Job 30

"I go about mourning, but not in the sun;
I stand up in the assembly and cry out for help.
29 I am a brother of jackals,
And a companion of ostriches.
30 My skin grows black and falls from me;" vv. 28-30

Read chapter 30
Interesting that Job says he goes about mourning but not in the sun yet his skin is black and falls from him; it's not just a really bad sunburn that he's darkened but due to his disease.  He stands in the assembly in front of all men and not in secret to cry for help.  How sad and true it is when people blatantly cry out for help yet none reach out.  How hard too though is it to stand in front of many and ask for help.  This may have seemed pitiable for Job to have done and still does not get the response he hoped for.  Only those that will listen to him are wild beasts: jackals and ostriches.  One of my biggest fears are birds, ostriches being the number one bird I'm afraid of, so I would hate this of my biggest fear being my only comforter.  Both these animals have a melancholy cry that probably represented to Job his own bitter cry.  When have you been bold to cry or reach out for help and not received that help you hoped for?  

Job 29

"Oh, that I were as in months past,
As in the days when God watched over me;
3 When His lamp shone upon my head,
And when by His light I walked through darkness;
4 Just as I was in the days of my prime,
When the friendly counsel of God was over my tent;" vv.1-3

Read chapter 29
How often do we look back and life and wish it still were like the good ole days?  Solomon warns: "Do not say, 'Why were the former days better than these?' For you do not inquire wisely concerning this" Ecc. 7:10. Yet sometimes we don't realize that those good ole days for us weren't so good for others during that time.  Like little kids that had a great childhood and then seemed like all of the sudden their parents got divorced.  Something was hidden to the kids or were in their own ignorance.  Perhaps this could be said of Job; something that he's never realized and is now facing to understand what whirlwind is going on.  Throughout this chapter Job recounts his past happiness as he was famous throughout the world because of his words, deeds, presence among others.  Yet did this become his pride or his way of pleasing man than God?  What do you miss from days of old?  How can you live today to be just as pleasing?

Job 28

"To establish a weight for the wind,
And apportion the waters by measure.
26 When He made a law for the rain,
And a path for the thunderbolt," vv.25-26

Read chapter 28
Again we see science in the Bible, something God did that took man years to figure out.  Only now do we understand that their is weight to wind, waters are measured and a path for the thunderbolt.  Liquid things are examined by measure, as other things are by weight: and here are both weight and measure, to signify with what perfect wisdom God governs the world.  It is God's wisdom that gives exact order to things that to man cannot be measured or seem haphazard.
American naval officer and oceanographer Matthew Maury (1806-1873) was a Christian who loved reading his Bible. He also had no doubts about its accuracy. And these facts led him to some remarkable discoveries in science.  "He studied old ships’ logs. From these he compiled charts of ocean-wind and sea currents. To study the speed and direction of the ocean currents Maury set adrift weighted bottles known as ‘drift bottles’. These floated slightly below the surface of the water, and thus were not affected by wind. Instructions were sealed in each bottle directing anyone who found one washed ashore to return it. From the location and date on which the bottles were found, Maury was able to develop his charts of the ocean currents—the ‘paths’ of the seas—which greatly aided the science of marine navigation" (Answers in Genesis).  The Bible’s accuracy when touching on scientific subjects has led many great scientists, including Matthew Maury, to some outstanding scientific discoveries.

Job 27

“As God lives, who has taken away my justice,
And the Almighty, who has made my soul bitter,
3 As long as my breath is in me,
And the breath of God in my nostrils,
4 My lips will not speak wickedness,
Nor my tongue utter deceit.
5 Far be it from me
That I should say you are right;
Till I die I will not put away my integrity from me.
6 My righteousness I hold fast, and will not let it go;
My heart shall not reproach me as long as I live." vv.2-6

Read chapter 27

Is Job here in his arrogance or in his confidence of his goodness and of God's?  Job with the solemnity of an oath by God declares that he speaks in sincerity when affirming his innocence. Till he dies he will not admit his guilt.  Job swears that he is sincere and speaks truly.  He will not lower his standards and admit that his friends are right. "To admit the wickedness with which his friends charged him would have been to justify them" (Ellicott's Commentary). But what about Job's heart?  We know from Proverbs that the heart is deceitful among all things yet Job here says his heart will not reproach him as long as he lives.  "Property may leave a man; friends may forsake him; children may die; disease may attack him; slander may assail him; and death may approach him; but still he may have in his bosom one unfailing source of consolation; he may have the consciousness that his aim has been right and pure. That nothing can shake; of that, no storms or tempests, no malignant foe, no losses or disappointment, no ridicule or calumny, can deprive him."

Job 26

"He drew a circular horizon on the face of the waters,
At the boundary of light and darkness." v.10

Read chapter 26
The Bible says the earth is round!  The idea that the earth was flat was a modern concoction that reached its peak only after Darwinists tried to discredit the Bible.  Christianity has often been accused of opposing science and hindering technology throughout history by superstitious ignorance. However, a closer study of historical facts shows that this accusation is ill-founded.  Science and the Bible didn't use to be separate and still aren't today.  What's separate is the beginning and looking through the lens of God's eyes or evolution's eyes.  Which lens do you look through when discussing scientific evidence?  How can you look through with God's eyes instead of evolution taught science in most schools and museums today?

Job 24

“Since times are not hidden from the Almighty,
Why do those who know Him see not His days?" v.1

Read chapter 24
This chapter is Job talking about the schemes of wicked men and that get away with it all.  It is a perplexity to Job of God's dealings not of his own current case but the record of the ways of the world.  This is a perplexity to all those that love and serve Him.  Knowing God's  purpose and character help understand what God's doing or not doing.  Yet not understanding His purpose leaves doubt and misunderstanding and ultimately not knowing truth.  Do you understand God's present purpose with mankind?  Read this article and see what you think: God's Present Purpose

Job 25

"How then can a mortal be righteous before God?
    How can one born of woman be pure?" v.4

Read chapter 25.
We have a quick response from Bildad to Job.  God alone is immortal (1 Timothy 6:16), so us as the human race has a beginning and an end.  Yet through Jesus' death and resurrection we can be made righteous though a sinner.  "A mortal, man, cannot be righteous before God. Bildad shows that man cannot be justified before God. - Bildad drops the question concerning the prosperity of wicked men; but shows the infinite distance there is between God and man. He represents to Job some truths he had too much overlooked. Man's righteousness and holiness, at the best, are nothing in comparison with God's, Ps 89:6. As God is so great and glorious, how can man, who is guilty and impure, appear before him? We need to be born again of water and of the Holy Ghost, and to be bathed again and again in the blood of Christ, that Fountain opened, Zec 13:1. We should be humbled as mean, guilty, polluted creatures, and renounce self-dependence. But our vileness will commend Christ's condescension and love; the riches of his mercy and the power of his grace will be magnified to all eternity by every sinner he redeems."  (Biblehub.com)
One born of a woman is to say the ordinary way of coming to being; suggesting all men are unclean by natural generation.  Yes Jesus was born through the birth of a woman yet was without sin, but shows the humble entry of Jesus becoming man though this always was.

Job 23

"I would present my case before Him,
And fill my mouth with arguments.
5 I would know the words which He would answer me,
And understand what He would say to me." vv.4-5

Read chapter 23
These words Job speaks now, but once God speaks up to him he doesn't respond this way at all.  Now he's appealing to God to contend and argue with him instead of complain of his shame and meekness.  He wants to prepare his arguments to go before the Judge, seeming as if he is not guilty of what his friends are accusing of him.  He wants to fill his mouth with arguments to prove and justify his innocence.  Oh how often I fill my mind and mouth with words to defend myself both to prove when I'm right and also when I'm trying to cover something up.  I always have the need to justify myself.  Then Job claims he would know the words God would answer him and understand.  This tone seems too bold or prideful for a man to say, yet some commentaries say that this is a wish to know and understand God's decision in this case.  God's judgment was "infinitely more importance than any opinion which "man" could form, and Job was anxious to have the matter decided by a tribunal which could not err. Why should "we" not desire to know exactly what God thinks of us, and what estimate he has formed of our character?" (Barnes Notes on the Bible). 

Job 22

Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said:

2 “Can a man be profitable to God,
Though he who is wise may be profitable to himself?
3 Is it any pleasure to the Almighty that you are righteous?
Or is it gain to Him that you make your ways blameless?" vv.1-3

Read chapter 22.

God may not need us but he wants us. Yet Eliphaz strangely brings up this irrelevance that man is unprofitable to God.  "Eliphaz proceeds to reply in a far more exaggerated and offensive tone than he has yet adopted, accusing Job of definite and specific crimes. He begins by asserting that the judgment of God cannot be other than disinterested, that if, therefore, He rewards or punishes, there cannot be anything personal in it."  Surely man can not add anything to God to make Him better or add to His perfection.  What Eliphaz says, is unjustly applied to Job, but it is very true, that when God does us good it is not because he is indebted to us but is because He is the God of mercy and grace.  

How have you responded rashly in an argument more because of wanting to have the last word than in grace seasoned with salt?  How does your heart respond to knowing you cannot being profitable to God?

Job 21

"Can anyone teach God knowledge,
Since He judges those on high?...How then can you comfort me with empty words,
Since falsehood remains in your answers?" vv.22, 34

Read chapter 21

Job's friends were making themselves wiser than God and becoming His teachers.  They were substituting their principles for His.  "Will any teach knowledge unto God? Shall we insist on His method of government being what it plainly is not? This is what it is: One man dieth in his full prosperity,—wholly at ease and quiet. Another man dieth in the bitterness of his soul and has not tasted pleasure. They lie down alike in the dust and the worm covers them. Their different fortune is not determined by their different character. The one is not good and the other wicked. But God distributes to them as He chooses" (Cambridge Bible). How often this still happens today:/  That we make our principles God's; yes a lot of our principles in the US are based off the Bible but every state is different, every family is different, every country is different, so how can we know which is God's choice.

So Job knowing his friends arguments are not God's he finds their words vain and do not console. "True consolation could be founded only on correct views of the divine government; but such views, Job says, they had not. With their conceptions of the divine administration, they could not administer to him any real consolation" (Biblehub.com).

Job 19

"My breath is offensive to my wife,
And I am repulsive to the children of my own body.
18 Even young children despise me;
I arise, and they speak against me.
19 All my close friends abhor me,
And those whom I love have turned against me." vv.17-19

Read chapter 19
This isn't just to say Job had bad breath but that even his wife, most dearest to him, he has become an offense to.  She can't even tolerate him.  I know for me bad breath is a huge turn off and hard to focus on what the person is saying being distracted from the smell of their breath, but then there's the time I'm sitting next to my boyfriend having coffee and reading scripture together and the coffee breath doesn't bother me as much because I'm just so happy to be sharing the moment with him.  I guess they didn't have toothpaste back then but also didn't have most of the foods we eat today to cause bad breath.  Well the other part of these specific verses talks about his children.  It's hard to say exactly what this means here since we know from the beginning of Job that his children were killed.  This could be signifying his grandchildren or children of concubines or perhaps not all his children were kill except those dining with the older brother?
Can you imagine what it'd be like to have even those closest to you to abhor you?  How would you respond?

Job 20

"Because he knows no quietness in his heart,
He will not save anything he desires.
21 Nothing is left for him to eat;
Therefore his well-being will not last.
22 In his self-sufficiency he will be in distress;
Every hand of misery will come against him." vv.20-22

Read chapter 20

The evil man is never at rest in his soul, mind, heart.  It's a display of restless insatiable greediness, never satisfied by short term desires.  He must continually keep busy to distract himself from the truth.  Truth of who God is, truth that he's a sinner in need of a savior, truth that he is not happy, truth that there is more to life.  One thing that is hard for me in this new relationship I'm in is my self-sufficiency.  I have been single most my life and have learned to be an independent, self-sufficient woman.  Yet I have seen how it's made me struggle with selfishness in certain areas of my life.  It easy to put others first in some situations but in all situations is a whole other story.  To learn to depend on others is a whole new satisfaction and more meaningful than to think I have it all together and don't need help.  I desire to learn the freedom and benefit it is to think of someone else always before myself and the need I have to allow someone else to fill. 

So what have you allowed to be a distraction in your life to not face Christ's truth?  What  part of the spectrum of self-sufficiency are you on?

Job 18

"The light of the wicked indeed goes out,
And the flame of his fire does not shine...Terrors frighten him on every side,
And drive him to his feet." vv.5,11

Read chapter 18

It always seems like the wicked prosper forever and that they have no worries or fear.  Here Bildad assures that that is not so.  The wicked may prosper for a time but their time will come to an end and not just of one person but from all as verse 19 says he'll have no posterity or any remaining in his dwellings, it will stop passing from generation to generation.  On the outside it seems like the wicked have no worries, but on the inside it eats him alive, being frightened constantly and the only way he knows to act and respond is to continue in his wickedness for his quick fix of relief and satisfaction of the devil.  He'll be scared not only from God but from men and his own guilty conscious and unquiet mind.  And it shall force him to flee different ways, being safe nowhere, but pursued by terrors from place to place.  "This verse does not seem to give a picture of the sinner’s conscience, but rather of his consciousness at last. The preceding verses described how he walked on snares unwitting that they were there; now he awakens to the perception of his condition, he feels the complications that surround him, and would flee from the terrors that he has come to realize" (Cambridge Bible).  This may not be talking about us and our acts of wickedness as we are all sinners but wow has an evil act of your own haunted you?

Job 17

“But please, come back again, all of you,
For I shall not find one wise man among you." v.10

Read chapter 17

It appears that Job finally is exhausted from his complaining and arguing towards his friends and ready to throw in the towel and take what ever company he can get even if it's in vain.  This verse here sounds like a possible irony as to say, “Come again and renew the argument between us; but I shall not be able to find a wise man among you. I am willing to listen to your argument, but I am confident as to the result of it.” (Ellicot's Commentary).  Their renewed attempts to solve his problem would still be foolishness and ignorant to Job and reveal their incapacity of godly wisdom.  Job's only hope was in the grave, Sheol (vv.13 & 16).  Sheol and grave are the same thing (same Hebrew word grave is translated where sheol is the Hebrew).  This wasn't a hope in going to heaven but to return to the dust, to become nothing until the day of judgment.  What kind of attitude do you want in your heart  of what's next and towards others when your days are few in remaining?  

Job 16

"I also could speak as you do,
If your soul were in my soul’s place.
I could heap up words against you,
And shake my head at you...O earth, do not cover my blood,
And let my cry have no resting place!" vv.4, 18

Read chapter 16

Job speaking again now against his friends' words. His complaint is that if they were in each others shoes it'd be a different story and wanting them to try to place themselves in Job's shoes.  It's good to try to step back and look at the picture if you were in another man's shoes, how would you respond? What would you want in their situation? Etc.  But Job's response is rude to them as in retaliation and also a little prideful in that he thinks he would have the correct and perfect words (v.5)

Towards the end of the chapter it seems as if Job wants others to know he's suffering that his blood is not covered up and his cry is continually being heard.  How often do we do that of wanting others to have pity on us so we make known our sufferings and maybe even embellish them?

Job 15

"Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said:

2 “Should a wise man answer with empty knowledge,
And fill himself with the east wind?
3 Should he reason with unprofitable talk,
Or by speeches with which he can do no good?
4 Yes, you cast off fear,
And restrain prayer before God.
5 For your iniquity teaches your mouth,
And you choose the tongue of the crafty." vv.1-5

Read chapter 15

Eliphaz speaks up for the second time now beginning with his concerns for Job's words of response in the previous chapters.  He calls Job out on using large and empty words as arguments to sound wise towards his friends.  The Hebrew in verse two literally means windy knowledge, i.e. windy science, and goes on in the next verses of unprofitable talk or speeches.  I thought of the debate between Ken Ham (creationist) and Bill Nye (evolutionist) and how to the world it appeared like Bill Nye won the debate but if you actually listen to his words he never responded to Ken Ham's questions or rebuked his answers directly as he instead talked around them and used big words or the same examples over and over again. It was windy science, filler words, he put on a good show but even he didn't know what he was talking about or how he couldn't answer directly.  In verse four he says that Job casts off fear and restrains prayer before God.  His pride of knowledge caused for no reverence of fear of God and using his own wisdom than praying and asking God for understanding.  When have you noticed yourself caught in this mindset and action?

Job 14

"If a man dies, shall he live again?" v.14

Read chapter 14
An amazing question that we all wonder whether believers in Christ or not.  "If we die will we live again in resurrection?"Many may think it's a ridiculous question as the thought of Pluto that we are an immortal soul, but where in scripture do we read of the immortal soul?   In Hebrews 9:27 it says "And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment."  Compare Jesus' words in John 11:25-26 after Lazarus had been dead for four days in hades and Jesus resurrected him: "Jesus said to her, 'I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?'" 
Bible teacher Otis Sellers has written an amazingly well put article on understanding this verse and I encourage you to read it:
http://www.seedandbread.org/seedandbread/SB083IfaManDie.pdf

Job 13

"What you know, I also know;
I am not inferior to you.
3 But I would speak to the Almighty,
And I desire to reason with God.
4 But you forgers of lies,
You are all worthless physicians." vv.2-4

Read chapter 13
Job's friends have claimed to instruct him and set him right on basis of their age and experience but Job argues that they know no more than he knows and that they are all equal.  
How frustrating is it when you go to the doctor when you're sick and they tell you the same thing that you're guessing you have?  Like they should have a more profound answer or conclusion or remedy but all they do is tell you the same stuff you told them of what you think is wrong or how to get better.  So it was with Job's friends; they had noting new to say and some words were not even correct.  To broken hearts and wounded consciences, all creatures, without Christ, are physicians of no value. Job evidently speaks with a very angry spirit against his friends. They had advanced some truths which nearly concerned Job, but the heart unhumbled before God, never meekly receives the reproofs of men.
Are you going to the One who can fix your problems?  Are you looking for answers and remedies that don't satisfy?  

Job 12

“But now ask the beasts, and they will teach you;
And the birds of the air, and they will tell you;
8 Or speak to the earth, and it will teach you;
And the fish of the sea will explain to you.
9 Who among all these does not know
That the hand of the Lord has done this,
10 In whose hand is the life of every living thing,
And the breath of all mankind?" vv.7-10

Read chapter 12
Sometimes I wish creation would speak up with a human voice that we could understand and probably be put to shame of how we know and honor our Creator.  "Job here begins his review of all creation, to show that God has the absolute direction of it.  Job maintains that, if appeal were made to the animal creation, and they were asked their position with respect to God, they would with one voice proclaim him their absolute Ruler and Director. The instincts of birds, their periodical migrations, their inherited habits, are as wonderful as anything in the Divine economy of the universe, and as much imply God's continually directing hand." (Pulpit Commentary).
This chapter is Job responding to Zophar's words and accusations toward him.  "Zophar had spoken with considerable parade of the wisdom of God. He had said (Job 11:7 ff) that the knowledge of God was higher than the heavens, and had professed Job 12:6 to have himself exalted views of the Most High. In reply to this, Job says that the views which Zophar had expressed, were the most commonplace imaginable. He need not pretend to be acquainted with the more exalted works of God, or appeal to them as if his knowledge corresponded with them. Even the lower creation - the brutes - the earth - the fishes - could teach him knowledge which he had not now. Even from their nature, properties, and modes of life, higher views might he obtained than Zophar had."  Hard to say if there is pride in Job's mind in his seemingly correct response of facts but even if he speaks in the tongues of angles and has not love he's only a resounding gong (1 Cor. 13).  

Job 11

"“If you would prepare your heart,
And stretch out your hands toward Him;
14 If iniquity were in your hand, and you put it far away,
And would not let wickedness dwell in your tents;
15 Then surely you could lift up your face without spot;
Yes, you could be steadfast, and not fear;
16 Because you would forget your misery,
And remember it as waters that have passed away,
17 And your life would be brighter than noonday.
Though you were dark, you would be like the morning." vv.13-17

Read chapter 11

NATURAL RELIGION is what we read here in this last part of chapter 11 (verses 13-20) and also a theme of all three of Job's friends words.  The idea of works based; i.e. "you prepare your heard and do good things then you'll receive good not evil from God."  This is such a danger in all religions that deceives people.  It's not "once you become a Christian you're life will be perfect and all your problems go away."  Nor is it that we become sinless once we believe.  In Ephesians it says we are saved by grace through faith and NOT of works (2:8).  It's as if Zophar is saying Job needs to repent of something and then he'll be fine and life will be brighter than noonday; as if God's holding out on Him until he does this one thing.  We know by the gospel this is not God's character or else He wouldn't be the God of grace and mercy and truly no one could receive salvation.  How have you seen this lie in Christianity flourish as truth and believed?

Job 10

10 "Did You not pour me out like milk,
And curdle me like cheese,
11 Clothe me with skin and flesh,
And knit me together with bones and sinews?
12 You have granted me life and favor,
And Your care has preserved my spirit." vv.10-12

Read chapter 10

A wonderful description of life beginning at conception(not once out of the mother or even once it's fully developed in the womb) from the embryo to full growth.   Job modestly and accurately describes God’s admirable work in making man out of a small and liquid, and as it were milky, substance, by degrees congealed and condensed into that exquisite frame of man’s body.  Even without the technology we have today men knew this back then of what took place in the womb to form a body.  Perhaps ancient man is more genius than just a neandrathal we give them credit for?! 

Yet the verses surrounding this description is more of a complaint of Job than exalting God as Creator.  Job seems to argue with God, as if he only formed and preserved him for misery. 

When do you believe life starts?  How can you praise God for the life He has made in you?  How have you dishonored or argued God for His creation of you?