Job 28

Job 28 - Daily Devotion - 11 November 2024

St Barnabas Anglican Church Fairfield & Bossley Park

Yesterday, the chaotic debate between Job and his friends came to an end. Today marks a complete change in tone. I understand this as a calm, reflective poem from the narrator. It’s a chance to catch our breath before the next stage in Job’s struggle.

1 “Surely there is a mine for silver
and a place where gold is refined.
2 Iron is taken from the ground,
and rock is poured out as copper.
3 Man puts an end to the darkness;
he searches the farthest recesses
for the ore in the deepest darkness.
4 Far from where people live he sinks a shaft,
in places travelers have long forgotten,
far from other people he dangles and sways.
5 The earth, from which food comes,
is overturned below as though by fire;
6 a place whose stones are sapphires
that contain dust of gold;
7 a hidden path no bird of prey knows—
no falcon’s eye has spotted it.
8 Proud beasts have not set foot on it,
and no lion has passed along it.
9 On the flinty rock man has set to work with his hand;
he has overturned mountains at their bases.
10 He has cut out channels through the rocks;
his eyes have spotted every precious thing.
11 He has searched the sources of the rivers,
and what was hidden he has brought into the light.

12 “But wisdom—where can it be found?
Where is the place of understanding?
13 Mankind does not know its place;
it cannot be found in the land of the living.
14 The deep says, ‘It is not with me.’
And the sea says, ‘It is not with me.’
15 Fine gold cannot be given in exchange for it,
nor can its price be weighed out in silver.
16 It cannot be measured out for purchase with the gold of Ophir,
with precious onyx or sapphires.
17 Neither gold nor crystal can be compared with it,
nor can a vase of gold match its worth.
18 Of coral and jasper no mention will be made;
the price of wisdom is more than pearls.
19 The topaz of Cush cannot be compared with it;
it cannot be purchased with pure gold.

20 “But wisdom—where does it come from?
Where is the place of understanding?
21 For it has been hidden
from the eyes of every living creature,
and from the birds of the sky it has been concealed.
22 Destruction and Death say,
‘With our ears we have heard a rumor about where it can be found.’
23 God understands the way to it,
and he alone knows its place.
24 For he looks to the ends of the earth
and observes everything under the heavens.
25 When he made the force of the wind
and measured the waters with a gauge,
26 when he imposed a limit for the rain,
and a path for the thunderstorm,
27 then he looked at wisdom and assessed its value;
he established it and examined it closely.
28 And he said to mankind,
‘The fear of the Lord—that is wisdom,
and to turn away from evil is understanding.’”

REFLECTIONS

I love this chapter of Job. It’s such a beautiful, creative poem, but it’s also beautifully simple. It starts by admiring mankind’s amazing ability to mine the earth, to explore the hidden places, to seek and uncover precious gems and treasures. But there is one treasure that is beyond our powers of discovery: true wisdom. Complete wisdom. Only God has total mastery of wisdom.

And yet, there is a kind of wisdom open to us – a much humbler kind: the fear of the Lord. The fear of the Lord is not mere terror at God’s power. It is knowing both his terrifying power and his gracious character, which leads us to continually turn away from evil. It is humbly accepting your proper place before him.

Spend time coming before him by faith in his Son now.

Job 27

Job 27 - Daily Devotion - 9 November 2024

St Barnabas Anglican Church Fairfield & Bossley Park

1 And Job took up his discourse again:
2 “As surely as God lives, who has denied me justice,
the Almighty, who has made my life bitter—
3 for while my spirit is still in me,
and the breath from God is in my nostrils,
4 my lips will not speak wickedness,
and my tongue will whisper no deceit.
5 I will never declare that you three are in the right;
until I die, I will not set aside my integrity!
6 I will maintain my righteousness
and never let it go;
my conscience will not reproach me
for as long as I live.

7 “May my enemy be like the wicked,
my adversary like the unrighteous.
8 For what hope does the godless have when he is cut off,
when God takes away his life?
9 Does God listen to his cry
when distress overtakes him?
10 Will he find delight in the Almighty?
Will he call out to God at all times?
11 I will teach you about the power of God;
what is on the Almighty’s mind I will not conceal.
12 If you yourselves have all seen this,
Why in the world do you continue this meaningless talk?
13 This is the portion of the wicked man
allotted by God,
the inheritance that evildoers receive
from the Almighty.
14 If his children increase—it is for the sword!
His offspring never have enough to eat.
15 Those who survive him are buried by the plague,
and their widows do not mourn for them.
16 If he piles up silver like dust
and stores up clothing like mounds of clay,
17 what he stores up a righteous man will wear,
and an innocent man will inherit his silver.
18 The house he builds is as fragile as a moth’s cocoon,
like a hut that a watchman has made.
19 He goes to bed wealthy, but will do so no more.
When he opens his eyes, it is all gone.
20 Terrors overwhelm him like a flood;
at night a whirlwind carries him off.
21 The east wind carries him away, and he is gone;
it sweeps him out of his place.
22 It hurls itself against him without pity
as he flees headlong from its power.
23 It claps its hands at him in derision
and hisses him away from his place.

REFLECTIONS

Yesterday we heard Bildad’s very short and aggressive final speech, and Job’s reply. Zophar’s final speech should have come next, but he doesn’t say anything at all. That’s why Job 27:1 starts, “And Job took up his discourse again” – Job had paused to give Zophar a chance to have his say, but Zophar has decided that Job isn’t worth wasting breath on. So Job continues with the very last speech in the debate.

But it gets weirder, because in the last section of his speech (verses 7-23), Job sounds more like he’s saying what Zophar would have said if he wasn’t sulking – that the godless and wicked cannot escape God’s judgment. It all seems a bit confusing!

But there’s one thing that is crystal-clear. In verses 1-6, Job still insists that in his own case, God has denied him justice (v2). The friends have been pressuring Job to say, “OK, OK, you win: I’m really am an evil and godless man, I’ve been hiding my sin, and God is absolutely right to punish me like this.” But Job cannot even tell that “little” lie to get his friends off his back! That is how strong his integrity is: He says, “my tongue will whisper no deceit.”

Once again, that reminds me of Jesus. When Jesus was arrested, the religious leaders pressured him, under the threat of torture and death, to confess that he was a blasphemer. But Peter tells us: “He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth. … Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly” (1 Peter 2:22-23).

Pray that God would give us the same unshakeable integrity with our words. But even more, thank God for Jesus’ perfect integrity, which meant he was able to “bear our sins in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live to righteousness” (1 Peter 2:24).

Job 25-26

Job 25-26 - Daily Devotion - 8 November 2024

St Barnabas Anglican Church Fairfield & Bossley Park

Today we will read both Bildad’s speech and Job’s reply in the final round of the debate.

25:1 Then Bildad the Shuhite answered:
2 “Dominion and awesome might belong to God;
he establishes peace in his heights.
3 Can his armies be numbered?
On whom does his light not rise?
4 How then can a human being be righteous before God?
How can one born of a woman be pure?
5 If even the moon is not bright,
and the stars are not pure as far as he is concerned,
6 how much less a mortal man, who is but a maggot—
a son of man, who is only a worm!”

26:1 Then Job replied:
2 “How you have helped the powerless!
How you have saved the person who has no strength!
3 How you have advised the one without wisdom,
and abundantly revealed your insight!
4 To whom did you utter these words?
And whose spirit has come forth from your mouth?

5 “The dead tremble—
those beneath the waters
and all that live in them.
6 The underworld is naked before God;
the place of destruction lies uncovered.
7 He spreads out the northern skies over empty space;
he suspends the earth on nothing.
8 He locks the waters in his clouds,
and the clouds do not burst with the weight of them.
9 He conceals the face of the full moon,
shrouding it with his clouds.
10 He marks out the horizon on the surface of the waters
as a boundary between light and darkness.
11 The pillars of the heavens tremble
and are amazed at his rebuke.
12 By his power he stills the sea;
by his wisdom he cut Rahab the great sea monster to pieces.
13 By his breath the skies became fair;
his hand pierced the fleeing serpent.
14 Indeed, these are but the outer fringes of his ways!
How faint is the whisper we hear of him!
But who can understand the thunder of his power?”

REFLECTIONS

Here’s a quick tip on pastoral care for beginners: If someone is suffering, perhaps don’t go for Bildad’s method of telling them they’re a maggot. Just a suggestion.

More seriously, this is where we see the debate properly break down. Bildad’s final speech is only five venom-filled verses – which will be five more verses than Zophar says! The reason it has broken down is because the friends, in their arrogance, have been blind to the truth that sometimes God’s ways are beyond our understanding, which means that sometimes the godly really do suffer.

But Job seems to be drawing slowly closer to true, deep wisdom. Today, he simply declares God’s complete sovereignty and control over all things – both things in the natural world, like rain and day and night, and the supernatural forces of the world, like the grave (or the underworld, v.6). Verses 12 & 13 describe that truth in terms of some images the people of Job’s time used to think about things like death and Satan – “Rahab the great sea monster” and the serpent. God is Lord over all those things, and God himself will use similar pictures when he finally answers Job, in chapter 41.

At any rate, I suspect Job is describing God’s control over the natural and supernatural world simply because he is in terror of God. But that fear of the holy, untamable, invincible God is also the beginning of wisdom. It will be the theme of the second half of the book. All Job needs, for it to become the beautiful biblical concept of “the fear of the Lord”, is that final, enduring, overwhelming assurance that this God is not against him. Instead, this God is fiercely and forever for him.

Jesus is that assurance for us (Romans 8:31-32)! Rejoice in that as you reflect on God’s awe-inspiring sovereignty today.

Job 24

Job 24 - Daily Devotion - 7 November 2024

St Barnabas Anglican Church Fairfield & Bossley Park

Today is the second half of Job’s first speech in the final round.

1 “Why are times not appointed by the Almighty?
Why do those who know him not see his days?
2 Men move boundary stones;
they seize the flock and pasture them.
3 They drive away the orphan’s donkey;
they take the widow’s ox as a pledge.
4 They turn the needy from the pathway,
and the poor of the land hide themselves together.
5 Like wild donkeys in the wilderness,
they go out to their labor seeking diligently for food;
the arid rift valley provides food for them and for their children.
6 They reap fodder in the field
and glean in the vineyard of the wicked.
7 They spend the night naked because they lack clothing;
they have no covering against the cold.
8 They are soaked by mountain rains
and huddle in the rocks because they lack shelter.
9 The fatherless child is snatched from the breast;
the infant of the poor is taken as a pledge.
10 They go about naked, without clothing,
and go hungry while they carry the sheaves.
11 They press out the olive oil between the rows of olive trees;
they tread the winepresses while they are thirsty.
12 From the city the dying groan,
and the wounded cry out for help,
but God charges no one with wrongdoing.
13 There are those who rebel against the light;
they do not know its ways,
and they do not stay on its paths.
14 Before daybreak the murderer rises up;
he kills the poor and the needy;
in the night he is like a thief.
15 And the eye of the adulterer watches for the twilight,
thinking, ‘No eye can see me,’
and covers his face with a mask.
16 In the dark the robber breaks into houses,
but by day they shut themselves in;
they do not know the light.
17 For all of them, the morning is to them like deep darkness;
they are friends with the terrors of darkness.

18 You say, ‘He is foam on the face of the waters;
their portion of the land is cursed
so that no one goes to their vineyard.
19 The drought as well as the heat
snatch up the melted snow;
so the grave snatches up the sinner.
20 The womb forgets him,
the worm feasts on him,
no longer will he be remembered.
Like a tree, wickedness will be broken down.
21 He preys on the barren and childless woman
and does not treat the widow well.
22 But God drags off the mighty by his power;
when God rises up against him, he has no faith in his life.
23 God may let them rest in a feeling of security,
but he is constantly watching all their ways.
24 They are exalted for a little while, and then they are gone;
they are brought low like all others and gathered in,
and like a head of grain they are cut off.’

25 “If this is not so, who can prove me a liar
and reduce my words to nothing?”

REFLECTIONS

Job’s final few speeches have some confusing parts. At times, he seems to be repeating things that the friends have said – like the last part of this chapter, where he says that God will “drag off the mighty by his power” and bring down the proud (verses 18-25). Didn’t he argue against that before? But I suspect this is part of Job’s slow growth in hope. Just like he came to a point of assurance that God would redeem him after death (chapter 19), here he knows that God will judge the wicked after all. But Job knows that it will not be straight away. God’s kingdom will come – eventually.

The first part of the chapter also echoes the friends’ words. Job describes the terrible way in which rich and powerful people oppress orphans, widows, and the poor – those who are powerless and vulnerable. But Job’s friends were using that fact as a weapon against Job. Job is simply expressing his genuine grief and sadness over their plight.

For today, spend time praying for the millions around the world who are hungry, cold, exploited, and trodden down. Father, may your kingdom come – Come, Lord Jesus!

Job 23

Job 23 - Daily Devotion - 6 November 2024

St Barnabas Anglican Church Fairfield & Bossley Park

Today we will hear the first half of Job’s first response in the final round of the debate.

1 Then Job answered:
2 “Even today my complaint is still bitter;
his hand is heavy despite my groaning.
3 O that I knew where I might find him,
that I could come to his place of residence!
4 I would lay out my case before him
and fill my mouth with arguments.
5 I would know with what words he would answer me
and understand what he would say to me.
6 Would he contend with me with great power?
No, he would only pay attention to me.
7 There an upright person
could present his case before him,
and I would be delivered forever from my judge.

8 “If I go to the east, he is not there,
and to the west, yet I do not perceive him.
9 In the north when he is at work,
I do not see him;
when he turns to the south,
I see no trace of him.
10 But he knows the pathway that I take;
if he tested me, I would come forth like gold.
11 My feet have followed his steps closely;
I have kept to his way and have not turned aside.
12 I have not departed from the commands of his lips;
I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my allotted portion.
13 But he is unchangeable, and who can change him?
Whatever he has desired, he does.
14 For he fulfills his decree against me,
and many such things are his plans.
15 That is why I am terrified in his presence;
when I consider, I am afraid because of him.
16 Indeed, God has made my heart faint;
the Almighty has terrified me.
17 Yet I have not been silent because of the darkness,
because of the thick darkness
that covered my face.

REFLECTIONS

At some point in these seemingly endless speeches, you might have asked yourself: “Why do they go on for so long? They’re going around in circles. What’s the point?” Christopher Ash, in his commentary, has a helpful suggestion. He says part of the reason is that long-term suffering often doesn’t have quick and easy “answers.” Why does God allow some people suffer so much more than others, when it’s not their fault? Those who are suffering will wrestle over and over with that question – and we all need to learn to sit with them through that long journey. We need to resist the urge to “move on” and leave those who are suffering behind.

One thought from Job’s agonised wrestling today. Job looks to the east, west, north, and south, but says, “I see no trace of God” (v. 8-9). Often God and his ways are hidden to us, and that can be a struggle for us. But that’s why it’s such a comfort to know about Jesus and his death and resurrection. The weakness of the cross of Jesus is where God has put on display all his power, glory, love, and wisdom. As Paul says, the message of Christ crucified is “the power of God and the wisdom of God” (1 Corinthians 1:24). Even when you can’t see all God’s ways in your own circumstances, keep looking to the cross of Jesus – you will always find God there.

Job 22

Job 22 - Daily Devotion - 5 November 2024

St Barnabas Anglican Church Fairfield & Bossley Park

Today Eliphaz will open the third and final round of the debate.

1 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered:
2 “Is it to God that a strong man is of benefit?
Is it to him that even a wise man is profitable?
3 Is it of any special benefit to the Almighty
that you should be righteous,
or is it any gain to him
that you make your ways blameless?
4 Is it because of your piety that he rebukes you
and goes to judgment with you?
5 Is not your wickedness great
and is there no end to your iniquity?

6 “For you took pledges from your brothers
for no reason,
and you stripped the clothing from the naked.
7 You gave the weary no water to drink
and from the hungry you withheld food.
8 Although you were a powerful man, owning land,
an honored man living on it,
9 you sent widows away empty-handed,
and the arms of the orphans you crushed.
10 That is why snares surround you,
and why sudden fear terrifies you,
11 why it is so dark you cannot see,
and why a flood of water covers you.

12 “Is not God on high in heaven?
And see the lofty stars, how high they are!
13 But you have said, ‘What does God know?
Does he judge through such deep darkness?
14 Thick clouds are a veil for him, so he does not see us,
as he goes back and forth
in the vault of heaven.’
15 Will you keep to the old path
that evil men have walked—
16 men who were carried off before their time,
when the flood was poured out
on their foundations?
17 They were saying to God, ‘Turn away from us,’
and, ‘What can the Almighty do to us?’
18 But it was he who filled their houses
with good things—
yet the counsel of the wicked
was far from me.
19 The righteous see their destruction and rejoice;
the innocent mock them scornfully, saying,
20 ‘Surely our enemies are destroyed,
and fire consumes their wealth.’

21 “Reconcile yourself with God,
and be at peace with him;
in this way your prosperity will be good.
22 Accept instruction from his mouth
and store up his words in your heart.
23 If you return to the Almighty, you will be built up;
if you remove wicked behavior far from your tent,
24 and throw your gold in the dust—
your gold of Ophir
among the rocks in the ravines—
25 then the Almighty himself will be your gold,
and the choicest silver for you.
26 Surely then you will delight yourself in the Almighty
and will lift up your face toward God.
27 You will pray to him, and he will hear you,
and you will fulfill your vows to him.
28 Whatever you decide on a matter,
it will be established for you,
and light will shine on your ways.
29 When people are brought low and you say,
‘Lift them up!’
then he will save the downcast;
30 he will deliver even someone who is not innocent,
who will escape through the cleanness of your hands.”

REFLECTIONS

Eliphaz’s closing call for Job to repent would, in the right context, be beautiful and powerful. It’s a call to delight in God the Almighty more than in all the world’s gold – Amen! Except that Eliphaz has just doubled down on his baseless condemnation of Job, and accused him with zero evidence of the most terrible crimes, like crushing the arms of orphans (v. 9). His harsh judgment means his call to repent is spiritually abusive.

There is a deep irony in the final two verses, though. He tries to encourage Job by saying, “If you repent, God might even use you to intercede for someone else who is guilty.” That is exactly what will happen in the last chapter of the book, as Job intercedes for guilty Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar.

Lord, please save us from an arrogant and judgmental heart!

Job 21

Job 21 - Daily Devotion - 4 November 2024

St Barnabas Anglican Church Fairfield & Bossley Park

Today’s passage is the final speech in the second round of the debate.

1 Then Job answered:
2 “Listen carefully to my words;
let this be the consolation you offer me.
3 Bear with me and I will speak,
and after I have spoken you may mock.
4 Is my complaint against a man?
If so, why should I not be impatient?
5 Look at me and be appalled;
put your hands over your mouths.
6 For, when I think about this, I am terrified
and my body feels a shudder.

7 “Why do the wicked go on living,
grow old, even increase in power?
8 Their children are firmly established in their presence,
their offspring before their eyes.
9 Their houses are safe and without fear;
and no rod of punishment from God is upon them.
10 Their bulls breed without fail;
their cows calve and do not miscarry.
11 They allow their children to run like a flock;
their little ones dance about.
12 They sing to the accompaniment of tambourine and harp,
and make merry to the sound of the flute.
13 They live out their years in prosperity
and go down to the grave in peace.
14 So they say to God, ‘Turn away from us!
We do not want to know your ways.
15 Who is the Almighty, that we should serve him?
What would we gain
if we were to pray to him?’
16 But their prosperity is not their own doing.
The counsel of the wicked is far from me!

17 “How often is the lamp of the wicked extinguished?
How often does their misfortune come upon them?
How often does God apportion pain to them in his anger?
18 How often are they like straw before the wind
and like chaff swept away by a whirlwind?
19 You may say, ‘God stores up a man’s punishment for his children!’
Instead let him repay the man himself
so that he may be humbled!
20 Let his own eyes see his destruction;
let him drink of the anger of the Almighty.
21 For what is his interest in his home
after his death,
when the number of his months
has been broken off?
22 Can anyone teach God knowledge,
since he judges those that are on high?

23 “One man dies in his full vigor,
completely secure and prosperous,
24 his body well nourished,
and the marrow of his bones moist.
25 And another man dies in bitterness of soul,
never having tasted anything good.
26 Together they lie down in the dust,
and worms cover over them both.

27 “Yes, I know what you are thinking,
the schemes by which you would wrong me.
28 For you say,
‘Where now is the nobleman’s house,
and where are the tents in which the wicked lived?’
29 Have you never questioned those who travel the roads?
Do you not recognize their accounts—
30 that the evil man is spared
from the day of his misfortune,
that he is delivered
from the day of God’s wrath?
31 No one denounces his conduct to his face;
no one repays him for what he has done.
32 And when he is carried to the tombs
and watch is kept over the funeral mound,
33 the clods of the torrent valley are sweet to him;
behind him everybody follows in procession,
and before him goes a countless throng.
34 So how can you console me with your futile words?
Nothing is left of your answers but deception!”

REFLECTIONS

Life before Jesus comes back in glory isn’t neat and simple. The reality is complicated: some faithful believers live in comfort, while others suffer; and the same goes for the ungodly.

What strikes me from today’s passage is how both self-righteousness and self-pity make us oversimplify our perception of the world. Job’s friends are self-righteous: their lives are comfortable, and they think it is due to their own cleverness and goodness. So they think, “It’s all the bad people who are suffering – they deserve it.” Job, as he wallows in misery and self-pity, ends up oversimplifying in the other direction: “It’s all the bad people who are living the good life – what did I do to deserve this?”

The first thing the gospel does to give us a more realistic view of life in this world is to teach us that our relationship with God has nothing to do with deserving anything! “Grace” means we deserve nothing from God, yet God has freely chosen to pour out his love and kindness on us through Jesus, by forgiving all our sin and giving us the sure promise of everlasting joy with him.

Whatever your present situation, ask God to fill your mind with thankfulness for his grace in Jesus, and to cure you of both self-righteousness and self-pity.

Job 20

Job 20 - Daily Devotion - 2 November 2024

St Barnabas Anglican Church Fairfield & Bossley Park

Today we will hear Job’s third friend, Zophar, give his speech in the second round of the debate.

1 Then Zophar the Naamathite answered:
2 “This is why my troubled thoughts bring me back—
because of my feelings within me.
3 When I hear a reproof that dishonors me,
then my understanding prompts me to answer.

4 “Surely you know that it has been from old,
ever since humankind was placed on the earth,
5 that the elation of the wicked is brief,
the joy of the godless lasts but a moment.
6 Even though his stature reaches to the heavens
and his head touches the clouds,
7 he will perish forever, like his own excrement;
those who used to see him will say, ‘Where is he?’
8 Like a dream he flies away, never again to be found,
and like a vision of the night he is put to flight.
9 People who had seen him will not see him again,
and the place where he was
will recognize him no longer.
10 His sons must recompense the poor;
his own hands must return his wealth.
11 His bones were full of his youthful vigor,
but that vigor will lie down with him in the dust.

12 “If evil is sweet in his mouth
and he hides it under his tongue,
13 if he retains it for himself
and does not let it go,
and holds it fast in his mouth,
14 his food is turned sour in his stomach;
it becomes the venom of serpents within him.
15 The wealth that he consumed he vomits up,
God will make him throw it out of his stomach.
16 He sucks the poison of serpents;
the fangs of a viper kill him.
17 He will not look on the streams,
the rivers that are the torrents
of honey and butter.
18 He gives back the ill-gotten gain
without assimilating it;
he will not enjoy the wealth from his commerce.
19 For he has oppressed the poor and abandoned them;
he has seized a house which he did not build.
20 For he knows no satisfaction in his appetite;
he does not let anything he desires escape.
21 Nothing is left for him to devour;
that is why his prosperity does not last.
22 In the fullness of his sufficiency,
distress overtakes him.
The full force of misery will come upon him.
23 While he is filling his belly,
God sends his burning anger against him
and rains down his blows upon him.
24 If he flees from an iron weapon,
then an arrow from a bronze bow pierces him.
25 When he pulls it out and it comes out of his back,
the gleaming point out of his liver,
terrors come over him.
26 Total darkness waits to receive his treasures;
a fire that has not been kindled
will consume him and devour what is left in his tent.
27 The heavens reveal his iniquity;
the earth rises up against him.
28 A flood will carry off his house,
rushing waters on the day of God’s wrath.
29 Such is the lot God allots the wicked,
and the heritage of his appointment from God.”

REFLECTIONS

With friends like these, who needs enemies, right? Like the others, Zophar uses general truths from God’s word (like, “God punishes the wicked”) to attack the wrong person at the wrong time. Zophar focuses on God’s punishment of greedy and rich people who oppress the poor, those whose appetite for wealth and power is never satisfied. He clearly has decided that Job must be one of those people. We will hear in chapter 29 that the opposite is true: part of Job’s blamelessness was that he rescued the poor and the orphan when they cried for help.

One other thing caught my attention today. In verses 2-3, Zophar says he is answering Job because of his “feelings” – because he feels Job’s criticism “dishonoured” him. I wonder if that explains why he is so cruel and spiteful in the way he misuses God’s word against Job? I think there’s a helpful lesson in there: The time to apply God’s word to someone’s life is not when you’re feeling hurt and offended by them, but when you’re filled with love, compassion and a genuine desire for their good.

Job 19

Job 19 - Daily Devotion - 1 November 2024

St Barnabas Anglican Church Fairfield & Bossley Park

We’ve just passed the half-way mark of the debate between Job and his friends – although the speeches are getting shorter. Today we will hear Job’s reply to Bildad in the second round of the debate.

1 Then Job answered:
2 “How long will you torment me
and crush me with your words?
3 These ten times you have been reproaching me;
you are not ashamed to attack me.
4 But even if it were true that I have erred,
my error remains solely my concern!
5 If indeed you would exalt yourselves above me
and plead my disgrace against me,
6 know then that God has wronged me
and encircled me with his net.

7 “If I cry out, ‘Violence!’
I receive no answer;
I cry for help,
but there is no justice.
8 He has blocked my way so I cannot pass
and has set darkness over my paths.
9 He has stripped me of my honor
and has taken the crown off my head.
10 He tears me down on every side until I perish;
he uproots my hopelike an uprooted tree.
11 Thus his anger burns against me,
and he considers me among his enemies.
12 His troops advance together;
they throw up a siege ramp against me,
and they camp around my tent.

13 “He has put my relatives far from me;
my acquaintances only turn away from me.
14 My kinsmen have failed me;
my friends have forgotten me.
15 My guests and my servant girls
consider me a stranger;
I am a foreigner in their eyes.
16 I summon my servant, but he does not respond,
even though I implore him with my own mouth.
17 My breath is repulsive to my wife;
I am loathsome to my brothers.
18 Even youngsters have scorned me;
when I get up, they scoff at me.
19 All my closest friends detest me;
and those whom I love have turned against me.
20 My bones stick to my skin and my flesh;
I have escaped alive with only the skin of my teeth.
21 Have pity on me, my friends, have pity on me,
for the hand of God has struck me.
22 Why do you pursue me like God does?
Will you never be satiated with my flesh?

23 “O that my words were written down!
O that they were written on a scroll!
24 O that with an iron chisel and with lead
they were engraved in a rock forever!
25 As for me, I know that my Redeemer lives,
and that as the last
he will stand upon the earth.
26 And after my skin has been destroyed,
yet in my flesh I will see God,
27 whom I will see for myself,
and whom my own eyes will behold,
and not another.
My heart grows faint within me.
28 If you say, ‘How we will pursue him,
since the root of the trouble is found in him!’
29 Fear the sword yourselves,
for wrath brings the punishment by the sword,
so that you may know
that there is judgment.”

REFLECTIONS

Several times through the book, in the middle of his cries of pain, Job has had flashes of hope and confidence. Verses 25-27 are the climax of those moments: “I know that my redeemer lives.” Somehow, Job knows that after he dies his name will be cleared – not just by some legal process, but by God himself, the living redeemer of his people. And somehow, this won’t just mean Job’s name being cleared. God will stand on the Grave and rescue Job.

Stay tuned to hear much more about this chapter in church tomorrow. But for now: What I love most is how, even after all he’s been through, Job loves God more than anything else. What he really yearns for and looks forward to is not the end of his suffering. It’s seeing and being with God.

Job 18

Job 18 - Daily Devotion - 31 October 2024

St Barnabas Anglican Church Fairfield & Bossley Park

So far, in the second round of the debate between Job and his friends, Eliphaz has spoken and Job has replied. Now we hear Bildad’s speech.

1 Then Bildad the Shuhite answered:
2 “How long until you make an end of words?
You must consider, and then we can talk.
3 Why should we be regarded as beasts,
and considered stupid in your sight?
4 You who tear yourself to pieces in your anger,
will the earth be abandoned for your sake?
Or will a rock be moved from its place?

5 “Yes, the lamp of the wicked is extinguished;
his flame of fire does not shine.
6 The light in his tent grows dark;
his lamp above him is extinguished.
7 His vigorous steps are restricted,
and his own counsel throws him down.
8 For he has been thrown into a net by his feet,
and he wanders into a mesh.
9 A trap seizes him by the heel;
a snare grips him.
10 A rope is hidden for him on the ground,
and a trap for him lies on the path.
11 Terrors frighten him on all sides
and dog his every step.
12 Calamity is hungry for him,
and misfortune is ready at his side.
13 It eats away parts of his skin;
the most terrible death devours his limbs.
14 He is dragged from the security of his tent,
and marched off to the king of terrors.
15 Fire resides in his tent;
over his residence burning sulfur is scattered.
16 Below his roots dry up,
and his branches wither above.
17 His memory perishes from the earth
he has no name in the land.
18 He is driven from light into darkness
and is banished from the world.
19 He has neither children nor descendants among his people,
no survivor in those places he once stayed.
20 People of the west are appalled at his fate;
people of the east are seized with horror, saying,
21 ‘Surely such is the residence of an evil man;
and this is the place of one who has not known God.’”

REFLECTIONS

As we listen to the increasingly angry speeches of Job’s friends, it helps us to see how much patience and gospel focus is required for us to be true friends to those who experience long-term suffering.

Eliphaz’s first speech included words of comfort and assurance. Bildad’s first speech was less positive, but he still promised that if Job repented, he would be blessed once again. But now, Bildad launches into an unrelenting, vicious attack on Job. He describes all the torments and terrors that God has in store for “the wicked” in general. He doesn’t say it directly, but his point is crystal-clear: “Job, you are one of those wicked people, and all this will happen to you.”

Bildad started with a “formula” view of God. He had no humility and no room for any mystery in God’s dealings with people. It seems like that mindset means he is not prepared to persevere in empathy and compassion. So now, his words have no grace, and no gospel hope left in them – they have shifted to pure harshness and judgment.

It makes me wonder: Why is he saying any of this? What’s the point? It seems the only purpose now is to belittle and batter Job, to put him in his place. But in Ephesians 4:29, Paul encourages us to say “only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.”

If you have ever been called on to support a Christian brother or sister who has gone through long-term suffering, spend a moment thinking about the words you used with them. Did your words change over time – and did they become more grace- and gospel-filled, or less? Ask God to give you humility and the heart of Christ, so that you can persevere in patient kindness.

Job 17

Job 17 - Daily Devotion - 30 October 2024

St Barnabas Anglican Church Fairfield & Bossley Park

Yesterday we heard about the intensity of Job’s sufferings, which were by God’s sovereign will, and we heard his wish that after his death, God would become his advocate and vindicator. Today we will hear the second half of his speech in reply to Eliphaz.

1 My spirit is broken,
my days have faded out;
the grave awaits me.
2 Surely mockery is with me;
my eyes must dwell on their hostility.
3 Set my pledge beside you.
Who else will put up security for me?
4 Because you have closed their minds to understanding,
therefore you will not exalt them.
5 If a man denounces his friends for personal gain,
the eyes of his children will fail.
6 He has made me a byword to people;
I am the one in whose face they spit.
7 My eyes have grown dim with grief;
my whole frame is but a shadow.
8 Upright men are appalled at this;
the innocent man is troubled with the godless.
9 But the righteous man holds to his way,
and the one with clean hands grows stronger.

10 “But turn, all of you, and come now!
I will not find a wise man among you.
11 My days have passed; my plans are shattered,
even the desires of my heart.
12 These men change night into day;
they say, ‘The light is near
in the face of darkness.’
13 If I hope for the grave to be my home,
if I spread out my bed in darkness,
14 if I cry out to corruption, ‘You are my father,’
and to the worm, ‘My mother,’ or ‘My sister,’
15 where then is my hope?
And my hope, who sees it?
16 Will it go down to the barred gates of death?
Will we descend together into the dust?”

REFLECTIONS

I didn’t understand verses 3: “Set my pledge beside you. Who else will put up security for me?” So I looked into it … and I’m still not 100% sure what it’s saying! But I’m a little closer.

It has to do with the fact that Job is not just suffering physically. His wife and all his friends have also turned against him, so he is now completely abandoned and on his own. Job wants someone to “pledge” on his behalf to God, to “put up security” for him – that is, he wants someone to speak in his support and vouch for him. But there is no one left. So he makes a strange request: He asks God to set a pledge beside himself for Job.

But it’s a bit ambiguous. Job is either saying, “I offer myself as my own pledge”, or he’s saying, “God, please lay the pledge down yourself.” Either option would be very strange, when Job is on trial before God as his Judge – but either way, he has no one else.

Why mention all this? Here are two very different thoughts to take away. First, this again reminds me of the sufferings of Jesus. During his trial, all Jesus’ friends abandoned him and fled, as he knew they would. But he knew and trusted that ultimately, his Father would not abandon him to the grave (see John 16:32 and Acts 2:31). That means that, if you are connected to Jesus, God will never leave you or forsake you either (Hebrews 13:5).

But we also have the great blessing of being joined into Christ’s church. That means when we suffer, we shouldn’t feel completely abandoned and forsaken like Job was, because God has put us here to support each other, to be one another’s “pledge.”

Of course, we are all still flawed and sinful, so the church will let you down sometimes (even St Barnabas!). But if you feel alone and abandoned, like no one at church cares, don’t just trust that your feeling must be right. Reach out! Call a minister or your growth group leader, or ask a friend if they would pray with you … and see if the Lord might just surprise you.

Job 16

Job 16 - Daily Devotion - 29 October 2024

St Barnabas Anglican Church Fairfield & Bossley Park

Yesterday we heard Eliphaz begin the second round of the debate. Today we will read the first half of Job’s reply.

1 Then Job replied:
2 “I have heard many things like these before.
What miserable comforters are you all!
3 Will there be an end to your windy words?
Or what provokes you that you answer?
4 I also could speak like you,
if you were in my place;
I could pile up words against you,
and I could shake my head at you.
5 But I would strengthen you with my words;
comfort from my lips would bring you relief.

6 “But if I speak, my pain is not relieved,
and if I refrain from speaking,
how much of it goes away?
7 Surely now he has worn me out;
you have devastated my entire household.
8 You have seized me,
and it has become a witness;
my leanness has risen up against me
and testifies against me.
9 His anger has torn me and persecuted me;
he has gnashed at me with his teeth;
my adversary locks his eyes on me.
10 People have opened their mouths against me;
they have struck my cheek in scorn;
they unite together against me.
11 God abandons me to evil men,
and throws me into the hands of wicked men.
12 I was in peace, and he has shattered me.
He has seized me by the neck and crushed me.
He has made me his target;
13 his archers surround me.
Without pity he pierces my kidneys
and pours out my gall on the ground.
14 He breaks through against me, time and time again;
he rushes against me like a warrior.
15 I have sewed sackcloth on my skin
and buried my horn in the dust;
16 my face is reddened because of weeping,
and on my eyelids there is a deep darkness,
17 although there is no violence in my hands
and my prayer is pure.

18 “O earth, do not cover my blood,
nor let there be a secret place for my cry.
19 Even now my witness is in heaven;
my advocate is on high.
20 My intercessor is my friend
as my eyes pour out tears to God;
21 and he contends with God on behalf of man
as a man pleads for his friend.
22 For the years that lie ahead are few,
and then I will go on the way of no return.

REFLECTIONS

Several times we have thought about how Job is a preview of Jesus, the righteous sufferer. Today, so many things Job says find their echo and fulfilment in the sufferings of Jesus. For example, Job knows that he is suffering by God’s sovereign will (he is right about that, even though he has misinterpreted God’s attitude to him). God has thrown him “into the hands of wicked men” (v. 11) – wicked men who “have struck my cheek in scorn; they unite together against me” (v. 10). That felt like I was reading a description of Jesus’ sham trial in the Gospels: “Then they spit in his face and struck him with their fists; others slapped him” (Matthew 26:67). Or when the believers pray in Acts 4: “Indeed Herod and Pontius Pilate met together with the Gentiles and the people of Israel in this city to conspire against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed. They did what your power and will had decided beforehand should happen.” (Acts 4:27-28).

But the line that most stood out to me was Job’s cry in verse 18: “Oh earth, do not cover my blood.” Job is convinced that he will die without being vindicated. But Job hopes that after he dies, his blood will cry out and bring him vindication (like Abel’s blood in Genesis 4:10). In fact, he even dares to hope that God will become his witness in heaven, his advocate and his intercessor, the one who vindicates him (vv. 19-20).

All these threads come together in Jesus … with the most glorious plot-twist. Jesus suffered all these things to the maximum, and then God vindicated him by raising him from the dead. But ultimately, Jesus suffered and died so that his blood would cry out on our behalf, so that his resurrection would be not just his own vindication, but ours as well. As Paul says: “He was delivered over to death for our sins and raised to life for our justification” (Romans 4:25).

Job 15

Job 15 - Daily Devotion - 28 October 2024

St Barnabas Anglican Church Fairfield & Bossley Park

The debate between Job and his three friends takes place over three rounds. Today begins the second round, so we’re back to the first of the friends, Eliphaz.

1 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered:
2 “Does a wise man answer with blustery knowledge,
or fill his belly with the east wind?
3 Does he argue with useless talk,
with words that have no value in them?
4 But you even break off piety
and hinder meditation before God.
5 Your sin inspires your mouth;
you choose the language of the crafty.
6 Your own mouth condemns you, not I;
your own lips testify against you.

7 “Were you the first man ever born?
Were you brought forth before the hills?
8 Do you listen in on God’s secret council?
Do you limit wisdom to yourself?
9 What do you know that we don’t know?
What do you understand that we don’t understand?
10 The gray-haired and the aged are on our side,
men far older than your father.
11 Are God’s consolations too trivial for you,
or a word spoken in gentleness to you?
12 Why has your heart carried you away,
and why do your eyes flash,
13 when you turn your rage against God
and allow such words to escape from your mouth?
14 What is man that he should be pure,
or one born of woman, that he should be righteous?
15 If God places no trust in his holy ones,
if even the heavens are not pure in his eyes,
16 how much less man, who is abominable and corrupt,
who drinks in evil like water!

17 I will explain to you;
listen to me,
and what I have seen, I will declare,
18 what wise men declare,
hiding nothing,
from the tradition of their ancestors,
19 to whom alone the land was given
when no foreigner passed among them.
20 All his days the wicked man suffers torment,
throughout the number of the years
that are stored up for the tyrant.
21 Terrifying sounds fill his ears;
in a time of peace marauders attack him.
22 He does not expect to escape from darkness;
he is marked for the sword;
23 he wanders about—food for vultures—
he knows that the day of darkness is at hand.
24 Distress and anguish terrify him;
they prevail against him
like a king ready to launch an attack,
25 for he stretches out his hand against God,
and vaunts himself against the Almighty,
26 defiantly charging against him
with a thick, strong shield!
27 Because he covered his face with fat
and made his hips bulge with fat,
28 he lived in ruined towns
and in houses where no one lives,
where they are ready to crumble into heaps.
29 He will not grow rich,
and his wealth will not endure,
nor will his possessions spread over the land.
30 He will not escape the darkness;
a flame will wither his shoots,
and he will depart
by the breath of God’s mouth.
31 Let him not trust in what is worthless,
deceiving himself;
for worthlessness will be his reward.
32 Before his time he will be paid in full,
and his branches will not flourish.
33 Like a vine he will let his sour grapes fall,
and like an olive tree
he will shed his blossoms.
34 For the company of the godless is barren,
and fire consumes the tents of those who accept bribes.
35 They conceive trouble and bring forth evil;
their belly prepares deception.”

REFLECTIONS

As I’ve been working through Job, I’ve found the commentary by English preacher Christopher Ash particularly helpful. I thought I’d share one point from Ash today. It relates to the way in which Job points forward to Jesus.Job is not really an “ordinary” person. He is a “blameless and upright” man (Job 1:1-5), yet he experienced horrific unjust suffering. In that way, he is a small preview of Jesus, the ultimate and perfect righteous sufferer.

But Jesus shows us that unjust suffering doesn’t just happen; it’s central to God’s saving plan. Without the suffering of Jesus the innocent lamb of God, there is no grace for sinners.

That means the attacks of Job’s friends are, in a strange way, attacks on God’s grace and on the gospel itself. His friends have turned God into a formula: if you are suffering, you must have done bad things; if you are prospering, you have done good things. God always gives people exactly what they deserve – no exceptions.

That means Eliphaz’s attack on Job in chapter 15 is a preview of the way in which those hostile to Christ will attack the gospel of grace. For example, Eliphaz says, “But you even undermine piety and hinder devotion to God” (v. 4, NIV) – that is, if God doesn’t give people what they deserve, why would anyone bother to be good? Or verse 5, “Your sin inspires your mouth, you choose the language of the crafty” – that is, you are teaching things that are bad and deceptive.

Sometimes people will attack the gospel we preach; sometimes they will slander our motives and our character. But remember that ultimately, what offends human pride is the message that we can’t ever earn God’s favour – we can only humbly accept God’s gift that we don’t deserve, through Jesus’ suffering that he didn’t deserve.

Don’t take their attacks personally – the gospel is too good and precious to waste your energy getting offended in return! Just love them and pray for them.

Job 14

Job 14 - Daily Devotion - 26 October 2024

St Barnabas Anglican Church Fairfield & Bossley Park

Yesterday Job decided that, if he could, he would willingly come before God to defend himself, even if it killed him. But he also began wrestling with the problem of sin. Even though Job has lived in devotion to God, he isn’t sinless. He knows that sin leads to God’s judgment, and the consequence is death. Today we’ll hear the final part of his speech.

1 “Man, born of woman,
lives but a few days, and they are full of trouble.
2 He grows up like a flower and then withers away;
he flees like a shadow and does not remain.
3 Do you fix your eye on such a one?
And do you bring me before you for judgment?
4 Who can make a clean thing come from an unclean?
No one!
5 Since man’s days are determined,
the number of his months is under your control;
you have set his limit, and he cannot pass it.
6 Look away from him and let him desist,
until he fulfills his time like a hired man.

7 “But there is hope for a tree:
If it is cut down, it will sprout again,
and its new shoots will not fail.
8 Although its roots may grow old in the ground
and its stump begins to die in the soil,
9 at the scent of water it will flourish
and put forth shoots like a new plant.
10 But man dies and is powerless;
he expires—and where is he?
11 As water disappears from the sea,
or a river drains away and dries up,
12 so man lies down and does not rise;
until the heavens are no more,
they will not awake
nor arise from their sleep.

13 “O that you would hide me in Sheol,
and conceal me till your anger has passed!
O that you would set me a time
and then remember me!
14 If a man dies, will he live again?
All the days of my hard service I will wait
until my release comes.
15 You will call and I—I will answer you;
you will long for the creature you have made.

16 “Surely now you count my steps;
then you would not mark my sin.
17 My offenses would be sealed up in a bag;
you would cover over my sin.
18 But as a mountain falls away and crumbles,
and as a rock will be removed from its place,
19 as water wears away stones,
and torrents wash away the soil,
so you destroy man’s hope.
20 You overpower him once for all,
and he departs;
you change his appearance
and send him away.
21 If his sons are honored,
he does not know it;
if they are brought low,
he does not see it.
22 His flesh only has pain for him,
and he mourns for himself.”

REFLECTIONS

We’ll hear more about this passage in church tomorrow. But a quick preview: For most of the Old Testament, even faithful believers in God didn’t yet have a clear and direct word about real hope beyond the grave. Jesus hadn’t yet risen from the dead.

That’s why Job’s wish in verses 13-17 is so haunting. He imagines what he thinks is an alternate reality – a make-believe world in which death is not being banished to the dark place of no return. Instead, he thinks, “What if the grave was actually a refuge – a safe hiding-place from God’s judgment?” Afterwards, in Job’s imagination, God would raise him to life again, and nothing could ever again spoil Job’s enjoyment of his beautiful relationship with his Creator.

Don’t you want to be able to go back in time and say, “Hey Job, I’ve got great news – there is hope beyond death. In fact, God is going to send his Son to die for sin and then to break open the grave. Jesus is the refuge you are longing for!”

It’s so amazing to live this side of the resurrection of Jesus, and to know for certain that when he returns to renew all things, everyone who trusts in him will be raised like he was. Knowing that doesn’t take away the pain of this life; but it does give us strength to press on through the painful things. And we can’t go back in time to tell Job the good news that Jesus brings real hope. But I’m sure there’s someone close to you who you’d love to let know. Ask God to use you to bring that hope into their life.

Job 12-13

Job 12-13 - Daily Devotion - 25 October 2024

St Barnabas Anglican Church Fairfield & Bossley Park

Today we’re up to Job’s final speech in the first round of the debate. This is his longest speech so far. We’ll read the first 2 chapters today, then finish his speech tomorrow.

12:1 Then Job answered:
2 “Without a doubt you are the people,
and wisdom will die with you.
3 I also have understanding as well as you;
I am not inferior to you.
Who does not know such things as these?
4 I am a laughingstock to my friends,
I, who called on God and whom he answered—
a righteous and blameless man
is a laughingstock!
5 For calamity, there is derision
(according to the ideas of the fortunate)—
a fate for those whose feet slip.
6 But the tents of robbers are peaceful,
and those who provoke God are confident—
who carry their god in their hands.

7 “But now, ask the animals and they will teach you,
or the birds of the sky and they will tell you.
8 Or speak to the earth and it will teach you,
or let the fish of the sea declare to you.
9 Which of all these does not know
that the hand of the LORD has done this?
10 In his hand is the life of every creature
and the breath of all the human race.
11 Does not the ear test words,
as the tongue tastes food?
12 Is not wisdom found among the aged?
Does not long life bring understanding?
13 With God are wisdom and power;
counsel and understanding are his.
14 If he tears down, it cannot be rebuilt;
if he imprisons a person, there is no escape.
15 If he holds back the waters, then they dry up;
if he releases them, they destroy the land.
16 With him are strength and prudence;
both the one who goes astray
and the one who misleads are his.
17 He leads counselors away stripped
and makes judges into fools.
18 He loosens the bonds of kings
and binds a loincloth around their waist.
19 He leads priests away stripped
and overthrows the potentates.
20 He deprives the trusted advisers of speech
and takes away the discernment of elders.
21 He pours contempt on noblemen
and disarms the powerful.
22 He reveals the deep things of darkness
and brings deep shadows into the light.
23 He makes nations great and destroys them;
he extends the boundaries of nations
and disperses them.
24 He deprives the leaders of the earth
of their understanding;
he makes them wander
in a trackless desert waste.
25 They grope about in darkness without light;
he makes them stagger like drunkards.

13:1 “Indeed, my eyes have seen all this;
my ears have heard and understood it.
2 What you know, I know also;
I am not inferior to you!
3 But I wish to speak to the Almighty,
and I desire to argue my case with God.
4 But you, however, are inventors of lies;
all of you are worthless physicians!
5 If only you would keep completely silent!
For you, that would be wisdom.
6 Listen now to my argument,
and be attentive to my lips’ contentions.
7 Will you speak wickedly on God’s behalf?
Will you speak deceitfully for him?
8 Will you show him partiality?
Will you argue the case for God?
9 Would it turn out well if he would examine you?
Or as one deceives a man would you deceive him?
10 He would certainly rebuke you
if you secretly showed partiality.
11 Would not his splendor terrify you
and the fear he inspires fall on you?
12 Your maxims are proverbs of ashes;
your defenses are defenses of clay.

13 “Refrain from talking with me so that I may speak;
then let come to me what may.
14 Why do I put myself in peril,
and take my life in my hands?
15 Even if he slays me, I will hope in him;
I will surely defend my ways to his face.
16 Moreover, this will become my deliverance,
for no godless person would come before him.
17 Listen carefully to my words;
let your ears be attentive to my explanation.
18 See now, I have prepared my case;
I know that I am right.
19 Who will contend with me?
If anyone can, I will be silent and die.
20 Only in two things spare me, O God,
and then I will not hide from your face:
21 Remove your hand far from me
and stop making me afraid with your terror.
22 Then call, and I will answer,
or I will speak, and you respond to me.
23 How many are my iniquities and sins?
Show me my transgression and my sin.
24 Why do you hide your face
and regard me as your enemy?
25 Do you wish to torment a windblown leaf
and chase after dry chaff?
26 For you write down bitter things against me
and cause me to inherit the sins of my youth.
27 And you put my feet in the stocks
and you watch all my movements;
you put marks on the soles of my feet.
28 So I waste away like something rotten,
like a garment eaten by moths.

REFLECTIONS

Job 13:15 is an amazing expression of faith. He wants to have a chance to speak face to face with God to defend himself – but because he understands God’s holiness and power, he knows it might kill him. But he says: “Even if he slays me, I will hope in him.”

It reminds me of John 6, when the crowds started abandoning Jesus because following him sounded way too difficult and uncomfortable. Jesus asked his disciples whether they wanted to leave as well. But Peter said: “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.”

Job 11

Job 11 - Daily Devotion - 24 October 2024

St Barnabas Anglican Church Fairfield & Bossley Park

Today we finally hear from the third of Job’s “friends”: Zophar.

1 Then Zophar the Naamathite spoke up and said:
2 “Should not this abundance of words be answered,
or should this talkative man
be vindicated?
3 Should people remain silent at your idle talk,
and should no one rebuke you when you mock?
4 For you have said, ‘My teaching is flawless,
and I am pure in your sight.’
5 But if only God would speak,
if only he would open his lips against you
6 and reveal to you the secrets of wisdom—
for true wisdom has two sides—
so that you would know
that God has forgiven some of your sins.
7 “Can you discover the essence of God?
Can you find out the perfection of the Almighty?
8 It is higher than the heavens—what can you do?
It is deeper than Sheol—what can you know?
9 Its measure is longer than the earth
and broader than the sea.
10 If he comes by and confines you
and convenes a court,
then who can prevent him?
11 For he knows deceitful men;
when he sees evil, will he not consider it?
12 But an empty man will become wise,
when a wild donkey’s colt is born a human being.
13 “As for you, if you prove faithful,
and if you stretch out your hands toward him,
14 if iniquity is in your hand—put it far away,
and do not let evil reside in your tents.
15 For then you will lift up your face
without blemish;
you will be securely established
and will not fear.
16 For you will forget your trouble;
you will remember it
like water that has flowed away.
17 And life will be brighter than the noonday;
though there be darkness,
it will be like the morning.
18 And you will be secure because there is hope;
you will be protected
and will take your rest in safety.
19 You will lie down with no one to make you afraid,
and many will seek your favor.
20 But the eyes of the wicked fail,
and escape eludes them;
their one hope is to breathe their last.”

REFLECTIONS

Today, I have an uncomfortable thought and a strange thought.

The uncomfortable thought first. What strikes me about Zophar is how easily and confidently he speaks for God. In verses 5-6 he basically says, “If God spoke now, this is what he would say: Job, you’re so sinful that you deserve to suffer even more than you have.” (That’s what he means by, “God has forgiven some of your sins” – in other words, this was only the punishment for some of your sins!)

Zophar is putting words of condemnation and judgment into God’s mouth. I think that’s what Jesus warns us against in Matthew 7:1, where he says, “Do not judge, or you too will be judged.” He isn’t talking about being wise and discerning. He’s talking about thinking we can condemn a fellow human being to hell.

I find that uncomfortable because my responsibility is to announce God’s Word. But I need to remember (and you probably do too) the difference between telling people what the Bible warns us of – that if you reject Jesus, you cannot be saved – and saying, “You’re going to hell.” We should tremble at the thought of becoming a Zophar.

Here’s the strange thought. In verses 7-9, Zophar described God’s perfection as higher than the heavens, deeper than Sheol, longer than the earth, and broader than the sea. That made me wonder: Did Paul pick up those words and reshape them into his description of the love of Christ in Ephesians 3:18? I think so. Zophar is speaking the words of a fool; and yet his words ended up in Holy Scripture. And God can make the ugly beautiful, and the foulest clean – even with surprising things. Even with me.

Job 10

Job 10 - Daily Devotion - 23 October 2024

St Barnabas Anglican Church Fairfield & Bossley Park

Yesterday, we heard Job’s frustration that he has no way of defending his integrity before God. He thinks God has condemned him as a sinner. We know that’s not true, but Job is plunging into despair again – he can’t see any way back to being right with God. Today we’ll hear the second half of his reply to Bildad.

1 “I am weary of my life;
I will complain freely without restraint;
I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.
2 I will say to God, ‘Do not condemn me;
tell me why you are contending with me.’
3 Is it good for you to oppress,
to despise the work of your hands,
while you smile
on the schemes of the wicked?

4 “Do you have eyes of flesh,
or do you see as a human being sees?
5 Are your days like the days of a mortal,
or your years like the years of a mortal,
6 that you must search out my iniquity
and inquire about my sin,
7 although you know that I am not guilty,
and that there is no one who can deliver
out of your hand?

8 “Your hands have shaped me and made me,
but now you destroy me completely.
9 Remember that you have made me as with the clay;
will you return me to dust?
10 Did you not pour me out like milk
and curdle me like cheese?
11 You clothed me with skin and flesh
and knit me together with bones and sinews.
12 You gave me life and favor,
and your intervention watched over my spirit.
13 “But these things you have concealed in your heart;
I know that this is with you:
14 If I sinned, then you would watch me,
and you would not acquit me of my iniquity.
15 If I am guilty, woe to me,
and if I am innocent, I cannot lift my head;
I am full of shame
and satiated with my affliction.
16 If I lift myself up,
you hunt me as a fierce lion,
and again you display your power against me.
17 You bring new witnesses against me
and increase your anger against me;
relief troops come against me.

18 “Why then did you bring me out from the womb?
I should have died,
and no eye would have seen me!
19 I should have been as though I had never existed;
I should have been carried
right from the womb to the grave!
20 Are not my days few?
Cease, then, and leave me alone
that I may find a little comfort,
21 before I depart, never to return,
to the land of darkness
and the deepest shadow,
22 to the land of utter darkness,
like the deepest darkness,
and the deepest shadow and disorder,
where even the light is like darkness.”

REFLECTIONS

I find verses 8-12 especially heartbreaking. Job reminds God of how carefully and tenderly he formed Job when he made him in the womb and caused him to grow and develop. Now Job feels betrayed, because it seems to him like that was all a pretense – that God was secretly planning to torment him all along, like someone making a beautiful figurine, only to throw it on the floor and watch it shatter. That’s what he means when he says, “But these things you have concealed in your heart” (v. 13).

The thing that makes it doubly heartbreaking is that God was concealing things in his heart. But it was a heart of love. He was waiting until just the right time to reveal his unguessable plan: to send his Son to take the sin and suffering of the whole world on his shoulders, so that all our guilt and shame could be wiped away and so that we can stand innocent and right with God when Jesus returns. Spend time thanking God that, because of Jesus, we can be sure of his heart of love towards us.

Job 9

Job 9 - Daily Devotion - 22 October 2024

St Barnabas Anglican Church Fairfield & Bossley Park

Today we will read the first half of Job’s reply to Bildad.

1 Then Job answered:
2 “Truly, I know that this is so.
But how can a human be just before God?
3 If someone wishes to contend with him,
he cannot answer him one time in a thousand.
4 He is wise in heart and mighty in strength—
who has resisted him and remained safe?
5 He who removes mountains suddenly,
who overturns them in his anger,
6 he who shakes the earth out of its place
so that its pillars tremble,
7 he who commands the sun, and it does not shine
and seals up the stars,
8 he alone spreads out the heavens
and treads on the waves of the sea.
9 He makes the Bear, Orion, and the Pleiades,
and the constellations of the southern sky;
10 he does great and unsearchable things,
and wonderful things without number.
11 If he passes by me, I cannot see him;
if he goes by, I cannot perceive him.
12 If he snatches away, who can turn him back?
Who dares to say to him, ‘What are you doing?’
13 God does not restrain his anger;
under him the helpers of Rahab lie crushed.

14 “How much less, then, can I answer him
and choose my words to argue with him.
15 Although I am innocent,
I could not answer him;
I could only plead with my judge for mercy.
16 If I summoned him and he answered me,
I would not believe
that he would be listening to my voice—
17 he who crushes me with a tempest
and multiplies my wounds for no reason.
18 He does not allow me to recover my breath,
for he fills me with bitterness.
19 If it is a matter of strength,
most certainly he is the strong one!
And if it is a matter of justice,
he will say, ‘Who will summon me?’
20 Although I am innocent,
my mouth would condemn me;
although I am blameless,
it would declare me perverse.
21 I am blameless. I do not know myself.
I despise my life.

22 “It is all one! That is why I say,
‘He destroys the blameless and the guilty.’
23 If a scourge brings sudden death,
he mocks at the despair of the innocent.
24 If a land has been given
into the hand of a wicked man,
he covers the faces of its judges;
if it is not he, then who is it?

25 “My days are swifter than a runner,
they speed by without seeing happiness.
26 They glide by like reed boats,
like an eagle that swoops down on its prey.
27 If I say, ‘I will forget my complaint,
I will change my expression and be cheerful,’
28 I dread all my sufferings,
for I know that you do not hold me blameless.
29 If I am guilty,
why then weary myself in vain?
30 If I wash myself with snow-melt water
and make my hands clean with lye,
31 then you plunge me into a slimy pit
and my own clothes abhor me.
32 For he is not a human being like I am,
that I might answer him,
that we might come together in judgment.
33 Nor is there an arbiter between us,
who might lay his hand on us both,
34 who would take his rod away from me
so that his terror would not make me afraid.
35 Then would I speak and not fear him,
but it is not so with me.

REFLECTIONS

We know that Job is not suffering because God is punishing him for some sin, but Job thinks that is what is happening – which is why he longs for a chance to defend himself before God. But he is wise enough to know that, even if he could get that chance, God is so overwhelming and glorious that Job would simply turn into a blubbering mess.

We preached on this passage on Sunday, so if you missed it, you might want to watch it on YouTube. But here’s something else I noticed as I read it now: As Job is explaining God’s terrifying power, he says: “He does great and unsearchable things” (v10). Much later, that will turn out to be the key to Job finding peace. Knowing God’s character – that he is good and just – means that, even though we can’t understand his ways, we know that he will make everything right in the end.

Job 8

Job 8 - Daily Devotion - 21 October 2024

St Barnabas Anglican Church Fairfield & Bossley Park

We’re continuing our readings through the book of Job. We have heard Eliphaz’s first speech and Job’s reply. Now Bildad, the second of Job’s three friends, speaks to him.

1 Then Bildad the Shuhite spoke up and said:
2 “How long will you speak these things,
seeing that the words of your mouth
are like a great wind?
3 Does God pervert justice?
Or does the Almighty pervert what is right?
4 If your children sinned against him,
he gave them over to the penalty of their sin.
5 But if you will look to God
and make your supplication to the Almighty,
6 if you become pure and upright,
even now he will rouse himself for you
and will restore your righteous home.
7 Your beginning will seem so small,
since your future will flourish.
8 “For inquire now of the former generation,
and pay attention to the findings
of their ancestors;
9 For we were born yesterday and do not have knowledge,
since our days on earth are but a shadow.
10 Will they not instruct you and speak to you,
and bring forth words
from their understanding?
11 Can the papyrus plant grow tall where there is no marsh?
Can reeds flourish without water?
12 While they are still beginning to flower
and not ripe for cutting,
they can wither away
faster than any grass.
13 Such is the destiny of all who forget God;
the hope of the godless perishes,
14 whose trust is in something futile,
whose security is a spider’s web.
15 He leans against his house, but it does not hold up;
he takes hold of it, but it does not stand.
16 He is a well-watered plant in the sun;
its shoots spread over its garden.
17 It wraps its roots around a heap of stones,
and it looks for a place among stones.

18 If he is uprooted from his place,
then that place will disown him, saying,
‘I have never seen you!’
19 Indeed, this is the joy of his way,
and out of the earth others spring up.
20 “Surely, God does not reject a blameless man,
nor does he grasp the hand
of the evildoers.
21 He will yet fill your mouth with laughter
and your lips with gladness.
22 Those who hate you will be clothed with shame,
and the tent of the wicked will be no more.”

REFLECTIONS

What strikes me about Bildad’s speech is that most of the things he says are 100% true. For example, in verse 3: “Does God pervert justice?” Of course not! Or verse 13: “Such is the destiny of all who forget God; the hope of the godless perishes.” Preach it, brother! Or verse 20: “Surely, God does not reject a blameless man.” A truer word was never spoken!

But Bildad’s arrogance is that he thinks he can apply those truths to everyone else’s life here and now, as if God’s activity in the world is like a simple and obvious formula. In fact, those truths are long-term realities. In our short-term experience of this life, we are in a fallen world that is “subjected to frustration” and we “groan inwardly” as we wait for Jesus to return and make everything new and truly right (Romans 8:18-25).

Until then, if we treat God’s ways like Bildad’s formula, we are in danger of crushing God’s precious, suffering children for whom Christ died. Pray that God would give us hearts of humble grace and compassion.

Job 7

Job 7 - Daily Devotion - 19 October 2024

St Barnabas Anglican Church Fairfield & Bossley Park

Today we are reading the second half of Job’s response to Eliphaz’s first speech. In the first half, Job criticized his friends for abandoning him in his hour of need, and challenged them to explain to him what he had done wrong. In the second half, he starts to talk less to his friends, and more to God himself.

1 “Does not humanity have hard service on earth?
Are not their days also like the days of a hired man?
2 Like a servant longing for the evening shadow,
and like a hired man looking for his wages,
3 thus I have been made to inherit
months of futility,
and nights of sorrow
have been appointed to me.
4 If I lie down, I say, ‘When will I arise?’
And the night stretches on,
and I toss and turn restlessly
until the day dawns.
5 My body is clothed with worms and dirty scabs;
my skin is broken and festering.
6 My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle,
and they come to an end without hope.
7 Remember that my life is but a breath,
that my eyes will never again see happiness.
8 The eye of him who sees me now will see me no more;
your eyes will look for me, but I will be gone.
9 As a cloud is dispersed and then disappears,
so the one who goes down to the grave
does not come up again.
10 He returns no more to his house,
nor does his place of residence know him anymore.

11 “Therefore, I will not refrain my mouth;
I will speak in the anguish of my spirit;
I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.
12 Am I the sea, or the creature of the deep,
that you must put me under guard?
13 If I say, ‘My bed will comfort me,
my couch will ease my complaint,’
14 then you scare me with dreams
and terrify me with visions,
15 so that I would prefer strangling
and death more than life.
16 I loathe it; I do not want to live forever;
leave me alone, for my days are a vapor!

17 “What is mankind that you make so much of them,
and that you pay attention to them?
18 And that you visit them every morning,
and try them every moment?
19 Will you never look away from me,
will you not let me alone
long enough to swallow my spittle?
20 If I have sinned—what have I done to you,
O watcher of men?
Why have you set me as your target?
Have I become a burden to you?
21 And why do you not pardon my transgression
and take away my iniquity?
For now I will lie down in the dust,
and you will seek me diligently,
but I will be gone.”

REFLECTIONS

Suffering can do horrible things to our perception of reality. When Job says to God in verse 17, “What is mankind that you make so much of them, and that you pay attention to them?”, he is echoing Psalm 8:4 – except that in the Psalm, David is full of joyful wonder. David was saying, “We are such tiny creatures – and yet God chose to set his love and affection on us above all else.” Job’s circumstances seem to scream out that God’s attention hasn’t shifted, but his goodwill and love have evaporated.

It's going to be many chapters until Job discovers that God’s love for him never wavered for a moment. It would be many centuries until God’s love would be displayed so publicly, powerfully and permanently on a Roman cross that those who trust in Jesus never need doubt it again.