August 23: Job 13-14; Psalm 49; Luke 12

Job 13-14

Job Continues: Still I Will Hope in God

13   “Behold, my eye has seen all this,
    my ear has heard and understood it.
  What you know, I also know;
    I am not inferior to you.
  But I would speak to the Almighty,
    and I desire to argue my case with God.
  As for you, you whitewash with lies;
    worthless physicians are you all.
  Oh that you would keep silent,
    and it would be your wisdom!
  Hear now my argument
    and listen to the pleadings of my lips.
  Will you speak falsely for God
    and speak deceitfully for him?
  Will you show partiality toward him?
    Will you plead the case for God?
  Will it be well with you when he searches you out?
    Or can you deceive him, as one deceives a man?
  He will surely rebuke you
    if in secret you show partiality.
  Will not his majesty terrify you,
    and the dread of him fall upon you?
  Your maxims are proverbs of ashes;
    your defenses are defenses of clay.
  “Let me have silence, and I will speak,
    and let come on me what may.
  Why should I take my flesh in my teeth
    and put my life in my hand?
  Though he slay me, I will hope in him;¹
    yet I will argue my ways to his face.
  This will be my salvation,
    that the godless shall not come before him.
  Keep listening to my words,
    and let my declaration be in your ears.
  Behold, I have prepared my case;
    I know that I shall be in the right.
  Who is there who will contend with me?
    For then I would be silent and die.
  Only grant me two things,
    then I will not hide myself from your face:
  withdraw your hand far from me,
    and let not dread of you terrify me.
  Then call, and I will answer;
    or let me speak, and you reply to me.
  How many are my iniquities and my sins?
    Make me know my transgression and my sin.
  Why do you hide your face
    and count me as your enemy?
  Will you frighten a driven leaf
    and pursue dry chaff?
  For you write bitter things against me
    and make me inherit the iniquities of my youth.
  You put my feet in the stocks
    and watch all my paths;
    you set a limit for² the soles of my feet.
  Man³ wastes away like a rotten thing,
    like a garment that is moth-eaten.

Job Continues: Death Comes Soon to All

14   “Man who is born of a woman
    is few of days and full of trouble.
  He comes out like a flower and withers;
    he flees like a shadow and continues not.
  And do you open your eyes on such a one
    and bring me into judgment with you?
  Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean?
    There is not one.
  Since his days are determined,
    and the number of his months is with you,
    and you have appointed his limits that he cannot pass,
  look away from him and leave him alone,⁴
    that he may enjoy, like a hired hand, his day.
  “For there is hope for a tree,
    if it be cut down, that it will sprout again,
    and that its shoots will not cease.
  Though its root grow old in the earth,
    and its stump die in the soil,
  yet at the scent of water it will bud
    and put out branches like a young plant.
  But a man dies and is laid low;
    man breathes his last, and where is he?
  As waters fail from a lake
    and a river wastes away and dries up,
  so a man lies down and rises not again;
    till the heavens are no more he will not awake
    or be roused out of his sleep.
  Oh that you would hide me in Sheol,
    that you would conceal me until your wrath be past,
    that you would appoint me a set time, and remember me!
  If a man dies, shall he live again?
    All the days of my service I would wait,
    till my renewal⁵ should come.
  You would call, and I would answer you;
    you would long for the work of your hands.
  For then you would number my steps;
    you would not keep watch over my sin;
  my transgression would be sealed up in a bag,
    and you would cover over my iniquity.
  “But the mountain falls and crumbles away,
    and the rock is removed from its place;
  the waters wear away the stones;
    the torrents wash away the soil of the earth;
    so you destroy the hope of man.
  You prevail forever against him, and he passes;
    you change his countenance, and send him away.
  His sons come to honor, and he does not know it;
    they are brought low, and he perceives it not.
  He feels only the pain of his own body,
    and he mourns only for himself.”

(ESV)

Psalm 49

Why Should I Fear in Times of Trouble?

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of the Sons of Korah.

49   Hear this, all peoples!
    Give ear, all inhabitants of the world,
  both low and high,
    rich and poor together!
  My mouth shall speak wisdom;
    the meditation of my heart shall be understanding.
  I will incline my ear to a proverb;
    I will solve my riddle to the music of the lyre.
  Why should I fear in times of trouble,
    when the iniquity of those who cheat me surrounds me,
  those who trust in their wealth
    and boast of the abundance of their riches?
  Truly no man can ransom another,
    or give to God the price of his life,
  for the ransom of their life is costly
    and can never suffice,
  that he should live on forever
    and never see the pit.
  For he sees that even the wise die;
    the fool and the stupid alike must perish
    and leave their wealth to others.
  Their graves are their homes forever,¹
    their dwelling places to all generations,
    though they called lands by their own names.
  Man in his pomp will not remain;
    he is like the beasts that perish.
  This is the path of those who have foolish confidence;
    yet after them people approve of their boasts.²Selah
  Like sheep they are appointed for Sheol;
    death shall be their shepherd,
  and the upright shall rule over them in the morning.
    Their form shall be consumed in Sheol, with no place to dwell.
  But God will ransom my soul from the power of Sheol,
    for he will receive me. Selah
  Be not afraid when a man becomes rich,
    when the glory of his house increases.
  For when he dies he will carry nothing away;
    his glory will not go down after him.
  For though, while he lives, he counts himself blessed
    —and though you get praise when you do well for yourself—
  his soul will go to the generation of his fathers,
    who will never again see light.
  Man in his pomp yet without understanding is like the beasts that perish.

(ESV)

Luke 12

Beware of the Leaven of the Pharisees

12 In the meantime, when so many thousands of the people had gathered together that they were trampling one another, he began to say to his disciples first, “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.Nothing is covered up that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known.Therefore whatever you have said in the dark shall be heard in the light, and what you have whispered in private rooms shall be proclaimed on the housetops.

Have No Fear

“I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body, and after that have nothing more that they can do.But I will warn you whom to fear: fear him who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell.¹ Yes, I tell you, fear him!Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies?² And not one of them is forgotten before God.Why, even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not; you are of more value than many sparrows.

Acknowledge Christ Before Men

“And I tell you, everyone who acknowledges me before men, the Son of Man also will acknowledge before the angels of God,but the one who denies me before men will be denied before the angels of God.And everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but the one who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven.And when they bring you before the synagogues and the rulers and the authorities, do not be anxious about how you should defend yourself or what you should say,for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say.”

The Parable of the Rich Fool

Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.” But he said to him, “Man, who made me a judge or arbitrator over you?”And he said to them, “Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.”And he told them a parable, saying, “The land of a rich man produced plentifully,and he thought to himself, ‘What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’And he said, ‘I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods.And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.”’But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.”

Do Not Be Anxious

And he said to his disciples, “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat, nor about your body, what you will put on.For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing.Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds!And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?³If then you are not able to do as small a thing as that, why are you anxious about the rest?Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin,⁴ yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.But if God so clothes the grass, which is alive in the field today, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith!And do not seek what you are to eat and what you are to drink, nor be worried.For all the nations of the world seek after these things, and your Father knows that you need them.Instead, seek his⁵ kingdom, and these things will be added to you.

“Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.Sell your possessions, and give to the needy. Provide yourselves with moneybags that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys.For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

You Must Be Ready

“Stay dressed for action⁶ and keep your lamps burning,and be like men who are waiting for their master to come home from the wedding feast, so that they may open the door to him at once when he comes and knocks.Blessed are those servants⁷ whom the master finds awake when he comes. Truly, I say to you, he will dress himself for service and have them recline at table, and he will come and serve them.If he comes in the second watch, or in the third, and finds them awake, blessed are those servants!But know this, that if the master of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he⁸ would not have left his house to be broken into.You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.”

Peter said, “Lord, are you telling this parable for us or for all?” And the Lord said, “Who then is the faithful and wise manager, whom his master will set over his household, to give them their portion of food at the proper time?Blessed is that servant⁹ whom his master will find so doing when he comes.Truly, I say to you, he will set him over all his possessions.But if that servant says to himself, ‘My master is delayed in coming,’ and begins to beat the male and female servants, and to eat and drink and get drunk,the master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know, and will cut him in pieces and put him with the unfaithful.And that servant who knew his master's will but did not get ready or act according to his will, will receive a severe beating.But the one who did not know, and did what deserved a beating, will receive a light beating. Everyone to whom much was given, of him much will be required, and from him to whom they entrusted much, they will demand the more.

Not Peace, but Division

“I came to cast fire on the earth, and would that it were already kindled!I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how great is my distress until it is accomplished!Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division.For from now on in one house there will be five divided, three against two and two against three.They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.”

Interpreting the Time

He also said to the crowds, “When you see a cloud rising in the west, you say at once, ‘A shower is coming.’ And so it happens.And when you see the south wind blowing, you say, ‘There will be scorching heat,’ and it happens.You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of earth and sky, but why do you not know how to interpret the present time?

Settle with Your Accuser

“And why do you not judge for yourselves what is right?As you go with your accuser before the magistrate, make an effort to settle with him on the way, lest he drag you to the judge, and the judge hand you over to the officer, and the officer put you in prison.I tell you, you will never get out until you have paid the very last penny.”¹⁰

(ESV)