Scripture Focus: Job 13.27
27 You fasten my feet in shackles; 
you keep close watch on all my paths 
by putting marks on the soles of my feet. 

Reflection: Tension in God’s Presence
By John Tillman

Job acknowledges hardships beyond his own, including slavery. He addresses slavery realistically, but not in a way that defends its practice. Every reference to it is negative.

Job compares God’s awareness of all his sins to a practice of marking the soles of slaves’ feet to track their barefoot movements. This would probably have meant branding and would double as a proof of ownership. 

There is a tension in many of Job’s complaints related to God’s presence or attention. In verses like Job 13.22, Job complained about God’s attention on every detail of his life. Job even asked God to look away and let him die in peace. (​​Job 7.19)

In other verses, Job longed for God to answer him, to come to him, to not “hide his face” (Job 13.24). If God did not come to him and answer him, there could be no justice, restoration, or hope.

God’s presence was Job’s only hope but also brought unbearable attention. Job both longed for God’s face to look at him and begged God to look away. He did not want to be treated as God’s enemy but recognized he was not God’s equal.

We feel this tension in our lives. The weight of our sin is real. Our personal sins and the sins and guilt of our society and culture from age to age hang on us. “Gestures broadly at everything” has become a common phrase in memes that express frustration at problems. Like Job, we gesture broadly at everything and wonder, “How can God be pleased with us? How can he love us?”

However, there is one thing we point to that guarantees God’s love—the cross of Christ. There is one mark given to us which brings freedom, not oppression—the Holy Spirit. There is one redeemer standing upon the earth, (Job 19.25-27) mediating peace in human’s war against God—Jesus Christ.

Jesus told his disciples that “righteous people” longed to see and hear what they have relayed to us. (Matthew 13.16-17) Job is certainly one of them. We are sure of God’s love for us in Christ. We are more sure of it than Job ever could be.

So, let us live in a way that assures others of God’s love. Let our actions be evidence of God’s beneficent presence. May rivers of his living water flow out of us, calling the thirsty to drink.


Divine Hours Prayer: A Reading
The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah—that is, Christ—is coming; and when he comes he will explain everything.” Jesus said, “That is who I am, I who speak to you.” — John 4.25-26

– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Autumn and Wintertime by Phyllis Tickle.


Today’s Readings
Job 13 (Listen – 2:27)
Psalm 20-21 (Listen – 2:37)

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Read more about Do We Know Him?
We don’t deserve to learn Christ’s identity…Yet Christ’s love makes us worthy. He replaces our springs of sinfulness with his living water.

Scripture Focus: Job 12.2-3
2 Doubtless you are the only people who matter, and wisdom will die with you!
3 But I have a mind as well as you; I am not inferior to you. Who does not know all these things?

Reflection: Unhurried Wisdom
By Erin Newton

Consider the cliche: Out of sight out of mind. Now, consider this: Absence makes the heart grow fonder. So, which is it? Forgetfulness or fondness? These are modern phrases. However, the book of Job also utilized opposing statements to reveal the complexity of life and necessity of wisdom.

One of the struggles while reading Job is that the statements made by his friends are often valid comments holding truth in some aspect or another. These short statements and concepts are true but not applicable in all situations. So, what is the problem with their advice?

We have been privy to the opening scene of God and Satan. Imagine removing the first few verses from chapter 1 and reading the story without the prelude about God allowing the testing of Job’s faith. Would you not also be suspicious of what he had done to deserve this?

Zophar made statements such as “God has forgotten some of your sin” and “If you lift your face to God, you will be free from harm.” At the core of these statements is true theology: the forgiveness of sins and the security in the arms of God.

What we know of these friends is that they are all God-fearing men. They speak of things that are true and seem to place their faith in God. But they still give bad advice, tactless encouragement, and sometimes traumatizing remarks.

Job’s response also focuses on truths about God. Zophar has suggested that God allows suffering because of man’s sin. Correct. Job suggests that God allows suffering for reasons outside our ability to understand. Correct. Wisdom involves living in the tension of two seemingly opposing truths. Wisdom involves taking time to understand the situation and knowing which truth to apply.

If we are not presently in Job’s position, we are one of the friends. The world around us is constantly suffering: racial tension, economic hardship, mutating viruses, abusive bosses, wayward children, dementia, loneliness, sexual abuse, cancer, addiction. We must wisely speak truth to our hurting friend.

Wisdom is not a character trait abruptly gained. In our quick paced world, we forget to think before we speak. Sometimes we want to be the first one to reply thinking our promptness is a signal of our virtue. We might speak rashly and say something true, just like Job’s friends. But if our truth is received as trauma, we have missed wisdom entirely.


Divine Hours Prayer: The Refrain for the Morning Lessons
I will bear witness that the Lord is righteous; I will praise the Name of the Lord Most High. — Psalm 7.18

– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Autumn and Wintertime by Phyllis Tickle.


Today’s Readings
Job 12 (Listen – 2:21)
Psalm 19 (Listen – 1:52)

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Read more about Adding Insult to Injury
There’s no nice way to say this, but Job’s friends are jerks. Maybe they mean well…It’s like one “bad take” after another.

Scripture Focus: Job 11.16-19
16 You will surely forget your trouble, 
recalling it only as waters gone by. 
17 Life will be brighter than noonday, 
and darkness will become like morning. 
18 You will be secure, because there is hope; 
you will look about you and take your rest in safety. 
19 You will lie down, with no one to make you afraid, 
and many will court your favor. 

Reflection: Echoing Voice of Hope
By John Tillman

Job’s counselors, although they are insensitive, state many beautiful and biblical truths found in similar forms elsewhere in the Bible. There are repeated echoes of God’s promises of hope and peace.

In this short section (Job 11.16-19), Zophar is echoed or referenced in Leviticus, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Isaiah, Ezekiel, Micah, Kings, and probably more. (Leviticus 26.6; Psalms 3.5; 4.8; 37.6; Proverbs 3.24; Isaiah 32.18; 58.8; 65.16; Zechariah 3.10; Micah 4.4; 1 Kings 4.25) 

Is Zophar echoing the other writers, or is it the other way around? 

The date of the writing of Job is uncertain, but probably the other writers were inspired by the writing in Job. It is difficult to be sure.

The Hebrew of Job is different enough from the rest of the Bible that many scholars believe it was written before the other Hebrew writings. (There are other opinions but this is the majority view. See links below for more info.) Job’s story may be the earliest surviving writing in the Bible.

Regardless of when the story was written down, the events seem to happen during the pre-tabernacle period. Job offers his own sacrifices as Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob did, and no references are made to the Tabernacle or Temple. Job’s lifespan is similar to long-lived ancient patriarchs, so he may have lived between Noah and Abraham, or between Seth and Noah.

The Bible is literature that is connected and unified across ages—we should read it that way. Marvel films didn’t invent interconnected literature—the Bible’s been this way for millennia. Marvel film buffs scour every frame of each film, looking for “Easter eggs” that are references to past films or hints at stories to come. The Bible has similar treasures for us that recall the past and hint at the future. These echoes make sense in the larger story. This is why it is so important for us to engage with the Bible on both a large and a small scale. We can miss the larger story of the Bible if we zoom in too close on a single frame.

In this passage from Job, we hear the often repeated, echoing message that God cares for us. Our trouble and pain are known to God. He will end them and bring us comfort. He will plant us in a good place and we will be safe, “under our own vine and fig tree.” (Micah 4.4)

The echoes of hope we hear are not of Zophar’s voice. The echoing voice of hope in scripture is God’s. We can be secure in him.

Links for further study: Summary of Job from Bible Study Tools and Authorship of Job from Bible Odyssey. (Thanks to Erin Newton for recommending these links.)


Divine Hours Prayer: The Greeting
Out of Zion, perfect in its beauty, God reveals himself in glory. — Psalm 50.2

– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Autumn and Wintertime by Phyllis Tickle.


Today’s Readings
Job 11 (Listen – 2:01)
Psalm 18 (Listen – 5:47)

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Read more about Hope on a Limb
Jesus is, for some, the unwanted king of the parable. His Advent will frustrate those who wait for earthly adulation and success…He endlessly supplies those whose hopes rise higher.

Scripture Focus: Job 10.12-14
12 You gave me life and showed me kindness, 
and in your providence watched over my spirit. 
13 “But this is what you concealed in your heart, 
and I know that this was in your mind: 
14 If I sinned, you would be watching me 
and would not let my offense go unpunished. 

From John: As we embark on this new order of reading the Bible, it seems appropriate to look back on this rewritten reminder from 2020 of how NOT to read the Bible.

Reflection: How Not to Read Scripture
By John Tillman

In part of today’s passage, Job describes a God who seems deceptive. Job accuses God of using kindness to mask a secret desire to harm Job when he inevitably sins. Is this God real? Should we be ducking for cover from a God who is out to get us?

Sometimes when we read the Bible we forget who is talking and why. It is not always God talking. Every phrase is not always an actionable directive or nugget of “truth” we can apply. We need to see the bigger picture.

In this passage, God is not telling us that he is out to get us. Job is sharing his emotionally charged opinion with his friends. Job is conjecturing, not speaking for God. Later, God will condemn Job’s words as “darkening his counsels” and being “words without knowledge.” (Job 38.1-3)

We also can “darken God’s counsels” when we speak words from the Bible without knowledge. It is an error to think of the scripture as the “words of God” instead of the “Word of God.” The Bible is God’s Word—his perfect revelation, but it is not a transcript of God’s unambiguous commands. The Bible is a work of art, not a manual.

Some may fear this lowers the Bible’s authority or lessens the miraculous spiritual nature of the Bible. The opposite is true. We rob the Word of God of its power when we think of it as merely an owner’s manual of unimaginative, dictated instructions. No analogy is perfect but the instruction manual analogy for the Bible is particularly flawed. 

If the Bible is an instruction manual, we should skim it and toss it in the closet. This is how many DO treat it but this is how not to read scripture. No one ever found joy and companionship from re-reading an instruction manual. 

The Bible is more akin to a pointillistic painting. When you zoom in far enough, all you might see is a few dots of red, blue, or yellow. You have to step back to see the likeness the artist has created.

This is why is it vital that Christians read the whole Bible and read it regularly and why we follow a whole-Bible reading plan. In this way, we are equipped to view the Word of God as a work of art that reveals who God is, what God is doing, and what God expects us to do. 

*View the world’s most famous pointillistic painting, “A Sunday on La Grande Jatte”, by Georges Seurat at this link.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Call to Prayer
Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy Name.
Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits. — Psalm 103.1-2a

– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Autumn and Wintertime by Phyllis Tickle.

Today’s Readings
Job 10 (Listen – 2:12)
Psalm 17 (Listen – 1:58)

Read more from How to Read Prophetic Judgment
There are many prophecies that are meant to comfort us. But the more typical function of prophecy is to cause us discomfort.

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Scripture Focus: Job 5.27
“We have examined this, and it is true.
    So hear it and apply it to yourself.”

Reflection: Adding Insult to Injury
By Erin Newton

There’s no nice way to say this, but Job’s friends are jerks. Maybe they mean well or have a serious deficiency of tact. In the midst of suffering in epic proportions, Job endures painful chapters of the worst advice and lack of comfort by the handful of men in his life. It’s like one “bad take” after another. 

Modern forms of communication (texting, messaging, tweeting) have created a form of terseness that does not really benefit the other person. Our words are often formed under the desire to create something memorable, quotable, something that can easily go viral. A pithy statement is formed, we pat ourselves on the back and declare to the world “apply it to yourself.”

Eliphaz seems to view the suffering in Job’s life as a simple equation. After two chapters describing how Job could correct his situation, the final words end with the statement that there is no way he could be wrong and all Job needs to do is apply this golden advice to himself. 

Jesus confronted this same mindset in his disciples, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” (John 9.2). There is an innate desire for life to be a simple “if-then” scenario. If you are poor then it must be strictly your fault. If you are infertile, it’s probably a lack of faith. If you are single, you just need to pray more. These if-then statements are absurd and completely wrong. 

If quick judgments do more harm than good, how do we comfort a grieving friend? I learned through hard situations: sitting with a friend after the death of her father, speaking at a funeral for my friend’s infant child, and waiting for hard diagnoses for my own kids. One of the greatest things we can do for those in grief is to sit and listen. As Paul instructed, “mourn with those who mourn.” (Romans 12.15)

Grief is messy and gray. No black and white solutions. No terse statements will do. Words are empty unless we let them know we are a beating heart, a living soul and a listening ear. The best company during grief are wounded healers, friends who have been down that dark road too. 

Eliphaz should have modeled the character of the Wounded Healer, Jesus. “When Jesus saw her weeping… Jesus wept.” (John 11:33, 35). Be quiet. Listen without judgment. Sadness takes time. 

Divine Hours Prayer: The Request for Presence
Save me, O God, by your Name; in your might, defend my cause.
Hear my prayer, O God; give ear to the words of my mouth. — Psalm 54.1-2

– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Autumn and Wintertime by Phyllis Tickle.

Today’s Readings
Job 5 (Listen – 2:29) 
Psalm 9 (Listen – 2:21)

Read more about When Help Doesn’t Help
Although Eliphaz meant well, his response was insensitive to his friend’s plight.

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