Job 6
Job responds to Eliphaz verse 1
But Job answered and said
Job describes his grief verse 2- 7
Oh that my grief were thoroughly weighed
and my calamity laid in the balances together
for now it would be heavier than the sand of the sea
THEREFORE my words are swallowed up
For the ARROWS of the Almighty are within me
the poison whereof drinks up my spirit
the terrors of God do set themselves in array
against me
Doth the wild donkey bray when he has grass?
or lows the ox over his fodder?
Can that which is unsavory be eaten without salt?
or is there any taste in the white of an egg?
The things that my soul refused to touch are as my sorrowful meat
Job describes his request of the LORD verse 8- 13
Oh that I might have my request
and that God would grant me the thing that I long for
even that it would please God to destroy me
that HE would let loose HIS hand
and cut me off
Then should I yet have COMFORT
yea – I would harden myself in sorrow – let HIM not spare
for I have not concealed the words of the Holy One
What is my strength – that I should HOPE?
What is mine end – that I should prolong my life?
Is my strength the strength of stones? – Is my flesh of brass?
Is not my HELP in me? – Is wisdom driven quite from me?
Job tells his friends that they give no hope verse 14- 30
To him that is AFFLICTED pity should be shown from his FRIEND
BUT he forsakes the fear of the Almighty
My brethren have DEALT DECEITFULLY as a brook – and as the
stream of brooks they pass away
which are blackish by reason of the ice
and wherein the snow is hid 0 what time they wax warm
they vanish
when it is hot – they are consumed out of their place
the paths of their way are turned aside
they go to nothing and perish
The troops of Tema looked – the companies of Sheba waited for them
they were confounded because they had HOPED
they came thither – and were ashamed
for now ye are nothing
you see my casting down
and are afraid
Did I say – Bring unto me? Or – Give a reward for me of your substance?
Or – Deliver me from the enemy’s hand?
Or – Redeem me from the hand of the mighty?
Teach me – and I will hold my tongue
and cause me to understand wherein I have erred
How forcible are right words – BUT what doth your arguing reprove?
Do you imagine to reprove words
and the speeches of one that is
desperate which are as wind?
Yea – you overwhelm the fatherless – you dig a pit for your FRIEND
now therefore be content – look upon me
FOR it is evident unto you if I lie
Return – I pray you – let it not be iniquity
Yea – return again – my righteousness is in it
Is there iniquity in my tongue?
cannot my taste DISCERN perverse things?
COMMENTARY:
DAILY SPIRITUAL BREAKFAST: Young Believers
: 5 Does the wild ass bray when he has grass? Or low the ox over his fooder? (1098 “fooder” [baliyl] means mash, food for livestock or animals used for labor, meslin, provender, or mixed- mash feed for large domestic mammals)
DEVOTION: Don’t we usually agree with Job when we are going through hard times? We think we have a right to complain about our present circumstances. We have a tendency to think that we have a right to do whatever we want whenever we want. It is our right to not only complain but also to praise when we feel like it. We like to base our words on our present feelings. Job was saying this to his “friends.” Do we do the same to our friends?
If we are presently going through a hard time in our life should our language be one that is always complaining? The answer is NO!! Our answer should be to turn to the LORD and ask HIM for wisdom on how to handle the situation. We need to realize that the LORD has allowed bad times in our lives to encourage us to turn closer to HIM and wait on HIM to give us wisdom through the ministry of the Holy Spirit.
Waiting on the LORD when things are going bad is not easy but the LORD didn’t promise us an easy life but one of hardship and trials that shows us our need to depend on HIM for our daily bread and daily needs. HE will provide what we need in HIS timing.
Job gives examples from the animal world but they are not in the same relationship as human beings. They have no soul that will go into eternity. They are only here today and gone tomorrow. We are here for eternity. Our life ends but then we face the judgment of God. HE will either see us at the Judgment Seat of Christ or at the Great White Throne Judgment depending on our relationship with Jesus Christ. Only believer will be at the Judgment Seat of Christ for rewards and crowns.
Are we prone to complain when things don’t go our way? If so, that needs to change. Trust in the LORD will ALL your heart and lean NOT on your own understanding.
CHALLENGE: In all your ways acknowledge the LORD and HE will direct your path.
DAILY SPIRITUAL LUNCH: Transitional Believers
: 9 Even that it would please God to destroy me; that HE would let loose HIS hand, and cut me off? (5425 “let loose” [nathar] means to unfasten, to set free, unbind, withdraw, or untie)
DEVOTION: Job has an understanding that the one who controls life and death is God. HE is the one who has absolute control of what is going on in this world. HE is sovereign in our world. Job knows that if the LORD wanted him dead he would be dead.
Now we find that the torment of what has happened to him and the first “friends” counsel have discouraged him even more. He wishes the LORD would allow him to die without him taking his own life. He wants the LORD to end his life. It seems like an easier solution than to continue to live with what is presently going on in his life.
Remember that all of his possessions are gone. His children are dead. His wife as asked him to “curse God and die.” Also his “friends” are there and the first one to speak states that it is because Job is such a bad sinner that he has experienced what has happened to him.
What would you do if it seemed like everyone was against you? Would you ask God to allow you to die? Job is definitely discouraged with what is happening in his life but he is not willing to take his own life. He knows that life and death should be left in the hands of the LORD.
When it seems that everyone and everything is against you what should you do? The Bible wants us to turn to the LORD in prayer and ask HIM to deliver us from our present situation in HIS time and in HIS way. It is not a time that we should take things into our own hands.
CHALLENGE: Ask the LORD for wisdom not only in good times but also in bad times in our personal lives. Remember that friends can give bad advice when they don’t know all the facts.
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: 14 To him that is afflicted pity should be showed from his friend; but he forsakes the fear of the Almighty. (2617 “pity” [checed] means loyalty, joint obligation, faithfulness, goodness, graciousness, a kind act, lovingkindness, or favor)
DEVOTION: Should genuine friends at least show kindness, when they see their friend suffering, whether for chastening of the LORD or for pruning from the LORD? We know that the LORD has two ways to get our attention when HE wants to instruct us in our Christian life. HE will chasten us if we are living in sin as HIS followers. Or he will prune us to cause us to mature more in HIM as we are presently serving HIM faithfully.
Sometime it is hard to discern what HE is doing in the life of a believer by their fellow believers. Job thinks that no matter what is happening fellow believers should show him kindness instead of judgment.
This first “friend” who is thought to be the oldest started off by accusing Job of sin and therefore his need to confess his sin and return to a proper relationship with the LORD. Job didn’t think that what was happening was caused by sin in his life. He didn’t seem to know the reason for the present situation but he thought that even if he had forsaken the fear of the Almighty they should treat him differently.
There are some commentaries that think that Job was stating that the friends had lost their fear of the Almighty because they were accusing him of wrongdoing when he knew that he had done nothing wrong.
The New Testament says that we are to be confronting in love those who are sinning for fear that we might sin in our treatment of a fallen brother or sister. Our ministry to those who have wandered away from the LORD is to be a ministry of reconciliation.
We are to go to our fellow believers in love at all times. Our attitude needs to be one of kindness at all times to fellow believers. Too often we can be harsh to those who wander away from the LORD. Also even those who have not wandered need to be shown kindness as they struggle in their growth in the LORD.
CHALLENGE: We are to be encouragers of our fellow believers as we show them the love of God at all times.
DAILY SPIRITUAL SUPPER: Mature Believers
: 24 Teach me, and I will hold my tongue: and cause me to understand wherein I have erred. (995 “cause to understand” means see, to pay attention, consider, examine, to cause to know and comprehend the nature or meaning of something, to distinguish, to discern, or to perceive.)
DEVOTION: One thing that genuine teaching or biblical teaching should do is help us understand the real meaning of the teachings of the Word of God. There are many people who interpret the Word of God to suit their own meaning and teaching but we should always be looking for what the LORD meant in a certain passage.
We all need as Job needs to know what is going on in our life. We need to know from the perspective of God and not from human perspective. It is hard because we are sinners and want to interpret in a way that is pleasing to us but we need to make sure that we compare Scripture with Scripture to find out what the LORD is trying to teach and then act on what we have learned.
There are many false teachers out there and there are many commentaries that are not true to the whole counsel of God. So it is hard sometimes to understand a verse or a passage of Scripture. God wants us to dig into our Bibles and compare Scripture with Scripture to find HIS meaning.
One of the ways we can do this honesty is to have a teachable spirit at all times. This is not easy because we want an interpretation that is pleasing to us, so that, we can feel good about what we are doing.
All of us err when we are not willing to listen to the LORD regarding every matter that we face in our lives. So, we need understanding in a way that the LORD can only give us. We need this understanding every moment of every day.
Our world is confused and some believers are even confused when they should be sure of their standing with the LORD and teach what they know to be YOUR teaching for their lives.
CHALLENGE: The prayer of every believer should be this verse. It is only then that the LORD can use us for HIS glory.
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: 30 Is there iniquity on my tongue? Cannot my taste discern perverse things? (2441 “taste” [chek] means inside of the mouth, gums, or palate)
DEVOTION: Have you ever had friends or family decide that you have sinned and tell you to confess it? Have you ever had someone come while you are down to say they want to help you but all they do is condemn you? Have you ever wanted a refreshing drink of water and found only an empty well? With friends like these you don’t need enemies.
This is the case with Job. One of his “friends” has accused him of sinning and informs him that it is the reason he has lost everything. He informs him that God only does this to sinners. Job is answering the accusations of his “friend” Eliphaz. Eliphaz has accused him of sinning greatly against the LORD. Job believed that he would know if he had broken any commandments of the Almighty. He believed his conscience would tell him. He believed that he could discern iniquity in his life.
The problem he saw from his “friend” was that he was digging a pit for him and getting him deeper into grief. He has asked God to take his life. He had asked the LORD to teach him what he had done wrong. He had asked the LORD to return to him. He wanted his friends to help him in this time of trouble. They did not.
He told them that they were like people traveling in a desert and looking for water and finding none. He told them that they were adding to his affliction. They held no hope out to him.
He wanted his “friend” to return to his home. He was not being a comfort. Job believed that some of the arrows of the Almighty had hit him. We sometimes realize that our enemy the devil is firing arrows at us. The book of Ephesians confirms this fact. That is one of the reasons the LORD asks us to put on the armor of God daily to fight against the enemy. Are we reading Ephesians six on a regular basis to review the armor we are to put on daily? Our enemy is real.
In this case the LORD was allowing the enemy to hit Job. Remember that the LORD puts limits on what the enemy can do to us. HE will not allow us to be tried above that we are able to handle it. Praise HIS name!!!
CHALLENGE: Be honest with the LORD. Be honest with your friends. Job was honest with the LORD and his “friend.” Tell them exactly what you believe is happening. Friends will genuinely help in troubling times. Allow them to help.
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DISCIPLINES OF THE FAITH:
BODY
Chastity (Purity in living)
Fasting (Time alone with LORD without eating or drinking)
Sacrifice (Giving up something we want to serve the LORD)
Submission (Willing to listen to others and LORD)
Solitude (Going to a quiet place without anyone)
SOUL
Fellowship (Gathering together around the Word of God)
Frugality (wise use of resources)
Journalizing (Writing down what you have learned from the LORD)
Study and Meditation (Thinking through your study in the Word)
Secrecy (Doing your good deeds without others knowing but God)
SPIRIT
Celebration (Gathering around a special occasion to worship LORD)
Confession (Tell the LORD we are sorry for our sins on a daily basis)
Prayer (Conversation with God on a personal level)
Job prayed for death verse 8
Job prays for understanding verse 24
Job prays for return of LORD to him verse 29
Silence (Letting the LORD deal with some problems and needs)
Worship (Time to praise the LORD alone or in a group)
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DOCTRINES OF THE FAITH:
Scripture (66 inerrant books of the Bible)
Words of the Holy One verse 10
God the Father (First person of the Godhead)
Almighty verse 4, 14
Arrows of the Almighty verse 4
God – Elohim (Creator, Sovereign) verse 4, 8, 9
Power to destroy humans
Power to loose HIS hand
Cut off human
Terrors of God verse 4
Words of Holy One verse 10
Fear of the Almighty verse 14
Reproves arguing verse 25, 26
God the Son (Second person of the Godhead –God/man, Messiah)
God the Holy Spirit (Third person of the Godhead – our comforter)
Trinity (Three persons of the Godhead who are co-equal = ONE God)
Angels (Created before the foundation of the world – Good and Evil)
Man (Created on the sixth twenty-four hour period of creation)
Job verse 1- 30
Arrows of the Almighty are within me
Terrors of God do set themselves in
array against me
Soul refuses to touch
Request
Long for
Case down
Afraid
Prayer for deliverance
Prayer for redemption
Teach me to hold my tongue
Friend verse 14, 27
Brethren verse 15
Troops of Tema verse 19, 20
Company of Sheba verse 19, 20
Enemy verse 23
Mighty verse 23
Fatherless verse 27
Sin (Missing the mark set by God on man and angels)
Forsaking the fear of the Almighty verse 14
Dealt deceitfully verse 15
Erred verse 24
Arguing verse 25
Desperate verse 26
Lie verse 28
Iniquity verse 29, 30
Perverse things verse 30
Salvation (Provided by Christ’s death on the cross for our sins)
Grief verse 2
Calamity verse 2
Comfort verse 10
Strength verse 11
Hope verse 11, 20
Prolonged life verse 11
Wisdom verse 13
Redeem verse 23
Teachable verse 24
Right words verse 25
Righteousness verse 29
Discernment verse 30
Israel (Old Testament people of God)
Church (New Testament people of God)
Last Things (Future Events)
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QUOTES regarding passage
6000 I. נָתַר (nā·ṯǎr): v.; ≡ Str 5425; TWOT 1448, 1449—LN 18.1–18.11 (hif) let loose, i.e., release the grasp of an object with the hand (Job 6:9+), note: this refers to death in this context; note: some parse Job 37:1 here, translate “be discouraged” (Swanson, J. (1997). Dictionary of Biblical Languages with Semantic Domains : Hebrew (Old Testament) (electronic ed.). Oak Harbor: Logos Research Systems, Inc.)
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6:14–30 ‘You have been undependable friends’. Job has just complained that he has no strength left (13), but now he moves to a bitter and sarcastic attack on his friends. His depression has become anger. He begins indirectly, with the image of the seasonal stream or wadi that never has water in it when it is wanted. He charges his friends with having failed to pay him friendship’s debt of devotion or ‘loyalty’, the loyalty of friendship and unqualified acceptance through thick and thin. The friends mean something different by ‘loyalty’. They offer sympathy and support, but only as much as is realistic. They cannot say ‘my friend, right or wrong’ when Job’s sufferings plainly prove he is in the wrong and being punished by God for some wrongdoing or other. Are they to disregard the evidence of their eyes and their learning and prop Job up in what they believe to be a falsely self-righteous position? (Carson, D. A., France, R. T., Motyer, J. A., & Wenham, G. J. (Eds.). (1994). New Bible commentary: 21st century edition (4th ed., p. 465). Leicester, England; Downers Grove, IL: Inter-Varsity Press.)
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Courageously, Job pointed out the ineffectiveness of their ministry to him (vv. 14–30). They didn’t pity him or try to meet his needs. They were like a dry brook in the desert that disappoints thirsty travelers. They were his “friends” as long as he was prosperous; but when trouble came, they turned against him. (Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). Be Patient (p. 31). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.)
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6:14 kindness … So that … forsake. Job rebuked his friends with sage words. Even if a man has forsaken God (which he hadn’t), should not his friends still show kindness to him? How can Eliphaz be so unkind as to continually indict him? (MacArthur, J. F., Jr. (2006). The MacArthur study Bible: New American Standard Bible. (Job 6:14). Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers.)
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28–30 Here Job softened his tone and appealed to his friends as men of compassion (v.28). He pled for justice, for a reconsideration of their indictment of him (v.29). His integrity was at stake, and that was more important to him than life itself. In v.30 Job again employed the figure of words as morsels of food. He reaffirmed the honesty of his own words and claimed for himself a discriminating taste for the truth. (Smick, E. B. (1988). Job. In F. E. Gaebelein (Ed.), The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: 1 & 2 Kings, 1 & 2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, Job (Vol. 4, p. 901). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House.)
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6:28–30. Perhaps his friends could not bear to look on his disfigured face, for Job asked them to look at him. He wanted them to note his honesty (Would I lie?), and to turn from making unjust and false accusations. He was not speaking wickedly, but he could easily discern (lit., “taste”) malice on their part. (Zuck, R. B. (1985). Job. In J. F. Walvoord & R. B. Zuck (Eds.), The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures (Vol. 1, p. 728). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.)
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Courageously, Job pointed out the ineffectiveness of their ministry to him (vv. 14–30). They didn’t pity him or try to meet his needs. They were like a dry brook in the desert that disappoints thirsty travelers. They were his “friends” as long as he was prosperous; but when trouble came, they turned against him.
Job made two requests of his friends: “Teach me” (v. 24) and “Look upon me” (v. 28). He didn’t need accusation; he needed illumination! But they wouldn’t even look him in the face and behold his plight. Physically, the three men were sitting with Job on the ash heap; but emotionally, they were like the priest and Levite, passing by “on the other side” (Luke 10:30–37).
In my pastoral ministry, I can recall visiting hospital patients who were difficult to look at because of disease, accident, or surgery; and sometimes they were difficult to listen to because they had become bitter. From my eye contact and my responses to their words, they could detect whether or not I really cared. It did little good for me to quote Scripture and pray unless we had first built a bridge between our hearts. Then we could minister to each other.
Job closed his address to his friends with a passionate appeal for them to reconsider his situation and take a more loving approach. “Relent, do not be unjust; reconsider, for my integrity is at stake” (Job 6:29, NIV). The three men were so intent on defending themselves that they forgot to comfort their friend! (Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). Be Patient (pp. 32–33). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.)
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Ver. 29. Return, I pray you, &c.] From the ill opinion you have of me, and from your hard censures, and entertain other sentiments concerning me: or it may be, upon these words of Job his friends might be rising up as usual to take their leave of him, and break off conversation with him; and therefore he entreats they would return to their seats, and resume the debate, and give a friendly hearing of his case: let it not be iniquity; either let it not be reckoned an iniquity to return and go on hearing his case; or he entreats that they would take care not to sin in their anger and resentment against him, nor go on to charge him with iniquity: or it may be rendered, there is no iniquity; that is, it should be found that there was no such iniquity in him as he was charged with; not that he was free from all sin, which no man is, but from that which his friends judged he was guilty of, hypocrisy: yea, return again; he most earnestly importunes them to return and patiently hear him out: my righteousness is in it; in the whole of this affair before them, and which was the matter of controversy between them; meaning, not his justifying righteousness before God, but the righteousness of his cause before men; he doubted not but, when things were thoroughly searched into, that his righteousness would be as clear as the light, and his judgment as the noon-day; that he should appear to be a righteous man, and his cause a just one; and should stand acquitted and free from all charges and imputations.
Ver. 30. Is there iniquity in my tongue? &c.] Meaning in his words; either those which he uttered when he cursed the day on which he was born, or in charging his friends with unkindness and falsehood; otherwise the tongue is a world of iniquity, and the best of men are apt to offend both God and men in word: cannot my taste discern perverse things? which is to be understood not of his natural taste, which very probably through his disease might be greatly vitiated, and incapable of relishing his food as in time of health, and of distinguishing good from bad; but of his intellectual taste, or of his sense and reason, his rational and spiritual taste; he had his senses exercised to discern good and evil; he could distinguish between right and wrong that was said or done, either by himself or others; he had the use of his rational powers and faculties, and therefore not to be treated as a mad or distracted man, but as one capable of carrying on a conversation, of opening his true case, and defending himself; see ch. 12:11. (Gill, J. (1810). An Exposition of the Old Testament (Vol. 3, p. 242). London: Mathews and Leigh.)
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FROM MY READING:
(Remember the only author that I totally agree with is the HOLY SPIRIT in the inerrant WORD OF GOD called THE BIBLE! All other I try to gleam what I can to help me grow in the LORD!!)
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Haggai 1
Haggai explains that God’s people suffer because they neglect to finish the temple.
INSIGHT
As the children of Israel return from the Babylonian captivity, their first order of business is to rebuild the temple. Haggai, a prophet of God who is ministering at the time, encourages the people to work hard at restoring the temple. With great enthusiasm, they quickly lay the foundation. But discouragement sets in and work on the temple is soon forgotten as they begin to build their own houses. Finally, after 15 years, Haggai tells them that the afflictions they are suffering are because of their neglect of the temple. They must finish the temple first and then resume building their houses. First things first. God demands proper priorities.
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ONE COVENANT OF GRACE
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I will be their God. Genesis 17:8
Consider the new disposition of the covenant of grace–the word “new” simply means a new administration of the same covenant. Let us remind ourselves of God’s purpose in this covenant of grace. Through sin and the Fall men and women lost their knowledge of God–they were estranged from Him, and God’s purpose of redemption was to bring us back to know Him. The working out of the new economy of this covenant has been done in and through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. It is important, first of all, that we should establish clearly that we are still dealing with the same covenant. So let me give you these proofs.
The first is that there is but one covenant of grace, and it is the same covenant in the Old Testament as it is in the New Testament. We notice that the great promise made in the Old Testament (“I will be their God”–the promise made to Abraham in Genesis 17:8) is mentioned several times in the New Testament. It is one and the same promise. The greatest thing that can happen to anybody is to say, “My God.” Nothing is to be compared with this, and it is the New Testament term as well as the Old Testament term.
The second proof is that you find the same kind of blessing in the Old Testament and in the New Testament. Take Psalm 51 and see what David prays there: “Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me” (verse 10); he wants to have the joy of his salvation restored to him (verse 12). Sometimes Christian people speak very wrongly of the kind of spiritual experience that was enjoyed by the Old Testament saints. There is a tendency to say that we have this experience but that they had nothing. You would be very surprised to hear that the psalmist is further on spiritually than you are!
A Thought to Ponder: There is but one covenant of grace, and it is the same covenant in the Old Testament as it is in the New Testament.
(From God the Father, God the Son, pp. 235-236, by Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones).
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The Weight of the Wind
“For he looketh to the ends of the earth, and seeth under the whole heaven; To make the weight for the winds; and he weigheth the waters by measure.” (Job 28:24-25)
It was only discovered by scientists in modern times that the air actually has weight. This passage in Job, however, written 35 or more centuries ago, indicated that the two great terrestrial fluids of air and water forming Earth’s atmosphere and hydrosphere are both “weighed” by God’s careful “measure” to provide the right worldwide balance of forces for life on Earth.
Another remarkable “weighing” act of God is noted in Job 37:16: “Dost thou know the balancings of the clouds, the wondrous works of him which is perfect in knowledge?” Clouds are composed of liquid drops of water, not water vapor, and water is heavier than air, so how are they “balanced” in the sky? “For he maketh small the drops of water: they pour down rain according to the vapour thereof: Which the clouds do drop and distill upon man abundantly” (Job 36:27-28).
Meteorologists know that the weight of the small water droplets in the clouds is “balanced” by the “weight of the winds”—air rushing upward in response to temperature changes. Eventually, however, the droplets coalesce to form larger drops that overcome these updrafts and fall as rain. “By watering he wearieth the thick cloud” (Job 37:11). The coalescence is probably triggered electrically in the clouds themselves, “when he made a decree for the rain, and a way for the lightning of the thunder” (Job 28:26).
Although these verses are not couched in the jargon of modern science, they are thoroughly scientific and up to date. “Lo, these are parts of his ways: but how little a portion is heard of him? but the thunder of his power who can understand?” (Job 26:14).
(HMM, The Institute for Creation Research)
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The Power of the Gospel
I am so eager to preach the gospel also to you who are in Rome. Romans 1:15
Ancient Rome had its own version of “the gospel”—the good news. According to the poet Virgil, Zeus, king of the gods, had decreed for the Romans a kingdom without end or boundaries. The gods had chosen Augustus as divine son and savior of the world by ushering in a golden age of peace and prosperity.
This, however, wasn’t everyone’s idea of good news. For many it was an unwelcome reality enforced by the heavy hand of the emperor’s army and executioners. The glory of the empire was built on the backs of enslaved people who served without legal personhood or property at the pleasure of masters who ruled over them.
This was the world in which Paul introduced himself as a servant of Christ (Romans 1:1). Jesus—how Paul had once hated that name. And how Jesus Himself had suffered for admitting to being the king of the Jews and Savior of the world.
This was the good news Paul would explain in the rest of his letter to the Romans. This gospel was “the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes” (v. 16). Oh, how it was needed by those who suffered under Caesar! Here was the news of a crucified and resurrected Savior—the liberator who conquered His enemies by showing how much He loved them. (By Mart DeHaan
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Use not vain repetitions (μη βατταλογησητε [mē battalogēsēte]). Used of stammerers who repeat the words, then mere babbling or chattering, empty repetition. The etymology is uncertain, but it is probably onomatopoetic like “babble.” The worshippers of Baal on Mount Carmel (1 Kings 8:26) and of Diana in the amphitheatre at Ephesus who yelled for two hours (Acts 19:34) are examples. The Mohammedans may also be cited who seem to think that they “will be heard for their much speaking” (ἐν τῃ πολυλογιᾳ [en tēi polulogiāi]). Vincent adds “and the Romanists with their paternosters and avast.” The Syriac Sinaitic has it: “Do not be saying idle things.” Certainly Jesus does not mean to condemn all repetition in prayer since he himself prayed three times in Gethsemane “saying the same words again” (Matt. 26:44). “As the Gentiles do,” says Jesus. “The Pagans thought that by endless repetitions and many words they would inform their gods as to their needs and weary them (‘fatigare deos’) into granting their requests” (Bruce). (Robertson, A. T. (1933). Word Pictures in the New Testament (Mt 6:7). Nashville, TN: Broadman Press.)
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IN THE HOUR OF TRIAL by James Montgomery, 1771–1854
No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, He will also provide a way out so that you can stand up to it. (1 Corinthians 10:13)
Crisis situations are often the important pivotal points in our lives. Our response to these traumatic times—the loss of a loved one, a change in employment, a mistreatment by a trusted friend—will be the foundation stones upon which our lives are built. Maintaining the glow of our first love for God despite all the stresses of life is a major concern. The third stanza of this hymn teaches so well what our attitude should be when difficulties come our way: A desire to know what God is saying through the experience and a willingness to cast our cares on Him.
This beloved hymn was written by one of England’s foremost hymn writers, James Montgomery. It was first published in 1853 with the title “Prayers on a Pilgrimage.” The text is based on the incident of Peter’s denial of his Lord in the courtyard of the high priest (Mark 14:54, 66–72).
“In the Hour of Trial” also teaches that believers, like Peter, are capable of rebelling and straying from the fellowship of their Lord. The Bible gives this warning: “If you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall!” (1 Corinthians 10:12). The antidote to sin’s allurements is the ability to keep our minds centered on Christ and His redemptive work for us. And like Peter, we can have our fellowship with God restored when we return to Him in brokenness and true humility. Peter’s remorse was the start of his spiritual greatness. Like Peter, we must let our pride and self-sufficiency become our Christ confidence if our lives are to count for the Lord.
In the hour of trial, Jesus, plead for me; lest by base denial I depart from Thee: When Thou seest me waver, with a look recall, nor for fear or favor suffer me to fall.
With forbidden pleasures would this vain world charm, or its sordid treasures spread to work me harm; bring to my remembrance sad Gethsemane, or, in darker semblance, cross-crown’d Calvary.
Should Thy mercy send me sorrow, toil, and woe, or should pain attend me on my path below, grant that I may never fail Thy hand to see; grant that I may ever cast my care on Thee. (Osbeck, K. W. (1996). Amazing grace: 366 inspiring hymn stories for daily devotions (p. 105). Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Publications.)
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