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Job 19:23-27 - Lectionary for Easter Day

4/6/2020

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4/6/20 Read the passage here. 
Many churches throughout the world use a Bible reading schedule called a "lectionary." It's just a fancy word meaning "selected readings." Posts like this reflect on the readings for an upcoming Sunday or other Church holiday, as found in the historic one-year lectionary.

Human suffering has been on our hearts and minds quite a lot recently. Our reading for Easter Day from Job 19:23-27 is intended to breathe hope into a situation in which disappointment, suffering, and loss abound. Job had been a wealthy man, with an abundance of livestock, crop land, servants, and a large family. Everything was going well. He was really “living the dream” and it was a good dream, too! When he would dine with his children they would rejoice together. When his children were away, he would make sacrifices and offerings on their behalf, in case they had doubted God and sinned in their hearts. He was a godly man with a godly family. And the Lord had been good to him, these many years.

All that was taken away. In the opening chapter of the book of Job he lost it all, from invasions, and sudden, frightening signs of fire and wind. No one human, nor one man’s family, would be able to defend against this. He lost everything, but did not deny God.

After some time of visiting with several “counselors” who persisted in telling him he must be suffering due to his own sin, he was certainly tired of rejecting the counsel he received. What was his conclusion? His redeemer lives. Even if he should lose everything, even his flesh, he would still stand one day and see God, who has always been good to him. Job didn’t understand what was happening to him. But he concluded that he didn’t need to understand it. God is still God.

In times of doubt and even fear, as we approach the celebration of Christ’s resurrection, we, like Job, can confess that we have a living hope. Even if our lives are changed in ways we would never have imagined, even if we are confronted by death itself, Christians look forward to the resurrection. By faith in God through Jesus, we recognize that the very same Christ, God the Son, who has overcome death on our behalf, will raise us in the last day. We could possibly lose everything. Yet the Lord has never failed in his goodness and mercy. In the last day, we will see Him and know that he is the redeemer, exactly the redeemer we need.

If this brief meditation was helpful to you, I hope you will check out the other materials on our website at www.WittenbergCoMo.com and consider supporting us.

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Job 38:1-11 - Lectionary for Pentecost 5B

6/19/2018

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6/19/18
Many churches throughout the world use a Bible reading schedule called a "lectionary." It's just a fancy word meaning "selected readings." Posts like this reflect on the readings for an upcoming Sunday or other Church holiday, as found in the three-year lectionary.

Job 38:1-11  depicts God as an eyewitness of the beginning of creation. It describes him as the truly eternal God, existing before anything else existed, bringing it into being, paying attention to all the intricate details of creation, and doing it all so as to bring forth shouts of joy and delight.

A purely naturalistic worldview struggles to explain the incredible complexity of the created order. Even if we grant the possibility that macroevolution could occur, the number of steps necessary to pull together even a single celled organism which would function properly require an unbelievable amount of time. To envision all this happening by accident is beyond belief. In comparison, a biblical view of a transcendent and preexistent God who created everything in an intelligent manner makes a tremendous amount of sense.

What is truly amazing about the description we find in Job, however, is not the creation or the eternity of God. It’s the little question in verses 6-7 (CSV). “Who laid its cornerstone while the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy?” The answer is obvious. It’s God. But what of the circumstances? The morning stars are a choir singing for joy. The heavenly hosts, angels all, are shouting in joy that God has created the universe and all that is in it. All creation brings forth joy, because it sings of the wisdom and knowledge of God. It proclaims his intelligence. It mirrors his glory. It survives because of his mercy.

Christians sometimes have a reputation for being indifferent stewards of the planet. That isn’t a good biblical view, though all too often it is the view we will take. Rather, when we consider all creation, we should be moved to acknowledge the Creator, knowing that the Lord has made it all for his glory and praise.

For those who wish to deny the existence of God, the burden of proof is still upon you. Can you give compelling evidence of such a complex system springing into being without an intelligent creator? Please do so. Until you can, we’d best recognize the very simple idea that an all-powerful all-wise God created and sustains it all.

If this brief meditation was helpful to you, I hope you will check out the other materials on our website at www.WittenbergCoMo.com and consider supporting us.

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The Man of Faith

3/13/2018

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Tuesdays are for the Old Testament
3/13/18

Lessing, R. Reed & Andrew E. Steinmann. Prepare the Way of the Lord: An Introduction to the Old Testament. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 2014. Chapter 16, “Job” pp. 279-296.

The book of Job consists of a challenge on two levels. Between Job and his friends the challenge is to find the source of Job’s suffering. Between God and Satan the challenge is whether Job will serve God regardless of suffering. “These earthly and heavenly conflicts center around one question: Do people serve God because of rewards or out of loving gratitude?” (Lessing 2014, 279).

The events and composition of Job traditionally lead scholars to a date around the time of Moses (Lessing 2014, 279). Lessing observes genealogical information and the fact that Job offers sacrifices on behalf of his family. Much critical scholarship will place composition later, during the Babylonian exile (Lessing 2014, 281). Job shows a breakdown of the seemingly orderly view of the universe from Moses’ time. This could be consistent with a people in captivity.

The book contains three cycles of speeches of Job and his friends (Lessing 2014, 282). However, Lessing sees a “repeated use of fourfold groupings” as central to the actual structure. There are strong elements of history, wisdom, and songs of lament in the book (Lessing 2014, 285).

While many approach Job to ask why the righteous suffer, Lessing asks, “Why do the righteous serve God?” (Lessing 2014, 285). Even though Job suffers, he serves God. The false faith says we serve God to get something. True faith says we serve God because he justifies us by faith and gives eternal life (Lessing 2014, 287).

Job’s desire is to have a mediator between God and man (Lessing 2014, 287). He would like to have his righteousness declared in terms that all would see and understand (Lessing 2014, 288). Lessing takes this to be the work of one mediator, as opposed to Job’s friends who seem to expect an angelic group.

God’s silence through much of the book troubles Job (Lessing 2014, 290). Though Job would like to question God, in the end, it is God who questions Job. He does not explain suffering. He simply shows his wisdom and power. He is the God of all creation, including creatures which cannot be controlled (Lessing 2014, 291). This power of God moves Job to repent. God cannot be accused. He is just, not Job (Lessing 2014, 292).

Lessing notes that Job is the “exemplary man of faith” in the Old Testament. Jesus is the true fulfillment in the New Testament (Lessing 2014, 293). Jesus is the mediator Job hopes for. Job’s salvation was always by God’s mercy and grace.

​
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Job 38:4-18 - Lectionary for Pentecost 10A

8/8/2017

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8/8/17
Many churches throughout the world use a Bible reading schedule called a "lectionary." It's just a fancy word meaning "selected readings." Posts like this reflect on the readings for an upcoming Sunday or other Church holiday, as found in the three-year lectionary.

In Job 38:4-18, God is interrogating Job. It seems that Job has asked to plead his case before God. He wants to prove his righteousness. What kind of evidence does Job have? Is there something he knows that God doesn’t know?

The Lord asks Job where he was when God laid out the earth, when he gave birth to the seas, when he ordered everything to work as it does now. Where was Job? He was certainly not there.

Sometimes we read this passage in a slightly petulant, demanding manner. God has called to Job and he is angry. But what if we look at it as a very gentle questioning? Then we see that God is asking Job questions like the following. “I brought forth the seas and held them like a baby. That was fun. Did you get to do it?” “Remember when I took a walk among the stars and enjoyed where I put them?” “Did you enjoy it when you arranged the colors in the sky at dawn? I did.”

God, the creator, redeemer, and sustainer of all, is inviting Job, along with us, to grasp his love for his creation and his care for it. As Job hears this account, he can rightly trust that the Lord knows him and will care for him. No matter what terrible things have come into Job’s life, the Lord’s mercy and love are there as well. Job might not see them, but God does. He is able to care for his creation from beginning to end. This is the grace of God.

If this brief meditation was helpful to you, I hope you will check out the other materials on our website at www.WittenbergCoMo.com and consider supporting us.

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