SCRIPTURE: Job 6 OBSERVATION/APPLICATION: My brothers, you have proved as unreliable as a seasonal brook that overflows its banks in the spring when it is swollen with ice and melting snow. But when the hot weather arrives, the water disappears. The brook vanishes in the heat. [Job 6:15-17] Have you ever been let down by your friends?…
the kind of God I communicate
SCRIPTURE: Job 5 OBSERVATION/APPLICATION: We have studied life and found all this to be true. Listen to my counsel, and apply it to yourself. [Job 5:27] As we read through Job, we will hear great truths espoused by Job’s friends, and yet in the end God does not honour their counsel [Job 42:7-8]. There are so many quotable…
because I sinned?
SCRIPTURE: Job 4 OBSERVATION/APPLICATION: Stop and think! Do the innocent die? When have the upright been destroyed? My experience shows that those who plant trouble and cultivate evil will harvest the same. [Job 4:7-8] This is the most commonly felt answer to the question ‘why does God allow suffering’ – those who suffer must have sinned. “What…
honest despair
SCRIPTURE: Job 3 OBSERVATION/APPLICATION: I cannot eat for sighing; my groans pour out like water. What I always feared has happened to me. What I dreaded has come true. I have no peace, no quietness. I have no rest; only trouble comes. [Job 3:24-26] Job is with his close friends, and now he bursts out in pain…
Satan is a jerk
SCRIPTURE: Job 2 OBSERVATION/APPLICATION: His wife said to him, “Are you still trying to maintain your integrity? Curse God and die.” But Job replied, “You talk like a foolish woman. Should we accept only good things from the hand of God and never anything bad?” So in all this, Job said nothing wrong. [Job 2:9-10] Though it…
theodicy
SCRIPTURE: Job 1 OBSERVATION/APPLICATION: Satan replied to the Lord, “Yes, but Job has good reason to fear God. You have always put a wall of protection around him and his home and his property. You have made him prosper in everything he does. Look how rich he is! But reach out and take away everything he…
good taste?
SCRIPTURE: Colossians 4 OBSERVATION/APPLICATION: Live wisely among those who are not believers, and make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be gracious and attractive so that you will have the right response for everyone. [Colossians 4:5-6] What kind of seasoning does your life add to others? Paul’s actually says “gracious and seasoned with salt”, and…
life beyond the sandbox
SCRIPTURE: Colossians 3 OBSERVATION/APPLICATION: Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honour at God’s right hand. Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth. [Colossians 3:1-2] In this passage, Paul is speaking about our core commitment…
the real thing!
SCRIPTURE: Colossians 2 OBSERVATION/APPLICATION: So don’t let anyone condemn you for what you eat or drink, or for not celebrating certain holy days or new moon ceremonies or Sabbaths. For these rules are only shadows of the reality yet to come. And Christ himself is that reality. [Colossians 2:16-17] Paul honours Jesus like the Jews honoured the…
on fire for the Lord
SCRIPTURE: Colossians 1 OBSERVATION/APPLICATION: I love this letter, I love how it conveys Paul’s heart and passion, how it expresses the meaning of the message of Jesus so clearly – at least it does for me. Paul is a passionate missionary for Jesus, and you can feel his excitement at the beginning of this letter for…