4–10 October 2015. Job 27 (click to read). At the start of chapter 27, we see Job do something shocking, something that many of us would never be brave enough to do. Not only does Job continue to proclaim his innocence and his righteousness before God and his friends, he also forcefully attacks God and […]
27 September – 3 October 2015. Job 21:1–21 (click to read). In chapter 20, Job’s friend Zophar tries a second time to explain why suffering exists. His views are very similar to Job’s other friend, Eliphaz. For Zophar, the law of God is simple: God will always punish the wicked, and he will always reward […]
20–26 September 2015. Job 15:1–16 (click to read). When Job’s friends see his great pain, at first they say nothing. But soon they feel like they should explain to Job why he is suffering so much. They offer a lot of poor arguments, none of which satisfy us today – and none of which satisfied […]
13–19 September 2015. Job 9:1–20 (click to read). When people seriously hurt us or damage our lives, we know what to do. We may call the police and have that person arrested. Or we may find a lawyer to sue that person in court. In these ways we try to find justice, and make things […]
6–12 September 2015. Job 2:11–13 (click to read). The Old Testament wisdom literature has three great books. Proverbs is the easiest, and gets children started on the path to wisdom. Ecclesiastes is harder: it searches for the meaning of life when everything around us seems so empty. But Job is the hardest of them all. […]
30 August – 5 September 2015. Song of Songs 7:1–9 (click to read). In today’s love song, a boy sings to the girl he loves, offering a detailed description of her beautiful body. People often joke that girls love with their ears while boys love with their eyes. So the boy describes the beauty of her […]
23–29 August 2015. Song of Songs 3:1–5 (click to read). You can’t turn on the radio today without hearing love songs. So many pop songs describe the search for love, the joys of love, the feelings of excitement that come from falling in love, and even the sadness of love that fails. Sometimes Christians fall […]
16–22 August 2015. Ecclesiastes 11:7–10 (click to read). As we come towards the end of Ecclesiastes, the writer begins to sum up his thoughts, and we find here a very bittersweet feeling. He has tested and tried many things, and looked for a stable meaning to life. But everything has failed. Wisdom and learning, joy […]
9–15 August 2015. Ecclesiastes 5:8–20 (click to read). Most of us know the challenges of trying to balance our own budgets or organizing the family’s finances. We sit down and discuss what our expenses are for the month or year, and then try to plan out some way to earn enough money to cover those […]
2–8 August 2015. Ecclesiastes 2:1–11 (click to read). The Book of Proverbs gives simple descriptions of life, and simple suggestions to guide young children as they grow. But Ecclesiastes is for older readers, and it paints a more complicated picture of life. Here, life isn’t so simple, and the meaning of life is harder to […]