DAY 19 Read Job 6 through 10.
Today's Reading: Poetic language recounts the lengthy debate between Job and his three would-be comforters. The friends try to blame Job for his troubles, and the sufferer steadfastly maintains his innocence.
Memory gem: "Oh that my grief were thoroughly weighed, and my calamity laid in the balances together!" (Job 6:2).
Thought for today:
The so-called friends of Job had the idea that there was just one reason for his affliction, for his terrible physical condition, and that was his sin. It was the general belief of the people in those days that God's divine government rests upon an exact and uniform correlation between sin and punishment. In other words, that afflictions always come as divine punishment for something that the sinner involved has done, that he is punished unless he repents and submits to God's chastisement. In turn, these punishments lead to the correction and amendment of life when the sufferer repents and turns to God. This is often true. But the fact of suffering was, according to their view, proof of the commission of some special sin, and they tried to apply that principle to the case of Job.
Well, Job answered their arguments one by one. We must remember, of course, that the direct object of this trial that had come to Job was to ascertain whether or not he would deny or forsake God. But we know that this great question had really been settled insofar as God was concerned, for He Himself had said that Job was a good and upright man. For Him that question was really settled.
Job denied the theory of these men that punishment always follows guilt and so proved the commission of wrong. He admitted that God is just. So there was only one thing for him to do, and that was to pray and plead with God to give him an open trial so that all might see that he had been faithful and had not committed any sin calling for these terrible punishments. He thought that if he could die, he would be delivered from his sorrow and trouble. So he prayed to be hidden in the grave until the day when God would try his cause and show him to be upright.
Today's Reading: Poetic language recounts the lengthy debate between Job and his three would-be comforters. The friends try to blame Job for his troubles, and the sufferer steadfastly maintains his innocence.
Memory gem: "Oh that my grief were thoroughly weighed, and my calamity laid in the balances together!" (Job 6:2).
Thought for today:
The so-called friends of Job had the idea that there was just one reason for his affliction, for his terrible physical condition, and that was his sin. It was the general belief of the people in those days that God's divine government rests upon an exact and uniform correlation between sin and punishment. In other words, that afflictions always come as divine punishment for something that the sinner involved has done, that he is punished unless he repents and submits to God's chastisement. In turn, these punishments lead to the correction and amendment of life when the sufferer repents and turns to God. This is often true. But the fact of suffering was, according to their view, proof of the commission of some special sin, and they tried to apply that principle to the case of Job.
Well, Job answered their arguments one by one. We must remember, of course, that the direct object of this trial that had come to Job was to ascertain whether or not he would deny or forsake God. But we know that this great question had really been settled insofar as God was concerned, for He Himself had said that Job was a good and upright man. For Him that question was really settled.
Job denied the theory of these men that punishment always follows guilt and so proved the commission of wrong. He admitted that God is just. So there was only one thing for him to do, and that was to pray and plead with God to give him an open trial so that all might see that he had been faithful and had not committed any sin calling for these terrible punishments. He thought that if he could die, he would be delivered from his sorrow and trouble. So he prayed to be hidden in the grave until the day when God would try his cause and show him to be upright.
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