Happy Friday and welcome to another edition of the Daily Bible Podcast. Today is January 10th, 2025 in the year of our Lord and boy. It's been a really cool, day or so, day and a half, we've gotten snow in Texas and not just a little bit of snow. I'm actually at my home office right now and I'm looking out my window and I see, I don't know, four inches maybe. It's a lot of snow. It's no small thing. In fact, I'll post it in the show notes. If you care to see what my view looks like, I'll take a picture for you and I'll let you see it, but we've gotten a lot of snow. So this is a really cool experience. I don't think I've ever been in this much snow in my life period. I can think of times going to big bear and we'd show up and there'd already be snow there. But to live in it and to see the snow fall, with such, thickness. In fact, the snow that's coming down, it looks a lot like the snow that you'd see in the movies. It's fluffy and, and kind of thick. In fact, one of my neighbors called it mashed potato like snow. So I guess, there's different kinds. And this kind is mashed potato like. So if that helps you imagine what we're dealing with here in Texas, there you go. But if not, if you're somewhere else and you're not enjoying the snow right now, I'm sure this is really cool, but I'm sure the cleanup process and the time it takes for us to get over this, it's going to be a minute. Nevertheless, we still want to make it through our scriptures. So if you will, please join me. Job chapters 24 through 28. We're looking at five chapters today. Thankfully, not all of these are really long, but there's a lot to cover. Let's start Job chapter 24. He's continuing his discourse which was in response to Eliphaz. And so in chapter 24, Job is now picking up a concept that's really important that you and I get. He starts off this way, in Job chapter 24 verse 1, Why are not times of judgment kept by the Almighty? And why do those who know Him never see His days? He's asking an important question. In fact, through this whole section, through verse 12, He's going to say it seems like God doesn't do justice immediately. He doesn't affect justice when you would expect it. His last phrase in verse 12 is this, From out of the city the dying groan. And the soul of the wounded cries for help, and yet God charges no one with wrong. Now, we want to handle this carefully here, because we want to give Job the benefit of the doubt. The benefit of the doubt, but it certainly seems like he's accusing God with wrong. If he's not over the line again, he's really skating close to it, but he's going to say something in a few paragraphs that seemed to contradict himself, or at least to show that he's wrestling with the ideas here. So let's just lay this out. Does God affect justice immediately? And of course you and I should be able to answer. No, he doesn't. That's the only reason that you and I are Christians because he didn't deal with us according to our sin. As soon as we had sinned. If he did, if God dealt with all human evil, the moment that it happens, there would no, there would be nobody to live. There'd be nobody for God to save. Everybody would be justly punished. Nobody wants God's fairness until it serves their purposes. And in this case, we want to say that God is fair. He is righteous. But he doesn't always do it on our timeframe. There's a popular phrase, justice delayed is justice denied. Is that true? Well, I guess from a human standpoint, sure. But even then, there are limitations to the understanding. There's limitations to the application of that idea. There are times when human justice systems have to move more slowly in order to be sure that we're working with the right information. It's easy to make assumptions. It's easy to assume that we're doing something the right way. But we want to let the evidence speak. We want to let the witnesses come to the stand, as it were, and be cross examined. This is right and good. So justice delayed is not always justice tonight. We have to confess that. When Job complains here, in his discourse, that God delays justice or that he seems not to affect justice, we have to take him with a grain of salt. We're gonna say that part of him feels this way. This is true to his feeling, although not true to all that he's thinking. We'll carry on with that thought in a few moments in verses 13 through 17 He talks about the fact that there are people that sin secretly and that they they think that they're getting away with it They think that God's not paying attention and yet in verses 18 all the way through verse 25 He makes a different statement It seems like Job is well aware that even though people think they're getting away with it. God is going to deal with them The words you say in verse 18 are in your English text. If you're looking at a physical Bible, but in the Hebrew, those words aren't there. So the translators are trying to help us come to grips with what Job's statement is intending for us to understand. So maybe in verses 18 through 20, Job is quoting his friends, or he's trying to summarize or encapsulate the thoughts that they offer to him. Or maybe Job is actually saying this and he's working through his theology, as it were, in real time saying, I do recognize God is just, I do recognize that God deals with him when it's his time. You'd have to make a decision there exegetically, and it's a hard decision to make. I understand why the translators chose to translate it this way, but just know the words you say in verse 18 are not there. And they're the translator trying to help us understand the text. In verses 21 through 25, Job contends in verse 22, yet God prolongs the life of the mighty by his power. They rise up when they despair of life. He gives them security and they are supported and his eyes are on their ways. So it seems like job has hope here. He recognizes that God is the one who can prolong his life and he's the one who will ultimately lift him up. God is his support. So you have a few kind of, uh, different streams of ideas working through this chapter. It's hard to put it all together, but job is suffering. Job is struggling. So I'm not surprised that some of his thoughts feel like they're in tension with one another. In chapter 25, Bill dad for the last time speaks up. It doesn't have much to say. In fact, what he says is something he said before and something that Eliphaz has said before. He asserts that God is sovereign, that God is powerful. He does what he wants And that no one can stand before him and be perfectly righteous. And so he's saying, Job, no one can stand before God, not even the angels, that no one can stand before him and be pure in his sight. And it is essentially trying to make the point that Job, as good as you think you are, you're not going to be good before God. So stop trying to justify yourself is really what his point is. He says, behold, even the moon is not bright and the stars are not pure in his eyes. How much less man who is a maggot and the son of man who is a worm. Now, some of this sounds really familiar. It should sound familiar to you because you've read this before and that's why in Job chapter 26, he says in verse four, with whose help Bill Dad have you uttered words and whose breath has come out from you? He says this because Eliphaz has said almost the same exact thing, just a few chapters before. Eliphaz has repeated this in chapters 4, 17, and chapter 9, verse 2. The idea is there, and Bildad is using it for his own purposes, and Job is challenging him on that. He's saying, dude, come with something original. You're only saying what Eliphaz has already said. In the second half of chapter 26, Job espouses the goodness of God, the greatness of God, and the power of God. He says, I recognize and understand that God is powerful. None can withstand him, and I can tell you that as good as anyone else can. In chapter 27, Job says something that ought to strike you as different, because this is different. In verse 2, he says, As God lives, which is a formula of oath. He's taking a note to say, look, I can stand before God, I'm lifting up my hand, I'm putting my hand on the Bible as it were, and I'm taking an oath of innocence. And therefore, in verse 4, he says, My lips will not speak falsehood, and my tongue will not utter deceit. I can't agree with you guys that I'm guilty of sin that needs to be repented of. And verses 7 through about 12, it seems like he's cursing his enemies, and I wonder who he has in mind here. He's either talking about enemies in general, the wicked, or maybe he has in mind his three friends who have thus far spoken falsely about him. He recognizes in verse 13 through 23 that the wicked gather only to lose it, the wicked gather, but the righteous will ultimately enjoy the things that they gather because they will not stay for long. They don't have permanence. They don't have security. I think of Psalm chapter one is the righteous man who has deep roots and is sustained through all seasons. The wicked are like chaff that the wind drives away. And that's what job is saying here in job. Chapter 28, you have the search for wisdom. Job identifies that man is so incredible. He can search out things all over creation. There's a mine for silver. There's a place for gold that they can refine. Man can dig and search for things successfully. But then he turns the page and he says, but what about wisdom? Where can wisdom be found? Man can search all over creation, but can he find wisdom? And, of course, the punchline of this whole thing is that God alone knows the way to it. Verse 23. And, verse 28. The climax of this section is, He has said to man, Behold the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom. And to turn away from evil, that is understanding. It doesn't sound too different from some of the Proverbs that we have studied and memorized before. the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Fools despise knowledge and instruction. We see this in Proverbs 1 and Proverbs 9. And here we have it in Job early, way before those Proverbs were ever written. You have a confession that the fear of the Lord, that's wisdom. That's the beginning of wisdom. That's the place of insight. And so here we have five chapters where we're about to transition Into Job's summary and defense. Tomorrow we're gonna look at Job's final concluding thoughts before Ellie, who steps in, and then the Lord steps in, which is the true climax of the book. You find out the resolution, but before you get there, feel the weight of these final, concluding arguments. Job is frustrated. He's confused. Bill Dad offers one more pot shot unsuccessfully, and Job ends the conversation by saying Wisdom is with God. In other words, it's not with you guys, it's with the Lord. I could not help but be thankful for the fact that even though what Job is saying is true, I can know the wisdom of the Lord. I can know the fear of God through these 2, 000 pages that are sitting in front of me. I so often take the Bible for granted. I so often just, I put my Bible in my bag. I'm not really thinking about it. I have, multiple versions of Bibles on my Logos Bible study software. I have different apps on my phone that give me access into this. And I think, man, Job didn't have that. If Job is living about the same time as Abraham, the patriarch, well, who knows what he had access to? I'm not even sure what Job is referring to when he talks about the fear of the Lord. I don't know what he knows. But I know, based on the Word of God, what I should know now, I know, based on what I have here in my hands as I'm looking at it, that this is the Word of God, revealed to me, in my language, on high quality paper, with two awesome covers and multiple bookmarks. I just, I want you to be as thankful for this as I am right now. I want to keep this feeling. I know I'm not always going to feel this way, but it's good for us to be thankful, to have immense gratitude for the fact that we have God's Word in our hands. Because we have His wisdom. We don't have to trust our friends, good, bad, or otherwise to come and tell us what we need to know. We can go to the word of God and our best friends are going to tell us what's in the word of God and help us make right application. Okay. That's all I have. I really want to get back to this. No. Now, at least looking at it. so let's pray together and let's close off our conversation for today. Lord, thank you so much for the book of Job. We've really enjoyed going through it. I know that's a strange word, but we've enjoyed learning from this. And it's so good for us, God, because we want to be prepared for whatever you bring our way. We've said this multiple times, but it's a good thing for us to reflect on the fact that our lives have been so good for most of us. We don't have to complain or be sorrowful because you brought on anything like this. But Lord, if you were to do that, we want to be ready. We want to be strong, resilient, and robust in our love for you, which means it's a kind of love that will endure through seasons of highs and seasons of lows. Or as David says in Psalm 23, to walk through the valley of the shadow of death and fear no evil because you are with us. And we know that you're with us because your word tells us Lord, help us to know your word and to treasure it as something valuable because it is so often Lord, we just look at it as another thing to do, but we don't treasure it the way that we should help us. Lord, give us a heart that loves you and runs steadfast, steadfastly after you. We thank you also for our weather Lord for those of us in Texas who are enjoying the snow or maybe not so much enjoying it because of the complication that it adds to our commutes and other things. Please Lord help us to be grateful for your good gifts, whatever packages they come in. We ask all these things in Jesus name. Amen. Thank you again for joining me another day, another Bible reading task done, although I hope it's not just a task for you. Hopefully it's a discipline of delight, but thank you for joining me nonetheless. And I will look forward to seeing you again tomorrow for another edition of the daily Bible podcast.

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.