Chapter 8: Boo to Bildad. It’s a good thing I’m not Job—or Bildad’s friend during my time of great loss. I think his comments in Chapter 8 may have earned him a karate chop or two. Don’t worry, I don’t karate chop my friends, but putting myself in Job’s shoes here–I have a JIE-NOR-MOUS (big;) […]
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Category Archives: One Year Bible Study So…did you sing along yesterday to the worship songs that were left at the bottom of my blog? If not, you’ll definitely have to back and read yesterday’s entry and rock it on in your blog reading time. The last song from yesterday was sung by Candi Pearson-Shelton. She was at the retreat I was […] Praying for your fingerprint appt. praying right now! Thanks for letting us know about this singer…i am always up for learning about new singers as I am one of the worship leaders at our church and I LOVE finding new artists and songs especially of those who truly give God all the glory in their singing and its not about them! :0) I don’t even know where to start on today’s reading. It was depressing, to say the least. But, that’s life, right? We have our ups and downs. There are weeks where things are running smooth and you are full of joy, and weeks (like this past one for us) where it just seems to be one thing after the other raining down on you. It’s overwhelming and it’s disheartening. I assume it makes it that much worse when your friends (the very ones you turn to for comfort) accuse you of sin. Job’s friends accused him of being guilty of sin and causing God to lash out on him. I loved his response when he said, “Look at me! Would I lie to your face? Stop assuming my guilt, for I am righteous.” Are we all as honest about our sins? MEGAN! Those verses and your share…SO GOOD!!! Thank you for sharing! My heart needed to hear those after today’s reading!!!! This was a depressing read today. I think in chapt. 5 he was looking for comfort from his friend. We all do that, but we should look to HIM! It is sad that he looks on his circumstances as something that he has done wrong, but don’t we all sometimes think of “trials” that way? Instead of to make our faith strong? Chapter 7 is very depressing. It seems as if he is what we’d call today, “suicidal.” He hates his life. The people around him have let hime down, so the only thing he can do is CLING to GOD!  Happy in Haiti! Hard to read those words now, huh? They don’t go together do they? This image was taken well before the earthquake. And as we start today’s scripture reading of Job–my mind first thought of Haiti. HOWEVER…Job had it MUCH better than the Haitians prior to his temptations from Satan. (Chapter 1) Job […] i love when you wrote “God doesn’t want us to worship Him for devastation but amoung it” agree! thanks for this post! Great post, Andrea! Thank you for this today. Andrea- I was just studying Job last week in my bible study. I also wrote down how amazed I was that in the midst of Job’s total family devestation, he said, “The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away, may the name of the Lord be praised.” Then later when he was afflicted with painful sores from head to toe his wife wondered why he was holding on to his integrity. She told him to “curse God and die.” He answered, “You are talking like a foolish woman. Shall we accept good from God and not trouble?” I’m amazed at Job’s heart and worship of the Lord in the midst of his horrible circumstances. It challenges me for sure! I feel like I read a devotion everytime I visit your site. Thanks! Just wanted to let you know I just purchased 4 sets of fortune cookies:) I think it will be lots of fun to do with the little ones. GREAT idea!! Thank you Jenny! I can’t wait to count up the total we have raised for the orphanage in Haiti!!!! YAY! I’ll have them in the mail for ya next week! I’m so excited to be back on track…I was reading away while I was gone–and it’s probably a blessing that the retreat didn’t have the internet…but blogging the readings truly is such good accountability! Don’t you need it?! I know I do!!! And wanna see the Lord work powerfully in your life? I DO! To […] Thank you Andrea for your honest words…they inspire me! I agree that when you are in His word daily, He speaks to you and guide you in ways that you may have missed otherwise just by not being close enough to Him to recognize His voice! Thank you for sharing Megan! What a beautiful testimony of being in His Word! Oh, yes! I am so glad you posted about Frankie. I followed their blog for about a month and learned all about Haitian adoptions through them, then I deleted it for some reason. Then all this happened and I wondered what happened to that family, but I could not remember the blog name or the child’s name,so I could not find it on the internet. I was thrilled to hear that he is ok and how neat that Diane Sawyer picked him up and they were able to be on ABC to spread the word. So amazing! I started crying when I saw this! Praise Jesus! Thanks for sharing!  I LOVE holidays. Love them. Of course if you’ve been around…you know Christmas is my favorite. And although many bark that most other holidays are commercialized and just to make a buck–I like to use them to love on my kids and create traditions with our family. I’m SO EXCITED about Valentine’s day that I’ve […] Mommy, Being a super mom isn’t about doing laundry, it’s about loving us as much as you do! You are soooo creative and we are SUPER excited to have YOU as a SUPER Mom!! Love, wow…what a great valentines project and way to bring in scripture! love it! Love the craft and that you are helping Haiti. Check out my blog for an easy way to help too 🙂 Paul and I are really enjoying the Bible reading time each night. It is like a date 🙂 Have a great trip. just wanted to say thanks…for being real, for sharing the hard stuff, and for sharing that great craft!!! i LOVE it and hope that i can find the time to do it – my kids would love it! Love it! I loved the disclaimer! And I love the cookies! What a great and creative way to help Haiti! If you get lots of orders, let me know and I can help you! You are a super mom, don’t deny it! Just kidding! Love you! oooh I love a good craft and these look like so much fun! Thanks for the craft supply list too! I must admit I used to roll my eyes at Valentines but now love making it about our kids and since our #3 was born on Valentines it’s an extra special holiday now! {We also have a 4th of July baby…we like the holidays I guess:)} Thank you so for such a beautiful post…oh the waiting! It’s so hard and I feel I often second guess His voice…is it my Father speaking to me or my own ideas? Am I being an Abraham and trying to manipulate? I know the only way to know is to be closer to Him, praying without ceasing! I am so thankful for your blog and I know He is doing amazing things through your heart and words! Have a great weekend Andrea! Sounds wonderful!! Andrea, wow! what an inspiration you are, especially to moms who are just trying to make it through each day. One question though: DO you ever sleep? I love reading your blog! And I am praying for your family as you draw closer to your adoption. Such an inspiration! Love, Stacy that is the cutest thing ever…love it!!!! Ok, so I opened back up last night LATE…I wonder how long I’ll get to stay OPEN this time?? LOL…have fun this weekend, kj andrea – this post sums up your heart – love!!!! love for jesus, love for your dear family and love for others. your love inspires me to stay on fire for jesus. thank you. hugs from reynolds plantation! Hey, Andrea! So…I hope you don’t mind making my “cookies” for me because I just ordered a set of 28!!! I could make them with your great instructions, but why not help those precious people in Haiti instead! So, thanks in advance. 🙂 And, I’ll be out to purchase my supplies for the rest of February! Just wanted to say, I’m still here & reading! I got a little bit behind, but I’m still gonna push through! This week was a little crazy for me, but thank you for the blog & your encouragement! The first time I felt God confirming our calling to adopt from Ethiopia was in a dream many years ago. I shared it with a few friends from church who said, “Wow, God must be calling you to adopt!” And to hear those words spoken out loud by people I admired meant sooo much! |
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by admin
Love the pictures! Thanks for the encouragement to keep reading…Job has been tough!
Job is killing me. I want to jump in there and give his friends a piece of my mind OR a karate chop or two 🙂
Love the pics. I am not a photographer, but I love great pictures. Your pics are so good.
Blessings,
Amy
well let me just say that you have a gift for photography! LOVED the pictures and it made me miss the beach!
Shannon Tanner!!! Love the pics! I have some similar ones myself. 🙂
keep the photog tips and encouragement comin’! I love it!
Yes, I’m still with you… in case you’re wondering! I keep reading at night, so I don’t often get to be part of the conversation. But I’m still here. 🙂
Although my anger does tend to flare up a bit while reading the supposed “help” Job’s friends offer, lately I’ve been trying to put myself in their position. Who knows the mind of God? They see before them a man they all have looked up to, possibly envied their whole lives… and he is broken beyond imagination. They are desperate for answers, not only for him but for themselves, to somehow save themselves from whatever judgment or trial Job is enduring. They don’t understand… heck, Job doesn’t understand… so his friends are grasping at any and all explanations, ANYTHING that will explain it, give an answer… no matter how unthinkable (or completely WRONG, as we see with the benefit of hindsight, knowing that God is orchestrating this story ultimately for His glory) that answer may be. And Job… even though I know the huge rebuke that’s coming at the end of this book, I still admire his faith in many ways. He rails, he questions, he demands answers, perhaps a bit arrogantly at times… but somehow he does not recant his faith. He is still a model for his friends… whether they see it or not at this point.
I hope that made sense. It’s still early out west, and I wrote most of that with a two-year old sitting on my lap! 🙂
“JIE-NOR-MOUS (big)” –> hehee! =) That made me laugh! Chapter 8: “You’re getting what you deserve” is basically what Bildad is telling Job. Perhaps the most insensitive of all comments you can say to someone suffering. But Bildad doesn’t know the whole story. Only God knows the circumstances behind the suffering. Our main concern when someone is suffering is to offer them comfort and support. Oh Lord, please guide the thoughts in my head and the words of my mouth to be ones of love and comfort, not accusation!
Chapter 9: I just have to quote the commentary on my Bible, because it speaks volumes. “When we feel that God isn’t being fair, we should remember that if he were, we would neer be able to enter his presence. When God is “unfair,” it is always on the side of mercy.”
“Job lamented the absence of a mediator to stand between himself and God. We do have such a mediator – Jesus Christ. We can take our case directly to God because Jesus’ death and resurrection gave us access to God’s presence.”
Wow…doesn’t that make you grateful once again for Christ making the ultimate sacrifice on our behalf?
Chapter 10: Job felt hopeless and couldn’t imagine any sort of a future or happy ending. He was enveloped in darkness. We know better though, because we have Jesus’ promise: “Don’t be troubled. You trust God, now trust me. There are many rooms in my Father’s home, and I am going to prepare a place for you. If this were not so, I would tell you plainly. When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am. And you know where I am going and how to get there.” John 14:1-4
Chapter 11: Zophar was mistaking Job’s quest for reason for opposition against God. God allows us to meditate on our suffering. Although sometimes we are not meant to know the reason, the important thing is that we learn from our trials and trust God rather than complain. My Bible commentary (so good) ends this chapter by saying, “Zophar was mistaken because his theology could not allow the possibility that Job could suffer and still be righteous.”
Again…these are difficult chapters to read. Stick to it because the reward is great! Look how much we are learning already!
Love the photog tips…I’m still dealing with my simple point and shoot (although hubby promised a good one before Africa)…do you have any tips for me? I have a major hobby with photography, but I don’t even know where to begin with my little Nikon.
Thanks for walking us through this again…difficult chapters, I know.