Christian Paradigm Shifts

Overview from Abraham to Joseph... Abraham: God calls him to leave his homeland (Everything he knows) To go to a place God would show him (God leads and guides) Makes a covenant to give him the land (Though Abraham does not see it in his lifetime) Has a few bumps along the way with Sarah (Lying never works out well) Isaac: God confirms his covenant with Issac (God keeps His promises) His marriage to Rebekah brings comfort (We are to be a comfort to our spouse) Unfortunately, he follows in his father's footsteps to lie about Rebekah (We learn what we live) He favors one son over another (Favoritism never works out well) Jacob: Takes things into his own hands to take the birthright and the blessing (Wait on God's timing rather than taking things into your own hands) He has to flee because of his deception (Deception leads to difficulties) Jacob is deceived by his Uncle Laban (He got a taste of his own medicine) He broke away from Laban back to

Hard to believe it is February already. Here is this month's reading chart: Click on picture to enlarge, save, and print.

Photo Credit Genesis 11:27 - Genesis 15 Today we begin the story of Abraham. Genesis began with creation and the spread of the human race. It now narrows to the call of one man.  God calls him to leave all he knows. To go to a place God will show him. God will lead us, too. He gave this promise to the descendants of Abraham:   Thus says the Lord ,      your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: I am the Lord your God,      who teaches you to profit,      who leads you in the way you should go. [Isaiah 48:17 MEV] He will show us the way. We, too, can hold on to that promise. For those who belong to Christ are Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise. [Galatians 3:29 MEV] When the path gets fuzzy and we don't know which way to go, we need to fix our eyes on Him. For He has gone before us....[Deuteronomy 31:8] He is always with us....[Deuteronomy 31:6]   Let us look only to [keep our eyes o

Photo Credit Job 38-42 We've heard from Job, the three "comforters" and Elihu. Now it is God's turn... God answers Job.  But it is not the answer Job is looking for. God asks Job a series of rhetorical questions. But if one were to answer them the obvious reply would be, "No." Job finally comes to the conclusion that he really did not know what he was talking about. And isn't that the way with most of our "why" questions? Our whys never really get answered Our whys keep us from moving forward. They keep us stuck. Because ultimately they will never be answered in the here and now. I hold on to this verse for those times of "why": "For now, we can only see a dim and blurry picture of things, as when we stare into polished metal. I realize that everything I know is only part of the big picture. But one day, when Jesus arrives, we will see clearly, face-to-face. In t

  Elihu in a nutshell: 1. He is mad because Job's three friends could not refute Job's claims and by doing so condemned God. 2. He was mad that Job kept insisting he was innocent and accuses him of blasphemy against God. [From the NLT Living Faith Study Bible] Yesterday and today's reading focuses on Elihu, the young man who listens to the three "comforters" and Job go back and forth between accusations of sin and acclamations of innocence. From Elihu's point of view Job was suffering because God was correcting him.  He was trying to restore him and keep him on the right path God was speaking, Job just wasn't listening.  Elihu was trying to speak for God. In Elihu's estimation, because God is concerned about the destiny of His creation, He uses affliction to correct and purify human kind. [From the Lutheran Study Bible] He was thinking if Job would respond correctly to his suffering, then it would go away.

Over, and over, and over again is the theme for the next several chapters of Job. With each cycle Job's "comforters", get more and more hostile in their accusation of sin.  Job gets more and more defensive. It is not until chapter 32, when Elihu comes on the scene, when he accuses the "comforters" of really having no answer for Job's suffering and Job for thinking he was more righteous than God. So keep an eye out for their hostility and Job's defense. Until we get to chapter 32, here's the link for more Shannon Mullin's Bible videos.

  "Comforter" #3 is Zophar the Naamathite From Zophar's point of view, Job should be suffering even more. Job 11:6 in the MEV translates the passage:  .... and that He [God] would show you the secrets of wisdom!      For they would double your prudence.      And know that God overlooks some of your iniquity  [He's not giving you what your sins deserve]... The Jubilee 2000 translation says it this way: ...and that he [God] would show thee the secrets of wisdom! For thou dost deserve double according to sound wisdom; and thou dost know that God has forgotten thee because of thine iniquity. Job must be hiding some secret sin. That is why he is suffering and because he won't admit it, he should suffer even more. If Job would admit his guilt then all would go well with him. While it is true that whoever conceals their sins does not prosper, but the one who confesses and renounces them finds mercy (Proverbs 28:13),

Photo Credit  Today it is Bildad the Shuhite who speaks to "comfort" Job. Bildad basically says what Eliphaz has said except with much more intensity. Bildad's charge is that Job is still suffering because he will not admit his sin.  (See Job 8:2)  Like Eliphaz, Bildad wrongly assumed that people only suffer because of their sins. Bildad was even less sensitive and compassionate, saying that Job's children died because of their wickedness. (Life Application Study Bible note) Jesus addresses a similar issue with his disciples. My favorite story is in John 9 about the man who was born blind. Rabbis developed the principle "there is no death without sin, and there is no suffering without iniquity" They were even capable of thinking that a child could sin in the womb or that its soul might have sinned in a pre-existent state. They also held that terrible punishments came on certain people because of the sins of their pare

Photo Credit For the next several chapters, three men who have come to comfort Job, really offering no comfort at all. Job has lost his belongings, his children, and now he has a horrible skin disease. In his misery, Job is looking for answers to why all this tragedy has happened to him. It is the same question many of us have asked. We want answers for our troubles. Why me? Why did this circumstance happen? Why this tragedy? We want comfort and understanding from our friends. In our times of tragedy and questioning, we find no answers and we have "friends" who come to us thinking they are helpful but are not. In today's reading, we hear from the first "comforter". Eliphaz the Temanite, replies to Job's statement about wishing he had never been born. Eliphaz acknowledges that Job is blameless (Job 4:6) but he accuses him of murmuring and complaining against God, as only a fool would do, because it would only anger God more. (Quest Study Bible note) Eli

  As we begin the book of Job, let us take a look at the first 2 chapters. These 2 chapters are key to understanding the rest of the book. Unfortunately, Job and his friends did not have the insight as to what was going on behind the scenes. If they had, their conversation may have gone quite differently. Keep this in mind as we go forward in our reading: The tongues of wise people give good expression to knowledge, but the mouths of fools pour out a flood of stupidity. Proverbs 15:2 GWT Our reading today tells about a cosmic conversation between God and Satan. God already know Job was a righteous man who followed him wholeheartedly. God also knew why he served him. The Bible says it this way: In the land of Uz there lived a man whose name was Job. This man was blameless and upright; he feared God and shunned evil. Job 1:1-2 Later on the friends will accuse Job of causing his own suffering through sin. Even today, some people bla

Photo Credit The Tower of Babel Man plans his way... The people wanted to make a name for themselves and be great. Isn't that human nature? We want to be noticed. We want to be remembered. Unfortunately, sometimes we go about it in the wrong way. We rely on our own plans and schemes to fulfill our ego and our pride rather than relying on the Lord.  That's what the people of Babel did. They attempted to take their destiny into their own hands and by their own self-centered efforts they wanted to displace and exclude God ( See NIV Study Bible note Genesis 11:6) Man planned his way but the Lord directed their steps. (Proverbs 16:9) The things they did not want to happen, happened. The Lord stopped their building, confused their languages, and scattered them. James, the Lord's brother, reminds us not to boast and make our own plans.   Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, ca

Today and tomorrow the focus is Noah. Noah, a righteous and blameless man, lived during quite a sinful time. The Bible says,  " The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time." Genesis 6:5 Jeremiah repeats this understanding,  " The heart is deceitful above all things      and beyond cure.      Who can understand it?" Jeremiah 17:9 The Lord can understand it:  " But the LORD said to Samuel, "Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart." 1 Samuel 16:7 The Lord understood that the people of Noah's time no longer cared for His ways. While God is long suffering and does not wish that any should perish (2 Peter 3:9), He knew that "only a radic