DAY ONE HUNDRED-FORTY NINE
____
May 29
Devotional
If they listen and serve him, they will end their days in prosperity and their years in happiness. Job 36:11 CSB
The Bible often has some thoughts that fit into the “if and then” category. Today’s verse is one of those examples. On the “if” side is the invitation to listen and serve God. How do you do when it comes to listening to God? Do you have more to say to God than He has the opportunity to say to you? God wants to speak to you. God wants you to act on what you hear. If you are so busy talking, you can miss out on the guidance and direction God has for you. On the “then” side of the statement is a promised prosperity and happiness. It’s important to think of prosperity and happiness through God’s perspective and not yours. As you choose to listen and serve, it begins to bring your perspective into alignment with God’s. Choose today to start with the “if” and discover how God will provide the “then.”
Job 35 CSB
Elihu’s Angry Response35 Then Elihu continued, saying:
2 Do you think it is just when you say,
“I am righteous before God”?
3 For you ask, “What does it profit you,
and what benefit comes to me, if I do not sin?”
4 I will answer you
and your friends with you.
5 Look at the heavens and see;
gaze at the clouds high above you.
6 If you sin, how does it affect God?
If you multiply your transgressions, what does it do to him?
7 If you are righteous, what do you give him,
or what does he receive from your hand?
8 Your wickedness affects a person like yourself,
and your righteousness, a son of man.
9 People cry out because of severe oppression;
they shout for help because of the power of the mighty.
10 But no one asks, “Where is God my Maker,
who provides us with songs in the night,
11 who gives us more understanding than the animals of the earth
and makes us wiser than the birds of the sky?”
12 There they cry out, but he does not answer,
because of the pride of evil people.
13 Indeed, God does not listen to empty cries,
and the Almighty does not take note of it—
14 how much less when you complain
that you do not see him,
that your case is before him
and you are waiting for him.
15 But now, because God’s anger does not punish
and he does not pay attention to transgression,
16 Job opens his mouth in vain
and multiplies words without knowledge.
Job 36 CSB
36 Then Elihu continued, saying:2 Be patient with me a little longer, and I will inform you,
for there is still more to be said on God’s behalf.
3 I will get my knowledge from a distant place
and ascribe justice to my Maker.
4 Indeed, my words are not false;
one who has complete knowledge is with you.
5 Yes, God is mighty, but he despises no one;
he understands all things.
6 He does not keep the wicked alive,
but he gives justice to the oppressed.
7 He does not withdraw his gaze from the righteous,
but he seats them forever with enthroned kings,
and they are exalted.
8 If people are bound with chains
and trapped by the cords of affliction,
9 God tells them what they have done
and how arrogantly they have transgressed.
10 He opens their ears to correction
and tells them to repent from iniquity.
11 If they listen and serve him,
they will end their days in prosperity
and their years in happiness.
12 But if they do not listen,
they will cross the river of death
and die without knowledge.
13 Those who have a godless heart harbor anger;
even when God binds them, they do not cry for help.
14 They die in their youth;
their life ends among male cult prostitutes.
15 God rescues the afflicted by their affliction;
he instructs them by their torment.
16 Indeed, he lured you from the jaws of distress
to a spacious and unconfined place.
Your table was spread with choice food.
17 Yet now you are obsessed with the judgment due the wicked;
judgment and justice have seized you.
18 Be careful that no one lures you with riches;
do not let a large ransom lead you astray.
19 Can your wealth or all your physical exertion
keep you from distress?
20 Do not long for the night
when nations will disappear from their places.
21 Be careful that you do not turn to iniquity,
for that is why you have been tested by affliction.
22 Look, God shows himself exalted by his power.
Who is a teacher like him?
23 Who has appointed his way for him,
and who has declared, “You have done wrong”?
24 Remember that you should praise his work,
which people have sung about.
25 All mankind has seen it;
people have looked at it from a distance.
26 Yes, God is exalted beyond our knowledge;
the number of his years cannot be counted.
27 For he makes waterdrops evaporate;
they distill the rain into its mist,
28 which the clouds pour out
and shower abundantly on mankind.
29 Can anyone understand how the clouds spread out
or how the thunder roars from God’s pavilion?
30 See how he spreads his lightning around him
and covers the depths of the sea.
31 For he judges the nations with these;
he gives food in abundance.
32 He covers his hands with lightning
and commands it to hit its mark.
33 The thunder declares his presence;
the cattle also, the approaching storm.
Job 37 CSB
37 My heart pounds at thisand leaps from my chest.
2 Just listen to his thunderous voice
and the rumbling that comes from his mouth.
3 He lets it loose beneath the entire sky;
his lightning to the ends of the earth.
4 Then there comes a roaring sound;
God thunders with his majestic voice.
He does not restrain the lightning
when his rumbling voice is heard.
5 God thunders wondrously with his voice;
he does great things that we cannot comprehend.
6 For he says to the snow, “Fall to the earth,”
and the torrential rains, his mighty torrential rains,
7 serve as his sign to all mankind,
so that all men may know his work.
8 The wild animals enter their lairs
and stay in their dens.
9 The windstorm comes from its chamber,
and the cold from the driving north winds.
10 Ice is formed by the breath of God,
and watery expanses are frozen.
11 He saturates clouds with moisture;
he scatters his lightning through them.
12 They swirl about,
turning round and round at his direction,
accomplishing everything he commands them
over the surface of the inhabited world.
13 He causes this to happen for punishment,
for his land, or for his faithful love.
14 Listen to this, Job.
Stop and consider God’s wonders.
15 Do you know how God directs his clouds
or makes their lightning flash?
16 Do you understand how the clouds float,
those wonderful works of him who has perfect knowledge?
17 You whose clothes get hot
when the south wind brings calm to the land,
18 can you help God spread out the skies
as hard as a cast metal mirror?
19 Teach us what we should say to him;
we cannot prepare our case because of our darkness.
20 Should he be told that I want to speak?
Can a man speak when he is confused?
21 Now no one can even look at the sun
after a wind has swept through and cleared the sky.
22 Out of the north he comes, shrouded in a golden glow;
awesome majesty surrounds him.
23 The Almighty—we cannot reach him—
he is exalted in power!
He will not violate justice and abundant righteousness,
24 therefore, men fear him.
He does not look favorably on any who are wise in heart.
Psalm 144 CSB
A King’s PrayerOf David.
1 Blessed be the Lord, my rock
who trains my hands for battle
and my fingers for warfare.
2 He is my faithful love and my fortress,
my stronghold and my deliverer.
He is my shield, and I take refuge in him;
he subdues my people under me.
3 Lord, what is a human that you care for him,
a son of man that you think of him?
4 A human is like a breath;
his days are like a passing shadow.
5 Lord, part your heavens and come down.
Touch the mountains, and they will smoke.
6 Flash your lightning and scatter the foe;
shoot your arrows and rout them.
7 Reach down from on high;
rescue me from deep water, and set me free
from the grasp of foreigners
8 whose mouths speak lies,
whose right hands are deceptive.
9 God, I will sing a new song to you;
I will play on a ten-stringed harp for you—
10 the one who gives victory to kings,
who frees his servant David
from the deadly sword.
11 Set me free and rescue me
from foreigners
whose mouths speak lies,
whose right hands are deceptive.
12 Then our sons will be like plants
nurtured in their youth,
our daughters, like corner pillars
that are carved in the palace style.
13 Our storehouses will be full,
supplying all kinds of produce;
our flocks will increase by thousands
and tens of thousands in our open fields.
14 Our cattle will be well fed.
There will be no breach in the walls,
no going into captivity,
and no cry of lament in our public squares.
15 Happy are the people with such blessings.
Happy are the people whose God is the Lord.
Job 35 CSB
Elihu’s Angry Response35 Then Elihu continued, saying:
2 Do you think it is just when you say,
“I am righteous before God”?
3 For you ask, “What does it profit you,
and what benefit comes to me, if I do not sin?”
4 I will answer you
and your friends with you.
5 Look at the heavens and see;
gaze at the clouds high above you.
6 If you sin, how does it affect God?
If you multiply your transgressions, what does it do to him?
7 If you are righteous, what do you give him,
or what does he receive from your hand?
8 Your wickedness affects a person like yourself,
and your righteousness, a son of man.
9 People cry out because of severe oppression;
they shout for help because of the power of the mighty.
10 But no one asks, “Where is God my Maker,
who provides us with songs in the night,
11 who gives us more understanding than the animals of the earth
and makes us wiser than the birds of the sky?”
12 There they cry out, but he does not answer,
because of the pride of evil people.
13 Indeed, God does not listen to empty cries,
and the Almighty does not take note of it—
14 how much less when you complain
that you do not see him,
that your case is before him
and you are waiting for him.
15 But now, because God’s anger does not punish
and he does not pay attention to transgression,
16 Job opens his mouth in vain
and multiplies words without knowledge.
----
Job 36 CSB
36 Then Elihu continued, saying:2 Be patient with me a little longer, and I will inform you,
for there is still more to be said on God’s behalf.
3 I will get my knowledge from a distant place
and ascribe justice to my Maker.
4 Indeed, my words are not false;
one who has complete knowledge is with you.
5 Yes, God is mighty, but he despises no one;
he understands all things.
6 He does not keep the wicked alive,
but he gives justice to the oppressed.
7 He does not withdraw his gaze from the righteous,
but he seats them forever with enthroned kings,
and they are exalted.
8 If people are bound with chains
and trapped by the cords of affliction,
9 God tells them what they have done
and how arrogantly they have transgressed.
10 He opens their ears to correction
and tells them to repent from iniquity.
11 If they listen and serve him,
they will end their days in prosperity
and their years in happiness.
12 But if they do not listen,
they will cross the river of death
and die without knowledge.
13 Those who have a godless heart harbor anger;
even when God binds them, they do not cry for help.
14 They die in their youth;
their life ends among male cult prostitutes.
15 God rescues the afflicted by their affliction;
he instructs them by their torment.
16 Indeed, he lured you from the jaws of distress
to a spacious and unconfined place.
Your table was spread with choice food.
17 Yet now you are obsessed with the judgment due the wicked;
judgment and justice have seized you.
18 Be careful that no one lures you with riches;
do not let a large ransom lead you astray.
19 Can your wealth or all your physical exertion
keep you from distress?
20 Do not long for the night
when nations will disappear from their places.
21 Be careful that you do not turn to iniquity,
for that is why you have been tested by affliction.
22 Look, God shows himself exalted by his power.
Who is a teacher like him?
23 Who has appointed his way for him,
and who has declared, “You have done wrong”?
24 Remember that you should praise his work,
which people have sung about.
25 All mankind has seen it;
people have looked at it from a distance.
26 Yes, God is exalted beyond our knowledge;
the number of his years cannot be counted.
27 For he makes waterdrops evaporate;
they distill the rain into its mist,
28 which the clouds pour out
and shower abundantly on mankind.
29 Can anyone understand how the clouds spread out
or how the thunder roars from God’s pavilion?
30 See how he spreads his lightning around him
and covers the depths of the sea.
31 For he judges the nations with these;
he gives food in abundance.
32 He covers his hands with lightning
and commands it to hit its mark.
33 The thunder declares his presence;
the cattle also, the approaching storm.
----
Job 37 CSB
37 My heart pounds at thisand leaps from my chest.
2 Just listen to his thunderous voice
and the rumbling that comes from his mouth.
3 He lets it loose beneath the entire sky;
his lightning to the ends of the earth.
4 Then there comes a roaring sound;
God thunders with his majestic voice.
He does not restrain the lightning
when his rumbling voice is heard.
5 God thunders wondrously with his voice;
he does great things that we cannot comprehend.
6 For he says to the snow, “Fall to the earth,”
and the torrential rains, his mighty torrential rains,
7 serve as his sign to all mankind,
so that all men may know his work.
8 The wild animals enter their lairs
and stay in their dens.
9 The windstorm comes from its chamber,
and the cold from the driving north winds.
10 Ice is formed by the breath of God,
and watery expanses are frozen.
11 He saturates clouds with moisture;
he scatters his lightning through them.
12 They swirl about,
turning round and round at his direction,
accomplishing everything he commands them
over the surface of the inhabited world.
13 He causes this to happen for punishment,
for his land, or for his faithful love.
14 Listen to this, Job.
Stop and consider God’s wonders.
15 Do you know how God directs his clouds
or makes their lightning flash?
16 Do you understand how the clouds float,
those wonderful works of him who has perfect knowledge?
17 You whose clothes get hot
when the south wind brings calm to the land,
18 can you help God spread out the skies
as hard as a cast metal mirror?
19 Teach us what we should say to him;
we cannot prepare our case because of our darkness.
20 Should he be told that I want to speak?
Can a man speak when he is confused?
21 Now no one can even look at the sun
after a wind has swept through and cleared the sky.
22 Out of the north he comes, shrouded in a golden glow;
awesome majesty surrounds him.
23 The Almighty—we cannot reach him—
he is exalted in power!
He will not violate justice and abundant righteousness,
24 therefore, men fear him.
He does not look favorably on any who are wise in heart.
----
Psalm 144 CSB
A King’s PrayerOf David.
1 Blessed be the Lord, my rock
who trains my hands for battle
and my fingers for warfare.
2 He is my faithful love and my fortress,
my stronghold and my deliverer.
He is my shield, and I take refuge in him;
he subdues my people under me.
3 Lord, what is a human that you care for him,
a son of man that you think of him?
4 A human is like a breath;
his days are like a passing shadow.
5 Lord, part your heavens and come down.
Touch the mountains, and they will smoke.
6 Flash your lightning and scatter the foe;
shoot your arrows and rout them.
7 Reach down from on high;
rescue me from deep water, and set me free
from the grasp of foreigners
8 whose mouths speak lies,
whose right hands are deceptive.
9 God, I will sing a new song to you;
I will play on a ten-stringed harp for you—
10 the one who gives victory to kings,
who frees his servant David
from the deadly sword.
11 Set me free and rescue me
from foreigners
whose mouths speak lies,
whose right hands are deceptive.
12 Then our sons will be like plants
nurtured in their youth,
our daughters, like corner pillars
that are carved in the palace style.
13 Our storehouses will be full,
supplying all kinds of produce;
our flocks will increase by thousands
and tens of thousands in our open fields.
14 Our cattle will be well fed.
There will be no breach in the walls,
no going into captivity,
and no cry of lament in our public squares.
15 Happy are the people with such blessings.
Happy are the people whose God is the Lord.
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