Enlightened Ears

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(Job 19:2,3) “How long will you torment me and break me in pieces with words? These ten times you have cast reproach upon me; and you are not ashamed to wrong me?

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God concurred that Job’s assessment of his friends was accurate (42:7,8). The surprise is how Job counted his previous talks. His friends had replied five times to Job, but each reply apparently counted double: each answer failed to demonstrate truly hearing upon which they added false accusations. The oxymoron “miserable comforters” fit (16:2). Because they listened only twist his words into false accusations, they became Satan’s voice to justify suffering, separation and shame.

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I have two ears and a brain in between them—I should listen with my whole brain engaged so I better understand people. Similarly, I have only one mouth, and it’s further removed from my brain than my ears, so I should be slow to speak until I’ve really heard and understood the other person’s heart and thoughts.

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Jesus, You know me and You’ve witnessed my stupidity—yet You still love me. You listen to me. You rush Your grace and kindness to me anyway. How different we are from You. How greatly I long to learn to be more like You. I think I’m starting to really hear You.

Being Afraid Doesn’t Mean You're in the Wrong Place

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(Mark 4:39-40) “And He awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” And the wind ceased and there was a great calm. He said to them, “Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?”

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Jesus demonstrated His identity. As God’s only begotten Son, nothing impossible for Jesus, and this revelation was only starting to be just barely understood by His disciples. They had yet to deny Him, to abandon Him, and to realize with certainty that He’s the Messiah—they had a long maturation process still ahead of them. Witnessing this miracle was God gift. It was a powerful metaphor that gave them a “hope-anchor” for future storms, an assurance for faith to lock a hold of.

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I know that I know that Jesus is trustworthy. I can no longer honestly deny Him because of the winds He’s stilled and the storms He’s calmed in my life. This gives me hope and direction for the storms that have yet to arise and the tsunamis that pretend to threaten my future.

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Master, Son of God, I trust You. Like those disciples, I’m sure I, too, have much maturing still needed. And sometimes gorgeous days turn blustery; still, I’m learning to become more courageous and faithful. I’m so deeply grateful for really knowing that You are absolutely trustworthy…and more powerful than any blow-hard wind.

Darkened Souls

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(Job 18:6,14,15) The light [of the wicked] is dark in his tent...He is torn from his tent in which he trusted and is brought to the king of terrors. In his tent dwells that which is none of his....

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Here, Bildad wrongly described God's attitude and actions toward the wicked (42:7,8). He described God as being merely an extension of his own vindictive, fearful theology. He wanted God to be the grand tormentor instead of Savior and Deliverer. Although it's true that wickedness eventually begets misery, darkened perceptions, and a "tent-full" of unsatisfactory relationships, God's theology is vastly different.

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Through Jesus Christ, God commands light to shine in darkness (2 Corinthians 4:6). Where Bildad saw these problems as results of wickedness and reasons to reject wicked people, through Paul's life, I can see clearly how the same problems can bring light and changed lives. In Acts 27 and 28, Paul shared terrors with the ungodly so his "tent" could be an attractive opportunity to showcase God's grace.

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Mighty Deliverer, help me not to view You through the blindness of my fear of suffering or my discomfort of people who aren't like me. Please turn on Your light brighter for me so I can see how You're continually pouring out Your grace through Your son, Jesus, to all of us (Ephesians 5:1-20).

A Higher Call

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(Acts 22:21,22) And [God] said to me, "Go, for I will send you far away to the Gentiles." Up to this word they listened to him. Then they raised their voices and said, "Away with such a fellow from the earth! For he should not be allowed to live."

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The Bible's simplest statements can pierce us with their stark realities. In God's love, He commissions us to leave our comforts in order to love people outside our own circles. The people who hated Paul feared that God could also love people who disliked them. They resisted the idea that God would send "one of us" to "any of them." But Paul, having obeyed God's call, found God's love to be far greater and more satisfying than the fear and hate he'd previously shared with them.

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Reading this ancient story, it's easy to be smugly shocked by this crowd's bigotry and irrationality. In my world, though, how do I respond to watching other people obey God's call to love hard-to-love people? How do I react to exploring the depths of God's broken heart over people who are suffering in worlds far from mine?

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Savior, I remember that You were fully justified if You'd abandoned me. I remember that instead You sacrificed Your body and blood so You could justify my salvation, my forgiveness, and my adoption into Your family. How can I express my thanks for You today?

Let God Be True

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(Job 13:8) Will you show partiality toward [God]? Will you plead the case for God?

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Job was right to be very disgusted and angry with his friends. They were trying to defend God's character in the face of Job's suffering, but in the process they falsely accused Job of wrong. As G. Campbell Morgan observed of this text, "[God] is never vindicated by any argument which involves injustice to any human being ... To attempt to explain the suffering, and that by our philosophy of God, may be to lead us into injustice to the sufferer, and to misrepresent God."

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It is tempting for me to try to define God so He's acceptable to others, or so He's either more understandable or less embarrassing to me. Unfortunately, the method of giving Him a make-over is to grossly misrepresent Him and to hurt people. It's far better to learn and believe God's words about Himself--to "permit" God to speak for Himself through the Scriptures.

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Lord, You've explained that You are love and that love covers a multitude of sins (1 Peter 4:8). Your cross certainly demonstrated that (Romans 5:1-11). Using the truth of Your love as a launching point, help me to humbly help others like me who have been buried by difficulties (James 5:20).

Sustainable, Enduring Hope

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(Job 8:13) Such are the paths of all who forget God; the hope of the godless shall perish.

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This accusation from Bildad only increased Job's suffering. Bildad misused the truth about hope. It is true that hope is the expectation of what we desire, and it is true that anyone's hope to be successful and happy apart from God's designs will always eventually lead, as Bildad said, to annihilated hope--hopelessness. Yes, hope in God will always eventually lead to eternally expanding cycles of desire and fulfillment (Romans 5:1-15; 8:18; Hebrews 6:19), but Bildad missed a pivotal insight, that godliness and suffering are not mutually exclusive.

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How do I use truth? Believing that God is truth, that His Word is truth, and that Jesus is the perfect expression of God, do I allow the Holy Spirit to use God's Word to reconfigure my understanding of life? Do I allow His Word to reshape me so I'm increasingly like God's only Son? Is my hope, my highest desire in God (Psalms 31:24; 119:81,114)?

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Lord, I invite Your Word to have free course throughout my life (2 Thess. 3:1). Help me to be boldly honest and lovingly truthful...first in my relationship with You, then with others. Help me to share Your truth in life-giving ways so hope is increases and rightly rests in You alone, never in me, other people, or systems.

Careful Listening

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(Job 2:13) And they sat with him on the ground seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his suffering was very great.

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These three men demonstrated perfect friendship by being swift to listen and slow to speak (James 1:19). Unfortunately, even after waiting until Job spoke first, they later demonstrated being too quick to wrath (James 1:19) and too quick to try to fix what they thought was Job's problem. Armed with misplaced truths, wrong assumptions, and incomplete knowledge, their eagerness to help only increased Job's suffering (Job 42:7,8).

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Because my habit has been to fear pain and sneak out of God's refining processes, I am too quick to try to coach other people out of their pains. I've too frequently underestimated the healing virtues of simply listening well before trying to teach, advise, or otherwise solve other people's problems. Had they really heard Job's patience, I wonder if Job's friends might have actually helped him (James 5:7-11).

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Lord, Ito some degree, we all try to teach and help each other. I hold up to You, for Your help, the teachers who speak into my life (past, present, and future). Whether formally or informally, casually or carefully teaching me, they carry a huge responsibility, and You hold them accountable to a high standard (James 3:1,2). Help them to do well, and help me to be discerning.

Unconditional Love

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(Job 1:9) Then Satan answered the Lord and said, "Does Job fear God for no reason?"

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Satan (which means, "Adversary") postulated that Job served God only for the benefits God gave him. In other words, Job's love for God was conditional, not unconditional. But God, because of His righteousness, goodness, and unfailing, unconditional love for Job, and because of His perfect governing of the universe, allowed Job to enlarge his love of God. Though there's always room to grow, God defined Job's maturity as perfect sound (1:1,8,22; 2:3,10; 42:7,8).

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I know I serve and love God because of the long-proven truth that He daily loads me with benefits (Psalm 68:19). I know my adversary--my accuser--would have me forget that truth and fail to appreciate God's multiplied blessings. When reading Hebrews 11 and Habakkuk 3:17-19, for example, I remember that hardship, suffering, and faith are necessary for my growth and for the benefits of other people.

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Lord, You know how weak and timid and selfish I can be, yet You love me enough to help me overcome these crippling traits. Lord, I commit to love You unconditionally as well as I can despite whatever losses or tragedies that I might yet experience. I crush my fear of this prayer by relying on Your good character and unfailing love.

Author of Life

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"You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead. We are witnesses of this. By faith in the name of Jesus, this man whom you see and know was made strong. It is Jesus' name and the faith that comes through him that has given this complete healing to him, as you can all see." Acts 3:15-16.

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Peter is really laying into the crowd who just witnessed the miraculous healing of a lame beggar. He wants them to understand the significance of what just happened. It was more than a miracle. It was an unmistakable declaration that Jesus, the one they killed, is the "Author of Life", and Faith in Him is what was on display.

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When God does amazing things, and I get to testify about them, it should always be about Jesus. I sometimes get more excited about what He's done than the "why"!

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Dear Lord, may I always be so captivated by you that my first inclination is to point out the spiritually obvious to any who might hear: Jesus is the one who did this, so that they might come to faith.

The Whole, Healthy Church

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(Zechariah 8:2,23) Thus says the Lord of Hosts: "I am jealous for Zion with great jealousy ... In those days, [people from every nation and tongue shall say]: "Let us go with you for we have heard that God is with you."

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This amazing chapter predicted the healthy church: communities of people who are maturing in Christ. Adults are strong in planting truth and peace; they produce the fruits of God's Spirit (verses 9-19). Children exercise their imaginations, their bodies, and their budding relationship skills through God-ordained activities: free play. They are even safe in the city streets because the elderly are sitting, each one with his or her staff (verses 3-8).

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This works because each generation does its work: children play, adults produce, and the elderly pray. This scene hinges on whether the elderly are sitting with his or her staff. Having years of experience in exercising godliness, their staffs describe how they--through personal relationship with Jesus, the Word of God, as they weather the challenges of life--have grown to be trustworthy and wise.

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Good Shepherd, Your Word is like a rod and staff to me. It comforts me. Like an old person's walker, it reliably stabilizes me when I'm unsteady and uncertain. Your Word makes me strong. Like a good staff in a skillful shepherd's hand, it protects me. Like a royal scepter, it authorizes me to make good decisions. Thank You.