Verse of the Day: (16:22) When a few years are come, then I shall go the way whence I shall not return.
1.Wise (15:1-19)
Should a wise man utter vain knowledge, and fill his belly with the east wind? (15:2)
Eliphaz, Job’s friend, believed that God shall richly bless His righteous people, and severely judge the hypocrites and wicked ones, like Job. He rebuked Job for justifying his sins and refusing to confess and repent them. He falsely accused Job of being a hypocrite as in behaving like a righteous man but inwardly he was wicked. Job was immensely hurt by Eliphaz’s judgment as he knew that he had not committed any known sins. Unless and until Job used God’s wisdom to know that it was His test of his faith in Him, he would never come to terms with his suffering. Indeed God’s wisdom is never man’s wisdom, as even His foolishness is wiser than man’s. Let us thus seek God and His wisdom as only in His wisdom shall we fully understand our trial and suffering. (1 Corinthians 1:18-31)
2.Wicked (15:20-35)
The wicked man travaileth with pain all his days, and the number of years is hidden to the oppressor. (15:20)
Eliphaz believed that Job’s sufferings were the direct consequences of his wickedness and rebellion against God. He mocked at Job that he would never succeed in deceiving God as He is omniscience, omnipotent and omnipresent. Job must have been very frustrated by Eliphaz’s false accusations. Indeed, let us flee from sins and wicked men lest they influence us to commit wickedness together with them. (1 Corinthians 5:11-13)
3.Way (16:1-22)
I have heard many such things: miserable comforters are ye all. (16:2)
Not only Job’s friends, Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar failed miserably to comfort him, worst still they aggravated his pain and grief by judging and falsely accused him of being a hypocrite and wicked man. Job told his friends that it was easy for them to judge and falsely accuse him, but wait until they were in his dire situation than they would know that it was God’s hand upon him. Though Job could not fully understand God’s way, yet he fully trusted Him in everything. He might have murmured and complained about his friends who were now like his enemies, and the intense pain and grief of his loss of his precious children and possessions, but deep down in his heart, he knew without a shadow of doubt that the Almighty God was his only refuge and hiding place. Job knew that man’s life was just a few years as compared to God’s eternity, and he could just patiently wait for Him to call him to His eternal home in glorious heaven. Indeed, what a day it shall be when we all get to heaven! Let us truly believe in and receive Jesus Christ, God’s Son, as He is the Way, the Truth and the Life, to God, our Heavenly Father. (John 14:1-6)
Prayer of the Day:
Dearest God, thank You that I know that Jesus Christ is the only Way to heaven.
Verse of the Day: (13:15) Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him: but I will maintain mine own ways before him.
1.Trust (13:1-19)
Surely I would speak to the Almighty, and I desire to reason with God. (13:3)
Again Job told his friends, Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar, that he was equal to them and in no way inferior to them, and what happened to him might also happened to them, as he believed that he had not committed any known sins. In fact, Job sharply rebuked them for being liars, and of no help to him in his pain and suffering, and they would be wiser if they just be silent, and not falsely accused him for committing secret sins. At this point of time, Job knew that he must continue to trust in God though he could not fully understand His ways. Indeed, God would only reveal to Job when he finally surrendered his life to His sovereign will. Let us thus fully trust in God, and not in ourselves, or others, as only He can truly grant us salvation, and miraculously raise the dead. (2 Corinthians 1:8-11)
2.Things (13:20-28)
Only do not two things unto me: then will I not hide myself from thee. (13:20)
Job prayed to God that he would not hide himself from Him if He would grant him 2 things; the first thing was that He would not frighten or hurt him, and the second thing was that He would answer him. God fulfilled his requests as He truly loved him. God was testing Job’s faith so that he himself would know that he fully trusted Him no matter what happened to him. Indeed, we know that all things work together for good to them who love God, and to them who are the called according to His purpose. (Romans 8:28-39)
3.Trouble (14:1-22)
Man that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble. (14:1)
Job lamented that he was never in control of anything. He had planned for his future and his children’s future, but all came down to nothing, as God took the lives of his precious children as if He took away his future from him. Job concluded that the life of a man born of a woman was short lived, yet full of trouble. He compared life with a flower that shall soon withered away, and a shadow that shall soon vanish. Job questioned God concerning the meaning and purpose of life. He had come to a point where he desired to die, and be with God, and his dearest children who had gone ahead of him. He reasoned with God that he would rather die than to live through life with all the suffering. These were the thoughts running in Job’s mind, until God finally enlightened him in the end. Indeed, in this world we shall have trouble, but let us be of good cheer, for God is merciful, and full of comfort, and He shall have mercies on us, and shall comfort us in all our trouble, so that in turn, we are able to comfort others who are also in trouble. (2 Corinthians 1:1-7)
Prayer of the Day:
Dearest God, please help me to completely trust in You whether in life or in death.
Verse of the Day: (12:23) He increaseth the nations, and destroyeth them: he enlargeth the nations, and straiteneth them again.
1.Iniquity (11:1-20)
And that he would shew thee the secrets of wisdom, that they are double to that which is! Know therefore that God exacteth of thee less than thine iniquity deserveth. (11:6)
It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man. Instead of encouraging Job, all his friends including Zophar were judging him, and telling him not to justify himself for his iniquities, and kept persuading him to confess and repent of his sins, and to truly get right with God. Zophar even went to the extent of telling Job not to be self-righteous and proud, and that his tragic loss could be even worse. It must have grieved and hurt Job very much as his friends not only did not comfort him, but they hurt him with allegations that he had sinned against God. Let us thus be sensitive when dealing with or counselling people who have lost their loved ones as we need to empathise with them, and be careful with our words, and be silent, and just be with them, and praying for them. (James 3:1-12)
2.Inferior (12:1-8)
But I have understanding as well as you; I am not inferior to you: yea, who knoweth not such things as these? (12:3)
Though Job knew that God was omnipotent, omniscience and omnipresent, and that God knew that he did not commit any known sins, yet he wondered as to why He allowed these crises to befall him. This was why Job answered Zophar that he was not inferior to him. Indeed, we are all sinners saved only by God’s grace, and no one or church is superior or inferior to anyone or church as we are all His people. Let us therefore fully trust and obey God knowing He knows best what is best for us. (2 Corinthians 12:1-13)
3.Increaseth (12:9-25)
Who knoweth not in all these that the hand of the LORD hath wrought this? (12:9)
Job knew that only God had the answers to all his crises as His hand was in control of everything. God creates the earth and every living thing including man made in His image, and He can give and also take away our very lives. God also gives and takes away the power of leaders of all nations. Today, as we witness the trade war of 2 superpowers – America and China – and the threats and effects of global warming, we can conclude that God allows these crises and challenges to remind us that our lives are like vapours, and that we must repent our sins, and receive Jesus, the Son of God, as our personal Saviour. Let us thus believe in Jesus as He must increase in our hearts, and we must decrease, and one day we shall have a heaven to gain, and a hell to shun. (John 3:25-36)
Prayer of the Day:
Dearest God, please help me to submit to You as You are in control of everything.
Verse of the Day: (9:26) They are passed away as the swift ships: as the eagle that hasteth to the prey.
1.Earth (9:1-25)
Which shaketh the earth out of her place, and the pillars thereof tremble. (9:6)
Job replied to Bildad, his friend, that he had examined himself, and did not find any known sins that he would reap the consequences of his tragic losses of his children and possessions. He believed he was almost a perfect man and in control of his life, and God had blessed him with a loving family and abundance of possessions, until suddenly he lost them in one day! Only at the later stage of his life, did he realise that it was Satan who asked God for permission to test his faith, by taking away everything that he had. Thank God, Job did not charge Him foolishly, realising that he had no control of his life, and it is only God who is in control of his life and everything. Indeed, God is in control of everything, as He is the Creator and Maker of the entire universe, the sky, the stars, the earth, the seas and the creatures, including man, made in His own image. (Acts 14:8-18)
2.Eagle (9:26-35)
Neither is there any daysman betwixt us, that might lay his hand upon us both. (9:33)
Though Job’s days were as swift the eagle swooping its prey, yet he wished he could soon be with God as he missed his precious children. In fact, he was prophesying of the Messiah, the Daysman or Mediator, who shall not only reconcile God with man, but who truly understood what man had to go through in this life. Indeed, Jesus, the Messiah, came and went through worst suffering than Job, when He was humiliated and subsequently crucified not for His own sins, but the sins of the whole world. Let us keep looking to Jesus, and keep waiting upon Him, as we renew our strength, and mount up with wings as eagles, and run and not be weary, and walk and not faint. (Isaiah 40:28-31)
3.Eyes (10:1-22)
Hast thou eyes of flesh? or seest thou as man seeth? (10:4)
Job asserted that only when he saw his crises through God’s eyes, and not his eyes would he understand what God was teaching him, otherwise he was weary of his life, and was in bitterness, and wished he was never born. Only in God’s eyes could he see light, otherwise he saw darkness even when there was light. This was especially so when Job searched his heart, and did not find any known sins he had committed that warranted the great crises. He knew of others who were evil and wicked, and yet they were not experiencing what he experienced. He could not understand God’s way, and only when he saw his crises in God’s eyes did he understand that they were for his good. Indeed, whatever we are going through, let God open our eyes that we see our crises in His eyes, that they are good for us, as they solidify and strengthen our faith in Him. (Acts 26:15-18)
Prayer of the Day:
Dearest God, my life is in Your hand as it is as fast as the eagle swooping on its prey.
Verse of the Day: (8:20) Behold, God will not cast away a perfect man, neither will he help the evil doers:
1.Preserver (7:1-21)
I have sinned; what shall I do unto thee, O thou preserver of men? why hast thou set me as a mark against thee, so that I am a burden to myself? (7:20)
Job cried to God to take him home to heaven as his intense pain and agony of his severe ailment and the loss of his precious children and possessions overwhelmed him. He knew that God is a Preserver and Taker of lives, and he wished that He would take his life so that he could be with Him and his loved ones in heaven. He confessed to God that he had sinned against Him, and that he should be the one that God would take his life instead of his precious children. Indeed, when God takes away our loved ones, we wish we can be with Him and our loved ones in heaven, yet we must learn to wait upon Him that He preserved us blameless till He calls us home or His glorious return. (1 Thessalonians 5:23)
2.Pure (8:1-19)
If thou wert pure and upright; surely now he would awake for thee, and make the habitation of thy righteousness prosperous. (8:6)
Bildad, Job’s friend, encouraged Job to confess and repent his sins as he believed that his tragic loss was the result of his sins against the Almighty God. Indeed, it is logical for people including Christians to think that tragedy happens to people because of the consequences of their wicked deeds as in the sowing and reaping principle. However, in God’s spiritual realm it may not be always the case. Here God was testing Job’s faith because of the Devil’s false accusation that he would definitely deny Him when all his loved ones and possessions were taken from him. It is not that God does not know Job’s faith, but it was to prove to the Devil, and to Job himself, that he truly had great faith in his God amid tragedy. Let us therefore continue to keep a pure and holy mind and heart amid tragedy knowing that God’s peace is with us now and forever. (Philippians 4:6-9)
3.Perfect (8:20-22)
They that hate thee shall be clothed with shame; and the dwelling place of the wicked shall come to nought. (8:22)
Bildad asserted that God would not allow Job to suffer so much if he was a perfect man in God’s righteousness. Therefore Job must have done much wickedness to deserve these punishments, and that God shall only forgive him when he truly confessed and repented his sins. Let us thus be humble, sober and vigilant knowing that the Devil is like a roaring lion seeking to destroy our testimony with false accusation and we must keep trusting God that He shall help and make us perfect in Him through His grace. (1 Peter 5:6-11)
Prayer of the Day:
Dearest God, please help me to become a perfect man only in Your righteousness.
Verse of the Day: (6:24) Teach me, and I will hold my tongue: and cause me to understand wherein I have erred.
1.Touch (5:1-27)
He shall deliver thee in six troubles: yea, in seven there shall no evil touch thee. (5:19)
Eliphaz, Job’s friend, insisted that Job should confess and repent his sins, as he had reaped what he had sowed. In fact, he told Job that he should be happy that God had corrected him. Though it was painful and tragic for Job to lose his precious loved ones and possessions, yet it was necessary to prove that whom God loved He chastised. Eliphaz strongly believed that no evil shall touch God’s believers if they had committed no sin. Eliphaz was wrong as evil can touch God’s believers as He allows it to test our faith. Indeed, our seven or last trouble is death, and if we truly believe in God, even death to a believer is sleep, as when we awake, we shall see Jesus, our Saviour, in His home in heaven. Let us thus continue our faith in God as He shall deliver us from all troubles, even death, and shall ultimately prevail all evils even as they touch us. (Hebrews 11:28)
2.Terrors (6:1-23)
For the arrows of the Almighty are within me, the poison whereof drinketh up my spirit: the terrors of God do set themselves in array against me. (6:4)
Job explained to Eliphaz that he knew where he was coming from, yet he kept sharing with him his grief as God’s terror was upon him. Indeed, our grief may be God’s test on our faith, but let us look to Job, and especially Christ, who was made to be sin for us who knew no sin, so that we are made God’s righteousness in Him. (2 Corinthians 5:11-21)
3.Teach (6:24-30)
Is there iniquity in my tongue? cannot my taste discern perverse things? (6:30)
Job pleaded with God to teach him to control his tongue so as to stop complaining and murmuring because of the pain and agony that he was going through. He kept asking God where he had gone wrong or what sins he had committed that had resulted in the tragic losses. Job did not fully understand that his great trials were the result of God granting the Devil’s permission to test the genuineness of his faith. Let us therefore learn from Job’s example of his great perseverance and persistence of his faith even though he did sin against God, so that as we go through the same trials, we can persevere through them, and teach others of the lessons we have learnt. Let us also learn to control our tongues, as we go through life storms and struggles, and instead of complaining and murmuring, let us be thankful and grateful to God for all the pain and agony we went through. It is easier said than done, yet we must truly strive to do what is right before God, so that we shall eventually finish our Christian race with His commendation and praise! (2 Timothy 2:1-2)
Prayer of the Day:
Dearest God, please teach me to search my heart and confess and repent of my sins.
Verse of the Day: (3:25) For thing which I greatly feared is come upon me, and that which I was afraid of is come unto me.
1.Free (3:1-24)
The small and great are there; and the servant is free from his master. (3:19)
We who believe in God is like travelling in a plane or a ship in this world with much turbulence and storms until we reach our final destination called Heaven, the eternal home of God. This world is not our home and we are just passing through until God calls us home. You may not agree with me but once we lost our loved ones especially our child or children, we will long to be with them in heaven. This was what Job went through as he lost all his children and possessions in one day, and sadly, his wife even told him to curse God and die. Job cursed his day and he wished that he was not born, and that even if he was born he wished that he died the moment he came out of his mother’s womb. This was Job’s intense suffering, and only God could comfort and console him. Indeed, we who believe in and receive Jesus as our personal Saviour, must embrace sufferings on this earth knowing that they are temporary, as one day when we get to heaven, we shall have no more suffering and death as we are with God forever. Let us thus believe in Jesus who is the Truth, and continue in His Word until the day He calls us home. (John 8:31-32)
2.Fear (3:25-26)
I was not in safety, neither had I rest, neither was I quiet; yet trouble came. (3:26)
Job did everything right before God, yet the things which he greatly feared, the loss of his loved ones, happened right in front of him. If not for his belief and trust in God, he would have been depressed, and might even take his own life. But thanks be to God, Job persevered to the end, knowing that God is good all the time. Indeed, let us fear God, as only He can kill both body and soul in fiery hell, and He shall preserve the souls of all who receive Jesus Christ as their personal Saviour in glorious heaven. (Matthew 10:28-33)
3.Faint (4:1-21)
But now it is come upon thee, and thou faintest; it toucheth thee, and thou art troubled. (4:5)
What will make you lose your faith in God and depart from Him? This is Satan’s strategy to get us into denying our faith in God. However, Job passed the test as he did not faint in the day of adversity. One of Job’s friends, Eliphaz, admonished him to repent of his sins, assuming that his sufferings were the consequences of his sins. Though Job insisted that he had not sinned against God, yet all his 3 friends; EIiphaz, Bildad and Zophar, believed he had sinned against God. Indeed, no matter how people perceive us, let us faint not, even in the day of adversity, as God truly knows our faith and works. (Proverbs 24:1-10)
Prayer of the Day:
Dearest God, please help me to fear nothing even death as You are my Everything.
Verse of the Day: (1:21) And said, Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither: the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.
1.Born (1:1-19)
And there were born unto him seven sons and three daughters. (1:2)
One of the joys of parenthood is to witness the miraculous birth of their children, especially the first born. What a bundle of joy when the baby comes forth from the mother’s womb! However, one of the sad moments of parenthood is to witness the death of their child or children. This was exactly what happened to Job, who witnessed the birth of his 7 sons and 3 daughters, and subsequently he experienced one of the sad moments of his life when a great wind destroyed the house where all his children gathered and killed them all. What truly happened? Satan was behind the great and tragic loss of Job as he provoked God to test the faith of Job. God gave Satan the permission as He knew that Job would pass the test. Did Job curse and blame God after his tragedy? Most people will have curse and blame God, but not Job. Even though Job did not know that the calamities he suffered was God’s test on his faith, yet he actually blessed the name of the LORD! Indeed, let us bless the name of the Lord when we believe in and receive Jesus Christ as our personal Saviour, as we are born again into His everlasting kingdom, and we shall never perish, but our souls shall live forever with Him in glorious heaven. (John 3:1-21)
2.Blessed (1:20-22)
In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly. (1:22)
The faith to thank God even in the worst situation is what truly defines a man of God. Amid the loss of all his precious and dearest 10 children, and all his possessions of 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 yoke of oxen and 500 she asses, Job blessed the name of the LORD, and did not sin nor blame God, because he knew that he came with nothing, and he shall return with nothing, and he was truly a man of God. Indeed, let us therefore not just be hearers of God’s Word, but be doers of His Word in our daily life! (James 1:21-27)
3.Bone (2:1-13)
But put forth thine hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse thee to thy face. (2:5)
Satan tested Job to the maximum as God allowed him to be inflicted with unbearable pain on his bones and flesh that he wished he would immediately die. To make matter worse, Job’s wife told him to curse God and die. What will you do if you are Job? Maybe we will give up, but not Job, as he persevered to the end. Let us as God’s members, flesh and bones, persevere to the end because He truly loves and cares for us! (Ephesians 5:21-33)
Prayer of the Day:
Dearest God, blessed be Your name as You give and You take away from me.
Verse of the Day: (9:26) Wherefore they called these days Purim after the name of Pur. Therefore for all the words of this letter, and of that which they had seen concerning this matter, and which had come unto them,
1.Power (9:1-25)
Now in the twelfth month, that is, the month Adar, on the thirteenth day of the same, when the king’s commandment and his decree drew near to be put in execution, in the day that the enemies of the Jews hoped to have power over them, (though it was turned to the contrary, that the Jews had rule over them that hated them;) (9:1)
On the 13th day of the 12th month, the month of Adar, all the Jews gathered together to fight for their lives as in the King’s decree, as this was also the day that an earlier King’s decree had given authority to all the people in the Persian Empire to exterminate the Jews in their land. Indeed, God preserved the Jews as Jesus Christ, God’s Son, shall come from them. Let us thus keep sharing the gospel of Christ as it is His power to save whoever believes in Him from hell, and one day He shall promote them to heaven. (Romans 1:16)
2.Purim (9:26-32)
And that these days should be remembered and kept throughout every generation, every family, every province, and every city; and that these days of Purim should not fail from among the Jews, nor the memorial of them perish from their seed. (9:28)
After God’s deliverance of the Jews from being exterminated, Esther the queen and Mordecai the Jew wrote with authority that all the Jews must remember and keep the days of Purim (comes from the word, Pur or Lot, which means drawing of such objects as a method of deciding something) throughout all their generations and in every province and city. Today, Purim is a Jewish festival celebrated on the 14th day of the month of Adar (6th month of the Jewish calendar) in commemoration of the deliverance of the Jews in Persia from the destruction by Haman. The Purim is like the day when Jesus purchased us with His own blood so that we have a heaven to gain and a hell to shun. (Acts 20:28)
3.Peace (10:1-3)
For Mordecai the Jew was next unto king Ahasuerus, and great among the Jess, and accepted of the multitude of his brethren, seeking the wealth of his people, and speaking peace to all his seed. (10:3)
What a change for a man who was almost exterminated together with his entire Jewish race to become the second most powerful person in the Persian Empire! This was Mordecai who believed in his true God of Israel granting him salvation and peace, and the heart to seek the welfare of his people as well as be their peacemaker. (Matthew 5:9)
Prayer of the Day:
Dearest God, thank You that I celebrate my Purim the day You saved my soul.
Verse of the Day: (8:11) Wherein the king granted the Jews which were in every city to gather themselves together, and to stand for their life, to destroy, to slay, and to cause to perish, all the power of the people and province that would assault them, both little ones and women, and to take the spoil of them for a prey,
1.Sold (7:1-10)
For we are sold, I and my people, to be destroyed, to be slain, and to perish. But if we had been sold for bondmen and bondwomen, I had held my tongue, although the enemy could not countervail the king’s damage. (7:4)
Finally, Queen Esther revealed to King Ahasuerus that she was a Jew, and that Haman had abused his authority to command the massacre of the entire Jewish race. Haman realised that his life was in danger as he did not know that Esther was a Jew, and what he did amounted to the murder of the Queen which was a capital punishment. While the king walked out of the palace as he was furious with Haman, the latter begged Esther to spare his life. When the king returned, he thought that Haman was trying to harm Esther, and he immediately ordered his men to arrest and then hang him on the gallows that Haman had prepared for Mordecai. Let us thus not be sold under sin, but believe in and receive Jesus Christ as our Saviour and Lord, and serve Him now and forever. (Romans 7:14-25)
2.Seal (8:1-8)
Write ye also for the Jews, as it liketh you, in the king’s name, and seal it with the king’s ring: for the writing which is written in the king’s name, and sealed with the king’s ring, may no man reverse. (8:8)
As the king’s writing was irreversible as to the extermination of the Jews initiated by Haman, he now had to write another law to the Jews to stand for their lives and sealed it with his ring. Thank God that we have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit that is sealed in us and irreversible since the day of our redemption and salvation. (Ephesians 4:29-32)
3.Stand (8:9-17)
And in every province, and in every city, whithersoever the king’s commandment and his decree came, the Jews had joy and gladness, a feast and a good day. And many of the people of the land became Jews; for the fear of the Jews fell upon them. (8:17)
The people became Jews in their belief in the true God of the Jews as they could never become another race. Thank God for Mordecai and Esther as they persevered in their faith in God even though their lives were threatened as the devil who was behind Haman wanted to stop the birth of Jesus, the Saviour of the world, who shall be from their race. Let us thus put on God’s whole armour, and stand against the devil. (Ephesians 6:10-19)
Prayer of the Day:
Dearest God, please help me to stand for my life and for You as You are my King.
