I am using One Year Bible Online for my daily Bible study. For today, One Year Bible Online links here. I have found that by writing this daily blog of what I see when I read these scriptures, I get more out of them. I hope that by posting these ruminations others may get some benefit as well. If you have any thoughts or comments regarding these verses or what I have written about them, please post them.

     God asks Job if he can answer His questions and Job replies that he has no answers, that he has said too much already. God further asks Job if he is willing to discredit God’s justice merely to justify himself. God then describes two creatures that are too powerful for humans to hunt. There is debate as to whether these were real creatures or mythological ones. On the one hand, the writer certainly seems to be describing creatures that he thought were real beasts. It makes no sense in this context to use creatures that are made up. On the other hand, the descriptions match up with no creatures that we are aware of living in that area in that era. I am of the mind that Behemoth and Leviathan describe real creatures that modern science believes were extinct by this time, although I do not know specifically what.
     Job responds that he was wrong to challenge God. Job takes back everything he said and repents. God then turns His attention to Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar. God tells them that they had not spoken accurately about Him as Job had done. Interestingly, Elihu is not among those at whom God expresses anger. I am glad that I am done the Book of Job for now because it is a difficult book to study in the manner I am doing this. On the other hand, I can see how it is a book that calls for regular reading in order to put everything in perspective and I am looking forward to when I get to it again next year.

     If we know what it is to fear God, we should work to persuade others. It is better to focus on what is in the heart than what is seen, but sometimes we need to point out accomplishments for the edification of those who only respect that. Since Christ died for everyone, those of us who still live should live, not for ourselves, but for Him. If we are in Christ, we have been recreated into a new being.
     God reconciled us to Himself through Christ. The other day I read a blog that talked about the atonement of Christ. It mentioned that a standard theory as to the nature of that atonement was that Christ received the punishment that was due to us. That is not wrong. But there is another important way to look at it. Our broken relationship with God is a result of our sin, but it is we who turn from God, not God who turns from us. God does not reject a relationship with us because of our sin. We reject a relationship with God because of our sin. Part of the reason that Christ died for us was to convince us that God still loves us despite our sin. There is much more to this than that and perhaps I will do a blog on it if the Spirit continues to move me on this subject.
     We are God’s messengers to deliver this message to people. God wishes to be reconciled with us to the point that He was willing to suffer and die, even though we were the ones who did the wrong that broke the relationship. We should be reconciled to God and spread the word to other sinners that God wants to repair the relationship with them as well.
      As I was reading this passage and looking at what it says to me, it was all over the place, jumping from one idea to another. Yet it flows smoothly and all of these ideas fit together nicely in this passage, even though as I tried to highlight them I felt like I was jumping around.

     Today’s psalm reads like a royal wedding song to me. First it praises the king for his might and for his faithfulness is defending truth, humility and justice. Then it encourages the queen to put aside her homesickness for her family and friends who are now far away and take comfort in the love of her husband, the king. The lands of rulers who love justice and hate evil will thrive.

     Today’s proverb has an interesting construction. It tells us that the mouth of an immoral woman is a dangerous trap that those who anger the Lord will fall into. It does not say that those who fall into the trap of an immoral woman’s words (or mouth) will anger the Lord. It says that those who anger the Lord will fall into the trap. Angering God makes one susceptible to the trap of immorality.