Job 5 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: God Gives Hope

My grandmother canned her own peach preserves and stored them in an underground cellar. It was a deep hole with wooden steps and a musty smell. As a youngster, I'd climb in, close the door and see how long I could last in the darkness. Not even a slit of light entered that underground hole. I'd sit listening to my breath and heartbeats, until I couldn't take it anymore. Then I would race up the stairs and throw open the door! Light would avalanche into the cellar. What a change! Moments before I couldn't see anything-then, all of a sudden I could see everything!
Just as light poured into the cellar, God's hope pours into your world. Upon the sick, He shines the ray of healing. To the confused, He offers the light of Scripture. God gives hope! Your cup overflows with joy-with grace. Shouldn't your heart overflow with gratitude?
From Traveling Light

Job 5

Don’t Blame Fate When Things Go Wrong

 “Call for help, Job, if you think anyone will answer!
    To which of the holy angels will you turn?
The hot temper of a fool eventually kills him,
    the jealous anger of an idiot does her in.
I’ve seen it myself—seen fools putting down roots,
    and then, suddenly, their houses are cursed.
Their children out in the cold, abused and exploited,
    with no one to stick up for them.
Hungry people off the street plunder their harvests,
    cleaning them out completely, taking thorns and all,
    insatiable for everything they have.
Don’t blame fate when things go wrong—
    trouble doesn’t come from nowhere.
It’s human! Mortals are born and bred for trouble,
    as certainly as sparks fly upward.

What a Blessing When God Corrects You!
8-16 “If I were in your shoes, I’d go straight to God,
    I’d throw myself on the mercy of God.
After all, he’s famous for great and unexpected acts;
    there’s no end to his surprises.
He gives rain, for instance, across the wide earth,
    sends water to irrigate the fields.
He raises up the down-and-out,
    gives firm footing to those sinking in grief.
He aborts the schemes of conniving crooks,
    so that none of their plots come to term.
He catches the know-it-alls in their conspiracies—
    all that intricate intrigue swept out with the trash!
Suddenly they’re disoriented, plunged into darkness;
    they can’t see to put one foot in front of the other.
But the downtrodden are saved by God,
    saved from the murderous plots, saved from the iron fist.
And so the poor continue to hope,
    while injustice is bound and gagged.

17-19 “So, what a blessing when God steps in and corrects you!
    Mind you, don’t despise the discipline of Almighty God!
True, he wounds, but he also dresses the wound;
    the same hand that hurts you, heals you.
From one disaster after another he delivers you;
    no matter what the calamity, the evil can’t touch you—

20-26 “In famine, he’ll keep you from starving,
    in war, from being gutted by the sword.
You’ll be protected from vicious gossip
    and live fearless through any catastrophe.
You’ll shrug off disaster and famine,
    and stroll fearlessly among wild animals.
You’ll be on good terms with rocks and mountains;
    wild animals will become your good friends.
You’ll know that your place on earth is safe,
    you’ll look over your goods and find nothing amiss.
You’ll see your children grow up,
    your family lovely and graceful as orchard grass.
You’ll arrive at your grave ripe with many good years,
    like sheaves of golden grain at harvest.

27 “Yes, this is the way things are—my word of honor!
    Take it to heart and you won’t go wrong.”

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion    
Sunday, May 30, 2021
Read: Revelation 5:6–12

 Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing at the center of the throne, encircled by the four living creatures and the elders. The Lamb had seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits[a] of God sent out into all the earth. 7 He went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who sat on the throne. 8 And when he had taken it, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of God’s people. 9 And they sang a new song, saying:

“You are worthy to take the scroll
    and to open its seals,
because you were slain,
    and with your blood you purchased for God
    persons from every tribe and language and people and nation.
10 You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God,
    and they will reign[b] on the earth.”

11 Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels, numbering thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand. They encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders. 12 In a loud voice they were saying:

“Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain,
    to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength
    and honor and glory and praise!”

Footnotes
Revelation 5:6 That is, the sevenfold Spirit
Revelation 5:10 Some manuscripts they reign

INSIGHT
Revelation, the last book of the Bible, alludes repeatedly to the misunderstood nature and ways of the King of kings. Almost thirty times in 5:6–22:3 “the revelation from Jesus Christ” (1:1) refers to the conquering “Lion of the tribe of Judah” (5:5) as “the Lamb” who has been slaughtered to take away the sin of the world (v. 6; see Isaiah 53:7–8; John 1:29). Jesus alone is portrayed as worthy to open the book of the future because He was slain (Revelation 4:1; 5:2–3, 9–10). He allowed the full force of evil to fall on Him to expose and conquer the lies of the serpent (12:9–10). Just as the Lamb of God was eternally destined to be misunderstood in self-sacrifice (Isaiah 53:4–6), those suffering the inevitable judgment and consequences of satanic rebellion will blame their fate on a God whose heart they still don’t understand (Revelation 6:16–17; Job 1–2).

By James Banks
Worth It, or Worthy?
Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain. Revelation 5:12

Helen Roseveare, an English missionary physician in the African Congo, was taken prisoner by rebels during the Simba Rebellion in 1964. Beaten and abused by her captors, she suffered terribly. In the days that followed, she found herself asking, “Is it worth it?”

As she began to ponder the cost of following Jesus, she sensed God speaking to her about it. Years later she explained to an interviewer, “When the awful moments came during the rebellion and the price seemed too high to pay, the Lord seemed to say to me, ‘Change the question. It’s not, ‘Is it worth it?’ It’s ‘Am I worthy?’ ” She concluded that in spite of the pain she had endured, “Always the answer is ‘Yes, He is worthy.’ ”

Through God’s grace at work within her during her harrowing ordeal, Helen Roseveare decided that the Savior who had suffered even death for her was worthy to be followed no matter what she faced. Her words “He is worthy” echo the cries of those surrounding Jesus’ throne in the book of Revelation: “In a loud voice they were saying: ‘Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!’ ” (5:12).

Our Savior suffered and bled and died for us, giving Himself entirely, so that we may freely receive eternal life and hope. His all deserves our all. He is worthy!

How does Jesus’ death and resurrection prove He’s greater than any circumstance you face? In what ways will you tell Him He’s worthy today?

You are always worthy to be worshiped, Jesus! Please help me to live today in Your presence with a grateful heart.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Sunday, May 30, 2021
Yes—But…!

Lord, I will follow You, but... —Luke 9:61

Suppose God tells you to do something that is an enormous test of your common sense, totally going against it. What will you do? Will you hold back? If you get into the habit of doing something physically, you will do it every time you are tested until you break the habit through sheer determination. And the same is true spiritually. Again and again you will come right up to what Jesus wants, but every time you will turn back at the true point of testing, until you are determined to abandon yourself to God in total surrender. Yet we tend to say, “Yes, but— suppose I do obey God in this matter, what about…?” Or we say, “Yes, I will obey God if what He asks of me doesn’t go against my common sense, but don’t ask me to take a step in the dark.”

Jesus Christ demands the same unrestrained, adventurous spirit in those who have placed their trust in Him that the natural man exhibits. If a person is ever going to do anything worthwhile, there will be times when he must risk everything by his leap in the dark. In the spiritual realm, Jesus Christ demands that you risk everything you hold on to or believe through common sense, and leap by faith into what He says. Once you obey, you will immediately find that what He says is as solidly consistent as common sense.

By the test of common sense, Jesus Christ’s statements may seem mad, but when you test them by the trial of faith, your findings will fill your spirit with the awesome fact that they are the very words of God. Trust completely in God, and when He brings you to a new opportunity of adventure, offering it to you, see that you take it. We act like pagans in a crisis— only one out of an entire crowd is daring enough to invest his faith in the character of God.

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS

We never enter into the Kingdom of God by having our head questions answered, but only by commitment.
The Highest Good—Thy Great Redemption

Bible in a Year: 2 Chronicles 10-12; John 11:30-57