May 25 + Daily readings & notes

DAY 145

DAILY READINGS

Job 20-23 & Psalm 140

DAILY NOTES

Job 20

• Zophar lovingly reminds Job of what the wicked can expect.  Although they work and puff themselves up, they will meet God's wrath.  They are wicked and they do wicked.  
• Job, you must be wicked, brother.

Job 21

• What Job is saying is that wicked people enjoy life.  They live in prosperity and die with it, too.  I'm just surprised Job doesn't include names.

Job 22

• Eliphaz says that Job needs to "return" to God.  There is unrighteousness in his tents and, truly, he has not lived as a righteous person.  
• According to Eliphaz, Job's wickedness is great and there is no end to his iniquity (vs.5).  What did God say about Job?

Job 23

• Job seeks a chance to present his case to God.  Surely God would listen and understand.  And Job would be ready to listen to God's response.
• Job insists that he has "held fast" to the ways of God (vs. 11).
• But God does what God does.  

Psalm 140

• There are parts of this psalm that seem to correspond to parts of our reading from Job.
• The psalmist compares his enemies to snakes.  
• The prayer is for God to deliver the psalmist and bring judgement to his enemies.

OTHER OBSERVATIONS

"They'll get theirs."

You've heard that before, I'm sure.  What we mean by that is somebody has done something wrong and that they'll have to pay for it eventually.  Maybe not right now.  But eventually.

That is true, except when it is not.

That is Job's point today.  We keep hearing that the wicked will be punished.  But as far as Job can tell, wicked people seem to do fine.  They live in luxury, doing what they want.  Isn't that true today, too?  Dictators, drug kingpins, crime bosses, crooked politicians, murderers, etc, they keep on doing what they do until they can't anymore.  I've heard people say that when they die they are getting punished.  But everyone dies.  That can't be punishment itself.

Job also recognizes that when the wicked carry on with their life without the kind of judgement from God that Job's friends expect, the next argument is that their children will bear their punishment.  How does that work?  The evil doers themselves get off, but their children suffer?  Job doesn't understand this either.

What does this mean for us today?  I think it reminds us to be careful what we say about what God is doing.  When a "wicked" person dies tragically or unexpectedly, people are quick to say, "They got theirs."  But what about the "innocent" person who dies similarly?  Did they get theirs, too?  What about the woman in the news yesterday that was struck by a car racing down the street and died?  Did she get hers?  

The opposite is just as tricky.  When someone avoids a plane crash or auto accident, for example, have you ever heard someone else say, "God was with them" or "God was watching over them"?   Does that mean God wasn't with other people or watching others who have died in plane crashes or auto accidents?  

Like Job's friends, we need to be careful with our words.  We don't want to offer up "empty nothings" to hurting people.

Stay blessed...john