October 3rd

Job 25:1-29:25; Matthew 21:33-22:14; Psalm 18:7-15

There are three things to pull out from the Job reading today. The doxology, the place of wisdom and the links with what has gone before in our reading.

The doxology - in 26:7-14 Job lays out a hymn of praise to all that the Lord has done in the realm of creation and beyond. Job does not just cover the initial creation but the fact that each and every day God does his mighty acts, in the wind, the rain, the sea and so much more. Job takes another one of his time outs to go back to the glory of God despite all that he is going through. He praises God from the depth of his sadness with some wonderful words.

The next really important section from today’s reading is the entirety of chapter 28. Even when Job wrote these words people were mining the depths of the earth for precious metals. Nowadays we have managed to go even deeper and to places that Job’s era would not have dreamt of mining. And yet these words still stand true. Despite the endless college or university courses, wisdom is not something that people can mine or dig for, it is something that is purely the gift of God. It is a spiritual gift and true wisdom can only be found in God.

Finally, as I am finding more and more within our tour of the Bible, we find themes that are common to many of the writers. The more we hear these things the more we are able to understand the nature of God. Today it is Job 29:7-25 where Job talks about how people admired him when he was in his former glory. This echoes all the stuff that we saw in Joseph, when God was with him and he was with God, people recognised it and gave him credit for it. Similarly for Job, people saw that he was righteous and walked with God and young and old alike made space for him and spoke well of him.

Join with Job in words of praise to our God, for something he has done for you.