August 27: Job 22–23; 1 Thessalonians 4:13–5:11; Psalm 53; Proverbs 22:10–12

Job 22–23 (Listen)

Eliphaz Speaks: Job’s Wickedness Is Great

22 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said:

2   “Can a man be profitable to God?
    Surely he who is wise is profitable to himself.
3   Is it any pleasure to the Almighty if you are in the right,
    or is it gain to him if you make your ways blameless?
4   Is it for your fear of him that he reproves you
    and enters into judgment with you?
5   Is not your evil abundant?
    There is no end to your iniquities.
6   For you have exacted pledges of your brothers for nothing
    and stripped the naked of their clothing.
7   You have given no water to the weary to drink,
    and you have withheld bread from the hungry.
8   The man with power possessed the land,
    and the favored man lived in it.
9   You have sent widows away empty,
    and the arms of the fatherless were crushed.
10   Therefore snares are all around you,
    and sudden terror overwhelms you,
11   or darkness, so that you cannot see,
    and a flood of water covers you.
12   “Is not God high in the heavens?
    See the highest stars, how lofty they are!
13   But you say, ‘What does God know?
    Can he judge through the deep darkness?
14   Thick clouds veil him, so that he does not see,
    and he walks on the vault of heaven.’
15   Will you keep to the old way
    that wicked men have trod?
16   They were snatched away before their time;
    their foundation was washed away.¹
17   They said to God, ‘Depart from us,’
    and ‘What can the Almighty do to us?’²
18   Yet he filled their houses with good things—
    but the counsel of the wicked is far from me.
19   The righteous see it and are glad;
    the innocent one mocks at them,
20   saying, ‘Surely our adversaries are cut off,
    and what they left the fire has consumed.’
21   “Agree with God, and be at peace;
    thereby good will come to you.
22   Receive instruction from his mouth,
    and lay up his words in your heart.
23   If you return to the Almighty you will be built up;
    if you remove injustice far from your tents,
24   if you lay gold in the dust,
    and gold of Ophir among the stones of the torrent-bed,
25   then the Almighty will be your gold
    and your precious silver.
26   For then you will delight yourself in the Almighty
    and lift up your face to God.
27   You will make your prayer to him, and he will hear you,
    and you will pay your vows.
28   You will decide on a matter, and it will be established for you,
    and light will shine on your ways.
29   For when they are humbled you say, ‘It is because of pride’;³
    but he saves the lowly.
30   He delivers even the one who is not innocent,
    who will be delivered through the cleanness of your hands.”

Job Replies: Where Is God?

23 Then Job answered and said:

2   “Today also my complaint is bitter;⁴
    my hand is heavy on account of my groaning.
3   Oh, that I knew where I might find him,
    that I might come even to his seat!
4   I would lay my case before him
    and fill my mouth with arguments.
5   I would know what he would answer me
    and understand what he would say to me.
6   Would he contend with me in the greatness of his power?
    No; he would pay attention to me.
7   There an upright man could argue with him,
    and I would be acquitted forever by my judge.
8   “Behold, I go forward, but he is not there,
    and backward, but I do not perceive him;
9   on the left hand when he is working, I do not behold him;
    he turns to the right hand, but I do not see him.
10   But he knows the way that I take;
    when he has tried me, I shall come out as gold.
11   My foot has held fast to his steps;
    I have kept his way and have not turned aside.
12   I have not departed from the commandment of his lips;
    I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my portion of food.
13   But he is unchangeable,⁵ and who can turn him back?
    What he desires, that he does.
14   For he will complete what he appoints for me,
    and many such things are in his mind.
15   Therefore I am terrified at his presence;
    when I consider, I am in dread of him.
16   God has made my heart faint;
    the Almighty has terrified me;
17   yet I am not silenced because of the darkness,
    nor because thick darkness covers my face.

(ESV)

1 Thessalonians 4:13–5:11 (Listen)

The Coming of the Lord

13 But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. 14 For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. 15 For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord,¹ that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. 18 Therefore encourage one another with these words.

The Day of the Lord

5 Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers,² you have no need to have anything written to you. 2 For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. 3 While people are saying, “There is peace and security,” then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. 4 But you are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief. 5 For you are all children³ of light, children of the day. We are not of the night or of the darkness. 6 So then let us not sleep, as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober. 7 For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, are drunk at night. 8 But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation. 9 For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, 10 who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him. 11 Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.

(ESV)

Psalm 53 (Listen)

There Is None Who Does Good

To the choirmaster: according to Mahalath. A Maskil¹ of David.

53   The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.”
    They are corrupt, doing abominable iniquity;
    there is none who does good.
2   God looks down from heaven
    on the children of man
  to see if there are any who understand,²
    who seek after God.
3   They have all fallen away;
    together they have become corrupt;
  there is none who does good,
    not even one.
4   Have those who work evil no knowledge,
    who eat up my people as they eat bread,
    and do not call upon God?
5   There they are, in great terror,
    where there is no terror!
  For God scatters the bones of him who encamps against you;
    you put them to shame, for God has rejected them.
6   Oh, that salvation for Israel would come out of Zion!
    When God restores the fortunes of his people,
    let Jacob rejoice, let Israel be glad.

(ESV)

Proverbs 22:10–12 (Listen)

10   Drive out a scoffer, and strife will go out,
    and quarreling and abuse will cease.
11   He who loves purity of heart,
    and whose speech is gracious, will have the king as his friend.
12   The eyes of the LORD keep watch over knowledge,
    but he overthrows the words of the traitor.

(ESV)