July 13 Bible Blog

Job 24:13-28:11
Job is a difficult book. Much of it is a debate between Job and his so-called friends. They want him to admit that he deserves the immense trials and tribulations that God has allowed Satan to inflict on him, and Job resists – he knows he is just, or at least that he does not deserve the suffering inflicted upon him. His friends believe that whatever happens to us is either reward for doing good or punishment for doing evil. Job knows that the ‘punishment’ he is experiencing does not fit whatever ‘crime’ he has committed. Looking at the suffering in the world, we can agree with Job. We probably all know good people who have suffered sickness or loss incredibly. When natural disasters strike, it is often the poor and vulnerable who suffer the most, and they don’t deserve it.
I remember the worst sermon I ever heard. A preacher read one of Job’s friend’s speeches, and then preached on it as if it was directly God’s word. As we shall see, God is angered by Job’s friends and disagrees with them strongly later in the book. It is sometimes dangerous to read just a small part of the Bible out of its context: as you read Job, remember that it is the whole book of Job that is a word from God to us; the individual verses may be wrong, since they are spoken by people with whom God disagrees. They are important to read as a part of God’s word (so we can understand what God disagrees with), but not alone.

Acts 14:1-18
When Paul and Barnabas travel to Lystra (in what is now Turkey) and heal a man who could not walk, the people there think they are the Greek gods Zeus and Hermes in the flesh, and want to sacrifice and worship them. They reject their ‘celebrity status,’ and tell the people the good news of the living God who created all things. I love Paul’s words about God’s global “witness in doing good—giving you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, and filling you with food and your hearts with joy.”