1.21.25 – Job 27

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Welcome to Add Bible, an audio daily devotion from the Ezra Project. Alan J. Huth shares a Bible passage with comments from over 35 years of his personal Bible reading journals and applies the Word of God to our daily lives.

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Today brings us to day 21 in our 30-day journey through the book of Job. We are on chapter 27. Job again speaking, saying he will maintain his integrity. Let's listen in to Job in Job chapter 27.

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Job 27 And Job again took up his discourse, and said, As God lives, who has taken away my right, and the Almighty who has made my soul bitter? As long as my breath is in me and the Spirit of God is in my nostrils, my lips will not speak falsehood and my tongue will not utter deceit. Far be it from me to say that you are right. Till I die, I will not put away my integrity from me. I hold fast my righteousness and will not let it go. My heart does not reproach me for any of my days." Let my enemy be as the wicked, and let him who rises up against me be as the unrighteous. For what is the hope of the godless when God cuts him off, when God takes away his life? Will God hear his cry when distress comes upon him? Will he take delight in the Almighty? Will he call upon God at all times? I will teach you concerning the hand of God. What is with the Almighty I will not conceal. Behold, all of you have seen it yourselves. Why then have you become altogether vain? This is the portion of a wicked man with God, and the heritage that oppressors receive from the Almighty. If his children are multiplied, it is for the sword, and his descendants have not enough bread. Those who survive him, the pestilence buries, and his widows do not weep. though he heap up silver like dust, and pile up clothing like clay, he may pile it up, but the righteous will wear it, and the innocent will divide the silver. He builds his house like a moth's, like a booth that a watchman makes. He goes to bed rich, but will do so no more. He opens his eyes, and his wealth is gone. Terrors overtake him like a flood. In the night, a whirlwind carries him off. The east wind lifts him up and he is gone. It sweeps him out of his place. It hurls at him without pity. He flees from its power in headlong flight. It claps its hands at him and hisses at him from its place.

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Throughout our study of the book of Job, I've used three of my personal Bible reading journals. I started journaling my Bible reading in 1983 at 28 years old. I started reading my Bible daily at 15 years old. In between 15 and 28, I was still in high school and I took an honors English class and I learned about journaling. My first couple of journals are actually dated 1973 and 1975. However, they were just journals. They're not Bible reading journals. But that's where I learned about journaling. After high school, it was on to college, and I didn't journal during those four years at the university. After that, it was the beginning of life. Having a wife, a child, a new job, a career. All that time, since high school, I've been reading my Bible virtually every day of my life. I don't really know why, in 1983, I decided to begin journaling my Bible readings. My first entry was January 19, 1983 on Genesis chapter 21. What a weird place to start, right? Not at the beginning of the year and not at the beginning of a book. So again, I don't know why I ever started journaling my Bible reading, but I am so glad I did. And though I'm sharing journals for 35 years, today I still journal my Bible reading every day. I still learn new things. I'm still captivated by the Word of God. One of my pastors across my life once said it this way, The Word of God will go as deep as you want to go. If you stay at a surface level, it will stay there with you. If you want to dig a little deeper, the deeper it will go. And truly there's no ending to the depth of God's word. I have experienced that in my own life. I hope through AdBible you're gaining some of that benefit. I hope you too will take up the habit of journaling your Bible reading. It will truly change the way you read the scriptures. With that, I will share my personal Bible reading journal entry from 2015, when I read Job 26 and 27 on the same day. Concerning this chapter, I wrote, Job again reaffirms his innocence, his integrity, and I was referring to verses 2 through 6. Though the wicked prosper, the righteous and innocent will eventually get what they accumulate, and I was referring to verses 16 and 17. You can see, sometimes I don't write very much. Sometimes I write more. My journal pages are not dated one page per day. Sometimes I write a few lines. Sometimes I write a paragraph. Sometimes I might write a page. It all depends on what the Lord is speaking to me through His Word. I enjoy sharing my personal Bible reading journals with you. I hope you enjoy them as well. Now let's jump into Job chapter 27. Chapter 27 is a continuation of Job's answer to Bildad in chapter 26. In chapter 25, Bildad said, man cannot be righteous. In chapter 26, Job doesn't really address that question, but he describes God's majesty as unsearchable. Here in chapter 27, he sort of goes back to Bildad's thoughts in 25. Bildad said in chapter 25 verse 4, How then can man be in the right before God? How can he who is born of woman be pure? Here Job comes around to answering that. Let's pick it up at verse 2. Till I die, I will not put away my integrity from me. I hold fast my righteousness and will not let it go. We've made the point over the last couple chapters that there's none righteous, no, not one. Job understands that. But his friends have come and accused him of wickedness, evil, deceit, a lifestyle that separates him from God. Job is defending himself. He keeps his perspective about God as we see in verse 2. He understands. as God lives who has taken away my right, and the Almighty who has made my soul bitter. But he also understands his integrity. Job is under attack and he doesn't understand why. He desperately desires an audience with God. so that he can understand God and have a chance for God to understand his position. Here we are, 27 chapters into Job, and Job is still defending his personal integrity. And, as we know, he has every right to do so. So, what's our practical application from Job chapter 27? Though there's none righteous, no, not one. We still need to be concerned about our personal integrity. Can we say, like Job, the Spirit of God is in my nostrils, my lips will not speak falsehood, and my tongue will not utter deceit? Can we say like Job, till I die I will not put away my integrity from me? Can we say like Job, I hold fast my righteousness and I will not let it go? Can you say like Job, though he slay me, I will hope in him? Father, we understand we are sinful human beings, but we also understand that you expect us to live a life of integrity, being honest with you and honest with ourselves. Search me and know my ways, O Lord, and see if there be any wicked way in me. And if so, Lord, renew a right spirit within me. Thanks for the integrity checkup here in Job chapter 27. I pray you'll find me faithful. In Jesus' name, amen. Thank you for listening to AdBible today. According to a recent Barna Research study entitled Bible Reading, A New Year's Resolution, most Americans are not satisfied with their current level of Scripture reading. A majority express a desire to read the Bible more than they currently do. Born-again and practicing Christians are the most likely to desire more Bible reading in their day-to-day lives. It should not come as a surprise that the majority of Americans wish they read Scripture more than they do, says Roxanne Stone, editor-in-chief of Barna Group. After all, two-thirds of Americans agree that the Bible contains everything you need to know to live a meaningful life. Why wouldn't you want to read such a book more often? The study continues. However, like other New Year's resolutions, such as exercising more and eating healthier, Scripture reading is often an aspirational goal. It's the goal that for most people probably doesn't feel necessary to survive and so can easily get swamped by the day-to-day demands of a busy life. Scripture reading takes time and focus, two things that feel like scarcities in today's fast-paced and on-demand culture. Like exercise, like dieting, regular Bible reading does not offer instant payoff. It's a discipline whose rewards are reaped over the long haul. And the study continues, when people go from feeling they should read the Bible more to needing to read the Bible more, they find the time. Access to the Bible is not the issue in the USA, is it? We all have Bibles. According to another study done a few years ago, 88% of Americans own a Bible. We have 3.5 Bibles in our homes. And this is amazing. 59% of people who have no faith or are atheists even own a Bible, probably just in case. So if you have a smartphone, you have access to the Word of God. My Gideon Bible app has over 2,100 languages. Access to the Bible is not the issue. The issue is changing our beliefs about the Bible to behavior with the Bible. So where are Christians with the Bible today? Christians are well-intentioned when it comes to the Bible. We believe that the Bible is the Word of God. We believe, we just don't behave. Our belief in the Bible and our behavior with the Bible are inconsistent. The middle ground related to the Bible seems to be disappearing. The decrease of Bible-neutral and Bible-friendly people and the increase of Bible antagonists suggests that more people are picking a side. Which side are you on? Are you a Bible antagonist questioning the Bible? Are you Bible-neutral? I just don't know. Or are you Bible-friendly? I love the Bible. Wherever you are, pick a side. Because of our neglect of God's Word, we are becoming biblically illiterate. For example, in a private religious elementary school, kids were asked about the Old and New Testaments. Here are some funny things that they had to say. The first commandment was when Eve told Adam to eat that apple. Lot's wife was a pillar of salt by day but a ball of fire by night. What kind of man was Boaz before he married? Ruthless. The epistles were the wives of the apostles. Christians have only one spouse. That's called monotony. So, if we think about Bible literacy or illiteracy, we think about it this way. If God decided to come down from his throne in heaven, become an author here on earth, you'd think his book would be on the bestseller list. And the fact is, the Bible is the number one best-selling book of all time. 2.5 to 5 billion, according to research. It's also the most read book of all time. Praise the Lord, that alone might be evidence that the Bible, not any other so-called writing, is God's Word. According to a weekly World News report, here are a few other Bible facts. About 50 Bibles are sold every minute. The Bible is the world's best-selling book. It's also the world's most shoplifted book. That's interesting. And that doesn't even count all the Gideon Bibles stolen out of those hotels. So I encourage you to enjoy a portion of God's Word every day. Make it a daily spiritual habit. And so until next time, I'm Alan J. Huth, and this program is sponsored by The Ezra Project, with support from listeners like you. Visit EzraProject.net to keep AdBible, connecting God's people to God's Word, on the air.