earth, out of it comes bread,
   but underneath it is turned up as by fire.
⁶ Its stones are the place of sapphires,^[f]
   and it has dust of gold.

 ⁷ “That path no bird of prey knows,
   and the falcon's eye has not seen it.
⁸ The proud beasts have not trodden it;
   the lion has not passed over it.

 ⁹ “Man puts his hand to the flinty rock
   and overturns mountains by the roots.
¹⁰ He cuts out channels in the rocks,
   and his eye sees every precious thing.
¹¹ He dams up the streams so that they do not trickle,
   and the thing that is hidden he brings out to light.

 ¹² “But where shall wisdom be found?
   And where is the place of understanding?
¹³ Man does not know its worth,
   and it is not found in the land of the living.
¹⁴ The deep says, ‘It is not in me,’
   and the sea says, ‘It is not with me.’
¹⁵ It cannot be bought for gold,
   and silver cannot be weighed as its price.
¹⁶ It cannot be valued in the gold of Ophir,
   in precious onyx or sapphire.
¹⁷ Gold and glass cannot equal it,
   nor can it be exchanged for jewels of fine gold.
¹⁸ No mention shall be made of coral or of crystal;
   the price of wisdom is above pearls.
¹⁹ The topaz of Ethiopia cannot equal it,
   nor can it be valued in pure gold.

 ²⁰ “From where, then, does wisdom come?
   And where is the place of understanding?
²¹ It is hidden from the eyes of all living
   and concealed from the birds of the air.
²² Abaddon and Death say,
   ‘We have heard a rumor of it with our ears.’

 ²³ “God understands the way to it,
   and he knows its place.
²⁴ For he looks to the ends of the earth
   and sees everything under the heavens.
²⁵ When he gave to the wind its weight
   and apportioned the waters by measure,
²⁶ when he made a decree for the rain
   and a way for the lightning of the thunder,
²⁷ then he saw it and declared it;
   he established it, and searched it out.
²⁸ And he said to man,
‘Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom,
   and to turn away from evil is understanding.’”

Where have you seen God's grace in your life today?

RADICAL COMMITMENT: Day 339

GOD WHO UPHOLDS: Week 4

Connect:

·         Is suffering always a negative event in people’s lives?

·         Why is suffering or difficulties beneficial?

Review the Message:

Suffering is often unexplainable:

•         Job followed God’s commands faithfully.

•         Job’s attention came from his integrity.

•         Job was unaware of spiritual conflict.

Discussion

•         Re-read Job 1:1-12

•         Describe Job’s service to God. How did God describe Job?

•         Why did Satan notice Job? Why was God pointing him out to Satan?

•         Was Job ever made aware of the spiritual conflict that arose in heaven?

Application:

•         What is our first reaction to seeing that God pointed Job out to Satan? What does our answer indicate about our belief in God’s sovereignty and goodness?

•         Why does our culture often feel that believers who are faithful do not deserve to suffer? Is that a biblical perspective?

•         What is the point in serving God faithfully if we may encounter the same, if not greater, hardships as everyone else?

•         Would suffering actually be easier if we understood the reason? Why does it matter?

God is always worthy of worship:

•         God remains in control of all situations.

•         God’s worth is not dependent on circumstances.

Discussion:

•         Re-read Job 1:13-2:13.

•         List the categories of loss that Job experienced.

•         Looking at Job 2:3, 5-6, who was actually in control of Job’s suffering?

•         In Job 2:3 God asserts responsibility for Job’s first round of sufferings. What does this indicate about God’s supreme control in the world?

•         In Job 1:12 and 2:5-6, Satan basically asks God for permission to cause harm to Job. What does this indicate about God’s control over Satan?

•         How did Job respond to these disasters?

•         Why did Job praise God?

Application:

•         Why can it make us feel uneasy to know that God gave permission to harm Job?

•         What kind of God would He be if He were not in control? Would we rather He be helpless to Satan’s desires or in control of His plan? Why?

•         How is there comfort in knowing that He is control in the midst of our suffering?

•         Why is it often difficult to praise God in our suffering?

•         What are we saying about God if we believe that His worth is determined by our circumstances? Would He truly be God if He were dependent upon our lives?

Suffering is not partial:

•         Job’s suffering was not a product of discipline, sin, or disbelief.

•         Followers of God are not immune to suffering.

Discussion

•         Summarize the basic gist of the interactions between Job and his “friends.” (The ESV Study Bible outline in the introduction to the book of Job is thorough in summarizing the content if you wish to go further in depth.) Read Job 5:17-18. What did Job’s friends assert about Job?

•         What did their assertion assume about God?

•         Enlist a learner to read Job 42:7. Why did God rebuke Job’s friends? What did God’s rebuke of the friends indicate about their beliefs?

Application:

•         How can we be true friends to those who are suffering?

•         Why do we often say things contrary to God’s word in an effort to comfort or give advice? Why is this so dangerous?

•         Why does it scare us to think that believers should be immune from suffering?

•         How can suffering in the life of a believer bring glory to God?

God often reveals Himself during suffering:

•         God remains supreme at all times.

•         True understanding of God demands submission.

Discussion:

•         Re-read Job 38-39.

•         How did God respond to Job’s request for vindication from God?

•         Describe the picture that God painted of Himself to Job.

•         Enlist a learner to read Job 42:1-6.

•         How did Job respond to God’s conversation?

•         What does Job admit about his knowledge of God’s ways?

•         How did Job indicate that he had grown in his knowledge of God?

•         What role did Job’s suffering play in revealing God more deeply to Job more than prosperity could have?

Application:

•         How can it be comforting to rest in the truth that we do not understand God’s ways?

•         How can it be scary or unsettling? Why?

•         Why should we trust and take comfort in the God who is supreme in all matters?

•         Why does suffering often help us to know God more deeply than times of nonsuffering?

•         What are questions that we often ask during times of suffering? What are questions that we should ask during times of suffering?

RADICAL COMMITMENT: Day 340

Today’s Reading: Job 18-21

Job 18

Bildad Speaks: God Punishes the Wicked

 ¹ Then Bildad the Shuhite answered and said:

 ² “How long will you hunt for words?
   Consider, and then we will speak.
³ Why are we counted as cattle?
   Why are we stupid in your sight?
⁴ You who tear yourself in your anger,
   shall the earth be forsaken for you,
   or the rock be removed out of its place?

 ⁵ “Indeed, the light of the wicked is put out,
   and the flame of his fire does not shine.
⁶ The light is dark in his tent,
   and his lamp above him is put out.
⁷ His strong steps are shortened,
   and his own schemes throw him down.
⁸ For he is cast into a net by his own feet,
   and he walks on its mesh.
⁹ A trap seizes him by the heel;
   a snare lays hold of him.
¹⁰ A rope is hidden for him in the ground,
   a trap for him in the path.
¹¹ Terrors frighten him on every side,
   and chase him at his heels.
¹² His strength is famished,
   and calamity is ready for his stumbling.
¹³ It consumes the parts of his skin;
   the firstborn of death consumes his limbs.
¹⁴ He is torn from the tent in which he trusted
   and is brought to the king of terrors.
¹⁵ In his tent dwells that which is none of his;
   sulfur is scattered over his habitation.
¹⁶ His roots dry up beneath,
   and his branches wither above.
¹⁷ His memory perishes from the earth,
   and he has no name in the street.
¹⁸ He is thrust from light into darkness,
   and driven out of the world.
¹⁹ He has no posterity or progeny among his people,
   and no survivor where he used to live.
²⁰ They of the west are appalled at his day,
   and horror seizes them of the east.
²¹ Surely such are the dwellings of the unrighteous,
   such is the place of him who knows not God.”

Job 19

Job Replies: My Redeemer Lives

 ¹ Then Job answered and said:

 ² “How long will you torment me
   and break me in pieces with words?
³ These ten times you have cast reproach upon me;
   are you not ashamed to wrong me?
⁴ And even if it be true that I have erred,
   my error remains with myself.
⁵ If indeed you magnify yourselves against me
   and make my disgrace an argument against me,
⁶ know then that God has put me in the wrong
   and closed his net about me.
⁷ Behold, I cry out, ‘Violence!’ but I am not answered;
   I call for help, but there is no justice.
⁸ He has walled up my way, so that I cannot pass,
   and he has set darkness upon my paths.
⁹ He has stripped from me my glory
   and taken the crown from my head.
¹⁰ He breaks me down on every side, and I am gone,
   and my hope has he pulled up like a tree.
¹¹ He has kindled his wrath against me
   and counts me as his adversary.
¹² His troops come on together;
   they have cast up their siege ramp^[a] against me
   and encamp around my tent.

 ¹³ “He has put my brothers far from me,
   and those who knew me are wholly estranged from me.
¹⁴ My relatives have failed me,
   my close friends have forgotten me.
¹⁵ The guests in my house and my maidservants count me as a stranger;
   I have become a foreigner in their eyes.
¹⁶ I call to my servant, but he gives me no answer;
   I must plead with him with my mouth for mercy.
¹⁷ My breath is strange to my wife,
   and I am a stench to the children of my own mother.
¹⁸ Even young children despise me;
   when I rise they talk against me.
¹⁹ All my intimate friends abhor me,
   and those whom I loved have turned against me.
²⁰ My bones stick to my skin and to my flesh,
   and I have escaped by the skin of my teeth.
²¹ Have mercy on me, have mercy on me, O you my friends,
   for the hand of God has touched me!
²² Why do you, like God, pursue me?
   Why are you not satisfied with my flesh?

 ²³ “Oh that my words were written!
   Oh that they were inscribed in a book!
²⁴ Oh that with an iron pen and lead
   they were engraved in the rock forever!
²⁵ For I know that my Redeemer lives,
   and at the last he will stand upon the earth.^[b]
26 And after my skin has been thus destroyed,
   yet in^[c] my flesh I shall see God,
²⁷ whom I shall see for myself,
   and my eyes shall behold, and not another.
   My heart faints within me!
²⁸ If you say, ‘How we will pursue him!’
   and, ‘The root of the matter is found in him,’
²⁹ be afraid of the sword,
   for wrath brings the punishment of the sword,
   that you may know there is a judgment.”

Job 20

Zophar Speaks: The Wicked Will Suffer

 ¹ Then Zophar the Naamathite answered and said:

 ² “Therefore my thoughts answer me,
   because of my haste within me.
³ I hear censure that insults me,
   and out of my understanding a spirit answers me.
⁴ Do you not know this from of old,
   since man was placed on earth,
⁵ that the exulting of the wicked is short,
   and the joy of the godless but for a moment?
⁶ Though his height mount up to the heavens,
   and his head reach to the clouds,
⁷ he will perish forever like his own dung;
   those who have seen him will say, ‘Where is he?’
⁸ He will fly away like a dream and not be found;
   he will be chased away like a vision of the night.
⁹ The eye that saw him will see him no more,
   nor will his place any more behold him.
¹⁰ His children will seek the favor of the poor,
   and his hands will give back his wealth.
¹¹ His bones are full of his youthful vigor,
   but it will lie down with him in the dust.

 ¹² “Though evil is sweet in his mouth,
   though he hides it under his tongue,
¹³ though he is loath to let it go
   and holds it in his mouth,
¹⁴ yet his food is turned in his stomach;
   it is the venom of cobras within him.
¹⁵ He swallows down riches and vomits them up again;
   God casts them out of his belly.
¹⁶ He will suck the poison of cobras;
   the tongue of a viper will kill him.
¹⁷ He will not look upon the rivers,
   the streams flowing with honey and curds.
¹⁸ He will give back the fruit of his toil
   and will not swallow it down;
from the profit of his trading
   he will get no enjoyment.
¹⁹ For he has crushed and abandoned the poor;
   he has seized a house that he did not build.

 ²⁰ “Because he knew no contentment in his belly,
   he will not let anything in which he delights escape him.
²¹ There was nothing left after he had eaten;
   therefore his prosperity will not endure.
²² In the fullness of his sufficiency he will be in distress;
   the hand of everyone in misery will come against him.
²³ To fill his belly to the full,
   God^[d] will send his burning anger against him
   and rain it upon him into his body.
²⁴ He will flee from an iron weapon;
   a bronze arrow will strike him through.
²⁵ It is drawn forth and comes out of his body;
   the glittering point comes out of his gallbladder;
   terrors come upon him.
²⁶ Utter darkness is laid up for his treasures;
   a fire not fanned will devour him;
   what is left in his tent will be consumed.
²⁷ The heavens will reveal his iniquity,
   and the earth will rise up against him.
²⁸ The possessions of his house will be carried away,
   dragged off in the day of God's^[e] wrath.
²⁹ This is the wicked man's portion from God,
   the heritage decreed for him by God.”

Job 21

Job Replies: The Wicked Do Prosper

 ¹ Then Job answered and said:

 ² “Keep listening to my words,
   and let this be your comfort.
³ Bear with me, and I will speak,
   and after I have spoken, mock on.
⁴ As for me, is my complaint against man?
   Why should I not be impatient?
⁵ Look at me and be appalled,
   and lay your hand over your mouth.
⁶ When I remember, I am dismayed,
   and shuddering seizes my flesh.
⁷ Why do the wicked live,
   reach old age, and grow mighty in power?
⁸ Their offspring are established in their presence,
   and their descendants before their eyes.
⁹ Their houses are safe from fear,
   and no rod of God is upon them.
¹⁰ Their bull breeds without fail;
   their cow calves and does not miscarry.
¹¹ They send out their little boys like a flock,
   and their children dance.
¹² They sing to the tambourine and the lyre
   and rejoice to the sound of the pipe.
¹³ They spend their days in prosperity,
   and in peace they go down to Sheol.
¹⁴ They say to God, ‘Depart from us!
   We do not desire the knowledge of your ways.
¹⁵ What is the Almighty, that we should serve him?
   And what profit do we get if we pray to him?’
¹⁶ Behold, is not their prosperity in their hand?
   The counsel of the wicked is far from me.

 ¹⁷ “How often is it that the lamp of the wicked is put out?
   That their calamity comes upon them?
   That God^[f] distributes pains in his anger?
¹⁸ That they are like straw before the wind,
   and like chaff that the storm carries away?
¹⁹ You say, ‘God stores up their iniquity for their children.’
   Let him pay it out to them, that they may know it.
²⁰ Let their own eyes see their destruction,
   and let them drink of the wrath of the Almighty.
²¹ For what do they care for their houses after them,
   when the number of their months is cut off?
²² Will any teach God knowledge,
   seeing that he judges those who are on high?
²³ One dies in his full vigor,
   being wholly at ease and secure,
²⁴ his pails^[g] full of milk
   and the marrow of his bones moist.
²⁵ Another dies in bitterness of soul,
   never having tasted of prosperity.
²⁶ They lie down alike in the dust,
   and the worms cover them.

 ²⁷ “Behold, I know your thoughts
   and your schemes to wrong me.
²⁸ For you say, ‘Where is the house of the prince?
   Where is the tent in which the wicked lived?’
²⁹ Have you not asked those who travel the roads,
   and do you not accept their testimony
³⁰ that the evil man is spared in the day of calamity,
   that he is rescued in the day of wrath?
³¹ Who declares his way to his face,
   and who repays him for what he has done?
³² When he is carried to the grave,
   watch is kept over his tomb.
³³ The clods of the valley are sweet to him;
   all mankind follows after him,
   and those who go before him are innumerable.
³⁴ How then will you comfort me with empty nothings?
   There is nothing left of your answers but falsehood.”

Where have you seen God’s grace in your life today???