Old Testament reading: Job 22-26
Just when you think Job’s friends could do no more harm, Eliphaz takes up Bildad’s verbal assault on Job and makes it even more pointed. Progressing from Bildad’s implication of Job’s wickedness, Eliphaz begins to detail Job’s sins. He begins by asking Job, ‘Is this happening to you because of your deep reverence for God?’ (22:4). He then begins to charge Job with specific and grievous sins (vv 5-11). I am thankful that we have the first five verses of Job 1 to show how horribly wrongheaded these charges are. Job’s response in chapters 23-24 is that God is just and would, should He desire to, acquit Job of any wrongdoing. Job 23:10 is one of my favorite passages in all of this magnificent book – But He knows the way I take; when He has tested me, I shall come forth as gold.” Job declares the omniscience of God and his present distress as a proving ground for greater glory. In Job 23:12, we read this beautiful statement from Job: “I have not departed from the commandments of His lips; I have treasured the words of His mouth more than my necessary food.” His statement here reminds me of that of Jesus in John 4:34, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work.”
New Testament reading: Mark 5-6
“A prophet is not without honor except in his own country, among his own relatives, and in his own house” (Mark 6:4). Jesus suffered rejection by those who should have known Him best. In this case, Jesus speaks of Himself and His rejection in his own country in the synagogue of Nazareth (Luke 4:16-30), His rejection among His own relatives (Mark 3:21), and His rejection by his own house (John 7:2-5). Jesus’ statement here is a truism, a proverb of sorts, not a hard and fast rule. I once thought it would be wonderful to return to live in my little hometown in Missouri and preach the gospel there. I thought, “What effectiveness I could have there! My old friends could see what I change has been manifest in me since my old school days.” But in the dozen or so times I have returned to speak there in the last twenty years, fewer than a handful have ever come to hear me speak. The power of a changed life is great, but it is not some magic elixir to overcome the hardening of years of ungodliness.
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