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.”

Bible Readings for August 25, 2012

Today our passages are Job 16:1–19:29; 1 Corinthians 16:1-24; Psalm 40:1-10; and Proverbs 22:1. The readings are from The Message by Eugene H. Peterson.

 

Job 16-19:29 (The Message)

Job 16

Job Defends Himself

If You Were in My Shoes

^1-5 Then Job defended himself:

"I've had all I can take of your talk.
What a bunch of miserable comforters!
Is there no end to your windbag speeches?
What's your problem that you go on and on like this?
If you were in my shoes,
I could talk just like you.
I could put together a terrific harangue
and really let you have it.
But I'd never do that. I'd console and comfort,
make things better, not worse!

^6-14 "When I speak up, I feel no better;
if I say nothing, that doesn't help either.
I feel worn down.
God, you have wasted me totally—me and my family!
You've shriveled me like a dried prune,
showing the world that you're against me.
My gaunt face stares back at me from the mirror,
a mute witness to your treatment of me.
Your anger tears at me,
your teeth rip me to shreds,
your eyes burn holes in me—God, my enemy!
People take one look at me and gasp.
Contemptuous, they slap me around
and gang up against me.
And God just stands there and lets them do it,
lets wicked people do what they want with me.
I was contentedly minding my business when God beat me up.
He grabbed me by the neck and threw me around.
He set me up as his target,
then rounded up archers to shoot at me.
Merciless, they shot me full of arrows;
bitter bile poured from my gut to the ground.
He burst in on me, onslaught after onslaught,
charging me like a mad bull.

^15-17 "I sewed myself a shroud and wore it like a shirt;
I lay facedown in the dirt.
Now my face is blotched red from weeping;
look at the dark shadows under my eyes,
Even though I've never hurt a soul
and my prayers are sincere!

The One Who Represents Mortals Before God

^18-22 "O Earth, don't cover up the wrong done to me!
Don't muffle my cry!
There must be Someone in heaven who knows the truth about me,
in highest heaven, some Attorney who can clear my name—
My Champion, my Friend,
while I'm weeping my eyes out before God.
I appeal to the One who represents mortals before God
as a neighbor stands up for a neighbor. "Only a few years are left
before I set out on the road of no return."

Job 17

^1-2 "My spirit is broken, my days used up, my grave dug and waiting.
See how these mockers close in on me?
How long do I have to put up with their insolence?

^3-5 "O God, pledge your support for me.
Give it to me in writing, with your signature.
You're the only one who can do it!
These people are so useless!
You know firsthand how stupid they can be.
You wouldn't let them have the last word, would you?
Those who betray their own friends
leave a legacy of abuse to their children.

^6-8 "God, you've made me the talk of the town—
people spit in my face;
I can hardly see from crying so much;
I'm nothing but skin and bones.
Decent people can't believe what they're seeing;
the good-hearted wake up and insist I've given up on God.

⁹ "But principled people hold tight, keep a firm grip on life,
sure that their clean, pure hands will get stronger and stronger!

^10-16 "Maybe you'd all like to start over,
to try it again, the bunch of you.
So far I haven't come across one scrap
of wisdom in anything you've said.
My life's about over. All my plans are smashed,
all my hopes are snuffed out—
My hope that night would turn into day,
my hope that dawn was about to break.
If all I have to look forward to is a home in the graveyard,
if my only hope for comfort is a well-built coffin,
If a family reunion means going six feet under,
and the only family that shows up is worms,
Do you call that hope?
Who on earth could find any hope in that?
No. If hope and I are to be buried together,
I suppose you'll all come to the double funeral!"

Job 18

Bildad's Second Attack

Plunged from Light into Darkness

^1-4 Bildad from Shuhah chimed in: "How monotonous these word games are getting!
Get serious! We need to get down to business.
Why do you treat your friends like slow-witted animals?
You look down on us as if we don't know anything.
Why are you working yourself up like this?
Do you want the world redesigned to suit you?
Should reality be suspended to accommodate you?

^5-21 "Here's the rule: The light of the wicked is put out.
Their flame dies down and is extinguished.
Their house goes dark—
every lamp in the place goes out.
Their strong strides weaken, falter;
they stumble into their own traps.
They get all tangled up
in their own red tape,
Their feet are grabbed and caught,
their necks in a noose.
They trip on ropes they've hidden,
and fall into pits they've dug themselves.
Terrors come at them from all sides.
They run helter-skelter.
The hungry grave is ready
to gobble them up for supper,
To lay them out for a gourmet meal,
a treat for ravenous Death.
They are snatched from their home sweet home
and marched straight to the death house.
Their lives go up in smoke;
acid rain soaks their ruins.
Their roots rot
and their branches wither.
They'll never again be remembered—
nameless in unmarked graves.
They are plunged from light into darkness,
banished from the world.
And they leave empty-handed—not one single child—
nothing to show for their life on this earth.
Westerners are aghast at their fate,
easterners are horrified:
'Oh no! So this is what happens to perverse people.
This is how the God-ignorant end up!'"

Job 19

Job Answers Bildad

I Call for Help and No One Bothers

^1-6 Job answered: "How long are you going to keep battering away at me,
pounding me with these harangues?
Time after time after time you jump all over me.
Do you have no conscience, abusing me like this?
Even if I have, somehow or other, gotten off the track,
what business is that of yours?
Why do you insist on putting me down,
using my troubles as a stick to beat me?
Tell it to God—he's the one behind all this,
he's the one who dragged me into this mess.

^7-12 "Look at me—I shout 'Murder!' and I'm ignored;
I call for help and no one bothers to stop.
God threw a barricade across my path—I'm stymied;
he turned out all the lights—I'm stuck in the dark.
He destroyed my reputation,
robbed me of all self-respect.
He tore me apart piece by piece—I'm ruined!
Then he yanked out hope by the roots.
He's angry with me—oh, how he's angry!
He treats me like his worst enemy.
He has launched a major campaign against me,
using every weapon he can think of,
coming at me from all sides at once.

I Know That God Lives

^13-20 "God alienated my family from me;
everyone who knows me avoids me.
My relatives and friends have all left;
houseguests forget I ever existed.
The servant girls treat me like a bum off the street,
look at me like they've never seen me before.
I call my attendant and he ignores me,
ignores me even though I plead with him.
My wife can't stand to be around me anymore.
I'm repulsive to my family.
Even street urchins despise me;
when I come out, they taunt and jeer.
Everyone I've ever been close to abhors me;
my dearest loved ones reject me.
I'm nothing but a bag of bones;
my life hangs by a thread.

^21-22 "Oh, friends, dear friends, take pity on me.
God has come down hard on me!
Do you have to be hard on me, too?
Don't you ever tire of abusing me?

^23-27 "If only my words were written in a book—
better yet, chiseled in stone!
Still, I know that God lives—the One who gives me back my life—
and eventually he'll take his stand on earth.
And I'll see him—even though I get skinned alive!—
see God myself, with my very own eyes.
Oh, how I long for that day!

^28-29 "If you're thinking, 'How can we get through to him,
get him to see that his trouble is all his own fault?'
Forget it. Start worrying about yourselves.
Worry about your own sins and God's coming judgment,
for judgment is most certainly on the way."

1 Corinthians 16:1-24 (The Message)

1 Corinthians 16

Coming to See You

^1-4Regarding the relief offering for poor Christians that is being collected, you get the same instructions I gave the churches in Galatia. Every Sunday each of you make an offering and put it in safekeeping. Be as generous as you can. When I get there you'll have it ready, and I won't have to make a special appeal. Then after I arrive, I'll write letters authorizing whomever you delegate, and send them off to Jerusalem to deliver your gift. If you think it best that I go along, I'll be glad to travel with them. ^5-9I plan to visit you after passing through northern Greece. I won't be staying long there, but maybe I can stay awhile with you—maybe even spend the winter? Then you could give me a good send-off, wherever I may be headed next. I don't want to just drop by in between other "primary" destinations. I want a good, long, leisurely visit. If the Master agrees, we'll have it! For the present, I'm staying right here in Ephesus. A huge door of opportunity for good work has opened up here. (There is also mushrooming opposition.) ^10-11If Timothy shows up, take good care of him. Make him feel completely at home among you. He works so hard for the Master, just as I do. Don't let anyone disparage him. After a while, send him on to me with your blessing. Tell him I'm expecting him, and any friends he has with him. ¹²About our friend Apollos, I've done my best to get him to pay you a visit, but haven't talked him into it yet. He doesn't think this is the right time. But there will be a "right time." ^13-14Keep your eyes open, hold tight to your convictions, give it all you've got, be resolute, and love without stopping. ^15-16Would you do me a favor, friends, and give special recognition to the family of Stephanas? You know, they were among the first converts in Greece, and they've put themselves out, serving Christians ever since then. I want you to honor and look up to people like that: companions and workers who show us how to do it, giving us something to aspire to. ^17-18I want you to know how delighted I am to have Stephanas, Fortunatus, and Achaicus here with me. They partially make up for your absence! They've refreshed me by keeping me in touch with you. Be proud that you have people like this among you. ¹⁹The churches here in western Asia send greetings. Aquila, Priscilla, and the church that meets in their house say hello. ²⁰All the friends here say hello. Pass the greetings around with holy embraces! ²¹And I, Paul—in my own handwriting!—send you my regards. ²²If anyone won't love the Master, throw him out. Make room for the Master! ²³Our Master Jesus has his arms wide open for you. ²⁴And I love all of you in the Messiah, in Jesus.

Psalm 40:1-10 (The Message)

Psalm 40

A David Psalm

^1-3 I waited and waited and waited for God. At last he looked; finally he listened.
He lifted me out of the ditch,
pulled me from deep mud.
He stood me up on a solid rock
to make sure I wouldn't slip.
He taught me how to sing the latest God-song,
a praise-song to our God.
More and more people are seeing this:
they enter the mystery,
abandoning themselves to God.

^4-5 Blessed are you who give yourselves over to God,
turn your backs on the world's "sure thing,"
ignore what the world worships;
The world's a huge stockpile
of God-wonders and God-thoughts.
Nothing and no one
comes close to you!
I start talking about you, telling what I know,
and quickly run out of words.
Neither numbers nor words
account for you.

⁶ Doing something for you, bringing something to you—
that's not what you're after.
Being religious, acting pious—
that's not what you're asking for.
You've opened my ears
so I can listen.

^7-8 So I answered, "I'm coming.
I read in your letter what you wrote about me,
And I'm coming to the party
you're throwing for me."
That's when God's Word entered my life,
became part of my very being.

^9-10 I've preached you to the whole congregation,
I've kept back nothing, God—you know that.
I didn't keep the news of your ways
a secret, didn't keep it to myself.
I told it all, how dependable you are, how thorough.
I didn't hold back pieces of love and truth
For myself alone. I told it all,
let the congregation know the whole story.

Proverbs 22:1 (The Message)

Proverbs 22

The Cure Comes Through Discipline

¹ A sterling reputation is better than striking it rich; a gracious spirit is better than money in the bank.

Verse of the Day

“You give peace of mind to all who love your Law. Nothing can make them fall.” - Psalm 119:165

Today's passage is from the Contemporary English Version.

Thought for the Day

 

British Conservative politician and statesman Arthur Balfour wrote, "Enthusiasm moves the world."

Bible Readings for August 24, 2012

Today our passages are Job 12:1–15:35; 1 Corinthians 15:29-58; Psalm 39:1-13; and Proverbs 21:30-31. The readings are from The Message by Eugene H. Peterson.

Job 12-15:35 (The Message)

Job 12

Job Answers Zophar

Put Your Ear to the Earth

 ^1-3 Job answered:    "I'm sure you speak for all the experts,
   and when you die there'll be no one left to tell us how to live.
But don't forget that I also have a brain—
   I don't intend to play second fiddle to you.
   It doesn't take an expert to know these things.

 ^4-6 "I'm ridiculed by my friends:
   'So that's the man who had conversations with God!'
Ridiculed without mercy:
   'Look at the man who never did wrong!'
It's easy for the well-to-do to point their fingers in blame,
   for the well-fixed to pour scorn on the strugglers.
Crooks reside safely in high-security houses,
   insolent blasphemers live in luxury;
   they've bought and paid for a god who'll protect them.

 ^7-12 "But ask the animals what they think—let them teach you;
   let the birds tell you what's going on.
Put your ear to the earth—learn the basics.
   Listen—the fish in the ocean will tell you their stories.
Isn't it clear that they all know and agree
   that God is sovereign, that he holds all things in his hand—
Every living soul, yes,
   every breathing creature?
Isn't this all just common sense,
   as common as the sense of taste?
Do you think the elderly have a corner on wisdom,
   that you have to grow old before you understand life?

From God We Learn How to Live

 ^13-25 "True wisdom and real power belong to God;
   from him we learn how to live,
   and also what to live for.
If he tears something down, it's down for good;
   if he locks people up, they're locked up for good.
If he holds back the rain, there's a drought;
   if he lets it loose, there's a flood.
Strength and success belong to God;
   both deceived and deceiver must answer to him.
He strips experts of their vaunted credentials,
   exposes judges as witless fools.
He divests kings of their royal garments,
   then ties a rag around their waists.
He strips priests of their robes,
   and fires high officials from their jobs.
He forces trusted sages to keep silence,
   deprives elders of their good sense and wisdom.
He dumps contempt on famous people,
   disarms the strong and mighty.
He shines a spotlight into caves of darkness,
   hauls deepest darkness into the noonday sun.
He makes nations rise and then fall,
   builds up some and abandons others.
He robs world leaders of their reason,
   and sends them off into no-man's-land.
They grope in the dark without a clue,
   lurching and staggering like drunks."

Job 13

I'm Taking My Case to God

 ^1-5"Yes, I've seen all this with my own eyes, heard and understood it with my very own ears.
Everything you know, I know,
   so I'm not taking a backseat to any of you.
I'm taking my case straight to God Almighty;
   I've had it with you—I'm going directly to God.
You graffiti my life with lies.
   You're a bunch of pompous quacks!
I wish you'd shut your mouths—
   silence is your only claim to wisdom.

 ^6-12 "Listen now while I make my case,
   consider my side of things for a change.
Or are you going to keep on lying 'to do God a service'?
   to make up stories 'to get him off the hook'?
Why do you always take his side?
   Do you think he needs a lawyer to defend himself?
How would you fare if you were in the dock?
   Your lies might convince a jury—but would they
      convince God?
He'd reprimand you on the spot
   if he detected a bias in your witness.
Doesn't his splendor put you in awe?
   Aren't you afraid to speak cheap lies before him?
Your wise sayings are knickknack wisdom,
   good for nothing but gathering dust.

 ^13-19 "So hold your tongue while I have my say,
   then I'll take whatever I have coming to me.
Why do I go out on a limb like this
   and take my life in my hands?
Because even if he killed me, I'd keep on hoping.
   I'd defend my innocence to the very end.
Just wait, this is going to work out for the best—my salvation!
   If I were guilt-stricken do you think I'd be doing this—
   laying myself on the line before God?
You'd better pay attention to what I'm telling you,
   listen carefully with both ears.
Now that I've laid out my defense,
   I'm sure that I'll be acquitted.
Can anyone prove charges against me?
   I've said my piece. I rest my case.

Why Does God Stay Hidden and Silent?

 ^20-27 "Please, God, I have two requests;
   grant them so I'll know I count with you:
First, lay off the afflictions;
   the terror is too much for me.
Second, address me directly so I can answer you,
   or let me speak and then you answer me.
How many sins have been charged against me?
   Show me the list—how bad is it?
Why do you stay hidden and silent?
   Why treat me like I'm your enemy?
Why kick me around like an old tin can?
   Why beat a dead horse?
You compile a long list of mean things about me,
   even hold me accountable for the sins of my youth.
You hobble me so I can't move about.
   You watch every move I make,
   and brand me as a dangerous character.

 ²⁸ "Like something rotten, human life fast decomposes,
   like a moth-eaten shirt or a mildewed blouse."

Job 14

If We Die, Will We Live Again?

 ^1-17"We're all adrift in the same boat:
   too few days, too many troubles.
We spring up like wildflowers in the desert and then wilt,
   transient as the shadow of a cloud.
Do you occupy your time with such fragile wisps?
   Why even bother hauling me into court?
There's nothing much to us to start with;
   how do you expect us to amount to anything?
Mortals have a limited life span.
   You've already decided how long we'll live—
   you set the boundary and no one can cross it.
So why not give us a break? Ease up!
   Even ditchdiggers get occasional days off.
For a tree there is always hope.
   Chop it down and it still has a chance—
   its roots can put out fresh sprouts.
Even if its roots are old and gnarled,
   its stump long dormant,
At the first whiff of water it comes to life,
   buds and grows like a sapling.
But men and women? They die and stay dead.
   They breathe their last, and that's it.
Like lakes and rivers that have dried up,
   parched reminders of what once was,
So mortals lie down and never get up,
   never wake up again—never.
Why don't you just bury me alive,
   get me out of the way until your anger cools?
But don't leave me there!
   Set a date when you'll see me again.
If we humans die, will we live again? That's my question.
   All through these difficult days I keep hoping,
   waiting for the final change—for resurrection!
Homesick with longing for the creature you made,
   you'll call—and I'll answer!
You'll watch over every step I take,
   but you won't keep track of my missteps.
My sins will be stuffed in a sack
   and thrown into the sea—sunk in deep ocean.

 ^18-22 "Meanwhile, mountains wear down
   and boulders break up,
Stones wear smooth
   and soil erodes,
   as you relentlessly grind down our hope.
You're too much for us.
   As always, you get the last word.
We don't like it and our faces show it,
   but you send us off anyway.
If our children do well for themselves, we never know it;
   if they do badly, we're spared the hurt.
Body and soul, that's it for us—
   a lifetime of pain, a lifetime of sorrow."

Job 15

Eliphaz Attacks Again

You Trivialize Religion

 ^1-16 Eliphaz of Teman spoke a second time: "If you were truly wise, would you sound so much like a
   windbag, belching hot air?
Would you talk nonsense in the middle of a serious argument,
   babbling baloney?
Look at you! You trivialize religion,
   turn spiritual conversation into empty gossip.
It's your sin that taught you to talk this way.
   You chose an education in fraud.
Your own words have exposed your guilt.
   It's nothing I've said—you've incriminated yourself!
Do you think you're the first person to have to deal with
      these things?
   Have you been around as long as the hills?
Were you listening in when God planned all this?
   Do you think you're the only one who knows anything?
What do you know that we don't know?
   What insights do you have that we've missed?
Gray beards and white hair back us up—
   old folks who've been around a lot longer than you.
Are God's promises not enough for you,
   spoken so gently and tenderly?
Why do you let your emotions take over,
   lashing out and spitting fire,
Pitting your whole being against God
   by letting words like this come out of your mouth?
Do you think it's possible for any mere mortal to be sinless
      in God's sight,
   for anyone born of a human mother to get it all together?
Why, God can't even trust his holy angels.
   He sees the flaws in the very heavens themselves,
So how much less we humans, smelly and foul,
   who lap up evil like water?

Always at Odds with God

 ^17-26 "I've a thing or two to tell you, so listen up!
   I'm letting you in on my views;
It's what wise men and women have always taught,
   holding nothing back from what they were taught
By their parents, back in the days
   when they had this land all to themselves:
Those who live by their own rules, not God's, can expect
      nothing but trouble,
   and the longer they live, the worse it gets.
Every little sound terrifies them.
   Just when they think they have it made, disaster strikes.
They despair of things ever getting better—
   they're on the list of people for whom things always turn out
      for the worst.
They wander here and there,
   never knowing where the next meal is coming from—
   every day is doomsday!
They live in constant terror,
   always with their backs up against the wall
Because they insist on shaking their fists at God,
   defying God Almighty to his face,
Always and ever at odds with God,
   always on the defensive.

 ^27-35 "Even if they're the picture of health,
   trim and fit and youthful,
They'll end up living in a ghost town
   sleeping in a hovel not fit for a dog,
   a ramshackle shack.
They'll never get ahead,
   never amount to a hill of beans.
And then death—don't think they'll escape that!
   They'll end up shriveled weeds,
   brought down by a puff of God's breath.
There's a lesson here: Whoever invests in lies,
   gets lies for interest,
Paid in full before the due date.
   Some investment!
They'll be like fruit frost-killed before it ripens,
   like buds sheared off before they bloom.
The godless are fruitless—a barren crew;
   a life built on bribes goes up in smoke.
They have sex with sin and give birth to evil.
   Their lives are wombs for breeding deceit."

1 Corinthians 15:29-58 (The Message)

 ²⁹Why do you think people offer themselves to be baptized for those already in the grave? If there's no chance of resurrection for a corpse, if God's power stops at the cemetery gates, why do we keep doing things that suggest he's going to clean the place out someday, pulling everyone up on their feet alive?
 ^30-33And why do you think I keep risking my neck in this dangerous work? I look death in the face practically every day I live. Do you think I'd do this if I wasn't convinced of your resurrection and mine as guaranteed by the resurrected Messiah Jesus? Do you think I was just trying to act heroic when I fought the wild beasts at Ephesus, hoping it wouldn't be the end of me? Not on your life! It's resurrection, resurrection, always resurrection, that undergirds what I do and say, the way I live. If there's no resurrection, "We eat, we drink, the next day we die," and that's all there is to it. But don't fool yourselves. Don't let yourselves be poisoned by this anti-resurrection loose talk. "Bad company ruins good manners."
 ³⁴Think straight. Awaken to the holiness of life. No more playing fast and loose with resurrection facts. Ignorance of God is a luxury you can't afford in times like these. Aren't you embarrassed that you've let this kind of thing go on as long as you have?
 ^35-38Some skeptic is sure to ask, "Show me how resurrection works. Give me a diagram; draw me a picture. What does this 'resurrection body' look like?" If you look at this question closely, you realize how absurd it is. There are no diagrams for this kind of thing. We do have a parallel experience in gardening. You plant a "dead" seed; soon there is a flourishing plant. There is no visual likeness between seed and plant. You could never guess what a tomato would look like by looking at a tomato seed. What we plant in the soil and what grows out of it don't look anything alike. The dead body that we bury in the ground and the resurrection body that comes from it will be dramatically different.
 ^39-41You will notice that the variety of bodies is stunning. Just as there are different kinds of seeds, there are different kinds of bodies—humans, animals, birds, fish—each unprecedented in its form. You get a hint at the diversity of resurrection glory by looking at the diversity of bodies not only on earth but in the skies—sun, moon, stars—all these varieties of beauty and brightness. And we're only looking at pre-resurrection "seeds"—who can imagine what the resurrection "plants" will be like!
 ^42-44This image of planting a dead seed and raising a live plant is a mere sketch at best, but perhaps it will help in approaching the mystery of the resurrection body—but only if you keep in mind that when we're raised, we're raised for good, alive forever! The corpse that's planted is no beauty, but when it's raised, it's glorious. Put in the ground weak, it comes up powerful. The seed sown is natural; the seed grown is supernatural—same seed, same body, but what a difference from when it goes down in physical mortality to when it is raised up in spiritual immortality!
 ^45-49We follow this sequence in Scripture: The First Adam received life, the Last Adam is a life-giving Spirit. Physical life comes first, then spiritual—a firm base shaped from the earth, a final completion coming out of heaven. The First Man was made out of earth, and people since then are earthy; the Second Man was made out of heaven, and people now can be heavenly. In the same way that we've worked from our earthy origins, let's embrace our heavenly ends.
 ⁵⁰I need to emphasize, friends, that our natural, earthy lives don't in themselves lead us by their very nature into the kingdom of God. Their very "nature" is to die, so how could they "naturally" end up in the Life kingdom?
 ^51-57But let me tell you something wonderful, a mystery I'll probably never fully understand. We're not all going to die—but we are all going to be changed. You hear a blast to end all blasts from a trumpet, and in the time that you look up and blink your eyes—it's over. On signal from that trumpet from heaven, the dead will be up and out of their graves, beyond the reach of death, never to die again. At the same moment and in the same way, we'll all be changed. In the resurrection scheme of things, this has to happen: everything perishable taken off the shelves and replaced by the imperishable, this mortal replaced by the immortal. Then the saying will come true:

   Death swallowed by triumphant Life!
   Who got the last word, oh, Death?
   Oh, Death, who's afraid of you now?
It was sin that made death so frightening and law-code guilt that gave sin its leverage, its destructive power. But now in a single victorious stroke of Life, all three—sin, guilt, death—are gone, the gift of our Master, Jesus Christ. Thank God!
 ⁵⁸With all this going for us, my dear, dear friends, stand your ground. And don't hold back. Throw yourselves into the work of the Master, confident that nothing you do for him is a waste of time or effort.

Psalm 39:1-13 (The Message)

Psalm 39

A David Psalm

 ^1-3 I'm determined to watch steps and tongue so they won't land me in trouble.
   I decided to hold my tongue
      as long as Wicked is in the room.
   "Mum's the word," I said, and kept quiet.
      But the longer I kept silence
   The worse it got—
      my insides got hotter and hotter.
   My thoughts boiled over;
      I spilled my guts.

 ^4-6 "Tell me, what's going on, God?
      How long do I have to live?
      Give me the bad news!
   You've kept me on pretty short rations;
      my life is string too short to be saved.
   Oh! we're all puffs of air.
      Oh! we're all shadows in a campfire.
   Oh! we're just spit in the wind.
      We make our pile, and then we leave it.

 ^7-11 "What am I doing in the meantime, Lord?
      Hoping, that's what I'm doing—hoping
   You'll save me from a rebel life,
      save me from the contempt of dunces.
   I'll say no more, I'll shut my mouth,
      since you, Lord, are behind all this.
      But I can't take it much longer.
   When you put us through the fire
      to purge us from our sin,
      our dearest idols go up in smoke.
   Are we also nothing but smoke?

 ^12-13 "Ah, God, listen to my prayer, my
      cry—open your ears.
   Don't be callous;
      just look at these tears of mine.
   I'm a stranger here. I don't know my way—
      a migrant like my whole family.
   Give me a break, cut me some slack
      before it's too late and I'm out of here."

Proverbs 21:30-31 (The Message)

 ³⁰ Nothing clever, nothing conceived, nothing contrived,
   can get the better of God.

 ³¹ Do your best, prepare for the worst—
   then trust God to bring victory.



Verse of the Day

“[When the LORD Saves You from Death]I love you, LORD! You answered my prayers. You paid attention to me, and so I will pray to you as long as I live.” - Psalm 116:1-2

Today's passage is from the Contemporary English Version.

Thought for the Day

Ancient Greek epic poet Homer wrote, “Yet, taught by time, my heart has learned to glow for other’s good, and melt at other’s woe.”

Bible Readings for August 23, 2012

Today our passages are Job 8:1–11:20; 1 Corinthians 15:1-28; Psalm 38:1-22; and Proverbs 21:28-29. The readings are from The Message by Eugene H. Peterson.

 

Job 8-11:20 (The Message)

Job 8

Bildad's Response

Does God Mess Up?

 ^1-7 Bildad from Shuhah was next to speak:
"How can you keep on talking like this?
   You're talking nonsense, and noisy nonsense at that.
Does God mess up?
   Does God Almighty ever get things backward?
It's plain that your children sinned against him—
   otherwise, why would God have punished them?
Here's what you must do—and don't put it off any longer:
   Get down on your knees before God Almighty.
If you're as innocent and upright as you say,
   it's not too late—he'll come running;
   he'll set everything right again, reestablish your fortunes.
Even though you're not much right now,
   you'll end up better than ever.

To Hang Your Life from One Thin Thread

 ^8-19 "Put the question to our ancestors,
   study what they learned from their ancestors.
For we're newcomers at this, with a lot to learn,
   and not too long to learn it.
So why not let the ancients teach you, tell you what's what,
   instruct you in what they knew from experience?
Can mighty pine trees grow tall without soil?
   Can luscious tomatoes flourish without water?
Blossoming flowers look great before they're cut or picked,
   but without soil or water they wither more quickly than grass.
That's what happens to all who forget God—
   all their hopes come to nothing.
They hang their life from one thin thread,
   they hitch their fate to a spider web.
One jiggle and the thread breaks,
   one jab and the web collapses.
Or they're like weeds springing up in the sunshine,
   invading the garden,
Spreading everywhere, overtaking the flowers,
   getting a foothold even in the rocks.
But when the gardener rips them out by the roots,
   the garden doesn't miss them one bit.
The sooner the godless are gone, the better;
   then good plants can grow in their place.

 ^20-22 "There's no way that God will reject a good person,
   and there is no way he'll help a bad one.
God will let you laugh again;
   you'll raise the roof with shouts of joy,
With your enemies thoroughly discredited,
   their house of cards collapsed."

Job 9

Job Continues

How Can Mere Mortals Get Right with God?

 ^1-13 Job continued by saying:
"So what's new? I know all this.
   The question is, 'How can mere mortals get right with God?'
If we wanted to bring our case before him,
   what chance would we have? Not one in a thousand!
God's wisdom is so deep, God's power so immense,
   who could take him on and come out in one piece?
He moves mountains before they know what's happened,
   flips them on their heads on a whim.
He gives the earth a good shaking up,
   rocks it down to its very foundations.
He tells the sun, 'Don't shine,' and it doesn't;
   he pulls the blinds on the stars.
All by himself he stretches out the heavens
   and strides on the waves of the sea.
He designed the Big Dipper and Orion,
   the Pleiades and Alpha Centauri.
We'll never comprehend all the great things he does;
   his miracle-surprises can't be counted.
Somehow, though he moves right in front of me, I don't see him;
   quietly but surely he's active, and I miss it.
If he steals you blind, who can stop him?
   Who's going to say, 'Hey, what are you doing?'
God doesn't hold back on his anger;
   even dragon-bred monsters cringe before him.

 ^14-20 "So how could I ever argue with him,
   construct a defense that would influence God?
Even though I'm innocent I could never prove it;
   I can only throw myself on the Judge's mercy.
If I called on God and he himself answered me,
   then, and only then, would I believe that he'd heard me.
As it is, he knocks me about from pillar to post,
   beating me up, black-and-blue, for no good reason.
He won't even let me catch my breath,
   piles bitterness upon bitterness.
If it's a question of who's stronger, he wins, hands down!
   If it's a question of justice, who'll serve him the subpoena?
Even though innocent, anything I say incriminates me;
   blameless as I am, my defense just makes me sound worse.

If God's Not Responsible, Who Is?

 ^21-24 "Believe me, I'm blameless.
   I don't understand what's going on.
   I hate my life!
Since either way it ends up the same, I can only conclude
   that God destroys the good right along with the bad.
When calamity hits and brings sudden death,
   he folds his arms, aloof from the despair of the innocent.
He lets the wicked take over running the world,
   he installs judges who can't tell right from wrong.
   If he's not responsible, who is?

 ^25-31 "My time is short—what's left of my life races off
   too fast for me to even glimpse the good.
My life is going fast, like a ship under full sail,
   like an eagle plummeting to its prey.
Even if I say, 'I'll put all this behind me,
   I'll look on the bright side and force a smile,'
All these troubles would still be like grit in my gut
   since it's clear you're not going to let up.
The verdict has already been handed down—'Guilty!'—
   so what's the use of protests or appeals?
Even if I scrub myself all over
   and wash myself with the strongest soap I can find,
It wouldn't last—you'd push me into a pigpen, or worse,
   so nobody could stand me for the stink.

 ^32-35 "God and I are not equals; I can't bring a case against him.
   We'll never enter a courtroom as peers.
How I wish we had an arbitrator
   to step in and let me get on with life—
To break God's death grip on me,
   to free me from this terror so I could breathe again.
Then I'd speak up and state my case boldly.
   As things stand, there is no way I can do it."

Job 10

To Find Some Skeleton in My Closet

 ¹ "I can't stand my life—I hate it! I'm putting it all out on the table, all the bitterness of my life—I'm holding back nothing."

 ^2-7 Job prayed:    "Here's what I want to say:
Don't, God, bring in a verdict of guilty
   without letting me know the charges you're bringing.
How does this fit into what you once called 'good'—
   giving me a hard time, spurning me,
   a life you shaped by your very own hands,
   and then blessing the plots of the wicked?
You don't look at things the way we mortals do.
   You're not taken in by appearances, are you?
Unlike us, you're not working against a deadline.
   You have all eternity to work things out.
So what's this all about, anyway—this compulsion
   to dig up some dirt, to find some skeleton in my closet?
You know good and well I'm not guilty.
   You also know no one can help me.

 ^8-12 "You made me like a handcrafted piece of pottery—
   and now are you going to smash me to pieces?
Don't you remember how beautifully you worked my clay?
   Will you reduce me now to a mud pie?
Oh, that marvel of conception as you stirred together
   semen and ovum—
What a miracle of skin and bone,
   muscle and brain!
You gave me life itself, and incredible love.
   You watched and guarded every breath I took.

 ^13-17 "But you never told me about this part.
   I should have known that there was more to it—
That if I so much as missed a step, you'd notice and pounce,
   wouldn't let me get by with a thing.
If I'm truly guilty, I'm doomed.
   But if I'm innocent, it's no better—I'm still doomed.
My belly is full of bitterness.
   I'm up to my ears in a swamp of affliction.
I try to make the best of it, try to brave it out,
   but you're too much for me,
   relentless, like a lion on the prowl.
You line up fresh witnesses against me.
   You compound your anger
   and pile on the grief and pain!

 ^18-22 "So why did you have me born?
   I wish no one had ever laid eyes on me!
I wish I'd never lived—a stillborn,
   buried without ever having breathed.
Isn't it time to call it quits on my life?
   Can't you let up, and let me smile just once
Before I die and am buried,
   before I'm nailed into my coffin, sealed in the ground,
And banished for good to the land of the dead,
   blind in the final dark?"

Job 11

Zophar's Counsel

How Wisdom Looks from the Inside

 ^1-6Now it was the turn of Zophar from Naamath: "What a flood of words! Shouldn't we put a stop to it?
   Should this kind of loose talk be permitted?
Job, do you think you can carry on like this and we'll say nothing?
   That we'll let you rail and mock and not step in?
You claim, 'My doctrine is sound
   and my conduct impeccable.'
How I wish God would give you a piece of his mind,
   tell you what's what!
I wish he'd show you how wisdom looks from the inside,
   for true wisdom is mostly 'inside.'
But you can be sure of this,
   you haven't gotten half of what you deserve.

 ^7-12 "Do you think you can explain the mystery of God?
   Do you think you can diagram God Almighty?
God is far higher than you can imagine,
   far deeper than you can comprehend,
Stretching farther than earth's horizons,
   far wider than the endless ocean.
If he happens along, throws you in jail
   then hauls you into court, can you do anything about it?
He sees through vain pretensions,
   spots evil a long way off—
   no one pulls the wool over his eyes!
Hollow men, hollow women, will wise up
   about the same time mules learn to talk.

Reach Out to God

 ^13-20 "Still, if you set your heart on God
   and reach out to him,
If you scrub your hands of sin
   and refuse to entertain evil in your home,
You'll be able to face the world unashamed
   and keep a firm grip on life, guiltless and fearless.
You'll forget your troubles;
   they'll be like old, faded photographs.
Your world will be washed in sunshine,
   every shadow dispersed by dayspring.
Full of hope, you'll relax, confident again;
   you'll look around, sit back, and take it easy.
Expansive, without a care in the world,
   you'll be hunted out by many for your blessing.
But the wicked will see none of this.
   They're headed down a dead-end road
   with nothing to look forward to—nothing."

 

1 Corinthians 15:1-28 (The Message)

1 Corinthians 15

Resurrection

 ^1-2Friends, let me go over the Message with you one final time— this Message that I proclaimed and that you made your own; this Message on which you took your stand and by which your life has been saved. (I'm assuming, now, that your belief was the real thing and not a passing fancy, that you're in this for good and holding fast.)  ^3-9The first thing I did was place before you what was placed so emphatically before me: that the Messiah died for our sins, exactly as Scripture tells it; that he was buried; that he was raised from death on the third day, again exactly as Scripture says; that he presented himself alive to Peter, then to his closest followers, and later to more than five hundred of his followers all at the same time, most of them still around (although a few have since died); that he then spent time with James and the rest of those he commissioned to represent him; and that he finally presented himself alive to me. It was fitting that I bring up the rear. I don't deserve to be included in that inner circle, as you well know, having spent all those early years trying my best to stamp God's church right out of existence.
 ^10-11But because God was so gracious, so very generous, here I am. And I'm not about to let his grace go to waste. Haven't I worked hard trying to do more than any of the others? Even then, my work didn't amount to all that much. It was God giving me the work to do, God giving me the energy to do it. So whether you heard it from me or from those others, it's all the same: We spoke God's truth and you entrusted your lives.
 ^12-15Now, let me ask you something profound yet troubling. If you became believers because you trusted the proclamation that Christ is alive, risen from the dead, how can you let people say that there is no such thing as a resurrection? If there's no resurrection, there's no living Christ. And face it—if there's no resurrection for Christ, everything we've told you is smoke and mirrors, and everything you've staked your life on is smoke and mirrors. Not only that, but we would be guilty of telling a string of barefaced lies about God, all these affidavits we passed on to you verifying that God raised up Christ—sheer fabrications, if there's no resurrection.
 ^16-20If corpses can't be raised, then Christ wasn't, because he was indeed dead. And if Christ weren't raised, then all you're doing is wandering about in the dark, as lost as ever. It's even worse for those who died hoping in Christ and resurrection, because they're already in their graves. If all we get out of Christ is a little inspiration for a few short years, we're a pretty sorry lot. But the truth is that Christ has been raised up, the first in a long legacy of those who are going to leave the cemeteries.
 ^21-28There is a nice symmetry in this: Death initially came by a man, and resurrection from death came by a man. Everybody dies in Adam; everybody comes alive in Christ. But we have to wait our turn: Christ is first, then those with him at his Coming, the grand consummation when, after crushing the opposition, he hands over his kingdom to God the Father. He won't let up until the last enemy is down—and the very last enemy is death! As the psalmist said, "He laid them low, one and all; he walked all over them." When Scripture says that "he walked all over them," it's obvious that he couldn't at the same time be walked on. When everything and everyone is finally under God's rule, the Son will step down, taking his place with everyone else, showing that God's rule is absolutely comprehensive—a perfect ending!

Psalm 38:1-22 (The Message)

Psalm 38

A David Psalm

 ^1-2 Take a deep breath, God; calm down— don't be so hasty with your punishing rod.
   Your sharp-pointed arrows of rebuke draw blood;
      my backside smarts from your caning.

 ^3-4 I've lost twenty pounds in two months
      because of your accusation.
   My bones are brittle as dry sticks
      because of my sin.
   I'm swamped by my bad behavior,
      collapsed under gunnysacks of guilt.

 ^5-8 The cuts in my flesh stink and grow maggots
      because I've lived so badly.
   And now I'm flat on my face
      feeling sorry for myself morning to night.
   All my insides are on fire,
      my body is a wreck.
   I'm on my last legs; I've had it—
      my life is a vomit of groans.

 ^9-16 Lord, my longings are sitting in plain sight,
      my groans an old story to you.
   My heart's about to break;
      I'm a burned-out case.
   Cataracts blind me to God and good;
      old friends avoid me like the plague.
   My cousins never visit,
      my neighbors stab me in the back.
   My competitors blacken my name,
      devoutly they pray for my ruin.
   But I'm deaf and mute to it all,
      ears shut, mouth shut.
   I don't hear a word they say,
      don't speak a word in response.
   What I do, God, is wait for you,
      wait for my Lord, my God—you will answer!
   I wait and pray so they won't laugh me off,
      won't smugly strut off when I stumble.

 ^17-20 I'm on the edge of losing it—
      the pain in my gut keeps burning.
   I'm ready to tell my story of failure,
      I'm no longer smug in my sin.
   My enemies are alive and in action,
      a lynch mob after my neck.
   I give out good and get back evil
      from God-haters who can't stand a God-lover.

 ^21-22 Don't dump me, God;
      my God, don't stand me up.
   Hurry and help me;
      I want some wide-open space in my life!

 

Proverbs 21:28-29 (The Message)

 ²⁸ A lying witness is unconvincing;
   a person who speaks truth is respected.

 ²⁹ Unscrupulous people fake it a lot;
   honest people are sure of their steps.



Verse of the Day

“When I felt my feet slipping, you came with your love and kept me steady. And when I was burdened with worries, you comforted me and made me feel secure.” - Psalm 94:18-19

Today's passage is from the Contemporary English Version.

Thought for the Day

British economic historian Arnold Toynbee wrote, “It is a paradoxical but profoundly true and important principle of life that the most likely way to reach a goal is to be aiming not at that goal itself but at some more ambitious goal beyond it.” 

Bible Readings for August 22, 2012

Today our passages are Job 4:1–7:21; 1 Corinthians 14:18-40; Psalm 37:30-40; and Proverbs 21:27. The readings are from The Message by Eugene H. Peterson.

Job 4-7:21 (The Message)

Job 4

Eliphaz Speaks Out

Now You're the One in Trouble

 ^1-6Then Eliphaz from Teman spoke up:
"Would you mind if I said something to you? Under the circumstances it's hard to keep quiet.
You yourself have done this plenty of times, spoken words
   that clarify, encouraged those who were about to quit.
Your words have put stumbling people on their feet,
   put fresh hope in people about to collapse.
But now you're the one in trouble—you're hurting!
   You've been hit hard and you're reeling from the blow.
But shouldn't your devout life give you confidence now?
   Shouldn't your exemplary life give you hope?

 ^7-11 "Think! Has a truly innocent person ever ended up on the scrap heap?
   Do genuinely upright people ever lose out in the end?
It's my observation that those who plow evil
   and sow trouble reap evil and trouble.
One breath from God and they fall apart,
   one blast of his anger and there's nothing left of them.
The mighty lion, king of the beasts, roars mightily,
   but when he's toothless he's useless—
No teeth, no prey—and the cubs
   wander off to fend for themselves.

 ^12-16 "A word came to me in secret—
   a mere whisper of a word, but I heard it clearly.
It came in a scary dream one night,
   after I had fallen into a deep, deep sleep.
Dread stared me in the face, and Terror.
   I was scared to death—I shook from head to foot.
A spirit glided right in front of me—
   the hair on my head stood on end.
I couldn't tell what it was that appeared there—
   a blur...and then I heard a muffled voice:

 ^17-21 "'How can mere mortals be more righteous than God?
   How can humans be purer than their Creator?
Why, God doesn't even trust his own servants,
   doesn't even cheer his angels,
So how much less these bodies composed of mud,
   fragile as moths?
These bodies of ours are here today and gone tomorrow,
   and no one even notices—gone without a trace.
When the tent stakes are ripped up, the tent collapses—
   we die and are never the wiser for having lived.'"

Job 5

Don't Blame Fate When Things Go Wrong

 ^1-7 "Call for help, Job, if you think anyone will answer! To which of the holy angels will you turn?
The hot temper of a fool eventually kills him,
   the jealous anger of a simpleton does her in.
I've seen it myself—seen fools putting down roots,
   and then, suddenly, their houses are cursed.
Their children out in the cold, abused and exploited,
   with no one to stick up for them.
Hungry people off the street plunder their harvests,
   cleaning them out completely, taking thorns and all,
   insatiable for everything they have.
Don't blame fate when things go wrong—
   trouble doesn't come from nowhere.
It's human! Mortals are born and bred for trouble,
   as certainly as sparks fly upward.

What a Blessing When God Corrects You!

 ^8-16 "If I were in your shoes, I'd go straight to God,
   I'd throw myself on the mercy of God.
After all, he's famous for great and unexpected acts;
   there's no end to his surprises.
He gives rain, for instance, across the wide earth,
   sends water to irrigate the fields.
He raises up the down-and-out,
   gives firm footing to those sinking in grief.
He aborts the schemes of conniving crooks,
   so that none of their plots come to term.
He catches the know-it-alls in their conspiracies—
   all that intricate intrigue swept out with the trash!
Suddenly they're disoriented, plunged into darkness;
   they can't see to put one foot in front of the other.
But the downtrodden are saved by God,
   saved from the murderous plots, saved from the iron fist.
And so the poor continue to hope,
   while injustice is bound and gagged.

 ^17-19 "So, what a blessing when God steps in and corrects you!
   Mind you, don't despise the discipline of Almighty God!
True, he wounds, but he also dresses the wound;
   the same hand that hurts you, heals you.
From one disaster after another he delivers you;
   no matter what the calamity, the evil can't touch you—

 ^20-26 "In famine, he'll keep you from starving,
   in war, from being gutted by the sword.
You'll be protected from vicious gossip
   and live fearless through any catastrophe.
You'll shrug off disaster and famine,
   and stroll fearlessly among wild animals.
You'll be on good terms with rocks and mountains;
   wild animals will become your good friends.
You'll know that your place on earth is safe,
   you'll look over your goods and find nothing amiss.
You'll see your children grow up,
   your family lovely and lissome as orchard grass.
You'll arrive at your grave ripe with many good years,
   like sheaves of golden grain at harvest.

 ²⁷ "Yes, this is the way things are—my word of honor!
   Take it to heart and you won't go wrong."

Job 6

Job Replies to Eliphaz

God Has Dumped the Works on Me

 ^1-7 Job answered:    "If my misery could be weighed,
   if you could pile the whole bitter load on the scales,
It would be heavier than all the sand of the sea!
   Is it any wonder that I'm screaming like a caged cat?
The arrows of God Almighty are in me,
   poison arrows—and I'm poisoned all through!
   God has dumped the whole works on me.
Donkeys bray and cows moo when they run out of pasture—
   so don't expect me to keep quiet in this.
Do you see what God has dished out for me?
   It's enough to turn anyone's stomach!
Everything in me is repulsed by it—
   it makes me sick.

Pressed Past the Limits

 ^8-13 "All I want is an answer to one prayer,
   a last request to be honored:
Let God step on me—squash me like a bug,
   and be done with me for good.
I'd at least have the satisfaction
   of not having blasphemed the Holy God,
   before being pressed past the limits.
Where's the strength to keep my hopes up?
   What future do I have to keep me going?
Do you think I have nerves of steel?
   Do you think I'm made of iron?
Do you think I can pull myself up by my bootstraps?
   Why, I don't even have any boots!

My So-Called Friends

 ^14-23 "When desperate people give up on God Almighty,
   their friends, at least, should stick with them.
But my brothers are fickle as a gulch in the desert—
   one day they're gushing with water
From melting ice and snow
   cascading out of the mountains,
But by midsummer they're dry,
   gullies baked dry in the sun.
Travelers who spot them and go out of their way for a drink
   end up in a waterless gulch and die of thirst.
Merchant caravans from Tema see them and expect water,
   tourists from Sheba hope for a cool drink.
They arrive so confident—but what a disappointment!
   They get there, and their faces fall!
And you, my so-called friends, are no better—
      there's nothing to you!
   One look at a hard scene and you shrink in fear.
It's not as though I asked you for anything—
   I didn't ask you for one red cent—
Nor did I beg you to go out on a limb for me.
   So why all this dodging and shuffling?
^24-27 "Confront me with the truth and I'll shut up,
   show me where I've gone off the track.
Honest words never hurt anyone,
   but what's the point of all this pious bluster?
You pretend to tell me what's wrong with my life,
   but treat my words of anguish as so much hot air.
Are people mere things to you?
   Are friends just items of profit and loss?
^28-30 "Look me in the eyes!
   Do you think I'd lie to your face?
Think it over—no double-talk!
   Think carefully—my integrity is on the line!
Can you detect anything false in what I say?
   Don't you trust me to discern good from evil?"

Job 7

There's Nothing to My Life

 ^1-6 "Human life is a struggle, isn't it? It's a life sentence to hard labor.
Like field hands longing for quitting time
   and working stiffs with nothing to hope for but payday,
I'm given a life that meanders and goes nowhere—
   months of aimlessness, nights of misery!
I go to bed and think, 'How long till I can get up?'
   I toss and turn as the night drags on—and I'm fed up!
I'm covered with maggots and scabs.
   My skin gets scaly and hard, then oozes with pus.
My days come and go swifter than the click of knitting needles,
   and then the yarn runs out—an unfinished life!

 ^7-10 "God, don't forget that I'm only a puff of air!
   These eyes have had their last look at goodness.
And your eyes have seen the last of me;
   even while you're looking, there'll be nothing left to look at.
When a cloud evaporates, it's gone for good;
   those who go to the grave never come back.
They don't return to visit their families;
   never again will friends drop in for coffee.

 ^11-16 "And so I'm not keeping one bit of this quiet,
   I'm laying it all out on the table;
   my complaining to high heaven is bitter, but honest.
Are you going to put a muzzle on me,
   the way you quiet the sea and still the storm?
If I say, 'I'm going to bed, then I'll feel better.
   A little nap will lift my spirits,'
You come and so scare me with nightmares
   and frighten me with ghosts
That I'd rather strangle in the bedclothes
   than face this kind of life any longer.
I hate this life! Who needs any more of this?
   Let me alone! There's nothing to my life—it's nothing
      but smoke.

 ^17-21 "What are mortals anyway, that you bother with them,
   that you even give them the time of day?
That you check up on them every morning,
   looking in on them to see how they're doing?
Let up on me, will you?
   Can't you even let me spit in peace?
Even suppose I'd sinned—how would that hurt you?
   You're responsible for every human being.
Don't you have better things to do than pick on me?
   Why make a federal case out of me?
Why don't you just forgive my sins
   and start me off with a clean slate?
The way things are going, I'll soon be dead.
   You'll look high and low, but I won't be around."

 

1 Corinthians 14:18-40 (The Message)

 ^18-19I'm grateful to God for the gift of praying in tongues that he gives us for praising him, which leads to wonderful intimacies we enjoy with him. I enter into this as much or more than any of you. But when I'm in a church assembled for worship, I'd rather say five words that everyone can understand and learn from than say ten thousand that sound to others like gibberish.
 ^20-25To be perfectly frank, I'm getting exasperated with your infantile thinking. How long before you grow up and use your head—your adult head? It's all right to have a childlike unfamiliarity with evil; a simple no is all that's needed there. But there's far more to saying yes to something. Only mature and well-exercised intelligence can save you from falling into gullibility. It's written in Scripture that God said,

   In strange tongues
      and from the mouths of strangers
   I will preach to this people,
      but they'll neither listen nor believe.
So where does it get you, all this speaking in tongues no one understands? It doesn't help believers, and it only gives unbelievers something to gawk at. Plain truth-speaking, on the other hand, goes straight to the heart of believers and doesn't get in the way of unbelievers. If you come together as a congregation and some unbelieving outsiders walk in on you as you're all praying in tongues, unintelligible to each other and to them, won't they assume you've taken leave of your senses and get out of there as fast as they can? But if some unbelieving outsiders walk in on a service where people are speaking out God's truth, the plain words will bring them up against the truth and probe their hearts. Before you know it, they're going to be on their faces before God, recognizing that God is among you.
 ^26-33So here's what I want you to do. When you gather for worship, each one of you be prepared with something that will be useful for all: Sing a hymn, teach a lesson, tell a story, lead a prayer, provide an insight. If prayers are offered in tongues, two or three's the limit, and then only if someone is present who can interpret what you're saying. Otherwise, keep it between God and yourself. And no more than two or three speakers at a meeting, with the rest of you listening and taking it to heart. Take your turn, no one person taking over. Then each speaker gets a chance to say something special from God, and you all learn from each other. If you choose to speak, you're also responsible for how and when you speak. When we worship the right way, God doesn't stir us up into confusion; he brings us into harmony. This goes for all the churches—no exceptions.
 ^34-36Wives must not disrupt worship, talking when they should be listening, asking questions that could more appropriately be asked of their husbands at home. God's Book of the law guides our manners and customs here. Wives have no license to use the time of worship for unwarranted speaking. Do you—both women and men—imagine that you're a sacred oracle determining what's right and wrong? Do you think everything revolves around you?
 ^37-38If any one of you thinks God has something for you to say or has inspired you to do something, pay close attention to what I have written. This is the way the Master wants it. If you won't play by these rules, God can't use you. Sorry.
 ^39-40Three things, then, to sum this up: When you speak forth God's truth, speak your heart out. Don't tell people how they should or shouldn't pray when they're praying in tongues that you don't understand. Be courteous and considerate in everything.

Psalm 37:30-40 (The Message)

 ^30-31 Righteous chews on wisdom like a dog on a bone,
      rolls virtue around on his tongue.
   His heart pumps God's Word like blood through his veins;
      his feet are as sure as a cat's.

 ^32-33 Wicked sets a watch for Righteous,
      he's out for the kill.
   God, alert, is also on watch—
      Wicked won't hurt a hair of his head.

 ³⁴ Wait passionately for God,
      don't leave the path.
   He'll give you your place in the sun
      while you watch the wicked lose it.

 ^35-36 I saw Wicked bloated like a toad,
      croaking pretentious nonsense.
   The next time I looked there was nothing—
      a punctured bladder, vapid and limp.

 ^37-38 Keep your eye on the healthy soul,
      scrutinize the straight life;
   There's a future
      in strenuous wholeness.
   But the willful will soon be discarded;
      insolent souls are on a dead-end street.

 ^39-40 The spacious, free life is from God,
      it's also protected and safe.
   God-strengthened, we're delivered from evil—
      when we run to him, he saves us.

Proverbs 21:27 (The Message)

 ²⁷ Religious performance by the wicked stinks;
   it's even worse when they use it to get ahead.



Verse of the Day

“God did not keep back his own Son, but he gave him for us. If God did this, won't he freely give us everything else?” - Romans 8:32

Today's passage is from the Contemporary English Version.

Thought for the Day

 

British novelist Amelia Barr wrote, "It is always the simple that produces the marvelous."