Bible Pathway - June 20, 2011
Read Job 21
Highlights:
As Job responds, the question arises: Why do the wicked prosper and go unpunished? Eliphaz speaks for the 3rd time, making Job sound like a liar (Job 22:1-30). Job's response: I shall come forth as gold (23:10)
The key to Job's singleness of heart and ultimate victory was his conviction that obedience to the Word of God was more important than life itself: His way have I kept, and not declined. . . . I have esteemed the words of His mouth more than my necessary food (Job 23:11-12).
It is as if Job had said: "In the midst of my suffering and sorrows, in faith I turned to and trusted whatever He chose for me. So great was my need for assurance, I seized upon it as a starving man for a meal. I devoured it and indeed my soul was comforted and I was strengthened. I turned from the husks of 'comfort' that my friends offered and can testify that only faith in God and His Word will satisfy."
He further explained his confidence by saying: Behold, I go forward, but He is not there; and backward, but I cannot perceive Him: On the left hand . . . I cannot behold Him . . . on the right hand . . . I cannot see Him (23:8-9).
Regardless of where Job turned, it seemed that God was nowhere to be found. But Job's faith did not rest in his fears and feelings, but in the Word of God. Job's faith was unshakable because he could truthfully say: His way have I kept so I shall come forth as gold.
Some have assumed they were a Christian merely because they were a member of a church, but have they experienced the transforming power of the Word of God? Like Judas, they may talk like Christians, but they do not desire Christ as Lord of their lives. To have a Bible but no desire to know how God would have them live is useless. Until they repent of their sins and accept Christ as Savior and Lord, the Bible has little meaning to them.
As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him . . . Beware lest any man spoil (rob) you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ (Col. 2:6,8).
Spiritual defeat inevitably faces the Christian who lives year after year, reading little of the Bible because they ignorantly believe they have sufficient wisdom. Such reasoning may leave them greatly lacking the armor and weapons of protection against the deceptions of Satan (Eph. 6:11-17).
Unless Thy Law had been my delights, I should then have perished in mine affliction (Ps. 119:92).
Thought for Today:
It is amazing, but true — we can only know God through reading His Word!
Christ Revealed:
Through Job's faithfulness to God throughout his suffering (Job 23:10-12). Christ's faithfulness to the Father is seen as He prayed for the Father's will to be done, not His own (Luke 22:42).
Word Studies:
21:2 consolations sympathy; 21:3 Suffer allow; 21:8 seed children; 21:10 gendereth greeds; casteth not does not miscarry; 21:29 tokens testimony and experience; 24:5 rising betimes for a prey seeking diligently for food; 24:21 evil entreateth cruelly takes advantage of.
Prayer Needs:
Pray for Government Official: Rep. Adam Schiff (CA) • Country: Luxembourg (429,000) in western Europe • Major languages: Luxembourgish and German • Religious freedom • 84% Roman Catholic; 2% Protestant; .1% Eastern Orthodox • Prayer Suggestion: Kneel in a humble spirit of reverence as you pray to the Lord (I Kings 8:54)..
Optional Reading:
Memory Verse for the Week:
Acts 2:36
