January 6 - Job 10 - 13

Today’s reading comes from Job 10-13. Before reading I invite you to pray and asked God to speak to you as you read his word.

To be completely transparent the book of Job has always been a little strange to me. The back and forth that takes place between the Job and his friends has always baffled me. To be truly transparent, I have never read through Job more than two times before this one. So I am not a scholar by any means.

In various classes, sermons, and other places I have always heard that Job’s friends are really not helpful in counseling him. As I read the back and forth between them I even see Job share that with his friends … “Doubtless you are the people, and wisdom will die with you!” (Job 13:2 NIV84). That is not high praise for his friends who have come to his aid.

I wander if there is a nugget of truth we can find here in this counseling session. When I read the words of Job and his friends as they describe God I find myself nodding my head in agreement. What they all say is in agreement with what I find throughout the rest of scripture. So why are they not helpful? I think it is the approach they have come at Job with. Job has just come through the worst event any human could suffer through. While the words they share speak truth about God, it really isn’t what Job needs to hear.

If we wanted to, we could probably find some fault in Job. Has he closed himself off to the counsel and compassion of his friends? I don’t know. I can tell you this; I do not know how I would react to the counsel of friends if I had experienced what Job had. So while he may not respond well, maybe it is the best he can do following his tragedy.

I think there is a lesson here for us … How do we compassionately and lovingly support someone who has gone through a challenging time in life? Do we always strive to point out the reasons they have gone through this tragedy pointing to their faults? Or do we first show them love and support and over time, as they are ready to look back, use their struggles as a teaching time? Finally, how do we respond to those who are doing the best they can to be comforting and supporting when we have hit rock bottom? 

January 5 – Job 6-9

Today’s reading comes from Job 6-9. Before reading I invite you to pray and asked God to speak to you as you read his word.

Job has reached the full point of misery. Everything he has been blessed with in this life except for his wife has been taken from him. His flocks and herds, his servants, his property, and worst of all his children are all gone. Even his health has been effected. As we begin our reading today we are well aware of Job’s misery.

As many of us do when tough times are upon us we question God. Job knows that he has done his best to honor God with his life. He does not understand the misery, he does not understand the hardship, and from his words, he seems that he his ready to mail his life in. His friends seem to think there is some sort of sin that has brought God’s judgment upon him. They do not know what it is … in every way they have seen Job has been noble … but in their minds there is something deep and hidden that he needs to repent of.

Job has a healthy understanding of who God is. Job’s words in chapter nine paint a beautiful picture of God the creator. They also paint a picture of God the judge. Job’s friends seem to have persuaded him to believe he is guilty for something and that the pain he is suffering is because of his guilt. The story is still developing, but Job knows that God does not reason like a man does.

Job longs for an arbitrator to reason between him and God (Job 9:22-25). Friends, Job lived without and arbitrator, but we do not have to. In Jesus we have found one who will arbitrate for us. Because God is holy and we are the furthest thing from holy, we cannot be in God’s presence. But Jesus came to become our mediator, our arbitrator, to stand before God on our behalf with our sin upon him so that we can once again walk with God. Friends, I hope you are as thankful for that as I am. No matter how tough life gets here on earth, in Christ we have hope, and friends, that is comforting in times of distress!

January 4 – Job 1-5

Today’s reading comes from Job 1-5. Before reading I invite you to pray and asked God to speak to you as you read his word.

Today we begin the book of Job. In this chronological reading of the Bible we pause from Genesis because many Bible scholars and historians believe this would have been the time period Job lived and thus making this proper place to insert this book. Many of the circumstances found in the book of Job show a patriarchal society. Also we see Job offering sacrifices to God without the assistance of Priest, which indicates he lived before God gave his law to Moses on Mt. Sinai. Also another indicator is the idea that Job’s wealth is measured in his flocks and servants. Couple this together with his lifespan of 140 years we are pointed to some time in the Genesis era.

The story of Job quickly unfolds with Satan coming before God along with the angels. God allows Satan to bring harm to Job’s family, his wealth, and even his personal health. From here we find Job mourning his loss and the beginning of the counsel he finds from his friends.

Throughout the rest of Job we will find Job and his friends asking the question if God is all loving, all knowing, and all powerful … why does he allow bad things to happen to good people? Job has been a righteous man. He feared God so much so that when his children threw feast he offered sacrifices for their protection (Job 1:5). Why has God destroyed his life this way? However through it all, he never curses God, even when prodded to by his wife (Job 2:9-11).

The struggle that Job is about to have is not much different then struggles we all face. If God is love as the Bible teaches, then why does bad happen in the world? Why do we see death, disease, famine, poverty, cancer, tragic accidents, hurricanes, earthquakes, tsunamis, and many other cataclysmic events? Over the course of the next eleven days we will venture through Job and find the strength that only trials can bring.

January 3 – Genesis 8 – 11

Today’s reading comes from Genesis 8 – 11. Before reading I invite you to pray and asked God to speak to you as you read his word.

Today’s reading ends the first eleven chapters of Genesis. These eleven chapters are often the most highly debated chapters of the entire Bible. The reason is they tell the creation story. They tell what to many is a fanciful story that could not be true. To many they offer no scientific explanation for the world we see and experience. This is the view that those who doubt the Bible or who interpret it liberally hold.

These chapters tell of creation, long lives, a great flood, and God scrambling languages. In my mind it gives a solid explanation for the world we live in and why it exists as it does. Think about it, an explanation of how this world and all that inhabit it exists because of the creation story. An explanation is given for the death, disease, and destruction we see in our world today … sin. An explanation for the great multitude of fossils we find in the earth can be found in Noah’s flood. I am reminded of what Ken Ham, founder of Answer’s In Genesis and the Creation Museum says about Noah’s Flood … “If Noah’s flood were true you would expect to find millions of dead things buried in rock layers laid down by water all over the earth, and what do we actually see in the fossil record? Millions of dead things buried in rock layers laid down by water all over the earth!” In these eleven chapters we even find an explanation for the multitude of languages spoken on the earth.

Does it take faith to believe these eleven chapters of Genesis are true? Absolutely! But I would argue it takes just as much faith to believe they are not true and that some other force or course of action took place to arrive at where we are today. So where do you want to place your faith? In a loving God who offers salvation through his son Jesus Christ? In a loving God who does not forget you as he did not forget Noah and his family on the Ark (Genesis 8:1)? Or through random actions that offer no explanation to the meaning of life, why we exist, and what we exist for? I will take the explanation that gives life meaning and purpose.

January 2 – Genesis 4 – 7

Today’s reading comes from Genesis 4 – 7. Before reading I invite you to pray and asked God to speak to you as you read his word.

Today’s reading takes us out of the Garden of Eden and into the lives of Adam and Eve’s first recorded children Cain and Able. We are introduced to a battle that will rage on throughout the course of human existence … pride verses humility.

Both Cain and Able presented God with sacrifices of worship, but only one found God’s favor. As I read this account I in now way see a difference between the offering choices. What I mean is I do not think God looked with more favorite at the animal sacrifice than the fruits of the soil sacrifice. Both were the product of each man’s labor. And that is what God desires.

However, I think what he found favor in was the idea that Abel brought the choicest selection he could. When I go to buy a quality steak I look for a piece with a good amount of fat because we know fat adds flavor to the cooked meat. Able brought of his firstborn, and not just the first born but the best part of the firstborn. This shows trust in God by giving the first born that what God provides afterward will be enough. It’s a great lesson in the spiritual discipline of tithing.

Cain on the other hand brought fruits of the soil. Exactly what these are we do not know. Because the Bible points out the quality of Abel’s offering we can assume that Cain’s was not to the level and sacrifice that his brothers was. God looked with favor over Abel’s and did not with Cain’s.

Sin has entered the scene and is now assaulting Cain’s pride so much so that he is willing to kill his brother in an act of rage. Friends, pride has caused the destruction of many human beings. On one of the first occurrences we see in the Bible it causes a life to be taken. On the other hand when we submit to humility we can learn a valuable lesson. Had Cain sought humility he would have learned from God’s words when God says in verse seven … “If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it.” Had Cain operated under humility he could have spared his brother’s life and learned a valuable lesson.

What in your life could you have done differently if you would have submitted to humility instead of your wounded pride? How can you avoid the pitfalls of pride in the future and learn humility?

January 1 ... Genesis 1-3

Today’s reading comes from Genesis 1 – 3. Before reading I invite you to pray and asked God to speak to you as you read his word.

Good morning West Sider’s. If you have ventured here today it means you are starting your new year off following West Sides Chronological Reading Plan. If you follow this plan you will read the Bible from cover to cover in on years’ time. Here on the blog you will find my thoughts or observances from that days reading.  Sometimes I might provide historical context or some theological insight that explains a difficult passage. I want to warn that I will not always be able to share everything that happens that day in the reading because there might simply be too much. Usually what I will write will be some devotional thought that might be a reoccurring theme in the various passages. Today’s post will be longer because of this introduction. It will be my goal to have these post up and on the blog each day by 6:00 a.m.

Today’s reading comes from the very first pages of God’s word. Scholars believe that Moses, who leads the Israelites out of Egyptian slavery, is the author of the book of Genesis. This narrative that he tells of the creation account is believed to have been an oral tradition passed on from generation or perhaps even a written account that was kept among the Israelites. Regardless, in the recording of this, God’s Spirit was at work and this is the information that God desired to have shared with mankind.

What I find amazing in the creation account is the God’s creativity. As we examine our world today we see creativity all around. God’s creation itself was creative. Look at the various species of plants and animals, with all their shapes, colors, and functions. Look at the landscape that surrounds us, deep valleys, tall mountains, and all the colors they come in. God was certainly creative in his creation.

But what strikes me as amazing is how creative he made his creation. We first see that in Genesis 2:19. God ask man to use his creative ability in the naming of the animals. We see that God’s creation the Serpent, representing Satan’s first appearance on the scene, is creative himself. In Genesis 3:1-5 Satan is deceiving and cunning, creative in his deception of Eve. We see that in our own world. Satan has been very creative in luring mankind further and further away from God.

All this screams that our God, our creator, is very creative in his nature. As people created in his image we are implanted with the ability to be creative. As we begin this new year let us remember the creativity with which we are equipped and use that in a an amazing way to praise, honor, and glorify God.