Year 5, Day 120: Job 26

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: In

• In: This is the word we use to express our relationships with our spiritual family.  These are often the people who hold us spiritually accountable.  They are the ones to whom we typically go for discussion and discernment.  These are the ones with whom we learn to share leadership.  They are the ones with whom we become family on mission.

I’ve talked about In a lot since beginning Job, probably more so in Job than in any other book.  But I think this is a really important dynamic to at least the first half of the book of Job.  When the chips are down, we need people around us.  When we are struggling, we need our In.  When we are spending all sorts of time pondering our life, we need people who can be there beside us.

Look at Job’s continued complaints regarding his friends all throughout Job and in the opening verses of this chapter.  Job complains that his people aren’t listening to him.  He complains that they are just here to prove their point to him rather than walk with him.  They are there to convict him without even listening to whether or not conviction is even necessary in the first place!

I think this is a huge point to consider as we look out into the world.  Yes, we are all sinners.  Yes, every one of us need to repent and change of our ways.  But the truth is that we don’t need that rubbed in our face all the time.  What we need is people who can listen to us, walk beside us, encourage us, and correct us when needed.

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Year 5, Day 119: Job 25

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: King

• King: This is the pinnacle of the Kingdom Triangle.  When we look towards God’s position in the universe, we acknowledge that He is an omnipotent king.  Authority comes from Him.  Power comes through His authority.  He is looking for representatives for His kingdom.

What a great chapter of Job!  And no, before you ask, it isn’t because it is so short.  Neither is it because this is the last of the replies of Job’s friends that we have in this book.  What we have here in these verses is a simplistic perspective on humanity.

We are not righteous.  We will never compare to God.  We pale in comparison to the great Almighty.  We’re not God, and we never will be.

You see, God is king of the universe.  He set it into motion.  He made it out of nothing.  He hung the stars in the sky.  He shaped the image of man in His own image.  He is the king.

However, there’s an incredible message here.  While He may be king, He wants relationship with us.  While He may be king, He wants to know us intimately.  He’s not some great and far off king.  He’s a king that doesn’t care about our inability to compare to Him.  He lends us His righteousness.  He gives us a promise of a better life in the eternal.

Ultimately, Bildad is right on the surface but wrong where it counts.  We’ll never match up to God.  That much is true.  But that doesn’t matter to God.  God lends us His righteousness and desires relationship with us anyways.  God is an amazing king.

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Year 5, Day 118: Job 24

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Kingdom

• Kingdom: We live in God’s creation, but it is fallen.  We do not yet live in the fullness of God’s Kingdom.  But we do know that the Kingdom of God is drawing near.  We do get to see glimpses of the kingdom each and every time that God works in us and through us as He tries to demonstrate Himself to the world.

I have often thought as Job thinks in this chapter.  The wicked prosper.  The powerful oppress the powerless.  The masters are lords over those who could benefit from them.  People steal from the defenseless.  Our world is messed up, and it doesn’t really seem to be getting any better.  In fact, I’ve heard many people say that our culture is in decline, not improving.

This is absolutely a pessimistic view of the world.  I think it has merit and is based in truth.  But it is admittedly pessimistic.  To say that our culture is slipping into moral and ethical decline is a sad commentary on our culture.

It leads to the question that Job asks.  How can God stand by and watch?  How can God watch while the wicked prosper?  How can God sit back and deny justice to the righteous?  How can God be king of this kingdom if the people who aspire to know Him are seldom prosperous and lifted up by the world?  If God is king, why do His people not rise to the top of His kingdom?

I think there are two answers to this.  The first answer is deeply theological.  The answer is that God’s kingdom is eternal.  We cannot say who really is rising to the top of God’s kingdom until we get to the eternal.  Who are we to say that after a few decades of living in this world that we have any ability to testify as to who God is allowing to be elevated?

The second answer is rooted more in the truth about humanity.  In God’s kingdom, who among us is really righteous?  Who among us truly deserves God’s love more than we deserve God’s wrath?  When I lift up our hand against some injustice done to me, am I really innocent and blameless?  Am I without sin?

The truth is that in God’s kingdom we are all there by God’s grace.  No human being deserves to be there.  No human being deserves to stand in the presence of God.  We will all be there by God’s grace.  What a great day it will be!  But none of us will deserve it.

Job’s right on one account.  The unrighteous prosper.  The unrighteous go unpunished.  People oppress one another.  But I’m just as guilty as the next person.  My life is full of sin, too.  God has prospered me when I don’t deserve it. 

That’s what it means to be a part of God’s kingdom.  We see it.  We even see injustice within it.  But we are all in it by God’s grace.

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Year 5, Day 117: Job 23

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Abide

• Abide: This is a moment, day, or even a season when we focus on God.  It is a time when we are rejuvenated by God.  It is the time for us to gather up what we will need for the coming growth after a season of pruning.  However, abiding is not the end.  We abide so that we can grow, bear fruit, prune, and abide again.

I truly think that this whole chapter revolves around Job’s inability to abide with God in the midst of his pain and suffering.  Job complains that he feels that he cannot be in the presence of God.  He cannot talk to God face to face.  He cannot explain his condition to God.

I’ll admit that sometimes abiding is quite difficult.  It can be difficult in the midst of our pain to abide.  It can be difficult in the midst of our worry to abide.  It can be especially difficult to abide in the midst of our doubt.  And if we cannot abide, it is difficult to feel connected to God and feel as though we are able to do anything pleasing to Him.  When we can’t abide, it is easy to feel as though life is pointless and shallow.  I think that’s where Job is today.  He is wrestling with life because he feels as though he cannot be in the presence of God.

However, once more I find that I love Job because he is such a great example of how to wrestle with God.  Even though he is groaning and complaining that he cannot be in the presence of God in order to plead his case, Job is certain that if he could that God would hear him.  Job is certain that God would listen.  He is certain that God would provide an answer that would make it all make sense.

This is why I love Job.  Job is honest with himself.  He can’t abide.  He is struggling with life and struggling to make sense of it all.  He doesn’t understand what on earth God is doing and why it is happening to him.  But through it all, he does not lose faith.  Whether he can abide or not, Job maintains the belief that if he could abide then it would be exactly what he needs right now.  Job is faithful to the fact that he knows that he just needs time with God.  Job is faithful to the truth that to make sense of life we need to have our moments in the presence of a living God.

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Year 5, Day 116: Job 22

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Father

• Father: This is the pinnacle of the Covenant Triangle.  God is the Father.  He is the creator.  He is love.  Our relationship with the Father is rooted in His love for us.  We get our identity through Him.  When the Father is in our life, obedience becomes clear.

Eliphaz is annoying at the beginning of this chapter.  He asks if a man can be profitable to God.  He also asks if it is pleasing to the Almighty if I am right.  In both of these questions Eliphaz is wrong!

You see, Eliphaz is trying to make the point that we are nothing to God.  How does my being right change God?  How can I bring anything of profit to God?  And in a very shallow sense of the questions there is a point.  God is God regardless of what I bring to the table.

However, what Eliphaz has neglected is the fact that God is not just our King but also our Father.  Does a father have joy when his children imitate the goodness within him?  Does a father take pleasure in their children choosing rightly?  Of course he does!

The same is true with God.  Our Father takes great pleasure when we choose His ways over the selfishness that lies within each of us.  Our Father loves the moments when we are rooted in His love.  Our Father can take us, mold, us, and make us into very profitable tools in His hands.  We do have value in the eyes of the Father.  We do have joy in the eyes of the Father.

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Year 5, Day 115: Job 21

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Appetite

• Appetite: We all have needs that need to be filled.  When we allow ourselves to be filled with the people and things that God brings into our life, we will be satisfied because our In will be in proper focus.  But when we try to fill ourselves with our own desires we end up frustrated by an insatiable hunger.

In Job 21, Job speaks to the fact that the wicked do prosper in this life.  I personally believe that Job is right.  When I look around to the leaders of the world, to the truly wealthy of the world, to the ones in the world who have much power, or to the ones in the world who have much fame I see many people who are living selfish godless lives. 

Now, don’t get me wrong.  Who am I to judge?  Am I innocent in ungodliness?  Absolutely not.  I have my own sin to worry about, not theirs.  God can judge them.  I'm just looking around for truth.

The truth doesn’t just because I have my own sinfulness to worry about.  The wicked do often prosper in this life.  When the wicked prosper, it usually results in the wicked turning further and further from God.  As the wicked prosper, the people around them learn how to prosper under the desire to first think about oneself.  As people prosper, the generations that come after them learn from their self-centeredness.

I believe this is inherently rooted in appetite.  We want.  We want more than we need.  We want to keep up with the neighbors.  In fact, we want to have more than the neighbors to prove our worth and status and station in life.  Because we want, we take what we want.  Because of our appetite for things, we often find ourselves doing whatever we can in order to acquire the things.  Our appetite drives for prosperity – however it is that we define prosperity – drives us to selfishness instead of godliness.

In the end, I believe that Job is right.  The wicked don’t usually get what they deserve.  The wicked prosper all around us.  You cannot look very far without seeing the selfish fingerprints of humanity there.  Most often, when you find those selfish fingerprints of humanity you often find them going unchecked, too.

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Year 5, Day 114: Job 20

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Approval

• Approval: We all need to feel as though we are accepted.  When we seek the approval of God, our Up is in the right place.  But when we seek the approval of other people besides God, we open the door to pursuing false gods and risk putting someone or something other than God in our Up position.

I think the human need for approval is inherently behind Zophar’s words in the opening part of this chapter.  Zophar is offended by Job’s words and Job’s defiant stance that he hasn’t done anything wrong.  Zophar is offended because Job refuses to accept a commonly held opinion by human beings: people who live nice lives must be loved by God because of their righteousness.  To put it another way: people who lives seemingly cursed lives must be despised by God because of their sin.

I think approval is at the root of this belief.  We all want to live good lives.  We also want to live a life believing that we are good people.  How can we justify our dual need to have God’s approval but still be able to live up a life to our own financial and communal prosperity?  We do it by equating prosperity with God’s love.

You see, if I am living a prosperous life and I want it to continue, then I need to convince myself that God must bless me because I’ve chosen wisely.  Therefore, I convince myself that I have God’s approval.

On the other hand, if I want to judge people who are living more poorly than I am – because I want to justify my need to stay at my current level – I can do so by declaring that God must not love them as much because they aren’t as blessed.  Therefore, it is possible for human beings to equate fewer resources with a lack of God’s blessing.  It’s completely wrong, but we do it all the time as human beings.

Zophar doesn’t want to be wrong.  Zophar doesn’t want to change.  Zophar doesn’t want to conceive of the possibility that he might not have as much approval as Job does.  So Zophar equates living a life of difficulty with living outside of God’s approval.  Sin Job seems to be cursed, Zophar can stand high and mighty in his opinion that he’s right and Job is wrong.

It makes me wonder what Zophar would have thought of Paul or Jesus.  Can we really equate living a life of prosperity with having God’s approval?

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Year 5, Day 113: Job 19

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Vision

• Vision: Vision is most needed when we are our most human. Vision is most needed when we have a typical D₂ moment. Vision is partnered by Time and Grace.

I don’t know that there is any greater verse in the Bible that displays vision quite like Job 19:25.  Remember that Job has been afflicted.  His friends accuse him.  He feels alone as if nobody can understand his condition.  I’ve spoken before about how it is completely understandable to think of Job as being in a pit of despair.

What is it that gets us out of the pit of despair?  Time.  Vision.  Grace.  Job has time to consider what is happening.  God has bestowed grace upon Job to process what is happening and forgive him for any mistaken conclusions that he might find.  So what is the vision?  The vision is that Job believes that one day his redeemer will be on this earth.  On day he will find himself in the presence of God and see God.  One day – when this whole world and all of its pain has passed away – Job will see God.  That’s a vision that nobody can take away from Job.

That’s the vision that allows Job to continue on.  That’s the vision that can conquer any kind of dark day that can come our way.  Our redeemer lives.  One day we shall see God.  What pit of despair is greater than the knowledge of that?

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Year 5, Day 112: Job 18

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Authority

• Authority: Our calling.  This comes from God as king.  Because He calls us as His representatives, He gives us authority to go and do His will.

When we are doing God’s will, we act under God’s authority.  When we speak with God’s blessing, we actually speak with His words.  When God is our king, we get access to His authority and the power that comes through it.

However, when we don’t have God as our king, we speak with our own power and our own authority.

Look at how Bildad ends this chapter.  “Thus is the place of him who knows not God.”  In other words, Bildad is judging Job and saying that job is miserable because he doesn’t really know God.  Bildad is saying that people whose lives are destroyed must be far from God.

Who is Bildad to make this claim?  Certainly Bildad is not speaking with the authority of God!  After all, while Job is not perfect we can absolutely say that this problem began because Job was righteous, not unrighteous.  Job’s problem is not his distance from God.  This actually came about because of Job’s closeness to God.

Bildad just doesn’t speak with the authority of God.  These aren’t God’s words.  This isn’t a display of God’s power.  This is a display of Bildad stepping out on his own authority and actually making a mess of things.

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Year 5, Day 111: Job 17

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: In

• In: This is the word we use to express our relationships with our spiritual family.  These are often the people who hold us spiritually accountable.  They are the ones to whom we typically go for discussion and discernment.  These are the ones with whom we learn to share leadership.  They are the ones with whom we become family on mission.

Do you know what I love about true In?  True In is willing to walk beside you whatever the cost.  True In is willing to stand beside you when life stinks.  True In is there to help you put your life back together.  True In is there regardless of celebration or suffering.  True In is there regardless of joy or sorrow.  True in is there in sickness and health.

In that light, look at what job says in verse 8.  “The upright are all appalled at this.”  Here’s what Job is saying.  Job is confessing that the upright won’t come near him.  The upright don’t want to have anything to do with Job.  Either they are too good for Job or they are afraid that his recent string of bad luck will rub off on them.  Either way, the righteous just don’t want to have anything to do with Job.

I mourn with Job in this chapter.  How sad it is that the people whose lives are together can’t come and be with Job!  What does it say about humanity that Job feels like he is being avoided?  What does it say about humanity that people are appalled at Job rather than coming to his aid?

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Year 5, Day 110: Job 16

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: In

• In: This is the word we use to express our relationships with our spiritual family.  These are often the people who hold us spiritually accountable.  They are the ones to whom we typically go for discussion and discernment.  These are the ones with whom we learn to share leadership.  They are the ones with whom we become family on mission.

As I read through Job 16, I can feel Job’s pain.  Christian community does need to be about admonition.  When we do something wrong, the Christian community should take on the role of disapproving and helping us find repentance.

But we hear Job legitimately complaining about something serious as this chapter begins.  Where is the compassion?  Where is the relationship?  Where is the willingness of Job’s friends to walk beside him and listen to him?

Job’s friends have done nothing but come before him and tell him what he needs to do.  They cannot even tell him what he’s done wrong; all they can do is assure him that he’s done something wrong in the first place.  That’s not friendship.  That’s not In.  This is religious piety at its worst.  This is a story about religious people who are all too familiar with looking down their nose upon those who are in worse circumstances than they are.

Yes, In should be able to bring about correction.  However, within In there needs to be relationship.  There needs to be a willingness to listen.  There needs to be a willingness to partner up with one another and walk through life together.  It is in that context that admonition is received.  It is in that context that true repentance and forgiveness can happen.

Job feels the lack of true community as this chapter opens.  He is surrounded by people with all the answers and no desire for relationship.  Job’s so-called friends want to fix him and add another tally of success upon their life.  That’s not In.  But unfortunately, often that’s what we like to substitute for true community.

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Year 5, Day 109: Job 15

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Kingdom

• Kingdom: We live in God’s creation, but it is fallen.  We do not yet live in the fullness of God’s Kingdom.  But we do know that the Kingdom of God is drawing near.  We do get to see glimpses of the kingdom each and every time that God works in us and through us as He tries to demonstrate Himself to the world.

I always wrestle with the words of Job’s friends.  I find them often to be quite misleading.  Look at what Eliphaz says here about the life of the righteous and the wicked.

Eliphaz tells us that the righteous live lives of goodness.  He makes it sound like the righteous don’t ever have struggles.  He makes it sound like the righteous just coast through life with life working out for them.  I hate to say it, but if having an easy life is a true gauge of being righteous, I’m doing something pretty horribly wrong.  But I believe the truth is far from that.  God’s kingdom isn’t about the ease of this life.  God’s kingdom isn’t about this life working out successfully and smoothly.

On the other hand, Eliphaz also tells us that the unrighteous live in a horrible life.  He indicates that the unrighteous know that their life is horrible.  He says that they are prevailed upon.  He says that they live in darkness.  He says that the wicked writhe in pain all of their days.  The truth is that I don’t believe this, either.  In my experience, the wicked actually tend to get along in this life better than the righteous.  Those who think only of themselves tend to go through life getting what they want more often than others.

Again, I don’t think that we can summarize righteousness by looking at who is leading a more stress-free life of ease.  I don’t think that the absence of pain in this life is an indicator of how far we are in the kingdom of God.  After all, when Jesus brought the kingdom of heaven to this earth, He was crucified for it.  Many of His disciples lost their lives because of it.  If we want to be in the kingdom, we should do anything except take Eliphaz’s advice here in this passage!  Evaluate the kingdom based on faithfulness and relationship to God, not ease of life and freedom from pain and misery!

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Year 5, Day 108: Job 14

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Competency, Up

• Competency: Being able to accomplish what one is called to do.
• Up: Up is the word we use for what we worship.  If we are following God’s will, God will occupy the Up position.  Our life, our identity, our mission, our family on mission is all derived from Up.  This is why God needs to be in our Up position.

The end of this chapter is a very deep sentiment as expressed by Job.  A man mourns only for his own pain.  In other words, we are inherently selfish.  We are inherently focused on our own needs and our own concerns first.  On one hand, this completely makes sense.  I spend every waking moment in my own life.  You spend every waking moment in your own life, too.  Simply from that perspective, it should make sense that I am focused on my own life.

However, do you recall what Jesus calls the two greatest commandments?  Jesus tells us to love the Lord our God with all of our heart, soul, and mind.  Jesus tells us that the second greatest commandment is to love our neighbor as ourselves.  Do you hear what is mysteriously missing from that?  Jesus doesn’t tell us to focus on ourselves.  He tells us to focus on God and our neighbor.  I think this is because Jesus knows that we won’t have any difficulty at all focusing on ourselves.

But I can’t help but wonder how this applies to being a disciple of Jesus.  Is God my Up?  When things are going well, is God my up?  When my life is crashing around me, is God my Up?  Am I really competent at worshipping the Father in all situations, not just when it is convenient for me?

What about my neighbor?  Am I as competent at worrying about my neighbor as I am at worrying about my own life?  I’m so naturally focused on my own life and my own needs.  How tuned in am I to the needs of the people that God is putting into my life?

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Year 5, Day 107: Job 13

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Father

• Father: This is the pinnacle of the Covenant Triangle.  God is the Father.  He is the creator.  He is love.  Our relationship with the Father is rooted in His love for us.  We get our identity through Him.  When the Father is in our life, obedience becomes clear.

There is a huge part of me that wanted to focus on Job’s critique of his friends and their advice.  And while Job has some great things to say about their advice, I think my time is better spent elsewhere.  Rather than focusing upon one human’s critique of another human, I’m going to focus on the root of Job’s faith.

Job talks about God in two different ways in this passage.  In the middle of the passage, Job speaks about contending with God.  Job begs for the opportunity to give his case before God.  Job desires an opportunity to hear God explain away this tragedy.  This may seem arrogant, and it actually is!  Who among us can truly argue against God?  Who among us can truly win a debate regarding God’s character?

But here’s the thing.  Job knows that God is the Father.  What can a father do really well?  A father is in a great position to hear the critique of the child and still love them in spite of the incorrect critique.  A father is in a great position to accept the petulance of the child and show them a better way.  This doesn’t mean the child has the right to be that way.  But the father is the bigger person and meets the brash critique of the child with love.

I believe that this is why Job can talk at the end of the chapter about still having faith in God.  Even if Job would like to give God a piece of his mind, Job knows that it won’t be the end of the relationship with the Father.  Job’s hope will be in Him.  Job’s salvation is in God.  Job knows that a true Father doesn’t walk away just because a child doesn’t understand.  This is why God is our Father.  He’s the only one who can take our worst and still give us His best.

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Year 5, Day 106: Job 12

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: King

• King: This is the pinnacle of the Kingdom Triangle.  When we look towards God’s position in the universe, we acknowledge that He is an omnipotent king.  Authority comes from Him.  Power comes through His authority.  He is looking for representatives for His kingdom.

God is King.  We confess that to be true.  We believe it to be true.  But it is one of the hardest things to put into practice!

Look at Job’s response here in these verses.  Job continues to struggle with why this is happening to him.  He continues to be absolute firm in the defense of his innocence in spite of three friends coming and telling him that he is in need of repentance.  Job continues to wrestle with how a righteous God can stand by and watch while all of this happens to Job.

I honestly can’t say I can blame Job.  I know he’s wrong; but I also can completely understand how he feels.  It stinks to be in the middle of something like Job is going through.  It stinks to feel like your life is in turmoil and it is way beyond your control.  It is so incredibly easy to get mad at God because we think that He should be the one calling the shots and therefore He should consider our protection paramount.

But this perspective shows how we actually don’t always consider God as our king.  If God was always my king in every thought, word, and deed, would I be as concerned about fairness to me as I am concerned about fairness to God?  If God was always king in my life, would I not be able to always place full confidence in His ability to make things right?  If God was always my king and I never wavered in that allegiance, could I ever find fault with God and His ability to protect me and make things right?

You see, God is king.  Even when we accuse Him, he is still king.  Even when we wrestle with Him, he is still king.  But our wrestling shows doubt.  It shows a chink in the armor of faith.  When I wrestle with God as Job wrestles with God, it doesn’t mean I don’t believe at all.  But it does mean my doubting humanity has come to rear its ugly head.

God is King.  All things work out to His glory.  I should not doubt that which I so firmly believe.  But remembering that God is king and entrusting everything into His most capable hands is far easier said than done.

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Year 5, Day 105: Job 11

Theological Commentary: Click Here

http://enteeremo.blogspot.com/2012/04/year-2-day-105-job-11.html

Discipleship Focus: Character

• Character: Having the interior life that is necessary to support the work that God sets before a person.  It is hearing from God and obeying.  It is doing the right thing when nobody is looking.

I’ve spoken much over the past few days about the need to listen.  I think that listening involves patience as well.  One cannot listen unless one is patient.  One cannot listen unless one is willing to let the other person speak before speaking yourself.

Once more in Job 11 we see a friend of Job seem to jump to the wrong conclusion that Job is in this predicament because of some horrid and tragic sin.  Much of Zophar’s advice is great, but on this point he makes the common mistake that those who came before him have made.  These friends of Job are not listening.  While they certainly have access to wisdom, when it comes to listening they don’t have the character within themselves to put aside their own thoughts for a moment.

This has caused me to wonder about how much of having the character of God is being willing to listen to Him?  After all, can we really obey unless we’ve taken time to hear?  Can we truly do the right thing if we haven’t taken the time to listen to God regarding what the right thing is?

I think that listening has much to do with character.  To listen means to be willing to put someone else first.  To listen means to be willing to accept something from another person.  To listen means to acknowledge that the world doesn’t revolve around me.  I believe all of these things are tied to the idea of character.  Having character means having the ability to put aside my desires and wishes and do what is right regardless of what I may really desire to do.  In other words, character is listening to God and listening to the needs of the world around me and trying to follow God into meeting those needs.

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Year 5, Day 104: Job 10

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Vision

• Vision: Vision is most needed when we are our most human. Vision is most needed when we have a typical D₂ moment. Vision is partnered by Time and Grace.

I spoke about vision a few days ago.  As I read through Job’s words in Job 10 I went straight back to those words from a few days back.  Again we hear Job speak alarmingly dark words.  Again we hear about Job being willing to give up his life if God would just take it.  Again we hear Job speak darkly about God’s intentions and motivations.  Again we hear Job say some disparaging things about God.  But again we don’t see Job cross the line of faith – or giving up his faith.

Job is living is a place with no vision.  When your skin has broken out in puss-filled boils, you tend to not have vision.  When all of your children are tragically taken from you in one brief moment, you tend to not have vision.  When your body aches with every move you make, you tend to not have vision.  When the best advice your spouse can say is, “Curse your God and die,” you tend to not have vision.

Once again I think that this is a very significant point to ponder.  If I find myself listening to a person in Job’s position, what do they need the most?  They certainly don’t need a scathing accusation of their so-called transgressions – especially if they may not be founded on reality!  No, what a person in Job’s situation needs is vision.  They need to see the future.  They need to have something onto which they can hope.  They need to know that the story will be well again and that especially it will end well.  Let’s face it.  With the Christian understanding of life eternal, we know that it will!

But I think that it is also important for me to understand this about myself.  There are days when I feel beaten by the world.  Don’t you?  On those days, it is important for me to remember my own need for vision.  I need to either look for vision myself or seek those who can cast it into my life.  We all get down at times.  We are all sad and despair from time to time.  We all need to remember our own need for vision.

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Year 5, Day 103: Job 9

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Grace

• Grace: Grace comes to us when we make mistakes and have a failing of character.  Grace comes to us when we have a typical D₂ moment.  Grace comes to us when we need space to recognize a mistake, repent of it, and allow God to redeem it while calling us back into His will.  Grace is partnered by Time and Vision.

Today I’m going to focus in on one particular verse: Job 9:33.  In this verse, Job claims that there is no arbiter between God and man.  In Job’s day, he is absolutely correct.  Who can come between God and mankind, laying hands upon both as if to bridge the gap between the two? 

You see, Job may not realize the scope about what he speaks, but he completely understands the problem of original sin!  What man can go into the presence of God and survive?  Who can go before God righteously as an arbiter for an unrighteous humanity?  We cannot save ourselves because we cannot even find among ourselves and arbiter between us and God.

I believe Paul has this verse in mind when he writes 1 Timothy 2:5.  Job cannot see into the future, but he knows that what mankind needs most is an arbiter.  In 1 Timothy 2:5 Paul tells us that there is one mediator between God and man: Jesus Christ.  God had to solve the problem for us.  God became the arbiter by taking humanity upon himself and becoming God-made-man.

I feel bad in that Job gives us this incredible bit of wisdom and never sees the answer in real life.  However, we know Job believes in the answer.  We’ll get to Job 19:25 soon enough, and there we’ll discover just what Job’s faith is all about.

That’s the grace that Job needs in the midst of his pit of despair.  He knows that he is not at fault.  Yet at the same time he also knows that he is sinful and cannot go into the presence of God and survive.  He knows that an arbiter is needed.  God’s grace is that an arbiter is given to us in Jesus Christ.

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Year 5, Day 102: Job 8

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Competency

• Competency: Being able to accomplish what one is called to do.

The more I read through the book of Job, the more I value the ability to listen.  I used to love to talk.  Okay, I still do love to talk.  But I have learned the value of talking less.  Many of the deepest conversations I have begin with me doing a good 15 or 20 minutes of listening where I don’t say much of anything.

You see, good listening skills help to make people competent.  When we listen, we get a better handle on what is actually happening.  When we listen to what is actually happening, we can get a better grip on what actually needs to be said or done.  If we want to be competent, we need to have more than a good education or a profound understanding.  We need to listen.

Listen to Bildad here in this passage.  Bildad starts off with some really great pieces of wisdom.  He knows what to say!  He seems like he’s got all the clichés memorized and knows how to put them out there.  When looking on the surface of these words, it is easy to read what Bildad says and completely miss the error.

The error is in his application.  Bildad doesn’t know Job as well as he could have.  Apparently Bildad hasn’t been listening.  Bildad wants to jump straight to the problem.  Bildad believes – because he hasn’t taken the time to listen competently – that Job is in turmoil because he’s lost his righteousness.  Bildad believes that if Job can just become righteous again that God will once more fight on behalf of Job.

Bildad’s missed the point.  For all of Bildad’s understanding and all of his clichés, he’s missed the point.  Job’s not in turmoil because he is unrighteous.  Job’s in turmoil because he is righteous.  Bildad’s inability to listen leads him into incompetency.

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Year 5, Day 101: Job 7

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Vision 

• Vision: Vision is most needed when we are our most human. Vision is most needed when we have a typical D₂ moment. Vision is partnered by Time and Grace.

I feel for Job in this chapter.  Here is a man whose world is crumbling around him.  Furthermore, he has the misfortune of being surrounded by people who assume that misfortune equals trespass and error.  In some cases that’s true.  But remember that here Job is in this predicament because of his righteousness and not because of his sinfulness.  But it doesn’t change the fact that Job is in a miserable place in life and surrounded by people who are doing everything except casting a hopeful vision of the future.

Can there be any wonder that Job finds himself wallowing in misery and wishing that he was dead?

When we are in despair, it is vision that we need most of all.  We need someone to come along beside us and remind us of what the future might look like with God.  We need someone to come alongside of us and struggle with us while forcing us to pick up our head and look down the road.

When I read most of Job’s words, I hear the words of a man who has lost his vision.  It’s understandable, mind you.  He’s lost everything; why not lose his vision, too?  But that’s what he needs to regain to move forward.  He needs to remember that life is defined by God and God’s reality.  Life is defined by what God can make of the future.  Life isn’t defined by our finite human perspective – thank the Lord!  Life is defined by what God can make of life – even a life that has been reduced to rubble.

I wish someone had been there to respond to Job and tell him to not long for death.  I wish someone had been there to remind Job of the infinite capacity of God.  Here is a man who desperately needs vision.  What a great reminder for each of us that when we find people in despair we need to respond in some manner that incorporates vision into the mind of the one despairing.

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Year 5, Day 100: Job 6

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Father, King

• Father: This is the pinnacle of the Covenant Triangle.  God is the Father.  He is the creator.  He is love.  Our relationship with the Father is rooted in His love for us.  We get our identity through Him.  When the Father is in our life, obedience becomes clear.
• King: This is the pinnacle of the Kingdom Triangle.  When we look towards God’s position in the universe, we acknowledge that He is an omnipotent king.  Authority comes from Him.  Power comes through His authority.  He is looking for representatives for His kingdom.

As I reread my blog post from 3 years ago in conjunction with this post, I couldn’t help feeling shame for the point at the beginning when Job thinks of God as an adversary.  Don’t get me wrong.  I’m not judging Job here.  I didn’t feel the shame for Job.  I felt the shame for me.  I know what it feels like to be attacked and accused and to have one’s life thrown in turmoil.  I know what it is like to lay the blame at the feet of God.  I know what it is like to think that if God is all powerful then He’s directly responsible for any turmoil in my life – or at least responsible for not preventing it.

Just so I’m clear, although I know what that feels like, I also know that it is flat out wrong to feel that way.  Hence, why I feel shame.  I do it, but after the fact I know it’s wrong.

Let’s look at what God has done.  First of all, He created us in the first place.  We shouldn’t even exist.  But we have life because He created.  As far as my own life, I need to say that God has always provided in the midst of turmoil.  God has always had a “next thing” once the turmoil is done.  God has never failed to bring the next opportunity to serve Him into my life.  God has sheltered me through turmoil and brought other things along my path.  What a great reason to praise His name rather than accuse Him!

You see, we don’t worship a God who peppers us with His arrows and gives us poison to drink.  In our short-sightedness we may think that occasionally.  But we serve a God who is a Father to us and who provides opportunities after the turmoil has passed.  We serve a God who is King over the universe and set it in motion in the first place.  It is unfortunately far too easy to lose sight of both of these details.

We may lose sight of this fact, but that doesn’t make God any less of a Father or a King. In fact, it makes Him even more righteous because He desires to remain our Father and our King even when we turn our back upon Him and attribute things to Him for which He is not responsible.

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Year 5, Day 99: Job 5

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Ambition

• Ambition: We all need a goal to which we can strive.  When our ambition comes from God, we find fulfillment in our obedience into that for which we have been equipped because our Out is in proper focus.  But when our ambition comes from ourselves, we find ourselves chasing after our own dreams and trying to find fulfillment in accomplishments of our own making.

I am amazed at how easy it is to hear the words of Eliphaz today.  So much of the beginning of his argument sounds like good sound theology!  He says, “As for me, I would seek God, who does great things,” and “He frustrates the ways of the crafty,” and “He saves the needy from the sword of their mouth,” and “He wounds, but He binds up.”  Who wouldn’t believe such things?  All of these things are rooted in truth!  Certainly God does such things.

There is a danger in listening to people who know the trite expressions of godliness.  Anyone can hear the typical phrases of godliness and spit them out.  Anyone can say things that make a person sound like they have a genuine relationship with God.

But look at where Eliphaz ends.  As he closes his argument, Eliphaz is making the point that the true test of one’s relationship with God is how long you live and how much success you experience.  He says that a person in relationship with God will be “hidden from the lash of the tongue” and “your tent is at peace” and “your offspring shall be many” and “you will come to your grave at a ripe old age.”  Essentially what Eliphaz is saying is that we can know a person has a good relationship with God when the live a long, peaceful, and prosperous life.

I can’t help but stop and wonder.  Is this true about Jesus, who had the best relationship with the Father?  Was He hidden from the tongue, produce many offspring, and live a long life?  What about Jesus’ own disciples?  Did they lead long and peaceful lives?  Or what about Paul?  Did he lead a long and peaceful life?

Why do we believe that relationship with God ends in a long, peaceful, and prosperous life?  We believe it not because it is God’s truth but because it is what we want to believe.  We believe it because of our own ambition.  Our own personal ambition tells us that we are in a good relationship with God when we are at peace and successful.

But rest assured, that is not the portrait Jesus paints.  We will be eternally at peace with God for sure.  But with respect to the world, those who are in a great relationship with God will naturally be at odds with the world.  This is largely what the whole of Matthew 10 is all about.

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Year 5, Day 98: Job 4

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Approval

• Approval: We all need to feel as though we are accepted.  When we seek the approval of God, our Up is in the right place.  But when we seek the approval of other people besides God, we open the door to pursuing false gods and risk putting someone or something other than God in our Up position.

As we look at Eliphaz’s speech, I believe we can see the error of Approval creeping into his words.  In my blog post from 3 years ago, I focus on the idea that so much of what Eliphaz says seems to have a snippet of truth within it.  It begins with a thought that seems to run with truth.  But when it comes time for a conclusion, the truth fades away and we are left with only a human expression.

For example, Eliphaz says that nobody is righteous in God’s eyes.  This is true.  None of us are righteous on our own merit.  However, Eliphaz concludes that people die insignificant deaths that aren’t even noticed by God.  Of course this is a lie!  God does know us and care for us individually!  Furthermore, while we cannot be righteous on our own merit, we can gain our righteousness from Him.

Eliphaz’s advice to Job in this chapter is riddled with thoughts like this one.  Eliphaz often begins with an experiential truth; but Eliphaz often ends with a theological lie.  Eliphaz takes the world that he sees around him and lets it lead him to a false conclusion.  This is often – but not always – an error of Approval.

Eliphaz’s error is in where he begins.  Eliphaz believes that he can derive universal truth by watching the experience of the world around him.  For Eliphaz, the experience of life around him is in his Up position.  What a proper attunement to God looks like is a person who starts with the universal truths of God and then tries to apply them to shape and mold the life around him. 

Yes, we can learn about the human condition and life around us.  But we should not think that universal truth can be derived from observations of human life.  Rather, human life can be improved through the application of universal truths to life.  We learn those truths from God.

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Year 5, Day 97: Job 3

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Vision

• Vision: Vision is most needed when we are our most human. Vision is most needed when we have a typical D₂ moment. Vision is partnered by Time and Grace.

Let’s face it.  Job is having one heck of a D₂ moment here.  Job has hit a serious low spot in his life and he is having to wrestle through it and process it.  I don’t have any issue with what Job is doing here in this chapter.

It’s completely natural for Job to focus first upon the pain and suffering.  After all, the list of health issues with which Job was inflicted would not have made for a pleasant life.  When we add to this the turmoil inflicted upon him in the first chapter with the loss of family and the ability to provide for himself, can there be any wonder that Job is in a dark spot in life?

Job does what we all need to do to get through dark spots in life.  He begins to process it.  In fact, I commend him for processing it with other people.  He needs to get the cesspool of emotional garbage out of himself so that it no longer consumes him from the inside.  So he lets it out.  He does what he needs to.  He puts voice to the feelings within him.  Note that to Job’s credit that he never once attacks God or God’s character while he does it.

However, let’s also note what Job is missing: vision.  Of course Job is missing it; who among us can ever see the end-game in a bleak situation like this?  Job cannot see the end.  He cannot see the bigger picture.  He cannot see past his own suffering right now.  It is vision that will eventually carry him beyond the natural short-sightedness of his pain.  Of course, he will need time before he is even willing to see that vision.  And in the end he will need grace to be forgiven of his natural self-centeredness brought on by this trauma.  But fundamentally, this chapter – and moments like this in each of our lives – are brought on because we simply lack the vision necessary to cope sensible with trauma in our life.  Job’s no different.  What he does here is completely understandable.

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Year 5, Day 96: Job 2

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Character

• Character: Having the interior life that is necessary to support the work that God sets before a person.  It is hearing from God and obeying.  It is doing the right thing when nobody is looking.

I think the whole book of Job revolves around this issue of character.  What do we do when life is tough?  What do we do when our chips are down?  What do we do when the easiest thing to do would be to curse God and assume He’s not on our side anymore?

Job’s wife gives Job some pretty bad advice here.  “Curse God and die.”  In other words, if your life stinks, you might as well end it.  What horrible advice!  If this advice isn’t the root of self-centeredness, I don’t know what is!  Job’s wife seems to believe that the sole point of life in having a good time.  Don’t get me wrong, life is better when it is enjoyed.  But when life is determined to be useful only when it is enjoyable we miss the real point of life.  It says something about our character when we are ready to give up on life when things don’t go our way.

Then we get to Job’s friends.  In this chapter, the friends appear wise.  They don’t say anything.  They sit in patience with Job, content to minister in presence to what Job is experiencing.  It shows a lot about their character that they are willing to mourn and grieve rather than simply assume that they have something important to say.  However, we’ll note that the vast majority of the rest of the book of Job is dedicated to what happens when Job’s friends do open their mouths.

Finally, we have a good look at Job’s character.  I am always stunned by Job’s expression when he is cursed.  “Should we expect the good blessings of God and not accept it when bad comes, too?”  This is an incredibly mature statement.  Are human beings really so self-centered that we honestly expect everything to go our way?  Job demonstrates incredible character in these verses.  He is content to be in relationship with God regardless of whether good or evil comes.

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Year 5, Day 95: Job 1

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Up

• Up: Up is the word we use for what we worship.  If we are following God’s will, God will occupy the Up position.  Our life, our identity, our mission, our family on mission is all derived from Up.  This is why God needs to be in our Up position.

I think this is one of my favorite chapters of the Bible.  This chapter evokes so much raw emotion out of my ability to think about God and His ways.  This chapter also evokes so much out of my humanity and my natural desire to find fault with God as this chapter unfolds.  If you want to read more about that struggle, read my theological commentary from three years ago.

Ultimately, though, the reason that I love this chapter is how this chapter ends.  Job hears that all of his wealth has been consumed.  He also learns that all of his children have died in a rather freak accident.  Talk about your worst-case scenario kind of day!  But look at Job’s response.

Job tears his clothes.  He does certainly mourn.  But then he praises God.  He’s lost everything – everything in the world, that is.  But he still has his God.  Even on the worst day of his life, Job says, “Blessed be the name of the Lord.”

Wow.  Now there’s a role model.  There’s a man whose Up is good to go.  When Job is at his lowest, he still blesses the Lord.  Job understands that he can lose everything except his relationship with God and he is still winning at life.  So long as he has God, Job has a reason to live.  He absolutely has a reason to mourn.  But relationship with God gives him a reason to live as well.

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