Day 2 Job 29-32
Day 3 Job 33-36
Day 4 Job 37:1-40:5, Psalm 19
Day 5 Job 40:6-42:17, Psalm 29
Day 6 Exodus 1-4
Some thoughts and questions for this week:
- We hit on this a bit in Sunday School this week, but as you get to the end of Job, pay close attention to what God tells Job about his place in the world, his understanding of God's plan and creation, and his right to question God's judgment. Note that God does this in a stern but loving manner, allowing Job to repent and restoring his prosperity.
- As we transition from Job to Exodus, we move from the story of one of God's children to the story of God's Chosen People, from individual to nation. One thing that doesn't change is the window we have into God's sovereignty and His plan for the world. As with Genesis, don't look to the characters in Exodus as great moral examples unless the text specifically says so. Remember that while Exodus has lots of people in it, it is ultimately about God. Ask yourself what Exodus is saying about God. Watch for the ways that God uses both His children and His enemies to accomplish His purposes.
I haven't forgotten you, Gary. I will tackle some of these new thoughts tomorrow. I just love reading the Bible this way. It continues to give me insight. Some things I have forgotten and love being refreshed; some things I didn't catch the first few times I have read the Bible through; and some things just show me I am not supposed to try and explain all of God's mysteries. "See" ya tomorrow! Off to Celebrate Recovery!
ReplyDeleteHi Gary. Busy this week? Did not see any blogs from you. Is everything OK? I know your family has been sick. Hope all is well.
ReplyDeleteBeen a crazy week. Jen has been working at night a lot, so I have been picking up the slack. Still have to read Exodus today.
ReplyDeleteI know what you mean. Try this for a typical day:
ReplyDelete1. Take care of 2 grand-babies including diapering, toilet-training, feeding, napping, giving them attention, etc.
2. Work on my main college degree (Health Care Administration).
3. Work on secondary schooling at both Univ of Florida and Univ of Calif at Sacramento for wastewater certification (I am taking the last of the school tests and preparing for the state exam).
4. Create or practice AWANA activities for Wednesday nights.
5. Prepare Celebrate Recovery lessons.
6. Work out at the gym (three times a week)
7. Make dinner for Sheila when she comes home from work. It's only fair: she's worked all day.
8. Clean house - dishes, vacuum, laundry, fold, dust, pick up after grand-babies, etc. Again, only fair to Sheila while she works - although she does the DEEP cleaning on the weekends.
9. Grocery shopping (twice a week - fruits and vegetables turn bad after a few days so we got to keep stocked with minimal waste).
10. Personal prayer time and Bible study (aside from "Bible-In-A-Year").
10. Job-hunting/interviews (usually twice a week).
Don't let me get started about the weekend! LOL
In the meantime, have fun with Exodus. It is a fun book of the Bible. My real favorites are Joshua through Chronicles. Lots of testosterone oozing out of the pores of those books!
Amazing start to an amazing book of the Bible. Note that God became angry at Moses TWICE within four chapters!! First, Moses insisted that God get someone else to deliver the Israelites out of Egypt. What audacity! He even resisted taking on the task of leading the Israelites out of Egypt in the face of several miracles - the burning yet not consuming bush; God speaking to Moses from it; God having Moses throw down a staff that becomes a serpent yet become a staff again upon picking it back up; Moses' hand becoming leprous and then healing; and God telling Moses the water of the Nile would turn to blood when sampled up in a bucket and poured on its banks! I fail to see what came over Moses to question God's divine plan. I would have been saying, "Aye, aye, sir!" to everything God told me. But instead, Moses asks God if He could find someone else for the task. Moses even gave the Lord the flimsy excuse of a speech impediment, trying to persuade God to choose another leader.
ReplyDeleteGod did get angry with Moses for whining but His Almighty patience allowed him to compromise with Moses (Moses was one of His creations and had a plan for him - keep that in mind) and said his brother, Aaron, would assist him.
The second time God was angry with Moses (and this is a doozie!), was when Moses either forgot or stubbornly resisted his Hebrew heritage and custom of circumcision of all males. God was about to strike Moses dead, but his wife Zipporah intervened (with sarcasm and disdain) and circumcised Moses' son. God then showed patience and spared Moses' life. Wow!
You may be correct that we should not take these stories as lessons but as unfathomable truths of how God worked in the Old Testament. (Well, maybe I should learn ONE lesson from these first few chapters of Exodus - don't piss off the Lord!!! LOL).
More to follow...
Look at the tribes of Israel in Exodus 1. Do you see a miscount? You betcha! There are only ELEVEN tribes mentioned! You may ask where the missing one is (remember that Joseph was NOT a tribe of Israel).
ReplyDeleteHere is the answer (two-fold answer): Joseph had two sons - Ephraim and Manasseh (that is a story in itself). They became the other two tribes of Israel.
But you may interject, "No wait a minute. That would make THIRTEEN tribes of Israel!" Well, not so fast. The tribe of Levi is definitely a tribe of Israel, but they were given no land. Joshua 13:14 describes why: "But to the tribe of Levi he gave no inheritance, since the offerings made by fire to the LORD, the God of Israel, are their inheritance, as he promised them." [NIV].
We end Exodus 4 with Moses informing the elders of the prophecy God made manifest to him. The elders accepted the message to be true, bowed their heads and worshiped the Lord. This is a nice start to the Israelites deliverance from Egypt.
As they say in the Budweiser commercial (inappropriate to a Bible study but it still fits here) - "Here we go!" LOL