Jesus taught that all scripture testifies about him so that in him we might have life (John 5v39-40). King David taught that it is only by living according to God's word that we're kept on the right path (Psalm 119v9). What then could be better than reading the entire Bible? Click the menu to read about the program, choose a month or Bible book - or just work through the blog posts day by day.
BEGIN WITH PRAYER
"Lord open my eyes and my heart."
Read slowly so that you take in. And as you do, turn your heart to God, thanking him for the good you discover and praying his will home for you, your family, your church and the world.
Wisdom to chew on
Understanding to grow in
Evil, poverty, disaster? Predestination, hell? The Christian will often struggle to grasp why God does as he does. The wrong response is to reduce God to our limited understanding as Job's friends have, or claim he does wrong as Job seems to. Either way we will end up denying some truth about God, attempting to fashion him like an idol into someone he is not. The right response is to recognise our smallness before him, and his immensity. This is where Elihu leads us. God cares about how we live, but he is not changed by it (35v4-8). He is the unchanging one, who is as he is not as we would have him be. Indeed, in the simple everyday things of creation we see proof that he is beyond our understanding (36v26). And it is because of this, because we are in the dark as to much of God, that we cannot draw up a case against him when we suffer (37v19), for there are things he is doing in the universe that we are not party to. Job never finds out that God was using his sufferings to prove Job's faithfulness to Satan. Yet we can trust God because of what he has revealed of himself - most supremely in the person of his Son. As you read note how Elihu brings home how unfathomable God is.Job 35-37
Finish this reading by pausing to ask yourself:
1) What’s the main thing it teaches me about God or his purposes in Christ? Then praise him for this.
2) What’s the main thing it teaches me about his will for me or the world? Then pray that home.
Devotion to offer up
You could read this aloud and perhaps as a springboard to further prayer.