Daily Reading // Job 13-14
(Find the daily reading on Pastor Jim’s Blog)
https://jholm5.wixsite.com/pastor-jim-blog
S // SCRIPTURE
Select a verse from today’s reading
Job 13:8 (NKJV) Will you show partiality for Him? Will you contend for God?
O // OBSERVATION
Why did this verse get your attention? Make a simple observation from the text
Job was suffering. He was going through one crushing difficulty after another. His friends came to ‘comfort’ him. What they ended up doing wasn’t comforting or comfortable in the least. God corrected them on it and ultimately vindicated Job. (Job 42:7-9)
His friends felt the need to defend God. They constructed a theology which justified God for all He was doing. They decided that God must have been punishing Job for some terrible sin. In their minds that was the only way to make sense of it. The only way to acquit God of wrongdoing.
They were wrong and Job was maligned in the process.
A // APPLICATION
How can I apply this to my life today?
God doesn’t need me to defend Him. God knows exactly what He’s doing and He does all things well. It shouldn’t surprise me that His ways are surprising from time to time. His purposes are far beyond my understanding.
I don’t need to always understand but trust Him. Trust is what bridges the gaps between understanding. Just as faith supplies what I cannot see (Hebrews 11:1), trust supplies what I cannot understand.
It’s okay to say at times, “I don’t understand what God is doing in this situation, but I trust Him. That’s all I need to know.” Job’s friends would have done well to stick with that.
God doesn’t need me to defend Him. He wants me to trust Him.
P // PRAYER
Express yourself in prayer
Father, I trust You more than anything else in my life. You are worthy of my trust. When I don’t understand I am content to trust. Amen.