Author: Norm

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…

SCRIPTURE: Job 28 OBSERVATION/APPLICATION: But do people know where to find wisdom? Where can they find understanding? [Job 28:12] God alone understands the way to wisdom; he knows where it can be found, for he looks throughout the whole earth and sees everything under the heavens. [Job 28:23-24] And this is what he says to all humanity: ‘The…

SCRIPTURE: Job 27 OBSERVATION/APPLICATION: The wicked go to bed rich but wake to find that all their wealth is gone. [Job 27:19] No one would argue that building a home on the beach, made out of sand, would be foolish. Obviously, it is only a matter of time that the walls will erode, and a storm will…

SCRIPTURE: Job 26 OBSERVATION/APPLICATION: How you have helped the powerless! How you have saved the weak! How you have enlightened my stupidity! What wise advice you have offered! Where have you gotten all these wise sayings? Whose spirit speaks through you? [Job 26:2-4] Have you ever been struggling with something, and had “religious” people make things worse…

SCRIPTURE: Job 25 OBSERVATION/APPLICATION: God is powerful and dreadful. He enforces peace in the heavens. Who is able to count his heavenly army? Doesn’t his light shine on all the earth? How can a mortal be innocent before God? Can anyone born of a woman be pure? God is more glorious than the moon; he shines…