Author: Norm

SCRIPTURE: Job 38 OBSERVATION/APPLICATION: Brace yourself like a man, because I have some questions for you, and you must answer them. Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell me, if you know so much. [Job 38:3-4] Finally, after extended controversy between Job and his friends, we now get to God’s response. But…

SCRIPTURE: Job 37 OBSERVATION/APPLICATION: We cannot imagine the power of the Almighty; but even though he is just and righteous, he does not destroy us. No wonder people everywhere fear him. All who are wise show him reverence. [Job 37:23-24] I have to admit it, I like much of what Elihu has to say; his reminder about…

SCRIPTURE: Job 36 OBSERVATION/APPLICATION: Let me go on, and I will show you the truth. For I have not finished defending God! [Job 36:2] Does God need to be defended by us? I often think about this when I hear about people or religions that impose punishments against people who speak against their God or their faith….

SCRIPTURE: Job 35 OBSERVATION/APPLICATION: But it is wrong to say God doesn’t listen, to say the Almighty isn’t concerned. [Job 35:13] Have you ever felt that God wasn’t listening to you? Have you ever complained that God didn’t seem to care for you? Well, according to Elihu, this is wrong and you ought to be ashamed of…

SCRIPTURE: Job 34 OBSERVATION/APPLICATION: Job, you deserve the maximum penalty for the wicked way you have talked. For you have added rebellion to your sin; you show no respect, and you speak many angry words against God. [Job 34:36-37] The book of Job presents two approaches to the struggle with evil and why suffering happens. Job’s friends…

SCRIPTURE: Job 33 OBSERVATION/APPLICATION: For God speaks again and again, though people do not recognize it. He speaks in dreams, in visions of the night, when deep sleep falls on people as they lie in their beds. He whispers in their ears and terrifies them with warnings. He makes them turn from doing wrong; he keeps…

SCRIPTURE: Job 32 OBSERVATION/APPLICATION: Job’s three friends refused to reply further to him because he kept insisting on his innocence. Then Elihu son of Barakel the Buzite, of the clan of Ram, became angry. He was angry because Job refused to admit that he had sinned and that God was right in punishing him. He was…

SCRIPTURE: Job 31 OBSERVATION/APPLICATION: For lust is a shameful sin, a crime that should be punished. It is a fire that burns all the way to hell. It would wipe out everything I own. [Job 31:11-12] In this chapter Job is agreeing with God’s perspective about sin – that it is evil and ought to be punished….

SCRIPTURE: Job 30 OBSERVATION/APPLICATION: Did I not weep for those in trouble? Was I not deeply grieved for the needy? So I looked for good, but evil came instead. I waited for the light, but darkness fell. My heart is troubled and restless. [Job 30:25-27] Poor Job: at one time everyone honoured him as a godly man,…

SCRIPTURE: Job 29 OBSERVATION/APPLICATION: When I was in my prime, God’s friendship was felt in my home. The Almighty was still with me, and my children were around me. [Job 29:4-5] I thought, ‘Surely I will die surrounded by my family after a long, good life. [Job 29:18] Job is reminiscing about the good old days, when he…