For today, One Year Bible Online links here.

    Those who are lazy exaggerate the dangers of any particular course of action which might increase their workload. If you find yourself making up reasons not to work, you are probably lazy in the way the proverb writer uses the term.

    Today’s psalm reminds us that there are times when the faithful will suffer for following God. Persecution and suffering are not always a result of unfaithfulness. There are times when God allows His people to be persecuted in order to advance His purposes. When such times come, let us rejoice that God has found us worthy of such suffering. However, we can still call on God to rescue us from such suffering.

    Paul makes an important point to start this passage. IF we believe something we will speak about that belief. If we believe the Gospel, we will tell others about it. Do you tell others about what you believe? Or are you afraid of them rejecting you because of your belief? We should fear God’s rejection more than we fear the rejection of our fellow humans.
    Paul goes on to talk about the nature of our being after death. The importance of this cannot be stressed enough. We are not spirit beings who have bodies, nor are we bodies which have spirits. Our physical bodies are not inherently evil. We are not looking forward to a day when we will be pure spirit. Our desire to leave our current bodies, with their many pains and weaknesses, is not a desire to become a pure spirit. Rather it is a desire to be transformed into the heavenly bodies which God has promised us.
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    Elihu finishes up his rebuke of Job by pointing out how little we understand about how God’s creation works. Elihu goes onto point out that even if we understood how things like the weather work, we would still be far from being able to control it. Finally, he points out that we cannot even look directly at the Sun. How much less are we able to look directly at God?
    Then God replies to Job. God’s monologue reminds me of what Ken Ham says regarding those who proclaim that Genesis does not accurately describe the creation of this Universe, “How do you know? Were you there? Did you see it happen?” God’s response to Job is essentially that and a little more. How can we hope to understand and judge God’s actions when there is so many things we do not know or understand about this world? There is too much in this world that we do not know or understand that we cannot begin to comprehend the reasons and justifications for everything we experience. Our limited, finite minds are unable to fully grasp the complexities involved in the decisions which God makes.

For today, One Year Bible Online links here. As I read today’s passages, I sensed a theme and a thread running through them. But as I wrote my thoughts about them, that thread eluded me. I pray that the Spirit work through the words I did write in order to convey the message He has for those who read this.

    There are people who constantly imagine dangers which preclude them doing actual work. Accomplishing anything involves a certain amount of risk, but those who wish to avoid any effort always imagine the risk to be greater than it is.

    The psalmist reminds us that sometimes hard times come upon those who are faithful to the Lord. There are times when we will face trials and difficulties because of our faithfulness to God. However, God will not forget us and will deliver us when His plans are complete.

    We may face troubles because of our faith and because we preach the Gospel to others. However, let us never allow such troubles to silence us. As a matter of fact, Paul tells us that if we truly have faith, we will feel compelled to tell others about the Gospel despite any troubles which might ensue. As more people hear the Gospel message, some of them will recognize God’s grace to deliver them from their sins (which cause them misery). The result of this will be an outpouring of thanksgiving bringing glory to God.
    In the meantime, let us not focus on the difficulties and troubles which we experience in this life, rather, let us focus on the glory which will follow. In the grand scheme of things, the troubles we face today are small things that will last only a short time. They will soon be gone. We cannot truly see the glory to which God is bringing us, but it will last for all eternity. Currently, we live in bodies which are breaking down and falling apart. As we get older, we acquire pains and are less able to accomplish physical tasks. Our current bodies are like tents, great for a temporary shelter, but not a permanent place to live. When these bodies will no longer serve and we die, God will give us bodies that are like houses, a place to live permanently. It is not that we seek the death of our current bodies, rather we should crave the new, eternal bodies which God will grant us. While the death of our earthly bodies will bring an end to our suffering and pain, let us not seek death. While we are yet in these bodies we can serve God and do good so that others may come to know and worship Him. Let us not fear death because when it arrives for our bodies, we will then be at home with the Lord.

    Elihu goes into the conclusion of his monologue by stating that thinking about God’s power causes him to tremble with fear. Further, our imagination is not capable of conceiving the extent of God’s power. What we can see of His power is but a small sample of its grandeur. We do not have the ability to even make a coherent argument before God, let alone make a case defending our actions before His judgement. We cannot even look directly at the sun on a clear day, how can we hope to present ourselves before God?
    Finally, God Himself answers Job’s complaints. God asks a list of questions which demonstrate how our limited knowledge and wisdom leave us unable to understand all that God does. We cannot hope to comprehend all of the things which God does because we do not have sufficient knowledge. There are things which go into the actions God chooses to take that are not only beyond our knowledge, but beyond our ability to know.

     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.

     Elihu continues, telling Job that his heart pounds when he thinks of God’s voice and wondrous power. He describes some of the ways in which God speaks and some of his wondrous acts. Then he asks Job a rhetorical question. He asks Job if he understands how God does these things. Elihu concludes by saying that since Job is so wise as to understand these things, he should teach others what to say to God.
     When Elihu had finished speaking, God answered Job from a whirlwind. God starts by asking Job some questions. He asks him if he was there when the earth was created? The whole of chapter 38 is a beautiful rebuttal to those who think they know how the world came to be and that they can dismiss God as unimportant. I will quote here one example I found especially poignant:

Where does light come from,
and where does darkness go?
Can you take each to its home?
Do you know how to get there?
But of course you know all this!
For you were born before it was all created,
and you are so very experienced!

Chapter 39 continues with more examples of things which exceed human understanding and demonstrate the limits of human wisdom.

Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?

Ken Ham asks:

How do you know? Were you there?

There are many who challenge this as an easy question to answer, but that is because they do not listen to the whole follow up. That question is directed at those who dogmatically insist that there is no God because the whole universe came into being by random chance. It is a question about how do you know what you know and, more importantly, how do you know what you do not know? It is only when we recognize the limits to what we know that we can start to accept that God is beyond our ability to fully understand, that we have to take something on faith and it may as well be God.

     Paul quotes the psalmist as saying, “I believed; therefore I have spoken.” Paul tells us that because he knows that the God who raised Jesus from the dead will also raise him and those who listen to his message, he cannot help but tell people about the Gospel. As God’s grace reaches ever more people will cause those who believe to give thanks for the greater glory to God. Paul never gave up because his spirit was being renewed every day, even though his body was wasting away. Paul was able to accomplish this because he did not look at the troubles he faced in this life, rather he looked at the things of God which cannot be seen.
     Paul expresses his full confidence in God. Telling us that he would rather die and leave this earthly, corrupted body to be with Christ, but willing to stay within his earthly body for as long as God had use for him here. This whole passage gives us a model which we should strive to follow. Paul regards this life as something to be endured in service to God, but longed for the day when he would join Jesus in heaven, whether through death and resurrection or through transformation upon the Lord’s return. This made any trials or pains which he faced eminently endurable because the worse they were from a human perspective the more they demonstrated that God was honoring him by allowing him to share in Christ’s suffering.

     In today’s psalm, the psalmist tells us that God has allowed his enemies to triumph over him and made him experience suffering. All of this has happened despite the fact that he has remained faithful to God. Despite being in this situation the psalmist trusts in God to rescue him from his troubles.

     The lazy person will take any excuse to avoid working.