August 25 – Miserable Comforters!

August 25
Job 16:1-19:29
1 Corinthians 16:1-24
Psalm 40:1-10
Proverbs 22:1

Job 16:2 – The book of Job is not usually where you go for devotions, but you are awakened by the sharp criticism Job has for his friends. “Miserable comforters.”

Job 16:4-5 – Job tells what he would tell his friends if it was reversed – that he would have comforted them.

Job 16:21 – Ever want to argue with God? Isaiah 45:9 and Romans 9:20 warn against this.

Job 18:2 – The friendship seems to be wearing thin, and there is still 13 more chapters to go before his friends bail on him.

Job 19:3 – The argumentation is long, but the sad part is the deterioration of the relationship. Job pulls out the McCarthy line, “Have you no sense of decency?”

Job 19:25-26 – Sometimes we wonder what Old Testament saints believed. Did they know about the resurrection? These lines were so poignant that George Frederic Handel included them in the Messiah.

1 Corinthians 16:1 – Ah yes, Paul is a preacher for he talks about taking up a collection.

1 Corinthians 16:2 – In the dispensation of law, the day to gather was the last day (Saturday). Now under the dispensation of grace, we gather on the first day. We can give joyfully (2 Corinthians 9:7) and regularly.

1 Corinthians 16:9 – The door of opportunity swings on the hinges of opposition. (sources Adrian Rogers or Bob Jones Sr). Be bold, take a stand and go forward for the LORD!

1 Corinthians 16:11 – Why would anyone despise Timothy, Paul’s beloved son (1 Corinthians 4:7)? Was it because he was a young man (1 Timothy 4:12) with a reputation as George W. Bush famously said “When I was young and foolish, I was young and foolish”? Ah but there’s still time to change!

1 Corinthians 16:14 – The author of the Love Chapter reminds again – do everything with charity!

1 Corinthians 16:22 –  The Catholic church pronounced curses with this phrase:

An example of such an anathema is found in these words of Pope Silverius (536-38): “If anyone henceforth deceives a bishop in such a manner, let him be anathema maranatha before God and his holy angels.” Benedict XIV

The problem is that anathema is Greek for “dedicated to evil,” while Maranatha was the early New Testament greeting for believers. They replaced Shalom (the Jewish greeting) with Maranatha, because it was a reminder “the LORD is coming!”

Psalm 40:1 – The Northern Lights rendition of these verses is always stirring!

Psalm 40:8 – May this be our life verse!

Proverbs 22:1 – In the news recently we’ve seen people facing years in prison for tax evasion. Yes they hid their millions and pocketed the “great riches,” but they lost their good name.