Welcome back to another edition of the Daily Bible Podcast. Today is January 8th, 2025. And we're looking at Job chapters 17 through 20. But before we get there, I want to remind you that if you have questions about what I say, or pastor PJ says, or some combination thereof, you can email us podcast at compass ntx. org. That's podcast at compass ntx. org. And I'll be sure to put that in the show notes today so that you're able to just click on it and send us an email if you so choose. if you sent us an email, it might be because you have some questions about what we're saying, or you have some clarifications that you want, or even just a suggestion about something that we're talking about. We're happy to take any of those. We don't. Always get back to them as quickly as we like. So just, uh, I would encourage you to be patient as we endeavor to get to them as we go about our regular daily activities, but we have a couple in the queue and I want to be sure to give them the kind of attention that they're due. So we're going to start with an easy question today. What are some good annotation methods while going through the Bible? And I know that there is probably a different annotation method for everyone under the sun, but I'll let you know what I do. My system is fairly straightforward, but really helpful. First, I use a pencil for notes and I also use colors. And as you know, I also have a digital Bible via my Logos Bible study software and I have a physical Bible. I do most of my reading from my physical Bible and I would encourage you to do the same. Here's why. I read a book a couple years back, and I forget the guy's name, I'll have to look it up here, but essentially he makes the case that reading on a screen is a sin. Is while still good and there's benefits there, obviously it's not as good when it comes to comprehension and recall when it comes to reading in a paper copy of something, I think chimes are changing and perhaps that might differ someday, but I think I would agree in my personal anecdotal experience, reading from a paper Bible, a handheld physical Bible is just different. And it feels like I'm actually engaging with the text in a deeper way than if I am with the screen. So my first encouragement to you. In terms of annotation method is to do it on a physical Bible, which is one reason why I love my interleaved edition. I've been carrying it around now for probably two years. Almost. I bought it for the podcast and I found myself saying, man, there's not enough room in the margins to write down the things that I want to remember. And so this interleaved edition, which is basically a blank page inserted between every page of the Bible has been awesome. I have. Written down lots of notes. I write down lots of cross references. I write down lots of things that I'm reflecting on. I'll write down questions and all sorts of things. So I would recommend number one, get a physical Bible. Number two, I always use a pencil. I don't use a pen because I always expect that I'm probably going to change some, something I think is Or feel about a text as I read through it more than once. So I would use a pencil and a good eraser. I use a very good pencil. In fact, this pencil that I'm holding right now is a Kuru Toga, a uni Kuru Toga. I don't know what that means, but I do know that this pen. Pencil costed me 11. So it's a good pencil It's got some weight to it. I enjoy using it. It feels nice in the hand. And consequently, when I use it, it brings me joy. On top of that, I have a high quality eraser. It's called a Pentel high polymer eraser is what it's called. I think about a pack of 15 of these or so, and they've lasted me because I don't do a lot of erasing, but when I do, this thing comes in handy. So I have a, Really nice pencil and have a great eraser. So we're talking about tools, physical Bible, a good pencil, a good eraser. Finally, when we get to the annotation method, I think one thing that you may consider using is highlighters, that allow you to. Identify who, what, when, where, how, and why. So if you look at my digital Bible on Logos, you'll see all of those annotations, who, what, when, where, how, why, and they're all different colors. Why I believe is pink. What is currently blue? Where is green? Yellow is who did I say yellow yet? Uh, what have I missed? Orange, orange is how, and I think that covers it. I don't know if I'd miss anything, but that's the idea. I have a different color that designates each. Individual question. I might ask who, what, when, where, how, why? Uh, so those are the things that I do. So I've used those in my paper Bible, but mostly what I use as a pencil. And I use a pencil. I'll write down cross references. I'll write down my notes. I'll write down a little summaries that I think might be helpful for me. In fact, as I'm doing this podcast, I'm looking at my paper Bible while only glancing at my digital Bible on the screen. So I can say more about that. And please tell me if that's not enough. I feel like that's probably a good start in the right direction. Helpful. Let me know if that wasn't, and you need more, please let me know. And I can give you more of what I do. Job chapter 17 through 20. And by the way, we have more questions coming. Thank you for sending those. We will get to those as time permits job chapter 17. Is his continuing response to Eliphaz now you might remember yesterday job was saying you guys stink at comforting You're not really good at this. You ought to go back to school for this He called them worthless physicians a few days before in chapter 17 He's wrapping up his response to Eliphaz and he's saying this I wish God would defend me. I wish God would prove me innocent That's what he's saying in verse 3 lay down a pledge for me with you God, who is there, who will put up security for me, who's going to defend me, who's going to take up my cause. And then he says, probably quoting a proverb in verse five, not one of the biblical proverbs, but a proverb of the day, he, who informs against his friends to get a share of their property. The eyes of his children will fail. And so he's saying there's, there's ramifications for bearing false witness. That's kind of the flavor of that. Multiple commentaries that I read again, suggested it's probably a proverb of the day, cause it doesn't quite seem to fit what's happening in this particular context. So he's saying something that they would have all have known and said, okay, yes, we see what he's saying. Don't bear false witness. And then again, he highlights the fact that his friends aren't being very friendly. He says, if you were upright in verse eight, the upright would be appalled at my suffering. And the innocent stirs himself up against the godless. What, what he's hoping for them to do is respond with a kind of comfort and, care that would be fitting for the upright. In verse 10, he says, but you come on again, all of you, and I shall not find a wise man among you. Essentially, this is what you should do. You're not doing it. You're demonstrating your lack of wisdom. And the remaining verses, he complains more still about his predicament and what it means for the future. In chapter 18, Bildad now enters in the conversation once more. This is speech number two of three. In chapter 18, he's going to challenge Job, how long will you hunt for words? You continue to search for ways to prove yourself and to demonstrate your innocence, but why do this? In fact, he's going to say to Job in verse four, You who tear yourself in anger, shall the earth be forsaken for you, or the rock be removed out of its place? Now, you might remember in Job chapter 16, in verse 9 Job says, He has torn me in his wrath and hated me. He's talking about God. Well, Bildad is saying, it's not God who's tearing at you, Job, it's actually you. And in fact, he says, shall the earth be forsaken for you, or the rock be removed from its place? He's saying, does reality bend to your existence? Has reality been to your perception? No, reality stays fixed. And the problem, Job, is you, you're thinking about things in entirely the wrong way. And so you need to change. That's his contention. And then he goes on and the remaining verses of chapter 18 to say, look, the wicked are going to suffer. The light is dark in his tent. His lamp above him is put out. In other words, we would expect that if someone is wicked, they're going to be found out. They're going to be uncovered. They're going to be, they're going to be disciplined or they're going to be judged by God. But. Build that goes even further because he doesn't just say in a general sense, the wicked suffer. He starts to get a lot closer to home when he says things like this to Job in verse 15 in the wicked person's tent dwells that which is none of his. Something that he has stolen. Essentially. He's saying you've, you've stolen from people, Job. That's how you've made yourself wealthy. And then he says in the second half of verse 15, chapter 18, sulfur is scattered over his habitation. Now you might remember fire came down from heaven to destroy his kids. Sulfur. Of course, you might remember from Genesis chapter 19, uh, Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed by sulfur. Brimstone is sometimes the word we use. Now this is heavenly judgment, God's judgment upon the wicked. And so he's saying, God will judge and destroy your habitation. His roots dry up beneath his branches, whether above he has no memory. And look at verse 19. He has no posterity or progeny among his people and no survivor where he used to live. This once again is cruel. This is calloused. This is difficult to read because Bildad knows exactly what he's saying, and we can see it here in black and white. This is unkind. He is trying to drive the knife as deeply as possible in order to make Job confess and repent. So you might say he's doing this from a noble place. If you can say that, he's trying to get at Job. And yet Job cannot follow him. Because he knows, as God knows, in Job chapter 1, he in fact is blameless and upright. This is painful counsel. Painful to watch, painful to hear, and certainly painful for Job to receive. Job chapter 19. He responds to Bildad, and he says this, going to this idea that sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me. Job would take issue with that. He says, how long will you torment me and break me in pieces with words, words hurt. And in fact, one of the most famous Proverbs, you probably know this one, Proverbs 18, 21, there's death and life in the power of the tongue. Those who love speech, those who love the tongue will eat the fruit of it, whether it's good or evil. You bear the consequences of your speech. And Job is saying the power of your words are destructively powerful. They are tearing me apart. And then he says, these 10 times you have casted reproach upon me. Are you not ashamed to wrong me? And the answer is no. Uh, 10 is a, is a way of talking about a full or complete number. Sometimes we use the number seven, but here 10 is the number. And he says, you should be ashamed of this, but you're not because they are in their minds entirely in the right. He reminds himself in them in verse six, that God is the one who's put him in the wrong. So he continues to recognize God's sovereignty, God's rulership, his leadership over everything that's happening. He notes that in verse seven, he cries out violence. No one's answering him. He's calling out for help and it's like calling 911 and no one showing up at your door. Job is saying, I'm dialing the spiritual 911 here and God is not answering. That's got to be frustrating for him. In the second half of verse 19, looking at verses 13 through 22, Job says, all the people that I love most have left me. People that were here to serve me no longer serve me. The people that I am closest to are drawing away from me. Out of all the things that I think Job suffers, this has got to be some of the most painful. So you have his wife drawing away from him here. the young children that used to esteem him now mock him and derail him. And then in verse 21, you can hear Job's voice here. You can feel the pathos. Have mercy on me. Have mercy on me. Oh you, my friends, for the hand of God has touched me. He's begging, pleading with him, please be kind, help me. And then Job says, Oh, that my words are written. And God seems to have answered that. We have it right here in front of us. We are reading exactly the words that he wrote, or exactly the words that he said. And so Job's prayer has been answered, at least in partial. One thing I'd love to know is if Job actually found out. What happened if he had a chance to read his own book or if God only after the fact revealed this to him? Be curious to find that out But then Job says something that all of us love and it points toward Jesus in Job chapter 19 verse 25 and 26 He says, For I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last He will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another. My heart faints within me. Now, this is cool because just a few chapters ago, you remember, we were talking about this. Job seemed to be struggling with the afterlife. What awaits him? It was in Job chapter 14 where Job said, something to the effect of, if a man dies, shall he live again? This is Job chapter 14 verse 14. All the days of my service, I would wait till my renewal should come. So here he's wrestling with the question, but here it seems like it's, there's a moment of lucid clarity. God is alive. My redeemer lives. And at some point he's going to resurrect my body, even though he doesn't use that term, and I'm going to see him myself. I'm going to see him in the flesh. What an encouraging response to devastating circumstances. Speaking Zophar speaks up again in chapter 20. His argument is not too complicated. one of the things that he says though, that I'd want to point out to you here, verse three, I hear censure or rebuke that insults me. The words that you're saying, Joe, these are really insulting. I'm put off by the things that you say. And then he says, and out of my understanding, a spirit answers me. What spirit? Who are we talking about? I don't know. I don't know if this is his own spirit. I don't know if this is another spirit that's speaking to him, whether it's his own spirit or another spirit. Uh, wisdom would demand that we scrutinize, that we discern the kind of things that are filtering through our brains. Um, one of the things I love about Joe, we're going to see soon enough is that he loves God's word. Now to what kind of access he had. I don't know that, but so far here is challenging that he's saying, I got a spirit speaking to me and I'm insulted. And so I'm going to respond to that. He talks about the fact that in verse four, we have age and wisdom on our side telling us that what we're saying is true. We know for instance, that the wicked will perish forever like his own dung. Okay. By the way, hint, hint, Job, hint, hint. This is essentially me telling you, Job, uh, well, I'll just leave you to fill in the blanks there. He tells him about the forecast for the wicked. The wicked are here for a short period of time. They seem to succeed, but then they disappear. They're judged. His children will seek the favor of the poor, and his hands will give back all the wealth that he stole. His bones are full of his youthful vigor that as he dies young, he says in verses 12 through 19, This is essentially how Job has been evil. Evil was sweet in Job's mouth. He hid it under his tongue. Though he is loathe to let it go, he holds it in his mouth. Yet his food is turned in his stomach. That is, there's a great divine reversal. It is the venom of cobras within him. That is, God is now punishing him for his sin. He swallows down riches and vomits them up again. God casts them out of his belly. He will suck the poison of cobras. The tongue of a viper will kill him. So, Job is going to suffer because of the way that he underhandedly did evil. All that success that you supposedly had, Job, that's because you were doing evil this whole time. verse 19. For he has crushed and abandoned the poor and has seized a house that he did not build. Job, the reason that you had what you had is because you were oppressive. You were oppressive to those who were weak and needy. You stole from them. You seized a house that you did not build. Man, these guys are just leaving nothing to the imagination. They're going for the jugular. Verse 20, Job, you weren't content. You were greedy. Verse 21, Job, you were overindulgent. There was nothing left after he had eaten. He continues on. Verse 24, Job will flee from an iron weapon. A bronze arrow will strike him through. And he gets graphic and poetic about the way that he expects God to deal with Job's sin. In verse 26, utter darkness is laid up for his treasure. A fire not fanned will devour him. That is, a fire not created and maintained by human hands. It is a divine fire. There's divine judgment in store for Job because of his evil. Verse 29 wraps up his argument. This is the wicked man's portion from God, the heritage decreed for him by God. Again, you're not left to imagine a whole lot here. He's essentially calling Job to think about who this fits. Does this fit me, Zophar? Does this fit Bildad? Does this fit Eliphaz? Or does this fit you, Job? And if this does fit you, it's time for you to repent. That's the goal here. That's what they're aiming for. Again, the problem is that they're so simple about this. They're so singularly minded. Their theology leaves no room for God to be God. And I'm going to ask you the question, number one, do you have a theology that's big enough to fit in suffering that doesn't make sense? If theology is not fully formed, you might be caught off guard if suffering were to hit you or hit someone that you love, who you know to be a good person. I'm using that term loosely. If you have a fully formed theology, you can say God is on the throne. Evil exists because he wills it. And ultimately, God's going to do good through that evil and he's going to glorify himself through it. Now, on the other side of the veil, on this side of heaven, I'm not going to understand a lot of that. And I should expect that that's one of my main points that I want you to walk away with from studying the book of Job. There's so much happening that you just cannot understand God's operating at a whole different level. And if he's God, I should not expect to understand all that God is doing, but that doesn't mean I can't trust him. That doesn't mean I can't or should not render to him humble, obedient service in the middle of my suffering. Number two. We talked about our words. I want you to be careful with the way that you use your words. I want you to be thoughtful about the way that you enter into the suffering of your fellow brothers and sisters. Sometimes it's best not to say anything. Other times it's best just to say a few things, even if it's something as simple as, I don't know what to say. This is really hard. There's so much here. I know we can't cover it all, but let me just encourage you. Be ready. Be ready for this time. Cling closely to Christ and know him drawn near to him. Be prepared for the evil day. Okay, let's pray. God, we thank you for the book of Job. It's so deep, it's so profound, and it's so necessary for us. Please help us to internalize these incredible truths. Not to let their discomfort discourage us from reading them, but to read, to study, to understand, and to be thoroughly prepared for the day of judgment. That you choose to bring upon us whenever, whatever that might be. We love you. We ask all these things in Jesus name. Amen. All right, folks. Thank you again for joining me today. I appreciate your time and attention and your energy. Keep up your Bible reading. And I'm so proud of you. You guys are in it. Day eight of the new year. Keep it up. Don't quit. And I'll see you again tomorrow for another edition of the daily Bible podcast. Bye.