Job 31, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: DON’T GET LOST IN YOUR TROUBLES - July 12, 2021

Our minds cannot be full of God and, at the same time, full of fear. Don’t get lost in your troubles. Lift up your eyes! “He will keep in perfect peace all those who trust in him, whose thoughts turn often to the Lord!” (Isaiah 26:3 TLB)

Are you troubled, restless, sleepless? Then rejoice in the Lord’s sovereignty. I dare you—I double-dog dare you—to expose your worries to an hour of worship. Your concerns will melt like ice on an August sidewalk!

Jeremiah draws a direct connection between faith and peace. He says, “Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, and whose hope is in the Lord. For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters, which spreads out its roots by the river, and will not fear when heat comes; but its leaf will be green, and will not be anxious in the year of drought” (Jeremiah 17:7-8 NKJV).

Job 31

What Can I Expect from God?

 “I made a solemn pact with myself
    never to undress a girl with my eyes.
So what can I expect from God?
    What do I deserve from God Almighty above?
Isn’t calamity reserved for the wicked?
    Isn’t disaster supposed to strike those who do wrong?
Isn’t God looking, observing how I live?
    Doesn’t he mark every step I take?

5-8 “Have I walked hand in hand with falsehood,
    or hung out in the company of deceit?
Weigh me on a set of honest scales
    so God has proof of my integrity.
If I’ve strayed off the straight and narrow,
    wanted things I had no right to,
    messed around with sin,
Go ahead, then—
    give my portion to someone who deserves it.

9-12 “If I’ve let myself be seduced by a woman
    and conspired to go to bed with her,
Fine, my wife has every right to go ahead
    and sleep with anyone she wants to.
For disgusting behavior like that,
    I’d deserve the worst punishment you could hand out.
Adultery is a fire that burns the house down;
    I wouldn’t expect anything I count dear to survive it.

13-15 “Have I ever been unfair to my employees
    when they brought a complaint to me?
What, then, will I do when God confronts me?
    When God examines my books, what can I say?
Didn’t the same God who made me, make them?
    Aren’t we all made of the same stuff, equals before God?

16-18 “Have I ignored the needs of the poor,
    turned my back on the indigent,
Taken care of my own needs and fed my own face
    while they languished?
Wasn’t my home always open to them?
    Weren’t they always welcome at my table?

19-20 “Have I ever left a poor family shivering in the cold
    when they had no warm clothes?
Didn’t the poor bless me when they saw me coming,
    knowing I’d brought coats from my closet?

21-23 “If I’ve ever used my strength and influence
    to take advantage of the unfortunate,
Go ahead, break both my arms,
    cut off all my fingers!
The fear of God has kept me from these things—
    how else could I ever face him?

If Only Someone Would Give Me a Hearing!
24-28 “Did I set my heart on making big money
    or worship at the bank?
Did I boast about my wealth,
    show off because I was well-off?
Was I ever so awed by the sun’s brilliance
    and moved by the moon’s beauty
That I let myself become seduced by them
    and worshiped them on the sly?
If so, I would deserve the worst of punishments,
    for I would be betraying God himself.

29-30 “Did I ever gloat over my enemy’s ruin?
    Or get excited over my rival’s bad luck?
No, I never said a word of detraction,
    never cursed them, even under my breath.

31-34 “Didn’t those who worked for me say,
    ‘He fed us well. There were always second helpings’?
And no stranger ever had to spend a night in the street;
    my doors were always open to travelers.
Did I hide my sin the way Adam did,
    or conceal my guilt behind closed doors
Because I was afraid what people would say,
    fearing the gossip of the neighbors so much
That I turned myself into a recluse?
    You know good and well that I didn’t.

35-37 “Oh, if only someone would give me a hearing!
    I’ve signed my name to my defense—let the Almighty One answer!
    I want to see my indictment in writing.
Anyone’s welcome to read my defense;
    I’ll write it on a poster and carry it around town.
I’m prepared to account for every move I’ve ever made—
    to anyone and everyone, prince or pauper.

38-40 “If the very ground that I farm accuses me,
    if even the furrows fill with tears from my abuse,
If I’ve ever raped the earth for my own profit
    or dispossessed its rightful owners,
Then curse it with thistles instead of wheat,
    curse it with weeds instead of barley.”

The words of Job to his three friends were finished.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion    
Monday, July 12, 2021

Read: Genesis 3:17–24

 To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’

“Cursed is the ground because of you;
    through painful toil you will eat food from it
    all the days of your life.
18 It will produce thorns and thistles for you,
    and you will eat the plants of the field.
19 By the sweat of your brow
    you will eat your food
until you return to the ground,
    since from it you were taken;
for dust you are
    and to dust you will return.”

20 Adam[a] named his wife Eve,[b] because she would become the mother of all the living.

21 The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them. 22 And the Lord God said, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.” 23 So the Lord God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. 24 After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side[c] of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.

Footnotes
Genesis 3:20 Or The man
Genesis 3:20 Eve probably means living.
Genesis 3:24 Or placed in front

INSIGHT
God’s description of the consequences of Adam and Eve’s sin in Genesis 3:17–24 illustrates a principle that’s seen many times elsewhere in Scripture: human behavior has deep effects on the flourishing and welfare of creation as a whole. Other texts that emphasize this principle are Genesis 4:12 and Romans 8:19–21. In Romans 8, we see that just as human sin and brokenness have brought devastation to all of creation, so too human salvation and resurrection bring transformation to everything: “Creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God” (v. 21).

By Mike Wittmer
Jesus Restores Us

The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them. Genesis 3:21

Although Sam had done nothing wrong, he lost his job on the assembly line. Carelessness in another division led to problems in cars they built. After several crashes made the news, wary customers stopped buying their brand. The company had to downsize, leaving Sam out of work. He’s collateral damage, and it isn’t fair. It never is.

History’s first collateral damage occurred immediately after the first sin. Adam and Eve were ashamed of their nakedness, so God graciously clothed them with “garments of skin” (Genesis 3:21). It’s painful to imagine, but one or more animals that had always been safe in the garden were now slaughtered and skinned.

There was more to come. God told Israel, “Every day you are to provide a year-old lamb without defect for a burnt offering to the Lord; morning by morning you shall provide it” (Ezekiel 46:13). Every. Single. Day. How many thousands of animals have been sacrificed because of human sin?

Their death was necessary to cover our sin until Jesus, the Lamb of God, came to remove it (John 1:29). Call this “collateral repair.” As Adam’s sin kills us, so the Last Adam’s (Christ’s) obedience restores all who believe in Him (Romans 5:17–19). Collateral repair isn’t fair—it cost Jesus’ life—but it’s free. Reach out to Jesus in belief and receive the salvation He offers, and His righteous life will count for you.

When have you suffered for someone else’s mistake? When have you benefited from someone’s success, and how should you think about both situations?

Jesus, I believe in You, and I know Your life counts for me.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, July 12, 2021

The Spiritually Self-Seeking Church

…till we all come…to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ… —Ephesians 4:13

Reconciliation means the restoring of the relationship between the entire human race and God, putting it back to what God designed it to be. This is what Jesus Christ did in redemption. The church ceases to be spiritual when it becomes self-seeking, only interested in the development of its own organization. The reconciliation of the human race according to His plan means realizing Him not only in our lives individually, but also in our lives collectively. Jesus Christ sent apostles and teachers for this very purpose— that the corporate Person of Christ and His church, made up of many members, might be brought into being and made known. We are not here to develop a spiritual life of our own, or to enjoy a quiet spiritual retreat. We are here to have the full realization of Jesus Christ, for the purpose of building His body.

Am I building up the body of Christ, or am I only concerned about my own personal development? The essential thing is my personal relationship with Jesus Christ— “…that I may know Him…” (Philippians 3:10). To fulfill God’s perfect design for me requires my total surrender— complete abandonment of myself to Him. Whenever I only want things for myself, the relationship is distorted. And I will suffer great humiliation once I come to acknowledge and understand that I have not really been concerned about realizing Jesus Christ Himself, but only concerned with knowing what He has done for me.

My goal is God Himself, not joy nor peace,
Nor even blessing, but Himself, my God.

Am I measuring my life by this standard or by something less?

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS

We should always choose our books as God chooses our friends, just a bit beyond us, so that we have to do our level best to keep up with them. Shade of His Hand, 1216 L

Bible in a Year: Psalms 4-6; Acts 17:16-34

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Monday, July 12, 2021
The Only Way To Get Where You Want To Go - #9001

It was a big youth event. And, one of the top contemporary Christian bands was performing that night in a major arena, and I was part of the program, too. I offered to be a backup singer, but apparently they had that covered. I'm actually a good backup singer. I mean, when I sing, people back up! Actually, I was there to speak that night, and not to do comedy, obviously, and it's a good thing. And I had some Native young people from our summer team there with me. One of them was accompanying me as we tried to connect with some of the team at another entrance. We went through the tunnels that connect the backstage part of the arena, and everywhere we went, we met those big, beefy security guys. They'd look at my all-access security pass and they'd wave me on. But they weren't quite as friendly to the young team member who was with me. They stopped her and asked her if she had a pass. She didn't. None of the team members did because they weren't on the program. And that's where the magic words came in. They worked for the girl who was with me; they worked every time for the young people who joined me. I would just say, "She's with me. He's with me."

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Only Way To Get Where You Want To Go."

One day you and I will reach the end of our journey here on earth and we'll keep our long-scheduled appointment with God Himself. It's an appointment we can't cancel; we can't postpone. The Bible says, "Man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment" (Hebrews 9:27). If you're like most people, you're hoping God will welcome you into His heaven. The Bible gives only one other alternative and it's an unthinkable way to spend eternity.

A lot of people aren't going to make it. Jesus said, "only a few find the road that leads to eternal life" (Matthew 7:14). How can you be sure you're going to heaven when you die? We can learn a lot from listening in on a conversation that Jesus had in His last moments before He died on the cross, with a thief who was being crucified on the cross next to Him. It's recorded in Luke 23:42-43, our word for today from the Word of God. The thief speaks first: "'Jesus, remember me when You come into Your kingdom.' Jesus answered him, 'Today you will be with Me in paradise.'" This man was guaranteed by Jesus Himself that he would be in heaven that day because of two words, "With Me." When he stood before God, Jesus would say, "He's with Me."

Will He say that when it's your turn to stand before God? See it all depends on what you're depending on to get you to heaven. You can't get into heaven with the sin of your life, it's recorded in God's book, and there's only one way for your sin to be erased. The eternal death penalty for your sins has to be paid. On that awful cross, God's Son was actually absorbing that penalty so you would never have to pay it. He did your hell so you could have heaven because He loves you beyond words. The Bible says, "Everyone who believes in Jesus receives forgiveness of sins through His name" (Acts 10:43). If you're pinning your hopes for heaven on anything other than Jesus; your religion, your goodness, your Christian family, your Christian beliefs, you're holding onto a ticket that God isn't going to accept.

Jesus described some people with lots of Christianity who will stand before Him on Judgment Day and He will say these four chilling words to them, "I never knew you" (Matthew 7:24). Because they never got past knowing about Him to knowing Him. Don't let that be you. If you've never really pinned all your hopes on Jesus as your only Rescuer from your sin, this could be a very good day to do that; the only day you can be sure of.

I'd love to be able to help you make sure you belong to Him, and that's why I want to encourage you to get to our website. It's ANewStory.com. I think you can come away from there knowing you belong to Jesus.

Turn to Him today. Say, "Remember me, Lord." And when you stand at the gates of heaven, you're going in because Jesus will look at you and say those words that decide everything, "He's with Me. She's with Me."