The Bible Reading Challenge Presented by VCY

TODAY’S BIBLE READING CHALLENGE:
  Job 20:1-22:30
  2 Corinthians 1:1-11
  Psalm 40:11-17
  Proverbs 22:2-4

Job 20:1 — Let’s recap where we are. We are in the second round of the great debate on suffering. Job 3-14 contains Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar’s opening statements followed by Job’s rebuttals. Now we are at the end of Round 2 where we will see Zophar’s second discourse followed by Job’s Response. This is actually Zophar’s closing statement since he will not participate in Round 3. Finally, we’ll see Eliphaz’s final statement in Job 22. From J. Vernon McGee:

First Round

• Job 3
• Eliphaz, 1st Discourse 4, 5
• Job’s Answer 6, 7
• Bildad, 1st Discourse 8
• Job’s Answer 9, 10
• Zophar, 1st Discourse 11
• Job’s Answer 12—14

Second Round

• Eliphaz, 2nd Discourse 15
• Job’s Answer 16, 17
• Bildad, 2nd Discourse 18
• Job’s Answer 19
• Zophar, 2nd Discourse 20
• Job’s Answer 21

Third Round

• Eliphaz, 3rd Discourse 22
• Job’s Answer 23, 24
• Bildad, 3rd Discourse 25
• Job’s Answer 26—31

Job 20:2 — From J. Vernon McGee:

Zophar’s second discourse. He introduces nothing new. He rests upon his seniority and resorts to the same legalism. He still holds to the theory that Job is a very wicked person because of the law that the wicked must be punished (vv. 3-5).

Job 21:1 — From J. Vernon McGee:

Job’s answer. Job is growing weary of their false charges. He appeals to a higher court (vv. 1-4). He agrees that the wicked will be punished but insists that this does not apply to his case.

Job 21:7-15 — Job points out that in addition to wondering why do bad things happen to good people (him), he also wants to know why good things happen to bad people!

Job 22:1 — From J. Vernon McGee:

Eliphaz’s third discourse. He accuses Job of being self-righteous (vs. 3). His final word to Job is a great gospel invitation, but it does not fit Job’s case (vs. 21). He admonishes Job to return to God (vv. 22-30).

2 Corinthians 1:1 — Timothy, whom Paul was afraid they would despise (1 Corinthians 16:11), who was Paul’s beloved son (1 Corinthians 4:17), is now with Paul!

2 Corinthians 1:3 — How is God the God of all comfort?

• in tribulation (2 Corinthians 1:4)
• through us to those in trouble (2 Corinthians 1:4)
• through the sufferings of Christ (2 Corinthians 1:5)
• through the afflictions and comfortings of Paul (2 Corinthians 1:6)
• for the Corinthian partakers (2 Corinthians 1:7)
• by trust in God which raiseth the dead (2 Corinthians 1:9)
• through deliverance (2 Corinthians 1:10)
• through the prayers of God’s people (2 Corinthians 1:11)

Psalm 40:11, 17 — The second stanza of yesterday’s song draws from Psalm 40 today!

Proverbs 22:3 — This is a verse that’s often hijacked by the “prepper” community. Matthew Henry sees this verse as having a salvific focus (i.e. faith foresees the evil coming upon sinners, and looks to Jesus Christ as the sure refuge from the storm). eBible draws from John Wayne (“Life’s tough, it’s even tougher if you’re stupid!”). Salem Bible Church emphasizes the evil is not a natural disaster, but temptation (bad friends, alcohol, marrying an unbeliever, unchristian philosophy, not reading the Bible, unsupervised television, etc.).

Share how reading through the Bible has been a blessing to you! E-mail us at 2018bible@vcyamerica.org or call and leave a message at 414-885-5370.

TODAY’S BIBLE READING CHALLENGE:
  Job 16:1-19:29
  1 Corinthians 16:1-24
  Psalm 40:1-10
  Proverbs 22:1

Job 16:2 — The Book of Job is not usually where you go for devotions, but you are awakened by the sharp criticism Job has for his friends. “Miserable comforters!”

Job 16:4-5 — Job tells his friends what he would say if things were reversed. He would have DEFINITELY comforted them!

Job 16:21 — Ever want to argue with God? Isaiah 45:9 and Romans 9:20 warn against this.

Job 18:2 — The friendship seems to be wearing thin, and there is still 13 more chapters to go before his friends bail on him.

Job 19:3 — The argumentation is long, and sadly we witness the further deterioration of the relationship. Job pulls out the Senator Joe McCarthy line, “Have you no sense of decency?”

Job 19:25-26 — Sometimes we wonder what Old Testament saints believed. Did they know about the resurrection? These lines were so poignant that George Frederic Handel included them in the Messiah.

1 Corinthians 16:1 — Ah, yes, Paul is definitely a preacher because he talks about taking up a collection!

1 Corinthians 16:2 — In the Dispensation of Law, the day to gather was the last day (Saturday). Now under the Dispensation of Grace, we gather on the first day. We can give joyfully (2 Corinthians 9:7) and regularly.

1 Corinthians 16:9 — “The door of opportunity swings on the hinges of opposition.” (Adrian Rogers). Be bold, take a stand, and go forward for the LORD!

1 Corinthians 16:11 — Why would anyone despise Timothy, Paul’s beloved son (1 Corinthians 4:7)? Was it because he was a young man (1 Timothy 4:12) with a reputation like the one former president George W. Bush famously described: “When I was young and foolish, I was young and foolish?” Ah, but there’s still time to change!

1 Corinthians 16:14 — The author of the “Love Chapter” reminds us again – do everything with charity!

1 Corinthians 16:22 — The Catholic church pronounced curses with this phrase:

An example of such an anathema is found in these words of Pope Silverius (536-38): “If anyone henceforth deceives a bishop in such a manner, let him be anathema maranatha before God and his holy angels.” Benedict XIV

The problem is that the word “anathema” is Greek for “dedicated to evil,” while the word “maranatha” was the early New Testament greeting for believers. They replaced “Shalom” (the Jewish greeting) with “maranatha” because it was a reminder that “the LORD is coming!”

Psalm 40:1 — The Northern Lights rendition of these verses is always stirring!

Psalm 40:8 — May this be our life verse!

Proverbs 22:1 — In the news recently, I’ve seen people facing years in prison for tax evasion. Yes, they hid their millions and pocketed the “great riches,” but they lost their good name!

Share how reading through the Bible has been a blessing to you! E-mail us at 2018bible@vcyamerica.org or call and leave a message at 414-885-5370.

TODAY’S BIBLE READING CHALLENGE:
  Job 12:1-15:35
  1 Corinthians 15:29-58
  Psalm 39:1-13
  Proverbs 21:30-31

Job 12:2 — Job is quite sarcastic by this point. While much of the wisdom literature genre of this book can be hard to follow, this line seems like one of Shakespeare’s witty retorts!

Job 13:3 — Job echoes the plea that many have, “I desire to reason with God.” We won’t hear from God audibly when we suffer; interestingly, Job didn’t hear from God either about why he suffered.

Job 13:5 — Oftentimes, wisdom is found in holding your peace!

Job 13:15 — Here is one of the key verses of Job. It clearly reveals the attitude of one who has suffered financial, family, and physical pain. “Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him.” Job unfortunately continues on, “I will maintain my own ways before him.” Job remains the righteous example that God pointed to, but Job still wants to argue with God.

Job 14:1 — Job seems to be foreshadowing the book of Ecclesiastes!

Job 15:16 — Eliphaz makes a good point – man is abominable and filthy, full of iniquity. Yet, how was Job “perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil (Job 1:1)?”

God forgives iniquity (Numbers 14:19-20, Psalm 65:3), but how do we achieve forgiveness?

• Knowing who to seek forgiveness from – we all need forgiveness from God (Mark 2:7). Which “deity” are you seeking forgiveness from? Only the LORD (Isaiah 45:5)?
• Confessing (identifying) our sins is an important component of seeking God’s forgiveness (Psalm 51:3, 1 John 1:9).
• Repenting (turning) from our sins (Psalm 51:10, Acts 3:19). If we don’t turn from our sins, it’s not that we’re not forgiven, it’s just that we’ve restarted the loop of sin (Luke 11:24-26).
• Turning back to the LORD
  • Job 1:1 – fear the LORD and eschew evil
  • Joshua 1:8 – meditate on God’s Word and avoid sin
  • Job 1:1 – fear the LORD and eschew evil
  • Joshua 1:8 – meditate on God’s Word and avoid sin

Yes, even though man is filthy, and though his sins be as scarlet, they can be as white as snow (Isaiah 1:18)! Job’s friends don’t want to acknowledge that anyone can be righteous. They feel more comfortable declaring that everyone is as wicked as they are. We just have to keep trying to be righteous through religious rituals. But righteousness comes not through religious rituals; it comes from a relationship with the Redeemer!

1 Corinthians 15:29 — There is a prominent group that practices “baptism for the dead by proxy.” WELS (Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod) claims that there are over 300 interpretations of this passage. R. C. Sproul thinks this was something weird that the Corinthian Christians were doing. As we saw in 1 Corinthians 5:1, they did some weird things in Corinth! CARM (Christian Apologetics and Research Ministry) thinks it was a pagan practice from the neighboring city of Eleusis, and Paul is talking about the Eleusisian pagans and not Christians. TGC (The Gospel Coalition) thinks it was a harmless oddity. It was for believers who died before getting baptized. John Piper is quick to remind everyone that 1 Peter 3:21 is often taken out of context because Peter later qualifies the “Baptism … now saves you” line.

1 Corinthians 15:32 — Was Paul fighting as a gladiator against the wild beasts? From the Pulpit Commentary:

Not literally, for in that case he would have mentioned it in 2 Corinthians 11. as one of his deadliest perils, and it must have been recorded by St. Luke in his full account of St. Paul’s life at Ephesus. A Roman citizen was legally exempt from this mode of punishment. The word points to some special peril incurred in resisting the hostility of the worshippers of Artemis (Acts 20:19), but not to the tumult in the theatre, which did not happen till after this letter was dispatched (1 Corinthians 16:8, 9). The metaphor is not uncommon. Thus in 2 Timothy 4:17 St. Paul alludes to Nero (probably) as “the lion.” David often compares his enemies to wild beasts (Psalm 22:21, etc.). When his jailor informed Agrippa of the death of Tiberius, he did so in the words, “The lion is dead.”

1 Corinthians 15:51 — We shall be changed! What will it be like, Paul?

• It will be different (1 Corinthians 15:37)
• It will be unique (1 Corinthians 15:38)
• It will be incorruptible (1 Corinthians 15:42)
• It will be glorious (1 Corinthians 15:43)
• It will be powerful (1 Corinthians 15:43)
• It will be spiritual (1 Corinthians 15:44)
• It will be instantaneous (1 Corinthians 15:52)
• It will be immortal (1 Corinthians 15:53)

Thus death is no longer painful to contemplate, the grave is no longer the victor (1 Corinthians 15:55)! So, keep on fighting! We Shall Rise (1 Corinthians 15:58)!

Psalm 39:5 — “… verily every man at his best state is altogether vanity.” So, what is our calling? We must wait for the LORD. He is our hope!

Proverbs 21:31 — Where is safety found? The horse? No, the LORD!

Share how reading through the Bible has been a blessing to you! E-mail us at 2018bible@vcyamerica.org or call and leave a message at 414-885-5370.

TODAY’S BIBLE READING CHALLENGE:
  Job 8:1-11:20
  1 Corinthians 15:1-28
  Psalm 38:1-22
  Proverbs 21:28-29

Job 8:1 — A second speaker arises, and some have questioned how tall he was (he was a Shuhite)!

Job 8:6 — Does God respond to the upright? Yes (Proverbs 15:8), but does He respond on our timetable? That is the problem with Bildad’s argument. Because his premise is faulty (if you are upright, God responds when you want Him to), his conclusion is also faulty (because God did not respond when you wanted Him to, you are not upright).

Job 9:2 — The question of the ages, repeated by the Philippian jailor a couple thousand years later (Acts 16:30)! Job realizes God’s superiority to man (Job 9:3-15).

Orion and the Pleiades

Job 9:16 — Job lays out his problems with God, emphasizing his desire for mercy (Job 10:2). Job is a hurting individual who is struggling with his innocence (Job 10:7).

Job 11:2 — Zophar is frustrated with Job, but sadly he uses God as a weapon (Job 11:5). Today, too many people use God as a tool to force others to do what they want done. Instead of letting God justify Himself, we try to co-opt God into fighting for our agenda.

1 Corinthians 15:1 — Time to get back to the basics! Christ died for our sins, was buried, and rose again! Yes, this is the truth that saves people from separation from God (1 Corinthians 15:2).

1 Corinthians 15:3-4 — Listen to “For I Delivered” by Earl Martin:

1 Corinthians 15:6 — Five hundred people saw a dead man alive and all at the same time! The former skeptic, Josh McDowell, was bothered by this statement:

Are you telling me that no skeptic among those profound Jewish leaders examined those witnesses? Paul’s whole reputation would have been ruined if his assertion were not true.

1 Corinthians 15:20 — Yes, He is Risen!

1 Corinthians 15:22 — Paul repeats his argument from Romans 5:17 – one man brought death, but another Man brought life!

Psalm 38:1 — The psalmist utters the cry of Job, but for a different cause (Psalm 38:15). Despite the suffering, we, like the psalmist, will hope in the LORD (Psalm 38:15).

Proverbs 21:28 — Yes, the evil will be punished and the good rewarded, but notice that the word “shall” is used and not “is.”

Share how reading through the Bible has been a blessing to you! E-mail us at 2018bible@vcyamerica.org or call and leave a message at 414-885-5370.

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Image Credit: Panda~thwiki, CC BY 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

TODAY’S BIBLE READING CHALLENGE:
  Job 4:1-7:21
  1 Corinthians 14:18-40
  Psalm 37:30-40
  Proverbs 21:27

Job 4:7 — The danger of being 80% correct. Eliphaz believed that God blesses the righteous and punishes the wicked. And that is a good generalization, but the application made some faulty assumptions.

Job 4:17 — Eliphaz again recognizes a truth but doesn’t stop there. Stop while you’re ahead, Eliphaz! We’ve talked about the atheist argument “more moral than God,” and Eliphaz picks up on that. Instead of only saying, “Don’t argue with God” … period … he says, “Don’t argue with God …” and then proceeds to compare Job to the foolish and silly (Job 5:2).

Job 6:6 — Egg whites haven’t gotten any tastier in the last 3,000 years.

Job 6:8-9 — Poor Job! Like the old preacher said, “Thank God that He doesn’t answer all of your prayers!”

1 Corinthians 14:33 — Whether worship was in the Old Testament under the Levitical code, or in the New Testament as regulated by the epistles – it was never one of confusion, but always practiced decently and in order (1 Corinthians 14:40).

1 Corinthians 14:34 — Paul says that some things seem to be in conflict with accepted cultural values of the day. But if God’s desires always lined up with our desires, we would have no need for the corrective imperatives of the New Testament.

Psalm 37:31 — How much of God’s Law is in your heart?

Psalm 37:40 — This is an interesting contrast to the story of Job. Job was trusting in the LORD but had not been delivered … yet. The word “yet” is a key word in Job and the Psalms – God will deliver but sometimes “not yet.”

Proverbs 21:27 — This explains why God was not happy with Cain’s offering (Genesis 4:5, Genesis 4:7).

Share how reading through the Bible has been a blessing to you! E-mail us at 2018bible@vcyamerica.org or call and leave a message at 414-885-5370.