365 Reflections

Proverbs 3:5–6 (ESV)  Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. 6 In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. Proverbs 3:5-6 get the headlines in sermons and Christian coffee cups. I understand. The passage is about our future and we are often so worried about it that we need a lot of reinforcement to embrace it. After all, you cannot stop the future from arriving. Some translations say, "he will direct your paths." And I love that too... and we all should do exactly as this verse suggests. But it should be mentioned repeatedly that "all scripture is God-breathed and profitable" to equip us (see 2 Timothy 3:16-17). To that end, look at the verses PRECEDING those incredible words from Proverbs 3:5-6: Proverbs 3:1–4 (ESV)  My son, do not forget my teaching, but let your heart keep my commandments, 2 for length of days and years of life and peace they will add to you. 3 Let not steadfast love and faith...

The choice is always ours when it comes to wisdom. And that's really good news. Put it this way, if you are struggling to understand what to do in a situation, there's only one person to blame: you. God longs to give you wisdom but you MUST long to receive it.  Proverbs 2:1–5 (ESV) My son, if you receive my words and treasure up my commandments with you, 2 making your ear attentive to wisdom and inclining your heart to understanding; 3 yes, if you call out for insight and raise your voice for understanding, 4 if you seek it like silver and search for it as for hidden treasures, 5 then you will understand the fear of the LORD and find the knowledge of God. Proverbs continues with advice from a father to his son. And notice how the stage is set for wisdom: There are three "if" statements in this passage.  1. The "if" of receiving and treasuring God's commands.  2. The "if" of asking for instruction and questioning what to know. 3. The "if...

If you are wondering if I skipped the Psalms I assure you I did not. I covered them after the New Testament in 2014. So we are jumping from Job to Proverbs, from one wisdom literature to another, although, the content of Proverbs will be much more palpable.  I have in my Bible the following phrase from the introduction to Proverbs: "Practical wisdom for living is the central concern of the book of Proverbs." Practical wisdom is only good, however, if you heed it. One thing that's common throughout Proverbs is the amount of parallelism both synonymous - same thought restated to emphasize wisdom and antithetical parallelism - contrasting thoughts to expose the importance of wisdom. Sometimes Proverbs repeats wise advice and other times it contrasts it with folly. We will see this throughout the book.  The book opens with a chapter that is just one large antithetical parallel strategy. First, we are introduced to the benefits of wisdom: Proverbs 1:1–7 (ESV) The proverbs of S...

The Apostle Paul famously wrote to the Corinthians about the necessity of the resurrection.  1 Corinthians 15:19 (ESV) If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied. He's right. If we only have this life, we are sad people. Religious practice is a lame hobby if we are only gathered in our own midst and singing to a God we will never meet.  Here we are just after the annual celebration of Christ's resurrection and we come to the end of Job's journey. He's been God's instrument to bring peace to his friends by offering sacrifices. Now, as a type of Christ, he experiences a sort of resurrection. First the restoration process of God: Job 42:10–11 (ESV) And the LORD restored the fortunes of Job, when he had prayed for his friends. And the LORD gave Job twice as much as he had before. 11 Then came to him all his brothers and sisters and all who had known him before, and ate bread with him in his house. And they showed him sympathy an...

Job 42:7–9 (ESV) After the LORD had spoken these words to Job, the LORD said to Eliphaz the Temanite: “My anger burns against you and against your two friends, for you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has. 8 Now therefore take seven bulls and seven rams and go to my servant Job and offer up a burnt offering for yourselves. And my servant Job shall pray for you, for I will accept his prayer not to deal with you according to your folly. For you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has.” 9 So Eliphaz the Temanite and Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite went and did what the LORD had told them, and the LORD accepted Job’s prayer. God's words to the friends of Job are striking and without ambiguity. They are wrong and have been wrong about God and Job the whole time. They have spoken mistruths about God. Once again God calls Job, "my servant".  First, God's anger is kindled, "burns" against the three mispoken frien...

Many people like to say they've had an encounter with God. Perhaps they felt something at a certain point that made them feel spiritual or like something touched them on the inside. Those moments can be significant. But they are not always a true encounter with God. What I see Job experience in the last moment of his story is the true results that a true encounter with God produces. Job 42:1–3 (ESV) Then Job answered the LORD and said: 2 “I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted. 3 ‘Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?’ Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know. The first expression of Job upon experiencing God is to surrender. "No purpose of (the Lord's) can be thwarted" . Job knows this now. He wanted answers and he came away with surrender to what God was doing in his life.  The second expression of Job is an admittance of his own foolish speech. "...

Job 41:1 (ESV)  Can you draw out Leviathan with a fishhook or press down his tongue with a cord?    God now uses a water or sea creature called Leviathan to rebuke Job. It could be some mythical sea creature or a crocodile. We don’t know. But what we do know is that this great beast is utterly unusual to man. He cannot catch it, train it, use it as a pet or tame it.  Job 41:2-5 (ESV)  Can you put a rope in his nose or pierce his jaw with a hook?  3  Will he make many pleas to you? Will he speak to you soft words?  4  Will he make a covenant with you to take him for your servant forever? 5  Will you play with him as with a bird, or will you put him on a leash for your girls?  What is God saying? Simply this: Leviathan is wild beyond measure and yet God has made it. If mankind cannot control this small creature in comparison to the Earth, what hope does man have in control of anything God allows - including suffering. This is the fina...

As God answers Job a second time in Job 40 we are introduced to a strange discussion of the "Behemoth."  Job 40:15–18 (ESV) “Behold, Behemoth, which I made as I made you; he eats grass like an ox. 16 Behold, his strength in his loins, and his power in the muscles of his belly. 17 He makes his tail stiff like a cedar; the sinews of his thighs are knit together. 18 His bones are tubes of bronze, his limbs like bars of iron. Now you may ask, what does this have to do with God speaking to Job? What is the point? That was my first question. Of course, passages like this make me realize how often the Bible proves itself to be the inspiration of God and not the ideas of man. Who would respond to Job's suffering by talking about a huge animal? It's hard to believe mankind would come up with that idea on their own. No. God did it. And He does it for a reason.  First, the Lord tells Job, "I made (the Behemoth) as I made you." A fierce and strong and dangerous animal ...