Bible Readings for August 26, 2012

Today our passages are Job 20:1–22:30; 2 Corinthians 1:1-11; Psalm 40:11-17; and Proverbs 22:2-4. The readings are from The Message by Eugene H. Peterson.

Job 20-22:30 (The Message)

Job 20

Zophar Attacks Job—The Second Round

Savoring Evil as a Delicacy

 ^1-3 Zophar from Naamath again took his turn: "I can't believe what I'm hearing!
   You've put my teeth on edge, my stomach in a knot.
How dare you insult my intelligence like this!
   Well, here's a piece of my mind!

 ^4-11 "Don't you even know the basics,
   how things have been since the earliest days,
   when Adam and Eve were first placed on earth?
The good times of the wicked are short-lived;
   godless joy is only momentary.
The evil might become world famous,
   strutting at the head of the celebrity parade,
But still end up in a pile of dung.
   Acquaintances look at them with disgust and say, 'What's that?'
They fly off like a dream that can't be remembered,
   like a shadowy illusion that vanishes in the light.
Though once notorious public figures, now they're nobodies,
   unnoticed, whether they come or go.
Their children will go begging on skid row,
   and they'll have to give back their ill-gotten gain.
Right in the prime of life,
   and youthful and vigorous, they'll die.

 ^12-19 "They savor evil as a delicacy,
   roll it around on their tongues,
Prolong the flavor, a dalliance in decadence—
   real gourmets of evil!
But then they get stomach cramps,
   a bad case of food poisoning.
They gag on all that rich food;
   God makes them vomit it up.
They gorge on evil, make a diet of that poison—
   a deadly diet—and it kills them.
No quiet picnics for them beside gentle streams
   with fresh-baked bread and cheese, and tall, cool drinks.
They spit out their food half-chewed,
   unable to relax and enjoy anything they've worked for.
And why? Because they exploited the poor,
   took what never belonged to them.

 ^20-29 "Such God-denying people are never content with what they have
      or who they are;
   their greed drives them relentlessly.
They plunder everything
   but they can't hold on to any of it.
Just when they think they have it all, disaster strikes;
   they're served up a plate full of misery.
When they've filled their bellies with that,
   God gives them a taste of his anger,
   and they get to chew on that for a while.
As they run for their lives from one disaster,
   they run smack into another.
They're knocked around from pillar to post,
   beaten to within an inch of their lives.
They're trapped in a house of horrors,
   and see their loot disappear down a black hole.
Their lives are a total loss—
   not a penny to their name, not so much as a bean.
God will strip them of their sin-soaked clothes
   and hang their dirty laundry out for all to see.
Life is a complete wipeout for them,
   nothing surviving God's wrath.
There! That's God's blueprint for the wicked—
   what they have to look forward to."

Job 21

Job's Response

Why Do the Wicked Have It So Good?

 ^1-3Job replied: "Now listen to me carefully, please listen,
   at least do me the favor of listening.
Put up with me while I have my say—
   then you can mock me later to your heart's content.

 ^4-16 "It's not you I'm complaining to—it's God.
   Is it any wonder I'm getting fed up with his silence?
Take a good look at me. Aren't you appalled by what's happened?
   No! Don't say anything. I can do without your comments.
When I look back, I go into shock,
   my body is racked with spasms.
Why do the wicked have it so good,
   live to a ripe old age and get rich?
They get to see their children succeed,
   get to watch and enjoy their grandchildren.
Their homes are peaceful and free from fear;
   they never experience God's disciplining rod.
Their bulls breed with great vigor
   and their cows calve without fail.
They send their children out to play
   and watch them frolic like spring lambs.
They make music with fiddles and flutes,
   have good times singing and dancing.
They have a long life on easy street,
   and die painlessly in their sleep.
They say to God, 'Get lost!
   We've no interest in you or your ways.
Why should we have dealings with God Almighty?
   What's there in it for us?'
But they're wrong, dead wrong—they're not gods.
   It's beyond me how they can carry on like this!

 ^17-21 "Still, how often does it happen that the wicked fail,
   or disaster strikes,
   or they get their just deserts?
How often are they blown away by bad luck?
   Not very often.
You might say, 'God is saving up the punishment for their children.'
   I say, 'Give it to them right now so they'll know what
      they've done!'
They deserve to experience the effects of their evil,
   feel the full force of God's wrath firsthand.
What do they care what happens to their families
   after they're safely tucked away in the grave?

Fancy Funerals with All the Trimmings

 ^22-26 "But who are we to tell God how to run his affairs?
   He's dealing with matters that are way over our heads.
Some people die in the prime of life,
   with everything going for them—
   fat and sassy.
Others die bitter and bereft,
   never getting a taste of happiness.
They're laid out side by side in the cemetery,
   where the worms can't tell one from the other.

 ^27-33 "I'm not deceived. I know what you're up to,
   the plans you're cooking up to bring me down.
Naively you claim that the castles of tyrants fall to pieces,
   that the achievements of the wicked collapse.
Have you ever asked world travelers how they see it?
   Have you not listened to their stories
Of evil men and women who got off scot-free,
   who never had to pay for their wickedness?
Did anyone ever confront them with their crimes?
   Did they ever have to face the music?
Not likely—they're given fancy funerals
   with all the trimmings,
Gently lowered into expensive graves,
   with everyone telling lies about how wonderful they were.

 ³⁴ "So how do you expect me to get any comfort from your nonsense?
   Your so-called comfort is a tissue of lies."

Job 22

Eliphaz Attacks Job—The Third Round

Come to Terms with God

 ^1-11 Once again Eliphaz the Temanite took up his theme: <    >"Are any of us strong enough to give God a hand,
   or smart enough to give him advice?
So what if you were righteous—would God Almighty even notice?
   Even if you gave a perfect performance, do you think
      he'd applaud?
Do you think it's because he cares about your purity
   that he's disciplining you, putting you on the spot?
Hardly! It's because you're a first-class moral failure,
   because there's no end to your sins.
When people came to you for help,
   you took the shirts off their backs, exploited their helplessness.
You wouldn't so much as give a drink to the thirsty,
   or food, not even a scrap, to the hungry.
And there you sat, strong and honored by everyone,
   surrounded by immense wealth!
You turned poor widows away from your door;
   heartless, you crushed orphans.
Now you're the one trapped in terror, paralyzed by fear.
   Suddenly the tables have turned!
How do you like living in the dark, sightless,
   up to your neck in flood waters?

 ^12-14 "You agree, don't you, that God is in charge?
   He runs the universe—just look at the stars!
Yet you dare raise questions: 'What does God know?
   From that distance and darkness, how can he judge?
He roams the heavens wrapped in clouds,
   so how can he see us?'

 ^15-18 "Are you going to persist in that tired old line
   that wicked men and women have always used?
Where did it get them? They died young,
   flash floods sweeping them off to their doom.
They told God, 'Get lost!
   What good is God Almighty to us?'
And yet it was God who gave them everything they had.
   It's beyond me how they can carry on like this!

 ^19-20 "Good people see bad people crash, and call for a celebration.
   Relieved, they crow,
'At last! Our enemies—wiped out.
   Everything they had and stood for is up in smoke!'

 ^21-25 "Give in to God, come to terms with him
   and everything will turn out just fine.
Let him tell you what to do;
   take his words to heart.
Come back to God Almighty
   and he'll rebuild your life.
Clean house of everything evil.
   Relax your grip on your money
   and abandon your gold-plated luxury.
God Almighty will be your treasure,
   more wealth than you can imagine.

 ^26-30 "You'll take delight in God, the Mighty One,
   and look to him joyfully, boldly.
You'll pray to him and he'll listen;
   he'll help you do what you've promised.
You'll decide what you want and it will happen;
   your life will be bathed in light.
To those who feel low you'll say, 'Chin up! Be brave!'
   and God will save them.
Yes, even the guilty will escape,
   escape through God's grace in your life."

2 Corinthians 1:1-11 (The Message)

2 Corinthians 1

 ^1-2I, Paul, have been sent on a special mission by the Messiah, Jesus, planned by God himself. I write this to God's congregation in Corinth, and to believers all over Achaia province. May all the gifts and benefits that come from God our Father and the Master, Jesus Christ, be yours! Timothy, someone you know and trust, joins me in this greeting.

The Rescue

 ^3-5All praise to the God and Father of our Master, Jesus the Messiah! Father of all mercy! God of all healing counsel! He comes alongside us when we go through hard times, and before you know it, he brings us alongside someone else who is going through hard times so that we can be there for that person just as God was there for us. We have plenty of hard times that come from following the Messiah, but no more so than the good times of his healing comfort—we get a full measure of that, too.  ^6-7When we suffer for Jesus, it works out for your healing and salvation. If we are treated well, given a helping hand and encouraging word, that also works to your benefit, spurring you on, face forward, unflinching. Your hard times are also our hard times. When we see that you're just as willing to endure the hard times as to enjoy the good times, we know you're going to make it, no doubt about it.
 ^8-11We don't want you in the dark, friends, about how hard it was when all this came down on us in Asia province. It was so bad we didn't think we were going to make it. We felt like we'd been sent to death row, that it was all over for us. As it turned out, it was the best thing that could have happened. Instead of trusting in our own strength or wits to get out of it, we were forced to trust God totally—not a bad idea since he's the God who raises the dead! And he did it, rescued us from certain doom. And he'll do it again, rescuing us as many times as we need rescuing. You and your prayers are part of the rescue operation—I don't want you in the dark about that either. I can see your faces even now, lifted in praise for God's deliverance of us, a rescue in which your prayers played such a crucial part.

Psalm 40:11-17 (The Message)

 ^11-12 Now God, don't hold out on me,
      don't hold back your passion.
   Your love and truth
      are all that keeps me together.
   When troubles ganged up on me,
      a mob of sins past counting,
   I was so swamped by guilt
      I couldn't see my way clear.
   More guilt in my heart than hair on my head,
      so heavy the guilt that my heart gave out.

 ^13-15 Soften up, God, and intervene;
      hurry and get me some help,
   So those who are trying to kidnap my soul
      will be embarrassed and lose face,
   So anyone who gets a kick out of making me miserable
      will be heckled and disgraced,
   So those who pray for my ruin
      will be booed and jeered without mercy.

 ^16-17 But all who are hunting for you—
      oh, let them sing and be happy.
   Let those who know what you're all about
      tell the world you're great and not quitting.
   And me? I'm a mess. I'm nothing and have nothing:
      make something of me.
   You can do it; you've got what it takes—
      but God, don't put it off.

Proverbs 22:2-4 (The Message)

 ² The rich and the poor shake hands as equals—
   God made them both!

 ³ A prudent person sees trouble coming and ducks;
   a simpleton walks in blindly and is clobbered.

 ⁴ The payoff for meekness and Fear-of-God
   is plenty and honor and a satisfying life.



Verse of the Day

“A body is made up of many parts, and each of them has its own use. That's how it is with us. There are many of us, but we each are part of the body of Christ, as well as part of one another.” - Romans 12:4-5

Today's passage is from the Contemporary English Version.

Thought for the Day

Scottish novelist, historian and Unionist politician who served as Governor General of Canada, John Buchan wrote, “The true definition of a snob is one who craves for what separates men rather than for what unites them.”