Insightful Musings on the Scripturesby
Ray Sparre, NU class of '67
Ray has a wealth of experience as a Husband, Father, Pastor, Missionary, and student of the Word. He believes and practices his faith where the rubber meets the road. You'll find his writings to be practical, insightful, and grounded in a truly Christ-centered world view.
Below are links to a printable daily Bible reading guide which Ray has followed, and an archive of all his daily devotional writings for 2010 and 2011.
| Sparre Home Page | Daily Reading Guide | 2011 Devotion Archives | 2010 Devotion Archives |
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8 Nov 11
Greetings on a beautiful Tuesday morning.
I should be hearing the entrance of some little boys any minute now. Becki went to get them. I heard Max bark…they must be here now. Kash is already out working in the shop. Soon we’ll go over to Camp Adams again to carry on with their building project…hopefully to install the rest of the big hip beams that will be joined to the big steel compression ring.
Sure enough…here they are! Pause. I’m back. Kaden wanted me to get him out of the car. We came in and sang our traditional morning song—“The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases…” Then we butchered an apple in the kitchen, and had a brief apple party. Of course, Nicholas participated too. I let Kaden crank the handle on the peeler corer machine. Good apple.
OK…enough of this…time to send…and get to work.
Blessings on your day.
Love, Dad/Ray
8 November 2011
Job 18
Focus: “When will you end these speeches? Be sensible, and then we can talk.” Job 18:2.
The tiny “shoe-height” guy takes the stage again—Bildad the Shuhite. He steps to the podium, but has to stand to the side because he can’t see over it. On his toes he reaches up and removes the microphone from its stand, blows on it to make sure it’s working, clears his throat, sounding like fingernails on a chalkboard, and in his high-volume angry squeaky voice (he didn’t really need a mic) he commences with another rhetorical question—a question that he doesn’t really expect to be answered—“When will you end these speeches?” Don’t you wish you could have been there with a bucket of rotten tomatoes? Oh no—Eliphaz has spotted your bucket of tomatoes and quickly stands and hollers, “Let him who is never boring or inaccurate in thought or speech cast the first tomato!”
Bildad continues—“Be sensible, and then we can talk.” In other words, “Job, there’s no way we’re going to have proper and mature discussion here unless you agree with me!”
I think I’m seeing some of the practical value of the story of Job in new light. That is, you and I not only need the “patience of Job” in our living, we also need the “patience of Job” in our listening—listening to and enduring the boring inaccurate biased immature self-centered rhetoric of some around us. But hey!—before we get too carried away with examining those who are speaking around us, beware of the person speaking within us. Self-talk is the most important talk you and I have to analyze.
Bildad carries on with another rhetorical question—“Why are we regarded as cattle and considered stupid in your sight?” If Job didn’t inject a sound bite of his own at this point, I can only imagine that he was biting his lip and wanting to—throwing back at them the very implicit condemnation they were bull-dozing over him—“If the shoe fits—wear it!”
Bildad must have been busy writing his speech while the others were presenting theirs. The line of reasoning that he builds upon is the same old distorted stuff. It’s one of those sermons that consumes a lot of time and space with creative expressions but really says nothing—at least nothing new—nothing that has not already been said. In verse 5 he declares, “The lamp of the wicked is snuffed out; the flame of his fire stops burning.” Then in verse 21 he states, “Surely such is the dwelling of an evil man; such is the place of one who knows not God.” Between verses 5 and 21, in creative poetic verse, Bildad uses the pronouns of “he,” “him,” or “his” 32 times to describe this wicked evil man who knows not God. And Job, in Bildad’s judgment, is clearly that man!
Actually, Bildad is speaking Biblical truth when he proclaims, “The lamp of the wicked is snuffed out; the flame of his fire stops burning. The light in his tent becomes dark; the lamp beside him goes out” (Job 18:5-6). It’s just that he’s way off base in his insistence to apply it to Job. In processing this matter of LIGHT, it is fitting to mention the words of Jesus in my New Testament reading for today—“I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (John 8:12).
Is it possible for one to be in the dark—even when they feel they are in the light? Yup! Is it possible for one to be in the light—even when they feel they are in the dark? Yup!
“Inspirations never go in for long engagements; they demand immediate marriage to action.”