SCRIPTURE: Job 15 OBSERVATION/APPLICATION: Like trees, they will be cut down in the prime of life; their branches will never again be green. They will be like a vine whose grapes are harvested too early, like an olive tree that loses its blossoms before the fruit can form. For the godless are barren. [Job 15:32-34] Eliphaz’s logic…
Author: Norm
the difference hope makes
SCRIPTURE: Job 14 OBSERVATION/APPLICATION: Can the dead live again? If so, this would give me hope through all my years of struggle, and I would eagerly await the release of death. [Job 14:14] But instead, as mountains fall and crumble and as rocks fall from a cliff, as water wears away the stones and floods wash away…
no disrespect
SCRIPTURE: Job 13 OBSERVATION/APPLICATION: O God, grant me these two things, and then I will be able to face you. Remove your heavy hand from me, and don’t terrify me with your awesome presence. Now summon me, and I will answer! Or let me speak to you, and you reply. Tell me, what have I done…
chosen for a purpose
This letter is from Paul, chosen by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus. [Colossians 1:1] In my church background, talk about being “chosen by God” was primarily a debate about whether we are ‘saved’ because God chose us or because we chose God. Otherwise known as the doctrine of election or…
ask the birds, He cares!
SCRIPTURE: Job 12 OBSERVATION/APPLICATION: Just ask the animals, and they will teach you. Ask the birds of the sky, and they will tell you. Speak to the earth, and it will instruct you. Let the fish in the sea speak to you. For they all know that my disaster has come from the hand of the…
how to increase your strength!
“Well, what do you know…” I discovered the reason for my being so weak and tired. It’s got to be a diet issue. I was watching this historical documentary on how to increase one’s strength, and it definitely makes the point that if I want to be strong to the finish, I’ve got to…
a theological question
I received an email from a friend, looking for feedback on a particular belief that they are uncertain about. They need to know if what they are thinking is biblically (theologically) true. Here is the what they wrote me: I have a theological question. I think this is true, is it? It is a serious issue…
holding doctrine gently
SCRIPTURE: Job 11 OBSERVATION/APPLICATION: Can you solve the mysteries of God? Can you discover everything about the Almighty? Such knowledge is higher than the heavens— and who are you? It is deeper than the underworld — what do you know? It is broader than the earth and wider than the sea. [Job 11:7-9] Zophar is right on…
despair in dark places
SCRIPTURE: Job 10 OBSERVATION/APPLICATION: What do you gain by oppressing me? Why do you reject me, the work of your own hands, while smiling on the schemes of the wicked? [Job 10:3] You formed me with your hands; you made me, yet now you completely destroy me. Remember that you made me from dust— will you turn…
there is a redeemer
SCRIPTURE: Job 9 OBSERVATION/APPLICATION: If only there were a mediator between us, someone who could bring us together. The mediator could make God stop beating me, and I would no longer live in terror of his punishment. Then I could speak to him without fear, but I cannot do that in my own strength. [Job 9:33-35] Job…