Hey everybody, welcome back to another edition of the Daily Bible Podcast. Hey guys, I hope you're doing well in the snow. Maybe the snow's all gone by now. It's got to be gone by now. It's Monday after all. I hope so. Yeah. The black ice is still sticking around. It might be. It might be. I went into the office on Saturday and it was, uh, it was a task, man. The, the, uh, the parking lot was slushy. It was icy. And what are you driving these days? A McLaren? Yep. My McLaren, man, it just, it didn't, it's not made for the snow. No, my, uh, my two wheel drive Explorer survived. I'll just put it that way. It's two wheel drive. I forgot about that. It is like a four wheel. It looks that way, but it does. Is that line, is that a form of deception? It's a hundred percent of form of deception, man. That's why I bought it. I was like, I want people to look at this and say, dude, four wheel drive right there. So, um, yeah, we may get some more snow next week. Who knows? That would be fun. I would welcome this. I I've enjoyed staying home with the family. I've enjoyed watching the neighbors playing the snow. It's been magical. Yeah, it was good. It was good, man. I loved it. Yeah. I can't remember that much sustained snowfall since I have been in Texas. We've gotten a lot of snow, but, uh, that much just sustained snowfall. I think Salina got six inches. It was, it was crazy. Yeah. Wow, it was great. It was yeah family. California is not experiencing snowfall. Although they could use some they definitely could use some Yeah, man, that is that is Insane out there it is It's bad. It's uh, it's really bad and the fact that they're looking at people as potential arsonists in all this too on top of that It's uh, it's no good. Not a not a good situation Yeah, and and that's something I was thinking about this past week and even kind of Convicted of a little bit because somebody said hey, you know, there's been a ton posted about you know Pray for california pray for california pray for california, and and I think it's good and it's right for us to do that It's just sometimes it's hard when we don't know anybody directly impacted by that to To know how to pray or to know what to pray because it feels a little bit vacuous to to just you know pray for In general, um, you know, that these fires would be brought to an end and everything else. It's good. We should do that. But it's hard to feel passionate about it the same way that you feel passionate about it. When somebody that, you know, has been directly impacted by it, right? I go back to what we used to talk about when it comes to technological exposure. We have the access to hear things and see things. All over the world, with, within moments of its actual happening. And this is new territory for us. I don't think we were designed by God to know about all the things that are happening at all places at all times, and to respond to them with equal fervency. I do think in our new age, we probably need to develop this ability to care about things that ordinarily, we may not care about, and may not even experience if we were living 200 years ago. But in today's day and age, it's, it's hard. You gotta navigate these things and learn to care and pray for people. I think it's good to pray for the church and pray for even strangers that you don't know who are suffering. Yeah, for sure Um, hey, we got a question written in to the podcast at compassntx. org And this question has to do with annotation, uh highlighting your bibles marking up your bibles Which is is something that is is a good practice Sometimes it can be hard though to think about how do I get started with that? Where do I go with that? And, uh, I think it's, it's, it can be as simple as you want to make it to, there are the, like the Bible study methods, uh, approach, um, they, like they, they've got different symbols that they write in their Bible and everything else like that. There's a whole, you can get trained on how to do all that. I think just find what works for you and be consistent with it year after year. Um, for me, for example, and this is part of even my, my preaching, uh, notes that I take up into the pulpit with me. Green for me stands for points of application and questions. Uh, if I've got a question or if I see a question, it's going to be marked in green. Um, red obviously is, is, this is not necessarily a good thing. And so the Job's friends in the book of Job, I, when they were first introduced, I highlighted each name in red just to stand out and say, Hey, this is not a great, Individual. This is not somebody that you want to pay attention to as far as somebody that is, uh, is good. Um, yellow is kind of the, the important things that the, the other things I don't want to pick up on. And then sometimes I'll, I'll just use a simple red underline, uh, just to, to cause something to stand out to me, uh, and, and say, okay, this, when I read this, I want, I want to see this. So, um, find something that's going to work for you. If you highlight everything the same color, then you're not going to, Um, but it also, it also has a lot of color codes in it. So it's a great way to know at a glance what it is that you're looking at. I think using a color coded system of some sort is helpful because when you turn to that page in your Bible, you're going to know based on your color codes, whatever those are for you, uh, what those stand for and what you're looking at when you give a quick glance at the page PR your, your thoughts on annotating. Yeah. I answered this a couple of days ago just to tell them what I did. I really wanted you to answer because I think. Seeing the variety of the way people approach it is really helpful. Now I just care that you engage with the, with the text in front of you. So whether it's highlighting with different colors or using a pen or a pencil or whatever at all, just engage with your Bible and make it your own. In fact, that's one of my favorite things to do with my paper Bible. I love writing things and that's one big, one big benefit to using a paper Bible versus the digital form, whatever that is, is that you can really draw and make connections. You can cross over pages and draw arrows here to there. Can't quite do that on Logos. Um, if you annotate a PDF, there's some, there's some kind of crossover, but there's nothing like a physical book. So you keep your digital tools. I love them, but also have a physical Bible and annotate it up. Yep. Mark it up, mark it up. Circle. Yeah. Underline box square. Yeah. We don't all that stuff. Well, hey, let's, uh, let's get into it. Job 35, 36, 37 today. And we are still dealing with Elihu, at least in the first couple of chapters here. And so Elihu is speaking up and still going after job here again, verses one through three kind of presents this truncated Frankenstein view of job's, arguments, uh, saying job, you're saying I'm innocent. God doesn't punish the wicked, so why bother? Um, these statements are singled out by Eli, who don't. really represent the fullness of Job's wrestling with everything that he was going through. From here Elihu gives a view of God that is a little bit distant and somewhat dispassionate, almost as though it implies that God doesn't care about the plight and behavior of his creation. Verses four through eight basically tells Job, hey, your actions one way or the other, they don't change anything about who God is. And while that is true, Um, your, your righteousness doesn't improve God's life. Your unrighteousness doesn't take something away from God's life. He is completely sufficient in and of himself. Um, it, it is not true that our actions don't affect God and affect his, his heart and even his, uh, his concern for us, um, versus nine through 15. I mean, Ellie, who basically says to Job, Hey, yeah, you, you're prideful and you're, you're You're protesting all of these things before God and God is not concerned with your prideful pleas of, of this is wrong. This is not fair. And then in verse 16, uh, kind of gives one final blow and he says, Job opens his mouth and empty talk and multiplies words without knowledge. So, uh, Elihu is a little bit more, uh, Yeah, I don't see him saying anything unique in this particular chapter. In fact, what you pointed out about what do you add to God or take away from him, Eliphaz already said this. So this is again, where I find myself struggling with Eliphaz saying, okay, what do I take that actually is true? And what do I reject? And I think that's something that we should reject to your point. I think we should acknowledge the fact that God is pleased when we do good. And he's dishonored, and he's grieved, as Paul says, about the Holy Spirit when we do evil. Yeah, yeah. And so from here, um, he goes on and just calls on Job to repent in verses, in chapters 36 and 37. Job, you need to repent. Verses 1 through 4. Again, he is confident in his standing. Listen for I speak for God is basically what he's saying here. I say, I've yet something to say verse two on god's behalf. I get my knowledge from afar ascribed to righteousness to my maker So Elihu is is very strong on saying i'm speaking on behalf of god and to your point pastor It's interesting. God doesn't say uh, wait a minute. No, you're not and that's difficult for us to to Wrestle with what do we do with that? Then versus five through 15, uh, same song, new verse, God is going to bring judgment on the wicked and deliver the righteous. I mean, that's, that's Ellie who's stance there. And to your point, like you just said, we've heard that before from the other friends, almost all of them have said the same thing or something similar, a slight variance of this. Um, but he says in verses 10 to 12 that he uses affliction sometimes to bring about repentance. Uh, he, if they listen and serve him, he says they complete their days in prosperity. He commands that they return from iniquity in verse 10, repentance there. They do not listen. They perish by the sword and die without knowledge. And so he's saying here that, uh, that sometimes he's going to use affliction to bring about repentance. And that's what he wants Job to do. Verses 16 through 21, Job, repent. You've chosen sin over repentance. Verse 21, uh, verse 22, chapter 36, uh, consider God's power here. He launches into just, and this is where some of the similarities between This and what God says in the chapters to come show up as as Elihu says, can you do this? Can you do this? Can you do this? Can you do this? And the implication there is no. God is, it's all powerful. God has done all these things. And Job, you need to consider your situation now in light of this God and realize you've got nothing to say to him. That's, that's pretty much it. Kind of e who's conclusion you've got nothing, uh, to, to say his high view of God and God's sovereignty comes through in these chapters. And, uh, and, and basically he concludes. So Job, who are you to say anything to God to, to challenge God on this? Yeah. I love what he says in verse 15. He delivers the afflicted by their affliction and opens their ear by adversity. I think Ellie, who is saying here. Suffering and the tragedies that he suffered are actually God's utility to help him grow and understand something different. This is the argument about evil that Christians still use today. We'll say that evil is within the realm of God's purposes to do good to people and to glorify himself. And I think Elihu gets pretty close to saying that, if he doesn't say that outrightly. He says in verse 18, Beware lest wrath entice you into scoffing and let not the greatness of the ransom turn you aside. This is interesting. I think what he's saying, and you tell me if you think I'm wrong about this, PPJ. I think he's talking about, when he talks about ransom, I think he's referring to all that's taken place, all that, All that's happened to Job is God's way of rescuing Job from evil. Now, what kind of evil? Personal evil? Hidden sins? I don't think so, but I think Elihu is trying to say God used all these things, all these situations, all this loss to ransom you from the great, from evil, from something. And maybe that's true, maybe that's not, but I think that's an interesting concept nonetheless. What do you think about that part, PPJ? Yeah, I would agree with you. I don't know of another approach that would make any more sense than what you're saying there. Um, and hence, Hey, don't, don't scoff at this. Like he says in the first part of that, uh, beware, less wrath, your, your anger over all these things entice you into scoffing over something good that God is trying to do in your life. Yeah. I think that fits. And I think I probably the benefit then for us as Christians, we can look, we can look at this and say, well, maybe Ellie, who's wrong about this. Um, we don't know. God never says yay or nay on this, but as Christians, we can say, yes. We can always be sure that the suffering in the Christian life is never wasted. God is not accidentally looking the other way and suddenly bad things happen to us. He is always intentional with the evil that he allows to enter into your life. Suffering is never wasted in the Christian life. And so I would never look down on it. I don't want to welcome it. I don't want to pray that God bring it into my life, but I do want to understand that all suffering is intended by God for our good and for his glory. And therefore we can, in some way, we can welcome it and appreciate that God is in control. Yeah. In fact, there's, I mean, there's, there's so many good books. That have been written on that same subject. Um, I think D. A. Carson's got one called, How Long O Lord, uh, which is on the subject of, of suffering and what we do with that. Um, Elizabeth Elliot has one called Suffering is Never for Nothing, uh, that there's a purpose that God is doing something, um, here. So, uh, man, if, if that's you, if you're, you're going through it right now, you're going through the valley right now, you're, you're, you're laboring, you're suffering. There are resources at your disposal that we would commend to you and again, D. A. Carson's book, Elizabeth Elliott's book, just two that I can think of off the top of my head. And I know there are others out there, uh, lifelines for tough times. Mike for bars are sending pastor wrote that one. Um, just about, uh, their process of, of finding out that their daughter was going to have a disability when she was born. Um, Just a lot of, of good resources for Christians on how to think about suffering. Uh, and, and yeah, you're right. That, that's, uh, I think that's some of Elihu's point here. Hey, don't waste what God might be doing in your life right now. Don't miss what God might be doing in your life right now. And then, um, Kind of lands the plane does it by setting up where God's going to go from from this point forward in the next section All right, y'all well, let's pray and then we'll be done. Uh with another episode of the daily bible podcast. Let's pray God Thanks for uh for that reality that uh, our suffering is never for nothing that our suffering is not Random, it's not Uh, just happenstance. It's not left to the whims and wills of, of the course of nature, even thinking about these fires that are going on right now in California. Again, we know that you are sovereign over the flames that are burning sovereign over the loss of, of. Possessions and homes and even, even the loss of life, we don't pretend to understand why we don't pretend to pronounce judgment when it's not our place or prerogative to pronounce judgment. Um, and yet we, we do trust that, uh, even in the suffering that may be being experienced by some that we know who are there. God, you are. Doing something through this and even doing something on a global scale through this. So help us not to lose sight of that and to miss that and teach us what you want us to learn through it. Uh, and there's a lot of suffering going on in the, the, the, the, the immediate here with us. Um, be it at home or a workplace or wherever it may be. You got to again, help us to, uh, to heed these words and to not miss what you're trying to teach us through the process and through the pain that we may be going through. So we ask that you'd be gracious to us in that regard in jesus name. Amen. Amen Keep reading your bibles tuning again tomorrow for another edition of the daily bible podcast. See you folks

Hey, thanks for joining us for another episode of the daily Bible podcast. We hope and pray this has been a blessing to you and your time in the word. If it has, if you would subscribe to this podcast, leave a like, leave a comment and share it with some friends and family. That would be awesome. If you need more information about Compass Bible Church here in North Texas, you can go to compassntx. org. Again, that's compassntx. org. And we'll be back with you tomorrow for another episode of the daily Bible podcast.